Seeing the trio leave, Kai just sat there, wondering if the essence in the jar was really that amazing. More importantly, this was the first time he had heard about Ki polluting the essence of herbs.
While Kai was still thinking about what the trio had said, his food arrived. Putting other matters aside, he ate his fill and returned to his room.
After coming back, Kai absorbed Ki for an hour and then took a Vitality Pill. A few minutes after taking the pill, his Ki reserve started increasing at lightning speed.
[Ki: 312]
Seeing the massive increase in his Ki, Kai smiled happily and closed his eyes, slowly drifting into dreams.
As Kai slept soundly, there were others destined to remain sleepless.
——————————————
After leaving the inn in a hurry, the trio wandered around the town gates, searching for Luca. After asking around, they eventually found him at his apartment complex. The moment they spotted him, they dragged him straight to the Sky Pill shop.
"Look, aren't those the Furnace Destroyers? What are they doing here?"
Unlike the Honey Pill shop, which had specific working hours for its alchemists, the Sky Pill shop was open twenty-four seven to anyone.
Since Alchemy wasn't something easily mastered, aspiring alchemists spent most of their time in the shop. So when someone saw Boss, Kelly, and Gray dragging Luca toward the Sky Pill shop, they immediately recognized them. After all, their reputation—though not widespread—was still memorable.
"Why are you doing this? Didn't I say I have to get up early?"
"Shut up. Don't you know we're about to make history?" Kelly cut Luca off before he could say more.
"Right!" Both Gray and Boss nodded in excitement.
"What are they doing?"
"Are the Furnace Destroyers going to refine him into a pill?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? They're Furnace Destroyers, not human refiners. They explode furnaces, not refine humans."
"Those rumors are getting wild."
"What's all this noise?"
As the trio, along with Luca, entered the Sky Pill shop, the new alchemists, upon hearing that the trio was the legendary Furnace Destroyers, began whispering among themselves. Amidst the chatter, a Fairy with a thick beard flew over.
"Fairy Luke! I have something very important to talk to you about!" Seeing Fairy Luke appear, Boss's eyes lit up.
"What do you want to talk about?" Fairy Luke looked at his human student with suspicious eyes. Among all his students, the human named Boss had the greatest thirst for knowledge and put in the most effort. Unfortunately, he lacked talent for alchemy.
Still, once in a while, he would show up with some new excuse or approach, trying to convince Luke to let him keep studying alchemy.
"It's like this… I heard about a way to use Ki to extract pure essence," Boss said in a low voice, bringing his face closer to Fairy Luke.
"Enough! This is the third time already. Last time, you said you found a way to make herbs grow rapidly, and all you did was water them with moon water." Fairy Luke spoke in annoyance. This was the third time the human, Boss, had come to him with some far-fetched claim just to continue learning alchemy.
Although Fairy Luke wanted to support the determined human, he still had to consider his other students. The amount of materials Boss had wasted in a single month was enough for a lightly talented person to become an Official Alchemist.
"Teacher, I'm not here to ask for anything this time—just to show you something. Do you see that guy over there?" Boss pointed toward Luca. "He has a Gift called [Ki Control]. Around half an hour ago, I was talking to an Alchemist from the Honey Pill shop. He told me he'd found a way to perform [Herb Weaving] using Ki.
I didn't believe him at first, but then he showed me the essence he extracted using the [Ki Control] Gift. I didn't wait another second—I ran here immediately and dragged that guy along."
"Boss, I don't have time for your pranks," Fairy Luke said, not even sparing a glance at Luca as he began flying back to his alchemy room.
The Fairy race wasn't like the Human race—ignorant and isolated like frogs in a well. It was common knowledge that those on the Path of Ki couldn't extract the essence of herbs without polluting it.
And the person that the human, Boss, had dragged with him didn't have an ounce of Soul power. Most importantly, he was a mortal. Forget extracting pure essence—even extracting polluted essence was impossible for someone who couldn't even mobilize Ki outside their body.
"Luca, show your [Ki Control] Gift," Boss said firmly. He knew his explanation had too many loopholes, so he decided to let the evidence speak for itself.
"But… how?" Luca hesitated. Hearing the words of the alchemy apprentices earlier, he was still a bit scared of the trio—especially after they joked about refining him alive.
"Just do one of the tricks you always do with your talent. And don't take their words seriously—they were just joking," Kelly reassured him, noticing the worried expression on his face.
"If you say so." Luca glanced at Kelly's mature and beautiful face, then nodded. Pushing his worries aside, he began to perform one of the best tricks he had developed using his Gift.
Guiding his Ki toward the palm of his hand, Luca formed a bird. With the help of his Gift, [Ki Control], the bird made of Ki came to life and began to fly.
Under Luca's fine control, the bird soared around and performed simple stunts.
"What's that? Did a part of his Ki come to life?"
"No way—please tell me I'm dreaming."
"Idiot, you're not dreaming. We both can't have the same dream."
Seeing Luca perform his trick, all the Alchemy Apprentices were dumbfounded. After all, they had also taken classes and knew the common knowledge of their Verse.
"Fine. Come with me," Fairy Luke said. "But this is the last time. If what you say isn't true, you'll be banned from the Sky Pill Shop for the rest of your life."
Seeing Luca's precise control over his Ki, Fairy Luke was amazed. It seemed the title of Path Master wasn't just for show. But he still doubted Boss' claim.
After all, extracting the essence of a herb using Ki without polluting it was believed to be impossible—one of the unshakable Rules of Ki.
Still, Fairy Luke was willing to gamble—with the stakes being the trio's permanent ban from the Sky Pill Shop.