Above The Sky
Chapter 148 - 148 137 Not a Special Day

148: Chapter 137 Not a Special Day 148: Chapter 137 Not a Special Day Terra 768, November 25th, Afternoon.

New City District.

After two years of construction, the New City District of Harrison Port had gradually taken shape.

A sturdy stone bridge spanned the ceaselessly flowing river, reflecting the pale golden shimmer of the waves.

Located on the east side of the Ivoke River, next to the cross-river bridge, the large Alchemy Workshop at the district’s center had white walls and golden eaves, standing five stories tall, it was the only building in all of Harrison Port that towered higher than the Viscount’s Mansion.

Such uniqueness naturally had its purpose.

The lightning rod atop the Alchemy Workshop could harness the abundant thunderstorms of South Ridge for its own use, charging the large elemental core within the workshop, thus becoming the second energy furnace core in town.

It was for this reason that the efficiency of metal smelting and casting craftsmen in Harrison Port had nearly doubled, and the output of various alchemy materials and inscription facilities had also increased significantly.

Encircling this large Alchemy Workshop were a series of related production facilities, such as the nearby ore-processing plant and wax workshop, the kiln factory, and the stone masonry workshop.

Further out, there was the paper mill and the Alchemical Inscription Research Institute, which Viscount Harrison built at great expense…

Although termed a research institute, it was essentially a small library containing some basic books on Alchemy and Inscriptions.

It might suffice for entry-level teaching, but nothing more advanced.

After all, no scholars would come to the edge of the world like Harrison Port to conduct their academic research at present.

However, such an institute was essential and needed continuous increased investment yearly, otherwise, when the time came and it was urgently needed, hastily setting one up would be far too late.

Viscount Grant indeed was a noble who had far-sighted ambitions, determination, perseverance, willing to make sacrifices, and refrained from indulging in pleasures outside of those not related to women.

His only flaw might be that he was not particularly averse to those involving men, and his taxes were not low.

Even further out, there was the large textile mill, flour mill, and sawmill that utilized the surging waters of the Ivoke River as well as an expensive outer-city reservoir.

Despite Harrison Port being located by the river and the sea, clean water resources, suitable for Alchemy demands, were challenging to obtain.

Thanks to this large reservoir and investments from several merchants from the Imperial Capital, the small brewery of the Gil Family quickly upgraded to a medium-sized factory, and a public bathhouse also emerged from the ground as a result.

The other public facilities that should have been built a long time ago only came to be because, for decades, Harrison Port was locked in a struggle with the natives for control over the Ivoke River.

With neither side able to secure control, the Viscount naturally would not be mad enough to build mills and sawmills that could easily be destroyed.

For a riverside city not to construct water management facilities was an immense loss of productivity.

It’s no wonder that after defeating the natives, Viscount Grant’s first thoughts were to build a New City District and make up for these facilities.

Two years was not a long time, and these facilities were not entirely finished.

For instance, the ore-processing plant and stone masonry workshop had just been framed, and the bathhouse had only just been completed.

It was estimated that it would still take another two weeks before it could come into use.

But regardless, the days for the residents of Harrison Port were getting better and better—even rumors said that the old city district in the east, where not many people lived, was also starting to be redeveloped.

It would become a new market area, and both a theater and a public clinic would be built there.

If all this were true, Viscount Grant could proudly declare that everything his father had promised all immigrants of The Empire—a port at the edge of the world, yet with living conditions comparable to the heart of the Imperial Capital—would all be realized under his hands!

Located next to the Blacksmith Shop and paper mill was a small building.

[White Chamber Grocery]

A young man of the White Folks, draped in a white robe, slowly stepped out of the main entrance of the shop, surveying his surroundings.

He was dressed in a black hooded short jacket with his long white hair braided into a simple twist.

The sunlight, filtering through the thin clouds, shone upon him and the building, bringing the warmth of late autumn.

For South Ridge, the four seasons were not distinct; even the coldest days of winter couldn’t bring the temperature below ten degrees.

Typically, the climate stayed between fifteen and twenty degrees but if cold air from the Bison Mountain Range surged down, it could bring the temperature near zero around the mountain areas.

“Seems like there are no customers left.”

Mumbling to himself, Ian was not surprised.

After all, who would idly come to an obscure corner of the New City District to buy general goods?

The ones who did come were introduced, seeking his use of Spirit Energy for item appraisal.

Such clients obviously didn’t come every day…

Rather, speaking of objects that could only be reassured by using Spirit Energy and professional appraisals, how many could there be in a week?

Once he was certain that there were no customers, the young man turned around, ready to tidy up and then head home.

The shop sells everyday items, such as herbs for detoxifying and cooling, buckets, tile basins, long ropes, fine nets, and the like, and occasionally Ian would add his own little creations, like uncertified cheap alchemy matrices and raw materials, as well as theoretically waterproof underwater goggles.

Apart from the major customers seeking appraisal, some craftsmen eager to practice alchemy would also come here to purchase materials.

While Ian’s self-made materials may not meet official standards, they are of consistent quality, the only downside being their limited quantity.

What needed tidying wasn’t the shelves themselves, as there would be people from the city hall to take care of that.

Ian went straight upstairs.

The second floor had no compartments or walls except for a few load-bearing columns.

It was completely open, and several rows of wooden planks were nailed to the walls, with rows of bottles and jars secured in wooden frames.

Clean glass bottles contained colorful catalytic bases and alchemy materials, as well as some basic finished products.

At the center of the room stood a large workbench.

Although the workbench was sparse – with a few books and notes, and some simple purification and synthesis instruments, and nothing else – it was far from those of real alchemists, who have workbenches filled with expensive devices like vacuum distillation equipment and metal pulverizers.

But this was an attitude.

An attitude that Harrison Port would go all out to cultivate a genuine alchemist of their own.

In Viscount Grant’s view, Ian’s Spirit Energy could detect the Mountain Master’s weaknesses and assist the youth in clearly observing every detail of the alchemy process – after Elder Prude demonstrated the youth’s ability to ‘replicate the entire alchemy process after just one observation,’ a double talent in Spirit Energy and alchemy, the nobleman hardly hesitated to decide to nurture Ian.

The research library in Harrison Port was completely accessible to him; he could borrow and copy freely, and the alchemy workshop was fully available for his visits.

In return, Ian would serve Harrison Port for fifteen years after becoming a formal alchemist and also become an appraiser under Viscount Grant.

Viscount Grant now, thanks to the rapid development of Harrison Port, had a greater ‘capacity’ for various talents.

The growth and prosperity of the White Folks was his growth and prosperity as well.

The sun was gradually setting.

The cool breeze of the autumn and winter dry season blew in through the window.

After Ian finished tidying his books and notes, he looked up at the clouds outside the window – at the distant place where the sea and sky met, a majestic mountain of clouds stood tall at the zenith, its summit bathed in a layer of golden hue by the sunset.

“No rain, no storm, that’s good weather.”

Nodding slightly, Ian closed the window.

He went downstairs, locked the shop door, and then headed home.

No one with any sense would steal in the New City District, where the city guards occasionally patrol, especially with the gallows next to the stone bridge.

Although it was rarely occupied, it served as something of a deterrent.

Overall, there was no special news today.

The fleet had not yet returned, hunters and herbalists had not dug up or caught anything precious in the mountains, and there was no major news.

The biggest excitement of the past week involved an out-of-town adventurer who was bitten on the lower body by a local fish in South Ridge.

He insisted it was an accident after diving, a mistake one makes due to being too young, but everyone knew what he had done.

No, actually, for Ian, today was a slightly special day after all.

Because he had just completed his first Magic Potion independently.

The ‘True Form of the Wave Singer’ Magic Potion.