Creating the pill

'Just who the hell he is?!' In the end, Sheeren should be happy that it was his approach that seemed to be more fruitful than the one assumed by his younger partner. Because from everything that was going on, it was clear that this strange man in front of them wasn't someone who they could bully easily.

"Your alchemy is akin to mystic art. If you dance, sing songs and do elaborate moves while brewing pills or potions, you might be able to just strike the right balance that will result in a proper product." Even though the first part of Sebian's sentence was lashing at Sheener's craft while the other was praising it, there was no contradiction in his words.

Under the constant changes from heat to cold, it seemed as if a part of the water that was initially in the cauldron somehow managed to escape. Noticing the problem, Sebian calmed down the mixture before adding more water and several more of the grade one stones. Then, this mundane process started all over.

Only once all three pails of water fitted into the first of the cauldrons did Sebian raise the cover of the second one. Within, as if it was a basket, a bunch of grade one and two herbs. But rather than bringing any of the herbs, Sebian pulled out a set of five, metallic cups. Placing them right by his side, he then took a huge, metal spoon, before stirring the mixture within the cauldron. Once the fluid within started to properly revolve, streaks of water with slightly more pristine colour appeared.

"Everyone," grabbing first of the cups, Sebian gently scooped the special water from the cauldron all the way to the rim, before replacing the cup and filling the rest of them one by one. "This is infused water. But as expensive as it is to make, it's just the first step."

Placing the cups aside, Sebian took a look at the remaining water in the pot. After judging it for a moment, he then reluctantly pulled the second grade stone of his. Already promised as the payment to the girl, he shouldn't really use it… That is if he had no way of procuring another one.

"In other words, while you try to do everything at once, follow the exact procedures aiming at making the most out of the herbs, I refuse that mindset." Testing with the first cup, Sebian scooped just enough water to safely place the cups inside before letting the fluids mix. Once all the cups were arranged in a circular formation at the bottom of the cauldron, Sebian then placed the second-grade stone in the very middle of it. Using only gentle flames to heat the insides slightly, he then started stirring the liquid in a circle once again.

"In my case, I prefer to prepare foundations first, from which the end-product will grow." Still stirring the pot with one of his hands, Sebian reached out and grabbed the handle of the other cauldron before dragging it closer. With the herbs now perfectly within his reach, he pulled out sixteen of them before setting them into six different piles.

'I wonder what is he doing?' Completely ignorant about the apothecary arts, Aina couldn't really see any difference between what the elder did before and what Sebian was doing right now. While their actions were strikingly different, for the girl, neither of them made any sense.

'What the hell is he doing?' Still flared by the man's previous attempt to explode the entire shop by adding stones to the mix at such an early phase, Sheeren trembled with agitation and fear. While what the man was doing was completely outside of his knowledge or expertise, just the fact that the cauldron has yet to explode meant that there was some sense to the stranger's actions.

But rather than observing the faces of the spectators, Sebian focused all his attention on the cauldron. With the water revolving faster and faster, its already energized nature from the stones he threw before was already starting to chip away at the energy of the grade two stone. Bit by bit, the energy of this precious piece continued to diffuse into the liquid… But it quickly became saturated, overflowing with magic energy. And in such a situation, said energy could only transfer to the infused water resting in the cups around the stone.

Using the infused water as the means of moving the energy from the stone to the pristine water, Sebian waited for the moment when the raging inferno of magic within the pot would settle for a bit.

And then it happened.

For a short moment, as soon as the grade-two stone lost all its energy, the forces inside the pot achieved equilibrium. The powerful energy within the pristine water was several times greater than what said water could hold. Under the immense magic energy within it, even the infused water was reaching the limit of what it could hold. And then, in one fluid motion. Sebian grabbed all the herbs he prepared before, before throwing them all into the cauldron.

"What?" That was the one word that all the three others in the room uttered when they saw what happened.

For Aina, it looked like a reckless move, easily capable of disturbing the energies within the pot. Even without alchemist expertise, she could still sense just what kind of magic bomb this damned stranger prepared right in front of her.

For Zen, this was an absolute disaster. Not only did this pseudo alchemist created a potent explosive while pretending to concoct a pill, he just intentionally disturbed its flow!

Only Sheeren noticed the single peculiarity. The single fact that instead of falling all over the cauldron, the herbs flew in groups of three into each of the cups, with the only bigger stalk amongst them falling into the water directly in the pot.

There was no explosion.

In an instant, the raging inferno of energy suddenly disappeared. It felt as if the explosion actually took place, draining all the energy from the cauldron… Just that its devastating force somehow lost its way!

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Sebian looked at the finished product before his eyes. After waiting in silence for a moment for the entire thing to cool down, he then started pulling the cups out of the cauldron.

Using the same, metal kettle that he used to stir this strange soup, Sebian fished all the herbs from both the cups and the cauldron before throwing them into a small, wet pile to the side.

Once everything was sorted, Sebian raised his head towards the pill Sheeren prepared before whiffing the air for a moment. With a look of certainty appearing on his face, the alchemist smiled before bringing out yet another cup and mixing small parts of water from each of the cups. Once a satisfied smile blossomed on his lips, he took the pot from the fireplace, only to replace it with the cup he just prepared.

"Instead of trying to do everything at once, one should seek a way to do everything step by step." Once the cup was heated enough, Sebian dipped his finger in it to make sure it had the right temperature. "Now, would you be so kind to remind me about the effects of that Osmon pill?"