The cauldrons flew out towards all seven of his students. Grouch was the only one to receive more than one item, taking possession of both the jade table and the silver and black needles.
“This is…” After fidgeting with the cauldron in her hands, Misty suddenly exclaimed in shock.
Similar surprised expression could be seen on all seven of his students.
“These are low grade soul-compression stage cauldrons.” Said Misty. She couldn’t believe Zilan had just casually gifted them cauldrons that even outside the Association would be beyond expensive.
‘How many Mystic grains did he spend on these?’ They all couldn’t help but wonder.
Zilan didn’t notice their expressions as he was too busy focusing on another, more important task.
He wanted to impart the basics of the [Refining] field to them however, to do this through word of mouth would take too much time as the amount of knowledge they would need to cram into their heads was so much that they would probably have grey hair by the time they digested everything.
Thus why he had come up with a much simpler way. He would create seven identical scriptures on [Foundations of Refining]. These scriptures would contain vast amounts of knowledge on a large number of various herbs, plant extraction techniques, flame control basics, cauldron bonding, essence identification, impurity identification and extraction, cauldron control, basic pill creations, basic pill examples, paste directory, rune creation, gas isolation and creation, material crafting, tonic creation, formation Alchemy basics and much, much more. This information would help build an extremely solid foundation for all of them and by the time all of this knowledge was understood as well as digested by them, no one in this world would be able to stand as their equal when it came to Alchemy. Of course, Zilan was an exception.
Now, if they also mastered their respective fields then not just in this world but in other parts of the Universe, these seven’s Alchemy standard would stand out.
Looking at the seven sheets of dark red paper, Zilan began by grabbing one and drawing a couple of complicated runes on its surface. He then pricked his thumb, a drop of blood dropping onto the scripture.
The dark red paper absorbed the drop of blood and began changing colour from red to blue. An aura of dominance began leaking out from the paper causing all of the students in the room to hold their breath. Zilan felt something wrong so he added a few runes however, not only did the pressure exuded from the paper not seize it actually increased.
Seeing this Zilan furrowed his brows before using his blood to draw a series of complicated lines forming a majestic looking formation. He then added some of his energy to power the formation, only then did the aura of a powerful Beast stop leaking.
“Puah.” Misty, Lorn, Andrete and the others all felt a weight lift off their chests. They could finally breathe but a question popped into their heads, ‘Is that aura his?’
They’d never experienced such a terrifying pressure from someone similarly in the Tempering stage.
Seeing Zilan deep in concentration, they didn’t want to bother him with any questions so they continued fidgeting with their new cauldrons, expanding their sizes to a few meters before shrinking them to only a few inches. When they got bored, they would sometimes stare at their teacher’s work enthralled by the level of technical skill on display.
After a few more processes of purifying and refining using the formation, Zilan was able to achieve the result he wanted. Before him was now a clear ocean blue piece of paper that gave off a feeling of calmness and endlessness.
“Good.” He said, wiping off the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
The previously dark red sheet of paper he had purchased was an item commonly known as limit paper. It was manufactured from the skin of a fish called the Limit Drain fish.
This skin was extremely special because of how the fish utilised it. When attacked, when attacking or even when courting a potential mate, the males of this species of fish would communicate by projecting images, words, and even videos showing memories, onto their skin. With some refining and crafting this skin is then turned into the dark red paper known as limit paper. Its ability was the storing of vast amounts of information that could be passed onto any intelligent being.
What Zilan was currently doing was modifying this limit paper into a type of scripture-like item that he had complete control over. He was changing its functions so that only his students could access the scriptures and he was also enhancing its storage capabilities by refining the paper further.
After transforming all seven dark red paper into an ocean blue colour, Zilan let out a breath of satisfaction as well as relief. These things weren’t cheap, add on the cost of the cauldrons, the needles and the not-so-expensive jade table and the amount of Mystic grains he currently had on hand would not be enough to purchase another if he destroyed one. This was the reason why he only bought a single set of poison and healing needles as well as only one jade formation table when in reality all of his students should possess a set. Grouch’s fields had to do with poison, healing and formations thus Zilan prioritised him.
Grabbing one sheet of paper after another, Zilan raised them to his temple before closing his eyes and transferring some of the knowledge on Refining from his memory into the paper.
After completing the transfer to each sheet, he then threw all seven papers towards his students who could not react in time.
Lorn almost raised his hands in time to block the paper flying towards him however, when he came into contact with it, the paper shockingly disappeared into his body.
Andrete had the most comical reaction as he held his chest a couple of times, making sure there was no entry wound, then he turned around to see if maybe the paper had gone through him.
Seeing this Zilan couldn’t help but laugh. He snapped his fingers and instantly the seven flustered students all held their heads in pain. Grouch even fell from his chair as he tried to restrain himself from shouting.
“Endure it. It’ll pass in a few seconds.” Said Zilan as he took a seat. He was tired from all the calculating he had to do in order to transform the limit paper into an Inheritance scripture of a decent security level that was compatible with his student’s bloodlines. If he had given them the scriptures without the upgrade then his dragon blood would have probably rejected them, causing irreparable damage as it forced its way out of their bodies.
As he had said, after a few seconds of pain Misty and the others recovered. However, in their minds they could feel/see large amounts of information that was not there before.
Their current state resembled a mortal humans who were okay at cramming. They had all the information in their heads but sometimes they would lose the exact details thus from their memory they could recall the textbook, the page and even the line that the required information could be found and after perusing through for a bit, their memory of the exact details would be restored.
The same could be said for Zilan’s seven students. They had all the information in their heads however, it was not digested fully thus not dedicated to memory. However, for any question or problem that they had, there was this strange feeling that actually pointed them to where answers could be found on the scripture. It was like having a library with a ‘search’ feature.
Looking at the bewildered expressions on the faces of his students Zilan explained to them that what he had given them was a scripture on the basics of Refinement.
Upon learning this, they were all flabbergasted. ‘Did he just say he created a scripture? That easily?’
They didn’t want to believe but the fact that they could see the scripture in their minds forced them to acknowledge it as truth.
“The scripture will guide you on your path and will allow you to build a solid foundation for most of the major fields.”
Everyone nodded hearing this.
“Before we go any further, bond with your cauldrons first. You should have the necessary information.”
Lorn, Misty, Andrete, Grouch, the Harnah sisters and Hendrek simultaneously closed their eyes. It took them some time to find and understand the relevant instructions on how to properly bond with a cauldron.
A few minutes later and the first to awaken, Lorn, swiftly pricked his thumb and dripped a drop of blood onto the cauldron. He then took out his flame and bathed the cauldron in it before shakily reciting a strange incantation that caused the cauldron to tremble. His pronunciation was way off but luckily, the ritual went off without any accidents. He could now feel a sense of attachment towards his cauldron, a feeling that this wasn’t just a tool but a close companion akin to family. The feeling was faint but from the scripture he learned that over time, his relationship with the cauldron would grow.
The same thing was happening with all the other students. The Harnah sisters had the most trouble but they were still able to form a bond on their second attempt.
Zilan nodded in appreciation. He was glad that his students were both smart and quick-witted but he was also concerned. He had a hidden motive when he came today and he first wanted to shock his students with his ability before making his move, yet the desired outcome of them staring at him like a monster or a genius amongst geniuses did not happen. ‘I’ll try a little harder then.’
Important announcement ;
If you would like to read up to 8 chapters in advance without having to wait days, then check out my Patreon page. Reward tiers have been updated to reflect my increased chapter output.
