"When you just want to mass produce some pill, you don't need to be as diligent with the refinement process as I was. Just three or four rounds will suffice." Cutting to the chase, Sebian started his lecture. Not daring to waste such a chance, the old man rushed to the now-empty pot in which the alchemist previously brought the herbs. Chasing to the workshop to bring some water, it was clear how excited the man was to learn something new.

"What did you do…?" With her headache finally giving up and both of the elders leaving, Aina decided to make use of the opportunity. While this entire situation wasn't something she expected, she would have to be blind not to notice that as strange as this man's methods were… They still ended up working.

And what was more important than making sure that one's wishes could be fulfilled?

'Maybe he could really…' With this traitorous thought appearing in the girl's head, she quickly shook it around, escaping with her eyes from Sebian's curious stare.

"Nothing much. Just bear with it for a little longer." Just as Sebian comforted the girl to the best of his current ability, Sheeren returned from the back of the shop, carrying three pails of water on each of his arms.

"Master, I do not have your profound skills, so I dared to bring more materials just in case." Bowing his head, the man actually attempted to hide the excitement gleaming in his eyes rather than to pay his respects.

"It's okay. But before we get started, I need you to understand something." Sitting down directly on one of the shelves, Sebian looked sternly at the man before reaching to his pouch again. Pulling out the same grade four stone that he presented before, he allowed the apothecary to stare at its dim glow, before throwing it right in the pot with the leftover materia prima. "I know what you wish for, and I don't mind fulfilling this dream of yours. But in return, I need your absolute obedience." Resting his chin on his hand, Sebian stared daggers at the elder before him, making Sheeren's knees give up.

Falling to his knees, the elder didn't show any sign of hesitation. "Master, I wish to serve!" Shouting with confidence and certainty, Sheeren felt a bit bitter in his soul. 'I'm sorry, little brother. Uncle cannot let this opportunity pass!'

"Great. Then you can start brewing the materia prima. This time, we will be using those two herbs that I brought but didn't use." Standing up from his temporary chair, Sebian returned to the cauldron. With the grade four stone floating in the middle of the dense materia prima, the alchemist's mood improved slightly. Casting a glance at the girl, however, instantly soured this slight moment of amusement.

'Right, this won't be easy with those shitty materials…' Already recognizing the crux of the girl's problem, Sebian's preparations to solve it was almost done. Even if previously he wasn't sure what this girl was afflicted with, he could still vaguely tell the nature of the problem. As such, in order to create the materia prima he soaked the precious stone in right now, he used a herb smelling exactly like the popular "medicine agent" from his world. Etching its healing and nourishing nature into the pristine water made it fairly easy to reach higher grades of materia. When compared to military-grade pills, what Sebian was set on brewing was a walk in the park.

That is if he had proper tools to do it.

No matter how decorative those cauldrons were, they were still full of flaws. Without the precise electrical equipment helping the cultivator to keep the heat perfectly optimal, Sebian had no other choice but to rely on his own sense to guide the flames around the bottom of the pot! And while it wasn't that much of a problem when creating materia prima, secunda or even tertia, the pill he was about to brew, required him to concoct materia quarta!

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'Here goes nothing…' Supplying the flames with the energy from his cultivation, Sebian started to furiously drive it. Almost instantly turning the insides of the cooled down cauldron into a steamy hell, the alchemist could see how the materia prima quickly started washing off the energy from the stone. Bit by bit, this raging power filled the insides of the pot. Unable to keep it open any longer, Sebian threw the ladle away, forcing the liquid to move just by driving his cultivation around the utensil.

Once the top of the pot was properly sealed, the magic started to happen. With no other place to stay, the energy washed out of the stone only continued to increase in density. Without the crystal structure to keep it in place, it quickly started to threaten the structure of the cauldron itself!

But then, the last drop of materia prima finally turned into steam. But the temperature within the pot continued to rise!

Furiously driving his cultivation to reach the optimal heat, Sebian focused all his attention on the insides of his pot. Soon, the risk of the cauldron exploding turned real. Holding the intense mist within the pot only with the strength of his weak cultivation, Sebian started to wonder whether he didn't bite more than he could chew.

It was only thanks to the stable nature of this particular materia prima, that the whole thing didn't end up in a disaster.

Standing a bit to the side, Sheener was sweating a lot. No longer bothering to even wipe his sweat off, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the moves of the foreign alchemist. Even though they didn't seem to be profound at all, the elder could see how taxing the process was on this strange young man.

Then, the entire ordeal was over.

As if breaking through some kind of limitation, the mist in the cauldron suddenly condensed, turning into a thick, slightly murky liquid.

'Thank the heavens!' Seeing the effect of his hard work, Sebian released a sigh of relief. Opening the cauldron with confidence, he took a quick whiff of the scent from inside of it, before pulling out the remaining stone from within. Turning around, he ignored the precious liquid in the pot only to approach the girl with the stone in his hand.

"I removed just enough energy from this thing to turn it into a superior grade two stone. Just like we agreed, it's yours. Now, it's your time to make a decision." Standing up, Sebian didn't wait for the girl to shake her shock aside and reply. Moving back to the cauldron, he brought out some of the wet herbs that he used to create materia secunda before. Putting seven of them in a small cup, he then quickly ground them down into a wet paste.

'What am I…?' Holding the wet stone in her hands, Aina lost her ability to speak. Yes, the deal was about second grade stone, but what she was holding in her hands, was far superior!

Rarely appearing in nature, the stones of the same kind as the one she just received, were considered to be the most precious kind, often rivalling the price of stones a grade higher! Even though their energy was lesser, their purity usually reached at least two grades above the rank they had themselves.

And for a price of a single superior stone, one would usually be able to buy at least three or four normal stones of the same grade!

But just as the greed and dream-like naive thought that just this amount of money would be enough to fulfil her wish were to take over the girl's head, a slight sliver of doubt appeared in her mind as well.

Glancing at the back of this peculiar stranger that she meet just a few hours ago, Aina still couldn't utter a single word. Right now, he was busy working around the potions he created, not wasting even a single strand of attention on her.

At first, when the girl attempted to move her eyes on the stone to make her decision, she failed. As if some strange force held her head in place, she was unable to tear her eyes away from the fur-clad back of the man.

Then, he turned around and approached her with a tired but accomplished smile. Holding a small vial of some kind of dense liquid, Sebian looked down at the girl's face.

"So? What's your choice?" So far, he didn't do anything for her directly. By offering the proposed reward, Sebian was also forcing the girl to make a simple choice. Were she to accept payment, their contract would come to an end and they would part their ways. On the other hand…

"Master, please acknowledge me as your follower." Dropping the crystal to the side, Aina bit her bottom lip before falling to her knees and lowering her head to the floor before the man's feet. An act that would cut all her future chances of ever entering the Gloryhouse guild again.

Yet, for some reason, Aina felt as if she was making the right choice.

"Good. Then I will need you to trust me now. And with that, also offer me your forgiveness." Kneeling before the girl, Sebian looked in her deep eyes before saying. "Why are you so loyal to the Gloryhouse sect?"