Breaking Through

Breaking Through

In the other alchemy lab, Sam, the heroic yet dim-witted class president, sat on a stool while reading through a notebook almost twice as thick as Adam's.

Even though she had a much better alchemy talent than Adam, talent didn't mean anything if you didn't practice and utilize it. She knew this fact well, and after studying under her father for more than a decade, it was more than engraved into her subconscious.

As her father told her hundreds of times, "Talent was only the catalyst. True effort reigned supreme!"

So she studied, practiced, and worked harder than everyone in her school despite having the highest talent in her year.

And it came to fruition. Now, at the ripe age of 16, Sam was already about to break through to the Martial Apprentice Realm and was able to refine Tier 2 pills!

Pills were ranked by the grade at which martial artists used them. So the Body Refining Pills that Adam was trying so desperately to refine would be ranked as Tier 1 pills, and the Tier 2 pills that Sam was able to refine would be for martial artists in the Martial Apprentice Realm.

This was why Sam was recognized as Sagittarius High School's greatest talent. Not because she was about to break through into the Martial Apprentice Realm, there were two other people with the exact same cultivation base, but because she could already refine Tier 2 pills!

While it wasn't the first time that someone could refine pills of a higher tier than themselves, it was still an extremely rare sight. Because of this, Sam was given the role of class president and was unanimously recognized as the high school's greatest talent.

And to stand true to her title and role as class president, Sam constantly studied, practiced, and trained to be the best of her grade. But her concentration was suddenly taken away from her notebook as she heard Adam's manic yelling once more.

The walls of the alchemy labs were thick and had a lot of insulation. If it were a normal martial artist at the peak of the Body Refining Realm, they wouldn't be able to hear Adam's yelling. But Sam wasn't a normal person at the peak of the Body Refining Realm. She had taken half a step into the Martial Apprentice Realm.

And because of this, she was able to hear Adam's yelling. However, she couldn't decipher what he was yelling exactly, just that he was.

Hearing it once more, Sam stood up abruptly, wanting to charge back into Adam's alchemy lab, but after she remembered how exasperated Adam looked the last time she charged in, she stopped.

Though slow on the uptake most of the time, Sam still saw how little Adam appreciated her concern.

'Since that nerd wants to be left alone, then I won't care about him anymore!' Sam snorted inwardly. And true to her own thoughts, she sat back down on her stool and picked her notebook back up.

It was better to study than to help ungrateful people like that nerd!

—

Unaware of Sam's evolution toward becoming a normal human with common sense, Adam was dancing with joy.

Though Adam could tell that his new cosmic-grade alchemy talent was going to be something amazing, he couldn't imagine how truly strong it was.

Before, Adam had thought he would only refine one low-quality pill that was barely edible. But looking at the four pristine white pills at the bottom of his furnace, Adam was stunned, then ecstatic.

Pills had five grades. Low, middle, high, superior, and the most mystical of them all, transcendent. Adam didn't know anything about the transcendent grade, though, so he didn't even dare think he could refine such a pill.

Before all of this, Adam was praying that he could get one low-quality pill from this concoction. He had yet to refine a pill. Refining a low-quality pill on his first success was normal.

However, he had underestimated his cosmic-grade alchemy talent.

Sitting at the bottom of his furnace was one low-quality, two middle-quality, and one high-quality pill!

Adam didn't know exactly how he was able to concoct such high-quality pills, but did he care? No!

In fact, it took every fiber of his self-control to stop himself from grabbing all four pills, stuffing them down his throat, and refining them. But Adam was an old soul with more self-control than his 16-year-old body had.

So before he wasted all of the pills he had just refined, Adam walked away from the furnace and started to think about his choices.

The set of ingredients he had just used for this batch of Body Refining Pills was the second to last he had. It was also another reason why he had given up earlier. There was only one more set of ingredients, and he wanted to save them for another day.

Alchemy wasn't just about skill. Mentality played just as large a role in concocting pills as one's skill. And Adam had already failed three times today. His mentality was far too shot for him to continue refining today.

The only reason he had done one more was to test how great his new talent was. If not for that, Adam would've waited a few days to calm his mind before attempting to refine the Body Refining Pills again.

Also, they were extremely expensive. Just three sets of ingredients sent Adam back $1000. This meant that he would only be able to purchase practice materials every two or three months, depending on how lavish a life he wanted to live during that time.

But on the flip side, each successfully concocted Body Refining Pill would cost, at the minimum, $20,000. This was for the low-quality version of the pill as well. A medium-quality pill would cost $25,000, while a high-quality pill wasn't available for normal purchase.

In order to acquire pills of such quality, money wasn't enough. One needed connections to find such pills.

Yet, in spite of that, Adam now had $70,000 worth of pills in his furnace, plus a high-quality pill that had no market price!

"But high-quality pills are far too rare to sell. If I, a 16-year-old boy with no background, suddenly start selling them like cabbages, someone is going to pick me apart like a science experiment." Adam thought aloud.

Though the Federation of Humanity was interconnected and there were barely any inner conflicts, there was no lack of people without morals in the world. Adam wanted to become a talent by any measure and join an extremely good college, but he also didn't want to get kidnapped and turned into a pill slave.

Selling a mass number of high-quality pills would accomplish such an outcome without fail.

"I'll just eat the high-quality pill. The other three, I can sell. This way, I can buy all three talents in the talent shop." Adam eventually planned that out.

His talent shop was currently only level 1 and only had low-grade speed, strength, and defense talents in it. Buying all three of those would only cost him $30,000. And with his $70,000 net worth, Adam could buy all of them and still have over $40,000 left over as pocket change.

With this much money left over, Adam could buy not only many more sets of ingredients for the Body Refining Pill but also materials for higher grade pills!

Adam knew that Sam was already a Tier 2 alchemist at her age. And though he slightly looked up to the girl, he still wanted to be the best in his grade. He was still young. How could he not have the ambition to be the best?

With his newfound fortune, Adam wanted to start buying ingredients for Tier 2 pills and also become a Tier 2 alchemist before the college exams.

If he could become a Tier 2 alchemist before the college exams, joining a peak college in the Federation of Humanity wouldn't be a dream at all. In fact, joining the best college in the federation was a possibility!

With a plan in mind, Adam stopped pacing around his lab and went over to his furnace.

Looking into it, Adam stuck a hand in and pulled out the milky-white Body Refining Pill that sat in the middle of the furnace.

As the highest quality pill he had refined, the high-quality Body Refining Pill naturally sat in the center of the 4. It was the best of the batch and needed the most essence to be made.

After pulling out the pill, Adam looked at it for another few seconds in awe at his own skill, but eventually, he came back down to earth and stopped.

Walking over to the clearing in the room, Adam swallowed the pill and started to exercise his cultivation technique.

Though Adam had a cultivation talent and was able to absorb the Spiritual Qi of the universe, he wasn't able to do so right now. His body was too weak. Absorbing it would cause him to implode from the inside.

Spiritual Qi was a mellow and extremely pure substance that facilitated the growth of the mortal body, but it wasn't such an easy thing to absorb.

One needed a strong enough body to safely absorb the Spiritual Qi of the universe. And that was what the Body Refining Realm was for. To strengthen the human body from its weak mortal self into a strong enough vessel capable of absorbing and holding the Spiritual Qi of the universe.

This was also why Adam couldn't meditate yet, but instead still had to do these primitive exercises to refine the Body Refining Pill's effects. Thankfully, over the past few thousand years, the Federation of Humanity has created a near-perfect exercise to do the job well.

After swallowing the pill, Adam felt a blood-boiling sensation go throughout his body, burning his blood, hammering his muscles, and tempering his bones. This was what the Body Refining Realm was about. One needed thick and potent blood, strong, dense, and powerful muscles, and sturdy, resilient, and tough bones.

Only in this way could one make a body strong enough to safely absorb Spiritual Qi.

The pain was there, but after the torture that Adam had just gone through just a few minutes ago, his pain tolerance had been elevated by ten levels, and the minor pain he was feeling now didn't phase him at all. He ignored it all. All that was on his mind was his breakthrough.

Adam, right now, was at the 8th stage of the Body Refining Realm. Next was the peak of the Body Refining Realm, the 9th stage.

Once someone reached the 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm, they could finally start absorbing the Spiritual Qi of the universe and become a full-fledged martial artist.

If one absorbed a wisp of Spiritual Qi into their body but didn't break through to the Martial Apprentice Realm, they would then be called a half-step Martial Apprentice. Sam was at this stage of cultivation.

However, that wasn't what Adam was worried about now.

Throwing out punches that seemed to vibrate the air and tossing kicks that sliced through the wind, Adam was constantly refining the effects of the high-quality Body Refining Pill. And it was working wonders on his body.

Slowly but surely, small impurities were leaking from his pores as he continuously refined his mortal vessel.

Other than strengthening the body, the Body Refining Realm also needed to purify it. However, it was only to a slight degree. The true purification of the mortal body was done far later in the cultivation journey.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, and before Adam realized how long he had been punching the air, he felt something inside of him change. A shackle had been broken, and he felt elevated.

He had broken through.

The 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm.

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