Materia Secunda

"So that's what's going on…" For the first time since Sebian arrived in this world, his face darkened under the force of his real emotions. While he was too weak to activate his true vision with his strength alone, the potion he came up with on the spot was enough to support this ability of his for a short moment. And this short moment of true sight, allowed the alchemist to clearly see the reason behind the girl's headaches.

Unfortunately, resolving it wasn't something that he could do right away.

As soon as Sebian asked his question, the girl's face twisted in pain. Now that the question was provided from the outside, Aina focused on it with all of her mind, instantly invoking a storm of mind-boggling pain. Only after several moments did her expression returned to how she looked before, with traces of pain still all over her face.

"Eh? Teacher? What happened?" Confused by the situation, Aina looked around only to see a furious grin on Sebian's lips. With his fist tightened to the point of the whites showing underneath the skin on his knuckles, Sebian momentarily failed to control his own aura.

And just for a moment, the girl was capable of seeing all of it.

All of Sebian's authority. All of his killing intent. All the traits deeply etched to his soul. All the traits that with his aura alone were capable of tearing entire continents apart back in the days of his glory!

But this moment was too short. Too short for the girl to know whether it was something real, or just a product of her pained mind.

"Finally, you are awake…" After several moments worth of feeding his partner detoxification tonics, Sheeren finally breathed a sigh of relief. On the other hand, Zen was still in a daze, unable to come to terms with what just happened.

"Master…" Failing to control his own words, the elder of the Gloryhouse sect uttered the title he would normally refer to the man with. Hearing this single word, the elder's face slightly darkened, before suddenly all of the hesitation disappeared from his eyes.

"Sir," turning around, Sheeren looked at the stranger and the locally popular disciple candidate. "There is no denying, I have lost. In fact, the scale of my loss is beyond my recognition. From now on, this shop is…"

Hearing the elder's words, Sebian slowly stood up before patting Aina's head. As surprising as this sudden moment of care was for the girl, she failed to voice even a word of protest. And as soon as the alchemist turned around, the wrath on his face finally became apparent to both Zen on the sofa and Sheeren above it.

"First off, you will cut all the ties with the gloryhole sect. Not a single disciple, teacher, elder or even fucking patriarch are allowed to step into this place from now on." Holding himself back from just killing the man belonging to this bastardly sect, Sebian tightened his fist once again, before cutting all his emotions away.

"Uncle…" Finally coming to his senses, Zen instantly understood what Sebian words meant for him.

'Wait, am I going to lose my source of pills… just like that?' The rundown appearance of the shop was only a cover. With the local apothecary already capable of crafting grade two pills, Zen paid great efforts to reel him into his group. Reaching the positions of the elder mostly thanks to the support of this alchemist, he was finally capable to slowly start working on reforming this oppressive yet beloved sect of his, only for his main backer to be suddenly cut off just like that!

"Little one, I'm sorry." Putting his head down, Sheeren replied with sadness. For a craftsman-like him, a bet over a craft duel was unbreakable. If he were to go back on his word, his entire reputation would fall to ruin. "But I need to ask you to leave this place and never come back."

For the elder, the cooperation with this promising young master was pretty profitable. Without any worry about market challenges or infighting between different shops, he could just focus on doing what he loved the most - crafting pills. But now, he was placed against a wall.

"I understand." Not saying a single word more, Zen weakly stood up, before dragging his body out of the shop.

'What the hell…' Watching the proceedings from her corner of the room, Aina managed to keep his face straight only with utmost effort. While the details were unclear, it was pretty obvious that her temporary employer actually managed to somehow win the bet!

'Did I actually make the right choice to follow him?' For a moment, a bad premonition appeared in the girl's mind, only to disappear just as quickly. Still puzzled about what the hell was going on with her head, the girl decided to just continue watching how the situation would unfold.

"I saw your eyes following the herbs when I threw them to the pot. So let me explain what I did." After pacifying his rage, Sebian managed to calm himself down. With one step on his path to glory taken, now it was time to move to another part of the plan.

"Basically, what I did then, was forcing both infused and pristine water to reform the energy overflowing in them into the energy diagram of each of the herbs. In other words, I copied all the qualities of the herbs in each of the cups through the entirety of the water inside. And with those on hand, I could just mix them in the exact ratios necessary to bring out all the strength of the single medicinal herb that actually makes that Osmon pill work."

Just a few moments after Sheeren started to hope that this man would be generous enough to teach him some bits, he actually started explaining the process in detail!

"While I read through the theories how this method works…" Rising his hand to his head, Sebian scratched his scalp while putting an uneasy smile on his face. "I couldn't really comprehend it, so I won't be able to explain the minute details. But what I created back then, was what's called base materia. In cups, it was materia secunda, or in your terms, second-grade materia, while the fluid within the pot turned into a slightly stronger materia prima, or first-grade materia. Do you have an idea what this materia is for?"

Asking the question, Sebian turned his face around and stared at the elder's face. Right now it was the deciding point for this man. If he could answer his question properly, then Sebian would take him along the ride to the top of the world. But if the restraints of what he already knew stopped him from accepting another point of view at the alchemy, then his mental talent and fortitude would be simply too weak for Sebian to make any use of.

"Is it… The foundation that Grandmaster referred to before? A basic form that we can shape into whatever we want?" After a moment of thought, Sheeren finally raised his head and answered with just a small hint of hesitation. Just the change in the way in which he referred to the alchemist indicated that the elder recognized Sebian's alchemy prowess.

Hearing the answer, Sebian smiled. Pointing his hand at the cauldron, his smile turned both vicious and mischievous at the same time. "And now I will teach you how to make Infusion pill out of the materia prima."