- Wow, she's very impressive! - Kai exclaimed.
The furnace was now almost finished forming in front of Kai.
- It looks familiar..." he said thoughtfully, "Exactly! The furnace under the statue of the Astral Emperor of Alchemy! They're definitely similar. - Kai shouted out.
Looking at the furnace, Kai realised that it was very similar to the one he had seen on his first day in Astral City. He had been very surprised at its beauty then.
"I think mine is a little different... Yes, and the carvings and symbols on it are smaller..." - Kai wondered.
- Hmm, well, that's not surprising. The Emperor's Otherworldly Furnace Technique level was much higher than mine. Most likely, my furnace will also change over time. - Out loud, Kai answered to himself.
"Unbelievable..." - Kai thought as he looked at the furnace in front of him.
There was a furnace floating in front of him now that looked like the real thing, it seemed to be made of some kind of strong material. It looked like black marble with dark purple veins. But the surface texture was similar more metal than stone.
It looked like a cauldron covered with a beautiful lid made of the same material. The cooker had three legs arranged in a triangular shape to make it stable. It was about as big as Kai's waist.
The whole furnace was beautifully carved in the shape of different creatures and demons fighting each other. It all looked incredibly beautiful.
And right in front of Kai's face, in the centre of the furnace was a hole shaped like the open mouth of a beast.
After gaining knowledge of the Otherworld Furnace Technique, Kai already understood how he should proceed.
When the furnace was fully formed, Kai waved his hand downwards slightly, and it landed smoothly on the ground, standing on its three legs. They didn't even dig shallowly into the ground, it seemed that the furnace was quite heavy.
"Wow, how could such a dense object be created from fire? It actually seems quite real!" - Wondered Kai in his head.
What was incredibly surprising was that the furnace obeyed Kai unquestioningly. And since it now looked like a real object it was a very strange sensation.
The furnace was formed from the symbiosis of Kai's energy and the Astral Sacrificial Fire. Of course, the latter had contributed much more. But since both aspects were already part of Kai, he felt them as his body parts.
Looking at the furnace and thinking about something, Kai mentally said:
"Close it!"
At that moment, an amazing thing happened!
The jaws of the beast on the furnace closed, not allowing anything to pass through.
- Amazing indeed! - Kai laughed.
He could completely control all the processes. At this point, he smiled again and said:
- Let's begin! Light it up! - In an orderly tone, Kai said.
At this moment, the purple veins on the furnace began to glow slightly, and the beast in the middle of the furnace's eyes lit up. An incredible Astral Sacrifice Fire was now lit inside the furnace.
Since the furnace was formed from himself, the fire felt incredibly comfortable, and the furnace conducted heat very well.
The alchemical process had begun!
Kai did everything incredibly carefully. He wasn't afraid of anything in particular, he just wanted to slowly understand all the processes. Although, he now had a very deep knowledge of alchemy in his head, he needed to put everything into practice.
When all the veins on the cauldron were already burning quite strongly, Kai realised that the cauldron had finally heated up. It was ready to begin.
Taking the red fruit in his hand, Kai mentally commanded the furnace to open its mouth. At the same moment, the monster's mouth opened and black fire with purple sparks inside spurted out.
But the stream of fire didn't come out strongly as it was completely under Kai's control. It only came out to the length of his palm, Kai didn't feel any discomfort from his cauldron at all. But here, if someone else was here, he would have to move a few metres away. Since even the heat from the Heavenly Fire Furnace was overwhelming!
As soon as the mouth opened, Kai threw the red fruit in there and immediately commanded it to close its mouth back up. This had to be done so that the heat and beneficial substances from the herbs and plants wouldn't dissipate.
Looking at the furnace, it was as if Kai could see everything that was going on inside. Right now there was a red fruit floating there, slowly burning in the fire. But under Kai's control, only the shell and impurities were burning. The juice, was released in small droplets and flew off to the side, forming a small mist around the fruit.
When the entire fruit slowly burned, the mist that was floating in the furnace began to quickly shrink into a single point. A drop of liquid that was the size of a walnut was forming.
Everything that was happening in the cauldron obeyed Kai's thoughts. Just thinking about it, the drop calmly flew to the walls of the cauldron and stayed there. There it was only slightly heated by the fire, scorching away the last impurities.
At this moment, Kai threw in the second fruit, doing the same manipulations with it. First turning the shell of the plant into ash, vaporising only the beneficial juices from it. Then forming a drop and slowly removing the last impurities from it.
In this way time flowed on, and several hours had passed.
There were now a dozen crystal clear drops floating in the cauldron. They were different colours and slightly different sizes. It was a squeeze, each of the plants that Kai had been processing for the last few hours.
Now there was a final step. It was necessary to combine each of them in the correct order. If done correctly, the pill would be powerful and balanced.
If the juices were combined in the wrong order, there would be several outcomes. Either the pill will turn into poison, become useless, or simply disintegrate in the fire. Unless there was a balance in the depletion of the extracts that floated near the walls of the cauldron, the pill would fail.
This was one of the hardest things about alchemy. Otherwise, everyone could just randomly throw any valuable herbs into the cauldron, and just create good pills. But alas, that was not how alchemy worked.
There was a balance to everything in this world, by disturbing it, you create chaos. It's very useful for destructive purposes, but not creative ones. If you want to create, you need balance. To each purpose, its own methods.
Looking at all the drops in the cauldron, Kai raised his hands in front of him.
- Well, I hope it all works out. Hehe. - Said Kai, and the cauldron began to burn even stronger.
Having gained fundamental knowledge, he understood the properties of each of the liquids. And with the power of thought, he took a little bit from each drop and moved it to the centre of the cauldron. He mixed them slowly in the right order and proportions.
Half an hour later, all the liquids had already merged into one, forming a sphere the size of a grown man's fist. It could be seen that it was stable and not collapsing. Everything was well mixed and balanced!
- The final touch! - Smiling said Kai.
Now the easiest part was left, he just started to evaporate this sphere with very strong temperatures, leaving only the most useful of liquids in the centre of the cauldron.
As it evaporated, the sphere slowly began to get smaller, and at its core it thickened, no longer forming a liquid substance, but a solid. After another half hour, there was a beautiful pill hanging in the cauldron, with a consistency similar to wax, as if it were both hard and soft at the same time.
Just thinking about it, the lid from the cooker went up and the fire went out. Standing up, Kai looked inside and saw a beautiful, green pill floating in the centre.