Ma Rong started explaining the different elements and the elemental synergy between them.
"So, the first thing you need to know is the 5 normal elements and the 2 higher elements."
Alex was listening to her very intently, his eyes focused on what she said.
"The two higher elements are Yin and Yang. Yin is the element associated with dark, cold, or moon. Yang is the element associated with light, heat, or sun. These two elements on their own are quite powerful, and maybe dangerous if not taken care of properly."
"When together, based on what the alchemist can do, the Yin and Yang can cancel each other out, and make a pill neutral, or help each other to become even stronger, and make a pill with highly volatile energy. You should always think twice if you have to deal with either of these elements in a pill, especially if they are together."
Ma Rong was teaching Alex about the elemental affinity and alignment of an alchemy ingredient and how that would make or break a pill.
"The 5 normal elements are Wood, Fire, Water, Earth, and Metal. These, similar to the 2 higher elements, can cancel overwhelm another element or make it stronger. These are the hardest thing to keep track of in a pill-making process. You have to know how each ingredient's element interact with each other."
"For example, if you put an ingredient with the fire element in it and another ingredient with the water element in it, then the resulting pill will either be a low fire elemental strength, or a low water elemental strength. This is because when water and fire elements mix together, they fight each other, and the stronger enemy remains. The water seeks to extinguish the fire, while the fire seeks to evaporate the water."
"On another example, if you put an ingredient with the fire element in it and another ingredient with the wood element in it, then the resulting pill will always be of a higher fire elemental strength. This is because when wood comes in contact with the fire, it feeds the fire, making it stronger."
"There are 5 ways these elements can interact with each other. They can either 'Empower' the other element, 'Control' the other element, 'Overwhelm' the other element, 'Weaken' the other element, or 'Ruin' the other element."
"Just like wood 'Empowers' fire by feeding it, water can 'Empower' wood to make it grow. Earth can 'Control' water by absorbing it. Metal can 'Ruin' fire by taking its heat away and de-energizing it."
"All 5 elements do something to one of the other elements, in all of the 5 different categories. Knowing what does what, and which ones you can use is very important when making pills with higher harmony."
Ma Rong reached into her bag and took out a piece of paper. It was a small talisman, which she then handed over to Alex. Alex caught the talisman and quickly scanned it with his spiritual sense. He soon realized what it was.
Ma Rong continued, "That paper has all the knowledge I know of about the different elements and their interaction with each other. Make sure to read that when you have free time."
"Just remember, there will sometimes be ingredients with no elements, but those are incredibly rare, and the easiest to deal with. They get along with every other ingredient.
She then moved on from the current topic and started going into the original one.
"Now, on to the main topic of our lesson. The 3 things I mentioned to you cauldron, ingredients, and elemental synergy, while they are important for making pills, they aren't controllable."
"Even two different ingredients picked out from the same plant can differ in terms of age, energy level, and sometimes even in their elemental affinity."
"Cauldrons are never instant at transferring heat, so you have to hope it's fast enough. Otherwise, you will be already making mistakes."
Alex looked at his own new cauldron wondering how good it was to use.
"Sometimes, the recipes itself may be flawed. Maybe the alchemist who made the pill wrote something wrong, which is why the pill never reaches 100% harmony."
"What I am trying to say is, even though you might do everything right just as the recipe dictated, and still end up with only an earth-grade pill. And that is the very first lesson you need to learn when you are trying to make pills. You will never make the perfect pills. The reasons are beyond your control and you need to be satisfied with what you end up with."
"Now, let's talk about recipes. How many recipes do you know?" she asked.
Alex thought for a second, and said, "more than 200". Ma Rong was surprised to hear that. "Where did you learn so much?" she asked.
"The library's top floor." He simply answered.
"And you were able to remember all of the 200 recipes in the library? You should have only had a night to remember all that." She was still surprised.
Alex smiled a bit and said, "Master, with the spiritual sea, we also get eidetic memory. So, I pretty much remembered everything I read."
"Do we?" Ma Rong tried to see if she could remember things and realized he was correct. She too had eidetic memory now.
"Okay, what pill was it that you made before?" she asked.
"Uh, the Qi Improving Pill?" he asked. That was the first and only pill he had made till now.
"Yes, take out the ingredients for it, and make a pill. I will see what you do," Ma Rong walked over to his side and sat down beside him.
Alex looked into his bags and quickly found all the ingredients required for the Qi improving pill. He had already made this pill before and was super familiar with it.
This time, since he had spiritual sense, he decided he didn't need to go into focus mode to get more time for handling the ingredients. Now, he could split his attention between 5-6 tasks. If he were to do that to the different aspects of making pills, he was sure he could most certainly end up as an earth-grade alchemist by the time he had to go to the Tiger Sect.