While still cultivating in the garden, Kai had searched the entire palace of the Astral Alchemy Emperor, and wondered about the location of his furnace.
As an alchemist, he was bound to have a furnace, without one, there was simply no place to process ingredients.
Although Kai was not an alchemist, he understood the rough principles of the craft.
Alchemists used fire absorbed into their body and a furnace. By introducing fire into it, they could quality the temperature and control the flames. Also, when processing herbs, the furnace prevented the energy and medicinal essence from evaporating and dissipating.
Because of this, they could burn off the herb's shell and impurities, leaving only the most valuable squeeze. The furnace prevented many useful substances from being lost and then alchemists compressed everything useful into a pill.
If there was no furnace, everything useful would simply be weathered out during the processing.
Even when very valuable herbs were plucked, they would wax the place where they were cut. They would also put the herbs in a special jade box so as not to lose a drop of their useful juice and energy.
Of course, the spatial ring was even better for this, but only a limited number of people had it.
When Kai received the information from the golden rune, he also learnt many fundamental principles of alchemy that he had never thought about before. For example, such as the methods of gathering and preserving as well as different kinds of herbs.
With the Otherworldly Furnace Technique, he also gained a lot of other knowledge. Such as how to properly mix different herbs. How to determine the property of different herbs. Which properties could conflict with each other when mixed, and which properties could mutually reinforce each other.
Kai was glad that all the knowledge was mostly fundamental and very detailed. If they had contained information about each of the specific herbs, that would have been a problem.
Most likely, almost all of the herbs the Astral Alchemy Emperor had used in his lifetime were long dead. And Kai would have to constantly dig through his knowledge and search for an ancient analogue of a modern herb to understand its properties.
But since he's got the basics, he'll be able to recognise the herbs himself without even knowing their names. This is the true measure of skill. Not memorising, but understanding!
If you realise that a house is not just a building, but an object built of bricks and other small elements. And understand how each of these components work, then you can build anything.
That's the way it was in alchemy. If you understand how to determine the composition of an herb and its properties, then it will be much easier to create a pill. Since you'll understand what you're mixing and in what proportions. Ordinary students will just memorise the name of plants and their supposed properties. It's too superficial an understanding.
- It's just like with Array Mastery... Within each craft, very deep principles... - Kai said to himself as he headed towards the garden.
- Hahaha! Well, I'm the lucky one! If with arrays I am helped by the Eyes of Essence, then with Alchemy, I am helped by the knowledge I received from the Astral Emperor of Alchemy! - Kai said smiling, -And also... I won't need to steam with the furnace! Hahaha! - Laughing he shouted out.
Now he realised that to practice Alchemy, he would need to invest a lot of money to find a good boiler or cooker. But the even bigger problem was that it was unlikely that many of them would be able to withstand the Heavenly Fire. Most likely, anything he could buy would be unusable!
When he had a lack of understanding of this craft, he didn't even realise it. But with the Otherworldly Furnace Technique, you could create a fire furnace that didn't release any beneficial substances and plant energy at all! And since it was the Astral Sacrificial Fire that the emperor had been using all his life, it was likely that the technique would interact very well with it.
Thinking about it, Kai dug through his new knowledge....
- That's it! Because my fire evolved based on soul absorption, as well as that, it has no consciousness, and I have full control over it. That's why I can safely create a furnace from it using the method described in the Otherworldly Furnace Technique. It would probably be a problem with another fire. Especially with Heavenly Fire... - Kai began to realise aloud.
- Damn it, with this knowledge, I'll be able to advance incredibly far in the Border Beast City! - Shouted out Kai.
''First, I'll practice on the fruits in the garden. They'll be very valuable in the outside world, I can hardly find better training material..." - Thought Kai.
"I haven't done it before, but now I should try to memorise at least part of the array in the Astral Alchemy Emperor's room... It was definitely used to strengthen the process of alchemical herb refining. Previously, it was too complicated for me. But after discovering my Spiritual Sea, my ability to comprehend arrays and control 'lint' has increased several times over!" - Slowly, Kai began to plan his next steps.
"It's decided, I'll start by practising the Otherworldly Furnace Technique. Also, I will learn the Alchemical Process Reinforcement Array from the emperor's room in as much detail as possible. With this knowledge, it will be possible to return to the Border Beast City!" - Moving over, Kai smiled happily.
- The failure in the cave, turned into a very big benefit for me! I hope fatty didn't sit idle all this time either. If he's managed to make good money, and is renting a nice room for me... Hehe! - Said Kai with a laugh.
He pondered over the next plan of action. If he could memorise the array from the Emperor's room, as well as learn how to use the Otherworldly Furnace... Then in the Border Beast City, he would visit the Array Masters and Alchemists Organisations. He would need to understand the differences between modern alchemy, and what orders he would be able to fulfil. Next...
- It would be possible to figure out how to raise his skill very quickly at someone else's expense, while still making money! Hehehe! - Saying that, Kai saw the outline of a garden in front of him. He was already almost there.
After a moment, Kai walked into the orchard in anticipation.
Looking at the fruits, he now regarded them very differently. Previously, he just knew that they had spiritual energy in them and used them as energy stones, nothing more. But now he realised that each of them had their own beneficial properties. There were even many herbs that he had not paid attention to, for they could not be eaten like a fruit or vegetable.
Now he saw that there were even plants of which only their root was to be used. Their above-ground parts were useless.
Alchemy was in great demand because the human body could not properly absorb and assimilate the beneficial properties of plants. When eating them directly, you only got a tiny fraction of the benefits.
Even Kai, who had been constantly eating these plants for over a year, didn't really see any other effects besides energy absorption. But looking at this garden now, he realised that all the time in Astral Grad, he had been like a pig in front of which beads were thrown. He hadn't even realised the value of what he was feeding on!
- Unbelievable... - Realising what was happening, Kai even chuckled sadly. He realised that he had wasted an incredible amount of useful herbs for nothing.
- Okay, don't think of it that way. Back then, I used them to the best of my ability, and got all the benefit I could. Time doesn't turn back, there's no point in thinking about the past. - Saying that, Kai went and picked a few different fruits.
He didn't do this randomly, he understood why he was taking each of the plants. He wanted to create a pill that would concentrate many medicinal properties. Although he had managed to restore his energy, his body was still depleted. Kai wanted to recover quickly, with the help of a pill he created himself.
Sitting down in the lotus pose, he stretched his arms forward without closing his eyes. A black and purple flame lit up in front of him, and began to form an object according to the Otherworldly Furnace Technique. The flame moved smoothly and unquestioningly, obeying Kai's every thought. After a moment, he saw a black, purple veined and beautifully carved furnace forming in front of him.