“It’s changed quite a bit since the last time I was here,” Chop noted as he looked up at the towering gate, shielding his eyes from the sun.

  “How so?” Eik asked as he handed over his credentials to the gate guard.

  “Well, for starters, it’s a lot bigger now than back then.”

  “I take it you came here a lot then?” Eik dismissed the frantic bowing of the gate guard with a nonchalant wave. Recently, people just would not stop bowing to him the moment they fount out who he was anywhere he went. It was a little awkward and he seldom knew how to respond.

  “Oh, yes!” Chop said and followed the Earthling through the entrance. “My daughter used to do quite a lot of business with them so I would come here with her when I wasn’t too busy myself.”

  “Is that the last time you came?”

  “Nah, I’ve been a few times since she, uhm… Well, I think the last time would have been about a couple of hundred years ago?”

  “A couple of hundred…” Eik trailed off, the reality of that hitting him like a sledgehammer. “So the last time you paid a visit to the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh was somewhere around the time my world was starting to get a grip on modern technology… Odin’s beard…”

  “Eik.” Flanked by four aides, one of whom seemed poised to catch his master should he stumble, master of the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh, Ganyak hir Gawak lifted a hand in greeting as he approached.

  “Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak,” Eik said with a bow. “You didn’t have to come all the way here. Think of your health. I could have handled this on my own. Not to mention, I’m sure Aohan is going to come running any time n—”

  “Mr. Magnasen!” a voice cried from a distant turn down the hall. “Mr. Magnasen! Please notify me well ahead of any future visits so I can have some time to prepare to receive you properly!” Aohan complained, his voice, weighed down by ragged breathing, growing louder as he approached and finally appeared at the turn, robes flowing about his body.

  “Sorry, man,” Eik said with a smile.

  “Goodness, must you always do this to m—” Aohan skidded to a stop just as he came rushing into the entry hall where Eik, Chop, Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak, and the four aides stood. “Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak. I didn’t realize you had already…” he trailed off.

  “Yes, I am already here, for the same reason as you, I believe. To greet our precious guest. No?”

  “Ah, yes, that’s correct. The moment I was informed of his arrival I dropped everything.”

  It had been no more than a couple of minutes since Eik and Chop were admitted onto the premises. Were these guys waiting for him like horses in their booths before a major race or something?

  “So we are of one mind then, dear Aohan,” the guild master chuckled. “Now, may I inquire about the purpose of your visit to the Alchemist Guild today, Eik? If you’re looking to sell more pills through us, I’ll send for Ma—”

  “No, no, that won’t be necessary,” Eik interrupted. “I’m actually here to request your help.”

  “Oh?” Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak uttered. “That is certainly new. We’d be happy to help if it is something we’re capable of assisting with.”

  Eik collected his thoughts for a moment before speaking. “I was hoping to hire a few of your skilled guys to help me develop a recipe for a grade 6 Potion of Mighty, uuh… No, actually, you know what, before any of that, you wouldn’t happen to have a recipe for a grade 6 Potion of Mighty Strength lying around here somewhere, would you?”

  Ganyak hir Gawak shook his head. “I apologize, but unfortunately the guild does not have the rights to hand over anything like that. And I doubt you will find anybody who does who is also willing to sell. Recipes like that can support a whole company on their own, as I’m sure you’ve discovered as well.”

  Eik sucked his teeth. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. In that case, as for my original request, do you have a few of your good guys to spare? As it turns out, I’m not much of an alchemist when it comes down to it, so I could really use some help to develop a recipe of my own. I’m fine when it’s just about following the instructions from a recipe book, but actually understanding the theories and basic magical science involved in the process is something I’m just not capable of at my current level of knowledge and experience.”

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  The guild master chewed on it for a few seconds while Aohan looked ready to jump out of his skin to approve it. “I will find the people you’re asking for. But know that this will not be an inexpensive affair for you, Eik. Not at all.”

  “That is of no consequence,” Eik assured him. “I already have…” he drawled and glanced at Chop.

  “A lot,” the old man interjected.

  “A lot… of materials. And if they turn out to be no good, then I will happily inject whatever amount of money is necessary to source more, including going hunting myself.”

  Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak nodded, the shadow of a smile flashing across his lips. “I thought so. And I must apologize,” he said and turned to Chop. “I believe I have behaved rudely in failing to introduce myself. I am the guild master of the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh. The name is Ganyak hir Gawak. And excuse me but… I must say that your face is awfully familiar. Could it be that we have met before?”

  Chop tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes as he studied the guild master’s face. “Mmmh, I don’t know, lad. What did you say your name was?” The four aides flanking the guild master did not look pleased with the overly familiar way Chop was speaking to their master.

  “Ganyak hir Gawak,” he repeated.

  “Ganyak hir Gawak… Ganyak… Gawak…” the X-ranker muttered as he scratched his chin. “Ah! Say, how old are you, lad?”

  “You cannot just speak to the guild master in such a mann—”

  “That’s all right, Jarice,” the master cut in. “I don’t mind. And to answer your question, I am two hundred and thirteen years old, if I remember correctly.”

  Chop’s eyes narrowed further. “How long have you been here at the guild?”

  “Well, ever since I was a young boy. My father got me an apprenticeship here. Worked hard to get me in too.” There was pride in the old man’s voice.

  “Oh, you’re that little boy! You used to follow around Senior Director Millahau like a little lost puppy, didn’t you?” Chop suddenly laughed. “So that kid managed to climb all the way to the top, eh? Good on ya, lad.” Chop thumped the guild master in the back, eliciting a sharp cough. But if a cough was all it caused, then the X-ranker was holding back to an extreme degree.

  “What are you doing?” the aide named Jarice snarled and grabbed Chop by the wrist, yanking it hard. Or, more precisely, he tried to yank Chop’s arm away. In reality, the aide’s attempt was more akin to a raccoon pulling on the roots of a Canadian redwood. Futile.

  “I’m sorry, boy,” Chop said without a glance at the aide as he pulled a pill from his bag of holding and dusted it off with his jacket before placing it in Ganyak hir Gawak’s palm. “This should make you feel better.”

  “You can’t take that, Guild Master,” Jarice warned. “We don’t know—”

  “Calm down, Jarice,” came the quiet reproach as Ganyak hir Gawak’s hand lit up around the pill. “This is… Where did you get this, sir? It is no poison—of that I am certain—but it’s-it’s powerful.”

  “Can’t remember. I have all kinds of stuff laying around,” Chop said with a shrug.

  Throwing it back without hesitation, the guild master gummed it briefly before swallowing. “Mmh, fruity,” he muttered. Then he perked up with energy, his skin rapidly shifting to a much healthier hue. “Goodness, what an effect. Quick and clean. Truly the work of an expert. May I know the name of its creator?”

  “Yes, but I can’t answer. I can’t remember, as I mentioned.”

  “Oh,” the guild master mumbled, drooping visibly. “I thought…”

  “He doesn’t really seem to joke about that,” Eik broke in. “Selective memory, it seems.”

  “Watch it,” Chop grumbled.

  Ganyak hir Gawak smiled softly. “But I’m afraid I am still unable to recall you. Seeing as you’re calling me boy, could it be that you were my senior apprentice back then?”

  “Apprentice?” Chop repeated with a snort. “No, no, I could never do delicate work like that. No, I was a customer.”

  “Hoh? We must be around the same age, so perhaps you helped out your father?”

  Chop laughed good-naturedly. “No, not exactly. I would have looked very much like I do now, I assure you.”

  For a moment, the old guild master was at a loss for words, his face revealing the deduction process happening inside his mind. “I— Uuh, could you… Wh-What was your name, sir?” Ganyak hir Gawak suddenly looked exceedingly uncomfortable in his own skin.

  Chop pursed his lips as he attempted to recall the, to him, mundane scene from a hundred years before. “Well, I can’t quite remember what alias I used at the time, but you might know me best by my moniker, Chop the Blade.”

  “Chop the…” the guild master trailed off as the blood drained from his face. Jarice took a few steps back, appearing to suddenly regret having gotten physical with the old X-ranker. Aohan looked ready to keel over on his feet.

  Everybody had heard of the X-ranker’s appearance on Earth at this point, but few would have expected such a mythical monster to be tagging along on some random errand into town. Before meeting one, it was difficult not to think of them as something completely separate from everybody else. Like a natural disaster or some manner of unfeeling, celestial entity.

  And along such a train of thought, anyone would obviously know that they were facing an elevated entity the moment they laid eyes on them. It made no sense that a wrinkly, old raisin like this was among the most powerful beings in the combined cosmos.

  “Please forgive us!” came the surprising apology from Aohan instead of Ganyak hir Gawak. “If we had known that you were the… the Chop the Blade, we would have greeted you with a—”

  “No need,” Chop said with a raised hand. “I don’t want any more attention than I’ve been getting already. In fact, keep it quiet, will ya?”

  “Ce-Certainly!” Aohan yelped, looking ready to drop to his knees in a mix of fear and reverence. The others nodded along.

  “Well,” the guild master said, unable to stop glancing at Chop. “we can definitely help you find a few people to figure out the recipe for you. We have excellent analyzers here at the guild who can determine the properties of the materials and, if you have a sample of the potion you want, attempt to reverse engineer it.”

  “I will get you those potions to analyze!” Eik promised.

  “Great. Do you have time to go and find some people now? Do you have other plans today?”

  “I can reserve a couple of hours for you. But I can’t stay all day,” Eik said. “Today is the day I start assembling a group under my direct command.”

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