Chapter Twenty-One: Recruiting Shop Assistants

As for Qi Xiao’s request to purchase the little mushroom, Rocco simply told him to take it away as soon as he left. Otherwise, if Rocco ever moved back into this house, his own mushrooms would most likely get into a fuss over this newly sprouted one.

After consulting Rocco about the mushroom species’ preferences and diet, Qi Xiao brought up his final reason for visiting just before saying goodbye.

“You want me to do custom alchemy for you?”

“Yes, consider it a token of thanks for troubling you for so long—and for buying the little mushroom,” Qi Xiao replied. He had originally intended to frame it as simple gratitude, but, recalling the alchemy supplier system, he shifted his wording to make it seem more like part of the mushroom transaction.

After some back and forth, the two finally agreed that Qi Xiao would help Rocco craft an alchemical headband within a year. The reason for the year-long timeline was that Qi Xiao felt his current alchemy skills were not quite sufficient; ordinary-quality alchemical tools would mean little to a peak-level advanced witch apprentice like Rocco. He planned to wait until he’d grown further before attempting the task.

Three days passed in a flash, filled with rigorous training and study. Qi Xiao bade farewell to the little mushroom, deciding to bring it back to the Bubble Space when he no longer needed it. As for how the little mushroom had come into being, Qi Xiao decided to let Feng relay the story, since Feng’s mentor was none other than the Mushroom Witch herself—a far more suitable messenger than Qi Xiao.

Xilu arrived at the alchemy shop about ten minutes early, only to find four people already waiting at the door. One of them surprised Qi Xiao.

“Yara?”

Yara wore a bright yellow short dress and had her hair tied in a ponytail, giving her a radiant and approachable look. She waved at Qi Xiao with a smile but said nothing more.

Qi Xiao, a bit surprised, greeted her but didn’t dwell on it, opening the door to let the four enter the shop.

Inside, he chatted briefly with the four of them for about ten minutes. Seeing that the appointed time had arrived, he didn’t wait any longer. He invited each of them, one by one, to a small room by the back door to ask a few simple questions.

Most of his questions drew on the experience he’d gained in interviews from his previous life.

It didn’t take long for Qi Xiao to make his selections. After apologetically sending the other two away, he returned to the shop and said with a smile, “I’ll be counting on you both to help run the store. If you need time off or wish to resign, just let me know in advance. If business picks up, I’ll hire more hands so that everyone has more time for training.”

The two standing before him included Yara, whom he’d met at the recruitment fair. It wasn’t favoritism—after all, this job wasn’t exactly a coveted, ironclad position. Yara was simply the best candidate, both in demeanor and appearance.

The other was a muscular, bloodline-side intermediate witch apprentice named Dimot, hired mostly for protection and to handle deliveries.

According to his plan, Qi Xiao knew he’d need to recruit more staff as the business grew—at the very least, to allow for shifts. But for now, newly opened and short on capital, two would suffice.

Dimot was a quiet sort and merely nodded his assent.

Yara, on the other hand, no longer bore the mixed aroma of spices but instead exuded a jasmine-like fragrance. She smiled and said, “Then you’d better work hard at alchemy, boss, so we can earn more and hire more people. That way, I’ll have it easier too.”

After a few lighthearted remarks, Qi Xiao asked curiously, “Since you passed the recruitment fair, you should have a mentor, right? Would your mentor really let you waste your training time working here?”

Yara’s smile faltered, and she replied helplessly, “I joined Blooming Isle, but my mentor isn’t on the island at the moment—seems she’s off hunting some kind of magical beast. Until she returns, I’ll have to make my own way.”

Qi Xiao found this a little odd. Jobs like this were usually only taken by apprentices who’d struggled for years at the bottom and lacked the drive for further breakthroughs. After all, working here left little time for training or studying spells—the two he’d just turned away, and even Dimot, all fit that category. But Yara didn’t seem the type to coast through life. Qi Xiao could only guess she was waiting for her mentor’s return before formally resuming her training, perhaps to avoid going astray.

Sympathetically, Qi Xiao said, “Not much you can do then. Just let me know three days in advance when your mentor returns and you wish to resign.”

He offered a few words of encouragement to both, telling them to come in next Wednesday, as he still needed to prepare a batch of alchemy goods. He assured them their wages would be counted for the five days.

Naturally, the two left in high spirits. Qi Xiao, not lingering either, spent the rest of his magic crystals on raw materials before renting a griffin and flying back to Heartlake Isle.

Though the alchemy room had plenty of resources, Qi Xiao did not intend to use them. After all, they belonged to his mentor, and it was one thing to use them for practice or to craft gear for fellow apprentices from Heartlake Isle, but quite another to use them for his own shop’s sales.

He simply didn’t have the audacity for that.

On the way, he mulled over the future name of his alchemy shop, fretting over his lack of talent for naming things. He regretted not asking Yara for advice earlier.

Once on the island, he greeted Steward Mock and then shut himself away in the alchemy room. The next five days would be arduous, and he could not afford to relax.

Both the Vitality Potion and Hemostatic Potion were beginner-level brews, yet even advanced witch apprentices mostly used these in their daily practice, so there was never a shortage of buyers.

He crafted a bottle of Hemostatic Potion first to get a feel for the process. As long as the main ingredient could replenish blood and energy, it would suffice—most commonly, the bloom of the Bloodthorn, itself a fine alchemical material used in both medicine and weapon forging, while its flowers were more of a byproduct.

The secondary ingredients were mundane, non-magical herbs, making the potion extremely cheap. By his reckoning, Qi Xiao’s skill allowed him to produce each bottle for about two magic crystals, while the market price was generally five, and even higher in special circumstances.

After a brief reflection, he brewed a bottle of Vitality Potion. This one cost more, as it required Glowgrass as the main ingredient, raising the cost to about four magic crystals per potion. Accordingly, the retail price was higher, around seven, but because the brewing process was more complex, the profit margin was less than that of the Hemostatic Potion.

For Qi Xiao, it made little difference. The first few bottles he brewed individually to familiarize himself with the process, then he began brewing in batches. The quality of his finished products was noticeably higher than those commonly found on the market.

At present, he could handle two cauldrons at once—any more, and the risk of failure increased, as did the likelihood of reduced quality, which would not be worth it.

Qi Xiao settled into a rhythm of eating, brewing, and meditating—a simple, three-point cycle. Watching him, Raymond was both awed and fearful, developing a sense of reverence for Qi Xiao. He dreaded that Midiel would ask him to learn from this new junior, so he kept his distance, dragging Eve off to fish by the lake instead.