He didn’t go for it right away. “It’s a healing potion, try it.”

Musnuf looked down at his foot and blood was spurting out of it. He grabbed it and drank a little bit. The taste exploded in his mouth. It was sweet and soft. It was sweeter than chocolate but with a different foreign taste.

A cool sensation spread throughout his body and he sat down. He circulated the waves of essence billowing around in his stomach. The wound on his foot closed up but it wasn’t just a healing potion. The waves of energy blowing through his body was evidence of that. Even that little sip had resulted in a rampage of essence in his body.

He started coughing, his breathing was being messed up. His lack of control was coming to bite him right now.

He felt Elder Wind hand him something else. “Drink this!” He downed the next vial, against his better instincts.

The rampaging essence calmed down. It was there but more sluggish. He would have to clear it over time.

“That’s why nobody comes in here! You use them like a guinea pig!” He got up in a huff and demanded his spirit stones. “Give me my spirit stones.”

Elder Wind looked hurt for a second and Musnuf felt bad but he wasn’t going to back down. He’d almost been killed and then he’d given him a potion claiming it was meant for healing when it was clearly for more.

Elder Wind looked a little dejected. He rooted through his robes and found a pouch. He handed the entire pouch to him, it had more than enough stones. Musnuf counted them out, there were about five hundred. He kept the extra stones and started leaving.

He glanced back and the Elder was still standing there. “If you want any potions, come here and I’ll brew them for you, as compensation.”

Musnuf felt a little bad at that. He weighed the pouch in his hands and focused on the heavy ball of coiled essence in his stomach. He threw the pouch back to Wind. “Can you teach me Alchemy?”

The Elder looked like he was caught off-guard and a smile bloomed on his face. “Sure. How much do you know about brewing?”

“Not even the basics.” He did have a lot of theoretical knowledge due to his webnovel but nothing on the specifics.

Wind cleared his throat and his eyes started gleaming. “Potion brewing is just a branch of alchemy. There’s hundreds of other aspects but let’s start from the basics. Most brews are the result of tailored techniques to maximize the efficacy of each ingredient. That’s the main reason as to why Alchemy is such a hard domain to master. You can’t just learn a technique, throw everything into it and expect a result. You have to create them for each individual brew and even if you figure out a technique, the materials might go extinct, they might not be available.”

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Wind’s demeanor changed when he started talking about Alchemy. It looked like he was a whole different person.

He went off into a side room. “Follow me!” He shouted. Musnuf scrambled behind him, he might be reckless and unaware but he knew alchemy.

They walked into a room and Musnuf gasped. It was covered in hundreds of scrolls. This was akin to finding a library. The room was jam-packed with scrolls. There were a few tables in the middle with opened scrolls. They were a mess with writing scribbled all over them.

Wind grabbed a scroll and tossed it to him. “That is the basic formula for Essence Recovery. It’s a staple. Go brew it. Brewing is how you learn alchemy. Let me show you where the materials are.”

He walked him to a separate room and the essence hit his face like a slap. The room was filled to the brim with spirit herbs.

Wind gave him the ingredients and motioned him to go over to a cauldron. “Use your Green Dragon Flame. It should give you more control.”

Musnuf nodded and lit the wood on fire. He let the brew boil and scanned through the scroll. He read it a few times to familiarize himself. What if I wrote this down in my webnovel? This could be a great application. He could also apply it to formations.

This is a basic formula so I should learn it on my own. He started adding the ingredients and before he knew it, he messed up. “The temperature was too much. Your control is lacking. Go at it again. Keep on trying until you get it.”

Wind took a swig out of his flask and went into the scroll room. He tried again, this time he paid extra attention to flame but couldn’t guide the flow of essences in the cauldron. Adding the Knee-Root and the Flaming Mantis Shell together is a mistake. Don’t let their essences mix, they were the root cause of your failure.

Wind’s voice echoed in his ears. How did he notice? He’d tried seven times and each time was a failure. Again. Wind’s voice echoed in his ears and he got down to it. He felt bad about wasting so many materials but Wind didn’t say anything.

Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. He blinked to keep it from dropping into his eyes. The flame’s temperature was okay but he could feel the fire aspect raging out of control. He exerted greater control over it and shoved it down.

He breathed in and out, waiting for something else to pop-out. Balancing one aspect led to another spiraling out of control. That was his experience with the previous few brews.

That’s…it? He was a bit hesitant and retracted his essence. This session had given him ample time to brood over his lack of control, he had to fix it.

Wind came walking out, his flask tapping against his leg. He grabbed the cauldron and scooped out a little bit. He drank it, and stopped.

Musnuf was starting to think he’d messed up or something. “That’s a basic Essence Recovery potion.”

A smile bloomed on his face. “Well, that’s it for today. I have to prepare for the second exam. I’ll be sure to practice my control. I need to improve it anyway.”

“There’s just one thing…” Wind had that dejected look on his face, the slump in his back when he’d stepped out of the realm of alchemy.