Page 24: A good student
It was getting dark and Zhang Li's worries grew more and more. She was heading straight to the source of the sound at full speed imagining the situation. As she started to smell the stench of blood, she knows that she's near. She scanned the area and noticed a carcass surrounded by few beasts. There she saw a spotted darkcloud, a peak earth beast being eaten by weaker beasts.
'Huh? Did the peak beast died from fighting another beast of the same level or something stronger? Still, its a relief since its a beast's carcass and not his. Its already dark. He must be waiting at the entrance already.'
Zhang Li returned with her heart at ease learning that there was no human child's body at the scene. What piqued her interest instead was the cause of the darkcloud's death. If it was not killed by a cultivator, it must be a sky rank beast. Such potentiak danger needs more investigation.
At the forest's entrance, Long Bai was silently waiting as he checks his status. After absorbing the yellow shard, he felt that he was about to reach the 7th layer. The potency of the essence in the yellow shard was twice as that of the orange one. Thinking about those benefits, he was thinking of going back to this place.
'Maybe I can request senior Li for permission to enter this place on my own but first, I better show some results. Maybe the third layer is enough. I'll do that after tomorrow. Hmm? she's here.'
Upon Zhang Li's return, she immediately resigned the idea of him being in trouble after seeing his junior relaxed while sitting on top of a rock. As she closes the distance, she became irritated as she remembered the thoughts she had a while ago. The idea of him making her worried while he was relaxing here at the entrance was just frustrating for her. She needs to release some stress!
"Long Bai, you must have gathered everything on the list to be this loose. Let me see your harvest!"
"Here senior sister Li. I was somewhat too lucky to find everything on the list. Here please check it." Bai handed the cosmic pouch with a subtle smile.
Zhang Li on the other hand was taken aback when his junior claimed he gathered everything. She checked the contents and saw everything. Zhang Li was screaming in her mind.
'Sh******t! Noooooo waaaaay! Was he really that lucky? I was supposed to make him embarrassed for not gathering enough and yet I'm the one who's lacking! Ahhhh! My pride!'
Although Zhang Li was screaming inside, she kept a straight face outside and even gave a compliment to his junior. Zhang Li returned the cosmic pouch and settled the reward. Bai on the other hand noticed senior Li as if she's not feeling well.
"Sister Li, you looked unwell. Are you alright?"
'Ahem. I'm fine, just a little bit tired. Since you did found all the listed materials, that pouch is already yours. By the morning, I want the materials to be ready. Maybe when I'll be successful, I'll teach you the basics of pill making since you seem to have interest in the field. Let's go back and rest."
Long Bai expressed his thanks and returned to the alchemy house. On the way back, Long Bai can't just erase the smile on his face as he recollects his day's rewards.
That night, Long Bai made some changes in his fake status.
[Options
Cultivation status: (faked)
~Flesh tempering stage (3rd layer)
Core grade status: (no options) ]
Morning came and Bai went to start his routine. Inside the pill room, he meticulously arranged the ingredients and materials for the grade 2 pill. Now, all that's left is for Senior Li to perform the pill making. After a few minutes, his senior came just the right time again. If there is something even more applaudable about her is that she is meticulous in being punctual. Just now though, there was no loud call from her, instead she just gave Bai a faint smile of confirmation. 'She's in a good mood today', that was Bai's thought not knowing the meaning behind that smile.
Before Zhang Li came to the alchemy house, she planned something for Long Bai. Of course, she still haven't forgotten the feeling of losing from a junior, at the same time made her worry. This time, she planned to embarrass him while teaching how to concoct a pill. She took the two herbarium books from her table and took off.
The same as yesterday, Zhang Li reached the alchemy house on time and entered the pill room. Everything was ready and there was nothing for her to scold Long Bai. Before she let him out, she handed the two thick herbarium and told to memorize the names and the characteristics of each for a half day.
"Memorize the contents and later, after I'm done, I will teach you the first steps in pill making. Go and don't disturb me. I'm in a good mood today so don't spoil it."
Long Bai, who can't refuse went out of the room and proceeded to memorize the contents of the book. Although it was thick, just reading it once does the job for him. Every information he reads were automatically added to the system's library. A few moments later, another series of explosions occurred. After hours of painful waiting, Long Bai, who was minutes ago done with recording the data in the system stormed impatiently to the pill room.
"Are you alright senior?" Bai asked to divert any thoughts from the scene. Zhang Li on the other hand screamed with frustration and rushed out of the room.
"Clean the room! After that, wait for me then we can start our session."
Zhang Li disappeared from the spot and then the room became silent. Long Bai started cleaning while checking any probable cause of his senior's failed concoction.
As Long Bai investigate, scanning the materials and the equipment, the system gave an alert.
[System alert: Anomaly detected in the furnace. Cracks can cause abnormal flame fluctuations during the pill making process.]
So it was not the ingredients but the equipment that caused the problem. If only Bai scanned the equipment earlier, many herbs shouldn't have been wasted.
A later time, Senior Li came back with a brand new look. The dress was even colorful this time.
"Senior sister, I think I know the reason for the successive failures. I checked the back of the furnace and saw some cracks on it. It might have been the cause?" Long Bai can't speak in a sure way since he would like to make the innocent image. It's after all his senior sister's weakness. She's just too kind.
"I see. Why is it just now that you notice it. Were you slacking the last time? Ahh. No matter, I'll just let you buy one from the alchemy tower later. Replace it with the old one. It's simpler but good for handling grade 1 pills. Come and sit."
Zhang Li gave the instructions after Bai prepared the remaining ingredients and replacing the broken furnace.
"Alchemy requires a person to be good in controlling essence. As an alchemist, you must learn how to control a certain essence that would be able to extract the properties of the herbs and other materials inside the furnace. Alchemy is a wide branch and pill making is just one part of it. Now before we start, let me give you a short lecture."
According to senior Li, grandmaster alchemists can create pills even without a furnace. Just by using their essence to contain and extract the properties of the materials, the pill making can succeed. However, a grade level alchemist can also create pills without a furnace if they have a flame essence. These are flames that originated from the universe itself. Once in a while, these flames can be birthed at any place in the world but only few can control them. If one would succumb to its will, they would get devoured instead.
For starting alchemist, they are always required to use an alchemy furnace to efficiently control the flame for extraction. In this case, the flame starters use is the lowest grade of all, the earth flame. Using the essence from the body, an alchemist controls the temperature inside the furnace, not too hot to burn the materials or not to low or else, the person will run out of essence immediately. After the short lecture, it was now time to practice.
"Remember, there are three major steps, first is controlling the proper amount of flame, extraction of the essence and then condensation of the pill. Let's begin."
Just as Long Bai started using his essence to lit up the furnace, the system began making alerts.
[System alert: You are about to create a grade 1 pill. Do you want to use the system's guidance?
~Yes ~No ]
'Of course, why would I make things difficult? I'm a yes-man when it comes to this.'
[System notice: Automated guidance is activated. Pills will be created according to the percentage efficiency of the system.]
Long Bai began making the pill and as he goes on, he felt like he knew what he was doing. The system was doing things for him while he was trying to understand the whole process, every step, every small details in the pill making.
[System notice: You have successfully created 6 Essence replenishing pill of the lowest grade. Your Earth Rank pill creation efficiency went up.]
[Status
Alchemy level: Beginner
~grade 1 pills
-low grade( 95%)
-middle grade(81%)
-high grade(66%)
-mystic(39%)
~grade 2 pills
low grade( 38%)
-middle grade(7%)
-high grade(0%)
-mystic(0%)]