It was 3 pm in the afternoon. Alex had just returned to his room from the cafeteria, after a full day of classes. After logging out of the game this morning, he hadn't gone back.
Instead, he spent his morning cleaning the room and washing his clothes. Now that he was back from the university, he couldn't wait to go back to it.
He logged into the game as soon as possible and opened his eyes inside his outer sect cottage. It was an afternoon in the game as well, and the light was shining through his windows.
He walked out of the room to the usual masses of green-robed disciples. He had only one task in his mind today, work as an aid for as long as he could.
He quickly reached outside the Alchemy hall and waited in line to be an aid. He talked to the few aids in the group while waiting.
He came to understand a few things about why the alchemist aids were even a thing. Normally, in an alchemy process, an alchemist had to take care of 3 different things.
The fire, the ingredients in the cauldron, and the ingredients outside the cauldron. They had to maintain the fire's temperature and mix the ingredients in the cauldron properly. These were very important.
So when they had to divert their attention from the alchemy itself to look into their bags and search for ingredients to put in next, it hampered their process, even leading to failure many times.
Inner sect disciples were similar. They couldn't multitask all those 3 things and hope to succeed in making the pill. So, the sect decided to have the Outer sect disciples help them with the third part of the alchemy, giving them ingredients.
This way, the outer sect disciples too could gain knowledge and inspiration in the process of alchemy from watching the inner sect disciples.
Of course, not all inner sect disciples needed aids, but most of them did.
Alex didn't have to wait long before a female disciple took him in as an aid. This was the second time he had gone into the catacombs like Alchemy Hall.
The female disciple quickly found an open room and got it. Alex followed closely behind her and entered.
Without speaking, she handed him a bag of ingredients with a talisman. Alex was hoping for another recipe, but alas his luck wasn't as good.
The talisman only listed the items required for the recipe and the order in which they would go into the cauldron. The female disciple decided to use the black cauldron already heating up in the room and started immediately.
One after another, the ingredient's names came out of the disciple's mouth. Alex gave her exactly the ingredient she asked for. Within half an hour, she completed the alchemy and successfully made a pill.
Alex didn't have the recipe this time, so he couldn't tell everything she did wrong, but his instinct told him she made a few mistakes at least.
The girl brought out a pill tester and put the newly formed pill in it.
18%. This wasn't a bad harmony for a pill made by an inner sect disciple.
The girl put the pill in a ceramic bottle and kept it in her bag. There were still a lot of the same ingredients left in the bag Alex was holding. She had brought multiple sets of the same ingredients.
She started making the pill once more. Names after names came out of her mouth, and Alex accurately handed the ingredients to her.
Once again, she succeeded in making the pill. She tested it and it turned out to be 18% as well.
Alex looked at the bag in front of him. There was enough for one more. She performed alchemy once more. Everything went the same way this time too.
Once again, she successfully formed a pill. 'If she is so good at alchemy, then why did she use 3 different sets?' he wondered.
She brought out the pill from the cauldron and put it in the pill tester.
20%. The female disciple had managed to make a 20% harmony pill. For the first time since he saw her, she smiled.
She kept the pill in a ceramic bottle and looked at him. " Give me your nameplate." She said.
Alex handed it to her. After transferring the points, she handed it back to him and left the Alchemy hall.
9 contribution points. She had given him 3 points per pill she made. Now that he thought about it Kong Yuhan must've been quite generous with him.
He walked out of the Alchemy Hall, and once more waited outside to be an aid. Another person came later and took him.
He worked as an aid until 12 am. He worked as an aid about 12 times before 12 am. Some disciples gave him the whole recipe, some just gave him the ingredients list and order.
He learned a total of 4 new recipes. Every time he learned a recipe, he could immediately tell when someone made a mistake. It was as if the recipe was ingrained into him, and he knew everything about it.
After watching the alchemist perform alchemy so many times, he was starting to get the hang of it. There were even times when he could tell they made some mistakes without having a recipe for the pill.
He earned about 60 points in total. Some made multiple pills, some gave him a little extra.
After returning to his cottage at 12 am, he started practicing the qi manipulation, and Flame Mastery Scripture. He learned each method for 3 hours, and before he knew it it was 6 am.
He wrapped his Qi around the lantern and slowly hovered it up to hang it to the ceiling. He then used Qi once more to throw the rocks out of the room, one by one. Once, everything was gone and the room was clean, he logged out.
******Author's Note******
June 11, 2021 -- if you started the book after this date, then you don't have to read this note.
I changed the 5 true realms' names to True Disciple, True Master, True Lord, True King, and True Emperor. I have already gone back to change the names in the previous chapters.
These are only 'name' changes, and won't affect the chapters so far.