28 Council of Elders (1)

The night was dark, the moon covered, but, even if it was not, it would be a Dark Moon, where it could not be seen. Louis still lacked many hours in sleep, but he could not repay that debt all at once. A picnic basket was on the coffee table, packed with kebabs, a soup and a vegetable stir-fry. The basket had an array inscribed into it that trapped heat, so despite Silva sleeping on the couch, one arm over the edge and her blanket at her feet, the food was still warm.

Louis smiled as he devoured the food. Her cooking was certainly improving. The variety and combination of her dishes were as refreshing as they were perplexing. Louis placed the dishes back into the basket, closed the lid and left.

The basement was quiet, everyone else must had gone to bed. Louis walked into his room and started concocting pills. Although he had concocted a grade 15 Fire Qi Replenishing PIll earlier, that required all of his qi and concentration, he could not make such a grade continuously. However, the first time was always the hardest, the next one would be much easier. He did not necessarily want to make grade 15 Fire Qi Replenishing Pills consistently, but he at least wanted to make grade 13 pills consistently. Better yet, he wanted to make two at a time.

The Spiritual Energy Upper Pill could be made three unique pills at a time. Although the Spiritual Energy Upper Pill required less complexity, simplified after many years of research, three unique pills a batch was an absurdly high number. Creating a unique pill in a batch was already great during his time, let alone three.

Louis grabbed the unique grade Fire Qi Replenishing Pill. Although the diameter of the pill was the same as the great grade Fire Qi Replenishing Pills he had concocted before, the purity of qi had increase a couple of grades while maintaining its quality. Once Louis split the pill in half, however, he found a pocket of qi within it, which quickly escaped.

Louis ate the two halves. The qi within the rest of the pill was still pure and only twenty percent escaped, but Louis was now back at a square one. The outer layer was still too big and although the qi increased overall, the material cost increased disproportionately to the qi gained. Creating such a strong outer layer was a waste. Having the four elements was good enough, including the two forces was overkill. It was fine if the overall amount of qi decreased by twenty percent if the purity had increased.

Louis removed Dandelion, Pink Water Lily, Fire Flower and Five Leaf Clover from the outer layer ingredients and started concocting the pill. He had originally shrunk the outer layer a bit despite the increase of the materials, but improving the purity had decreased the size of the inner layers more than he thought. Removing four ingredients from the outer layer made decreasing the size much easier. The rest of the process proceeded the same, with the cleansing process becoming much easier since the outer layer was no longer had a death grip on the qi within it.

The final pill was a grade 14 Fire Qi Replenishing Pill. He needed to add at least two materials in the middle layer and add some more inner layer materials if he wanted to create two grade 13 Fire Qi Replenishing Pills at the same time. When he was about to put the pill away, he saw Bailey sitting the bench.

"Can't sleep?" Louis asked.

"I was just walking around when I saw you concocting," Bailey said. She had changed out of her black formal dress into a T-shirt and shorts reaching her knees.

"Feel free to watch more, if you would like. I won't stop you." Louis said, gathering more materials. Before he would like to repeat the process at least once more before trying something new.

"Not to be rude, but why were you so disappointed when we saw that pill?" Bailey asked.

Louis turned around, half looking at her, half grabbing the last few ingredients. Her face was a mask, without a trace of disdain or disapproval, only a tiny bit of curiosity. He sighed, as he walked back to the array. "I thought you could see the brilliance of qi, the wonders that unfolded as a qi of that grade was created." Louis said sitting down. "But none of you saw it, let alone recognize it."

"I don't get it. What's so special about that?"

"In alchemy, it's called 'Casting Away the Mortal Flesh'. While it does not always happen, I spent a lot of effort ensuring it would. It helps increase the quality of the pill, but it is mainly used for spectators to see a purity of qi normally unfathomable and unachievable in day to day life. Some of those who see it become spiritually enlightened, even just a bit, making their soul stronger."

"Will you not accept us, if we can't see it?" Bailey said, standing up. "I have never even imagined such a thing."

"Relax, I will still do my duties as a teacher. It will just have to wait, like I said earlier, until Nia breakthroughs. Feel free to watch as I concoct pills. Focus on the concoction process, since that's your weak area. Instead of trying to extract the qi so fast from each material, do it slowly so all the ingredients in each layer extract the qi at the same time. The fusing process can only finish when the last ingredient is done, not the first." Louis said. He got back to concocting, ignoring the rest of the world.

Louis crafted a couple more pills while Bailey asked a few questions whenever he was getting more materials. Afterwards, Louis told her to sleep, for it was late in night, before he returned to concocting. Concocting an unique grade Fire Qi Replenishing Pill was no longer a mystery, but he had to find out whether or the outer layer could be used for the other three elemental replenishing pills. He started with water, then wind, and finally earth. It worked so easily that Louis wondered if the elemental replenishing pills used to be a single pill, split into four because they were the most common elements.

Bailey returned five hours later, speaking nothing while she simply watched. Louis nodded when he saw her, but similarly spoke no words as he concocted. No one else came to watch him. Once it was breakfast time, Louis stopped concocting. Bailey probably had not eaten either.

"Want to get breakfast, I'll answer more questions." Louis said, patting himself off, before grabbing his notebook.

"Sure."

Silva was sitting on his couch, eating a thin pancake topped with an assortment of fruits. There was a salad and gazpacho, a chill tomato soup.

"Oh, picking up your female students already. That was fast." Silva said.

"No. She's been watching me concoct pills." Louis said.

"I can leave." Bailey said.

"It's fine, Bailey. Silva is always like this, she's my cousin." Louis said, holding her hand.

"But, she's your maid."

"It's her idea of fun." Louis said, dragging her to the table. He looked in the picnic basket, but there was only another set of food. He placed it in front of Bailey. "Eat up." He took the salad in front of Silva and started eating.

"Hey that's mine."

"Not anymore." Louis said, smiling.

"I'm not getting you dinner anymore." Silva said, waving her fist.

Louis threw her an unique grade Wind Qi Replenishing Pill. "I brought a gift for you."

Silva caught it and squinted at it. She had grown familiar with the pills he made, having to transport and explain the pills to others as she delivered them. She had also got the ingredients and while she did not understand the concoction process, she understood the general idea.

"An unique grade pill? It looks like a Fire Qi Replenishing Pill? I can't eat this." Silva said, about to throw it back, only stopping when Louis held up his palm.

"It's an unique grade Wind Qi Replenishing Pill. The outer layer is just the same as a Fire Qi Replenishing Pill, so it looks the same. It's a lot better than a great grade one, it's almost like a spirit stone except it does not have the spiritual energy replenishment aspect." Louis said, as stabbed the salad with his fork.

"So why is this girl with you?" Silva asked, pocketing the pill with one hand, and pointing at Bailey with her other.

"An apprentice who has been watching me concoct."

"I thought you were busy."

"Which is why I am talking with her while eating." Louis said, shrugging.

"You mean you are eating because you want to talk with her."

"Same thing."