The next morning Kael could not conquer his conscience to rip off Muta. Putting the three boxes of herbs in his backpack, along with a hand-copied book he made last night, he headed over to the smithy. Arriving there, Raen met him in the shop per normal, but she was still looking pretty down. Smiling at her, Kael pushed his way past her into the smithy. As he walked by with an offhand comment he said, “Oh, you should go get your Father, tell him I have something special for you two today.”

Slipping into the smithy, Kael missed the excitement that showed up on the little girls face before she ran off upstairs to drag father down with her. When the two entered the smithy they saw 3 boxes of herbs and a small book lying in the middle of the smithy. Kael was off by the door and locking it up. Seeing this, Muta was a little apprehensive. “Brat what is this all about that requires so much secrecy you lock the door?”

Kael finished locking the door and looked over at the two. “First, an apology for you Muta, yesterday I asked you for herbs, but I calculated off the base doses made, not how many I make. That was a mistake, but the apology is for me trying to convince myself not to give you all of the powders I made.”

Disappointment could be seen on Raen’s face while appreciation could be seen on Muta’s. The old man knew Kael would not bring it up if he did not intend to give him everything, and there was no way those herbs would need 3 boxes to hold them all. “Go on brat, I know your not a thief.”

“I locked the door because this has to do with a secret of mine. My mother also has a special bloodline. It makes me very in touch with nature and plant life. Let's just say my output of powders is abnormal. I am hoping you both can keep this to yourselves. If it were revealed outside of the village, it would endanger me.”

Laughing, Muta walked over to the boxes, “Good brat, I knew you were trustworthy, but what is all this, and the book?”

“One box has 60 doses of minor recovery powder for internal injuries. Another box has 75 doses of wound sealing powder, the upgraded version. The final box has 90 doses of my mixed cultivating powder. I’m not sure if Raen can use all of it or not, but it’s three months worth of daily use. Finally, the book is something I begged, sniveled, and whined out of my father. It is our families body cultivation technique. This is also something for Raen, but I left the name off the technique. If it leaks it may cause serious repercussions for you.”

After hearing everything Kael said Raen let out a squeal of delight, rushed over, and gave him a hug. Shouting, “Thank you, thank you sooo much Kael!!”

In the midst of her joy, Muta looked over at his daughter and told her he could not accept it. As a monumental argument exploded Kael slipped out and went back home.

Getting back to his house, Kael went to find his mom. “Mom, I managed to get some time away from that monster Muta. Let me use your cauldron so I can refine that stuff dad bought.” Heading into the kitchen to get another breakfast roll, he sat down and dozed off accidentally. At some point, he woke up to his mother saying, “Honey what are you doing here?”

Rubbing his eyes he looked over at his mom who looked like she just rolled out of bed. Looking out the window it appeared to be mid morning. “Mom, Muta gave me the day off, but I must have fallen asleep accidentally. I don’t think I have ever come home with you gone, where did you go to?”

Blushing slightly his mom said, “Your father and I were just practicing our martial arts. Let me go get that cauldron for you.” Watching his mom scurry away Kael smiled. If they can make another mini-me I could definitely deal with sharing the attention.

A few minutes later a properly groomed Alavarah came back down stairs. Taking the cauldron out of her pouch along with the herbs Iradin bought, she laid it all out for Kael. “There you go, our little mad alchemist, get to it.”

Starting with his perfect wound sealing powder, Kael cranked out over 1,100 xp. Enough to fill rank 4 and 5 of the Material Nature talent. He felt a wave of warmth roll through his brain as the interactions between various materials was crammed into his mind. Dropping two talent points towards finishing rank 4 of his success rate, he began working on the minor recovery powder. The experience loss for repeated crafting began to show itself while he made these powders. Gaining just over 300 XP, he finished rank 4 of success rate and dropped 1 point into rank 5.

Stopping to arrange the boxes of herbs and powders he was once again amazed at the output difference he had with his talents. 9 full boxes of 100 dose wound sealing powder and 6 full boxes of 100 dose minor recovery powder were tucked off to the side.

Taking out the recipe for the muscle refining powder he gave it a once over to see if it looked correct. Goldfinger, Bupleurum, Cinnamon x2, Drake’s Saliva. Taking a deeper look a the goldfinger, which was just a bright yellow flower with 5 petals, he recorded the information in his head for later. Looking over the drake’s saliva, it looked like leaves from a rubber tree plant. Except that the leaves were a deep azure with a bright red streak running down the spine. Remembering the information for that as well, he separated out the herbs and began refining.

Congratulations you have created a new object: Muscle Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5.

Item creation, initial potency of 140. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 140(+50% =210).

Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 28(-50% due to talents =14) potency per dose.

Converting 210 potency, remaining 15 doses. Each dose value of 3 experience, soul granted 45(x2 =90) experience to alchemy talents.

Heavens, that is some sweet exp. Was running through Kael’s head as he finished refining the other 9 sets of herbs. Packing away 150 muscle refining powder and 900 xp, he finished his success rate talent all way through rank 5. With the remaining he dropped 5 talent points into Quality, moving it up to 1 of 5 to finish rank 5.

Looking the recipe for bone refining powder over and taking the herbs out, he examined it curiously. Lakes Kiss, Stones Coat, Bupleurum, Cinnamon. Interesting, this one has two primary herbs. Splitting the herbs into 10 piles he started the refining.

Error creating a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production.

Error, soul has insufficient skill to create object. Skill required 14, current skill 12(1 skill gained from rank, adjusting +1 skill due to talents =13)

Soul has a luck score 3, applying for 15% lucky chance to reduce difficulty.

Reduction failed, all materials wasted.

The herbs in his cauldron went up in a flash of flames, literally in a puff of smoke. Dumbfounded, Kael stared at the cauldron. The concept of failure had not even crossed his mind. While sitting there staring blankly at the cauldron he heard his mom, “Honey what are you burning in there, it stinks, open a window.”

Opening the windows then cleaning out the cauldron, Kael put aside the herbs for that powder. I guess ranks in alchemy do matter. Deciding to change his experience back to profession from talents, he took a Look at what he had left. Scratching his head while looking at the herbs he discovered had no clue how to make a potion. He understood the general concept, but had no idea the fluid ratio needed. “Mom, how do you make a potion?” he shouted. “Read the recipe you bonehead” his mother responded.

It can’t be that easy, he thought while opening the recipe for the minor Qi gathering potion. However, it really was that simple. After the the second grinding process, was just a boiling process. For each potion to be made, match the herb powder to 4 ounces of pure water. Bring the water to a boil and stir vigorously for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove from heat. Each dose will have boiled down into 3 ounce parts. Pour into a bottle, insert a snug stopper, or cover the cork with wax to stop draining of medicinal properties.

Shouting to his mom upstairs again, Kael said, “Mom, did dad leave I don’t know, like one to two thousand bottles for me?”

“No honey, the mercs did not want to pay extra. He left 15, 1-gallon jugs up in your room though.”

“Uhh, mom, how many ounces are in a gallon?”

“128, do you need help down there?”

“No, I should be fine.”

“Good than both of you shut up, so I can sleep.” Iradin joined in.

He must be really worn out to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon. How am I going to boil so much at once anyway? MUTA’S BUCKET! The mercenaries will never know. I can measure the 4 ounces by putting 32 doses worth of water in with a gallon jug. I have no idea how to measure 3 ounces. Screw it, Muta might know, he has to make weird shit all the time. Wait, I’m am stupid, it just evaporates one fourth of the fluid, so 4 gallons go in, three come out.

Buckling down to make the powders for the potions, he split the minor Qi herbs into 10 piles, with the Qi gathering and Bone setting herbs into piles of 20. Starting with what seemed the easiest he began crushing and baking them again.

Congratulations you have created a new object: Minor Qi Gathering Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10.

Item creation, initial potency of 105. Bonus 50% materials. 5 potency wastage, remaining potency of 100(+50% =150).

Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 10(-50% due to talents =5) potency per dose.

Converting 150 potency, remaining 30 doses. Each dose value of 1.5 experience, soul granted 45 experience to the alchemist profession.

Note, if soul does not brew herbs within 7 days an experience deficit of twice the gain will be applied.

Kael was disappointed at the lack of gaining twice the experience. He was also a bit worried about that special note. As he was about to review his sheet to check his alchemist progression he heard his sheet’s voice in his head.

Congratulations, you have reached Mortal Rank 2 in the Alchemist Profession.

Souls alchemy skill increased by 1.

Congratulations for furthering your path in alchemy. Make persistent efforts!

Soul’s current standing is Mortal Rank 2, (000/1000).

Damn, 1,000? I should have paid more attention to the chef rankings.

Finishing the herbs for the minor Qi potion, he had 810/1000 exp. Storing away the three boxes of powders, he looked at the actual Qi gathering potion recipe. It looked similar to the minor potion, but cinnamon seemed like a weird addition. While pondering over it he felt a rush of warmth in his mind. Understanding the interactions of the herbs, the cinnamon was there to reduce the potency. What a waste let's just remove that then. Prepping the herbs he began.

Congratulations you have created a new object: Perfect Qi Gathering Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10.

Enhanced potency by 40.

Item creation, initial potency of 120(160). Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 160(+50% =240).

Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 12(-50% due to talents =6) potency per dose.

Converting 240 potency, remaining 40 doses. Each dose value of 2.5 experience, soul granted 100 experience to the alchemist profession.

That is some awesome xp. Continuing to finish refining all 20 sets of herbs he made 1,900 experience and 800 sets of powders.

Congratulations, you have reached Mortal Rank 3 in the Alchemist Profession.

Souls alchemy skill increased by 1.

Congratulations for furthering your path in alchemy. Make persistent efforts!

Soul’s current standing is Mortal Rank 3, (900/5000).

Afterward, he started into the minor bone setting potions. Not seeing any problems with the recipe he began immediately.

Congratulations you have created a new object: Minor Bone Setting Potion. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 10.

Item creation, initial potency of 105. Bonus 50% materials. 5 potency wastage, remaining potency of 100(+50%=150).

Base doses of 10, no waste of overall potency, 10(-50% due to talents =5) potency per dose.

Converting 150 potency, remaining 30 doses. Each dose value of 1.5 experience, soul granted 45 experience to the alchemist profession.

The 20 sets of herbs gained him 990 experience and 600 sets of powder. With nothing left but the bone refining powder, he figured he should be safe. Still, he had a weird trepidation when he started to refine them like something bad would happen.

Error creating a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production

Error, soul has a mental block, skill while creating object reduced by 1.

Hearing this Kael screamed in his mind. Noooo I have 14 skill, I can’t lose 1 point. Daaammnnn!

Skill required 14, current skill 14, skill reduction of 1 applied, current skill 13. (3 skill gained from rank, adjusting +3 skill due to talents =16)

Fuck yeah!!

Congratulations you have created a new object: Bone Refining Powder. Mortal tier alchemy production, total dose available for creation, 5.

Item creation, initial potency of 170. Bonus 50% materials. No potency wastage, remaining potency of 170(+50% =255).

Base doses of 5, no waste of overall potency, 34(-50% due to talents =17) potency per dose. Converting 255 potency, remaining 15 doses.

Each dose value of 5 experience, soul granted 75 experience to alchemist profession.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at his xp; Mortal Rank 3, (2,565/5000). In the future I need to adjust my mentality, that was scary. Packing away his 135 bone refining powders he looked at the boxes he had laid out for tomorrow.

300 Minor Qi Gathering, 800 Qi Gathering, 600 Minor Bone setting. That's 1,200 ounces, 3,200, and 2,400. There is going to be some extra with the two minor potions. I can only do 9 gallons of minor qi, leaving 12 sets of powder. But my measurements suck, I should do 8 gallons. So let's set aside 44 sets of minor qi powders. The minor bone I can do 18 gallons and only set aside 24 doses. The qi gathering is an easy 25 gallons. A cubic foot holds about 7.5 gallons so I can use his 2 foot bucket. Shit, a bucket is not square. Hmm, cylinders were radius squared by pi by height, so that is a bit over 6 cubic feet of volume or a bit over like 45 gallons. Shit, when did I start remembering crap like this? I couldn’t estimate the amount of liquid in a measured cup before…

Throwing his ability to recall formulas and instantly calculate to the back of his brain, he headed to bed. He needed sleep in preparation of facing a mad Muta that he needed a favor from. That and he had been extremely concentrated while refining for most of the day.

The next morning when he got to the smithy he was greeted by Muta instead of Raen. “Boy, you are certainly good at causing problems, come upstairs and let's chat.” Following Muta up into their home for the first time, Kael took a look around the tiny living area. It was more like a Kitchen on one wall, a couch and 2 chairs around a small table on the other wall, with a dinning table in the middle of them.

Taking off his loaded backpack and taking a seat in one of the chairs he faced Muta. Preparing his glib tongue to go into overtime, the old face and the young face stared at each other. After about 15 seconds, Kael finally gave in first. “I did not know that sharing cultivation methods was such a big deal. Currently, there are only two people in the world left who have cultivated what I gave Raen. You don’t have to worry about some old and powerful family coming to pick on her for taking their cultivation methods.”

“Well Kid, that is good to hear, but it is still a heavy gift, and it may not even be suited for her.” Agreeing with Muta, Kael began again, “That’s true, she may not be suited for it. It is a metal element technique. I figured it would suit her because it focuses on physical strength, endurance, and the body’s toughness. It’s a bit masculine for a girl, but it is pretty much tailored for a smith.”

Sighing, Muta knew regardless of what Kael sid, Raen would never relent. “So what do you want in exchange for it than kid?”

Grinning, Kael said, “Simple, I want an apprenticeship 4 days a week, the 5th day you have to let me use your forge and no one can talk about what I do.”

Kind of surprised, the old man asked, “So, you are trading a top grade cultivation method for using a forge once a week with no rumors? You sure you did not hit your head before coming in here? What about your old man, what is he going to try to get out of me?”

“No Muta, I already made the deal with my father. I really just want to learn smithing and using your forging tools would be a big help to me.”

“Kid, how can a smiths forge be of help to you? As far as I know, you have your head buried knee deep in an ass load of alchemy.”

Still grinning Kael said, “Old man, follow me down stairs and I will show you.” Pausing before heading downstairs Kael shouted out, “Raen if you want to see your pops doing alchemy come down stairs!” After his shout, he quickly scurried down stairs to ensure he did not get a slap on the head.

Arriving in the smithy, Kael sat his backpack down by the 2-foot hearth. “Ok, you two get this hearth going, it doesn’t need to be melting metal hot, just a layer of charcoal or wood should do. We just need to boil water. While you get that ready, I’m going to be hauling water from my home to here.” With Muta’s nod of approval, Kael took off to his home while Raen just stood there dumbfounded. Thinking to herself, Since when did that old bastard taking orders from anyone?

Running back and forth from his home, carrying 4 jugs of water at a time was super annoying. His first three trips also involved him dumping the water into the 2-foot bucket. Luckily Raen volunteered to go refill the jugs, leaving him with one last trip. Setting down the last three jugs he paused a moment. Fuck, I still need jugs. I have to stop planning things while half asleep.

Looking over to Raen, Kael said, “Can you do me an extra huge favor?”

“Sure, what’s up!” she replied.

“I need you to run over to that lazy old man Wallus. Ask him for 36-gallon jugs with sturdy tops, like the one he sold to my father. I know he has them in stock, he likes to make a bunch of stuff then sit around yelling curses at people all day. Tell him he can make any reasonable demand and my family will meet it.” Kael said.

After Raen took off Kael filled the bucket with 25 gallons of water. Lighting up the hearth and giving the billows a few pumps to get it going, he let Muta know he was going to go help Raen. Muta stopped him before he left, “Boy, a lot of that water is going to burn off, you sure you got the numbers right?”

“Of course, wait, it was 51 gallons to brew, so we need 38.25 gallon jugs. Shit, she is getting too many and my math is wrong. Oh, that’s ok, it was with the minor Qi gathering, I just need to get the extra powders from my house and do 9 gallons.”

“Boy, stop talking to yourself and go help Raen, tell Wallus you only need 24 jugs.”

Kael ran off and came back with Raen. After a second trip of carrying 6 jugs each they were done. Checking the water it was at a low rolling boil just as he needed. Looking around until he found a clean rod to use for stirring he stood up on the edge of the hearth. Feeling his toes slowly burning away he asked for box after box of powder. Stirring in all 800 sets of Qi gathering powders he constantly stirred for 5 minutes. The water eventually turned a goldish pink color. Asking Muta for a lid and gloves, he covered it up, then lifted the entire thing with a grunt. Spinning around to face Muta, Kael grunted out, “Old man, I can’t get off this ledge without dying, could you put this on the ground for me?”

After he finished talking, he finally glanced at Muta and Raen. Both of them were staring at him with their mouths open. “Muta, Seriously, I’m going to drop this, take it please.” Snapping out of his shock, Muta grabbed the handles and put the bucket down.

“Boy, you totally lied to us. You really are a monster though. A 6-year-old that can lift a 950-pound bucket that has over 150 pounds of water in it is really not normal.”

Shaking his head at his screw up, Kael replied with, “When you first asked my strength was just under 800 pounds. I have broken through twice since then. My true core strength is just under 950 pounds, but I did not really move the bucket, just used leg and back strength to get it off the coals.”

Suddenly Raen cheered, “AWESOME! You are totally buff!”

Chuckling, Kael said, “Don’t worry, you won’t be as buff as I am, but with that cultivation technique you will gain 3 times the normal strength, twice the normal body condition, and about 80% more stamina and agility than you would without a technique.”

Hearing that Raen cheered again, “Yes, I’m going to be buff, hear that old man? What are you going to tell your friends when a little girl beats you in arm wrestling?”

Listening to the kid's banter, Muta finally broke them up. “Ok, that is nice and all, but don’t you have a bucket full of random crap wasting space in my smithy?”

“Right, Muta can you place it on the corner of the ledge with the nozzle facing us?” Lifting up the bucket he did as the kid asked, then watched as he filled jugs full of whatever thing he just made. After Kael filled up 19 buckets he handed the last, which was 3/4th full to Muta. “Old man, this is 96 ounces, 32 doses of Qi gathering potion. Consider it payment for lifting buckets for me for an hour.”

Taking the jug Muta asked, “and what is the goo worth?” Moving the 18 jugs away from the hearth Kael replied, “hmm, just under a gold I guess. It increases the natural energy you can absorb by a quarter for 3 days per dose.”

Hearing a jug was almost a gold, Raen ran her eyes over the other 18 thinking, This kid is going to be rich.

The next hour progressed quickly as they made the minor gathering and bone setting potions. Kael gave Raen a jug of his minor gathering potion before telling her the other might be too strong right now. Explaining she should drink 3 ounces each morning and it would increase her cultivation speed by 15%. The three of them made a few trips bringing the 37 gallon jugs to Kael's house. Waving goodbye to them, Kael had dinner with his family. After eating he pointed his father to his mass production.

“Dad, here are the things to sell, I am keeping the rest. 100 muscle and bone refining powders, 600 minor recovery powder and 900 wound sealing powder. There are 5 jugs of minor qi gathering potion, 18 jugs of qi gathering potion, and 14 jugs of bone setting potions. Each jug has 42.66 doses, so they are all filled up and not lacking. I would suggest selling them at 40 doses just for convenience. Also, if you could find out how they measure potions, I would be super happy.”

Putting each thing into his interspatial pouch, Iradin said, “Good! As we agreed, half of the profit will go into buying more herbs to make things with, what do you want with your half?”

Looking at his father and mother he said, “I should get a minimum of 15 gold. Get me 10 sets of muscle refining, 11 sets of bone refining, and 50 sets of qi gathering herbs. The rest you can spend on recipes and their herbs or whatever.”

Iradin looking at the now empty space said, “Deal, in the future, I will only go once a month though.”

“Thanks, dad, you are the best. If you find another trustworthy merc company I should have the time to support two of them.”

“Ok Kael, I will see what I can do.”

Going outside to his barrel he began his nightly cultivation.