Chapter 60: Sky-Rank Alchemist, The Path of Alchemy
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A few days passed since Azmodeus started venturing into the path of Alchemy, and since then, he managed to obtain a multitude of comprehensions when it came to truly understanding the art of Alchemy.
Of which included increased batch quantity, now numbering over twelve pills per batch, and a far better success rate, as even Foundation Establishment Realm Pills had a success rate of around 35%!
If anyone in Prometheus had heard of such improvements being made in such short amounts of time, then even the strongest of Hegemony's would rush in this genius's direction, aiming to crack his skull open and see what lay inside!
Nevertheless, the genius in question was currently working on refining a Middle Foundation Establishment Realm Pill called the 'Spirit Refining Pill'.
It was a relatively straightforward pill, as its main purpose was to increase the overall amount of Condensed Qi within a Foundation Establishment Realm Master's Qi Cyclones.
However, it was giving Azmodeus quite some trouble as it required one to hold extreme levels of concentration while properly organizing a various number of herbs.
For a few of the rarer herbs, he supplemented them with a few monster materials that he kept inside his Peak-Mortal Rank Spiritual Ring.
In spite of that information, after a few minutes of intense struggle with the stubborn pill materials, he ultimately managed to come out on top with a successfully concocted Spirit Refining Pill!
A bright orange and red pill with blue streaks along the sides of its three-centimeter-sized frame emerged from within the pill cauldron, releasing a heavenly fragrance along with it.
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"This was a major improvement," Azmodeus softly murmured while holding onto the pill with a face exuding wonder.
Over such a short period of time, he had already managed to progress his alchemy skills above the Common Rank, successfully becoming a Low-Mortal Rank Alchemy Master!
If I keep progressing at this rate, then I might just be able to become a Late-Mortal Rank Alchemy Master by the time this Evil Cultivator arrives at his destination…
Maybe even longer if this 'destination' is a little further away than where I predict it to be.
Even so, if I can become a High-Mortal Rank Alchemy Master and successfully concoct Core Formation-level pills, then I will be able to tremendously improve my cultivation until eventually breaking through into the Golden Core Formation Realm.
After reaching this part, his gaze glossed over as he thought about everything that happened within the last few months in retrospect.
He had soared through the ranks of the Yang Sect before being forced to flee away from the gods fighting with his master in the skies.
After which, he progressed through the ranks of the Yellow Mellow Sect in a manner just as fast. Eventually, he became the General of the Frontier's Defense after nearly two months of trudging through the lower-ranking military positions.
And now he found himself inside the dirty claws of an Evil Cultivator, simply awaiting the day that he returned the favor to the one who dared to kidnap the one known as the Anomaly.
Azmodeus would make sure to give back one hundred fold to the one who had the audacity to take him away from what he was doing.
Even so, it was not the time to be brooding over such things, as he still had an Alchemy path to progress further in.
...
A few more days passed in the blink of an eye.
Azmodeus had managed to achieve the High-Mortal Alchemy Rank ahead of schedule!
This was due to not only his increased comprehensions of the Essence of Alchemy, but also because of his acclimation to due process.
Namely, he had become better adjusted to doing everything in a specific order, expecting the next series of steps to occur after performing the ones that came before.
It was also due to this acclimation that he was able to tremendously improve his pill batch time for Foundation Establishment Realm Pills from nearly five minutes to half a minute!
On the other hand, his time per batch for Qi Condensation and Body Refinement Realm Pills had reached a speed where it took less than a few seconds to successfully concoct batches of over a dozen different pills!
Now, when it came to Core Formation Realm Pills such as the Sanctifying Pill, the Iron Physique Pill, or the Talent Increasing Pill, it still took him around 5–10 minutes to successfully concoct a batch.
However, that was still a far cry from what it would normally be for an Alchemy Master with the status of a ruler of a large city.
After all, Alchemy was not as easy as Azmodeus made it out to be and usually required many hours, if not days, and months in order to accomplish the same feats as he achieved them...
But in the end, nothing ever seemed to be good enough for the supreme genius, as he never took breaks and never stopped looking for ways to improve.
Even with blood drizzling down his ears due to the amount of stress he was putting on his mind and body, he never stopped trying to improve his understanding of the Essence of Alchemy.
It was this mindset that, after nearly two weeks since he began his path down the road of alchemy, he understood what it truly meant to be an Alchemist—to be someone who not only inherently defied the heavens by being a cultivator but also someone who went above and beyond.
Someone who warped the very basis of cultivation in order to improve faster than everyone else—this was what he became!
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"This is what I have been looking for… Improvement… To put everything I have into improving—to become better—to become stronger."
Azmodeus seemed to understand something in the very moment that he broke through into becoming a Sky Rank Alchemy Master—something that would forever change his outlook on the Essence of Alchemy and what it truly meant to be an Alchemist…
"This will be my path… The path of an alchemist—the path of someone trying to become better than they were the day before."
After uttering these words, a splendiferous light erupted from the area around him!
BLING!
The catalyst of this light was everything inside the Alchemy Cauldron being lit up by the 'something' that had changed within him.
Following the release of this blue and golden light, the pill cauldron that Azmodeus was using to concoct pills suddenly exploded!
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