Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 102: Calculations

That was Liam’s first time in the Alchemical Hall, but the place was nothing extraordinary. If anything, it looked quite barren.

Despite the Pale Moon Sect being famous for its alchemy division, Horace Rauret was the only true alchemical powerhouse, and he had never bothered with disciples or lessons until Liam.

Everyone else was a far cry from the Alchemy Elder, affecting the disciples’ education. Some were interested in the field, but the lack of proper guidance left them as no more than apprentices who could only perform basic concoctions.

The Alchemical Hall reflected that. The open cave wasn’t too deep, only having enough room for its five rows of four cauldrons.

In comparison, the Botanical Hall had gardens stretching over a good chunk of the mountain’s side, highlighting its greater relevance and popularity among disciples.

’How many contribution points are required to use these?’ Liam wondered, crossing the cave, ignoring the handful of outer disciples behind the cauldrons, to knock on an unused one.

Sensations and sounds the Alchemy Elder was teaching Liam to recognize ran through him. Those cauldrons seemed good, albeit a bit old.

Naturally, that break was brief since Liam immediately resumed heading for the cave’s back, where a welcome sight was waiting for him.

Lucy was speechless, and for multiple reasons. Her last conversation with Liam had been complicated, to say the least, only for him to suddenly become an inner disciple, basically becoming unreachable for her.

Then, merely a week later, the news of Liam’s infamous actions spread through the Sect, as well as the update on his three-month punishment.

And now, Lucy finally saw Liam again, only to find a stunning woman clinging intimately to his elbow.

"Sister Lucy!" Liam exclaimed through a genuine smile, reaching Lucy before she could snap out of her speechlessness.

Lucy didn’t miss Liam’s proper use of the Sect’s titles. He outranked her now, so she had become his Junior Sister. Yet, dropping the Junior implied friendship.

"Senior Brother Liam," Lucy forced herself to say, bowing, not wanting to dwell on those reassuring but slightly bitter realizations.

"Senior Sister Melissa, this is Lucy, my friend," Liam introduced. "She helped me greatly when I first arrived at the Sect."

The word "friend" felt like a slap to Lucy’s face, but she pushed aside her annoyance to watch Melissa perform a customary bow.

"Junior Sister, it’s a pleasure to meet you," Melissa stated, too used to those pleasantries to stammer, only to cling to Liam’s arm again right afterward.

Despite Melissa’s emotionless face, Lucy felt something in her detached gaze. She even believed Melissa was clinging to Liam closer than before, as if marking her territory.

And Lucy’s bitterness intensified, albeit not out of jealousy. She knew Liam was too clueless to be in a relationship. However, something about his looks, stance, and even his eyes hinted at the reason behind that foul feeling.

Liam felt like a true cultivator now. His smile still carried his blinding honesty, but a sharp, powerful aura surrounded him.

Still, bitterness aside, Lucy could find reassurance in the fact that he was doing well, so well that she couldn’t help but tease him.

"Are the Seniors together?" Lucy asked.

"Of course?" Liam replied, tilting his head in confusion, only for the hands on his elbow to tense. Melissa had also lowered her head for some reason.

"I meant," Lucy smiled, feigning innocence, "Are you looking to make a purchase together?"

"Oh!" Liam exclaimed. "No, it’s just me, unless Senior Sister also wants something."

Melissa shook her head, but some wariness joined her detached gaze, which Lucy matched with a smile, creating a strange vibe that almost urged Liam to run away.

"This way, then, Seniors," Lucy announced before things could grow awkward, heading for the wooden door at the end of the cave.

The door led to a small chamber with a separate section carved into a stand-like rocky desk. Lucy went directly behind it, retrieving a scroll from under it and unfurling it on the surface.

"Sister Lucy, do you work in the Alchemical Hall now?" Liam couldn’t help but ask after skimming through the scroll listing ingredients and their prices.

"Most ingredients come from the Botanical Hall," Lucy explained. "Elder June allows me to earn extra contribution points by managing their transactions with fellow disciples."

’Is this because of me, too?’ Liam wondered. After all, Lucy had already received a garden thanks to him, so the hypothesis didn’t feel like a stretch.

Nevertheless, the scroll soon reclaimed Liam’s attention. He recognized most names there, especially those he needed for his rank 1 poison, only to find numbers in the hundreds beside them.

’I knew they would have been expensive,’ Liam calculated, ’But this ...’

Liam only had the Outer Hall’s board as a reference, but those numbers still surpassed his expectations. If he were an outer disciple, it would take him close to ten missions to accumulate enough points to buy one ingredient, and his recipe needed four of those.

When accounting for the multiple sets required to cover for tests and mistakes, Liam was basically looking at years of missions, which was simply too much.

’The Inner Hall’s missions must reward more points,’ Liam considered, ’But I’ll probably need far more than that to afford these ingredients in a reasonable time.’

It seemed that Liam’s alchemical skills were advancing far faster than he could afford, forcing him to reconsider his plans.

"What can I get as an inner disciple?" Liam asked.

"I’ll check," Lucy responded, going under the stone surface to browse through more paper, until she retrieved a heavy, big book that featured countless annotations.

Liam waited for Lucy to browse through the book, only for her face to darken with each page. She even frowned at some point, eventually lifting her head in disbelief.

"Liam," Lucy called, forsaking titles. "Did you request twelve batches of Fever Flowers, four of Plague Fruit’s juice, and at least twenty-five more of other ingredients in three months?"

Liam diverted his gaze to count. He had honestly failed to keep track at times since everything had been free, but that number sounded right, so he nodded.

"You never had to pay for any of that, right?" Lucy questioned, wanting to confirm what the book said.

"No, why?" Liam wondered, only for Melissa to react at that time, pointing her emotionless face at him.

"Is something wrong?" Liam asked, his gaze darting between the two women.

"Senior Brother should ask the Alchemy Elder," Lucy sighed, closing the huge book. "You are way beyond the privileges inner disciples are owed."

What Liam’s cave currently held and his smoking habit had forced him to consider that point upon the first complaints. Still, the confirmation had arrived, and he could even guess why.

It seemed Liam’s status had played a role again. If he had to guess, no one had dared to refuse his requests until they had gone too far.

Of course, Liam hadn’t done that on purpose, but his problem remained.

’Master said that gathering the ingredients is part of the test,’ Liam cursed in his mind. ’I need a good way to earn contribution points.’

The idea of performing concoctions for the Sect gained more ground since Liam could both improve and earn points like that. Still, Melissa acted before his brainstorming ended, retrieving her cave’s tablet from her robe and placing it on the stone surface.

"U-Use mine," Melissa declared, knowing that Liam had no available finances. After all, he had just come out of three months of mandatory seclusion.

"What?" Liam gasped. "No, Senior Sister, I can’t."

Liam’s refusal was instinctive. He knew how hard getting contribution points was, and it felt terribly wrong to use his friend’s. The Sect and his enemies were one thing, but Liam didn’t want to taint his relationship with Melissa like that, not after she had been at the center of his cathartic experience in the ruins.

"I insist," Melissa exclaimed.

"Why?" Liam asked. "We shared everything equally."

"I ha-aven’t shared for saving my life," Melissa declared.

Liam opened his mouth to reply, only for nothing to come out. That wasn’t an argument he could beat, but the unfairness of the matter still prompted him to refuse.

"That’s not why I did-," Liam muttered before switching to a firm tone. "No. It’s not fair to you at all."

"Should I-I choose random materials and s-send them to your cave?" Melissa suggested, employing a boldness she didn’t think she had.

And there, Liam recalled Joel’s words. His opponent now was an incomprehensible creature who taught him a new definition of defeat.