The Difficulty of Third-Grade Pills for Xiao Changge

"Refining a third-grade pill is still somewhat difficult for you as a newcomer. You never had a good Alchemist teacher before, and I am not proficient in alchemy either, so we must proceed carefully and prepare thoroughly."

"So we must begin cautiously and make every possible preparation."

Electrolux said this.

"Teacher, I understand. I feel a great deal of pressure, but I will not give up. With the Pharmacopoeia and with you here, I can feel that my strength is sufficient. I only need to spend more time on it."

In the Battle Through the Heavens system, third-grade pills were at the "beginner's watershed" level—hard currency to low-level wanderers, yet merely everyday consumables to true experts. Their difficulty could be broken down into several layers:

Alchemist threshold: only a third-grade Alchemist could reliably refine them:

Being able to refine third-grade pills meant one was at least a third-grade Alchemist. In a remote empire like the Jia Ma Empire, a third-grade Alchemist could already enter the upper ranks of the Alchemist Association and be fought over by clans and mercenary groups as an honored guest.

Hard requirements: fire affinity, a trace of wood energy for catalysis, above-average Mortal Realm soul strength, and precise flame control. One's Dou Qi cultivation generally needed to be between Dou Practitioner and Da Dou Shi, with a medicinal cauldron assisting in channeling the fire.

Xiao Yan was able to refine third-grade pills under Yao Lao's guidance as early as his Wutan City and Magical Beast Mountain Range period, when he was still a Dou Zhe to Dou Practitioner. This showed that with a famous teacher and the support of Heavenly Flames or Beast Flame, refining third-grade pills beyond one's level was possible. However, for someone self-taught to reach third-grade was extremely difficult.

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