21 Chapter 21: Batch Refinemen (2/2)

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Nadran scraped the charred remains of his latest attempt out of the bottom of the cauldron, then leaned back with a sigh, wiping the beaded sweat off his brow. It had been several hours since he had started, and night had long since fallen. He was starting to feel the effects of fatigue, despite the fact that he was used to long periods of constant exertion while climbing the mountain face looking for herbs. This type of fatigue, however, was not physical, but mental. He had been exerting his mind and concentrating intently for hours, and it had taken its toll on him. Despite this, he still decided to go for one more attempt.

He had a simple reason for wanting to continue. In his last refinement, he had been mere seconds away from success, and had failed in the final step. He knew he could complete the refinement, he just needed to make it to the finish line.

Nadran breathed deeply, adjusting his mental state in preparation for the refinement. He popped an internal energy replenishment pill into his mouth, then began the process. Tracing his fingers through the air in a complex pattern, he relit the fire below the cauldron, the faintly purple fire flickering and casting a pale light on Nadran's face. He poured the medicinal liquid into the cauldron, then began casting a second sigil while maintaining the control over the fire. In his mind, two different tendrils of internal energy flowed out of him, one connecting to the fire he had summoned, the other being imbued into the second sigil. His internal energy swirled inside the sigil before traveling into the liquid once the sigil was complete.

In a sense, sigils are conduits for internal energy. Internal energy is otherwise formless and cannot affect the outside world, but through sigils, this energy can be given shape and used to manipulate the world around him. Sustained sigils like the ones he was using functioned by creating a constant stream of internal energy that connected him with an external object or group of objects, allowing him to control the connected object based on the use of the sigil. The flame sigil actually had two parts; the creation part and the manipulation one. First, a burst of internal energy was channeled through the sigil, pulling his fire into this plane from the elemental plane of fire. After this, a stream of internal energy attached to the fire, allowing Nadran to control its intensity and location.

Nadran carefully controlled both streams of internal energy, keeping the liquid and fire at the proper levels. Then, he placed the first ingredient, a green, stringy plant, into the cauldron, neatly divided into two equal portions. He slightly increased the intensity of the fire, simultaneously forming a small current in the liquid that pulled apart the stringy plant, evenly heating each part and causing them to take on a faint orange tinge.

Immediately upon seeing this, Nadran threw in the next herb, the petals of a bright blue flower, and lowered the heat of the fire. The currents of liquid changed into a small whirlpool at Nadran's command, pulling the materials together and causing them to show signs of fusing. He then added two more materials at the same time, leaving one to the side to simmer in the hot liquid while the other acted as a bonding agent, connecting the fusing materials into a single mass. The other material, which was a powder that had not yet dissolved into the liquid, was then pulled over. As soon as the powder came in contact with the irregularly shaped mass, the partially formed pill reacted, changing into an appealing cyan color. This happened in parallel in the other side of the cauldron.

With this step complete, Nadran added the next material.

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And the next.

And the next…

Nearly half an hour later, Nadran began the final step of the refinement, turning up the heat of the fire while delicately controlling the liquid surrounding the pills to maintain their shape and keep the essence of the pills from escaping through the cracks. At the same time, he worked to repair the cracks that had formed, his eyes darting back and forth as he carefully micromanaged the formation of each pill. He squinted, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat off his face, and worked to finish his task.

Finally, he let out a sigh of relief as a muted flash of light was released from the cauldron, indicating the success of the refinement. The finished pills floated to the top of the liquid, which had now become nothing but water. With lightly trembling arms due to the fatigue, Nadran pulled the pills out of the cauldron. Two batches of ten pills sat in his hands, totaling twenty pills altogether. A smile spread across his tired face as he carefully placed the pills in a bottle he had prepared earlier.

[I finally succeeded… making two batches at once is no joke. It was way harder than I thought it would be, but the satisfaction of succeeding makes it worth it. Really though, I should get some sleep now. I almost messed up multiple different times during the refinement due to exhaustion. Besides,] he thought dryly as he glanced at the now empty space that had once held a small mountain of herbs and other materials, [I need to get some more herbs before I can refine any more pills.]

Nadran crawled into his bed and quickly fell asleep, a smile on his face.