Chapter 324: Synthetizing An Ultimate Pill!
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Before leaving for breakfast though, there were a few things I wanted to do first, such as checking all the items I got from yesterday’s Quest! Right, I had completely forgotten about them with all the talk I had with Bastet, it was honestly a lot to swallow. So much happened with her that ended in her being stuck… inside of me, which the more I think about it, the weirder it gets!
However, she’s not some parasite and actually had been helping me for a while since her “awakening” after I obtained Sepa’s sealed stone, which ended in her implanting her Fragmented Cosmic Soul Fragments in the Demonic Beast Transformation Skill.
Now that I think about it, maybe that Skill was so strong because she had imbued herself into it; it wasn’t as overpowered as it was with the other Demonic Humans that served Leviathan after all…
Well, anyways…
“Before leaving, I have to check some items…” I said, sitting down near the room’s mirror and opening my inventory, placing everything on top of the table. “Hmm, that’s a lot of stuff.”
The items were…
[Black Heaven Ki Pearl Fragment (S+++ Rank)] x9
[White Heaven Ki Pearl Fragment (S+++ Rank)] x9
[Random Martial Arts Scroll (A Rank)] x5
[Primordial Yin Crystal Fragment (S+++ Rank)] x5
[Primordial Yang Crystal Fragment (S+++ Rank)] x5
[Mechanoid Themed Treasure Chest (S Rank)] x1
Alright, the Fragments, if I combine them together, I can get there Pearls of each color, so that’s pretty alright. Then there’s the Random Martial Arts Scrolls, then… the Primordial Yin and Yang Crystal Fragments?
Although I could probably absorb them, I don’t think those are for me, nope. Those are definitely for the Primordial Beasts, Wuyue Zhiye the black wolf, and Yaoyan Taiyang the golden lion! I remember that master mentioned that they could grow if they fed on specific types of primordial crystals.
And these crystals are exactly that!
Okay, I have to feed these to them.
Anyways, the last reward was a themed treasure chest, interesting, so if I open it I can get more goodies themed after the Mechanoids.
Mechanoid is apparently the “race name” of these machine lifeforms; although we call them machines or whatnot, they’re recognized as Mechanoids by the System.
"Okay, let’s begin…”
I quickly glanced at the pearl fragments, about to unify the black and white-colored fragments together. But then I felt something—a small glow in my hands—of gold color.
“Hm? Wait a second…”
The Gatherer and the Alchemy Skill were reacting when I touched these fragments? Did this ever happen before with the other fragments I got?
The Art of Alchemy transcends worlds; even in Murim Worlds devoid of Magic, Alchemy also exists; it is the art of synthesizing and combining the elements of nature through their materials together.
So maybe… I could do some Murim Alchemy with these fragments? But for what? What can I make with this?
No wait, why am I even asking myself that question?
I know exactly what to make.
“Okay, let’s do some Alchemy,” I smiled.
“Alchemy?” Bastet wondered. “Why? Just absorb the pearls…”
"Yeah, I could just do that, but what if I can get more power out of these fragments if I merge them together?” I asked. “Alchemy without Mana is possible even in Murim, so I just have to use Ki instead.”
Using Ki for Alchemy might give completely different results as well, but I was eager to do some of that anyway!
“I suppose it’s worth a try,” Sepa said. “If you’re an idiot, that’s it! Why would you ever do that?! You’ll be risking destroying some really amazing items!”
“I know, but… if I keep going at this pace, it might not be enough,” I said. “My Martial Arts for some reason, aren’t blossoming as I wanted; Myriad Self won’t show up as something that is recognized by the System, and maybe the reason behind is a severe lack of growth on my Spiritual Body, so I have to hurry up and make it grow faster.”
Sepa and Bastet looked at one another, sighing.
"Ok, but let me help you,” said Bastet. “Summon the other Egos, we can all use Alchemy so we could increase the chances of success.”
“Right, I didn’t consider that!” I nodded. “Come out!”
I didn’t even need to activate the Myriad Ego Skill anymore, which had its own cooldowns and time restrictions; my own Aura fluctuated, and then took the shape of my Egos, which stepped out and took form.
Yeah, this was the power of Cultivation, I had successfully been able to integrate the power of many Skills into my own Body, Aura, and Martial Arts, this allows me to unleash their “effects” without the “restrictions” given to Skills.
Restrictions such as temporary abilities, cooldowns, and so on simply don’t exist outside of Skills themselves; however, the power of the “effect” can also vary.
While I can summon my Egos through my Myriad Aura, they’re definitely not as strong as the Skill one, but because they lack cooldowns or times and are also much cheaper as I don’t have to replace the Mana required with Ki, which doubles their summoning price, it's more convenient!
“So we just use Synthesis?”
“Yep, that’s all!”
I summoned five more Egos, which even included Sepa’s Ego and Uroboros, the latter was unwilling but had to obey my words, so he also used Alchemy.
I placed all the fragments inside the Alchemy Cauldron I had; it was still the old one; I should definitely get a better one later.
Then, imbuing the Cauldron with Ki, it was slowly liquified into a rainbow and gold-colored liquid that quickly made the Heavenly Pearl Fragments float around.
“Nice, it’s working…”
With that done, I decided to add more materials. I knew I should feed the primordial crystals to the two primordial beasts, but there were five, right? So I decided to take one of each for myself.
Aside from that, I also added other Martial Materials that I’ve gathered around the two Inner Realms of the Venerables, mostly things they gifted me or allowed me to gather for my own Alchemy practice.
“Starlight Roots, Black Heaven Berries, Sunshine Apricot, Star Sea Grass, Dark Moon Tree Bark…”
I kept adding more things, my Egos continuously using Synthesis and Alchemy together; the materials melded, creating a soup of black, purple, gold, and yellow constantly twisting against one another.
“And now… the finishing touch! These!”
Black and white feathers, which I have sneakily collected from both of my masters!
“Did you just… that’s creepy.”
Bastet looked at me with a judgmental expression.
“I-It’s not creepy! They are just feathers that fall off of them naturally!” I said. “T-There’s no difference compared to another material.”
“Sure…”
I ignored the stupid cat and added the feathers… There was also a black and white feather from Song that I found on his bed when his mother asked me to clean his room.
“{Synthesis}!”
FLAAASH!
All materials converged together, swirling against one another and creating a beautiful and continuously spinning yin and yang appearance.
It startled me as I stepped back, but the other Egos continued using Synthesis!
Yeah, I can’t back down.
“Keep going, don’t stop!”
I imbued my Myriad Aura into the Cauldron itself, helping it resist the enormously strong product I was creating.
Crack, crack…!
However, cracks started appearing across the cauldron, quickly spreading over time, and then I realized the cauldron was about to burst.
It wasn’t enough quality to hold this much!
“Ah, dammit!”
I quickly thought about an idea: taking out countless corpses from the machines I’ve killed, and by using [Mechanical Body Transformation] ability to control metal, I put them all together around the cauldron.
“Synthetize it together to hold it back!”
Three other Egos synthesized the metal with the shattering cauldron, creating a bright silver metallic cauldron of a much thicker form.
It was barely managing to hold back, and only thanks to my enchantment to the cauldron using my own Aura!
However, it was working.
The item I was making was being born.
FLASH!
A flash of bright golden and black light surged.
For a moment, it felt like my consciousness had been dragged elsewhere completely.
A dark world, and then a bright world.
Endlessly colliding against one another, they spun, they fought, but they never managed to destroy the other, always existing in harmony.
Then something was born from this clash between light and darkness, something that glowed the brightest, crystalizing within this endlessly spinning darkness and light!
It flew to my hands, overflowing with pristine brilliance and umbral darkness.
“Ooh…”
It was a pill!
A black and white, circular pill.
It looked like a jewel, to be honest, but it was edible.
It resembled the yin and yang symbol, with a small gold and black colored center.
“It’s done.”
When I felt like I was dragged back to reality, the pill was already in my hands, and this mental realm, or whatever, was gone.
The cauldron was destroyed and torn to pieces, and my Egos had all exploded into white smoke, dying.
The only one left was Bastet who hid behind me, that damn cat.
“Phew… It’s done.”
Ding!
[Outstanding! You have Synthetized the [Divine Heavenly Yin and Yang Primordial Pill (??? Rank)] x1!]
[You have gained a tremendous quantity of Alchemy Skill Proficiency! The [Alchemy (C): Lv6] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 10!]
[The [Alchemy (C): Lv10] has Ranked Up to Rank B!]
[Congratulations! You have further comprehended the Yin and Yang Dao and the Heavenly Dao through the synthesis of Primordial Murim Materials through Alchemy.]
[You have learned the [Heavenly Alchemy Arts: Tier 1] Spiritual Arts!]
[The [Heavenly Alchemy Arts: Tier 1] Spiritual Arts have increased their Comprehension Rate to 100% two times.]
[The [Heavenly Alchemy Arts: Tier 1] Spiritual Arts have Ranked Up to Tier 3!]
“Hahaha! I got Heavenly Alchemy Arts?! WHAT?!”
I couldn’t believe it; I laughed like a madwoman as I held the pill in my hands.
Heavenly Alchemy Arts, the “ultimate” form of Alchemy that my brother, in the original story, had to learn much later in the story; it took him a long time, and it was when Earth was already forgotten.
To think I would get something so insanely broken right away! With this, Heaven and Earth are my ingredients.
No, I won’t even need a cauldron anymore; these Spiritual Arts allow for the ability to literally use Heaven and Earth to do alchemy.
BAAAM!
However, my fun quickly ended as Master came running inside. Song was right behind her; she had suddenly grown completely exasperated.
“Anna! What happened?! For a moment I felt as if the primordial Yin and Yang Dao were here!” she screamed. “Y-You… What did you do, girl?!”
“Ahhh… master! I learned… Heavenly Alchemy Arts and made this!” I showed her.
“T-That’s…!”
She gasped, stepping back.
“You did such a thing?! Where did you get the materials for that?”
“I… Uh, the System.”
“Hahh… You’re truly unbelievable.”
Master helped me stand back up, patted my head, and congratulated me.
“Incredible, you’ve created a pill containing the essence of the nine heavens and the primordial daos of yin and yang! Do you plan to ingest such a bomb?”
“I do… I want to become stronger after all. I made it for that very purpose.”
“…I see you’re convinced to do this.”
She smiled slightly, then sighed.
“Then I am nobody to tell you not to, but prepare yourself; absorbing such a thing might kill you.”
“I know… But I have to take the risk. I am strong; I know I can do this.”
“Don’t mistake confidence with recklessness, my disciple. I did not teach you to be so ignorant.”
Suddenly, the pill was in her hands out of nowhere.
When did she take it from me?!
I didn’t even notice!
Maybe because I’m too dizzy right now?
“Eh?! Wait, master, don’t take it from me!”
“I’ll give it to you, but first, let me help you.”
“Oh? How so?”
“I’ll build a formation for you, so that small chance of absorption becomes a guaranteed chance, or close to.”
“R-Really?!”
Do I even deserve such a master?
I can’t believe how nice my mom is!
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