Extracting Medicinal Materials

[Host:...]

[Alchemy:

Grade: Unranked

Pharmacology (Beginner 8/10)

Fire Control (Not Started)

Alchemy Technique (Beginner 0/10)

First-grade Pill (Beginner 0/10)]

Looking at the suddenly added information about alchemy on the System Panel, Xiao Yang understood after a single glance.

He had not yet tried anything that required practical experience, like Fire Control, so it was naturally still Not Started.

As for Pharmacology, he had gone through all the First-grade Pill Recipes once and had basically memorized all the herbs listed in them.

Combined with the pharmacological knowledge in the Fourth-grade Alchemist's Alchemy Handbook,

his Pharmacology Proficiency had directly reached Beginner, and his proficiency was not low either.

After all, First-grade Pills required quite a number of low-grade medicinal materials.

As for Alchemy Technique, although he had the Fourth-grade Alchemist's handbook, he had never put it into practice, so he had only just reached Beginner. His proficiency was even still at 0.

The same went for First-grade Pills. He only knew the Pill Recipes and had never practiced them.

This time, he was preparing to refine a pill called Coagulation Powder.

It was a Pill Recipe given by the system.

Coagulation Powder required very few medicinal materials, only four.

They were one Coagulation Flower, one Blood-activating Grass, one Bone-regenerating Flower, and one Blood-replenishing Grass.

This was the simplest First-grade Pill Recipe provided by the system.

It was the easiest to refine and the most suitable for beginners to learn from.

Xiao Yang naturally chose this one.

After setting up the task, he directly took out one set of materials for Coagulation Powder.

It just so happened that one task required him to test the Medicinal Properties of medicinal materials.

Although he had already memorized the Medicinal Properties of these materials,

that was all theoretical knowledge.

Setting up the task was meant to let him experience them firsthand.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yang took out six more medicinal materials, enough to Complete a task.

He plucked off a little from each material and put it into his mouth.

Different medicinal materials could also be used directly, but they did not take effect as quickly as pills.

Their effects were also inferior to pills.

Xiao Yang carefully sensed the effects of these medicinal materials.

Very soon, he had sampled a little from all ten medicinal materials.

The system's notification sounded in his mind as well.

[Task: Test the Medicinal Properties of ten medicinal materials. Reward: Pharmacology Proficiency +1. Completed. Claim reward?]

He did not hesitate and directly claimed it.

The next moment, he immediately felt more detailed information about medicinal materials appear in his mind.

Especially the ten medicinal materials he had tasted.

Now, he was confident that after observing these ten medicinal materials once, he could determine the strength of their Medicinal Properties and their age.

Previously, he could only identify them roughly, and he was not necessarily accurate.

Now, however, he could see the specific condition of a medicinal material.

Of course, this mainly applied to these ten medicinal materials.

As for the others, although he knew some information about them, he still could not accurately judge their efficacy.

Xiao Yang's face was full of delight. This would be a great help to his alchemy!

After all, although alchemy had Pill Recipes,

a Pill Recipe could only be considered a standard.

To refine a pill of Perfect Quality, one needed to make subtle adjustments personally.

The most important things were understanding Pharmacology and judging the efficacy of medicinal materials.

Xiao Yang picked up a Coagulation Flower and examined it. Although he had plucked off one petal, the flower was of good quality, and it was still enough to be used in the pill.

The other medicinal materials were the same. The batch Ya Fei had given him was of fairly good quality.

He prepared to begin refining.

He placed his hand over the Medicine Cauldron and began injecting Dou Qi into it.

Boom!

In an instant, a flicker of red flame appeared within the Medicine Cauldron.

The flame was extremely violent.

If he threw in the medicinal materials now, they would most likely turn straight into ash.

He began converting part of his Dou Qi into Wood Attribute Dou Qi.

If it were an ordinary Alchemist, this step would require some experimentation.

After all, they only possessed a trace of Wood Attribute Dou Qi within their bodies.

But for Xiao Yang, conversion was effortlessly easy.

The next moment, he injected a trace of Wood Attribute Dou Qi into the cauldron.

In an instant, the originally violent flames became much calmer.

This was why Alchemists needed a trace of the Wood Attribute.

It was not only to sense the Medicinal Properties of medicinal materials, but also to make the flames gentler.

Otherwise, with only the Fire Attribute, it would be difficult to calm such violent flames.

Xiao Yang did not immediately toss in the medicinal materials.

He knew that at the beginning, when his Fire Control Proficiency was low, it would be easy to burn the medicinal materials to ruin.

So he began trying to reduce the input of Dou Qi and lower the flame.

He soon discovered something.

The size of the flame was not only related to how much Dou Qi he injected, but also to the proportion of Wood Attribute Dou Qi.

He began trying to control the Flame Temperature.

Raising it for a while, then lowering it again.

After practicing for a while, he discovered that Fire Control on the System Panel had changed to Beginner.

Its proficiency was still at 0, however.

After reducing the flame, he picked up a Coagulation Flower and carefully dropped it through the opening in the lid of the Medicine Cauldron.

The moment the Coagulation Flower touched the flames, it slowly began losing moisture and withering.

Extracting the Coagulation Flower was simple: it only needed to be refined into a portion of medicinal powder.

Watching the Coagulation Flower slowly shrivel inside the cauldron, he did not adjust the Flame Temperature.

Although the current temperature was still not high enough, he was afraid that if he raised it carelessly, he would burn the Blood Coagulating Grass into ash.

Very soon, the Blood Coagulating Grass turned into a pile of powder.

Success!

Xiao Yang could be said to be quite lucky. He succeeded on his first attempt at extracting medicinal materials.

The main reason was that although his flame had been slightly too cool, it happened to be suitable for extracting the Coagulation Flower.

After carefully removing the Coagulation Flower powder and setting it aside for later use, Xiao Yang prepared to extract the Blood-activating Grass.

Throughout this time, his Dou Qi had never been cut off, keeping the flame steady.

Blood-activating Grass required a higher extraction temperature than Coagulation Flower.

He began carefully injecting Fire Attribute Dou Qi.

When he felt it was about right, he directly threw the Blood-activating Grass inside.

This time, Xiao Yang was not so lucky.

The Blood-activating Grass was directly burned away.

Black residue fell from beneath the Medicine Cauldron.

Xiao Yang was not discouraged. He took out another Blood-activating Grass and began carefully adjusting the Flame Temperature again.

Time quickly passed, and Xiao Yang extracted the medicinal materials for ten portions of Coagulation Powder in total.

That was forty medicinal materials altogether.

Yet only fifteen medicinal materials had been successfully extracted.

Fortunately, when he completed the extraction of the tenth medicinal material, he completed a Fire Control Proficiency task.

After his Fire Control Proficiency increased, combined with his powerful soul perception,

he successfully extracted five of the next seven medicinal materials!

That counted as some improvement.

The fifteen portions of medicinal powder were from different medicinal materials and could only make up three portions of the Coagulation Powder recipe.

After all, although there were four of each kind of medicinal material, only three portions of medicinal powder had been extracted at minimum.

Still, these medicinal materials were fairly cheap anyway.

The next step was to begin Pill Fusion!

That was to mix these medicinal powders together and refine them into true Coagulation Powder.