Dao and Alchemy

“Unlike herbs grown with Spiritual Qi, herbs nurtured with Heaven Qi have tenfold natural impurities. Even the best types of Flames, it would still require at least a day or two to refine their essence.”

An elder Alchemist is currently imparting basic knowledge about essence extraction. He summoned a stalk of leaf that looks like a maple leaf then surrounded it with his greenish Essence Flame. After a minute, the leaf turned into ashes leaving only a bubble of liquid the size of a thumb.

“Theoretically, one can still use it to form a pill, but why is it that pills concocted from this level, even when given free, no one would still want it? Anyone?”

“Elder, for races with lesser physiology, their bodies will end up being poisoned but the real reason no one wants it is due to possible damage to the primordial spirit when these impurities continues to accumulate.” One of apprentices on the front row answer.

“Very good. Now, when I said earlier that it takes a day or two to refine this turbidity into a clear liquid, I am talking about Alchemists who have Transcended Flames. So, how about for regular Alchemists, like most of you and quite frankly, including me. Let me tell you now that it takes two to three days.

For races with high Qi reservoir, three days is normal. They can even last six days without being exhausted. So the question is, if you are not endowed with Transcended Flame or superior Qi reservoir, do you still have hopes of becoming a real Alchemist?

The obvious answer is of course, yes. And I am actually glad that some of you already know the answer.”

The elder Alchemist pause and took out a small transparent cauldron and placed the bubble of liquid into it and after a few breaths, he imbued his Essence Flame with his Fire Dao.

Weng!

The apprentices who have yet to comprehend Dao stood up.

“Unfortunately, Alchemy is a branch of cultivation and to become a real cultivator, one must comprehend the Dao. One can still become a Tier V Alchemist without comprehending the Dao but that is the limit. Beginning with Tier VI pills, concocting pills is directly correlated to one’s Dao.”

The elderly teacher opened the cauldron again and controlled drop of liquid it with his Qi for everyone to see. Not even a minute has passed yet the murky liquid had become two times clearer.

“I don’t want to bore you but this should be more than enough to tell the difference.”

The elderly Alchemist applied more energy on the drop of liquid that it evaporated and turned to smoke releasing a sweet smell within the room.

“Those who can manifest Dao can stay. The rest may go.”

Of the thirty apprentices, twenty six stood up and left the room and one of them is a human wearing brown coat. He is none other than Clay.

He just attended the lecture pretending to broaden his horizon.

It has already been ten years since he came to this planet. With the recommendation and mercy of an unknown Captain, he was given a privilege to have a good start within one of the branches of Nitarkar Umbra Sect and this minor branch is dedicated for Alchemy.

After an hour of walking, Clay levitated and when he was near the clouds, he looked back on the lecture hall he just came from.

His original objective was to approach that elder Alchemist hoping to inquire about promoting himself yet when he heard that the old man has close relation to Alva, he immediately stopped himself. Although ten years had passed, he remembered Alva’s warning like it was yesterday.

*Exhale

Clay sighed and turned around and flew towards his residence.

As he passed by each mountain, the number of structures in sight gradually decreased and after a few minutes, Clay landed atop a hill overlooking a valley. Not far from him are ten pagodas looking buildings and one of which is his current residence.

Clay looked around and like the first he arrived here, nothing much has changed. He technically has neighbors but everyone is just busy that engaging in small talk is considered a waste of time.

While in deep thought, Clay walked towards his residence.

Since that encounter with that mysterious cultivator who wanted to extract his soul, he decided to live off the grid and convinced himself to only venture out again once his strength is sufficient to rival Divinity experts.

The first few years he had lived here, he felt everything was perfect. Not only was it peaceful, he can even plant his own herbs which he can later convert to pills yet what he thought was a good plan was later revealed as painful reality.

The planet currently is divided into three sections and the area he currently belongs to is for aspiring Alchemists in charge of menial labors and there are more than two thousand of them and while all of them are Tier V Alchemists, they are yet to be considered outside disciples.

Initially, Clay did not regard the importance of becoming an actual sect member as he believed that his ability to concoct perfect pills and the supply of herbs he can plant would help him secretly increase his strength however after concocting his first batch of Tier V Pills, it was then he understood how important true resources are.

Back at Gar Wahger planet when he was learning Alchemy, ingredients are classified as Earth and Heaven Classes and no one really ever taught him the real difference as everyone emphasized on pill quality however now that he entered the world of Ascendants, only then did he realized how important this classification is.

Ingredients are categorized from Low to High Grade. And while this classification is simple, pills concocted from Mid-Grade ingredients are twenty to thirty times more potent than from pills refined from Low-Grade ingredients. As for High-Grade, it is forty to fifty times more efficient.

As someone who has Low Spiritual Elemental Affinity, Clay could barely feel the effects of Misty Pills concocted from common herbs and that is considering his pills are flawless. And calculating the number of sets of ingredients he can acquire through farming, and factoring the time it takes for him to grow and trade them, Clay could not picture how long it would take to reach the next rank.

Clay poured himself a cup of tea then retrieved a bottle of purple pills.

The bottle contains three Tier VI Precipitating Pills which he purposely set to fifty percent quality made from Low Grade ingredients. He was supposed to give this to the elder Alchemist to catch his attention but sadly it did not go as planned.

In truth, he refined these pills yesterday. After trading all his harvest, he finally got a set of Low Grade ingredients for Precipitating Pills.

Yesterday, he was worried his Essence Flame would finally reveal its limits but like the teacher on the class he just attended to, Dao really is the key to success and couple that with the technique he discovered at Cheaneya Village while unraveling the Barnachea Pill, he applied the same trick to concoct his first Precipitating Pills.

Clay stored back the bottle inside his spatial then stared at the ceiling as his index finger lightly tapped the table. And while he was thinking when the next lecture will be conducted, Clay felt two incoming auras coming towards his direction.

Clay was surprised thinking they are only passing through however when he thought he could go back to planning his promotion, a divine sense swept though his body and around the house.

He composed himself and used his Qi to open the door. All these while, he is certain he had not caused any trouble and is curious why the sudden visit.

After a half a minute, two figures landed outside his house.

“The door is open. I apologize if I am unable to greet these seniors properly.” Clay imbued his voice with his Qi. And after a few seconds, a two meter Elven stepped inside house and into the room where Clay is having tea.

Elves when compared two humans always have a pair of elongated ears and the person who just entered has a single pair which is an indication that he is a Lesser Elven but what made Clay curious is this person’s eyes.

This person has captivating greenish eyes and those eyes are three times bigger than a human’s. He is wearing a laboratory coat but most importantly, he exudes a different kind of aura.

Clay activated his Godly Eyes and observed his guest. While the images on his eyes reveal the same black and white world, this person before him is not a cultivator. It exudes that of Mana but far and more concentrated than Mage Ver Sosa and far more refined than the 9TH-Circle Mage he killed in the past.

“I hope I am not disturbing this friend. My name Vidri. I’m a Rank 9 Magi.”