After looking in all directions, Austin stepped into an elixir shop. It had been a while since he had worn a long robe. He skimmed through the shelves and the inner door, expecting the shopkeeper to come any minute.
But by then the preoccupied sales clerk who was busy cleaning an artifact had noticed that it was Austin.
Happy to see Austin after so long, he extended his arm in greeting.
In the last few months, Austin's recurrent visits and marked interest in expensive items had made him an important customer of the shop. One time, the sales clerk had sold what Austin just needed. In return, he was tipped a fat bonus, close to an amount that would have taken him at least five years to earn. Astounded, now he worshipped Austin and the ground he set his foot on.
Austin coming in today immensely lifted his spirits. He tried to make Austin as comfortable and welcomed as he could.
"Welcome. Warmly welcome. My distinguished guest, I've been expecting you. Please come in. My boss has been waiting for you at the back of the house.
Would you like to have something before we begin? I have prepared our best Green Dragon Tea for you. Would you like to have a cup before we go ahead?"
The salesclerk's hospitality made Austin feel extremely awkward. Shaking his head, he briskly tossed him a vital energy crystal worth one hundred.
The value of the tip had the sales clerk overjoyed. He jumped from one foot to another with an open mouth unable to express his gratitude to the benevolent spirit.
Having no patience for the clerk's words to come, Austin went straight to the back of the house. The shopkeeper had been waiting for Austin all this while and looking outside the window to while away his time.
"So, are the elixirs prepared?"
Austin spoke straight to the point. He didn't want to give him a chance to initiate any small talk.
"Yes. Assignment completed!
I will be honest here. Some elixirs listed on this sheet are beyond our capability. After all, we are just a small shop. But then I reported to the head shop of the imperial capital city and heard back from them saying that they will get all our elixirs.
The medicinal herbs should be reaching me in ten days."
The shopkeeper spoke pleasantly as he reported his happy progress.
Secretly, in his heart, Austin was exhilarated to hear this.
"Excellent! You did a wonderful job! You have helped me find my herbs and pills twice."
Austin reached out for his Space Ring and in a flash, he handed three million pieces of vital energy crystals to the shopkeeper.
Not to pause a second, Austin took out another three hundred thousand pieces of vital energy crystals as payment.
The shopkeeper quietly observed Austin taking out such a huge amount with ease. He wondered who this man was that had no qualms in parting with a sum like this.
As a shrewd businessman, the shopkeeper obviously identified that Austin was a young man.
But he also knew that Austin was no ordinary cultivator.
'Is he a young aristocrat coming from an extremely wealthy family?' he secretly speculated, 'Or a disciple of some hidden noble man who is willing to pay a huge cost to cultivate?'
But, the shopkeeper thought it best to keep these things to himself. He wasn't inclined to dig out any secrets. He could see that the young man took pains to hide himself as hard as he could. Obviously, he didn't want to reveal his true identity.
The boss gathered up the three million vital energy crystals. He too took out a Space Ring and handed it to Austin. Austin felt the cold touch of the ring in his palm. Then he checked it with his spiritual sense. He could feel lots of herbs and elixirs inside the ring. His eyes glistened to see the precious herbs that would help him to cultivate stage three of the Overlord Body-refining Formula.
Having found no fault or anything amiss with the previous order, Austin wasn't as careful as the last time in checking the elixirs. He had begun to implicitly trust the shopkeeper. He simply packed the Space Ring without going over the goods again.
"Hmm... I have to say the head shopkeeper of the Imperial City, finding the preparation of my elixirs easy, must be a tremendously strong person. His reserve of elixirs must also be sufficient.
So, I will give you another list of elixirs. I hope he can find them all."
Austin ordered the shopkeeper to look for the other items since he was impressed by the shopkeeper's resourcefulness.
Austin thought that though the elixirs in hand would enable him to cultivate to stage three of the Overlord Body-refining Formula, he could aim higher. He already knew the advantage of having an extremely strong body during combat. So why not make it more powerful?
In the past, Austin couldn't have been more ambitious for he wouldn't have been able to afford to cultivate further. But now, with millions of vital energy crystals on him, this was just the beginning.
After paying three million vital energy crystals just now, he still had about two million vital energy crystals left. Besides, since he had mastered the alchemy, Austin believed that as long as he practiced harder, he would be able to refine more and better elixirs that would earn him more vital energy crystals.
Now, to cultivate stage four of the Overlord Body-refining Formula, five million vital energy crystals were needed. Austin saw some hope in earning that amount on his own.
So Austin decided to consult the shopkeeper and ask whether all the medicinal herbs needed for stage four could be available.
The shopkeeper took a deep breath when he heard Austin.
He knew that the business with this young man standing in front of him could be big. The payment would be in millions of crystals.
So he adjusted himself and calmed down to say, "Okay then. I'll go over your list and tell you what is possible."
Then he immediately went to get a writing brush, paper, ink and ink stone.
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