Chapter 47 - Alchemic Demonstration

"Silence."

A simple command. But the third elder needed just that single word to calm the people in the room who were excited about the incredible opportunity that appeared before them.

In addition to the other inner members, Hei appeared influenced by the third elder’s arrival as well. He had recognized who the newly arrived was, but rather than trepidation in meeting one of the sect’s highest authorities, he was confused about why a big shot like him had come to that place today.

‘Can they send one of the elders for a simple lesson? Is it just a coincidence, or is there a particular reason? Did he come because I'm here?’

Hei thought quickly in his head. He didn’t know the third elder, but it seemed nonsensical that he had come here unless he had an ulterior motive. After all, being one of the seven elders and leading the sect’s alchemy division, it was difficult to think he was so free to be able to conduct a simple alchemy lesson for inner members. The only plausible reason he could think behind this action was himself.

If that was the case, it was likely that on Lian’s side, there was the fifth elder in charge of the formation division. The only thing that remained to be understood now was whether it was a sect leader’s order or a personal action of those elders. But in both cases, the current situation wouldn’t change, so he decided not to worry about it too much.

With the silence restored, the third elder looked briefly at the various inner members who would follow the lesson. His gaze focused particularly on Hei, who sat on the sidelines and was watching his surroundings. From his expression, one could read a particular curiosity towards Hei, but the man immediately turned away his gaze in order not to reveal that interest openly.

"Good afternoon, everyone, as I think you all know, I am the third elder. Today I will exceptionally take the job as a teacher for this lesson. I ask you to keep silence and follow without fuss. If there are questions, you can raise a hand, and I will explain the topic in question again."

The third elder gave a brief pause to look at the various inner members again and continued as soon as he noticed that everyone was paying attention to him.

"All right, I see you understand quickly. Today's topic will be the creation of cultivation pills. We will start first with the one designed for the first stage, and if we have enough time, we will also see the creation of the pill for the second stage."

The inner student members who heard those words became amazed. They were part of the younger generation and had already attended the course for some time. The previous lessons had always been on pills and potions with minor effects, which if they had been sold, they would have made a small gain compared to the cost of materials and of the time spent. Now, instead, the lesson was on the pills designed to increase cultivation.

It should be known that for the pills with the effect of speeding up the cultivation, one had to pay a sum of contribution points to acquire the recipe. It was also forbidden to sell them for one’s profit, but they had to be sold exclusively to the sect.

It was done due to the importance of such pills. Even when it came to the pills of the first two stages, this imposition was valid. After all, the sale of cultivation pills was one of the major sources of revenue for the sect. Having an inner member who was selling his pills as a private individual would influence the sect's earnings.

The Flower Sect was one of the largest suppliers of alchemical products in the kingdom, so much so that it had an exclusive sales agreement in some cities. Therefore, demanded items such as cultivation pills were subject to so many restrictions that it wasn’t possible for a solitary alchemist not affiliated with a particular sect or organization to sell his products freely.

Of course, to avoid discontent, this imposition was placed only on cultivation pills while the other products were free from this rule. In any case, the inner members would hardly sell outside, not only because of the annoyance of having to worry about the sale but also because they wouldn’t acquire contribution points.

They also had to deal with the security issue. Especially for the pills and potions of a particular rarity, it was dangerous to try to sell them as private. Relying on the sect was, therefore, the only sure way to be able to make a profit without endangering one's life.

It was also possible to sell products to external people through the mediation of the sect. The sect would then deal with every detail in exchange for a part of the earnings. It was done because the needs of the sect changed regularly, and the products for which it didn’t have a real need were paid less than a person who needed a particular specific object.

For all these reasons, the words of the third elder appeared unexpected. He implicitly meant that they wouldn’t have to pay contribution points for the recipes of the two pills that would be explained that day. They could start producing them during their free time and then sold those to the sect and made some contribution points or acquired other materials to focus on more rare recipes.

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him again, the third elder began to open the boxes on the table one by one; in the meantime, a couple of inner members entered the classroom carrying a large cauldron which they placed on the brazier near the third elder. Once they laid it down, the two bowed to the third elder and went out silently.

At that point, the third elder began the lesson by illustrating, one by one, the various ingredients and properties they had individually. Such notions immediately caught Hei's interest while Ye looked a little bored. To help her focus on the lesson, Hei assigned her to write down everything the third elder was saying. Therefore, he gave her the quill they received along with the books, after plunging the tip into the ink bottle.

Since she had already seen similar tools during their time at Leaf Village, Ye was familiar with the quill pen, and taking it with her tail, she began to write quickly on the pages of the notebook.

"Take note of everything, ok? Good little sister." Hei whispered as he lightly stroked Ye's head, which made her tongue flicker outside for the pleasant sensation.

Once the third elder finished explaining the individual materials, he paused to see how the students were proceeding, and if they were understanding.

"Well, since there are no problems with this part, I will go on to show you the actual procedure instead. As you well know, alchemy is based on mixing materials, balancing their balance toward the desired effect. In order to do this, you use a cauldron. Inside, you place the various ingredients that will be dissolved uniformly. At the same time, with one's spirit power, one has to regulate the reaction speed and the other phenomena that occur. For this reason, precise and lasting control of one's spirit power is necessary.

Usually, the most used method for the materials’ dissolution is the hot flame one, which is also the most common one. There are others, but it isn’t a topic that will be discussed today. However, remember that the method used significantly influences the type of result that will be produced."

At that point, the third elder began to put the ingredients one by one, explaining which were to go as they were and which were to be treated by cutting them, ground to become powder, mixed or diluted with other substances. When he finished, he pulled out a shiny green jade box with some incisions written on it.

As soon as he opened the box, a small red ball shot out at full speed around and then paused on the third elder's hand. The ball was spinning rapidly around his palm.

Seeing that little ball, the inner members present could do nothing but open their mouths in amazement. He who didn’t know what it was, instinctively understood that it was something rare, not so much because of the reaction provoked but because of this flame’s peculiarity.

The third elder didn’t waste further time and began to explain what that flame ball was.

"As some of you will know, this is an elemental essence. In short, an elemental essence is like a spirit stone; in fact, they share the same birth process. However, they are distinguished from normal spirit stones because they aren’t of neutral energy, but contain in them the energy of a specific element; in this case, the element is fire. They also differ further from spirit stones because they have a certain amount of awareness that varies depending on the amount of elemental force they contain."

Upon hearing of awareness, Hei briefly flinched but recovered immediately after.

‘Mother said that inanimate spirit beasts need to awaken their spirit power, to form their own awareness, and to create something organic like blood. Although I don’t know the specifications for such a transformation, these elemental essences can be considered as pseudo spirit beasts in the end.’

Pseudo spirit beasts. If he succeeded in acquiring a few, perhaps he could understand how to transform the elemental essences into inanimate spirit beasts.

As he brooded over it, the third elder continued.

"The elemental essences are very rare to find and are therefore a cause of fights as soon as we have news of them. However, even if you can defeat the other contenders, one shouldn’t think that they are easy to tame. The elemental essences, especially those with more elemental power, are difficult to tame, and they can arrive to kill the user at the slightest chance in case you don't have perfect control over them.

Usually, the elemental essences, especially those containing the fire element, are used in alchemy and blacksmithing due to the ability to more easily control the flame during the creation process. But these are also used to increase one's fighting power in addition to a productive purpose, but it isn’t something that interests you at the moment. Well, then get close so you can look carefully. "

Having said this, he signaled those present to approach the cauldron while he placed the elemental essence flame on the brazier with wood and closed the lid of the cauldron.

He then took Ye in his arms and the notebook on which she was writing and approached with the others.

"Write down everything you hear and feel, okay? But don't use your spirit power, just use your normal senses.” Hei said in such a quiet tone that he could only be heard by Ye, who was in his arms. She nodded vigorously with her head to indicate that she had understood.

Although it was a well-known fact for the elders that she was a spirit beast, he still didn't want for her to receive too much attention from others. A secret card was such when more people didn’t know of its existence or its true identity. He wanted his sisters to pass as two little spirit beasts pet, that's all.

Only in extreme cases would he use them for combat, meaning when he had to kill his opponent without any hesitation.

Hei and the others activated their spirit power as they grabbed some strings attached to the cauldron on which other symbols were engraved.

"These are alchemical manipulation strings. Since you aren’t able to shift your spirit power to external objects, these strings act as a means of passage for your spirit power to reach the cauldron. The engravings serve precisely for this purpose and can also help you with the quantity and speed of the flow you imbue. But at the moment, just concentrate on perceiving the changes inside, okay?" Asked the third elder with a stern look.

Hei, together with the others, nodded his head in response before returning with his gaze fixed on the cauldron.

‘Incredible, with this string, I can perceive the inside of the cauldron. It's like how I can feel the inside of my body during cultivation. Here are the ingredients; even if I don't see them, I am able to feel them.’ Hei thought to himself.

His astonishment was normal. It was the first time he felt such a sensation. It was one thing to be able to perceive the inside of one's body, but now it was something inanimate with which he had never had anything to do before.

The third elder looked at him quickly before continuing,

"The first thing to do is light the fire."

With a wave of his hand, he signaled to his elemental essence to start burning the wood that caught fire immediately after. It was amazing how a process that would have required a lot of time had been completed in a few moments.

"Usually, you have to wait for the flame to reach sufficient intensity before laying the cauldron. But with a fire elemental essence, this passage is avoidable. The next step is to stir the ingredients inside with your spirit power. At the beginning of alchemy, various objects were used to move the mixture inside, but it turned out that in this way, the final product would contain more impurities due to contact with the outside. So now, spirt power is used to do such work while the mixture is within a closed system."

The ingredients inside began to whirl fiercely inside the cauldron. And yet, despite the impetus of their movements, they were all aligned precisely rather than following a chaotic path. Thus, they avoided colliding with each other. They were also being dissolved at different times, starting first with those most sensitive to temperature increases. From here, it was possible to see the degree of control that the third elder possessed.

"After this phase, we move on to amalgamate the whole thing while we take away everything we don't need."

Then he connected a metal tube connected to a metal container that was carried from one of the boxes on the table. Raising the lid a little, he put the metal tube through which it could soon be heard the sound of something passing inside towards the attached container.

"Thanks to the high temperature, it is possible to bring everything we don't want into the form of gas and take it away. Remember that you need to adjust the temperature inside, creating different temperature zones inside the cauldron. This process also serves to eliminate any impurities while what we need is blended together until we create a pill."

After a while, the flame on the brazier subsided, and the third elder lifted the lid. From the outside, it could be seen that on the cauldron’s bottom, there was a single pill that stood there alone. From its aspect, Hei could see that it was slightly larger than the first-stage pills he had previously bought, which means that this was purer than the ones he had used.

After the demonstration, the third elder passed to answer the various questions that were asked to him. The inner members were all excited and wanted to demonstrate their skills by asking interesting questions about the demonstration or their other experiments that had a similar process. Hei, on the other hand, asked for nothing but remain silent while listening carefully.