It might seem like the Sky Pill Shop is more fair and just, but that's not the case. The Knowledge Sea they provide to every alchemist is actually an artificial one developed by mages.
The effects of these artificial Knowledge Seas are even worse than the broken Knowledge Sea that one can exchange for at the Honey Pill Shop for just 5,000 Honey Points.
The Sky Pill Shop only teaches the basics, and everyone has to pay money to attend advanced classes. In contrast, the Honey Pill Shop provides advanced classes for free every month.
Kai has no idea whether the Sky Pill Shop offers a Tier 2 Contract like the Honey Pill Shop. But the benefits of the Honey Pill Shop Tier 2 Contract are vast—from receiving a Transcend Knowledge Sea Awakening Pill to daily two-hour alchemy classes.
And those are just the obvious benefits; there are many others hidden within the Tier 2 Contract.
"Yes, it's true. One just needs to become a Second-Class Citizen of the Fairy race to be taken away by them," Lucas replied. After all, the essence of the Ascension Program is to unearth hidden talents from the lower worlds.
Aside from managing the day-to-day operations of the Ancient World, the Fairies are also tasked with discovering talented individuals.
If someone's talent is strong enough, it's not a problem for the Fairies to make some compromises.
"Well…" Hearing Lucas's words, Kai fell into deep thought. He knew about his talent—after all, Master Stardew had praised him nonstop during his entire time learning under him.
"Senior, what's there to think about? With your talent, you can easily become a Master Alchemist in a few years," Lucas tried to persuade Kai to sign a Tier 2 Contract.
"It seems Senior needs some time to think about it. Senior Kai, you know where to find me. When you make your decision, I'll fight to get the best benefits for you," Lucas said, seeing that Kai was still hesitating. He then headed toward his alchemy room.
As Lucas left, Kai stood there in a daze for a moment before entering his own alchemy room.
At that moment, two thoughts were going through Kai's mind. First, that what Lucas said might be true and that there really are countless benefits to signing a Tier 2 Contract.
The second was completely opposite—Kai felt that Lucas might be trying to deceive him.
"Let's finish the work before thinking about it." Kai activated his Gift, [Calm Mind], to stop his thoughts from running wild and focused on completing today's task.
[Brewing List]
Name: Kai
Date: Year 0, Month 4, Day 21
Task: 10 Essence Boost Potions]
Seeing the brewing list, Kai immediately got to work. During the process of making potions, he completely forgot about the conversation he had with Lucas and immersed himself in his task.
Three hours later, Kai had completed three batches of Essence Boost Potions. Instead of continuing, he stopped, picked up a furnace, and started working on Basic Vitality Pills.
After refining a batch of Basic Vitality Pills containing 16 pills, Kai once again placed the large pot on top of the fire stones and poured 7 liters of Moon Water into it.
"It's 4:30 PM, I should wrap up."
Looking at the time, Kai poured another batch of Essence Boost Potion into the potion vials and inspected them.
After making sure everything was correct, he cleaned the pot and put it away. Then, he cleaned the alchemy room, made a list of ingredients, and left.
Instead of heading straight to the front desk, Kai first borrowed a few books from the library. After that, he arrived at the front desk, exchanged the Basic Vitality Pills for Honey points, and left the shop.
"I should get my hands on a Tier 2 Contract before thinking about it," Kai thought on his way back to the Candy Complex, reflecting on what Lucas had said.
Kai had never seen the Tier 2 Contract with his own eyes. He had only heard that after signing it, one would have to work for 10 years at the Honey Pill Shop, and the punishment for failing to complete daily tasks was 100 years of enslavement.
He'd also heard rumors that after signing the Tier 2 Contract, one becomes a second-class citizen of the Fairy race—but today, Lucas had confirmed those rumors.
Now that it was no longer speculation, Kai wasn't sure if he was ready to become a second-class citizen of another race.
That's why he wanted to see the Tier 2 Contract for himself before making any decisions.
Lost in his thoughts, Kai didn't even realize when he arrived at the Candy Complex.
As he entered the lounge, he saw Tony sitting at the dining table, eating.
"Aisha! Can I get a few more veggies here? Kai, you're back—come, come, join me."
Over the past few days, Tony had been in his room recuperating and hadn't set foot outside once. During that time, most of the Self-Healing Bandages had been removed, and aside from his spine, the rest of his bones had either been regrown or reconnected.
"Tony, you look a lot better."
Sitting at the dining table, Kai commented. A few days ago, Tony had looked like a mummy, but now, wearing a plain t-shirt, his old charm was starting to return.
"Of course. I've been focusing on recovering."
Ever since his talk with Kai, Tony had been filled with new hope. He stopped wandering around and spent all his time inside the room, which gave the Self-Healing Bandages more time to work on his injuries.
Wounds that were supposed to take more than a week to heal had recovered in just four days.
"Aisha, shouldn't you be resting?"
Knowing that Tony was doing better, Kai felt happy. However, seeing Aisha working in the kitchen, he couldn't help but ask.
"My injuries weren't like Tony's—where almost every bone in his body was broken, and taking a high-grade healing potion would've risked his life. By the way, thanks for the healing potion."
As she handed Tony some cooked vegetables, Aisha thanked Kai for helping out with the potion, then returned to the kitchen to continue cooking.
Unlike Tony's case, where all his bones were broken in multiple places, taking a high-grade healing potion would have caused the bones to regrow too rapidly—some potentially damaging his internal organs, others even poking out of his body.
Aisha, on the other hand, only had her right shoulder bone broken and suffered some deep muscle cuts. The doctor stitched the wounds, and after taking a Grade 4 healing potion, both the wounds and the bone healed perfectly.
"Kai, would you like dinner now or eat with everyone else?" Aisha asked, sticking her head out of the kitchen.
"Just give it now. I'll eat with Tony."
Seeing Tony enjoy his food made Kai feel a little hungry.
"Big bro, you're back!"
As Kai was waiting for his dinner, Yara came running when she heard his voice. She was having a great day because Orion wasn't at home. Today, she didn't have to study as much as usual.