บท 30: Refining Pill
"Teacher?"
"What is it?"
"No, It's just...Your face was scary just then."
"I was thinking about infusing the army with pills."
Alex was surprised, he never thought his teacher had an aim for the army. Alex pondered a bit, "Peak-grade is almost impossible since they were really hard to make. For top-grade, we can give them to the high ranking person in the army, though a bit hard but feasible. Mid-grade is the main pill we can give. As for low-grade... I don't know, they are basically junk pills."
The dean was astonished, Alex's brain worked like magic. He just gave him a topic, and Alex almost gave him a perfect answer.
"We will wait and see first, we will try to make the pills first and plan how to distribute them later. I will buy many sets of ingredients tomorrow."
"Yes, I will follow the Teacher's order."
"By the way, Alex, you usually already went back an hour ago. So it's surprised me to see you here when I came back just now."
"Ah... Teacher, I will go back now. I'm just too excited about Alchemy just now," Alex was too absorbed, he usually came back an hour ago to cook for Alicia.
--
"Have Alex forgotten me? He is one hour late from his usual schedule to come back to our room and I haven't eaten yet," Alicia rubbed her stomach. "Or Did something happen to him?"
When she thought about this, she rushed to the door to search for Alex. When she opened the door, she saw Alex who was about to open the door too.
"Alex!" Alicia shouted with joy.
"Princess...I'm sorry," he felt a bit guilty for her.
"Did something happen?" looking at Alex, she worriedly asked.
"No...Nothing happened, I was just too immersed with my training," he said embarrassingly.
"So...nothing bad had happened? That's good," she was relieved, but suddenly there was a sound of 'rumble' from Alicia's stomach. After both of them heard the sound, Alicia blushed.
"Ah...I will immediately cook something for you, Princess."
After having dinner, Aex said to Alicia, "Princess, I think I will be back a bit later for a few days."
"Really? Don't worry about me. I can still eat in the cafeteria. Just be careful, okay?" she was still worried. It seemed that she cared more about Alex than her stomach.
Alex moved by what Alicia said, although he lied about doing the training with the dean. He thought it must be the safest lie he could do. However, he never expected that she would worry this much.
"Okay, Princess. I understand," Alex smiled, he decided to give her a few peak-grade body tempering pills to enhance her strength, "Umm...Here for you, Princess."
"What is it?" she smiled.
"What is the test for grade ranking next month?"
"Oh...I never explain about this, We need to kill monsters in Night Forest for two weeks. The whole process will be monitored by the teachers so that it won't be too dangerous for us. The grading will be determined by how many monsters we kill. This is a joint event with the second-grade student and third-grade student."
She continued, "The monsters in Night Forest are relatively low level, even the forest king is a rank six ape residing in the core area."
"Core Area?"
"Night Forest divided into three areas. Outer, inner, and core area. Outer area monsters are only rank 0 to rank 1, first-grade students usually hunt in this area. Next is the inner area, the monster resides in here is rank 2 to rank 3 monsters. And second-grade and third-grade students hunt in here. And for the core area, the monster consists of rank 4 and rank 5 with rank 6 ape as the forest king. The geniuses from the third-grader hunt here."
"Rank 4 and rank 5..." Alex muttered. "I can try killing in the inner area, if possible, I want to try in the core area."
"What is it?" Alicia heard Alex mutter something. She warned, "You can hunt in the inner area since you have rank 3 power but don't go to the core area, do you hear me?"
Considering Alex's past action, she was sure Alex wanted to go to the core area.
"I..." Alex was surprised by Alicia's reaction.
"Promise me you won't go to the core area," Alicia gave a threatening glare to Alex.
"I have confidence in having a rank 4 prowess before the event starts," Alex didn't back down. He tried to stand up for himself for once, albeit whether he will stand up like this again or not was still vague in the future.
"You..." she sighed, "Fine... but be careful. If you meet a strong monster, please run away, okay?"
"I...Okay then, I understand Princess."
"I will now explain other events for the first-grade students. After grade ranking, we will have a vacation for two months. Then, we will have a normal class for three months. The next event would be killing the monsters in the dungeon for a month."
"Dungeon? There is a dungeon in this world?"
"There are nine dungeons in this world. Four of them are located in human territories. One of them is in Geisha Town in the Zircodina Kingdom, One of them is in the Holy kingdom. The Acacia Kingdom also has one and it is in Maka town, only one day away from the capital city, and the last still in our territory. However, the previous king decided to make that town under Hunter guild Jurisdiction."
"Hunter guild?"
"You are an adventurer, right?"
Alex nodded as Alicia's response.
"Adventurer has many types of missions, such as scouting, guarding, or killing. But for Hunter, they specialize in killing the monster in the dungeon. They can sell monster parts in Hunter guild."
"I see...Then where is the rest of the dungeon?"
"Two of them are inside the demi-human territory, and the rest are in demon territory," she said.
Then, Alicia remembered something, "I almost forgot about this. There are three classifications for the dungeon, low-class dungeon, middle-class dungeon, and high-level dungeon. The classification was based on the monster's level. The high-level dungeon even has a rank 9 monster. But, the people still have not gotten deep enough to know what is inside the dungeon."
"Rank 9..." Alex muttered, 'System if I want to kill a rank 9 monster, I don't think basic sword arts or basic spear art will be enough.'
[Host doesn't need to worry, System have intermediate skill too]
'Oh... you are really a great, System.'
[But Host needs to upgrade System first]
'...' Alex was speechless. The System just shut him up after the System made him a bit grateful to it, 'And the condition is?'
[For the first System upgrade, Host needs to accumulate two thousand tickets]
'Two thousand? I can't make it in grade ranking in the night forest. Well, I'm not in a rush, I should be able to accomplish it in the dungeon. But System, after this upgrade can you cover your own track?'
[System probably can do that]
'Oiii...' Alex snapped on his mind
"Alex...Alex..!"
"Ah..." Alicia woke him up from his conversation with the System. Alex said, "What is it?"
"Are you listening?"
"I'm sorry, I will listen now."
"I just said, you can't be reckless in the dungeon. This dungeon event had a high mortality rate, not only commoner, but nobles might die too in the dungeon. This event usually made forty percent of students quitted from the academy because they are dead, disabled, or simply a coward."
"I will be careful. That's right, what class of the dungeon in Maka Town?"
"Middle class."
"I see. Is there any event after that?"
"Only ranking competition for class ranking in grade promotion exam. This will determine your ranking when we are in second grade. And you might not be interested in it."
Alex pondered for his plan after this.
"It's already late. Let's sleep," Alicia yawned.
Alex just noticed that the moon was almost over their head. He nodded, "Yes, Let's sleep for now."
Alicia nodded and went to bed, "Alex, how about..." she hesitated. She actually wanted to go together with Alex in Night Forest.
"What is it, Princess?"
"Never mind," she decided not to be a burden for Alex.
Alicia and Alex then went to sleep.
The next day, they just did their routines as usual. After practicing with Firia, Alex went to the dean's workshop again.
"Alex... you have come. I made another stove yesterday. The new one is for you."
Alex saw the cauldron that seemed to have multiplied. The new cauldron had the exact appearance as the first one.
"I have purchased a thousand sets of medicine for each pill, and they will arrive next week. For now, I managed to get a hundred sets for each pill."
Alex nodded, "I will refine body tempering pill first."
Alex went to his new cauldron, he examined the cauldron carefully. Alex felt this new cauldron was better than the first one. He should be able to make a better pill with this. After experiencing making the cauldron, as an experienced forger, the dean could also make a better one.
"Thank you, Teacher," he thanked him.
"What is this 'thank you' all about? You are my student and my only successor, If I get too old later who will take care of me if not you?" the dean said jokingly.
Even when he said it as a joke, Alex took it seriously. After all, the dean had been treating him like a family.
There were a few tears in the corner of Alex's eyes, this was the feeling he had forgotten, feeling of having a loving 'Family'. The dean was now considered him as the dean's family too.
Alex calmed down a bit, then he focused on the cauldron in front of him. He grabbed a set of ingredients and refined them.
After four hours of refining body tempering pills, he managed to make forty-two pills out of sixty set ingredients. That meant five minutes for one set of ingredients. Now, he felt his Mana was already empty. So he tiredly lay down on the floor.
After a bit, he looked at the pills he refined. Out of forty-two pills, four of them were junk, eighteen were mid-grade pills, fourteen were top-grade pills, and the rest were peak-grade.
The dean refined the rest forty set ingredients. He managed to make two peak-grade pills. He looked at Alex's six peak-grade pills, he sighed. This must be the effect of Alex's talent and Pure Fire Element. But he was secretly happy with Alex's achievement.
"Good work!" the dean gave him water.
"Thank you, Teacher," he gulped down the water in an instant.
"What are you going to do with the pills?" the dean asked.
"For peak-grade, I will eat it myself. After eating them, I will have rank 4 prowess. As for the rest, I will leave it to Teacher. Maybe you can make money to cover the cost of the ingredients?"
"Oh... you are not going to give the pills to that lass?" He teased Alex.
"I will refine them later after the next batch of ingredients come," Alex said calmly.
"From the look of it, you are planning to give it to a few people."
"Yes, I'm planning to give it to the Grand Duke, madam, Alicia, and her sisters, Firia, the king and crown prince, I think. That makes fifty-six pills. With my current percentage for peak-grade pills, the next batch ingredients are more than enough for them."
The dean was astonished after knowing Alex had planned to give the pills to so many people. But he also felt gratified, Alex remembered the kindness others had shown to him. However, he also thought it was a bit excessive. Especially with his decision to give the pills to the crown prince. He was sure that Alex had known all Rizertia household members since there were only the grand duke and his wife, Alicia, along with her two sisters. Then, he might want to repay the king for his recommendation. As for the crown prince, there was no relation between Alex and him so far.
"Well, It's up to you. If the ingredients are not enough, I can buy them again," the dean said.
For the time being, the dean will just agree to it. He wanted Alex to make the decision for himself. He hoped Alex could grow from each decision he made and every choice he encountered. He would just support him from the back.
Hearing this, Alex's heart got warm, "Thanks, Teacher."
"Just eat the pills now, and immediately go back. It's already late."
"Yes."
Alex ate the pills one by one. After eating the pills, he felt refreshed. He noticed his strength was now equal to rank 4 warrior.
After eating the pills, Alex immediately said goodbye to the dean and left.
When he went back, Alicia had closed her eyes, lying on the bed. So he cultivated peacefully.
Name: Alexander Sirius (Peak Phase Body Tempering Stage)
Job: Adventurer(Primary), Alchemist(Secondary)
Rank: 2
Level: 271
STR: 435
AGI: 319
VIT: 364
DEX: 320
INT: 190
Alex's status had a significant increase from last time, especially his STR. Although his level was stagnant, including his rank since he hadn't killed a monster after arriving in this city. He still needed to increase all of his statuses to 400 to make a breakthrough to the Qi gathering Stage. After so long, Alex concluded that each realm was equal to a hundred points of each stat.
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