Chapter One Hundred And Seventy - I find truths in tea

The Grand Auction was one that required an invitation in order to participate, at least that was true if one was buying. If one was selling, the auctioneers would have to deem the item worthy of being put to bid in this Grand event. Otherwise, sellers could only wait for a Market Auction, where things could sell for a fair bit or next to nothing depending on the fortunes of the seller. It was a risk that might not pay off, one that many refused to take and would rather sell direct to a shop instead.

Ursam seemed to think that Leon's variant pills were more than worthy of being a lot in the Grand Auction and Leon did not know enough about the process to think otherwise. Still, he put in a fair bit of effort to ensure that the Smouldering Energy Pills and Bursting Energy Pills were of reasonable quality and low of impurities. And when he was satisfied, only then could he focus on attempting to make variant Burning Blood Pills.

Really, he thought after Jin Li demanded most if not all of his attentions the past four day, he did not have much time to experiment remaining! As luck would have it, Teacher Sagi had left the institute for the next three ten days, allowing Leon to practice his pills and cultivation as he would, otherwise, there would be no time at all.

He pouted as he covered the new purple marks upon his pale skin with his inner robe. Jin Li was a bit unreasonable, he thought. While it was true that they had not seen each other in six days and Leon did indeed miss him well, did not mean that his body should be toyed with mercilessly for the entire four-day break! If this was what Jin Li was like prior to full consummation of their relationship, what would he be like after their first joining? Leon shivered, both worried and yet maybe just a bit excited to find out!

After thinking that he really ought to invest time into learning how to make False Recovery Pills once the Auction was done and dusted, he returned his attentions to his current dilemma; variant Burning Blood Pills.

He'd originally began with the basics; separating the lush green Mothtail leaves from the vivid scarlet flowers of the same shape, before using the bundles separately within his cauldron with the other ingredients. Using the leaves produced a marbled orange Burning Blood Pill and using the flowers produced a marbled orange Burning Blood Pill. He sighed as he looked at them side by side on his shelf. Honestly, it didn't seem that there was any difference in the two pills from any other Burning Blood Pill. Still, when he'd stored them away, he'd made sure to label them correctly so not to mix them up with others.

Seeing as just refining the one ingredient in the existing recipe was clearly not enough to create a variant, he'd realised that he needed to consider all of the herbs. Unfortunately, when he took to the library to research these herbs, he did not find out too much to help him.

Sure it was interesting that songmist moss would only grow up the trunk of a tree until its first bough, meaning the taller the trunk, the more moss could be harvested from it. And Weasel Bane was not poisonous to weasel-type beasts; they just weren't too keen on the smell of its blooms. Oh and Salamander's Breath Poppies, while commonly bright orange, also came in yellow and burgundy varieties...

There just wasn't much information on the herbs functions within a pill. For example, Leon had deduced that the Moth-tails were somehow responsible for the temporary boost in ability and that this was more clearly concentrated in the flower than the leaves. Just as Leo had deduced that the beast-tails were responsible for the modifying the mood of a beast. But if other alchemists had figured out how each herb effected each pill, they were keeping it very close to their own chests and not sharing. Even Teacher Sagi had made no mention of such, just imparting his knowledge on growing and caring for each herb and what pills they can help make.

Leon was forced to place the problem aside again for he really could not figure out where exactly he should go from here and spent a day cultivating in order to stop his mind dwelling on the set back. Once the sparkling lights had completed several circulations through his meridians and returned to lazily circle within his inner sea, he decided he was thirsty and went to make himself a cup of tea.

As the tea brewed within the pot, Leon was reminded of the Medicinal Tea book he purchased at the Five School Market Festival. Seeing as he'd been otherwise preoccupied, he'd almost completely forgotten about it.

Medicinal Tea making was not quite as simple an art as those who considered it with scorn made it sound. While it was true that the brews were not as potent as Medicinal Wine nor as satisfactory as Medicinal Cuisine, they still required a wise hand and quiet focus, less they become at best; indistinct beverages or at worst; poison. Basically, these teas required precise measurements of herbs to water.

That and there was a varied range, helping to promote a healthy body with digestion, clean meridians and strong bones as well as keeping the mind focused and clear. Teas helping to promote cultivation were included, naturally, though the effects were said to be minimal for the most part. What was most interesting to Leon, was that most of the recipes in this small book, were made from common herbs. Only a handful had less common herbs, such as a slightly more complex tea that claimed to temper, over time, the stomach and intestinal track in order that it could absorb the effects of pills more efficiently.

Leon found this tea quite fascinating, for what he knew about pill absorption was only what he had listened to in a lecture once and even then, he really hadn't understood it much. Something about personal physiques effecting efficiency of pills... Of course, he wasn't reliant on pills, so he never had dwelled on the subject much, though he knew that the build up in impurities in a body could reduce the effectiveness of pills upon that person in the long run.

The recipe called for mostly uncommon herbs and a couple of rare ones; he supposed if this tea really could do as it said if taken over a long period of time, it would be worth it. In fact many of the teas would be worth taking, just that they needed to be drank over a long period of time to be effective.

He turned the page and read over the next one, which happened to use Cloud Fern and in this case, there was a warning that if too much of this herb was added, it would have an adverse effect on the other herbs in the tea, neutralising them, thus rendering the tea as ineffective. But too little would also effect the tea's usefulness; its effects would be much weaker. Leon frowned slightly.

Pills required a measurement of each herb, but it wasn't really always that precise. After all 'two or three leaves' could be a small amount of a large amount if not only considering the number, but the size of the leaves. Cloud Fern in Burning Blood Pills for example was one frond. However, the fronds he'd been given were as small as the palm of his hand and as large as his head. The length of the feathery leaves varied, making some fronds more round, others more oblong. That and each slender leaf creating the fan like frond could be quite thick and ungainly or delicate and thin. But could these differences really effect the moth-tails though? He could only try and find out...