The night after Sheng Hao successfully refined the Purple Sunset, injuring his hands in the process of manipulating the cauldron and nearly damaging his mind from the high overexertion. The young boy didn't wake up early according to the usual habit he set up throughout his life in the Toe Village. On the contrary the deep sleep, he was in, continued and he only woke up after the first few hours of the afternoon were gone.
When his groggy eyes opened up slightly, he released a long pleasurable yawn that screamed of his envy to stay in the uncomfortable bed. The soreness coming from all his limbs, with every single muscle in his body twitching forced a moan out of his lips as he stretched his tight limbs in an attempt to jump out of the bed.
"Damn, I didn't take the time to sleep like this for at least a few years…" he mumbled quietly as he thought back of his life in the village and the troubled days of his life on earth. His left hand massaged the lines of muscles dancing on his jaw in an attempt to awaken his blood flow.
"This should be the middle of the afternoon." He noted with a small sigh that showed he slightly regretted the night of sleep that had turned into a pleasurable guilt. The red hue in the sky was reflected on the lush greenery of the Toe Village, transforming the scenery in reddish appeasing atmosphere that soothed his regrets a little bit.
"Hmmm… I hope Grandpa didn't work the forge yet. I'd hate to miss even one of his performances!" he exclaimed truthfully with his hand moving from his face to the top of his head. Rubbing the back of his hair with his cloudy mind seemingly pointing out that he was forgetting something important.
At some point, his eyes left the open window and refocused on his untidied bed as he noticed some details he had missed. His iris turned into pin-point dots the moment his gaze landed on the small traces of blood and peeled skin that were spread all over the gray-colored linen bedsheets. "Wh… what happened…" he mumbled before his eyes blanked slightly with memories of the past night resurfacing. A flood of senses flashed on his mind, odors, images and emotion reappeared in one go.
"The Purple Sunset Pill!" he nearly screamed at the top of his lungs and darted out of the room, afraid to miss out a single second as he wasn't aware of the results of Flamelle's trial. With every breath he took through the maddened dash that took him throughout the small cottage, his intake of oxygen reactivated his neurons and helped him recollect his memory.
His legs kicked on the wooden floor with dexterity, before he even noticed the distance he had crossed, he found himself in the small paths that led to Flamelle's workshop. "Great! Great! Great!" he repeated in succession.
"How am I feeling this great!?" he nearly screamed on top of his lungs with the sensation that his body's physical capacities didn't even fully awaken. "Who would have thought my body would grow stronger and fitter through alchemy crafting!?" He spoke out loud—his voice energized from the intense surprise—without ever breaking the never-ending cycles of his legs kicking the earth.
During the distance that separated the Sheng habitation with the old witch's house, he couldn't help but look at his hand and noticed that the burn injuries that should have marked his hands for life were nowhere to be found. The only thing left was a thin mark that formed a minute difference between his normal skin and the one that had suffered a burn.
"I guess she ain't a grandmaster alchemist for anything…" he thought as he couldn't help but thank the old witch in his heart. "Flamelle really wasn't joking when she said that alchemy isn't anything easy to learn…" he mumbled and thought that if it wasn't for his stupid bravery that nearly cost him his hands. He wouldn't be able to complete the refinement process.
Through the small introspection, the young boy forgot that he had nonetheless managed to nearly complete the concoction of the pill without the need to control and manipulate the ingredients with spiritual power. Rare were those that didn't rely on a special cauldron that was bestowed with mechanical principles to finalize the pill concoction. And even then, it wasn't the kind of work that would be done by a single person and would require a team of alchemists to execute the job.
"I didn't even get to the see how the pill I made looks like… Did I even succeed?" He pondered with his vision jumping high and low through his maddened dash, doubting the memories that had resurfaced in his mind just short minutes prior to that thought. Before long, his legs came to a stop as he arrived to the short destination, he stood in front of the witch's door for a few breaths before knocking on it.
He waited patiently for a few seconds and knocked on the door once again, his second knock showed the degree of impatience that was taking hold of the reincarnated man's mind. Before long, he walked toward one of the windows of the house and couldn't stop himself from looking inside of Flamelle's cottage. His eyes turned wide as he tried looking through the thick glass that was used to make the window, a short minute passed and only then did Sheng Hao stop his attempts.
"I guess she must be in her workshop…" he mumbled with a pensive look in his eyes. And just as the young boy was starting to take the direction of the old witch's workshop, he heard a deep grating noise coming from behind his position.
"What are you looking at, little one?" Flamelle's raspy voice caused a shiver to form in the young boy's spine. When Sheng Hao turned around, he was surprised when he didn't see the old witch's figure.
His eyes darted left and right in a small panic, searching for Flamelle's bony figure with his large watery eyes but he was soon disappointed when he didn't find anything standing in his surroundings.
"Quite looking around with those sneaky eyes." The voice once again appeared and made the young boy overreact. He nearly jumped around, not understanding what was happening to him as the voice was seemingly appearing from the greenery of Flamelle's garden. Even with his sharp ears, he couldn't find the direction of the voice as every time it appeared, it gave him the impression it was coming from somewhere else.
"Join me to the workshop when you are done looking around with those large eyes of yours." The voice once again appeared, albeit this time Flamelle didn't hide her amusement as she even continued in a joking manner. "Stop acting surprised and move your butt to my alchemy station. Sheng Wang is there too and we both have something important to say to you!"
Sensing the slight urgency in her joking antiques, Sheng Hao's feet started moving again as he took the direction of the old witch's workshop. He could feel in her tone that there was something important going and he raised his walking speed without rushing in a dash as he still felt that he needed to take the time to process what was happening to him.
"Was last night's session such a failure that Grandpa needs to be present during her review of the trial?" he mumbled but he couldn't help that it shouldn't be the case as he didn't pick up any major disappointment in the old witch's tone. Even though the old witch wasn't someone that would say everything that passed through her cold heart, she wasn't someone that stopped herself from speaking the truth when she felt the need to be sharply honest.
"She wouldn't mince her words with me even if my pill refinement was atrocious…" he thought with his figure appearing in front of the alchemy workshop. Noticing that the door was left slightly open, he simply stepped in and invited himself inside the familiar construct without saying anything. He was aware that the pair of elder were high ranked spiritualist who had already sensed his presence, surprising them on purpose wasn't something that was in Sheng Hao's realm of possibilities.
The moment he entered the workshop, he heard sounds coming from an area hidden by the walls upon walls of shelves that decorated the interior of the alchemy atelier. After walking through the aisle of shelves, he soon arrived to a quiet place of Flamelle's atelier.
There, he saw that Sheng Wang and Flamelle were sitting face to face in front of a wooden table. Both of their figures were sitting in a straight posture, it even gave Sheng Hao the impression that they would stay in the same spot for hours without ever move or say anything to each other.
Sheng Wang nodded at Sheng Hao before raising the cup of tea he was holding to his lips. The young boy could notice that something peculiar was bothering his grandfather, his eyes in particular were showing more emotions than his usually rigid face. The old witch didn't look any different from usual. Albeit, Sheng Hao could sense that the way she looked at him was different when he compared it to the interactions he had with her before. Despite that, he couldn't put his finger on the exact reasons behind the differences as he wasn't yet aware of the results of yesterday's alchemy session.
"Come sit with us, young boy." Flamelle spoke softly with a strange kindness that made Sheng Hao feel as though he had done something wrong, his limbs tensed up slightly and he even felt the need to dart out of the atelier. The young boy nonetheless executed himself without saying anything. Seeing that, the old witch Flamelle nodded in satisfaction before pouring the young boy a cup of the green beverage they were drinking with the silent Sheng Wang.
Sheng Hao received the cup with both hands, thanking Flamelle with a kind silent smile without speaking as he didn't want to break the strange atmosphere the alchemy workshop was currently basking in. He didn't know why but the atmosphere foretold that something major was going to happen, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on what was going on between the two elusive elders.
"The underlying seriousness, both of them have, doesn't seem to be related to my current practices…" he mumbled as he was aware that both of them weren't the type of people who would avoid telling him the truth when it came to his own alchemy and blacksmithing skills. They wouldn't need to confront him together for something as insignificant as his measly training in the village. The reincarnated man could feel that the situation was far too serious to be related to his current growth.
"Little Hao, we've had a long talk with your grandfather." She paused for a few breaths where she looked deeply at the young boy's watery eyes. "Listen up, we both know very well that you are far from being your usual simple child. We have both seen your adult like maturity, the kindness and attention you have shown us isn't something we are all used to receive."
"Turning down your attempts of greedily learning our respective arts wasn't something we were able to do." She continued with a sigh that hid some pride for the young boy's avid confidence.
"In the end. You weren't the only lucky one as most of us have truly enjoyed the time we have spent with you." The honesty in her words surprised the reincarnated man. His small hands turned into clenched fists and he forced himself to remain calm, however, even with all his efforts, his large eyes reddened slightly and his heart rate accelerated. Thankfully, his effort wasn't in vain and the small specks of tears that started appearing on the corners of his watery eyes were swallowed back inside his body.