Lu Chuan Wants to Become an Alchemist?

Yes.

Those two short words sent Lu Chuan into a frenzy of joy.

It really could be simplified!

At that thought, Lu Chuan could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart.

He had to become an Alchemist!

He acted as soon as he decided.

After school, Lu Chuan did not hurry home. Instead, he approached Teacher Liu, who was speaking with Xiao Ruoyan.

"You want to study potions?"

Hearing Lu Chuan's request, Teacher Liu, who had been casually chatting with Xiao Ruoyan, looked at him in surprise.

Even Xiao Ruoyan, standing beside him, was quite curious.

"I hope Teacher will be generous with his guidance!" Lu Chuan said respectfully.

"I am a teacher, and you are a student. Teaching you about potions is only natural."

"But there are a few things I must make clear beforehand," Teacher Liu said calmly.

"Please speak, Teacher," Lu Chuan said.

Teacher Liu nodded, then slowly explained, "First, becoming an Alchemist is extremely difficult. Since you intend to study potions, you must be prepared to achieve nothing in your entire life."

"Second, the Potion Recipes in my possession are private property. I cannot provide them to you for free."

"Of course, I am a schoolteacher after all. I cannot behave like some merchant."

"I can provide you with Potion Recipes free of charge, but if you want me to teach you how to refine potions, that will cost extra."

"What is your choice?"

After pondering for a moment, Lu Chuan looked at Teacher Liu. "I choose the recipes only."

He had no choice. Lu Chuan had no money; even if he wanted Teacher Liu's instruction, he could not afford it.

Besides, with the Simplification System, it was far better than any famous teacher's guidance.

"Fine. This is the recipe for the Spirit Replenishing Potion."

"I will give you one week. Whether you succeed or fail, you must return the recipe to me after one week."

Teacher Liu took a Yellow Booklet from his robes and handed it to Lu Chuan.

"Thank you, Teacher Liu."

Lu Chuan respectfully accepted the booklet, then said with a resolute expression, "Rest assured, Teacher Liu. I will not take this recipe for nothing."

If this recipe were sold outside, it would fetch at least tens of thousands.

Lu Chuan naturally would not dare forget such a favor.

"Hahaha..."

"It is enough that you have such intentions. As for repaying me, wait until you become an Alchemist."

Teacher Liu did not take it to heart.

"Yes, this student will take his leave." After bowing once more, Lu Chuan turned and left.

Watching Lu Chuan's retreating figure, Xiao Ruoyan could not help asking, "Teacher, do you think Lu Chuan can learn the recipe for the Spirit Replenishing Potion?"

"How could that be possible?"

Teacher Liu shook his head slightly. "I have seen many students like Lu Chuan, who foolishly dream of learning alchemy."

"But what was the result? Not a single one succeeded."

"Lu Chuan has decent Martial Arts Talent, but the level of one's Martial Arts Talent has nothing to do with one's talent for alchemy."

"He has never displayed any talent for alchemy either."

"Most likely, he will simply amount to nothing."

"Then why were you willing to give Lu Chuan a Potion Recipe?" Xiao Ruoyan asked in confusion.

"Just planting a seed of goodwill," Teacher Liu said with a faint smile.

Xiao Ruoyan nodded, seeming to understand yet not quite.

Lu Chuan's home.

After returning home, Lu Chuan eagerly began reading the Potion Recipe.

The Spirit Replenishing Potion counted as one of the beginner-level potions.

Its effect was simple: it could restore spiritual energy and assist in battle.

It was not expensive, either. One Spirit Replenishing Potion could sell for roughly several thousand.

A quarter of an hour later, Lu Chuan put down the recipe in his hands and sorted through what he had just read.

The contents of the recipe were not complicated. It merely introduced the ingredients needed for alchemy and gave a rough explanation of how to refine the potion.

As for more detailed instructions, they were absent from the recipe, so Lu Chuan could only figure them out himself.

Once Lu Chuan had finished recalling everything, the system reacted as well.

A First-grade Potion Recipe, Spirit Replenishing Potion, has been detected. Consume ten Simplification Points to simplify?

Lu Chuan first exchanged the Seven Star Vine for Simplification Points, gathering exactly ten points.

Then he said, "Simplify."

Simplifying Spirit Replenishing Potion... Simplification successful... Spirit Replenishing Potion—write the two characters "Spirit Replenishing."

Lu Chuan: ...

Lu Chuan was completely dumbfounded. He had considered countless possible simplification methods, but never had he imagined that it would make him write the two characters for "Spirit Replenishing."

So this was how it replenished spirit...

"I'll know once I try."

At once, Lu Chuan spread out a sheet of paper, casually grabbed a pen, and began writing on it.

When the two characters "Spirit Replenishing" appeared on the paper, threads of insight suddenly emerged out of nowhere in Lu Chuan's mind.

Lu Chuan did not dare neglect them. He hurriedly sat cross-legged on the floor and absorbed those insights.

That was right—these insights were precisely the insights needed to refine the Spirit Replenishing Potion.

After gaining those insights, an additional line of information appeared on Lu Chuan's personal panel.

Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/100 (Beginner)

"I'm already at the beginner level?"

Lu Chuan could scarcely believe it. Even the most monstrous potion genius would need several days to gain an initial grasp of a Potion Recipe.

Yet he, Lu Chuan, had taken only a few seconds to succeed.

If word of this got out, who knew how many grandmaster Alchemists would be enraged to death.

"Beginner-level insight still isn't enough to support actual alchemy."

"Keep going. I'll grind the Spirit Replenishing Potion straight to perfection tonight!"

The wish was beautiful, but reality was bony.

Lu Chuan had thought he could grind the Spirit Replenishing Potion to max level that night.

But when the proficiency of the Spirit Replenishing Potion reached the Proficient Level, Lu Chuan discovered that no matter how he wrote, he could no longer raise his proficiency.

After some investigation, the reason left Lu Chuan speechless.

His handwriting was too ugly!

Heaven knew, Lu Chuan's handwriting was not actually ugly. At the very least, people could read it.

But the Simplification System simply would not acknowledge it.

Its reasoning was also perfectly sound: if Lu Chuan wanted to gain more, he had to give more.

Take raising the proficiency of Oceanic Embrace as an example.

At the beginner level, Lu Chuan only needed to drink ten milliliters of water to raise his proficiency by one point.

At the Proficient Level, Lu Chuan needed to drink one hundred milliliters of water to raise it by one point.

As for the perfected level, Lu Chuan had to drink one thousand milliliters of water to raise it by one point.

If a martial artist's body had not far surpassed that of an ordinary person, he would probably get water poisoning just from drinking water.

The Spirit Replenishing Potion worked by the same principle.

However, the Spirit Replenishing Potion did not impose a requirement on quantity, but on quality.

Fortunately, with a martial artist's control over their body, learning good handwriting was not difficult.

He could learn it in a few days.

"Decided. Starting tomorrow, I'll practice calligraphy!"

Over the next few days, while continuing his normal cultivation, Lu Chuan also set aside some time to practice writing.

And over those few days, news of Lu Chuan's intention to become an Alchemist spread without wings.

"Have you heard? Lu Chuan plans to become an Alchemist?"

"What? Has he gone mad? Instead of properly training in martial arts, why is he studying potions?"

"Exactly! Alchemists are such noble figures. How could ordinary folk like us ever dare aspire to that?"

"Even at First Middle School, where geniuses gathered like clouds, I've never heard of a student becoming an Alchemist."

"This Lu Chuan truly does not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth."

These rumors did not circulate only among the students. Even Song Qing personally sought out Lu Chuan, telling him to focus on martial arts and not dream of becoming an Alchemist.

Lu Chuan merely smiled at these remarks and let them pass.

How could sparrows understand the ambitions of a swan?

Besides, even though he had not yet ground the Spirit Replenishing Potion to perfection, Lu Chuan was already confident that he could refine it.

The Alchemist they viewed as unreachable had become something Lu Chuan already was the moment he received the recipe.