Finlay encountered a few enemies including 2 aggressive deer, but managed to avoid the troublesome mid stage mosquitoes. As he arrived at the clearing, he spotted traces of someone making camp, but there was nobody to be found. He didn’t think much of it. It was normal for others to be here, in fact he felt it was weird how there were no others doing the same, trying to learn Alchemy, considered one of the more important skills for a cultivator. For a Cultivator pursuing power and immortality, everything comes after cultivation and Alchemy was the one external skill that helped with that the most.
Thankfully, his small wooden cabin seemed untouched. He promptly cleaned up the dust accumulating from not using it in the past few days. He left his luggage inside and first scoured around the surroundings to collect herbs and other Alchemy materials. After which, he roasted some meat to have dinner and went back inside to continue his Alchemy. In the morning, he would spend some time reviewing his mistakes by referring to the stone plaque. Like this another 2 days passed as he practised the pill making process by breaking it up into smaller segments. After those 2 days, he finally felt ready and prepared to try his hand at the full pill recipe.
He prepared all the various ingredients used in the process. He began with a dark green solution, made from boiling and breaking down a few herbs, he started a fire to slowly bring up the heat all the while stirring the contents. When the solution reached the optimal temperature, he added another 2 ingredients. A stalk of dried grass and some crushed tree bark. He then concentrated on maintaining the temperature as he mixed the ingredients in a pattern defined by the recipe. He kept at it for 5 minutes before proceeding with the next step…After a series of such steps that took more than 30 minutes, he finally had a thick soup of green swirling in the cauldron. He only had the last step of congealing a pill. To do that he had to slowly evaporate the water content as he stirred it according to the instructions, but keeping the temperature below the boiling point. By now, he is already profusely sweating from the intense and prolonged concentration. He was barely hanging on as he put all his efforts in controlling the temperature, yet he was excited that the very first time, he already made it close to the end. Just one more step before he completes it.
Unfortunately, he was denied the satisfaction as towards the end, a single bubble burst through the thick sludge, indicating that the heat had been too high for a moment there. Like an avalanche, the whole bright green liquid quickly turned into a browner substance in a chain reaction. Before he could react, the entire thing was dark brown instead. All colour left Finlay’s face as he knew what had just happened from his single moment of slipping. The whole thing has turned into a brown sludge of waste.
‘No! I can’t accept it! I was so close…I can’t give up yet. Maybe I can still salvage it.’
Instead of stopping, he continued his efforts and moved onto the next step of pill congealment. He actually succeeded, albeit with some difficulty to form 2 pills with slightly cracked shapes. He now had 2 crude looking brown pills in his hand as a scowl on his face. They smelled terrible, like the worst smells of medicine combined. He intellectually knew they were a waste and he should carefully dispose of them, but his emotions weren’t agreeing. This was his very first alchemy pill and he wasn’t about to throw it away without confirming its effects, but the appearance and ‘fragrance’ made him hesitate.
After a long moment of silence and intense internal debate, he finally gathered his courage as he took a meditating pose outside his cabin on a smooth rock. He took one of the pills and quickly swallowed it using some water to wash it down. He tried to enter meditation and start his cultivation. A moment passed and before he could do anything, his face turned green and his eyelids flew open. Even before he could realise what’s happening and started to stand up and move, he projectile vomited all the contents of his stomach, including the pill. It didn’t end there as for the next few hours he let out bodily fluids profusely both from above and below. By the end, even with his enhanced physique, he was nearly spent, yet he was relieved that it seemed to be finally over. He mentally noted down in bold letters that he would never test failed medicine on himself.
He took out the remaining brown pill and debated keeping it in case it comes in handy, perhaps he could prank people he disliked.
‘No…I won’t wish that upon my worst enemies.’
He shook his head and disposed of it by crushing it into powder and spreading it over some inconspicuous grass. He then took a break from the Alchemy and Cultivated till his fatigue was gone and he once again felt rested. He once again went looking for more ingredients, just enough for another attempt. In this way, he tried his hand at pill making, cultivating and recovering. He would occasionally go out to hunt as well for a change of pace. He had to thank the Mosquitoes for their service, they’ve been his go to stress relief from the frustrations of repeated failing at Alchemy.
‘Ah, nothing feels as satisfying as squashing these evil blood bags with a satisfying splat,’ Finlay thought as he sent an arrow through another Mosquito which couldn’t seem to keep to themselves as he was foraging for herbs.
‘Hmm…perhaps its love’
Unfortunately, it seems this area had too few wind element birds. He only found the occasional bird or two by themselves. At least he was glad that they were of the late stage. Altogether with the ones he received from selling off the arrows, he had about 8 late stage wind element beast cores and 10 mid stage cores. Yes, someone had made the stupid trade of 10 mid stage cores for 5 arrows. Finlay didn’t think that was such a good deal personally, which is exactly why he set it that way to discourage too many mid level cores, but he didn’t mind a profitable exchange. Even if he couldn’t use all of them, just selling them off would net a decent profit.
On the fifth day, when he was returning from being away, he spotted 2 people setting up camp in the same area with the traces left behind from their last time. The other party also spotted him at the same time. One of them approached him. He was a slightly plump fellow with a good looking and amiable face. He promptly introduced himself when he reached Finlay.
“My name is Wang Doshan. As you can guess I’m here to practise some alchemy. Hope we can get along as neighbours. I wonder what this fellow brother’s name is?”
Finlay quickly peeked at his status.
Identity :
Wang Doshan
19 yrs old
Male
Filial Son
Character type :
Lawful neutral
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
NA
Titles :
Old Candidate - True Sky Immortal Sect
Cultivation Talent
Qi Cultivation : Poor
Body : Poor
Constitution : NA
Cultivation :
Body Transformation level - 9
“Ah…Brother Wang is it? It’s nice meeting you. You can call me Brother Ming. It’s good to finally have some company here.”
“Haha! True, it can get lonely here sometimes. At least the buzzing buggers keep you company just outside.”
“Truly great company these mosquitoes have been, the past few days. Although I prefer their company in their mangled red paste form after taking an arrow or getting a love tap from my spear,” Finlay replied with a wide smile of evil glee.
“Hahahaha! It seems I’ve found a truly cultured company today. I’m sure our common passion will bond us.”
*snort*
“I doubt you could find any sane human who actually enjoys the company of those annoying pricks.”
With a like minded person to talk to now, the bored Finlay put aside a good amount of time to talk about casual things and get in that all important social interaction while he could. But much to the detriment of his plans of a welcoming insect swatting event, the newcomers soon busied themselves with Alchemy or whatever else they were up to in their giant, tightly shut tents.
He continued such a life with the occasional social interaction from the 2 new comers or rather, most 1 since the other person didn’t seem to share the same passions of a human being. When Filay enthusiastically brought up the details of a fun hunt from that morning, he gave him a weird look and quickly demanded that the topic be changed. That immediately awarded him the, vacant, NPC-P position, in Finlay’s character list of this world.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Brother Wang, I have been pondering over this question ever since I discovered this place, why are there nobody else here besides us? Considering the importance of a skill such as Alchemy amongst the cultivation world, I would have expected this place to be crowded and people fighting for a vacant place instead.”
“How can that be brother Ming? True, Alchemy can be considered one of the most or the most important of skills and professions of an immortal, but it is not such an easy thing to learn. Even if this place were to be filled with people enthusiastic to learn, hardly anyone would actually succeed in reaching basic proficiency in the various Alchemy skills.
“An illustrious profession like Alchemy didn’t become such a thing not by being easily taught to cats and dogs. To even begin to comprehend the knowledge presented here for a basic pill, you would first need to understand several branches of study, from geometry to Qi circuits to materials and their interactions. On top of that, you should both be skilled in channelling Qi through various circuits in a controlled manner and have copious amounts of concentration. Knowledge of the plethora of herbs commonly found in the world and their study also helps tremendously. Not to mention, without the proper guidance of an Alchemy teacher, it is impossible to make many achievements in the short spawn of 2 years.
“All of those require extensive investment in time and effort. Which Alchemy student from the valley did not prepare for years before their initiation? Take us for example? I’ve been studying several things for 5 years before I was taken in by the sect, preparing just for this. I’ve been here for another 3 and half years on top of that, focusing on both Alchemy and my cultivation only.”
Finlay was a bit taken aback from hearing so much as an answer for such a simple question. After a moment of thought, he felt like what this new ample friend of his said, made a lot of sense. Finlay made the error of assuming everyone had the same starting point as him and his peers from his previous world, untold number of galaxies away.
“I mean it’s not necessarily a bad thing. We may not have the best talents in cultivation, but so long as we have the ability to comprehend and have a good head, we have a chance to rise and soar above the others. The sect values candidates like us a lot. Take us 2 for example. We clearly have very basic aptitude for cultivation, but fortunately, we have strong backgrounds and our clans were able to identify our shortcomings early on. We then studied various things, focusing on our natural tendencies toward the essential skills sought out in a cultivator. The best candidates from each class were then sent to the sect as candidates, giving us all the necessary tools to succeed here regardless of our talents. We’re even arranged an Alchemy master to teach us, here in the valley. We’re both very grateful for our clans for this. Since that must cost an enormous amount of resources.”
*sigh*
“Brother Wang speaks the truth. Our clans have done a lot for us and we owe it to them to succeed here and elevate our clans as gratitude.”
Finlay was able to maintain a poker face, but internally, he was stunned into silence from the enlightening information from the locals.
‘And I thought poor Lu Bao was the golden spoon. It seems he might need to be downgraded to an iron spoon at this rate. What would I be in contrast? A no spoon? Mud spoon?
‘Well…if I include all kinds of help from The Nine before I entered this world, perhaps I can be considered a Diamond spoon, no…a spirit jade spoon?’
Regardless, Finlay was impressed by the longterm and extensive planning by the rich clans of this world. He never even imagined such clan run cram schools existed. He also felt lucky that he didn’t have to go through such arduous schooling and his path was a lot simpler.
‘And here I was, already tired by the tedious task of cultivating the 5 elements before starting my cultivation properly. Worst case, I would perhaps spend a total of 6 months here. If I had to spend 5 years in what is essentially pre school, I probably would have gone crazy.’
Finlay also noticed another detail in their words. They were actually 3rd year students and If they graduate before their 4th and still get considered more valuable than a talented 2 year graduate, then what about those who did both?
“Brother Wang, what about those who could complete their cultivation within the first 2 years while also picking up Alchemy?”
“Haha! Naturally, such individuals are considered equal to Elites and are absolutely Geniuses, regardless of if they’ve received tutoring in the valley or not. In fact, such candidates easily attract the attention of those esteemed sect Alchemists and they get the personal teachings of them even. As for those who were able to successfully complete this pill on the stone plaque behind me within those 2 years, they can be counted on one hand in the last 100 years.”
*sigh*
“That is why, Brother Wang is truly a prodigy in Alchemy. Afterall, isn’t he on the verge of creating such a miracle? Almost able to create the Harmonizing pill?”
“My brother, you truly exaggerate my achievements. I’m nothing compared to those who were able to make it within 2 years or even just a year with some of those illustrious figures. Doing it within 4 years is not such a big deal, there have been others in the last 10 years itself.”
Finlay channelled his best poker face after hearing that. He tuned out their bickering of praising each other at the same time as putting themselves down to show their humble nature and pondered about how he seems to be a heavenly genius in Alchemy, if he were to take what the other party just said at face value.
‘And here I was thinking I was having a shitty time with Alchemy. Now I have a new found respect for these 2 and others who pursued the field in spite of a vastly worse failure rate and boring practice of the very basics.’
He still wasn’t convinced that he could have been such a genius Alchemist. His Alchemy talent wasn’t even S tier. He wasn’t even very good with Chemistry as a student. After going through all the possible answers, he came to the most likely one.
‘It has to be either the 5 elements or my cultivation technique that was derived from the immortal grade Origin Srushti mantra.’
This gave him more ideas to experiment with his pill making. Everybody continued their grind with such occasional conversations over lunch or dinner. Before long, it was the 7th day since he took up residence in the clearing of the Alchemy area when he made his first successful pill. He held the 3 pills in his hand as he lovingly gazed at them with teary eyes.
“..ah my preciouses!! I worked so hard to make you…I don’t think I can bear to eat you up now…”
But the only way to be sure if the dark green pills were a success was personally testing their effects. And so, he simply conceded and took one pill on the same stone outside his cabin and entered the meditative stance. It was already looking better than his last experience because there was no foul smell, just a slightly fragrant, flowery smell mixed with the faint smell of medicine. After 5 minutes, he opened his eyes with emotion and declared, “I did it! Yes!!! I finally did it!!”
To be continued.
Preview - System Status
Identity :
Finlay
Male
14 yrs old
–
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
None
Titles :
None
Cultivation :
Body Transformation stage level 9 (Water and Earth Dual attribute cultivation)
Stats :
→open←
Skills :
The All seeing eye (Analyse) :
(Grade - E)
Authority granted by the first god of the world, Dinn. You can peer into the secrets of things and beings of this world as long as you know what you’re looking for. (Requires activation conditions)
Inventory space :
(Locked until Foundation Establishment)
Universal Language comprehension (Grade A+);
Mana Blast (Grade F+)
Preview - Stats
Spiritual :
Cultivation Talent :
S+ Grade (Appears as C-)
Divine Sense :
None
Law Comprehension :
S Grade
Physical :
Body Type :
Five Element body (Grade : B+(Aggregate)) (Appears as C-)
Elemental Attunements :
Metal
S- Grade
Five Element Body Type
(Dominant trait)
Earth
A Grade
Wind
C+ Grade
Fire
C- Grade
Water
D Grade
Light/Darkness(Yin/Yang)
D- Grade
Lightning
F+ Grade
Other Talents :
Weapon Talents :
Sword/Bladed type
A+ Grade
Ranged
C+ Grade
Hand to Hand
C Grade
Polearms/Spear
D Grade
Soul based/Mental type
D- Grade
Qi Circuits :
(Arrays, Formations, Magical Restrictions)
B- Grade
Crafting Talent :
C+ Grade
Alchemy Talent :
D+ Grade