The First Successful Pill

With the last of the ingredients sorted and their true natures cataloged in his mind, Amrit's chamber resembled the private workshop of a master alchemist. Piles of herbs, minerals, and monster parts were arranged with a geometric precision that Zian found both aesthetically pleasing and deeply intimidating.

"The final trial is in less than twelve hours," Zian said, his voice a mixture of concern and curiosity. "Even with this… profound understanding, concocting a pill is a delicate, time-consuming process. A single mistake can ruin the entire batch, or worse, cause the cauldron to explode."

"Theory without practice is mere speculation," Amrit replied, his gaze sweeping over the ingredients. "I have the theory. It is time to practice."

He had no intention of mass-producing pills for the tournament. That would be a waste of these priceless materials. His goal was to create one single, perfect pill. A pill of his own design, based on the new knowledge the system had granted him. It would be a proof of concept, a confirmation that his understanding could be translated into tangible reality.

He chose his ingredients with care, not for a Qi Recovery or defensive potion, but for something more fundamental. He was not looking to create a tool for the upcoming fight, but a tool to permanently enhance his own foundation.

He selected three primary ingredients from his 'prime' pile:

A single, dew-kissed leaf from the Jade-Whisper Vine. Its true purpose was not healing, but spiritual communication and clarity.A pinch of crystalline dust from a 'Starmetal' meteorite. He had discovered its properties went beyond durability; it resonated with the energy of the cosmos, acting as a natural spiritual amplifier.A single, perfect pearl found within a thousand-year-old Spirit Oyster. It contained a super-concentrated essence of pure, neutral spiritual energy.

The combination was unheard of. By conventional alchemy, these three ingredients had no synergy. One was for communication, one for forging, one for cultivation. Mixing them would be considered a fool's errand, likely to result in an inert, useless sludge.

But Amrit's crit-enhanced understanding saw the hidden pattern, the secret harmony between them. The Jade-Whisper leaf would open the spiritual channels. The Spirit Oyster pearl would provide the pure energy. And the Starmetal dust would act as a catalyst, amplifying the energy and allowing it to permanently temper the soul itself.

He was not creating a temporary boost. He was creating a pill for permanent spiritual evolution. He called it the [Soul-Tempering Ascension Pill].

He retrieved the small, silver cauldron Vaidya Bhaskar's family had passed down, a gift from the old physician before he had left Kshirapura. It was a fine piece of equipment, but Amrit knew its limitations.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, placing the cauldron before him. He did not use a spirit stone or charcoal for heat. That kind of external, crude heat would destroy the delicate balance of the ingredients. He would use his own internal fire.

He placed a hand on the base of the cauldron and channeled a thread of his Spirit-Prana into it, willing it to generate a low, steady heat. The silver vessel began to glow with a soft, internal light.

Zian watched, his breath caught in his throat. This was a technique only the most advanced alchemist masters used—direct Prana-heating, a method that required absolute control.

Amrit began the concoction. He added the ingredients in a precise, counter-intuitive order, not all at once, but in powdered motes, timed to the rhythm of his own breathing. He first added a fraction of the Starmetal dust, then the Spirit Oyster pearl, letting them dissolve into a shimmering, silvery liquid.

The process was incredibly delicate. He had to maintain the precise temperature with his Prana, guide the fusion of the clashing energies with his spiritual will, and monitor the entire reaction with his expanded senses.

For a normal alchemist, this would be a nerve-wracking ordeal lasting hours. For Amrit, it was like a symphony. His transcendent control, his perfect understanding of the materials, and the boundless well of his Divine Ocean made the process smooth and effortless.

But even with his perfect control, the energies he was trying to fuse were conceptually volatile. He felt a point of resistance, a moment where the Starmetal's cosmic energy refused to harmonize with the oyster pearl's terrestrial spirit. The mixture in the cauldron began to bubble violently, threatening to fail.

This was the crux of alchemy—the point where skill and control met the raw, stubborn nature of reality.

Amrit focused his will. Action: Alchemical Fusion. Force Harmony.

[Master-level Alchemical Action performed.]

[Crit Chance detected… High due to Host's perfect technique and ingredients.]

[…Triggering a 100x Crit!]

The moment the crit activated, the stubborn resistance vanished. The 100x multiplier didn't just force the ingredients together; it catalyzed a reaction on a higher level. The two opposing energies didn't just mix; they achieved a state of perfect, conceptual fusion, creating a new, third type of energy that was far greater than the sum of its parts.

The bubbling in the cauldron ceased. The silvery liquid began to swirl, condensing in on itself, pulling the final ingredient—the powdered Jade-Whisper leaf—into its vortex.

The light from the cauldron intensified, a pure, diamond-like brilliance that filled the entire room. A fragrance unlike any other spread through the air—not of herbs or flowers, but of clean mountain air after a thunderstorm, of distant starlight, and of a deep, profound peace.

The light slowly faded. The process was complete.

Amrit removed his hand from the cauldron, which was now cool to the touch. He looked inside.

Resting at the bottom was a single pill.

It was not a sphere. It was a perfect, multi-faceted diamond, no larger than a grain of rice. It was utterly transparent, and at its very center, a tiny, captured star seemed to pulse with a gentle, rhythmic light. It radiated no energy, yet its mere presence seemed to make the very space around it feel clearer and more real.

This was his first successful pill. And it was a divine object that defied all known laws of alchemy.

Zian, who had been holding his breath the entire time, finally let it out in a shaky gasp. He crept closer, peering into the cauldron. His eyes, the eyes of a genius who had read countless ancient texts, went wide with an awe so profound it bordered on religious reverence.

"That… that's not a pill," he stammered. "That's a… a Dao Crystal. A solidified piece of conceptual truth. The legends say the Celestial Emperor himself could only create one such object in a thousand years of effort."

He looked at Amrit, his mind finally breaking past the limits of what he thought was possible. "You are not a cultivator. You are not an alchemist. You are… a creator. You create perfection as easily as breathing."

Amrit picked up the Soul-Tempering Ascension Pill. He could feel the immense, refined power locked within its crystalline structure. This single pill contained enough spiritual energy to allow a peak Spirit Sea master to safely attempt a breakthrough to the next major realm. Consuming it himself would not cause a breakthrough—his realm was too vast—but it would permanently increase the quality and clarity of his soul by a significant margin.

He looked at the pill, then at his own reflection in its diamond-like facets. He saw the face of the fifteen-year-old prince, but behind it, he felt the ancient, weary soul of the man from Earth. And for the first time, he felt the two truly, perfectly merge. This pill was the physical manifestation of his unique existence—a product of this world's materials, forged by a power from beyond it.

He did not consume it. Not yet. He carefully placed it in a protective jade box and stored it in his pouch. It was an ultimate trump card, to be used when he faced a true bottleneck in his cultivation, a wall that even his system might struggle to overcome.

He had done it. He had proven his theory. He could now, with time and resources, create anything he could imagine.

He stood up, a sense of deep, quiet satisfaction settling over him. He was ready for the tournament. Let them come with their ancient artifacts and their master-forged blades. Let them bring their secret techniques and their powerful bloodlines.

He would face them with the calm confidence of a man who knew that if he ever truly needed a divine weapon, a peerless armor, or a god-defying pill, he no longer had to search for one.

He could simply make it himself.