章 26: New Apprentices (2)

Only once the last book was put in place, the pill he made placed into the glass container and the array swept for any lingering dust, did Louis finally leave the room. The day was still early, despite no natural light seeping underground, Louis had a good grasp just how long had transpired since he woke up: seven hours. His stomach growled, like it usually did whenever he toiled with his new toys, experimenting to his heart's delight. And, like what usually happened, he went hungry, not simply because Silva prohibited him from eating. Her threats lied little more than their playful banter, and she was far too kind to actually make him forsake a meal, whatever the reason. Instead, eating was a hassle that took far too much time, each moment he was awake he much rather spend researching or with his family.

Louis sighed as he passed the room Amelia, Nia and the others were playing in. The games they had morphed into something nearly unimaginable from their original intentions, transforming "Journey to the West" into a game with multiple platforms to play from, no longer it was simply from east to west but rather from the lowest floor to the top, each with its own hindrances and challenges. Amber and Tera had long since stopped playing "Find and Catch" so much as "Create and Match." Rather than having someone create an orb and have the other person catch it, both players could create the orbs and the other person had to catch it. Both players were finders and catchers. Orbs that remained untouched could interfere with the other orbs, increasing the difficulty level since orbs could be created at any moment, at any place. Each match lasted an hour and whoever had more orbs left standing at the end won.

They had improved tremendously in the past two months, not simply in cultivation level. Their relationships between Nia, Amber, their parents and his mother had all increased during their day to day merry making. A pang of loneliness rose within Louis' chest, gripping his heart and thoughts. He had spent most of his time alone in the alchemy room, sleeping and eating at odd times to make ends meet, unable to spend much time interacting them, let alone play a game or two with them. He only watched occasionally from the sidelines, albeit briefly, before he got to work, even though he so very much wanted to join them.

"Something wrong?" Silva asked.

"No, just a bit tired." Louis said, shaking his head. "Nothing major."

"Want to change your clothes and take a break?" Silva asked, turning around. She looked at his robes, which were pure black, covered by a thick medicinal smell yet still clean to a fault. An array was built in to make it both fireproof and clean, something Silva had one day delivered to him to make his life more convenient. She brushed his shoulders, chest and back anyways.

"It's fine. It's better if I showed up like how I normally dress rather than something fancy."

His six apprentices were eating snacks and drinking tea in his room. Three girls sat on one couch facing the three boys on the other. The two smaller and seemingly younger girls sat next to each other, each reading a book and occasionally talking to each other. The two male apprentices across from them were silently eating snacks, drinking tea and staring into space. The last male apprentice had his eyes closed, his tea and snacks untouched. He was tall and more the handsome and well dressed than the other two. The final apprentice, a female whose beauty would rival Silva's, simply stared at that last male apprentice, seemingly trying to understand him more out of curiosity rather than love or interest.

Louis on a chair nearby for nearly five minutes, ignored by everyone, before clapping as he stood on his seat, so he could see each of them at eye level. It was only then that any of them paid him anything more than a passing glance, their eyes focused, scouring for anything notable he had and keeping what they thought in their mind, their faces expressionless, neutral.

"Hello, I am Louis. I will be your teacher for the next two years. I am a three start alchemist. Let's start by going around the table to the right. Say your name, cultivation level and your alchemical interests."

"Hayden Lynn. Third realm, eighth layer. I'm interested in pills that can improve my cultivation." He reported his name, then closed his eyes. He had brown hair, red eyes. He was well dressed, lean yet he had an energy and strengthen that his clothes could not hide.

"Treize Ray. Third realm, third layer. Same as the former." He said, looking straight at Louis. He was much bigger than Hayden, not so much in height, but he was ripped that his T-shirt and shorts could not hide. He had red hair, red eyes.

"Daniel Lynn. Third realm, fourth layer. No specialities yet."Daniel said. He had brown hair that reached past his shoulders and beautiful red eyes. He looked delicate, benign but gave off a sense of apathy.

"Meyrin Ray. Third realm, third layer. I'm interested in healing alchemy, especially the soul." Meyrin said, bowing her head. She then began reading her book once more. She was the smallest of the bunch, probably little just above five feet standing tall. She had red hair reaching to her waist and red eyes.

"Emmalee Lynn. Third realm, first layer. I'm interested in healing alchemy, especially the body." She said, bowing her head. She also began reading her book once she finished. She was a head taller than Meyrin, but besides her height and brown hair, she looked like a bigger version of Meyrin.

"Bailey Ray. Third realm, sixth layer. I'm undecided." She said, bowing her head. She looked at him for the first time, carefully and slowly analyzing his body. She had red hair and red eyes. She wore a black, formal dress that reach her knees. She was the tallest in the room, around five feet ten.

"Alright. As for myself, although I am a third star alchemist, I have only crafted two types of pills: elemental qi replenishing pills and Spiritual Energy Upper Pills. And, for the next couple of weeks, I will have no time to properly teach you, but I have prepared book arrays and tests for each of you. They cover all the ingredients from one and two star pills and hold all the information that can be found within the library."

"There are rooms, arrays and ingredients prepared for all of you, so there is no problems there. However, I would not be able to help you with concoctions for another two weeks, when Nia's main training has been completed. After that, I will have time to concoct some one and two star pills and teach you along the way."

"For now, let's all head to the basement where the alchemy rooms are. I want each of you to create your best pill you can at the moment." Louis said, hopping off of the chair. "Aim for quality, though if you can increase the quantity at the expense of a slight drop of quality, that is fine too."

In the basement, on the opposite of where Louis concocted pills and Amber played her games with the others, was a fairly sizeable room. The entire room was covered in an array that Louis personally crafted. It was the largest array he could make. It was great at containing things, especially fires, and alchemists during his day always used it for protecting their apprentices from their mishaps. There were three arrays in total: an array under each cauldron, a Fire Qi Pocket Array; an array surrounding that array, right where the alchemist would sit, that would protect the alchemist if a fire would break out; and a much larger array containing the fire within the room and sound an alarm if things seriously became problematic.

"Well, here we are. There is an cauldron and Fire Qi Pocket Array for all of you. There are ingredients next door if you need, so feel free to start whenever you want."

Meyrin and Emmalee were the first ones to make a move, followed by Haydon and Bailey, then Daniel. Treize lingered the longest, but eventually gathered the materials and started concocting. All of them choose the same ingredients, for an one star healing pill: Convalescence. It would heal minor wounds completely and apply emergency first aid to larger wounds. It was the hardest pill to craft with the largest consequences for messing it up.

Louis watched each of them for ten minutes at a time, since this would be the only pill he would be watching any of them concoct until at least two weeks later. Haydon had the greatest skill, but not by much, making a grade 6 pill. Bailey was right behind him at grade 6 and while her concocting process was weaker, her cleansing process was significantly better. Daniel was third, at grade 5, and a few steps behind her while Emmalee and Meyrin had some issues. They could only make a grade 3 pill. Emmalee's qi revolved through her body incorrectly, preventing her from gaining as much control she otherwise had while Meyrin's soul was weaker, much like traumatic patients he used to treat. As for Treize, well, Louis was glad the pill was even a grade 2 pill.

"Alright. I got an approximate guess where everybody is alchemy-wise. The partners are Haydon and Bailey; Emmalee and Meyrin; Daniel and Treize." Louis said, clapping his hands. "Alright, everyone store your pills carefully, so we all understand where we were when we started training here and, after two years, we will revisit these pills and see just how far we have improved."

Louis handed the arrays he had spent the last two weeks creating to them. They looked like pocket watches, with twelve notches evenly spread apart of each other on the perimeter. "Alright, so everyone but Emmalee and Meyrin will now use these arrays to study the ingredients for one and two star pills. There are eleven 'tests' within the arrays so to speak, which you can activate by pouring qi into each notch of the circle. The one that looks blue is the twelfth notch and is the many one you can use to study with. Good luck." He started walking away. "Emmalee and Meyrin, follow me."