Jin Bao's heart hammered in his chest. "Yes, Young Master!"
He grabbed a new mortar and pestle, his hands shaking slightly. He picked up a handful of freberries and tossed them in.
CRUNCH!
He brought the pestle down with a heavy, nervous thud. Berry juice splattered onto his apron.
"Master…."
"Try again. Use only 1 berry so that you do not waste the materials" Lei Feng said calmly.
Jin Bao flinched, his face red. "Yes, Young Master!" He dumped the mortar, wiped it clean, and tried again.
And again.
And again.
Lei Feng calmly observed Jin Bao as he kept at it, guiding him. Although it seemed like a simple thing to use low pressure, it was not simple to reach Lei Feng's standards.
Finally, after quite some time, some of the berries were turned into a paste that satisfied Lei Feng.
"Good. Now the mint," Lei Feng instructed.
Jin Bao nodded and added the mint and began to grind. He was so focused on being gentle that he barely crushed the leaves.
"Are you petting them? They are not your wife. Grind them! Release the 'cold'!"
"Yes, Young Master…!"
Again, after a quite an effort of trial and error, Jin Bao managed to grind the leaves.
Jin Bao ground them harder, mixing the two. "Now, Young Master, the honey!"
Jin Bao grabbed the honey jar and, in his haste, poured in a massive glob, far more than Lei Feng had used.
"Stop!" Lei Feng shouted, but it was too late.
"Master, what happened?"
"You've drowned them! You've made a sticky soup! You are not binding the forces, you are burying them! Now, all it can ever become is a honeyed sweet."
Jin Bao looked at the sticky, berry-filled honey. All his efforts of the past hour had turned into nothing.
"Again."
For the next few hours, Jin Bao failed repeatedly.
His first successful-looking paste was greenish. "You let the mint sit too long. It lost its properties as it cooked so slowly."
His next attempt smelled... burnt.
"How did you burn it?" Lei Feng asked, genuinely curious as he sniffed the air.
"Young Master..." Jin Bao said, sweating. "The books I read... they all say alchemy needs 'Spirit Fire'. I... I tried to increase my stove's fire to mimic spirit fire."
The bowl was now cracked, a black, smoky residue coating the inside.
Lei Feng stood up, walked over, and smacked Jin Bao on the back of the head.
"Why are you following those stupid books?" Lei Feng stated. "Did you listen to anything I said? Did I use direct fire? I used steam! Steam is gentle! The trash alchemists use 'Spirit Fire' because they are too stupid to control normal fire which is very violent under Qi! Are you one of them?"
"No, Young Master!" Jin Bao yelped, rubbing his head.
"Then stop listening to those quacks. Listen to me. The fire is a tool. The steam is a tool. The wok is a tool. Use them well, and you will succeed. Now, again. And bring me more noodles. This is making me hungry."
Jin Bao, covered in berry stains and honey, paused his lesson to make more bowls of noodles. Lei Feng ate them calmly while Jin Bao went back to the mortar.
The afternoon wore on. The kitchen was filled with the smell of wasted mint and honey. Jin Bao's arms ached. He had failed twelve times.
But on the thirteenth attempt, something felt different.
He ground the berries, feeling the 'hot' force. He added the mint, sensing the 'cold'. He remembered his grandfather teaching him to balance salty broth with a pinch of sugar. 'It is the same,' he thought. 'Just balancing.'
He added the honey. Not too much, not too little. He stirred, feeling the forces calm down, blending into a single, smooth paste.
His hands were steady as he placed the bowl in the wok. He controlled the steam, keeping the flame low. He didn't think about 'Spirit Fire' or cauldrons. He just thought about the steam.
After ten minutes, he turned off the flame, his heart in his throat.
"Young Master..."
Lei Feng, who had been dozing in his chair, opened one eye. He grunted and walked over.
Jin Bao lifted the lid.
Inside the bowl was a thick paste. It was not the vibrant, clear green of Lei Feng's batch. It was a dull, murky, pale green, like a muddled pond.
Jin Bao's face fell. "It... it's not right. It's ugly. It's a failure."
Lei Feng leaned in and sniffed. He dipped a finger in and rubbed it.
"Hmph," Lei Feng said.
Jin Bao waited as Lei Feng examined the mixture.
"The ratio of mint to berry is wrong. You used too much honey as a crutch. It's weak. It smells like a swamp."
Lei Feng looked at the paste, then at Jin Bao.
"It is only about twenty percent as effective as my balm. It is barely passable."
Jin Bao's heart swelled up in glee.
"Does that mean that I succeeded?"
"But..." Lei Feng continued, "It is still garbage when compared with mine. At most, the efficiency is only 20% and one would only notice it after using it for over a week."
Jin Bao's head snapped up. "Yes, I will keep trying."
He turned his head and wanted to start again, but noticed that he had burnt through almost all of the ingredients.
Hisssss….
Jin Bao sucked in a deep breath.
In just one day, he had consumed almost 20 silver coins worth of material, and these mint leaves and freberries were not even real medicinal herbs.
The cost of training as an alchemist was truly extravagant. Unless one had both talent and resources, it was simply impossible.