In the cultivation world of the Azure Continent, alchemists are highly revered for their ability to refine pills, concoctions, and elixirs that aid cultivators in their path. Their ranks align with the ranking system for artifacts and are categorized based on their skill and mastery over pill refinement, their ability to handle rare ingredients, and the quality of their products.
Alchemist Ranks
1. Rare-Grade Alchemist
Skill Level: Beginner to intermediate.
Specialization: Able to refine basic and low-tier pills, typically earth-tier and lower-grade pills.
Success Rate: Moderate success rate; often limited to common ingredients and simpler techniques.
Impact: These alchemists are often employed by small sects or towns.
2. Unique-Grade Alchemist
Skill Level: Advanced mastery of pill refinement.
Specialization: Can refine sky-tier pills and higher-quality elixirs.
Success Rate: High for complex recipes involving rare ingredients.
Impact: These alchemists are highly sought after by mid-tier sects, noble families, and kingdoms.
3. Legendary-Grade Alchemist
Skill Level: Grandmaster level, capable of refining near-perfect pills.
Specialization: Experts in creating divine-tier pills and elixirs that can enhance cultivation significantly.
Success Rate: Near-perfect success rate with even the rarest and most volatile ingredients.
Impact: These alchemists are treasures to top-tier sects, empires, and clans.
4. Divine-Grade Alchemist
Skill Level: Godlike mastery over alchemy, transcending mortal limitations.
Specialization: Able to refine pills that can awaken bloodlines, extend lifespans, and even heal soul damage. Divine-grade alchemists often create unique, one-of-a-kind pills.
Success Rate: Perfect or nearly perfect, with an understanding of the Dao of Alchemy itself.
Impact: These individuals are revered across the continent, often shaping the fate of powerful factions. Their creations are the stuff of legends.
Key Characteristics of Alchemist Ranks
Cauldron Quality: Higher-ranked alchemists use legendary-grade or divine-grade cauldrons, which significantly influence the pill's refinement process.
Ingredients Mastery: Understanding rare and ancient ingredients, especially divine-grade herbs and beast materials, is crucial for alchemists to ascend ranks.
Pill Quality: Pills refined by legendary- or divine-grade alchemists often contain fewer impurities, making them more potent and easier to absorb by cultivators.
Fire Quality: Mastery over the alchemy flame is essential, with flames being ranked similarly to techniques (e.g., earth-tier, sky-tier, or divine-tier).
Earth-tier flames: Sufficient for refining basic pills.
Sky-tier flames: Capable of refining higher-quality pills with greater precision and speed.
Divine-tier flames: Can purify ingredients to their peak potential and are essential for handling volatile or divine-grade materials.
Special flames, such as heavenly flames or beast essence flames, can drastically enhance the refinement process.
The quality of fire an alchemist wields directly impacts their ability to refine pills of higher grades, making it a cornerstone of alchemical success.
Alchemists of unique-grade and above are rare, with legendary-grade alchemists numbering fewer than a dozen on the Azure Continent. Divine-grade alchemists are almost mythical, often leaving behind their legacies in hidden spaces, like the one Qin Xuan'er mentioned.