"Alchemy, alchemy! Let's get started!"
Bulma was like a child who'd just gotten a new toy. She bounced around the sleek, futuristic Modern Multi-functional Spirit Energy Reactor, practically bursting to see ordinary roots and bark turn into glowing elixirs.
Lin Fan, on the other hand, was perfectly calm.
He didn't rush to start the reactor. Instead, he had the lab's smart robots bring over several large bundles of herbs he'd bought from various places, along with some he'd "borrowed" from the garden at Bulma's house.
Most of the herbs were ordinary varieties containing only trace amounts of spirit energy. They weren't particularly rare in this high-energy world.
"Hey? Aren't you supposed to just toss them in and boil them?"
Bulma looked baffled as Lin Fan began sorting through the herbs.
"Preparing the herbs is the first and most important step in alchemy."
As he deftly sorted and washed them, Lin Fan explained, "Too many impurities and the medicinal properties become impure. At best, that affects the quality of the finished pills. At worst, it creates pill toxins that harm the body."
"I get it! It's like purifying reagents for a chemistry experiment!"
Bulma immediately grasped the idea. The scientist in her had kicked in. "Leave it to me!"
She sprang into action and rushed to the control panel, tapping away at the controls.
Several mechanical arms extended with dexterity, taking the herbs Lin Fan had sorted.
"First, a deep ultrasonic wash to remove surface grime and microbes!"
"Low-temperature vacuum drying to preserve as many active ingredients as possible!"
"Molecular sieve filtration to separate powders of different particle sizes!"
"Centrifugal extraction to concentrate the active ingredients!"
She excitedly explained as she worked, activating all sorts of high-tech equipment Lin Fan had never even heard of.
After a dizzying series of treatments, the herbs that came out were no longer raw roots, stems, and leaves. They had become fine powders and concentrated liquids of pure color and uniform consistency. The materials were sorted into sterile containers and labeled with their ingredient analyses.
Lin Fan picked up a jar of processed Blood-Coagulating Grass powder and rubbed a little between his fingers. He sensed its properties, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
Almost all the impurities had been removed, leaving an exceptionally pure essence—far purer than what he could achieve through repeated refinement by traditional methods!
And the process was incredibly fast, with plenty of output!
"What do you think? Pretty good preprocessing technique, huh?" Bulma raised her chin smugly.
"Breathtaking."
Lin Fan praised her again, sincerely. The power of technology could certainly spare him a great deal of painstaking work.
With the ingredients ready, it was time for the main event.
Lin Fan took a deep breath and walked up to the reactor's control panel. Bulma had insisted on adding it herself; it was covered in flashing indicator lights, waveforms, and densely packed parameter settings.
He recalled the pill formulas and energy ratios from the Great Dao Source Scripture for refining the lowest-grade pills, the Body Strengthening Pill and Qi Recovery Powder.
"Add 100 milliliters of Blood-Coagulating Grass extract, 50 grams of Iron-Bone Flower powder, and 30 milliliters of concentrated Three-Leaf Green juice..." Lin Fan called out the quantities and order.
The mechanical arms followed his instructions with perfect precision.
"Activate the primary Spirit Gathering Array runes... Uh, that means turn on energy conduits one through three and set the frequency to... low-frequency resonance mode." "Preheat the energy generator at the base, simulating a gentle flame. Hold the temperature at 85 degrees and the pressure at 0.5 standard atmospheres." "Start the internal mixer. Set the speed to... 15 revolutions per minute, simulating the pill-kneading technique."
Lin Fan recalled the pill formula and translated it into technological parameters Bulma could understand.
A gentle light filled the reactor as its energy field spread evenly. Under precisely controlled conditions of temperature and energy, the ingredients slowly began to react and fuse.
Bulma stared wide-eyed at the data streaming across the monitor. "Temperature stable! Pressure stable! Energy field fluctuation at 0.0008%! Perfect! Wow! The compounds inside are undergoing a fascinating reaction! I've never seen this kind of energy-catalyzed process before!"
Lin Fan closed his eyes and focused. Although the machine handled most of the process automatically, he still sent out a wisp of his spiritual sense to feel the changing medicinal properties through the reactor walls, occasionally making tiny adjustments to the rhythm of the energy input.
That was something a machine couldn't fully replace, and it was crucial to the grade of the pills.
Time passed, second by second. An unusual medicinal aroma spread through the lab. It wasn't strong, but it was refreshing and soothing.
Suddenly, Lin Fan opened his eyes. "Now! Raise the pressure to 1.2 standard atmospheres and switch the energy field frequency to high-frequency pulse mode for three seconds! Simulate the moment of pill formation!"
"Got it!" Bulma entered the command immediately.
Vrrrrm—
The reactor shook slightly, and its interior blazed with light!
Then everything fell silent.
The pressure-release valve hissed softly, and the medicinal aroma grew stronger.
"Is it done?"
Bulma asked nervously.
Lin Fan nodded and pressed the extraction button.
The reactor lid slid open slowly, releasing a rush of white steam laced with a rich medicinal aroma.
On the rack inside lay a full fifty smooth, rounded, reddish-brown pills of uniform color!
In the neighboring compartment was a fine, pale-blue medicinal powder.
It had worked!
And they'd made fifty pills in a single batch!
Their quality far surpassed the inferior pills he'd rolled by hand before!
Lin Fan took out a Body Strengthening Pill and a pinch of Qi Recovery Powder.
The pill felt warm and smooth to the touch, its medicinal energy contained within. The powder was fine, its energy gentle and balanced.
Both their purity and efficacy were even better than he'd expected!
"Quick! Analyze the ingredients and energy response!"
Bulma eagerly picked up a few pills and a sample of the powder with tweezers and placed them into various analytical instruments.
The results came back quickly.
"Incredible!"
Bulma stared at the data on the screen, exclaiming in astonishment. "The ingredients are highly purified and have formed entirely new, stable compounds! The energy response is gentle and long-lasting, and it significantly promotes the activity of human cells! There are absolutely no side effects! Th-this is the perfect biological stimulant and energy supplement! It's even more effective than the military's high-end products!"
She whipped around and fixed her gaze on Lin Fan, her eyes gleaming like she was looking at a mountain of gold. "Lin Fan! We're going to be rich! Can we mass-produce this? What will it cost?!"
Lin Fan looked at the fifty pills, his heart stirred as well.
He estimated that even if he spent the effort to make them by hand, producing ten good pills in a single batch would be considered a success.
With high-tech equipment to preprocess the ingredients and precisely control the process, their success rate was nearly one hundred percent. They were several times more efficient, and the quality was much more consistent!
Scientific purification combined with alchemy could produce such remarkable results!
"Mass production shouldn't be difficult." Lin Fan nodded. "But higher-grade pills require rarer ingredients and more precise energy control..."
"Ingredients aren't a problem! Leave the energy control to me!"
Bulma waved her hand grandly. "Let's start with these two! We'll optimize the process and expand production! Hahaha, I knew I was a genius!"
She could already see the bright future ahead, with Capsule Corporation expanding into a whole new field: Briefs Pharmaceuticals, supplying high-level martial artists and space explorers! Just thinking about it was exhilarating!
Lin Fan watched Bulma's excitement and smiled as he carefully put away the pills.
With a steady supply of pills, his path of cultivation would surely be much smoother.
The first batch of pills made with scientific alchemy had yielded impressive results.
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