Chapter-20

Three more days passed and Friday arrived. After classes were finished, heron bid farewell to Seraphina and Elysia, heading to the Forge with Aria to see how the cauldron crafted by Cedric turned out. The resonating chime of the bell marked their entrance into the Forge. There was no one in sight,

"Let's go to the back, to the real forge" Aria suggested

Theron followed Aria to the back, where the scent of iron and metal mixed with the warmth emanating from an unidentified heat source. There, they found Cedric engrossed in his work on the cauldron, unaware of their arrival. Anticipating a wait, Aria provided snacks and drinks for Theron as they settled in to watch television in the living room.

An hour later, Cedric emerged from the back of the shop, noticing the vacant register. He made his way to the living room, discovering Aria and Theron engrossed in a TV show, sharing popcorn. Seating himself beside them, he casually requested some popcorn.

"Give me the popcorn as well," Cedric joked, to which Aria responded with a mouthful of popcorn.

Upon realizing who was beside her, Aria exclaimed, "Grandpa!"

"Grandpa Cedric, did you finish the cauldron" Theron asked. 

"Yea, I sure did" 

"I had to burn it at a very high temperature because it wouldn't melt."

"But finally it's finished!" 

"Let's go take a look, shall we" 

They arrived at the back to see a black cauldron which had cooled off. It seemed like a normal cauldron but the color of it seemed like it would devour the void and emitted a mysterious aura. Theron felt its residual warmth as he stored it in his ring.

"By the way, Grandpa Cedric do you accept apprentices" "I used to but not nowadays, why do you ask" He looked at him and said,

"Umm, I was wondering if you would like to have me as an apprentice"

"You, apprentice?"

"Hmm"

"You sure?" Cedric asked and Theorn nodded while Aria was surprised and confused by the situation which was happening 

"Don't do too much things at once or else it will bite you in the back" 

"Why do you even want to become a blacksmith?" 

"It's not too much of a goal but I just wanted to try to see if I can get success in it to expand my ranges"

"And I can't probably come for most days but I would want to try blacksmithing when I am free and having Grandpa Cedric as a master would be very helpful." 

"Fine, I will accept you as an apprentice"

"Aria also wants to become a blacksmith so it would be nice for her to have a companion"

Aria was surprised that her Grandpa accepted but also happy since she would get to have more time with Theron.

"Let's start the next time you come, for today, I am too tired"

__ __ __

(In Theron's room) 

After completing his daily regimen, which included physical training, sword training, and magic training, Theron wanted to start on the alchemy which he so desperately wanted to see whether he was good at it or not. It was something new and so it was exciting.

He started to put the cauldron or rather should be called an alchemy furnace as the picture which Theron showed and wanted to be crafted looked rather like an alchemy furnace.

Because of his daily exercises, he had over 20 sunflower drops and 11 sunfire ginseng but he also saw that he could buy the ingredients from the shop for a low price whereas the pills were priced very high but he would not need to buy the ingredients as he had found a shop which ginseng which was not the normal ginseng but it was sunfire ginseng. It was not named as sunfire ginseng but Theron could figure which ones were through his insight skill and he bought more aside from the 11 he had and he had also found a shop which crafted skin care items but he was able to ask whether he was able to get sunflower drops and he bought a couple bottles of sunflower drops.

Theron started with making a flame at the base of the cauldron where there was an open chamber designed to accommodate the flame. He had read the alchemy recipe carefully and had also read a book about alchemy.

He started to put a bit of purified water in the furnace first and then after it had reached a suitable temperature he started to put sunfire ginseng in. He used his mental energy to control the flame and also view inside the furnace and tried to control the ginseng to make it be perfectly heated on all sides. Afterwards he put the sunflower drops in, as if a reaction had started, the water started to boil and drain and the ginseng started to melt as Theron put more heat to it and the entire ginseng melted and he lowered the temperature. After there was a bit of melted substance, he started to use his mental power even more to form pills while not letting it cool down too much. Practicing spells and cultivation had made his mental power a bit stronger so he was able to craft these pills. As the process was done, he looked inside but the pills were black instead of brown. He looked into them with his insight skill.

[Vitality surge pill - Failed]

[Purity: 49%]

There were 4 pills which were formed in the furnace with the highest purity being 49%. Any pills falling below the 50% purity mark were deemed failures.

Undeterred by initial setbacks, Theron persisted in his attempts to craft the pills again. However, a sense of complacency crept in, leading to rushed attempts resulting in purities of 39% and 45%, respectively, for the subsequent two crafts.

Taking a 15-minute break to collect his thoughts, Theron contemplated his previous attempts, identifying areas for improvement. He acknowledged the need for better control over his mental power, recognizing that while he could manipulate it, precision remained an area of refinement. Furthermore, he contemplated enhancing his control over the ingredients, ensuring each side received adequate heat to absorb the essence during pill formation, thus minimizing waste.

He took a break for 15 minutes before trying again but this time with no rush and focused. He thought about what he thought he did wrong during the first three crafts, where he could improve on. The first was to have better control of his mental power, even though he could control it, it was not precise yet. He would have to grasp it with more focus and control the ingredients so that they would have enough heat for each sides and making the pills absorb enough essence in their formation or else most of the essence would be wasted. Finally he returned crafting the pills and this time he was able to craft the pills with over 50% purity.

[Vitality surge pill - Basic]

[Purity: 54%]

"Success"

Theron expressed his success, appreciating the fruits of his labor. Feeling the fatigue from the intensive mental exertion and the energy depletion during the crafting process, he decided to test one of the pills. Assuming a meditative posture, he attentively observed the process. The pill dissolved near his core and the essence was extracted by his core and whereas the martial bone burned away the impurities with hellfire.