"You’re doing it wrong... You’re supposed to wait five seconds after boiling, then put everything in," Huizhen said with a slight frown.

"What is the damn difference?" Xuan complained. "The water is boiling either way. What, do you think it’ll boil more? It’s not like we can make potions from steam. Just let me do my thing, alright?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Safe to say, the two were definitely getting along.

It was a simple recipe for a defensive body potion. All it did was make the body sturdier.

Since the water was already boiling, Xuan didn’t hesitate and began carefully putting the ingredients in one by one into a large reinforced flask.

"Three Blanfern Leaves... Two emberfruits, and..." Xuan reached for the last item. "White powder..."

When he poured the last item into the reinforced flask, the potion changed color. It went from a pale mixture of red and black into a thick silver. And finally, the only thing left to do now was wait a couple minutes for it to finish brewing.

"You know, I can’t really say this is interesting. Are people really forced to brew in your cult?" Xuan asked with a hum.

"Eyes on the potion..." Huizhen grumbled. "And yes. Alchemists brew for us, but unlike you, they don’t zap away all the fun from alchemy."

"What...? How is this my fault?" Xuan muttered, baffled.

Huizhen scoffed. "Alchemists brew their potions carefully and meticulously. They take care of their ingredients, and the time at which they insert the ingredients into the flask is perfect. You, on the other hand... I heard you mumble numbers under your breath. Were you counting down?"

At this point, Xuan was beginning to think Huizhen had a screw loose. Or he just really wanted to piss Xuan off.

Therefore, he just straight up ignored him and his bullshit, focusing on the potion instead.

After enough time had passed, its previously semi-solid form turned transparent. When that happened, Xuan turned off the heat and quickly took the potion off the alchemical burner, directly pouring it into 20 potion vials and corking them right after.

And when he was done, he simply placed the large reinforced flask to the side of the alchemy station, turned off the burner, and shot Huizhen a thumbs up.

"I’m done. Check them out."

Huizhen’s brows twitched. Suddenly, his playful persona from earlier vanished, replaced by one that reminded him of his old high school math teacher. Naturally, Xuan was on full alert.

Despite that, Huizhen went ahead and brushed his hand across the potions, inspecting them carefully.

You know... I’m kind of curious too. Just what did I brew? Xuan smiled as he approached his potions and picked one of them up, inspecting it.

—

<Defensive Body Potion>

<Rank: Mortal>

<Potion Purity: 78%>

<Description: Grants the consumer a 5% boost to physical durability lasting 5 minutes.>

—

"Oooh! It’s actually not that bad!" Xuan cheered, picking up another one, and then another.

It seemed like all the potions he had brewed had a purity of at least 70%, with the highest he had seen being 87%.

Though I don’t really understand how the purity is different when the potions came from the same flask...

"Hey, since you’re here already, mind telling me what the purity does exactly?" Xuan asked, pacing around Huizhen, who continued inspecting the potions.

"Like, I get that they’re probably better if the purity is higher, but I didn’t see a change in the description. All of them gave a 5% boost no matter the purity and for the same amount of time at that."

"The higher the purity, the fewer side effects..." Huizhen replied calmly. "If the potion’s purity reaches 90% or higher, then there will be bonus positive effects. Maybe alongside physical durability, your strength might increase as well."

"Oh? So what about my potions then? The majority of them are in the 70% purity range. Would I get side effects if I were to drink them?" Xuan asked, his curiosity brimming for the first time in a while.

"If the purity falls below 50%, then the effects of the potion drop significantly. The duration might decrease as well." Huizhen smirked. "If you’re lucky, it might just make you slightly nauseous. Though if you’re unlucky, you might have to say bye bye to your kidneys or more."

All of a sudden, his hand stopped over a single potion, which he quickly raised and handed over to Xuan.

"Check this one out."

Although he was confused, Xuan did just that. However, the sight made him speechless.

—

<Defensive Body Potion>

<Rank: Mortal>

<Potion Purity: 9%>

<Description: Grants the consumer a 1% boost to physical durability lasting 1 minute. May cause internal hemorrhaging, diarrhea, nausea, heart attack, nose bleed, vision loss, hearing loss, taste loss, baldness.>

—

"What the... Hey... I hate to ask, but how does this even happen? They’re all in the same flask, aren’t they?"

Huizhen chuckled. "Each flask has a single essence. When you bottle it, that essence splits into several dozen individual pieces."

Noticing his confusion, Huizhen took back the potion and began explaining:

"You lost a lot of Potion Purity while bottling because you did it carelessly. Also, you didn’t stir nearly enough, so while the ingredients did melt in the end, they didn’t have enough time to bond together..."

A slight smile appeared on his face. "That’s what Foyan used to tell me. So... basically, whenever you’re making a potion, give it your all. No matter how little the mistake might seem, it adds up in the end."

With those words, he picked up each of the potions and poured them out of the window. Even the ones that had over 80% purity were discarded.

"Hey... Come on, I could’ve drunk at least one of them, you know?"

"Under 90% Potion Purity is unacceptable," Huizhen said. "It’s a beginner-level potion, so I expect you to master it. Try again. Now."

"Hold on, you’re not going to force me to remake all the potions that are under 90% Purity, are you?" Xuan’s eyes widened. "Do you know how long that’ll take?"

Huizhen smirked. "That’s why I made you a little something while you weren’t looking."

He pulled out a blue potion from his pocket and tossed it over to Xuan, who immediately inspected it.

—

<Energy Potion>

<Rank: Mortal>

<Potion Purity: 97%>

<Description: Doubles the consumer’s stamina, allowing them to stay awake for twice as long without sleep.>

—

An energy drink...?

"We’ll be doing this for the next week nonstop, so best be prepared, Xuan," Huizhen said with a saint-like smile.

"You still have 49 more recipes to make, after all."

"..."

Demon...