Chapter 32- Alchemy

*Boom*

A large explosion came from one of the many Alchemy rooms that filled the Alchemy Hall. The door was swung open and black smoke billowed out of the room. A coughing young girl ran out the room. She was an inner disciple and it seemed that she had failed to refine her pill.

It wasn't a rare occurrence as only masters with perfect control over the fire and the alchemy cauldron who also had extensive knowledge about herbs and pills could consistently make a pill without causing and explosion. Usually, an alchemy master would have one or two kinds of pills they specialized at that they could make nearly flawlessly each time.

"How may I help you sir?"

Maxwell was approached by a young boy who had been carrying around herbs to many Alchemy rooms.

"Do you know where Jonathan is?"

"Yes, I can take you to him."

"Okay, lead me there."

Maxwell followed him down the smoky path to a large field of herbs. There were many disciples caring for the plants carefully. Shouts came from a patch of herbs further ahead in the fields. Maxwell could hear it clearly, but his escort didn't hear it till much later and had a slight panic attack after hearing it.

"S-sir how about you wait here? I will bring him for you. The Spiritual Herb field is dirty after all."

"It's fine I'll go with you, I'm curious about the field."

Reluctantly, the boy let Maxwell follow along. The herbs weren't of outstanding quality, but they were all well cared for with no wilted herbs in sight.

'So, this is how they train their apprentices before they learn to make pills.'

Many of the apprentices looked up from their work and hid themselves in fear after seeing the color of the lining of Maxwell's uniform.

'Do I look scary with my sudden growth? Or do they mistake me for someone else?'

They stopped in front of a field where a rotund man was violently striking Jonathan. He saw Maxwell, but still continued.

"You're here to collect herbs for the young sect leader? I have them ready, let me just teach this useless child a lesson."

"I'm not." Maxwell responded while appearing beside him and restraining his arm.

"You, how dare you touch my hand!"

"I am not breaking any rules, I can report you to the disciplinary hall and I'll see what they do to you for abusing the disciples."

"Heh." He let out a snort, "You think they would dare arrest me? The Young Sect Leader supports me after all."

"I'm sure if word of it goes to the other core elders, they wouldn't hesitate to take action. Now leave him alone. If I hear of you hurting Jonathan again I'll make sure it reaches their ears."

"There is no proof that I hurt anyone, you can ask any of the apprentices if they saw anything."

"There's plenty of proof. Jonathan, I want to speak with you."

"Uhh, excuse me, but who are you?" Jonathan asked.

"It's me, Maxwell. How could you forget my appearance so fast just because I grew taller."

"Oh, so that's why you seemed familiar."

Maxwell and Jonathan headed to an Alchemy Hall after thanking the disciple that led him there. Jonathan thanked Maxwell for saving him from the caretaker of the Spiritual Herb Field.

"Jonathan, you can tell me if he mistreats you again. He won't get away without consequences."

"Okay. How did you get so much taller in such a short while anyways? You're also a Core Disciple now."

"I had a sudden growth while cultivating. How have you been? Did you make any pills?"

"I've been okay, I made a few pills after a lot of failures."

"It's alright you won't always succeed in the first try. You can learn along the way from all the mistakes."

"Do you want to see me make pills? I might fail a few times, but I'll get there eventually."

"I have some herbs of my own, you should make a healing pill to heal your wounds, both internal and external."

"I have internal wounds?"

"Yes. The caretaker is a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator, his hits will of course hurt you badly. Why do you think you have been coughing terribly?"

"Is that why? I thought I was just sick. Maxwell, you know so much, no wonder you're already a core disciple."

"I'm just attentive."

They entered one of the empty Alchemy halls with a rundown cauldron that was covered in soot and ashes from the failure of other apprentices. Since apprentices didn't have their own Earth Fire, they had to manually control a flame with their qi that was much weaker than Earth Fire and drained the users qi.

Maxwell brought out multiple sets of the herbs he had grown in the 2 months as an Inner Disciple.

"These are all excellent herbs, where did you get these?" Jonathan asked Maxwell in amazement. He perked up at the sight of the herbs, with all his nervousness leaving his body.

"I grew them for fun. They nearly dried up at one point because I forgot to water them, but now they're fine."

"These are too good for me to use. I will just waste them."

"They would be wasted by another alchemist anyways. With these ingredients, even if you make a terrible pill it will at least be medium grade. Now give it a try."

Jonathan took a few seconds to calm himself to refine it and ran through the recipe. He started the fire and controlled it to reach the temperature he desired. He then put in the first ingredient. He put the ingredients in, in batches while adjusting the temperature as required for each herb. The room grew exceedingly hot as there was no cooling mechanism and sweat soaked his uniform.

Maxwell carefully observed it and even as a novice himself he noticed mistakes. When Jonathan put on the lid and sealed it for the final steps, the ingredients exploded out in a fury of flaming leaves. The temperature was too high, and everything burnt to Jonathan's dismay. The fire extinguished due to lack of qi and Jonathan grabbed the next set with determination. He knew he would waste a few sets, but he was determined to make a batch of pills.

Maxwell told Jonathan his observations that Jonathan took in mind and was ready to adjust for. A different perspective helped him improve his technique.

He straightened the toppled cauldron and quickly looked around for any serious damage. After verifying that it was safe to use, he restarted his fire. His flame was much more controlled unlike before when he was nervous. He repeated the process and unexpectedly he failed once more, resulting in foul smoke filling the room. Maxwell opened the doors, coughing and they let it all clear before Jonathan restarted.

After 7 attempts Jonathan succeeded. There was no explosion, no black smoke and no foul odor. He nervously removed the cover. What he saw there, immediately made him smile.

"Lemme see."

Maxwell looked inside the cauldron. Inside lay 3 round and gleaming orbs. They were Rank 2 Medium Grade Rejuvenating Pills.

"Nice, you succeeded. They have a nice shine. Eat one and heal your wounds."

"It's your ingredients that I used."

"If you don't want to accept it as a gift, count it as your alchemy fee. I'll take the other two and sell them."

"Okay, I'm fine with that."

Jonathan swallowed the pill in one gulp, and he quickly felt the effects. The small bruises on his back disappeared and the stuffiness in his chest went.

"Woah, it helped so much."

"See, I told you that you need it."

Jonathan was overjoyed and headed to his Master who was the head of the Alchemy Hall to show the pills. After a few minutes, he returned happily.

"To celebrate you becoming a Rank 2 Silver Grade Alchemist, I'll take you out for lunch."

"Yay."

They celebrated well and they only returned to their homes in the evening, tired. On the way back Maxwell noticed traces of him being watched. He wasn't sure from where as the source kept changing.

'This assassin must be a professional, but he's not good enough if I can sense him.'

Maxwell set up some quick formations around his bedroom before going to bed. He was sure he would be fine since his formations would wake him if they were shattered.

Halfway through a dream about the disastrous battlefield filled with 'monsters' that fought to the death against actual monsters, Maxwell woke up to see flying daggers. They were all stopped by another formation.

"Hello."

Maxwell greeted his surprised assassin.

'I spread a sleep-inducing gas, how is he awake?'

"Oh, you're surprised I woke up. It was quite strong."

The assassin stood there with daggers in between his long fingers, ready to be launched at any moment. The assassin then disappeared into a wisp of smoke, leaving a Beast Core behind.

"Oh, a clone technique. Cool. This assassin is much smarter than the previous ones, they all fought me head on, unlike an assassin."