Chapter 21 - Quality and Success Rate

The first thing Li Lang did when he entered the spacious refining room was to carefully inspect the pill furnace. It was made of a bronze-like alloy that he couldn't identify that exuded a minute amount of Qi. He could sense that the furnace was also constantly absorbing the ambient Qi.He couldn't find any fuel to burn around the room, so he looked for a button or something similar to turn on the furnace.It would be embarrassing going back out as soon as I entered to ask how to turn this thing on. If only I knew a technique to create fire with my Qi…wait!He quickly placed a hand on the pill furnace and channeled some of his Qi into it. The moment he did so, he could feel his Qi latching onto something within the furnace, and he instinctively realized he had come into contact with the control mechanism.A strong fire abruptly lit up within the furnace as Li Lang willed it."Interesting…How in the world did they create this control method?"Seeing that the fire was on, Li Lang gave it some time to heat up while he went to examine the materials. Unlike the ones he had gathered himself, the materials before him were neatly packed and had been cut into neat pieces.He paused when he realized one of the ingredients was missing. There weren't any Moonshadow Lotuses that he needed for the adsorption process with the Jade Leaves. He sighed to himself as he ended up needing to call on the Vice Administrator outside after all.The young boy hadn't wanted to bother him, as the other alchemists treated him with such respect that only a fool wouldn't be able to tell he was a man of importance. It was also embarrassing that he had to call for help just to open the heavy metal doors."Well, I'd have to do it anyway when I was leaving."Looking as if he had just swallowed a fly, Li Lang went up and knocked on the doors. Nothing happened for a brief moment and Li Lang wondered if they were still really out there. However, before he could knock again, the doors slowly shifted open toward him."Is something the matter?""Um, yes. Can you please bring me some Moonshadow Lotus? Just one should be enough.""Moonshadow Lotus…That isn't a particularly valuable material, so that should be no problem," the old man replied while directing a doubtful gaze at the young boy."Thank you."Li Lang did an awkward shallow bow as the elder turned around. He knew Moonshadow Lotus wasn't anything particularly valuable, seeing how it was located in the safer areas where he had gathered before. Still, it was awkward for Li Lang to treat someone with status as an errand boy. He was too used to having the drones and bots do his bidding.The Vice Administrator didn't dawdle and came back quickly to hand over a black bag to Li Lang and closed the door.The bag was tied carefully and it took Li Lang a whole minute to untie it.Did he really have to tie it so securely? He could've just handed it to me without a bag or anything…Li Lang shook his head as he went to work.The pill furnace had proved to be able to control the temperature and keep it stable much better than the lousy stove Li Lang had used, and he instantly fell in love with it.However, he couldn't help but sigh at the thought of how expensive they were. He really wanted to get his own, but even with the capital from the soda business, he likely wouldn't be able to afford one for a year or two.Giving one last longing look at the pill furnace, Li Lang knocked on the metal doors."You still have two incenses of time before the sun sets. Are you done?" The old man asked as soon as the door opened."Yes, here are the Recovery Pills I just refined."Li Lang handed over the culmination of his hard work that was inside the black bag he had received earlier. Empty pill bottles were lying around in the alchemy room, but none of them were big enough to fit the three batches' worth he had refined."Very well. I will inspect and grade your work with the other examiners. In the meantime, you can rest." The old man clapped his hands a few times and a young boy soon emerged from behind him. "Take this guest to the break room."The young man, who was slightly older than Li Lang, bowed and began leading him over to one of the adjacent rooms.The Vice Administrator watched the door close behind them before retreating back to the room where the two alchemists were waiting."Here, these are the pills the young boy refined. If you are curious about his techniques, then use this opportunity to legitimately examine his work and figure it out yourself.""Yes!" Ye Hong responded with vigor while Cao Mei politely nodded.They wasted no time and immediately pulled out a Recovery Pill from the bag and began scrutinizing it. It didn't take long before they both wore a frown on their face."As you said, Vice Administrator, these pills are subpar quality at best…But they are proper Recovery Pills." The male alchemist carefully said,"Is that all you have noticed?""…Sir?"The old man said nothing and only directed his gaze to the black bundle of cloth being used as a container for the pills."This bag is made of Dark Wave fiber… It blocks my Qi senses."The old man shook his head."Inside."Ye Hong was just about to retort with a question but held himself back. He thought there should only be a few other pills in there. He still proceeded to open up the bag and fully unwrapped it to see what the old man was getting at.The bag soon untied and turned into a flat piece of cloth with its contents laid bare.Ye Hong, as a one-star alchemist, was able to quickly analyze the pills before him. He didn't find any anomalies, with all the pills being the same, but that was exactly what surprised him."This…! There are so many pills here. He should've only had enough materials for three batches. Did he succeed every time?""Not only that, each pill is of the exact same quality. It was as if they were all from the same batch. There should only be standard-sized alchemy furnaces in the room, correct?" Even the female alchemist Cao Mei couldn't help but interject, directing her question to the old man."That is correct. I believe he refined three separate batches and achieved a 100% success rate.""But he's only a third-stage Energy Gatherer and a beginner no less. The average success rate for middle-stage Energy Gatherers should be around one in four! And even if he got lucky, that doesn't explain how his pills appear as if they were from the same batch. Every refining should produce unique results due to the minute differences during refining and the raw materials.""Enough, we are getting off track. That is a discussion for another time. For now, are we in agreement that he has passed the test to become an apprentice alchemist?"The female alchemist, Cao Mei, nodded immediately. Ye Hong, on the other hand, took a second to swallow the words he was about to say before reluctantly nodding as well."Then that's settled. I will inform him now. Thank you for coming on such short notice, you two."Meanwhile, in the adjacent break room, Li Lang, who was the topic of their discussions, was busy stuffing his face with biscuits and drinks. He had spent the better half of the day refining the pills and he was starving, to say the least.I am likely going to pass this test, so I'll have to get the next part of my plan started. I'll need to start finding subjects to perform cultivation experiments with. However, I will first have to make use of the alchemist guild to purchase more materials to do even more refining to build up my war chest. This may take a while…Li Lang shook his head, having thought of all the work he had to put in just so he could fund his research to study cultivation with the scientific method. It would be a grand undertaking to establish a new discipline of science.He sighed, as he knew it was unavoidable to perform risky human experiments if he wanted to make any progress as a single person. There wasn't time or resources to take things slow when he was the sole researcher.It would help if I could access a sect's knowledge repository. I could also make connections and learn more about the Abductress to figure out a plan to save Zi Xi and Zi Xiao Mei…There's so much to be done and so much uncertainty around it. It's going to take forever…Am I seriously starting to miss the paperwork and boring meetings I had to sit through for my research funds?Someone knocked on the door, breaking Li Lang's chain of thought as he gazed over as the door opened. The Vice Administrator of the Alchemy Guild, whose name he did not know, strolled in. He met Li Lang's eyes with a serious expression."Congratulations, you have passed the test. From today onward, you will be recognized as an apprentice alchemist. The ring here is used to identify yourself and should be presented whenever you are doing any official business."The old man handed over a ring with a pentagon-shaped bezel with the word 'Fire' inscribed on it."Thank you, sir!""Oh, and before you leave. Alchemist Cao Mei would like to speak to you. If you play your cards right, there is a chance she may recruit you into her sect, so do make a good impression."What? Maybe I won't have to wait so long, after all.