Chương 38: Story 3 - Spiritual Vines and a Smokey Pill Cauldron (Part 29)

As soon as we both woke up we ran towards our home's alchemy room... Well, it wasn't exactly right away, we did the normal morning stuff like getting dressed, washing up, and collecting the spiritual plants we needed from our nicely growing garden, but that was beside the point. It was finally time to make Lin's Super Awesome Repair Dan! While I'd looked in this room before, this was the first time I'd actually entered. A long and beautiful stone prep table ran along one wall.

While the room didn't have tools, it did have various nooks in the wall where I could store mine. There were no windows but, because the space had diffuse lighting, its lack thereof didn't affect visibility. Most importantly, it had several useful formations for isolation and explosion containment that just needed a few spirit stones to power. From my awesome new ring, I pulled out and then set up my tools. If I remembered correctly, they weren't bad quality for the time period.

There was a jade knife, perfect for slicing spiritual plants in two that couldn't touch metal. There was a Star Crushing Flame Metal Knife, for plants that needed to be cut with metal or flame. The set even had an Evergreen Seven-Star Bamboo Knife for those that needed to be cut with something of the wood attribute. There were also several other tools, but none quite so impressive as these.

"Today, we have one chance to make my Repair Dan. If we fail, then I'll have to make quick money to buy up a few flowers from a Vine of Stellar Rebirth." Unfortunately, during this time period, I couldn't borrow from the Alchemists' guild using my copyrights as collateral... And I doubted that Violet would even sell me them after I thoroughly thrashed her in the tournament. I focused every ounce of my attention on Little Spring.

"I need your help to make it. Can I count on you?" I wasn't telling him this, but frankly, we couldn't afford to wait more than two days. I could feel my health slowly deteriorating even as I stood there. He froze.

"Just let me know what you need me to do." I grinned and patted his head.

"Good. I want you to be my spare battery." He tilted his head at the unfamiliar English word. Right...

"You're going to help me control the flames so I don't run low on spiritual energy during the refining process. So, for now, I want you to practice these hand seals." I went over the few low-level seals that were created in the future, the ones that researchers discovered had the best effect when controlling fire.

"... But the most important thing about these hand seals is how you move your spiritual energy through your body during them. So even if you fuck up and point your pinkie when it should be curled, you'll be mostly fine as long as your energy is right." He nodded very seriously. I watched him practice with the alchemy room's earthen flame for a good ten minutes. While I needed to get the pill done soon, it didn't need to be done in the next hour or two.

If we had to, we could even wait a whole day for him to learn these to a significant enough mastery to help me. I was good enough that I could make up for his mistakes, so they didn't have to be perfect. But we still needed to finish this soon. I didn't like how fast my body's health deteriorated. Even now, I fought off the deceptive urge to lay my ass back in bed and not come out for a week. Due to the nature of my injuries, that wouldn't help. Once I was satisfied that Little Spring had the basics down.

I left him to practice on his own. First I left the alchemy room and traveled through the spatially warping corridor to the spiritual weapon forging room. I took out the remains of good Old Smokey and placed it on one of the built-in shelves. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. When I had the realm, the materials, and a remove-curse talisman, I'd rebuild it. Make it harder, better, stiller, stronger. And then I'd pass Old Smokey on to Little Spring so he could work it.

I patted it for good measure then returned to the alchemy room. Little Spring continued to practice on the earthen flame. When I saw how he had already perfected them, I practically face-planted from where I stood. Fuck. That's some hardcore protagonist energy there. I left for like, five minutes. It took me a week of hard work to learn these hand seals to that level... and I had a high realm! I shoved my fingers through my hair. Calm down. There was no point in comparing oneself to the universe's favorite.

That was how arrogant young masters began their downfall. Once collected, I waved my hand and rested my shiny new and very large cauldron on the spotless stone floor. I'd seen it before in my past life because it was one of That-Bitch-Violet's favorites. Being new, it obviously looked different. The wear and tear from overuse had gone, replaced with a shiny new metallic surface the color of highest-quality jade. The designs on the side were of a dragon and a phoenix. I narrowed my eyes at that.

I mean, they were certainly common motifs in Chinese culture and thus very common in Xianxia, but it still sent a chill down my spine, like the original author of this dumbass world had put this cauldron here for the main character and my body's original owner to use together. Especially considering the suspicions I had about Little Spring's unique bloodline. I clenched my hands into fists and sent a glare at said imaginary author.

"Um.. Fairy Lin. Do you not like your new cauldron?" I coughed.

"This is an excellent furnace." I took out a knife, scratched the back of my arm, and placed it against the side, claiming this massive cauldron for myself. I eased my spiritual energy into it and had it shrink in size until it was perfect for my use. Oh yeah. That felt good. Granted, I could make a better one (once I increased my realm significantly). But having not touched a spiritual cauldron in months, and after using Old Smokey... I sent it to rest over the flames next to Little Spring.

He lowered them skillfully. The new cauldron hummed with joy as if being in a space with both of our energies made it happy. At least it didn't smoke. That was a cool feature. Still, I had this horrible feeling that if Little Spring and I worked on a lot of pills together, then its personality would grow worse. Thankfully, it wasn't at a high enough rank to actually have a real spirit, just a pseudo one, that could turn into a real one given a hundred years or so...

"Fairy Lin. I'm ready to help you!"

"Drink your lake water and refill your energy first." I started taking out the spiritual herbs and lining them up on my spotless prep table. When I took out the jade box with the flower from the Vine of Stellar Rebirth, I had the space teleport a cup of spring water into it and let it sit.

"Since you're ready, we'll start now." It was time to teach the kid the methods of concocting a pill.

"The first step in alchemy is to make sure your cauldron is in good repair. If it's not, then there is no point in starting the process. But since I already inspected it, let's move on to the second step.

"Always, even when you know the recipe like the back of your hand, review it. So what spiritual plants are in my Lin's Super Awesome Repair Dan?"

"Vine of Stellar Rebirth Flower, Verdant King Spiritual Grass, Monkey's Palm Rose, Vine of Resplendent Ocean Seeds, Dying Ice Lemongrass, Yang Heart Burning Weed, Ghost Horse Bone Flower..." He continued to list the various spiritual plants and gestured to each one he listed. When he finished, I nodded in approval.

"Perfect! And you listed them in the order I told you. This is excellent because I gave you them in the order they should usually go into the cauldron. Normally, when doing a new recipe, you'll have to go through each plant and switch them up as necessary since a lot of recipes are created by unorganized idiots who think having a weird sequence will protect their intellectual property." I smiled then picked up the jade knife.

"Anyway, set each plant in front of you, then you need to inspect them. That is because, unless you raise them in a protected space, they're never-ever perfect. This means that you may have to adjust the order or how you trim each to compensate." I stared at the spiritual plants that we had brought into our protected space and used essentially magic water to make perfect. Even the damn Vine flower Violet gave us now looked spotless and brand new while floating in that cheat-water. I coughed.

Little Spring gently patted my back, his face filled with concern.

"Moving on!"