Rinne arrived at her first atelier in the outer sect area. The modest workspace had served its purpose well, but now it was time to integrate the teleportation circle and relocate everything to her second atelier.

She wasted no time and immediately began revising the formation. The process was meticulous and required careful adjustments to ensure the teleportation circle matched the one in her second atelier. The modifications took longer than expected, stretching over twelve hours, but by the time she was finished, the formation was fully functional.

Now that the teleportation circle was complete, the next step was to transfer everything.

However, teleportation required a considerable amount of spiritual energy, and the outer sect area had thin spiritual energy compared to the inner sect. If she siphoned energy from the surroundings, it would be too noticeable. To avoid drawing unwanted attention, she opted to power the formation using five middle-grade spirit stones per teleportation.

This was precisely why she had been thrifty with her purchases earlier. She had anticipated the expense, but the reality still made her heart ache. Fortunately, her second atelier was located in Alchemy Peak, where the rich spiritual energy was incomparable to the outer sect area, and the energy fluctuations from her teleportation there would be masked by the immense consumption from the alchemy tower.

She began the relocation process, making five round trips in total. Each trip consumed another five middle-grade spirit stones, bringing her total expenditure to twenty-five.

Rinne couldn't help but feel stung.

'I knew this was going to be costly, but seeing my spirit stone reserves drop like this still hurts, but this is a necessary cost.'

There were still a lot of things that couldn't be moved. Rinne decided to leave them as they were for now and move them later. Once everything that could be moved had been transferred, Rinne turned her attention to the greenhouse.

Though exhausted from the long hours spent modifying formations and teleporting back and forth, she persevered. She carefully tidied up the greenhouse, ensuring that everything was in order before planting the seeds she had purchased earlier.

Her new greenhouse was far more expansive than the old one, consisting of 120 sections separated across six floors, with each floor containing 20 sections. This setup allowed for 120 different simulated environments tailored to accommodate a variety of plant species, ensuring optimal growth conditions for each type.

'It won't be long before I can start brewing the medicine bath.'

With the seeds planted and the preparations complete, Rinne finally allowed herself to take a deep breath. The relocation was done, and her new workspace was fully operational.

♠♠♠

The days after the relocation passed without any notable events.

Rinne remained in isolation, not bothering to attend lectures, participate in sect activities, or interact with other disciples. Her second atelier was located in a remote part of Alchemy Peak, where few people passed by. Perhaps, no one even knew that the once-illegal, now-legal inner disciple named Rinne existed.

Rather than wasting time socializing, she devoted herself to tool-making.

This was a task she had initially planned to postpone until she reached Spirit Gathering Stage level 3 or 4. At that level, she would have been able to produce spiritual fire using fire-based spells. However, waiting years for that breakthrough was simply not an option.

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Alchemy Peak’s overwhelming concentration of spiritual energy provided an alternative. By exploiting runes and her atelier’s formations, she could generate the necessary heat without relying on her own cultivation.

Unlike normal fire, spiritual fire was significantly more efficient. It consumed spiritual energy instead of oxygen, making it safe for use in enclosed spaces. Additionally, its output could be precisely controlled, allowing for optimal temperatures depending on the material being worked with.

Using the virtualized furnace in her atelier, Rinne began melting down metal scraps, refining them into alloys. Each time she liquefied a batch, she hammered it repeatedly to remove impurities before reshaping it into usable forms. The process was tedious and physically demanding—certainly not a task suited for a seven-year-old girl.

Yet, her efforts in cultivating the Hibiscus Rebirth Tempering Art had not been in vain. Though she had only practiced for a short time, the strength she had gained was enough for her to endure. Still, exhaustion inevitably set in, and she was forced to take breaks.

During these moments, she consumed a Spirit Gathering Pill. The inscribed pill melted instantly in her mouth, its refined energy flowing effortlessly through her body along the meridians of the Hibiscus Rebirth Tempering Art. There was no need to consciously guide the energy—it followed the prescribed circulation path automatically, seamlessly integrating into her physique.

As she rested, she let out a small sigh.

“The puppet army isn’t ready yet, so I have to do everything manually. If only my spiritual root were metal-attributed, I could transmute these materials instead of going through this exhausting process. But still...”

Still, this effort was not entirely fruitless.

The labor-intensive forging process doubled as physical training, strengthening her body further. More importantly, it accelerated her ability to absorb medicinal energy. Under normal circumstances, she could only take two pills every three to four days before reaching saturation. However, due to the added physical strain, she could now consume and fully digest two pills in a single day.

“A three- to four-hundred percent increase in efficiency…”

She murmured, her eyes gleaming with realization.

This alone made the effort worthwhile. Even once her puppet army was complete, she decided she would continue this routine. The gains were simply too great to ignore.

♠♠♠

With the alloy she had refined, Rinne’s first priority was to create a real furnace to replace the virtualized one.

While the virtualized furnace had served its purpose well, it was ultimately just a temporary solution. A proper furnace, inscribed with formations and reinforced with high-quality materials, would be far more reliable in the long run.

This new furnace was inscribed with intricate formations, ensuring it could withstand extreme temperatures without leaking spiritual energy. Additional functions were integrated into its design: a synthesis function to combine materials efficiently, an element separation function for extracting pure components, and a self-cleaning mechanism to prevent residual impurities from accumulating.

These features would streamline her future work, making refining and crafting significantly more convenient.

Of course, she could have simply upgraded her virtualized furnace with these capabilities, but after careful consideration, she decided to shift away from virtualization. The spiritual energy required to maintain virtualized objects was substantial, and while Alchemy Peak had an abundant supply, excessive consumption could attract unwanted attention.

'The last thing I need is a nosy elder poking around because my energy usage seems excessive. So long as I stay within the expected limits, I should be fine.'

So far, her energy usage had remained within the range expected of an inner disciple’s cultivation practice. However, if she crossed that threshold, the sect elders might suspect a disciple was undergoing a breakthrough and conduct an inspection. That was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

Thus, she resolved to gradually replace most of her virtualized objects with real ones, reducing her dependence on the spiritual energy of Alchemy Peak while maintaining her operations at a discreet level.

Days passed as she continued refining and reinforcing her atelier. Then, on the sixth day after she had become an inner disciple, a transmission message arrived through her old sect token.

It was from Talia.

“The Eternal Primrose and Infernal Ashroot you ordered have arrived. Come to the Outer Affairs Hall to collect them.”

Rinne set down her tools, her mind shifting from refining alloys to the rare ingredients she had been waiting for. Without hesitation, she sent a reply through her sect token.

"Understood. I will head there now."

It took longer than expected, but finally, all the materials were ready and she could start working on it.