Chapter Forty Seven - I lose track of time

Slowly, the scent of herbs began to fill the small round hut in the mountain forest until the air was pungent and the aroma had permeated into the floor cushions, the wooden table and shelves. Even the thick wood beams above would from now on give of a hint of fern and grass which would constantly lingered in the air around them.

To one side, five sizeable potion kegs were beside the rear wall, all sealed and protecting their precious contents. Upon the low table were numerous jade bottles, most filled with rounded pills, yet separated in two piles. The larger one, which was close to spilling off the table at this moment, was some five times larger than the smaller one, but that still held a respectable number of pill filled jade bottles.

A sturdy cauldron rocked slightly upon a cast iron stove and a delicate scent poured out of it. At first glance, the black cauldron seemed like any other used by the poorer students within the alchemy schools, but if one looked closely, one could see a thin silvery-blue lines forming a simple array.  Honestly, the Headmaster actually wanted to hand Leon an ostentatious looking cauldron cast in gold and glittering with Mage crystals, but such petrified a small alchemist!  Although it wasn't gaudy, how would he feel comfortable bringing that out in front of people?  Wasn't he asking for trouble?

Jin Li, in a rare moment for himself, had agreed.  He wasn't an expert when it came to alchemic treasures, however anyone could see that this cauldron was not some simple, valueless piece, plus the thickness of aura surrounding it was almost visible!  In the end, the Headmaster ordered this cauldron for the core student he'd recruited.  The black metal was alike in appearance, but not the same as the material used for common cauldrons.  Plus, though the array upon the side could be found upon common cauldrons as well, this one was drawn by an experienced and talented master, not a lowly apprentice or initiate.

Its aura was faint, only those at the top of the alchemy pyramid might sense its uniqueness and who of those would ever cross this student's path to notice?  So Leon gained a cauldron that was discreet in appearance but much, much higher of quality and value than it seemed.  He'd not taken it on his trip to Sun's home, worried it might be lost.  In fact, he seldom used it for pills he was not confident in creating, worried it might break, not realising that it would take an explosion of immense magnitude to actually cause more than a scratch.

These past few days was actually the most that Leon had dared use it, as this cauldron increased his chances of getting good and even excellent quality pills.  Hence why the smaller pile was only four to five times smaller than the larger pile of bottles and not much more.

Leon's hand shook slightly as he withdrew a whole five pills from its bottom, the clean aroma of improved blood pills strengthened in the air.  This time, three actually came out better than average and one even was excellent.  He placed these three types in three separate jade bottles, sealing the bottle filled with average pills and adding it to the large pile.  After sorting these, he intended to take half of the healing pills and half of the combat pills to Mr Clawse and Ursam respectively.  The rest of the improved One heart pills and variant (burning) blood pills, he would give to the school.

As for the improved blood pills, he would keep those for his own stocks for now, undecided on whether to share them or not.  As for beast type pills, he had made less of these so intended to keep all quality pills for now in case he had too few for the foray into the Shattered Isles. 

Just as Leon was wiping the sweat from his brow, his eyes sweeping over the remnant piles of herbs prepared for more improved blood pills (there was not much left, especially of the red lantern flowers, which he'd placed in water to keep fresher for longer), the door to his hut slammed open.  A fresh, but chilling breeze swept the thick scent of herbs out of the room, leaving only a hint as well as a more pungent male smell.

"Ew!" Maimai complained as she cast her eyes over her best friend. "When did you last take a bath?!"

Leon gave her an expression of someone who'd been wronged. "I w-wash once every d-day!" He muttered, crossing his arms and finally realising the dampness of his robes. He blamed it on the humidity caused by the constant use of his cauldron over this morning and afternoon. "W-what are you d-doing here?" He asked her, quickly sealing the partially filled bottles of pills so they did not lose the potency of their contents while he entertained his friend. Plus, he did wish to use this chance to change his robes; the dampness coupled with the cold, outside air was causing him to shiver. His stomach also rumbled violently.

"While I was out, exercising Piku," Maimai mentioned, having taken the stable-hands' advice a bit, but not too seriously at the same time, "I happened to notice a certain black coeurl chasing after a skinny scrap of a wood rat. It surprised me. After all, why would a beast as proud as that one hunt something so weak?" Leon had stepped towards the main courtyard of his home, after beckoning her to follow, but had to pause due to her words.

"B-b-but I fed them this m-morning," Leon frowned. A particularly bitter blast of air had him shiver profusely, so he hurried into his home. Only it wasn't very warm in the main room either. Had he forgotten to add coal to the stove? Did that also mean his dinner was uncooked? Dismayed he ran to check.

Maimai looked at him in contemplation then asked; "which morning?" He appeared confused by her question so she asked another. "How many days until the competition starts?"

"Six," Leon said with certainty.

Only Maimai shook her head. "No, five. Well, actually," she amended as she glanced at the dimming sky, "closer to four. Leon, I think that you've been shut in your hut almost two days!"

Leon glanced at the cold stove and the soup, which was cooked, but also very cold. Fortunately, he'd a lid on the pot or it could have burned to the bottom and boiled dry! With a sigh, he swept out the ash, added a fresh shovel of coal to the oven and lit it with his flint and steel. He pushed the soup to the main ring, before placing a kettle of water beside it.

"I'll b-be right b-b-back," he informed Maimai, indicating she should sit, before he took a fresh set of clean robes to the bathroom to wash up.

As he was hurried, he didn't heat the water here, just endured in silent complaint as he cleaned the dirt and sweat from his skin in cold water before dressing in the plain robes. He then hurried to nearly kowtow before a very pitiful coeurl adolescent, who looked at him with large blue eyes filled with hurt, while an arrogant adult sneered in that feline way and batted the youth with his paws a few times to vent. He gave them with an amount of dried meat strips before rushing off to prepare a massive bucket of meat porridge in recompense.

After that was done, in which time, he also served Maimai tea (she had offered to make it, but he turned her down, fearing his empty stomach couldn't take her witches brew), he concentrated on his own food. He was very hungry and although there was a lot of soup, it was mostly mushy vegetables and shredded meat. He wanted something more filling, something to chew on, so he grabbed a pot of flour from the shelf and prepared some fresh noodles.

Curious, Maimai glanced over his shoulder. "Are those easy to make?" She asked him.

"N-not too d-difficult, why?"

Her pink lips formed a pout. "Although my mother is excellent at making sweets, which is how she attracted my father in the first place," that was the old man's secret, he couldn't pass by a delicious sweet pastry wanting to take a bite, "he won't allow her to teach me."

"Why?" Leon questioned again, cutting the flattened dough with a knife to make long ribbons. He hadn't the skill to make round, thin noodles, but this much wasn't out of his abilities. He popped them into the bubbling stew with a more splash of water from the kettle to thin the soup and allowed them to cook for a bit.

"Kitchens are hazardous," she mimicked her father's tone and words. "There are knives and flames! What if I got cut or burnt by the fire or hot water or oil? So, no!"

Leon chuckled; "Yet an alchemist's t-tools are m-much d-different." Not to mention that Maimai was famous in the outerschool not only for her beauty but her numerous explosions.

"I know right?" Maimai smiled. "But then, my father doesn't know so much about alchemy and the head of Sunset peak doesn't use (Magic)stoves or fires to make his pills."

Leon dished up two bowls of the meat and noodle soup and handed one to his friend. "How d-does he d-do it then?"

"I was curious as well," she replied sitting down at the table with him, taking also the offered spoon and chopsticks. "So Merylin and I went to visit Sunset peak during the holidays." One positive change for her older sister was definitely her new found talent in alchemy. This made the girl more than just her father's daughter and mother's marriageable pearl, giving her more face and value as a sect member as well. The head of Sunset peak had not said anything, but Maimai felt that he was definitely watching her, seeing if she had the talent to join his peak... if her father, the Sect Leader, would ever allow it, that was.

"Anyway, we found out that the Head has fire roots, like my sister, so he can use his innate abilities as a substitute for normal flames," Maimai continued, her eyes glittering. "However, its not enough in the long run as that way uses spiritual energy much faster than normal. So when he was younger, he found a flame wisp and integrated it into his inner-sea. So his own fires are much more potent and he very little extra spiritual energy when making his pills this way these days!"

Flame wisp?