30 Refining

After calming the two down, Jim gave each of them a soda. Seeing their eyes light up while drinking it amused him, he began explaining about this world. That people with horns and animal tails don't exist here. How humans are reliant on technology. How cultivation doesn't exist here. He saw Astril's eyes brighten up like someone had just bought her a new car, she began intensely staring at him and it made him very uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what to say and just carried on.

He could tell the two were in some extremely dangerous situation back in Bahn Tai so he didn't bother to offer sending them back, but some things had to be done if they were staying on earth. Firstly, he doesn't have a skill for English, so he gave both of them Linguistics Master, he wasn't sure what the education system was like in Bahn Tai and gave them Mathematics as a bonus, just in case.

Secondly he inhaled before purchasing two Masks of Deception and had them put them on, bringing up pictures of human bodies he made them conform to a normal human's appearance. He felt it was fine to keep the silver hair, people on Earth dye their hair all the time. 'That's 20,000 you know! 20,000!' Was Jim becoming a Miser?...Let's move on.

Jim introduced the two to the computer and let Astril figure out the specifics, Libta leaned over her shoulder nad the two stared at the screen. 'They need time to acclimate, what should I do for now?'

[Skill Max Gift Pack x 38 Opened]

[Congratulations Host, System Upgrade Module x 76 Obtained]

[Congratulations Host, 380,000 Points Obtained]

Jim bought Fourth Job for 40 Upgrade Modules and Inventory Lv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 spending a total of 91 System Upgrade Modules, he had 27 left now but wasn't sure what he'd want. Deciding to leave them, Jim decided to bite the bullet and spend most of his newly gained points. Under the Tools Category there are thousands of variations of Pill Furnace, but the cheapest one is a whopping 300,000.

Opening a window, he placed the furnace on his floor and popped a Heavenly Ling Flower into it. Several of the books in Flowing Cloud's Library were on technical skills, he had a large array of knowledge concerning Pill Refinement, but no actual experience or skill yet. A universal prerequisite for this art is the control of flame, it needs to be so extremely high temperature that tough spiritual materials can meld with others, but low enough that materials aren't burnt into a pile of useless sludge.

Jim hadn't obtained some flame formations or a spirit fire and he doubted his stovetop would suffice, so he attempted using Create Fire. A few minutes later, the flower hadn't changed. 'Okay, let's use Flame.' He shot a Flame spell into the furnace while using Focus and exerting control over mana to ensure the flame stayed lit and within the furnace, it was extremely difficult and sweat started pouring down his face. Two hours later, the flower finally melted down.

Jim used a random hand technique detailed in one of the books to control the fluid now floating inside the furnace, he forced it to congeal into a sphere. Ten minutes later, he was proudly holding the first pill he had ever made.

[Jing Qi Pill - Quality: Terrible]

[Permanently Enhances User's Mind, Low Quality Ensures Nearly No Effect]

'...Well, it's my first try.'

[Pill Refinement Skill Obtained]

[Pill Refinement Assist Unlocked]

[Congratulations Host For Successfully Refining Your First Pill, Beginner Pill Refiner Gift Pack x 1 Awarded]

'Oh? Let's open it!'

[Beginner Pill Refiner Gift Pack Opened]

[Pure Yang Sun Fire Obtained]

[Frigid Heart Flame Obtained]

[True Soul Fire Obtained]

[Divine Essence Fire Obtained]

Jim felt something entering his body and penetrating his Dantian, he directed his Qi sense inside to check his condition. Rotating around his Spirit Roots were four flames. They were tiny like a dying candlelight, but he felt immense power in each of them. One was red, it gave a tyrannical feeling like it would burn down the entire world when let loose. Another was blue, it gave a feeling of intense cold and stillness, like you would freeze into a block of ice the instant it grew near. Another was white, it felt dormant, like it was slumbering but hiding some unknown depth of power within. The last was golden, it was hard to look at it straight as though a Peasant was laying eyes on Royalty.

Jim popped another flower into the furnace, this time he wanted to test out the new flames. With just a thought the flames within his Dantian suddenly grew and extended out of his body, he could control them as smoothly as his own fingers. Pure Yang instantly incinerated the flower, there was only ash remaining at the bottom of the furnace. Cleaning it out, he tried Frigid Heart with another Flower, it was instantly turned into a block of ice. True Soul did absolutely nothing even when the flower was immersed in it for an hour. Finally, Divine Essence got it just right, the flower quickly melted down, Jim was too happy and accidentally let the fire ruin the pill essence.

Another attempt, the pill formed quite well or so he thought 'Appraisal'

[Divine Jing Qi Pill - Quality: Common]

[Permanently Enhances User's Mind And ???]

'Hm?' Appraisal was still pretty low level despite using it rather often, he felt it was natural to have a few things not show up correctly. 'The Divine Prefix must come from the Divine Essence, I don't think the extra effect would be bad.'

Jim spent the rest of the day refining, it was approaching night time and he needed to figure out the sleeping arrangement. He went over to start making the bed, Libta spotted his actions and rushed over, she tucked into the blankets and tugged on his shirt while staring at him. 'Hm? What's going on with her?'

[Name: Libta]

[Species: Immortal Silver Fox]

[Qi: 1/1]

[Strength: 1]

[Dexterity: 1]

[Vitality: 2]

[Agility: 1]

[Magic: 0]

[Spirit: 1]

[Status: Taming 99%]

[Taming Complete, Immortal Silver Fox Libta Is Now Host's Subordinate]

[Libta: Subordinate Benefits Activated]

[Libta: Loyalty Stat Unlocked]

[Libta: Limited System Functions Unlocked]

'Uh...Appraisal.'

[Name: Libta]

[Species: Immortal Silver Fox]

[Level: 0]

[Qi: 1/101]

[Strength: 101]

[Dexterity: 101]

[Vitality: 102]

[Agility: 101]

[Magic: 100]

[Spirit: 101]

[Loyalty: 1/100]

[System Functions Unlocked: Cooking Assist, Level Up, Improved Rest, Inventory Lv. 10, Farming Assist, Pill Refining Assist]

'Seriously...?'

"Libta, try squeezing this." Jim took a piece of normal wood out of his inventory, something purchased at the hobbyist store quite some time back.

Libta tilted her head cutely before nodding, she took the wood and squeezed as hard as she could. It shattered and splinters went flying all over the bed. Astril's mouth was wide open looking at her daughter's display of strength, "W-w-what just happened!?"

Jim: "I...may have accidentally made Libta stronger."

Astril: "What!? How can you accidentally make someone several times stronger!?"

Jim: "I can't really explain it, but you can see it's the truth from the result, right?"

Astril: "..."

Libta didn't seem surprised, she just stared at Jim proudly, he figured she was seeking praise and patted her head. After casting Clean, the bits of wood were all gone, Astril had come over to inspect her daughter and make sure nothing was wrong. Libta tugged her into bed and pulled Jim too, he could have resisted but decided to humor her. With one adult on each side, Libta drifted off to dreamland with a content look on her face.

Jim fell asleep rather quickly too, leaving a nervous Astril wanting to get up but also not wanting to wake up Libta.