Laine spent an hour familiarizing himself with Ember Ignite and the Bronze Pill Furnace. He was now ready to try his hand at pill refining.
A portion of the information Calla transmitted to him was on alchemy. He had already known the recipe for the pill, as he had to stop and buy the last ingredient he didn't possess. The Resonance Pill was the name that appeared in his mind. It had a simple but valuable effect. It would allow him to temporarily enhances his control over his life lines, allowing him to draw in more aura from spirit stones than he normally could, saving him both spirit stones and more importantly time.
One major factor of an individual's cultivation speed was their arcane art. Arcane arts are the primary methods by which cultivators absorb, store, and circulate aura.
Similar in structure to the grades of artifacts, arcane arts were separated into four major ranks: Mortal, Spirit, Profound, and Empyrean. Each major rank was further broken down into four minor ranks: Low, Mid, High, and Top.
Laine's arcane art, known as the Violet Mist Art, a Low-Grade Mortal Arcane Art. It's widely regarded as a waste of even the cheapest jade slip, embodying the phrase, "you get what you pay for" in the world of cultivation. Unsurprisingly, it drew aura from arcane stones at an excruciatingly slow pace. It's rumored the art was born from a desperate attempt to extend the usage of exhausted spirit stones.
He had high hopes for the Resonance Pill because he had 50 spirit stones left to his name, and at most he could use 40 of them.
"I need a…" Laine glanced around and spotted his bowls that were placed upon the shelves carved into the stone wall. "Perfect." He grabbed two bowls and placed them on the stone table next to the Bronze Pill Furnace.
Calla stood in silence near the clouded window, still rattled by Laine's unexpected talent. It seemed like she had to reevaluate some of her previous thoughts.
The Resonance Pill required three ingredients. These three ingredients were each arranged in a neat stack on the stone table.
On the far left was the cloth sac filled with large, dark red razorback boar hearts. Next to it was a pile of slender, silver-blue roots with wispy fibers known as Sky Thread Root. A rare root that grows towards the sky, usually atop mountain peaks and on the faces of cliffs.
The last ingredient, exhausted spirit stones, Laine luckily had a large amount of. After draining as much aura as he could from his spirit stones, he would keep them in a cloth sac beneath his bed. He felt this was a better choice than just throwing them away. And his hoarding tendencies paid off today.
Laine had already grabbed the final important item he had purchased in the open market. It consisted of two parts. The first part had a deep, bowl-like shape with uneven edges, while the second part was short and stout, tapering slightly at the ends for better grip and leverage.
It was a Mortar and Pestle made from the grayish-white bones of a Stone Lizard, a small Neophyte Realm demonic beast known for its incredibly tough spine. The lizard's bones, while strong, had a rough surface, which made them ideal for grinding materials.
"First are the exhausted spirit stones," Laine said as he placed the dull green spirit stone into the mortar.
He pressed down and crushed the spirit stone. He needed to ensure that it turned into a fine, light green powder with a faint shimmer. This process was slow and repetitive, but he pushed forward. After several minutes, he finished and poured the contents of the mortar into one of the wooden bowls. He mirrored the process of crushing and pouring twenty-three more times.
Laine guessed he spent around an hour in total, grinding up the empty spirit stones. The wooden bowl was now filled over a fourth of the way with shimmering light green dust.
"Now for the messy part."
He plunged his hand into the cloth sac and grabbed one of the soggy hearts. The feeling didn't bother him, but the smell emitted was a strong, pungent odor with notes of rot and decay mixed with a sour, metallic tang.
The Resonance Pill required the hearts to be crushed into a jelly-like consistency. If there was even a single fragment of uncrushed heart mixed in with the pill, it would cause immediate failure of the pill. This wasn't difficult for him to complete, though it was monotonous.
By the time he finished crushing all twenty-four of the razorback boar hearts and Sky Thread Roots, it was about noon. Though he couldn't rely on the sun above here to gauge the current time.
As Cloudveil City sat precariously on a cliff near the edge of an abyss of unknowable depth. The city earned its name from the mists that perpetually rise from the chasm below, often enveloping it in an ethereal shroud, as if the heavens themselves sought to hide its existence. Sunlight was a rare visitor here.
At the northernmost end of Cloudveil City, beyond the Jade Zenith layer, lies the abyss known as the Susurrant Void—a jagged scar upon the earth, its depths unplumbed. The sheer drop acted as a natural barrier, protecting Cloudveil from the demonic beasts that plagued the world.
Laine exhaled and said, "It's finally time."
Calla, wake up.
He had to send her a message mentally, as she had retreated into the Tarnished Key to rest. Laine was eager to find a bottle of spirit wine for her soon. What if she didn't wake up? He realized that having someone to talk to wasn't as bad as he had thought. Now that she was part of his life, he didn't want to lose her, even though they had only known each other for a few days.
Calla blinked into the room at his side. "I wonder… Is your talent for alchemy also so mind-blowing?"
Laine smiled at her and said, "There is only one way to find out."
Opening the Bronze Pill Furnace, he retrieved a basic, hexagonal mold made of bronze, divided into six small, shallow compartments. Each compartment has a smooth surface to shape the pills evenly, with faint grooves at the edges to allow easy release once the pills formed.
First, he placed a pinch of spirit stone dust in each of the shallow compartments. After which, he did the same with the heart and root mixture. He then pulled out a small rag from within his robe and wiped away the blood and root fragments stuck to his hand. With cleaned hands, he then repeated the first step and coated the top of each compartment with another pinch of spirit stone dust.
Carefully, he placed the mold into the Bronze Pill Furnace and put the lid back in place.
Calla raised a finger. "You must finely control the pill furnace's heat for one hour. If the temperature fluctuates even slightly, the process will fail."
Laine nodded. "Here we go." He extended out his hand, and quickly, small orange embers traveled into the pill furnace.
The furnace rapidly heated. This was possible thanks to a small formation etched into the bottom of the pill furnace. Allowing the furnace to reach high temperatures, with the only fuel source being the aura of a flame skill.
Hours later…
"Dammit! Another failure." Laine's mood had dropped considerably.
Calla, however, felt relieved. If he was heaven-defying in every aspect. Then what use would she be to him? He wasn't the same as the men her previous masters had fallen victim to. Maybe she had been fortunate enough to fall into the hands of the only redeemable male. She couldn't be certain, but she was determined to learn more about him. Despite her lack of readiness to express those thoughts aloud.
Only time till tell. Calla thought.