The First Legendary Beast Master

Karl laughed as the Immortals stampeded past him, heedless of their surroundings and who they were running into. Even Rae’s first customer was headed their way. She was hastily changing outfits, not willing to ruin a second dress in one day, even if she had the first one fixed already.

The front room of the Guild House rapidly filled to the point that Karl ended up using [Teleport] to arrive on the second level and then walk down into the shop. The protective wards didn’t let anyone who wasn’t a Darklight Host member up the stairs unaccompanied, so at least he could get back to the main floor.

“Greetings, everyone! It’s good to see such enthusiasm for a first day’s sales. Welcome to the Darklight Host Guild House store, I am Karl, the Branch Leader, and I will be your concierge today. If you don’t see something, just ask me or one of the staff, and we can search for it by the bonus you need,” he shouted, struggling to make himself heard over the crowd.

Behind him, Karl heard Opal laugh as she flew over the crowd.

She had no troubles at all navigating the packed space, since she didn’t care about the floor, and she was small enough that she could just duck between customers.

“You could at least warn people what sort of items you’ve put on display, young man. My Immortal existence nearly ended with a mental shock to my Spirit Body,” an Immortal who took on the appearance of a white haired old man insisted.

Karl patted the man on the shoulder. “No worries, we have a pill for that. It might not recover a completely destroyed Spirit Body, but it’s quite effective at minor damages and instabilities. It’s a product that we developed in conjunction with Elder Socrate of the New Home’s Alchemy Hall.”

“For a second there, I thought that you were joking. But Socrate just might be able to do it.”

Karl nodded. “Not for cheap, though.”

“No, nothing good in this world ever is. I would like one of those pills, though. I don’t need it right now, but you never know when it might be exactly the sort of emergency supply that you do need.”

Karl nodded, and wrote a number on a piece of paper. The coin equivalent of its price in Clan Credits at five hundred gold coins per credit. The standard outsider exchange rate, when Clan members would pay three hundred if they have to buy with coins instead of credit.

The Immortal nodded, and handed Karl a bag full of elemental gems. A quick check with the system told him that the price was right, and he immediately deposited them in the Guild Store’s storage before handing over the pill in a small wooden box, carved with a rune for preservation.

“Just keep it in the box. Your Inventory would do as well, but the box is sufficient.”

“Oh, that is an excellent gift box that comes with it. I suppose for the price, it’s nice to get a little something extra that I can use even after the pill is gone.”

That made Opal laugh. “The box is cheap mortal grade wood, but the rune on it is the important part. As long as it’s closed, the contents will degrade at one thousandth the usual rate. It’s an essential for alchemy of all sorts, we have found.

Too many of the pills really need to be used within a few days of production. But with this, it can be stretched out to a few years.”

“See, that is a thing that I did not know. I did know that all the good stuff is usually used the moment that it is created, but I didn’t know that it was an actual requirement of the Alchemy process. That’s not my specialty.”

From the rafters, Remi lowered her upper body so she could join the conversation without being stepped on.

“Yes, it’s quite a nuisance, really. Some of them are so unstable that just removing them from the alchemy cauldron causes them to begin instantly degrading. The only way to get full effect is to literally stick your head in the cauldron and stuff them in your mouth.”

The Immortals nearby laughed. “I suppose that’s an option when you’re that size. Unfortunately, the average human head doesn’t fit in an alchemy cauldron.”

[Not intact.] Karl heard Remi think.

“This is our resident Alchemy expert. She’s a Naga Matriarch, but still young and adorable. She’s become good friends with Elder Socrate, and they spend most of their time together in the Alchemy Hall,” he explained.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Remi. How has Socrate been? I haven’t seen him in ages.”

“He’s good as long as we’re in the Alchemy Hall. It’s everything else that people keep making him do that stresses him out. But we got to do a dungeon together, and that was fun. We even managed to get some new plants for the hall, ones that were completely out of stock at the Clan, not even seeds available. So, I think he will be in a great mood in a few weeks, as long as those sprout as planned.”

“As expected of the New Home’s chief Alchemist. But now, I need to get out of here before I am trampled. I came to spectate, and I’ve already spent more today than I should have, when I’m off to pick up new apprentices over the course of the week.

If you’re in the Hall later, ask Socrate to come out and find me.”

The man vanished, using [Teleport] to get out into the yard and away from the crowds. Many of the others felt the same way about crowds, but they hadn’t gotten a chance to even see the item that had brought them here yet, much less try to buy anything.

“Alight everyone, I am going to place the items everyone came for in a display case near the ceiling, where everyone can see it. This simply isn’t going to work otherwise,” Karl realized.

There was already a case there, but it was normally for things you wouldn’t frequently sell.

Nobody wanted to climb up to the ceiling to go get things.