7 Rank 1 Alchemist

The sun was reflecting on the snow littered all over the small house on this cold afternoon. The sun was shining brightly while releasing heat trying to conquer the forest, but it seemed that the winter breeze never allowed it to have its way.

Everywhere was quiet and Mason could be spotted in his usual spot at the front of the house sitting on his inclined chair with a stick in his mouth while immersing himself in the tranquility of the forest.

"Kaboom!!" Chase staggered out of the house with his face black, and his already black hair blacker standing erect. Smoke could be seen coming out of the room through the opened door and the window. He walked towards Mason and grumbled, "Old Lu, are you sure you taught me the correct thing? It has almost been 2 months already and I can't still refine grade 1 pills."

Mason chuckled. He looked like someone that found joy in another person's misfortune. Chase couldn't help but begin to question the authenticity of this his so called 'Master'.

Mason then stood up from the chair. His black hair fluttered as the wind greeted them. He had an air of a secluded master around him. He walked to Chase and patted the kid's shoulder while saying "Brat...You've come far already. I didn't tell you.. but actually..uhm...how do I put this...ok... To become a rank 1 alchemist, you need to have achieved a cultivation of at least rank 2 late stage. you've just entered the middle stage so...."

"Boom". Mason could be sighted few kilometres away from the house with his head buried in the snow and his legs sticking out.

Mason walked back to the house while shouting, "You ungrateful brat!...Its part of the training!!...I just wanted you to get used to the mixing of herbs and how to control the flame and this is how you repay my divine grace?"

...

On a thin branch at the top of a tall tree covered with snow amongst other tall trees.

"Yes! Now I can start refining pills for real. I hope that old man did not trick me again...But it's still depressing that I don't have any fighting skills. That damn old man." Chase who was sitting crosslegged studied his internal energy flow and meridians. He could feel the air elements gathering around him at a faster pace.

A week and some days ago, Mason had confessed his sins thus explaining why Chase had problems when it came to extracting the energy from the herbs while refining pills leading to continuous explosions. Now that he had broken through and become a rank 2 late stage elementalist, he could try to refine grade 1 pills again.

He was excited about his progress. It previously took him over 2years to reach rank 2 late stage when he was still in the Cloud family. But after his reformation at the small pond, his cultivation speed had tripled. He touched his eyes and mumbled to himself, "Cloud family...I wonder what explanation you guys will give me."

He grabbed his support stick that was lying beside him and jumped down from the tree. The stick touched the ground first before his legs lightly made contact with the ground. He then picked up a basket that was leaning by the tree and walked deeper into the forest to search for herbs.

As he walked he thought, 'I've never seen a magic beast above rank 2 around the house. I wonder why is that.'

The sun was getting ready to hand over the baton to the moon. Mason was sitting at his usual spot and in his black pupils, a reflection of a young boy who looked to be around 13 years was growing bigger and bigger. The young boy hung a basket filled with herbs and 2 rabbits on his back. He held a crooked 1.6 metres tall thin tree branch with his left hand. The tree branch acted as his third leg as it took a step forward before his legs followed behind it. The boy had grey eyes that had no sign of life.

Mason "Brat, what's the use of that stick? you can move around very fine without its support no?"

Chase "....It makes me look cool."

Mason "..."

Chase dropped the basket in his room and came out again. He asked Mason, "Old Lu, I've broken through rank 2 late stage. Are you sure that I can now refine rank 1 pills? You aren't tricking me again right?"

Mason "Who do you think I am... I'm a divine existence."

Chase rolled his lifeless eyes at Mason and walked back into his room. He sat down crosslegged silently for sometime to calm his mind. He then picked up a black furnace that Mason gifted him for practice that was standing close to the wall. Upon all the previous explosions that occurred when he was trying to refine the pills previously, the black cauldron never received any damage. It could be seen that it was definitely a treasure.

After he placed the furnace in his front, he started arranging the herbs from the basket around him. Then he rubbed two stones together which ignited a small fire under the cauldron. Well, he couldn't create his own fire yet.

As soon as the fire got ignited, he began to throw herbs into the cauldron. To a normal person, it will look as if he is just throwing herbs randomly. But to an expert, Chase's timing and speed wasn't something a rank 1 or even rank 2 alchemist could achieve. Apparently, Mason making Chase to refine earlier without reaching rank 2 late stage enabled him to get used to mixing herbs which increased his efficiency.

After dumping the herbs in the cauldron. He continuously made motions with his hands as the fire rose and fell and the heat increased and decreased. It seems that he was controlling the fire with the air elements since Mason never taught him how to control fire while refining either.

30mins later, he put out the fire and looked into the cauldron. As the smoke cleared, 8 green pills could be seen lying at the base of the cauldron. A huge smile formed on Chase's face as he excitedly picked the pills up and placed them in a small transparent bottle. This pills were grade 1 body nurturing pills. It good be used by rank 1 and 2 elementalists to refine their bodies.

He ran out of the house shouting at the top of his lungs "Master! Master! I succeeded! I'm now a rank 1 alchemist."

Mason looked at the shiny green pills in the transparent bottle and couldn't help but praise "Well done brat...hahahaaha...now you know how to call me master...am i not divine?"

Chase looked at Mason in disgust "Are you complimenting me or yourself."

Mason continued laughing, "hahaha brat...myself of course. Isn't it me that taught you?"

Chase rolled his eyes at Mason's shamelessness "I'm going to continue refining more pills." He then walked back into his room.

Mason watched as Chase walked back while thinking to himself, 'Being able to refine 8 body nurturing pills perfectly at the first try. I could only refine 6 perfect pills and my son could only refine 5 perfectly. Other people refine between 2 and 3 imperfect pills at their first tries...Looks like I've won the lottery...hehehe.. It's about time we begin the real training then. I'm also getting tired of sitting around all day.'