Rise of the Alchemy God

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It was the first time Ethan had ever upgraded a skill through the system, and for a moment, he wondered if the process would be the same as when he had initially acquired it from the system.

And indeed, it was.

The information was downloaded directly into his mind, and like a puzzle piece falling into place, it merged with what he already knew, expanding Ethan's mastery in refining.

Ethan had already realized that without level two proficiency in refining, producing grade two pills was extremely difficult for him.

Almost every time, two out of three pills would either burn or turn out too impure to even be considered low-grade pills.

The only reason he could even produce level two pills was due to the fact that after refining so many perfect-grade level one pills for such a long time, he had naturally gained a certain mastery.

Yet, this was still not enough to perfectly follow all the steps of the recipe.

In less than a minute, he had finished upgrading his mastery, and he could already feel that producing level two pills wouldn't be as difficult as before.

To test his refining abilities, he immediately pulled out enough ingredients, and with the cauldron already out, he lit the flame and began refining a level two pill.

It didn't take long for him to notice the difference between before and now.

His movements were smoother and more precise, and most importantly, he no longer hesitated when performing each step.

It was as if his body had been used to this for a long time, making it feel natural.

This sensation was similar to when he had gained level one mastery and tried refining a level one pill for the first time.

'Haa, this is the result of all my hard work lately,' he thought, comforting himself.

If only other alchemists knew about this, they'd wonder why the results of their months or even years of effort weren't as good.

In just a few more minutes, Ethan had finished refining the pills and was now admiring them, while listening to the system messages.

[You have successfully refined 1, level 2, low grade Recovery Pill] (x3)

[You gained 15 QI] (x3)

[You gained 10 SP] (x3)

Upon seeing the amount of QI received, Ethan immediately noticed that it was higher than what he gained from a high-grade level one pill, but lower than a perfect-grade level one pill.

In contrast, the amount of SP gained was twice as much as that from a perfect-grade level one pill.

So in terms of SP, he was still doing well, but when it came to the QI gained, he realized that the amount he needed for each subsequent level was too large to be filled simply by producing pills.

For example, to obtain 20,000 QI, he would need to produce nearly 1,333 level two, low-grade pills.

To produce a batch of three pills of this level, it would take him at least 5 minutes.

So, doing a quick calculation, it would take him a minimum of 37 hours of continuous refining, without stopping, to reach that amount of QI.

And that's just for level two of the Dantian Expansion.

Assuming the amount of required QI increased by 10K for each subsequent level, it would take him at least 56 hours of continuous refining of level two pills, which was more than two days of non-stop production.

And this time would only increase further as he progressed.

Even though it was still tremendously faster than a talented person from the sect, one had to consider that, despite how dedicated he was, Ethan couldn't afford to spend entire days refining without ever stopping.

His minor dimension was certainly more useful here, but other problems arose, such as the issue of materials.

He would always have to venture into the outside world for a while to give the herbs inside his dimension enough time to grow.

This would add at least some more time to the refining process, but it would still be within a short timeframe, one that was very brief even for a talented cultivator.

basically, within a few months, if he completely dedicated himself to refining pills, he could quickly reach the peak of this stage.

Ethan hadn't paid much attention to his rapid progression in cultivation before, because, one, he wanted to make up for the time he lost being stuck at the beginning when he first started cultivating, and two, to at least have some strength to save himself in times of need.

In the cultivation world, the strong ruled, and the weak could only endure in silence.

Being someone with no background, he wanted to become strong quickly so he wouldn't easily fall victim to anyone.

Now, however, he had someone who would support him, he had a certain reputation as an alchemist, and consequently, a steady source of income, and finally, he had enough strength that no one would easily ignore him.

In the Long Empire, cultivators were considered a notch above ordinary people, and the latter were careful not to offend them.

No matter the cultivator's level, just the fact that they were one meant they were stronger than the average person.

This changed, however, if one was in an environment full of cultivators.

There, remaining at a low level was not enough; one had to constantly improve in order to rise above others.

Only then could they earn the same degree of respect that mortals gave to cultivators.

A cultivator at the third stage of cultivation was certainly one of these, someone who would not be taken lightly by anyone, especially if they were still quite young.

A third-stage cultivator under the age of 50 was already considered good, and if they were under 30, then they were considered talented.

What about someone who was barely 22?

Considering all of this, Ethan saw no need to rush his cultivation in this manner.

But then, remembering the recent incident, he had to reconsider.

If he compared himself to a creature like the one that emerged from the portal, then even if he were at the peak of the fourth stage, he would still be beaten to death.

His only salvation was the ability to travel in his smaller dimension.

It wasn't the best option, but it was better than nothing.

Of course, for that too, he would have to do it fairly quickly.

If the enemy had been faster than him, he could have died instantly without even realizing it.

The more he thought about these things, the more his previous idea of slowing down his cultivation speed was suppressed.

'No, I have to at least reach the fifth stage,' he thought, believing that would be the point where he could feel safer in this realm.

Just as he was thinking about continuing at his current speed, Bai Yu threw cold water on his plans.

'If I were you, I'd take it slower during the next two stages of cultivation,' she said, immediately noticing the direction Ethan's thoughts were taking.

Hearing her, Ethan immediately asked what she meant by that.

'I've always wondered why it's so difficult for those at the peak of the mortal realm to break through to the celestial realm and ascend to the celestial plane,' she said.

Hm?

Ethan, not expecting her to talk about this, wondered what it had to do with his current problem.

'What I mean is, it's natural for advancing to the next realm of cultivation to be difficult and take a lot of time.

Yet, in the last millennia, only one person from the mortal plane has successfully ascended to the celestial plane, and that's Ying Hua.'

Ethan didn't interrupt and continued listening.

This wasn't a problem he had to face at the moment, but he knew he would have to deal with it in the future.

If she wanted to talk about this now, there had to be an important reason.

'During the portal incident, I had the chance to observe the experts of the fourth and fifth stages of this plane.

At first, I didn't notice anything wrong with their cultivation, but later, when they fully unleashed their bases, I immediately saw a problem.'

'A problem?'

'Yes,' she said, and after a moment, continued.

'As you know, once at the peak of the third stage, a cultivator's core becomes strong and stable enough to withstand the refined concentration of QI needed for further progress.

Normally, at this point, cultivators should begin studying and cultivating their soul, developing a spiritual beast in their dantian, a spirit that would help elevate their cultivation until the end of the fourth stage.

Once they reached the peak of the fourth stage, the spirit would fuse completely with the cultivator, strengthening their soul to the point where, by the end of the fifth stage, they could attempt to advance to the celestial realm of cultivation.'

Up to this point, Ethan nodded at her explanation, which seemed to align with the little he knew about the higher stages, but then he noticed something.

'Develop a spiritual beast, not capture one?'