Emperor's Reckoning

The top floor in the building was pretty spacious compared to the lower floors. There were three cauldrons with different colors, one was silver, the other was obsidian-black and the last one was gold. They were positioned in a tringle point with a rack filled with materials standing in the middle. In this way, the pill-makers couldn't accidentally interfere with each other.

As Lyon took his first step, his vision was greeted with a desk counter and a surprised-looking middle-aged man with auburn hair sitting behind it.

"Oh, a young alchemist?" said the middle-aged man with a smile. He was pretty sensitive about the stuff as building a relationship with a pill-maker was better earlier than later.

"Hmm? Are you talking to me?" said Lyon while pointing at himself.

"Hohoho, of course, young man, who else but you standing in front of me?" said the middle-aged man calmly.

"You must be mistaken then, I don't even know what alchemist even mean," said Lyon with a chuckle.

The middle-aged man had his eyebrows moved up in a surprise, "Oh, perhaps I am indeed mistaken then."

However, before Lyon could respond back, the middle-aged man continued, "Alchemist is the term for the people that made pills, for the lower class, it is called a 'pill-maker', however, that term wouldn't be used in other higher cultivation rate worlds."

*tap*tap

Footsteps followed after Lyon as the princess revealed herself toward the middle-aged man. However, unlike the clerk, the middle-aged man was calm and collected even after seeing her face. In fact, there was a spark of joy in his eyes.

"Oh my, oh my, such esteemed guest, to think you would grace me here in this time," said the middle-aged man with a smile.

The esteemed guest he was talking about was none other than Princess Aelina, one of the candidates to succeed the throne.

"My friend here would like to try making pills, is it possible for you to rent a cauldron and a basic recipe? Of course, you can put it under my tab," said Princess Aelina skipping the pleasantries.

Once again, the middle-aged man looked surprised, he averted his gaze between the princess and the young man before curling in a smile.

"I see, I see, you both are on a date! My how I miss my old days," teased the middle-aged man.

Princess Aelina couldn't help but blush as she said with a stomp. "Uncle Rowland! We are just taking a stroll!"

The middle-aged man called Rowland laughed as he saw his nephew getting angry. "Sure sure, whatever you say, my cute niece, by the way, what is your name, young man?"

"My name is Lyon, nice to meet you, uncle." answered the young man calmly.

"Likewise," said Rowland before he teased his niece once again, "See, he even called me uncle already, I will prepare a huge gift for your wedding!"

"Uncle Rowland!" said the princess cutely with a stomp.

"Hahaha, alright, alright, but on a serious note, I wonder if your little sister would ever get married in the future, with her high pride-"

*cough

The princess coughed before saying, "We are getting sidetracked here uncle, let's focus the matter at hand first."

"Yes yes, sorry, my age is getting on me," said Rowland as he averted his gaze toward Lyon. "By our short conversation, I want to ask how much do you know about the art of pill making?"

"None," said Lyon without a slight hesitation.

"Well, you are definitely a confident young man hahaha!" said Rowland while patting his back.

Princess Aelina looked at them both with a wry smile (I will never understand the bond between men, they could just hit off in a second).

Rowland then rubbed his chin, as he said softly, "Now then, where to begin.."

He mused for a while before reminded of something. "Oh right, there is one pill-maker here that is using the gold cauldron, you are lucky Lyon, you get to see it first hand, don't worry I will guide you to understand the art. I may not be the best but I know the basics."

Lyon nodded as the two of them along with the princess walked behind a certain young man that was calmly standing behind a golden cauldron. The fire was not lit yet and the ingredients or materials were neatly placed beside him.

"Lyon, the first step of making a pill, is to calm your heart, or at least that's what's the instruction in the book said," said Rowland.

(The book? What book? I thought you know the basics!) thought Lyon as he nodded.

Rowland nodded in affirmation before continuing, "The next step is the fire, you see, the fire for heating the cauldron is not an ordinary fire you use by casting a spell."

"Then what?" asked Lyon.

"Just watch," said Rowland as he cued Lyon to look at the young man.

The young man placed his hand on his chest as a white flame ignited on his hand. However, the young man didn't seem to feel that his hand was burning at all, in fact, not even his clothing was affected.

"What? How did he do that?" asked Lyon in a surprise.

"That's called the soul flame, every cultivator is born with it, but most stay dormant until the Soul Realm. The flame wouldn't hurt anything nor put a scratch on your clothing, but it is strong enough to burn impurities in one's ingredients, well at least to some extent," explained Rowland.

"To some extent?" replied Lyon.

Rowlan nodded before continuing, "The colors of the flame indicate the level of impurities it can erase. This is also used to gauge one's prowess in the art of alchemy. The white flame is the first step of an alchemist, it is said to burn zero percent up to ten percent of impurities in an ingredient."

"The grade of the flame is the same as the color in magic brand, but I still never see beyond a red flame," sighed Rowland before continuing, "Like, cultivation, if the flame is not trained, the soul flame will be white forever.. So a lower leveled cultivator might have a higher grade of a soul flame than a higher leveled cultivator."