Chapter 15: Alchemy Pills

As the village chief observed, Ray entered the room assigned to him without making any difficult requests.

Subsequently, the chief went outside, took a fresh bath with well water, and changed into clean clothes.

He prepared himself, opened the basement door situated beneath the staircase leading to the second floor, and entered the room. The room was pitch black, so he illuminated it with the fire stand positioned at the entrance.

First, he sat beside the stove in the center of the room, lit a fragrant candle, and began praying for good luck.

After praying he threw the candle into the stove to ignite it.

The Chief retrieved an alchemy furnace from the corner and cleaned it with fresh, cold water. He then placed it on the lit stove and poured water into the furnace to thoroughly cleanse any residual medicine powder with hot water.

The Chief repeated this process until he was certain the furnace was free of any residual medicine powder.

After cleaning the furnace, the chief placed the furnace on the stove and increased the fire to heat the furnace until it was heated red.

As the furnace got heated red the chief opened a box right next to the stove and started taking out the medicinal plants placed in it.

First, he took out a bundle of ginseng, which was aged no less than 10 years old.

He then took out the yang fruit seeds, and dried jade lily that contains sweet nectar, which was only grown during the winter season.

The chief cleaned off any debris that might have attached to them and tossed them into the furnace.

As soon as they were tossed the impurities were burned off and only essence was left in the furnace.

After a few minutes of purification, the chief scooped the essence out of the furnace and put it in a bottle while securing the opening with a wooden stopper.

He then reheated the furnace and began tossing the twelve spirit fruits into it.

The spirit fruits promptly liquefied upon contact with the heated furnace The chief then added the extracted essence to the furnace and began rotating it to ensure an even mixture of the essence and spirit fruit extract.

After a few minutes of rotating, the mixture in the furnace transformed into a green viscous liquid, emitting a very alluring fragrance.

As soon as the fragrance started appearing the chief put out the fire and started cooling down the furnace and sat behind it with a happy smile.

Today marked the first time as an alchemist that his alchemy proceeded so smoothly. He began to recall the entire process, which felt quite magical to him.

After a few minutes, the liquid in the furnace cooled down and turned into a paste.

The chief then enveloped his hand with internal energy, took some paste into his hand, and began rolling it into pills.

The rolled pills were then put into a jade bottle.

Each bottle has ten pills, the size of each pill is as small as a marble

A total of Eleven bottles of pills were produced by him today, ensuring that none of the twelve fruits used for alchemy were wasted.

After resting for a few minutes, the chief took the pill bottles and placed them in another box, locked it tightly, and carried it with him as he walked towards the exit.

As soon as the chief opened the basement door the smog and the pill fragrance started to spread outside from the basement.

The chief's son, who was guarding outside, immediately sprang into happiness upon smelling the medicinal fragrance and waited for the chief to exit with bated breath at the entrance of the basement.

As soon as the chief exited the basement Thomas, Troy, and Ryan moved forward and congratulated him for the success of Alchemy. 

The old man was quite happy hearing the congratulations and praises from his family members and handed over the locked box to his eldest son for safekeeping.

While the youngest eagerly awaited the opportunity to inquire about the number of pills produced in today's alchemy, he refrained upon noticing the weary expression on his father's face.

After handling the box, the chief instructed his eldest son to safeguard it and then departed to rest, as the alchemy had exhausted his mind and body.

As his father retired for the night, the family members made way for him, while the eldest son clutched the pills and returned to his room to guard them vigilantly.

Early next morning Ray woke up to the sound of birds chirping on the tree next to his room.

As soon as Ray left his room his nose was assaulted with the pungent smell of medicines and smog.

While closing his nose Ray made his way down the hallway and met with others.

As the Chief and his family members were already present, Ray joined them, left the house, and made his way to the backyard to freshen up.

After fresh up Ray met the chief and congratulated him on his alchemy success.

The chief responded with a hearty laugh and extended an invitation for him to join them for breakfast.

After breakfast, the chief asked him to stay behind and instructed his son to call the villagers to come to his house.

Village chief:" Are you going to leave today?" 

Ray: "Yes, I have accomplished my goal of acquiring some and the required money, so I will leave in a few minutes," replied Ray.

The chief handed him a bag that contained all the coins of different countries plus a jade bottle filled with pills in them to Ray and asked him to visit again in a month or they would leave from there.

Ray:" Leave from here?" Ray didn't get the meaning

The village chief explained that due to the frequent attacks, we can no longer continue our lives here. However, we have gained enough strength with the pills to increase our warrior count, so we will move to a third-tier city in a month. And form a mercenary group.

If you were to arrive here in one month, we would not be present to welcome you.

Ray understood the chief's words and promised to visit before they departed. He took the luggage with the help of the chief's youngest son and left.