Chapter 193 – Challenge for Herb
"It's finished." Another Cultivator came from the backrooms with a special crystal that can project Herbs and Flowers.
The old Cultivator was about to strangle this stupid Young Miss, but he had to stop; otherwise his career would be over.
*Cough*
"Please place it here so we can start." The old Cultivator smiled gently and gestured to his colleague.
"Here." His Colleague placed it and set it up, so others couldn't steal it.
"Thank you." The old Cultivator thanked him and his colleague left after a nod.
"The first round is to identify 100 basic Herbs." The old Cultivator smiled, since he finally had a way to get back at this stupid Young Miss.
"The first flower-" He didn't say Herb on purpose to further ridicule her, which made the peanut gallery quite angry, but before they could step in the little Young Miss already interrupted him.
"That's a Singing Sparrow." Aiko simply answered after first glance. "It's used to treat throat injuries and works especially well on the vocal cords." She also stated its most basic use.
"Ah, by the way. That's a Herb, not a flower." Aiko shook her head at him. "Are you sure you are qualified for this kind of work?" Aiko questioned him with ridicule.
His face burned red from this and he really wanted to slap this stupid brat, but he noticed the peanut gallery; especially in one corner some Sword Cultivators were sharpening their blades while exchanging glances with the old Cultivator.
He gulped. "You are correct. This is indeed a Singing Sparrow. The next one-"
"Morning Bell. Good for repairing crushed bones. Next." Aiko immediately answered and didn't let him approve her answer.
She simply knew that she was right.
The old Cultivator's lips twitched. "You are correct." He didn't try to introduce the next Herb, since this Young Miss seemed a bit too zealous.
The Peanut gallery was at first doubtful and only came here to cheer her on and soothe the Young Miss when she lost miserably. But soon they stopped munching on nuts since they were left speechless at her conduct and fast responses.
Especially for Alchemy practitioners, they were left dumbfounded at the sheer speed and accuracy of someone so much younger than they were...
The old Cultivator sweated, since this Young Miss was much faster in answering than he was in verifying. While he knew most Herbs, there were also a few that he didn't know, so he had to go to the backrooms to confirm them...
The last Herb was easy, but his Master told him that it was just as easy to get wrong since there were several nearly identical Herbs.
He smirked, maybe this one this stupid Young Miss would fail.
"That is a mature Blood Sky Herb-" Aiko said it and the old Cultivator wanted to interrupt her.
"Keep quiet." Aiko cussed at him and he was startled.
"That could also be a sprout of the Blazing Lotus Spiritual Herb or a mutated version of the Dawning River Herb." Aiko snorted at him.
"If you want to interrupt someone, make sure they finished what they wanted to say." Aiko huffed at him in annoyance, no way in hell will she be outdone by this jackass!
The old Cultivator choked and glared at her.
"I already told you what it can be, they are very similar and could be distinguished safely only by smell, am I right, guys?" Aiko asked the peanut gallery.
A few of them shouted back. "Yeah!"
But that was enough for others to join them and there was uproar in the store.
"Now if you want to fail me, jackass, make sure that you do it in a way that doesn't expose you." Aiko snorted at him, as if revealing the big truth.
All eyes strained on the old Cultivator and a shiver went down his spine since some of them also took this challenge.
"I will ask about this..." The old Cultivator shivered and ran to the backroom.
"Hmpf." Aiko snorted and there were cheers behind her.
Quite a few made it past the first part of the challenge, but none of them made it so quickly like this Young Miss.
Some of them were naturally pissed at her arrogance, but since they were in the minority and didn't want to eat dirt, they kept their mouths shuts.
...
The old Cultivator returned with the Manager.
"Who are you?" He asked the Young Miss.
"Just someone who is interested in Herbs." Aiko smiled gently, but the Manager had an odd and sinister feeling from that smile.
"Do you have a Master?" The Manager asked another question, hoping he could take her in and prevent her from taking the Six-Coloured Blazing Lotus.
Aiko thought about it for a moment. "I do." Mei was somewhat like a teacher, so she didn't mind promoting her to Master.
The Manager's face had momentarily distorted. He looked at the Herb and said. "You were correct."
Cheers spread through the shop, deafening everyone.
Aiko especially didn't like this since she had sensitive senses. She clicked her tongue and vowed she wouldn't attract so much attention next time...
"There are 2 more stages. In the next one you have 'intermediate' Herbs, you have to identify 100 of those." The Manager explained.
"The last stage is the 'expert' Herbs, you will have to identify 20 of those." The Manager smirked, the last stage was pretty much impossible since it had a lot of already extinct Herbs.
"Sure, let's get on it." Aiko smiled gently, she wouldn't be outdone now.
...
Aiko was able to pass the second stage up to the 80 Herb, when issues arose.
"That is not correct." The Manager said.
"Bullshit!" Aiko slapped the table. "While it can be the Frostforn Ice Herb, it's more likely to be the Evergreen Poison Ivy!" Aiko spat at him.
"You should've said it sooner, but your previous answer is incorrect." The Manager said with a smirk.
"Hah." Aiko stared at him with ridicule. "Bring me those two herbs and I can demonstrate how wrong you are." Aiko shook her head.
"No wonder nobody won this, since your knowledge is so shallow you can't even comprehend when someone is right." She didn't forget to ridicule their system to make herself more credible.
"You have still-" The Manager tried to sway the spectators to his side, but Aiko interrupted him.
*Sigh*
"Seriously, you don't have to be ashamed to not even know these basic herbs, you should just embrace learning~!" Aiko almost vomited in the latter part, but persevered. "The more you know, the less poisoned you will get when moving Herbs, am I right guys?"
"YEEEEAH!" Pretty much everyone agreed with her this time, since almost everyone got poisoned at least once over their span of harvesting Herbs and some were still dealing with the after-effects from unknowingly mishandling herbs.
"See? There is nothing to be ashamed of admitting that you were wrong." Aiko smiled gently like she was saying and the peanut gallery laughed at the Manager.
"Bring the Herbs!" He was really upset, but if they caused another commotion, his guest would leave, and report this mess. Which would cause huge losses for the Herb Garden...
They brought both of those Herbs, but they looked a lot different from what was in the image.
"This one is a bit over-mature, it's not at the seed stage yet, but you won't get the full effect." Aiko explained to the confused part of the peanut gallery.
"She is right..." Another old Cultivator nodded with wide eyes. At first, he believed that this Young Miss was just lucky, but since she knew this, it was impossible to say it was just luck...
Aiko smiled softly. "This one is very young, much younger-" Aiko said gently and the Manager smirked, most spectators scoffed at him.
The Manager did not realise he was tarnishing his shop's reputation and believed that they were scoffing at the Young Miss.
"But it will still work." Aiko giggled, seeing his unsightly expression.
"How do you plan to do that?" The Manager shook his head. "If you ruin it you will pay for it."
One Herb cost around 5,000 Spirit Stones, so it was not light spending...
"Simple." Aiko shrugged and pulled out a Spirit Crystal.
The room immediately went silent.
One Spirit Crystal was worth around a million Spirit Stones, but even at that rate, nobody would be willing to exchange it since Spirit Crystals were a lot more precious than Spirit Stones.
The Manager choked. "Are you trying to bribe me?"
"Are you stupid?" Aiko recoiled from his gaze. "If you don't know why others don't want to exchange Spirit Crystals, then you should keep watching." Aiko snorted at him coldly.
She placed the Spirit Crystal near the Evergreen Poison Ivy. At first, nothing happened, but soon the magic manifested itself.
The Evergreen Poison Ivy was slowly transforming until it turned similar to the Frostforn Ice Herb.
The peanut gallery froze alongside the Manager. They couldn't believe their eyes.
Didn't that mean that possibly every Frostforn Ice Herb that was supposed to help cool their internal heat could be an Evergreen Poison Ivy, which causes unbearable pain from the poisoning and, if weak enough, even death?
They shivered at that thought.
"See?" Aiko stored the Spirit Crystal while they were still left stunned.
The Manager didn't know what to say, when a gentle voice drifted into the room.
"What's wrong, Manager Fu?" A beautiful girl with dragon horns and a noticeable tail with a sharp tip appeared from the backrooms.
Her body was slender and on her shoulders and certain parts of her body were covered in scales. She had burning Dragon Eyes that attracted a lot of attention, but that didn't diminish her gentle appearance. She had a small nose, but normal slightly red lips. Her hair was green, yet her scales were a mixture of black and royal red. It was a strange yet alluring combination.
The Dragoness's dress was very simple and easy to move in, but it still highlighted her slim body and not-so-slim chest...
Aiko noticed her some time ago, but she didn't alert her. Now that she was here, she could raise her issue.
"He is trying to scam me! I deserve the Six-Coloured Blazing Lotus!" Aiko pouted cutely.
The Manager choked when he saw her change her expression.
"She is trying to frame me!" Manager Fu tried to defend himself.
"Bullshit! You tried to scam her and possibly even scammed us, yet you don't dare to admit it?!" The old Cultivator that previously defended the little Young Miss stepped in. "You are a shameless bastard! It makes my stomach churn to know that we are basically the same age category!" He spat on the floor in disdain.
Manager Fu was left speechless and he didn't know what to say.
"Manager Fu?" The Dragoness asked.
