Chapter 10: Found Out
It was dawn when Louis got up. He finished his morning cultivation before he reviewed his first alchemy experience in this world. The flame from yesterday was smooth, burning evenly from to inside out. However, the ingredients of the world, to put it simply, were nothing more than common weeds and flowers. Although the qi in this world became ubiquitous, allowing such common weeds and flowers to contain qi, unlike in his old world, the qi they contained was truly pitiful. For instance, take the Yellow Flower, an earth type flower and the base of the fire qi replenishing pill, was the first ingredient used in the pill yesterday.
He followed the recipe recorded within the library books, but he misunderstood the word "light heat" because of the difference of materials. The Yellow Flower wasn't supposed incinerate that quickly, losing a great part of its delicate, earthen qi and increasing the impurities within the pill, which further decreased it size. The final fusion was also too slow, since underestimated the heat needed, since the previous ingredients had such a low melting point.
Louis stacked the blankets covering the array onto the other side of the room, where Amelia would potentially fall onto if she were to roll of the bed. Today, he would use better ingredients for the fire qi replenishing pill, they weren't as brittle as the ones he used yesterday and were fresher. Once he looked at each material then put it on the cloth beside him, he started the array again.
The wind-water qi pocket array activated much quicker this time around. The inner two cylinders filled up with qi within the first minute and water and liquid silver met within another two minutes. When Louis lit the fire this time, instead of starting concocting, he spent five minutes playing with the fire. Balls of flames flew up from the flame, arcing and dancing before returning to its source. A giant flare would erupt from the tip of the flame occasionally. The temperature gradually surpassed the temperature for concocting pills then became a cold flame.
Satisfied, Louis heated the flame before throwing the first four ingredients in. The four parts of the flame that each of the ingredients reached all had different melting points. Yellow Flower had the lowest heat, while the second and third ingredients - Red Ginseng and Fire Flower - both required much higher temperatures to obtain the qi within. The fourth ingredient was the Five Leaf Clover, was the an earthen ingredient but it required the highest temperature of all ten ingredients. The fire was divided into three different areas, one for the Yellow Flower; one for the Red Ginseng and Fire Flower; and the last for the Five Leaf Clover. Despite the different temperatures and melting speeds, all four ingredients finished melting at the same time.
The fifth and sixth ingredients were a fruit and berry. The fifth ingredient was a fruit with a tough shell but a red, juicy inside. The sixth ingredient looked like grapes, except it was dark orange and the juices within it was a very thin fiery qi. The seventh and eighth ingredients were two crystals. They didn't need a high heat constantly, but an initial high heat was needed to break the surface. Then they needed to be slowly heated and melted while the last two ingredients, the Qi Replenishing Flower and the seed of that flower.
The first four ingredients, the second four and the last two were fused together respectively. This time, only a small amount of impurities left each of the orbs. When all three fused together, no impurities were casted away this time. The four cleansing stages separated the pill from all the impurities; poured qi into the container so the pill would "breathe" in the qi; then the pill would assimilate the qi; finally the pill will be cooled so it can be touched. The final pill was red orange pill, nearly double the size of the one he made yesterday. Considering the size and color, it was a middle grade Qi Replenshining Pill.
He deactivated the array and looked outside the window. Dawn was coming up, but, since it was the weekend, Amelia wouldn't get out of bed for another hour, maybe two if she really wanted to sleep in.
Louis split the Fire Qi Replenishing Pill in half. The outer half was dark orange, the middle was a bright orange while the center was dark red. The inner layer was made of the Qi Replenishing Flower and Seed, while the middle layer had the second four ingredients and the last ingredients made the outer layer. It was much better than his previous pill, this one at least had layers, though this pill wasn't as good as the one he saw within the book, merely a middle grade pill.
It was unacceptable for him. He was an alchemy emperor and a one star pill stumped him not once but twice. He crushed the pill and let all the qi trapped within it explode out. The qi within the flame was indeed purer than recorded within the books but the amount of qi was much lower, fizzing out within moments. In other words, not what the formula intended. He still had two three more grades - high, great and supreme - to reach before he could redeem himself.
Louis sighed as he gathered another set of materials. He spent too much on removing the impurities instead of increasing the qi quantity. Pills, especially of this rank, didn't need such pure qi, since replenishing pills were simply used to quickly restore qi, not help one break through.
After completing the third pill of the day, Louis finally created a high rank Fire Qi Replenishing Pill. Amelia had watched him create the second pill but rolled away halfway in the process.
"Louis. Louis! Daddy came to visit. Daddy came to visit!" Amelia said, running into the room, holding Brian's hand.
Louis dropped the high grade pill as he heard the words. He looked at the pill for a moment and slowly looked up to Brian. He had just deactivated the wind-water qi pocket array, so the qi was still fluctuating at He opened his mouth but no words came out. Not that he could think up of any anyway.
Brian leaned down to Amelia. "Daddy has to talk with Louis, okay? Why don't you help mommy set up the dinner table?"
"Alright, daddy. Please hurry. I'm hungry." Amelia nodded multiple times before running out of the room at an ever faster speed.
"I heard from Melissa that you are concocting pills. I would have never expected you to have such a talent." Brian picking up the high grade Fire Qi Replenishing Pill. "When did you start?"
"I don't know." Louis said, looking away. "Perhaps, when you first starting to me?"
"And when was that?"
"Right now."
"This isn't the first time we talked. I visit every weekend. We talk then."
"That's news to me. I thought you came to visit Elaine and her daughters, not Melissa, not Amelia, and most certainly not me."
"I'm your birth father."
"By blood apparently." Louis said, turning around to look into Brian's eyes. "Though I honestly wondered if you ever cared us before Shea and Clara, then Elaine by extension, came visiting us. It couldn't have been more than a couple times a month, if we were lucky that you visited."
"So you think I'm a bad father."
"No, I think you are a shameless man. Only bothering to visit when you hear I can concoct pills." Louis held out his palm. "Now, if you would, please return my pill. I worked hard to make that."
Brian started laughing as he walked onto the bed and sat on the edge, looking down onto Louis. "Well, it's not too late to start now." He rolled the pill in his palm as he brought it up to his face. "It would take a person a couple of years of arduous training to achieve this level, yet you reached in it, what, two tries?"
"Four. And it's a disappointing product. If you like it so much, take it." Louis scoffed. He stood up, patted his pants and walked to the curtain. "I'm leaving if you have nothing else to say."
"You can't sell this pill to get more materials, if that's what your thinking."
"What you mean?" Louis asked, looking back.
"High grade pills are rare, especially for earth and fire pills, because the Allyn family specializes in wind and water. They would be too conspicious if you try to sell more than a couple at a time, especially if it's not the water element. It would be better to sell higher star pills with medium quality than a high or great quality one star pill."
"I'll keep that in mind." Louis said, as he left.
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