Cthulhu Gonfalon

Arcaian Pasteur, male, half elf, nineteen years old, was a fourth generation descendant in Pasteur alchemy school.

What was passed on was the first cheese that was made in human history. His great grandfather, Clarhott Pasteur, could easily research the origins of Pasteur school.

Clarhott Pasteur thought that there was a great spiritual energy that manipulated each microorganism’s decomposition activity, and maintained the resolve of the world. He called it the “ash of eternal decay.” By thinking through the “ash of eternal decay,” he developed a unique alchemy technique, and used it in fermentation and medicine. He then became an honorable alchemist.

The Pasteur family was an important branch of Ancient Forest Druid, and consistently passed down the Druid’s profession. Druids upheld the motto “respect nature, revere nature, comply with nature.” So alchemists that got aid from the power of magic to twist nature were simply committing heresy, and should have been killed. Parts of the Pasteur family who betrayed Druid’s noble beliefs were heavily criticized by Buddy Buress, Arch-Druid’s “Orc Judge.” So, they had to constantly be on the move to avoid his chase.

Not long ago, Arcaian’s father, Teula Pasteur, had an accident during an experiment. Not only was he severely injured, but his spore forest, “Sea of Rot,” was damaged and exposed their tracks. Unless his descendants contributed greatly to the forest, or the forest encountered a huge danger that required his power, he would be ice-bound within, and never freed.

Tuela knew that as a tracked down target of an Arch-Druid, he wouldn’t be able to run loose. So, before he was arrested, he arranged for his son Arcaian to flee and seek shelter from a good friend that he had known when he was young, Master Tyrian. Who would have guessed that Master Tyrian had passed away long ago? If he didn’t bring up the Pasteur family while he was still alive and exhort Wendy to help when she had a chance to, Teula might have died miserably in the piece of flower sea; outside the magic tower that looked beautiful, but in reality, was danger ridden.

“This person is very capable,” Wendy emphasized to Sui Xiong. “Very capable indeed! The alchemy technique that was passed down in his family has its profundity. It is entirely different from the standard alchemy techniques that I know of. I think, he could definitely be your right hand man!”

Sui Xiong received Arcaian with curiosity. Although the half elf was almost twenty years old, he looked like a teen that was only twelve. He looked very delicate and young; pretty short too. Standing together with a young girl, Slime, he wasn’t any taller than her. He couldn’t do much about it. As a person with mixed blood, it was common to find those that were delayed in maturity among half elves. Even though his intelligence was similar to adults, his appearance was like a young child’s. According to Wendy’s calculation, it would require at least fifty years for him to develop adult features.

Although his father was arrested and sentenced, Arcaian did not hate the Orc judge. He was young and innocent, and only wanted to established a great achievement soon, in order to convince the Arch-Druid to recognize the Pasteur school and release his father.

“Your Majesty Void Mask, I earnestly request you take me in. I will be at your service with my alchemy techniques and I believe I would definitely be beneficial to you,” Arcaian said politely. “Of course, if you need me to, I could also fight your battle as a Druid. But battle is not my specialty. Compared to those professional battle masters, my ability is weak.”

Sui Xiong couldn’t help but laugh. His church lacked human resources; how could he be choosy? Don’t forget the fact that Arcaian was an alchemist that Wendy praised highly. Such talent; he wished he could welcome him sooner!

“Then… Master Arcaian, I would like to ask. What you are best at; which kind of alchemy techniques?” He smiled. “Medicine making? Enchantment? Substance transformation?”

“I can do all that,” Arcaian said. He displayed confidence on his immature face. “Through research and application, the Pasteur school developed alchemy techniques that uses microorganisms—also known as bacterium or fungi— as main tool. The method that I use is different than other alchemists; but other than that, I can do everything that others can do.

Sui Xiong was thrilled and asked, “Can you develop medicine?”

“Of course,” Arcaian answered confidently, but added, “But the skill of Pasteur school is not compatible with the classic school of Master Tyrian’s. If I were to assist Miss Wendy, I’m afraid I would cause more trouble than help.

Sui Xiong was stunned and felt regretful.

He originally thought Arcaian’s help would increase the speed of Wendy’s medicinal research, and allow her to develop it much faster. He didn’t expect the situation to be as such.

He pondered. What can I ask from an alchemist who is good in using bacterium and fungus, to fully utilize him?

After a while, he suddenly had an idea and asked, “You said that you are good in researching and using bacterium?”

“…You can say so.”

“Then, do you know of mushrooms?” Yao Xun asked enthusiastically. “Mushrooms are considered a kind of fungus, right?”

Arcaian nodded. “That’s right, mushrooms are one of the most common fungi. There are six branches in total, and nine types of commonly found subspecies. More than half of them are highly poisonous and only fourteen of them are poison free and could be eaten safely. They are-”

“Chop chop!” Sui Xiong quickly stopped him from explaining and asked straightaway, “Do you know any mushroom that can grow in the northwest Ashes Woods?”

Arcaian was stunned and thought carefully for a long time. He then answered with hesitation, “Such a mushroom… Technically speaking, there should be.”

“What do you mean by ‘technically’?” Sui Xiong asked doubtfully.

“Mushrooms are good at adjusting themselves according to change. Its ability to adapt to a living environment is very strong. From what I understood, even Shadow Kingdom and Dead Soul Kingdom have mushrooms growing. Although I don’t have any impression of mushroom types in Ashes Woods, I’m sure those mushrooms that could grow in Shadow Kingdom and Dead Soul Kingdom could grow even better in the Ashes Woods.”

Sui Xiong smiled. This is good news!

“Then, this kind of mushroom; do you keep it?”

“Of course. In the independent space that is passed down in Pasteur School, there are almost all the kinds of mushrooms in the known world. Though the ‘sea of rot’ that was used to culture new species is no longer there, and the cultivation of new species was hindered; finding a suitable one in the known species took up a lot of time.”

So, Sui Xiong delegated the task to Arcaian; to have him find mushrooms that could grow in Shadow Kingdom and Dead Soul Kingdom, and transfer them to the Ashes Woods as soon as possible.

Such a task, of course, couldn’t be done in Tyrian’s magic tower. So Sui Xiong had no choice but to expend his energy and build another transportation portal that could transfer long distances, so that Arcaian could be transferred to the Ashes Woods.

Who would have guessed that due to the fact that Arcaian had been living in Ancient Forest that was warm all year round, he wouldn’t be able to adapt to the cold weather in the north? Once he got to the Ashes Woods, he was frozen. He sneezed constantly and fell ill. Luckily, even thought Sui Xiong was weak, he could heal sickness too. So, the high-level intellectual avoided the life-threatening result of generating light and heat.

In order to let Arcaian live a better life, he was provided with a stable research environment. Sui Xiong discussed the details with him and built him a simple “magic tower.”

The “magic tower” was actually a basement with total of five floors. The building structure above the ground was to store miscellaneous items while the floor underground was to store useful consumable items. The second floor was a meeting room, the third floor was a living room, and fourth and fifth floor were alchemy workrooms for research and cultivation.

Compared to the cold on the ground, underground it was comparatively warmer. Three floors underground, even Arcaian who was afraid of the cold could live comfortably. He didn’t require any extra measures to keep warm.

The fourth and fifth floors underground used a strong purification array to separate them. The inner purification array blocked off the negative energy completely to cultivate normal mushrooms. At the same time, it was also used to ensure his safety. The fifth floor, which was located out of the purification array, was used to cultivate mushrooms that could grow in environments with strong negative energy, to complete the task given by Sui Xiong.

Arcaian’s research progress was decent. After a week’s time, he found a mushroom that was able to grow under strong negative energy in the Ashes Woods.

Regrettably, that type of mushroom was similar to most of the mushrooms in the world, which was favored the warm and feared the cold. To let them grow normally, they required a warm environment.

“Temperature is not a problem. It just requires digging an underground basement, or manual heating; very simple,” Sui Xiong said, receiving the report. Sui Xiong immediately rushed over to Arcaian in the alchemy workroom. Looking at the black mushrooms that were growing healthy and strong under negative environment on the fifth floors underground, he showed his satisfied smile.

After he smiled, he asked, “How’s the taste of the mushrooms?”

Arcaian stunned; he asked in shock, after a while, “You want to eat it?!”

“Of course I want to eat it,” Sui Xiong said naturally, in return. “If it isn’t for eating, what am I planting it for?”

“Arcaian was shocked. “Is it not for poison making?”

“How fresh! Making poison with so much effort?! How boring would I be to do such things!”

Dealing with Sui Xiong’s wanting to eat mushrooms as something in line with the principles of heaven and earth—but seeing making poison with them ridiculous— Arcaian felt upset. He thought the brain that he had been bragging about was inadequate. He spent a long time organizing his thoughts and finally cleared his mind.

“Your Majesty, why would you think that things that are grown in such negative environment could be used practically?” His voice got louder and clearer. “They are poisonous! And highly poisonous!”

Sui Xiong suddenly lost interest and waved its tentacles. “It can’t be eaten. What use do I have of it? I want mushroom that can be eaten.”

“How could edible mushrooms grow in such a negative environment!” Arcaian suddenly blushed as though he were humiliated. “Are you playing me for a fool?!”

When he saw that Arcaian was angry, Sui Xiong felt embarrassed and smiled. Then he did some explaining.

“You are looking for mushrooms that can be eaten, that could also propagate themselves in the Ashes Woods to let your believers work the land?” Arcaian blinked and pondered for a long while. He couldn’t understand Sui Xiong’s bizarre thought. “A mushroom farm?”

“That’s right; a mushroom farm,” Sui Xiong nodded. “Who says one can only farm paddies and vegetables? Mushrooms could do, too!”

Filled with confusion and doubt, Arcaian got back to work according Sui Xiong’s arrangement…