I smiled, exhaling a mist of impurities as my latest experiment came to a close. It had been two weeks since I began working on my healing pill recipe and I’d advanced my alchemy skills in leaps and bounds.

  Refining the ingredients was as easy as waving my hand, with only the few low quality exceptions still producing impurities. The ten year ash bark took far more concentration than the rest of the ingredients, but even that was simply a matter of time and focus.

  After figuring out how to make the most of each ingredient on its own, I had begun experimenting with combining different ingredients to figure out the synergies between them and how to best combine them. This was difficult at first and I was essentially throwing various combinations together at random and seeing what worked.

  Trial and error wasn’t a bad way to work. I quickly figured out the best order to refine the ingredients in as well as which ones interacted most smoothly within my stomach. It wasn’t as simple as adding one and two to get three.

  Every little step of the process would affect the final output. From the quantity of each ingredient used all the way down to how long I spent refining them, every minor variation could change what I created.

  This wasn’t outside my expectations, but the sheer level of complexity involved in the alchemical process was insane. I grew a newfound appreciation for even those mediocre alchemists in Three River City.

  They were able to produce a myriad of pills and other concoctions without the benefit of a physique helping them along. I was cheating and even then it was difficult.

  At last I was ready to begin the true process of creating a healing pill. I knew roughly the quantity of each ingredient I was going to use as well as the order in which to combine them. All that remained was streamlining the process until I could replicate it en masse.

  My final product didn’t need to be perfect. As long as it was more effective than other products on the market and I could sell it at a much lower cost that would be enough. I also wanted to ensure the quantity of pill toxins that the consumer would receive was far lower.

  That last attribute was arguably the most important. For cultivators, they might eventually stumble upon a treasure that could cleanse their meridians or have a senior cultivator perform the procedure for them. For mortals however, they would be stuck with those impurities marring their body for life and shortening what little lifespan they had.

  As long as I could achieve all three of those goals to a reasonable degree I would be satisfied with the outcome. Gathering each of my ingredients, I picked up two stalks of Rejuvenating Spirit Grass and tossed them into my mouth.

  As soon as they began dissolving I grabbed a pinch of powdered beast cores and swallowed them too. Of all the ingredients I was using, the powdered beast cores were the foulest tasting. The texture wasn’t great either.

  I forced myself to ignore my discomfort and focused on the process. I managed to draw three strands of spiritual energy from the grass, with only a single drop of impurities forming.

  Not my best work, but this was only the first attempt. Already I was finding splitting my attention across the various tasks difficult. The powdered beast cores began dissolving as I grasped the strands of energy with my consciousness.

  While that was occurring I prepared one Sparkcap Amanita and three Pulsing Hibiscus petals. I threw them into my mouth together and then turned my consciousness inwards to prepare for the first important step.

  The ten year ash bark was not needed until the next step of the process, so I didn’t need to split my focus anymore. I extracted one strand of energy from the beast cores, but there were two drops of impurities left behind.

  Compared to the fairly pure energy of spirit herbs, beast cores were rampant with impurities. That was due to the savage nature and the fact they grew by consuming other beasts.

  The clash between their energies was what gave rise to impurities in their developing cores. Even after I’d refined my methods to a reasonable level it was impossible to avoid such an outcome.

  I kept the strands of energy from the different ingredients separate for now while the blue mushroom and the petals dissolved. When the first strand of energy was extracted from the sparkcap amanita, it was time to get to work.

  I began to weave the energy from the mushrooms and spirit grass together, squeezing individual drops of the energy from the beast cores out to use as a binding agent. Once the hibiscus petals dissolved I began adding the energy from them as well.

  It was a complex balancing act between the four ingredients, ensuring that I didn’t add too much of each while trying to merge them into something greater than the sum of its parts. Mix too fast, or add too much of the wrong ingredient at an inopportune moment and I would end up creating something entirely different to what I intended.

  Of these ingredients, only the Rejuvenating Spirit Grass and the petals had effects that directly influenced healing. The others were rooted in bolstering the energy of the patient or working aggressively against infections.

  This was intended to be a generalist pill to treat all kinds of low level wounds and afflictions, which meant I couldn’t use ingredients with effects that were too specific. There were herbs which were far more effective on flesh wounds for example, but if I incorporated those into my pill it might not do much for a patient suffering with a cold.

  My efforts had paid off. I smoothly combined the spiritual energy from all four ingredients without a problem, leaving me with a swirling mass of energy in my stomach. I was far from complete, however.

  The next step of the process was arguably the most important. I allowed my focus to withdraw from my stomach so that I could snap off a small chunk of the ten year ash bark.

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  I swallowed it, preparing myself for the influx of spiritual energy. The single piece of bark contained almost fifty times more energy than the swirling mass of ingredients in my stomach and handling it delicately was essential.

  It began to break down the moment it entered my stomach; the unbreakable and ridiculously efficient cauldron. This time there was no waiting around.

  As soon as the first drops of spiritual energy were separated from the bark I began to weave them into the swirling mass like a master seamstress weaving a grand tapestry. This would be my first attempt at refining a healing pill, but that didn’t mean it had to go wrong.

  I was surprised how intense the process was. Similar to an intensive surgery where a single instant of lost focus could lead to disaster, I knew I was threading a wire here.

  It was only the first attempt, so even if something went wrong it wouldn’t have severe consequences. However, I wasn’t willing to accept failure if it could be avoided.

  It took as long as burning a stick of incense to complete the process, but I was able to extract most of the energy from the ten year ash bark without waste. There were quite a few impurities extracted but they were all drawn into the void in my dantian.

  There was one final step left in the process. I had to take the swirling mass of mixed energy and refine it into a healing pill. Well, I hoped it was a healing pill at the very least. If I messed up any one of the steps then it could have any number of effects.

  The science loving part of my brain was intrinsically fascinated by the idea. Turning energy into solid matter was something incredible, yet here in this world it was just one of many miraculous disciplines that cultivators practised. Often as little more than hobbies or distractions.

  The truly great alchemists were dedicated masters of their craft of course, but the fact remained that what I was about to do was a miracle by the standards of my old world. Despite that, the process itself was ironically simple.

  To finish refining the pill I simply had to use my own qi and spiritual presence to compress the energy extracted from the ingredients and mixed in the cauldron—my stomach, in this instance—into a solid form. While it was simple in theory, it was difficult in practice.

  At first I was able to condense the energy with ease but it rapidly grew more difficult. It was like an intense workout, trying to squeeze the final rep out when you were already exhausted.

  A sharp spike of pain in my temple nearly broke my focus but I had been tempered by many similar situations and was able to push through it. Shortly after, I felt that I could compress the energy no more.

  It had taken on a dark green hue, still writhing and swirling in different shades. I could compress it further if I had more qi or my cultivation was higher, but those were both impossible at this moment.

  I exhaled as the mass of energy settled, taking on a solid form as it condensed into a pill. Once the process was complete, I winced as a mass of information streamed into my mind.

  With the improvements in my cultivation it was far easier to handle such a large quantity of information, but that still didn’t make it an easy thing to do in such a short timeframe.

  A brief glean of the information told me that at the very least, I had succeeded in my experimentation. The pill I had produced would heal minor afflictions and perhaps even a shallow cut.

  However, the quality was lacking and there were still side effects, as well as some unintended effects that I wanted to remove. I’d produced a poor quality mortal grade healing pill.

  Granted, I wasn’t expecting a miracle on my first attempt but for it to be the absolute worst quality and the lowest grade was a little hurtful. On the plus side, I could’ve failed to produce a pill entirely, so I’d done decently.

  There were still plenty of ingredients left in my storage bag, which meant all I needed to do now was refine the process of refining the pill in order to remove the unwanted effects and increase the quality. I was glad I’d told the others not to expect me out for at least a couple of weeks—I would need the time.

  ****

  About ten days into my experimentation I realised I was going to run into a big problem sooner or later. I’d acquired plenty of ingredients to perfect the recipe of my healing pill and they were dwindling.

  I would have enough to create a perfect healing pill—that wasn’t the issue. The problem came afterwards. Once I had created a recipe which I could replicate en masse, I would need to constantly acquire ingredients in order to maintain production.

  In order to get enough for my experiments I’d needed to split the task between three people and between us we’d visited almost all the big alchemy and herbalist shops in Three River City. Getting more would be an issue.

  Perhaps they would have the stock in the quantities I required, but I doubted they would still be happy to sell me the herbs and reagents I wanted after they learned I was their competition. Not ordinary competition either, but someone with a cheaper and more effective product that might end up putting them out of business.

  I would have to find someone who could source all the ingredients I needed at a relatively low price, who would benefit from an ongoing deal and not be affected when my healing pills hit the market. I would need to make some enquiries when the time came.

  For now, I could forget about the impending supply chain issues and focus on the task at hand. I’d spent the last ten days doing nothing but refining pills in my stomach, which had turned out to be the most efficient cauldron I could’ve ever asked for.

  The void in my dantian had continued to hungrily devour all the impurities produced during the process without belching anything up in return, leaving me confused but excited about what it would eventually produce. So far it had only benefited my cultivation.

  I had made solid progress. The first pill I created had been mortal grade, poor quality. On top of being an absolute mess of a pill it had unwanted effects that included hair growth, satiating hunger, and making extremities glow in the dark.

  While those were all rather interesting effects that might be desired from another pill, they weren’t at all what I was going for here. I wanted low level, generalist healing that stimulated the patients energy and recovery times.

  That was simple, but complex at the same time. The most recent pill that I had created was much closer to my goal than that first failed attempt.

  The pill was still mortal grade, but it was polished quality, two steps higher than the first one. In addition to the improved quality I had managed to iron out the refining process and get rid of all but one of the unwanted side effects.

  This side effect stubbornly refused to be removed from the final pill no matter what I tried. It was the effect that made the extremities glow in the dark when the pill was consumed.

  Aside from that small annoyance and the quality still being a little lower than I hoped, things were going well. There was about a third of the ingredients left and I still had plenty of time to spare.

  As this was intended to be a cheap consumer pill I didn’t need to push the quality to a ridiculous level. However, I was driven by my strong personal pride and a desire to give the citizens of Three River City the best product I could create.

  The days blurred as I settled back into my experiments, refining pill after pill. If this was how all alchemists practiced I could see why it was renowned as the profession that burned through money like kindling.

  Five days later, I had another breakthrough. I’d been expecting a better quality of pill and to hopefully get rid of the damned glow in the dark side effect. As I examined my most recent creation, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.