First Pill Refinement

They kept silent throughout the journey. Xiao Ran didn't take the initiative to talk to him, nor the other way around too.

When they entered the examination room, Long Chen saw two cauldrons already placed on two different tables, with the herbs beside it too.

An Elder sat at the front, the token hanging on his robes indicated that he was a Grade 2 Alchemist. They sat down on the separate tables, and looked up towards the Elder.

"In front of you is a cauldron that Alchemists use to refine pills, while beside the cauldron is a bunch of herbs that you will be using to refine your pill for the examination. If you pass, you will officially become a Grade 1 Alchemist. If you fail, you shall have the pay for the herbs." The Elder straightforwardly explained in a low voice.

"The pill that you will be needed to refine today for the examination is the Grade 1 Injury Recovery Pill, which is used to quickly heal injuries. The relevant herbs are already placed beside you. You have 3 hours to refine this pill. Good luck." The Elder proceeded to announce the examination rules, as he swept his gaze between him and Xiao Ran, most of the time though, his eyes landed on Xiao Ran.

He had heard that Xiao Ran was the sole disciple of Elder Yin, the Grade 3 Alchemist who is on the verge of breaking through to Grade 4. To be so highly regarded by Elder Yin meant that this Xiao Ran definitely had high talent for alchemy. Therefore, he anticipated her pill refining process.

'Injury Recovery Pill.' Long Chen thought inwardly. The Great Way of the Alchemy Sutra also included some basic information about these common pill recipes, and he had always memorized it within his mind.

First, they had to light up a fire. There was a fire imbued within the cauldron which he activated after using his Elemental Energy to contact it.

Next, was placing the herbs within the cauldron and start to extract the herbal properties from it.

Long Chen was recognizing the herbs needed to refine the pill within the pile of herbs beside him, and when he found what he needed, he started to place them one by one into the cauldron.

Afterwards, he began to control the fire to extract the medicinal properties. Because this was his first time using the cauldron, his control of the fire at the beginning was mediocre. Theoretical knowledge could not beat practical knowledge.

But after a few tries, his rate of improvement was rapidly increasing. This could be attributed to his Alchemy Talent, which granted him a better affinity for fire, as well as control.

The herbs began to burn off, leaving behind the medicinal properties, along with quite a bit of impurities.

There was no way that his first at refining pills could ever be perfect.

Next, it was time for him to condense the liquid into a solid pill.

The Elder was paying his full attention to the pill refining of Xiao Ran, as he shook his head a few times, but inwardly complimented and praised her a lot more.

Because the proficiency of her pill refining techniques were exceptional for her young age. When he was at her age, he was still playing around with and trying his best to remember the names of the herbs, while she already started to refine pills.

There was such a big contrast between them. No wonder even Elder Yin would want to take her as a disciple.

And that was when the Elder suddenly smelt a scent.

'Strange. This is the scent of a pill forming. Xiao Ran has not completed her extraction yet, so there is no way for the smell to originate from her.' The Elder thought inwardly.

The Elder turned his head, and then felt his mind blowing into shambles.

The man beside Xiao Ran was already beginning the pill forming process.

He glanced at the sticks of incense that were burning, and saw that a little over an hour had passed.

For a beginner, this speed was far too fast. A normal person would take around 2 hours before they started to condense the pill.

Maybe he sacrificed quality for speed? The Elder wondered in his mind.

Regardless, the Elder began to pay attention to the man's refining process too.

And the more he saw on, the more shocked he became. This was because his control of the fire could be considered as immaculate for a beginner, and his pill refining techniques were exquisite.

A while passed, before Long Chen finally saw the liquid forming the shape of a pill within his cauldron.

He increased the intensity of the fire, and with a slight flash as effect, the liquid finally turned into a true, solid pill.

Long Chen wiped the beads of sweat that formed on his forehead. His first attempt at refining a pill was done.

Although a Grade 1 Injury Recovery Pill was one of the simplest pill to refine, with more than a 90% of success, for an amateur like him, refining this took him quite some strenuous effort.

He had thought that with his current talent, it won't be that hard to refine his first pill.

But who knew that it was actually rather exhausting.

[Host has refined a Mid-Tier Grade 1 Pill]

[Host has upgraded from Grade 0 to a Grade 1 Alchemist]

A mid-tier pill? As far as he knew, pills were classified from Trash, Low-Tier, Mid-Tier, High-Tier, and the Peak-Tier.

This should be quite good, right? Long Chen thought to himself.

He lifted up his completed pill, and walked towards the Elder, who was frozen solid, and passed in on to him, "Elder, I am already done with my pill refining. This is my completed pill."

Xiao Ran could hear his voice, as she took a bit of concentration out of her refining to look up, and saw the condensed pill in his hands.

A glint of shock flashed in her eyes, before she quickly focused back onto her pill refining.

The Elder, however, did not take that short of a time to recover, as he just stood there staring at Long Chen with wide open eyes for a long time.

"Elder?" Long Chen repeated.

"Yes, yes." The Elder nodded his head as he refocused himself, and he glanced towards the pill in his hands.

He felt a shiver pass through his heart as he saw the shape and colour of it. He was an accomplished Grade 2 Alchemist, and he definitely knew how to gauge the grade of a mere Grade 1 Pill, especially one so simple.

And because of that, he was aghast with astonishment.

"A Mid-Tier Grade 1 Pill…" The Elder took over the pill with trembling hands, with his voice even containing a hint of tremble as he spoke.

The Elder then began to scrutinize every corner of the pill with his beady eyes, wanting to see if there was any fault in his analysis, but he was not wrong.

"Elder, do I qualify to become a Grade 1 Alchemist now?" Long Chen slowly spoke as he glanced at the Elder.

The Elder shifted his glance away from the pill as he immediately responded, "Of course, here is the Passing slip. You can go to the receptionist to retrieve your token of identification."

Long Chen retrieved the slip of paper from his hands, and turned around to leave, when the Elder called him out.

"Fellow Alchemist, may I know who your teacher might be?"

The Elder had thought that with Long Chen's alchemy skills, there is bound to be a teacher who had guided him throughout his learning process.

If not, how do you explain such an unknown person being able to refine pills at his standard?

"I have no teacher." Long Chen lightly smiled back.

"Ah…I see." The Elder responded, while thinking that Long Chen probably didn't want to expose his teacher's name.

With that, Long Chen walked out of the examination room, towards the receptionist.