After half an hour of tediously adjusting his control over the campfire, Leon finally hit the sweet spot. The water barely evaporated and the contaminants were removed at nearly the same rate. Reduced by a fifth of its total, he separated the pot of steaming water into three water bottles and two big wooden bowls.

Once most of it was out, he turned back and transmuted what was left into common Spirit Water. It had a strange, shimmering quality to it that made it look nothing like the water he knew.

He had spent about a third of his Qi tonight, his dantian a bit empty compared to what it was before he usually cultivated and went to sleep. There was, however, a solution that.

Transmuting a bottle of pure water into spirit water, Leon drank the entire thing and absorbed himself in the strange sensations. His dantian felt lighter, almost as if it was floating. It reminded him of the last time he went on a roller coaster.

He focused harder but no obvious changes began to manifest. Shrugging, Leon decided to wait for the effects of the Spirit Water to end by mushing some berries and stoking the fire. The simple work allowed him to think about what he was about to do if his idea worked, some of them very exciting.

Half an hour later, the feeling of lightness began to fade, prompting Leon to feel around his spirit. It was full. He had spent less than a tenth of his Qi supply to transmute Spirit Water that could refill at least a third of his spirit. Although it took a toll on his mind to forcefully transmute the pure water, he could definitely make a few bottles a day on top of his other activities.

Leon pumped his fist in the air, barely holding himself back from cheering at the top of his lungs.

Now he could double his cultivation speed. It took longer than a day to regenerate his entire Qi supply, forcing him to only use half of his Qi before he went to bed. Now he could use all of it before bed and then fully regenerate his supply while he slept, effectively doubling the amount of energy he could spend on his cultivation.

Grabbing the berries, Leon brewed a Bloodroot Berry elixir with a cauldron full of Pure Water. The entire process was smoother than ever before. When it reached its boiling point, the berries leaked out a fraction of the essence it usually did, the smell barely noticeable even by his enhanced senses. He wouldn’t have even noticed if he hadn’t reached middle Foundation Forging a month ago.

Once it finished simmering, a notification buzzed in his mind.

[Congratulations! You have successfully refined Bloodroot Extract (Inferior) - 19%.]

Leon pumped his fist again at the great success. Over the last few weeks, he had only managed to refine one Bloodroot elixir at thirteen percent, something he attributed mostly to luck. The rest were only twelve or even eleven if he made a mistake. Now he had nearly doubled the quality by improving one of the three parts required to brew an elixir. Still, it wasn’t enough to increase its rating. Leon stared at the word ‘inferior’ and chewed on his lip.

If he could improve one aspect of his alchemical brewing, why not another?

Preparing to concoct a new elixir, Leon began to experiment with Flame Control. He didn’t need regular flames mixed with Qi. He needed a spiritual flame made of Qi. It took longer than he would like to admit, but he eventually figured out a good image to use.

Ignoring the notification, Leon sent out a flow of Qi from his hands, pushing it into the fire with impunity. The power flowed out of his hands and was almost sucked into the wood by the fire, mixing into the flames directly. Instead of infusing his Qi into a flame that already existed, he was adding it to the combustion reaction itself.

While the former was simple, the latter turned out to be much easier. In fact, it required nearly no effort to maintain at all. The wood partially drew his Qi in of its own volition, allowing Leon to turn the flame into an extension of his own body. The skill drifted to the back of his mind. It became almost second nature as the flames danced around the pot in familiar patterns, allowing him to focus on brewing the elixir without a single distraction.

Without warning, his subconscious whispered that the elixir was ready. Leon blinked as he fell out of the focused state, his body trembling awake. He cut off the flow of Qi and sat back. He almost felt sad that it was over, but he didn’t have the strength to brew another tonight. That had been an unusually enjoyable experience, making him feel like he barely put in any effort despite being soaked in sweat.

Once the elixir was cool enough to drink, Leon opened up the notification of his success.

[Congratulations! You have successfully refined Bloodroot Extract (Inferior) - 22%.]

Using spirit water had improved the elixir by six percent while changing the flame resulted in a boost of only three. Leon frowned despite his success. He had expected the effects to synergise and, as a result, multiply up to thirty or even forty percent refinement. Although the numbers would fluctuate if he made a few more batches, they wouldn’t reach above twenty five no matter how lucky he was.

Still, Leon wasn’t deterred. Especially now that he had upgraded his Flame Control skill.

[Flame Control (Uncommon): By infusing your Qi into the creation of a mortal flame, you create a half-flame partially made of Qi that can directly refine alchemical ingredients. Although it is not a true alchemical flame, the quality is nearing the limit of what a mortal can hope to use. Control is dependent on the user’s ability to manipulate their own Qi. Efficacy is dependent user’s affinity to fire.]

So he really had made a Qi flame. While it wasn’t the type of flame that a real alchemist used, he was getting close to the limit of what a mortal could pull off, apparently. Leon wondered what the limit would look like. Perhaps it was a flame entirely made of Qi? Having no idea how he could possibly manage that, he waved off any ideas of upgrading his flame control skill within the near future. He would have to gain more experience using the half-flame.

Instead, he would go for the third part of the equation.

Holding his hand over the slowly cooling pot, Leon began to use his latest trick. He pushed his Qi into the metal and began the process of transmuting it. Earlier, he had transmuted the pure water simply by nature of infusing his Qi into it. Judging by the fact that it mentioned the properties of his Qi, Leon understood that he wasn’t doing ‘real’ transmuting work like the alchemists of the past.

There was no way to create something from nothing, after all. That was a fundamental law of the universe and would likely never be broken. At least not by a regular mortal, anyway. That left him pondering how he had changed the Pure Water into Spirit Water.

Although he wasn’t certain, he soon came up with a vague approximation of the truth. Instead of triggering some kind of inherent trait hidden within the liquid, Leon was infusing his Qi into the water and essentially adding his own power to it. That mixture of two different essences then became something new. In this case, his unaspected Qi mixed with the pure water to become spirit water, a type of liquid that could hold Qi.

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While that knowledge was all well and good, the most important thing he had learned was that a cost was involved. In order to change the pure water into a Qi-infused liquid, he had to expend his Qi to infuse that property into it. But what if he didn’t use his Qi? What if, instead of his own Qi, he used another type of essence instead?

Grabbing the blue sword crystal with one hand, Leon used True Sight to find out more.

Pure Sky Crystal (Rare)

Composed of pure sky essence, this crystal was forged in the upper atmosphere of a sky bereft of raging storms or gale-force winds. Those who come into contact with the essence of the pure sky will have their minds calmed. Currently, this crystal holds a formation containing pieces of knowledge related to the sword.

Confirming that the crystal was made of essence, Leon glanced over the part about formations but decided to leave it for later. He had alchemy to do. While he wanted to use the crystal as a reagent or catalyst or whatever to transmute the cauldron, he hesitated to use it so soon. He only had one of these and if he messed up, not only would he have to beg to use Claire’s, Leon would also lose his pot.

Without it, they had no way to cook dinner. Maybe they could find a helmet in the puzzle room… Or maybe not, the thought of trying to cook a meal in an old helmet making his stomach turn. Instead, he played it safe and only infused his Qi into the metal. While he wasn’t certain what would happen, he knew that infusing his Qi would likely reinforce and enhance the pot.

Feeling his mind brush against the same resistance, Leon pushed until whatever blocked him was destroyed. His Qi flowed in and, strangely enough, he was suddenly looking up at the ceiling. Blinking his eyes, it took him a moment to realise that he’d passed out, and judging by his surroundings it had taken him quite a while to wake up. The fire was noticeably smaller and his Qi had recovered quite a bit considering he had used a good portion of it to make those two elixirs.

Nothing had changed with the pot. It was still accepting his Qi, it was just that the flow had suddenly stopped on his end. As Leon’s headache faded, he injected almost half his Qi supply into the pot before it finished changing, a new and luxurious cauldron waiting for him to inspect.

It largely appeared the same, only now its surface was much smoother. It seemed the Qi had improved the quality of the metal by a notch or two.

Leon checked his notifications.

[Congratulations! You have successfully transmuted an Iron Cauldron (Common).]

[Iron Cauldron (Common)]

An inferior cast iron pot transmuted to infuse mortal Qi into its metal. All spiritual ingredients cooked inside this pot will retain their spirituality, the walls of the pot helping to contain any leaks.

Leon nodded. While it wasn’t as impressive compared to what the Pure Sky Crystal would likely do, he was still happy with the change. It would most likely improve anything he brewed in there by a percent or two at minimum. The mention of cooking, however, made him think of food. Maybe they should try cooking more with aura-rich ingredients to see if they provide any benefits.

He would have to bring it up with Sophia.

Pulling up his next notification, Leon found that he had done something new.

[Essence Infusion (Common): Infuse the essence of an item with Qi to potentially raise its quality or change the nature of its essence. Failure will result in reduced quality or even total destruction.]

It was a simple description, telling him exactly what he had just done. His Qi had raised the quality of the pot, bringing it from a regular object to a system-recognised item. While only the lowest of rarity, it was a great first step that would only lead to more incredible upgrades in the future.

Closing the notification, Leon took a deep breath as he prepared more berries. He tossed them in without much fanfare. He was excited to see what brewing a new potion with all three upgrades would result in, but Leon failed to enter into that relaxed state again, the result likely to be worse than what he could create in that magical state. Despite all of that, he had a lot of fun brewing the elixir, his control over his flames becoming even better in the following half an hour.

Once it cooled, he looked at the notification of his success.

[Congratulations! You have successfully refined Bloodroot Extract (Low) - 25%.]

[Congratulations! You have crafted a low-grade elixir. Regarding the branch of refinement, each tier of quality is not arbitrarily defined. At 25% refinement, an elixir will double in efficacy and halve in impurity. This is also why quality precedes quantity. One low-grade elixir is worth several inferior-quality elixirs of the same type. Not only is it more effective for the same dose, but it is also purer to consume, leaving fewer impurities lingering within the user.]

[Refined II: Refine a low-grade elixir before establishing your foundation. +2% to Spirit.]

Leon read over the notification again. Had he been drinking impurities this entire time, contaminating his newly cleansed body? There were so many questions swirling around his mind that he didn’t even know where to begin. Why couldn’t he smell the impurities? Why couldn’t he feel them sinking into his flesh every time he drank some of his creations?

He would have had to drink the elixirs anyway. It was good to know that there were impurities in his creations, but it didn’t change the past. And if the journey through the central planes was going to be as difficult as he expected, this knowledge wasn’t going to change the future either. Leon just hoped that they would find more Bloodroot berries so that he could continue practising.

Pushing up his plans for transmuting the cauldron with the crystal, Leon drank another bottle of Spirit Water before he sat down and began to cultivate his organs. The liquid spread throughout his spirit and made his dantian feel lighter… and then the power winked out after recovering less than a fifth of his Qi supply in fifteen minutes.

What the hell was going on? The feeling had lasted for half an hour before, filling up his dantian by a third with Qi.

Leon drank another bottle, using up the last of the Spirit Water. He waited patiently until the feeling went away again, his watch telling him that it had barely been seven minutes. Was the effect really halving every time he consumed a bottle of pure water? Checking on his spirit, Leon found that barely a tenth of his Qi had been recovered, making him almost cry from the waste.

Was his dream of having an endless supply of Qi really impossible?

Sighing, Leon meditated and went to bed, glad that he could still use the Spirit Water to double his supply and effective cultivation speed.