Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Ten thousand threads of virulent poison poured out of the tablet and infiltrated Sorin's body. They filled his blood, his bones, and his flesh before working their way into his spirit and wrapping it tightly with poisonous shackles.

Sorin knew the moment the oath was completed that breaking the rules of the apothecary division would be extremely dangerous for even the inheritor of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon. Yet, at the same time, he felt those shackles begin to weaken. His combined divinity and corruption had begun to erode them, and even the Divine Bone Rot seemed to take issue with them and attack them with vigor.

This was to say that Sorin couldn't currently divulge his clan's secrets but would be able to do so in the future. This opened several underhanded options that could be used in negotiations.

That said, Sorin wasn't an ungrateful person. His adherence to the rules would largely depend on how the Kepler Clan treated him; specifically, it would depend on how Elder Calvin treated him.

"See? Easy as pie?" said Elder Calvin once Sorin retrieved his hand. "I'm a pretty trusting person and personally couldn't care less about all this oath business. Unfortunately, my hands are tied; The Rosair Branch likes to run a tight ship and hates it when there are leaks.

"Anyway, where was I again?"

"You were going to tell me about the clan's cultivation methods and some basic skills and incantations," said Sorin.

"Right!" said Elder Calvin, smacking his forehead. "Not that you'll need the cultivation method, as yours is the most overbearing one we've got. I've never seen a better cultivation method for an apothecary than the Ten Thousand Poison Canon."

"You mentioned that earlier," said Sorin. "Who was the latest wielder, if I might ask?"

"That… well, let's not talk about that for now," said Elder Calvin. "Instead, let's talk about the basics.

"Here at the poison workshop, we have two types of people: clan members and affiliated apothecaries. The affiliated apothecaries cultivate whatever technique they obtain outside the clan, and their success rate is usually lower. Clan members largely practice the Five Poisons Mana Tempering Art. It's a dangerous art to learn and lethal in many cases. But apart from the Ten Thousand Poison Canon, which can only be cultivated by a single person, it's the best poison cultivation art we've got. I'd even go so far as to say that it's the best poison cultivation art on the entire continent."

Sorin was a little confused by the assertion that the Five Poisons Mana Tempering Art could be lethal. After all, he practiced the Ten Thousand Poison Canon and was, therefore, in possession of its inferior subsidiary art.

Compared to the Ten Thousand Poison Canon, cultivators of the Five Poisons Mana Tempering Art encountered negligible danger. The only weakness of the art was the Ten Thousand Poison Canon. It had a master-servant relationship, meaning that whoever practiced the art would become subservient to practitioners of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon.

"The Five Poisons Mana Tempering Art is indeed a superior cultivation art," said Sorin. "But surely it's not enough to give our clan a significant edge."

The elder nodded. "That's where a few unique techniques, skills, and recipes come into play. First, there's the Blood Soul Nurturing Art, which will allow a cultivator to nurture plants and vegetation much like an alchemist would. The only difference is that this method can incorporate blood and works best with poisons. It can also be used to rear insects and other living poisonous creatures.

"Second, our clan possesses the original toxic flame technique. It's not a skill per se but more like a crafting method. It lets a poison cultivator make their own alchemical flame, which is useless with normal alchemical ingredients but extremely effective when manipulating poisonous ingredients.

"Finally, the clan has centuries of poison crafting experience and the corresponding herbology research. Our group also produces Meridian-Opening Tinctures and Bone-Unsealing Tinctures."

These words caught Sorin completely by surprise. "Did you say Meridian-Opening Tinctures and Bone-Unsealing Tinctures? You have the recipes?"

This time, it was the elder who was surprised. "If not us, then who?"

Sorin frowned. "I heard from my friend from the York Clan that the clan began rationing its meridian opening treatment. This rationing started shortly after the incident with my parents, and his clan suspected that the formulas might have been lost during the incident.."

"Ah," the elder nodded sagely. There have indeed been problems with producing these tinctures, but they're unrelated to the recipes. The Rosair Branch keeps multiple backup copies of every document, including divine tomes. The Clan Leader likely wouldn't have been carrying any copies on his person, as that would be a huge security risk.

"But don't take my word for it—you are an apothecary with a violet identity plate. You're entitled to review this information. The elder led him to a restricted bookshelf protected by a multi-layered spell circle. Sorin pressed his identity plate to an authenticator plate and entered the spell circle.

It was a small bookshelf. Most of the information was kept in bound scrolls and enchanted tomes. Many recipes were recorded, and there were also many books on poisonous herb records and plant and insect-rearing methods. The Blood Soul Nurturing Art was also kept on this shelf; upon reviewing its contents, Sorin decided that it was the ideal cover for Grove Keeper's touch.

Three other books stood out to Sorin. The first one was a book on Meridian Opening tinctures, which he flipped through to confirm its contents. He found the original formula inside the book, as well as many variant formulas that had been simulated as a contingency against supply sabotage and rationing.

The second book was a book on Bone-Unsealing tinctures and methods. In this case, the word 'book' was a bit of a misnomer, as it spanned three whole volumes, including a smaller volume detailing the tincture itself, a medium-sized tome outlining potential bone runes one might encounter, and finally, a huge tome that was easily two feet thick elaborates on potential unsealing arrangements and complications.

It was the third book, however, that caught Sorin's attention. It was a thick book that was several times larger than the meridian opening book and was titled 'Gate Opening Tinctures and their Applications.'

"Currently, I'm the only Clan member in Delphi who can concoct the Gate Opening Tinctures," said Elder Calvin. "There are only two other individuals in all of Pandora who can do it, and they both live in Olympia."

"Can I read it?" asked Sorin.

The elder nodded. "You can read anything you can open on this shelf."

Sorin pulled out the book and poured his Bone-Forging mana into it to open the clasp. Unfortunately, the lock was too high-level, and he didn't have sufficiently powerful mana to force it open.

"It's good to be ambitious and to reach for heights undreamt," said Elder Calvin. "But it's also good to realize your limits. As a Bone-Forging Cultivator who can barely craft two-star poisons, it's better to solidify your foundation before striving for more advanced knowledge.

"For example, these meridian opening tinctures." He stabbed his bony finger at the thin tome. They're a bloody pain to make, and there are only three people in our entire group who can craft them with reasonable odds of success. Even I can only manage a thirty percent active product."

"Surely it can't be that hard," Sorin said, thinking back to the recipe. In my experience, poisons are extremely easy to craft compared to complicated things like healing potions and mana potions."

Elder Calvin pursed his lips. "Yes, you would think that, wouldn't you? By all means, craft them. Craft as many as you can. The clan will reward you handsomely for your services and will accept an unlimited quantity of extraordinary meridian opening tinctures."

"Surely you're exaggerating the difficulty," said Sorin. "I find it hard to believe that only three people in this group can successfully craft these tinctures. You're a flesh sanctification cultivator, for Hope's sake.

"The other two individuals are both late Bone-Forging cultivators," said Elder Calvin. "So I'm sure you can see the true reason why the clan decided to ration the tinctures. Having high-level apothecaries waste their time on such mundane tinctures is a huge waste."

Sorin thought about why the success rate might be so low. In the end, he concluded that it could only be because of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon.

Elder Calvin confirmed his suspicions. "The Ten Thousand Poison Canon is the most overbearing poison manipulation art in existence. If there's anyone in the world who would think poison concoction was easy, it's you. The previous inheritor was the same; it's a shame he had to run off and get himself killed."

"Don't worry, Elder Calvin," reassured Sorin. "If it's troublesome for you to do it, and it's a lucrative job, I'll be sure to give it my all."

"Then the entire department will be in your debt," said Elder Calvin. "Anyway, I'd best get back to work. You have three hours to read through the contents on this shelf. That's the daily limit. If you need more time, you'll have to come back tomorrow."

It was only when the elder left that Sorin sat down to collect his thoughts. So, the formulas aren't missing, and it's the Ten Thousand Poison Canon that was lacking. That resolves a lot of doubts I had about the situation.

But if the clan has the formulas, the research notes are useless. And if it also has the original copy of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon, it doesn't need the copy I received from Lord Hope.

This only begs the question: What was it that went missing? Why is it that the one who searched my parents' bodies seemed so certain they were carrying it? Did the clan retrieve whatever went missing, or is the search still ongoing? Also, Is the clan being negatively affected in any way by said disappearance?

Sorin's initial assumptions were now useless. What's worse, he was out of leads and had no idea where else to start looking. All he could do was continue as he was and hope he found useful tidbits of information.