After a short embrace, the two separated, Siar's face slightly blushed which Minos naturally wouldn't mention.
He had long since made his relationship status clear, and Siar was also engaged, so the two kept their friendship purely platonic.
Of course emotions weren't something that could be controlled, and Siar had long since developed feelings that she tried hard to suppress.
Minos was used to such attention, but he only had room in his heart for Tinka, so despite Siar's feelings, he could only ignore them and pretend not to notice.
Fortunately with the month coming to an end and Minos getting ready to implement his Rovo plan, the two likely wouldn't see each other for a long time to come.
"Ahum, excuse me. Anyways, isn't it about time you try and make a Four-Moon Pill? Your fundamentals have long since reached perfection, so now's as good a time as any." Siar said with a cough as she turned around, hiding her appearance.
"You're right, so why not make this day a double celebration?" Minos laughed, causing Siar to giggle as well.
"So, what pill have you decided on?" Siar asked.
"Let's do the Blood Ascension Pill. Seems only right that since I started with the Blood Mending Pill, I should breakthrough with another blood-based pill."
"Are you sure? The Blood Ascension Pill is extremely difficult for its level, even comparable to Five-Moon Pills." Siar explained.
"I'm sure, after all, this training hasn't been for nothing."
"Well since you've made up your mind, let's get started." Siar said, having confidence that Minos could pull it off.
While waiting for Siar to prepare the ingredients, Minos started up the furnace, making sure to get it to the proper temperature.
"Ready?" Siar asked, as she prepared the ingredients on the table across from Minos.
"As I'll ever be."
"Then good luck!"
With Siar stepping back and giving Minos space, he immediately got to work, grabbing the first ingredient before dropping it into the furnace, his Nux firmly wrapped around it.
Unlike Three-Moon Pills and below where one typically used a base to avoid burning the ingredients, Four-Moon Pills and above required a different process.
Instead of letting them drop into the furnace directly, one had to use their Nux to keep the ingredients levitating, stopping it from getting in direct contact with the metal.
With this method, not only were far more of the medicinal properties of the ingredients maintained, but one also no longer needed a base.
Of course the cost of this was a far more difficult pill-making process, but considering the pills made this way were dozens of times stronger than usual, it was worth the price.
After using his Nux to keep the first herb locked in the center of the furnace, Minos waited patiently for it to turn into a soft-mush before tossing in the next ingredient.
Like this, Minos tossed in dozens of different ingredients over the span of an hour, slowly mixing all of them together while keeping them afloat, making sure that his it was as centered as possible.
Not only was it important to keep the ingredients from touching the furnace, but their positioning was also critical.
Every ingredient was different, meaning each one required a different amount of heat, which also meant Minos had to prepare each ingredient in slightly different parts of the furnace.
When mixing them he also had to keep this in mind, which was incredibly difficult considering that once they were mixed, he didn't only have to think of one ingredient, but rather dozens.
With all this in mind, it was no wonder the art of alchemy was one of the most difficult to master, requiring years of training from as early an age as possible.
Fortunately, with his Omniscient Eyes, plus his own near-perfect control, Minos managed to step over this massive hurdle easily, juggling the dozens of ingredients with little to no challenge.
Normal alchemists could only rely on their own senses and experience to tell what temperature each ingredient was at, but with his Omniscient Eyes, Minos could directly see the value in real time.
For alchemists, alchemy could be explained in two words, heat and control, requiring an incredible talent in both regards in order to be a qualified alchemist.
Minos had both of these in spades, so what would have taken months if not years even for the most talented alchemists, only took him a single attempt.
With all the ingredients finally mixed together, Minos turned off the ground fire, allowing the concoction to slowly cool down within the furnace.
Before allowing it to cool fully, Minos used his Nux to split the sphere into five thumb-sized pills.
Using his Nux to further mold each pill into the perfect shape, he finally allowed them to cool fully before pulling them out of the furnace and placing them in a special vial made to seal in their medicinal properties to the fullest.
"Let me see!" Siar asked excitedly, before taking the vial from Minos's hand and delicately removing the lid.
After popping the lid off, she took a deep smell, using her years of experience to estimate the quality of Minos's pills.
"Amazing! You're first try and each pill has reached Perfect-Quality!" Siar said with amazement, truly shocked at this moment.
One had to know that pills were split into four qualities based on how fully the pills ingredients had been utilized.
Low-Quality Pills only had 29% or less of their full potential medicinal value, Middle-Quality had 59% or less, Top-Quality had 89% or less, finally, Perfect-Quality Pills had 90% or more of their medicinal properties maintained.
"Perfect-Quality? Sounds about right." Minos said, though not to brag, rather having already expected such a level.
All his talent wasn't for nothing, so anything less than Perfect-Quality would be a waste of his abilities.
"My heavens, you should be more excited! You should know the number of people who can make Perfect-Quality Four-Moon Pills consistently can be counted on two hands!" Siar exclaimed, not expecting Minos's reaction to be so underwhelming.
"Are you one of them?"
"Well not yet, but soon hopefully. Anyways, with your current skill, I've got nothing left to teach you" Siar muttered under her breath before quickly changing the topic.
"That's a shame, I was enjoying our lessons." Minos smiled.
"Well just because I can't teach you anything, doesn't mean we can't still work together. Besides, don't you need an alchemy lab? Just consider this place your second home." Siar quickly replied, not wanting Minos to get the wrong idea.
"I'll do that, but I'm going to be very busy these upcoming days, so I may not have a chance to visit."
"That's fine, take your time, just remember I'll always be here."
"I will. Anyways, thanks for everything, and take care. I'll come see you when I have the time." Minos said with a final smile before waving goodbye.
Seeing Minos walk upstairs and out of sight, she could only let out a deep sigh before slapping herself on her face to clear her chaotic thoughts.
She was well aware that nothing could ever happen between the two of them, but the heart wants what the heart wants, as hard as she tried to deny that.
But at the end of the day, they come from two different worlds, and they just weren't meant to be.
Of course that's just what she told herself, but secretly, she wondered whether she would be willing to give up everything as long as Minos was willing to accept her.
Deep inside she already knew the answer, but unfortunately Minos clearly didn't have the same feelings, which left her feeling even more lonely then she did before she met him.
'Would it have just been better to have never met him at all…?' Siar thought with a long sigh, before pulling herself back into her work, using it to suppress her wild thoughts.
…
Back outside the mansion, Minos quickly made his way back home before preparing the documents on the Rovo Companies Future Development, or RCFD for short.
After once again making sure that he hadn't left out anything critical, he put multiple copies of the thick text into his spatial ring before heading back outside.
Gidon had messaged him three-days ago, telling him the final time and location all the Guild Master's had decided on, and now the day had come.
Taking a deep breath, Minos hailed down a carriage before hopping on, enjoying the slow-ride to his final destination and using this time to run over his pre-prepared speech.
As much as Rovo spoke for itself, as the head of the company, Minos's performance would be indicative of how seriously those Guild Masters took him, which meant he had no room to fail.
After an hour or so of riding, Minos had finally arrived at a grand-restaurant that stretched a full thirteen floors, each floor slightly smaller than the one before it.
Looking at the pagoda-like building, Minos walked inside, a waiter quickly running up to him to greet him.
After informing him of Gidon, the waiter's attitude became even more respectful, even going so far as to take Minos's coat, carrying it for him as he slowly guided him all the way up to the thirteenth floor.
As he walked up the final steps, Minos took in a deep breath, his Omniscient Eyes unconsciously activating, causing his mood to quickly settle into a cool calm, as if he was just joining a couple of friends instead of the people who could decide his future.