Davis didn't take it to heart and tried again. Eventually, he did manage to concoct a Crude-Tier Mid-Level Sky Grade Pill.

Tiers indicate a pill's quality in the First Layer. Mainly, there were four tiers.

Crude-Tier, Normal-Tier, Advanced-Tier, and Perfect-Tier.

Crude-Tier pills were pills that lose much of their energy and quality but retain the minimum effect that they were supposed to impart to the consumer.

Normal-Tier pills are pills that have enough energy but not the quality, leading in the pill to be able to have sufficient energy but not able to grant the full effects of the pill to the consumer.

The Low-Level Sky Grade Pill which Davis concocted was of this tier.

Advanced-Tier pills are pills that have both the energy and quality, capable of imparting the consumer with full effects that one could expect from that pill.

Presently, the Crimson Vitality Pill is the only pill of this tier and grade which Davis possessed.

Perfect-Tier pills are incredibly difficult to create since they are flawless and pure to a great degree. Normal alchemists who dab in the art of alchemy have no way to concoct this kind of pill even if they sold their souls to the heavens.

Presently, Davis had no such pill of this tier, nor could he create one even if he had tried but for Mortal Grade Pills, he would be able to concoct perfect tier pills if he tried enough.

...

Another 3 months passed and Davis learned the basics of High-Level Sky Grade Alchemy.

Meanwhile, Natalya who had low talent managed to make incredible progress in her Body Tempering Cultivation with the help of Davis's pills.

She had reached the Low-Level Iron Stage, which is the Third Stage in Body Tempering Cultivation System.

During this time, her feelings towards Davis grew but she still managed to hide it well and not display it outside with her mask.

Every time she encountered problems in her cultivation, she would ask and he would come and provide solutions.

Every time she endured immense pain, she would groan in pain and he would give her pain-relieving pills.

Every time he gave pills useful for body cultivating to her, he would help her control the energy of the pill to coarse through her body.

He would do it by placing his hand on the back of her body, helping her circulate the berserk energy of the pills. For this, she didn't remove her clothes but bought an 'O' shaped cut robes which revealed the skin below her nape.

Almost every Body Tempering Cultivating Pills are berserk-type in nature. Rare gentle-type pills are seldom found and made.

All this led to eventually shake her heart in pain as she knew that the person she had come to like wouldn't even turn back to look at her.

....

Another 3 months passed, so altogether, a year had passed.

Davis had completely finished learning the available contents of High-Level Sky Grade Alchemy at this point.

...When he took a try at concocting a High-Level Sky Grade Pill, he eventually failed. Even so, he sustained his determination and tried 5 more times until he could no more.

Failure! He wasn't able to concoct a High-Level Sky Grade Pill no matter what.

Davis had the pill making knowledge and understood how to concoct the pill, but he realized that his Soul Force was utterly lacking.

Normally, High-level Adult Soul Stage Cultivators like Davis would only be able to make High-Level Earth Grade Pills.

But since he had a soul force that was 3 times stronger, he was only able to make Mid-Level Sky Grade Pills at his limit.

He realized that even if he broke into Peak-Level Adult Soul Stage, he still wouldn't be able to concoct a High-Level Sky Grade Pill.

Because he remembered Old Man Garvin's words that the gap between the levels of the Fifth Stage was immense, larger than the gap between the start of the First Stage to the peak of the Fourth Stage combined.

In fact, he found it proud that he was able to concoct Mid-Level Sky Grade Pills with his current cultivation.

Davis was greedy but he knew his limits. He knew that if he were to reach Peak-Level Adult Soul Stage, he would be able to concoct Mid-Level Sky Grade Pills that are only of Normal-Tier instead of Crude-Tier.

So, he wasn't disheartened and realized that it was only a matter of time before he broke into Elder Soul Stage.

At that time, he believed that he would be able to concoct High-Level Sky Grade Pills.

In the meantime, Natalya broke through the next cultivation stage and reached a level ahead, Mid-Level Iron Stage.

When all things considered, her determination and perseverance helped her reach from Mid-Level Copper Stage to Mid-Level Iron Stage in a year.

This whole year, she gave it her all and achieved results that would be difficult to produce by an individual, even with talent.

She was immensely happy but at the same time incredibly sad. The figure she had maintained throughout all year had disappeared, changing into a figure that had little muscles over her soft supple skin.

She even had ripped packs over her abdomen region; midriff, which made her want to hide in a hole forever.

Although it was there, it was only slightly visible but it was enough for the public to have various disapproving thoughts about her.

At that time, she decided to wear a black cloak all the time on her own volition.

No matter how she thought, she found it difficult to reveal herself like this in front of the public, and that's why she had made that decision.

She even strictly told Davis to not help her with Body Tempering Cultivation anymore, providing a lot of nonsensical reasons.

Davis thought it was fishy but didn't investigate since he thought she might have her reasons, like something personal.

His thoughts were on point, but if he were to truly see her figure, he would only laugh at her awkwardness and put a thumbs up in admiration.

He had seen a lot of women in his previous life post a lot of their workout pictures after all. It wasn't anything new and to him, their figures were kind of attractive in their own way, even sexy.

But as for bulged muscles on a woman... he wasn't sure if he could call them a woman anymore, at least, not by his standards.

Finally, he decided that it was time he ended his one-year seclusion.