Chapter Five: Alchemist Physique?
The girl's words hung in the air like embers drifting through a cold night.
Alexei blinked. "An… Alchemist?"
She nodded, though exhaustion still weighed on her features. "Yes."
"I'm a chemist," he corrected, frowning. "I study plants and their properties. I mix medicines. But an Alchemist? I don't even know what that means."
She studied him in silence before shaking her head with a small, amused breath. "That's what I thought at first," she admitted. "Your mixtures were pretty average —common in the big cities. But when I drank them, I felt something else."
Her fingers curled slightly, pressing against her chest.
"There was a resonance," she said. "In my heart and right lung. You used Fire Qi and Metal Qi."
Alexei's brows furrowed. "I don't know what you mean by 'resonance'."
The girl pushed herself up on the cot, still unsteady, but determined. "I am from a family of Forgers—cultivators who refine metals, craft weapons, and forge treasures. My family has passed down techniques for generations. And among us, those with heart and right lung resonance are the most gifted."
She met his gaze, something intense flickering in her dark eyes.
"I have those resonances. My heart burns like a forge, and my right lung tempers like steel. It is what makes me special. But when you fed me those mixtures… I felt the same resonance from you."
Alexei remained still, digesting her words.
Heart. Fire.
Right Lung. Metal.
It was true that his body felt strangely attuned to fire and metal—he had always been drawn to the heat of his experiments, always understood the subtle nature of minerals and alloys with an almost instinctive ease. Was this what she meant by resonance?
"You're saying I have Fire and Metal Qi?" he asked carefully.
She nodded. "Yes. And more importantly… I felt Wood Qi in the mixtures you gave me. That's why I asked if you were an Alchemist."
"Because I infused Wood Qi into medicine?"
"Yes. Alchemists are those who use Wood, Poison, Fire and Metal Qi to refine pills and elixirs. True Alchemists, though, also wield Poison Qi—allowing them to neutralize impurities, manipulate toxins, and refine powerful medicinal and poisonous substances alike."
A flash of excitement crossed her face as she leaned forward.
"If you also have Poison Qi…" she exhaled slowly, voice filled with awe. "Then you are a one-in-a-million-year prodigy. Someone with the Alchemist Physique."
Alexei felt his breath still in his chest.
The Alchemist Physique.
He had always known he was different. The way Qi flowed through his body, the way he instinctively understood the balance between growth and decay, the way his own blood felt alive when he worked with plants and minerals. But to hear it put into words—to hear that there was a place in the world for what he was—
It was like a door had opened before him.
He met the girl's gaze, his voice steady despite the storm of thoughts swirling inside him.
"…Who are you?"
She smiled faintly. "Vera Petrovna. A Forger of the Petrovna Family from the Iron Flame Sect."
The Iron Flame was a company before Qi had returned to Earth they were a group of metalworkers and weapon smiths. He had heard of them in passing, from merchants and traders. If the company and the sect were one and the same, then she came from a lineage with a deep understanding of Qi and crafting… and lots of money.
Alexei exhaled, rubbing his temples. This was a lot to take in.
A Pseudo-Alchemists —that's what she had called him. Because he had yet to prove he had Poison Qi.
If she was right… then he wasn't just an oddity.
He was some kind a ultra genius.