Chapter 13: Winston

Vishnu took a good look at this old man. He could feel a different aura coming from the man, nothing he had ever felt but it wasn't fierce like Veronica. It felt calm and soothing.

Winston also looked at Vishnu. He has obviously heard of him. 'The greatest talent in history to have appeared in Elemental Heaven Sect' this rumor is the talk of the whole continent. Many were curious about this figure and even some want him to disappear.

"Let me introduce you two. Vishnu, this is Rank-3 Alchemist and a friend of my grandpa Master Winston. And this is Vishnu. I'm sure you must've heard of him." Chen Jiaxin introduced them.

"Oho! So he is the talented youngster everyone is talking about nowadays. It is a pleasure to meet you. Why don't we talk in my chamber, This place is a little crowded." Winston invited them to his chamber.

As a Rank-3 Alchemist, he has a private chamber on the 7th floor. Every private chamber is equipped with all the necessary Alchemy tools and is designed such that Alchemists could even live there.

As soon as Vishnu entered Winston's chamber he could smell different types of herbs. Looking around he could see that the smell is coming from another door. The room they are in is well furnished. They sat down on the sofa as Winston offered them some kind of tea.

"So what brought you here?" Winston asked Chen Jiaxin. He was also curious about why the princess of Chen Clan is here with Vishnu.

"Actually Vishnu wants to join Alchemy Association and learn Alchemy so I thought I'd introduce you to him so that you could maybe help him."

Winston became surprised hearing this. He looked at Vishnu the asked " Are you serious? Your talent lies in the cultivation and being an Alchemist will require tremendous effort too. You won't be able to commit to both together. So why waste your talent." He didn't minx his words. He thought that maybe this boy thinks just because he is talented in one thing then everything will become easy for him But the sad reality is that not always things go the way you want.

"I know that my talent for cultivation is greater than everyone else and in your eyes, it'll be like throwing that away. But I've thought things through. I want to become an Alchemist." Vishnu replied without hesitation. Even though he isn't sure if he could pull it off but at least he wants to try. If he doesn't have any talent for it he would just give up. According to Arthur If he could reach a certain realm he could buy that pill but even Arthur isn't sure if Vishnu could reach that realm as it isn't only dependent on talent. With talent, you could only go faster than others at the start but that advantage will disappear further down the line.

Seeing the conviction in Vishnu's eyes Winston sighed "okay then, so have concocted any alchemy product before?" He wants to know if Vishnu has any experience or not.

"oh! That, I just started learning about Alchemy yesterday." Hearing this both Chen Jiaxin and Winston became stunned. They don't know what to say.

"Ok, so we're starting from scratch huh!" Winston mused to himself. It has been a while since he taught anyone.

"First you'd require an Alchemy cultivation method."

"That won't be needed. I have my technique. Since yesterday I started practicing and I could create Alchemy Qi now." Yesterday Arthur gave Vishnu an Alchemy Method which according to Arthur was used by an Alchemist friend of his and she was probably the best alchemist around. Vishnu just eye-rolled to that last statement.

Hearing that Vishnu has his Alchemy method didn't surprise Winston because In his eyes Vishnu is probably from some hidden clan or something as they don't have any intel on his background but when he heard that he just started practicing that technique yesterday and he could already use alchemy Qi he was surprised. But then it hit him that Vishnu is a 9-star talent. Even though Alchemy is different from cultivation cultivating alchemy qi at the start is much easier for those talented ones.

"That's good then. I'll concoct a Rank-0 Body Nourshiment pill typically used by those in Body Refinement Realm. I'll explain the process as I concoct it so that you can see exactly how to do it then you'll try it yourself."

"Wait, you're doing that now?" Chen Jiaxin asked. She didn't think that Vishnu would be concocting on the first day itself.

"Why not. It'll also help me understand if he has a talent for alchemy or not. Measuring talent for alchemy can't be quantified as it is with Cultivation. There are no set methods to measure it so generally this type of method is used. Different alchemists set different tests to understand if one person has talent in alchemy or not. Even then it isn't accurate."

"Okay then, I'll watch too. That is not a problem right?" Chen Jiaxin asked Vishnu.

"Yeah, sure No problem."

Winston then took them inside his concoction room. It was packed with all sorts of tools Vishnu has never seen.

Winston went near a cauldron. He then chanted something then a fire started erupting out of the cauldron but the next moment it calmed down. But there is still some fire inside it.

"Look carefully, I won't repeat and you can cover the whole cauldron with your spiritual sense to better understand it." Generally, any kind of interruption could make the finished product impure but someone at Winston's level could concoct Rank-0 products with their eyes closed so having a spiritual probe didn't matter to him.

Vishnu sent his spiritual sense as he watched Winston concoct. Winston explained all the ingredients he was using and the process to concoct them.

It took Winston around 7 minutes to concoct that pill.

"So what do you think?" Winston asked if Vishnu could do it.

"I'll have to try first." Even though Vishnu thought it looked easy he didn't underestimate it.

Winston provided Vishnu with 30 batches of products to try. Even though Winston gave the task he didn't think that Vishnu could succeed. Generally, it'd take 5-10 days for someone who just started learning to be able to make a successful product and it takes more than 200 trials and error.

Vishnu then started the concoction. He followed the steps how Winston did it step by step. Around the 15% mark, he did something wrong which eventually destroyed the ingredients.

"Don't mind. Through doing it repeatedly only one could have success in alchemy."

Vishnu didn't reply. He closed his eyes and replayed what Winston had done in his mind and compared it to what he did. After finding the error he continued to imagine the next step till he completed the product successfully in his mind.

He again started the concoction process. This time he reached almost 80% of the concoction till he made another slight error.

Seeing all this Winston frowned. How could this be possible? He even thought that Vishnu probably lied to him when he said he just started practicing the Alchemy method yesterday and has zero experience. But then discarded it as Vishnu has no apparent reason to lie to him. 'If he isn't lying then what is happening' He thought as he didn't dare to imagine that Vishnu could have as much talent as he has in cultivation or even more.

Vishnu repeated the same process in his mind again and then went on to his 3rd try. And this time he succeeded. He succeeded.

"How can it be?" Both Winston and Chen Jiaxin blurted out the same thing. They couldn't believe it. In just his 3rd try he can concoct a rank-0 pill.

If this information got out the Royal family could get involved.

Killing intent appeared in the room but it wasn't directed toward Vishnu.

Chen Jiaxin looked at Winston stunned not understanding what is happening. Vishnu looked at this and frowned. He didn't understand the sudden turn of events. Chen Jiaxin is a smart woman so she quickly understood the reason for the killing intent but she didn't fear Winston as Winston couldn't harm her directly what she feared was Winston's knight. Most Alchemists depend upon Alchemy Association for their safety but people like Winston have their own Alchemy knights for their safety which they nurtured. By giving a huge amount of alchemy products to a talented individual one could easily reach the core formation stage and according to Chen Jiaxin's intel Winston's Alchemy Knight is a Core & Soul Fusion Realm cultivator.

A shadow suddenly distorted and turned into a man. Seeing this Chen Jiaxin didn't hesitate.

"I swear upon the heavens that I won't mention anything regarding what happened in this chamber to anyone." The moment her words have finished a gust of wind passed by the room even though there is no window for winds to come.

Vishnu was stunned to see this. He didn't understand what just happened.

"Oh! You've done it now little princess." Winston smiled like a warm-hearted old man smiling at his grandchildren.