Inside his room, Damian sat cross-legged on the bed while faint arcs of thunder crackled around his body.

Dense spiritual Qi continuously surged from the pill inside his stomach, flowing through his meridians like a rushing river.

This was no longer an ordinary Spirit Gathering Pill. It was a Low-Rank Noble Grade Spirit Gathering Pill, something far above what a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him should normally use.

If an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator swallowed it recklessly, their meridians might even burst from the overwhelming medicinal power.

But Damian was different.

His foundation had already been perfected, his spiritual root was a Noble Grade Thunder Spiritual Root, and his cultivation art was also a Top-Rank Profound Grade Thunder Absorption Art.

Because of that, even though the pill’s power was fierce, Damian could still barely digest it properly.

Thunder Qi roared through his body again and again, tempering his meridians while pushing his cultivation forward at terrifying speed. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

After several days, the aura around Damian suddenly shook.

BOOM!

A wave of spiritual Qi burst from his body, and the thunder arcs around him became even brighter.

Damian slowly opened his eyes, and a wide grin appeared on his face. "Fifth Stage Foundation Establishment Realm."

He clenched his fist, feeling the powerful Qi flowing inside his body, and couldn’t help laughing softly.

"Damn... Noble Grade pills really are insane. No wonder powerful sect disciples grow so fast."

If he relied only on normal cultivation, reaching this stage would have taken much longer.

But with high-grade pills, good talent, and a good cultivation art, his speed was simply ridiculous.

After stabilizing his cultivation, Damian took out another jade bottle from his storage ring.

Inside were Top-Rank Profound Grade Bone Tempering Pills.

He poured one into his palm and swallowed it without hesitation.

Soon, a heavy medicinal power spread through his body, but this time, it did not mainly flow through his meridians.

Instead, it sank deep into his bones.

Crack. Crack.

Faint cracking sounds echoed inside Damian’s body as his bones slowly absorbed the medicinal power.

A sharp pain spread through him, but compared to the pain of fusing with his Thunder Spiritual Root before, this was still bearable.

Damian gritted his teeth and endured it calmly.

After some time, the pain faded, replaced by a strange feeling of strength.

He slowly stood up and stretched his body.

His bones felt denser and stronger than before, as if his entire frame had been reinforced.

Damian punched the air once.

Whoosh!

The force behind the punch was clearly stronger than before. "Not bad."

He smiled in satisfaction, but soon shook his head regretfully. "Too bad I don’t have a body-tempering cultivation art. If I had one, the effect would probably be much better."

For now, he could only rely on pills to improve his body passively.

Still, even that was already good enough.

Damian then turned toward the table in his room.

Several alchemy books, jade slips, medicinal herbs, and a small pill cauldron were already placed there.

He had bought them earlier specifically to test his new alchemist talent.

His eyes slowly brightened. "Alright. Cultivation is important, but from now on, alchemy is also important."

If he could refine pills himself, then his resources would multiply even faster.

Not only could he use them for cultivation, but he could also gift them to Violetta, Vulkara, and maybe even Esmeralda later.

Just thinking about the possible returns made Damian’s grin widen.

He walked to the table, picked up the Low-Rank Mortal Grade Body Nourishment Pill recipe, and began reading carefully.

The moment he focused, the words that had once seemed complicated suddenly became strangely clear.

Everything entered his mind smoothly.

Damian’s grin became even brighter. "So this is Top-Rank Profound Grade Alchemist Talent..."

He placed the pill recipe down and looked at the small cauldron. "Good. Let’s see if I can really become an alchemist."

---

Damian stared at the small pill sitting inside the cauldron for several moments.

The pill was round, but not perfectly round. Its surface was slightly rough, and the medicinal fragrance coming from it was also weak compared to the pills he usually bought.

No matter how he looked at it, this pill was clearly the lowest-quality version of the Low-Rank Mortal Grade Body Nourishment Pill.

But even so... it was still a real usable pill.

Because of this, Damian quickly grinned widely and suddenly laughed out loud. "Hahahahaha... I actually did it."

Damian picked up the pill carefully and stared at it like he was holding some rare treasure.

"Only one day... I only spent one damn day, and I already refined my first pill with just one try!"

Although the result was not impressive, and although the quality was barely acceptable, that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that he had succeeded.

A beginner without a master, without years of practice, and without anyone guiding him had managed to refine a pill in one day and in only one try without failure.

If other alchemists heard about this, they might vomit blood from jealousy.

Damian leaned back in his chair and laughed again. "Damn... talent really is amazing."

Before this, he had only thought the alchemist talent would help him learn faster.

But now, after personally experiencing it, he finally understood just how terrifying it was.

When he studied the recipe, the complicated parts became clear.

When he controlled the flame, his instincts naturally adjusted.

Even when the herbs began reacting strangely, he somehow knew how to stabilize them before everything completely failed.

Damian placed the pill into a small jade bottle and grinned proudly. "Lowest quality or not, this is still my first successful pill."

His eyes slowly brightened as he looked at the alchemy books on the table. "If I can do this in one day, then with enough practice..."

His grin became even wider. "Sooner or later, I’ll become a real money-printing machine now let’s do more.

Then Damian looked back at the cauldron, his eyes burning with excitement. "Alright... let’s do more."

He rolled up his sleeves and reached for another set of herbs. "Let’s see if I can really refine pills without failing."