The Mage of Primordial Chaos

"Hah… hah…" Grandmaster Qian panted heavily, bent over and resting his hands on his knees. "G-Get back here, boy… I\'ll teach you a lesson…"

"You need to calm down, old geezer," I said coldly, narrowing my eyes. "One, I never said anything bad about your granddaughter, and two, you can\'t even catch me when I\'m not using magic. How are you going to teach me a lesson?"

"Agh, damn it, brat! If I were 20 years younger-"

"Make that 60," I cut in. "And stop with the \'ifs\'. If you can teach me alchemy, then teach me. If not, I\'m leaving—and no one can stop me."

"Hmph! That cocky attitude will get you killed one day, kiddo!" Grandmaster Qian snorted. "But luckily for you, I couldn\'t care less about manners and all that crap! Show me what you can do in alchemy!"

He folded his arms in contempt, which in turn earned him a smirk from me. If there was one thing I enjoyed doing most, it was proving others wrong. I shook my cloak, then sat down comfortably on the ground. Grandmaster Qian used Psychic Magic to pull some ingredients off the shelves to his hand, then tossed some over to me, some to Zhao Xiuying. It was a casual action, but he had gotten just the right amount of materials needed, and split them completely evenly amongst the two of us. His skill was the real thing.

"You too, girl! Sit down beside him!"

Zhao Xiuying blinked, then did as told and sat down next to me. It was then that I noticed a flashy, diamond-shaped blue earring on her ear. I hadn\'t noticed it before since it had been covered by her long, sky blue hair, but I managed to get a glimpse of it just now. It definitely was not a normal earring—it radiated mana from it. But why would an accessory like that be enchanted…?

"What are you gawking at, boy?" Grandmaster Qian demanded. "She is beautiful, I grant you, but if you are that easily swayed by lust, I would advise giving up on alchemy!"

I scoffed. "Swayed? Please, I have women far more beautiful than she is."

"Show me!" The old man challenged, then realized his mistake. "I mean, your alchemy skills! I don\'t care about your women, though I doubt your words very much!"

I snickered, then closed my eyes and got to work. The materials he had given me were enough to craft a High-Grade pill. Thankfully, it was one I knew—Ling Xin\'s godfather had taught me all the most commonly-used pills. 

The pill\'s name was the Hypersense Pill. Just like the name implied, it boosted the consumer\'s awareness and detection radius by an incredibly large amount, making it an absolute must-have for exploring ruins and the like. The ingredients to make it were not rare, but difficult to harvest. For instance, Kindleweed only appeared near the mouths of volcanoes, Winterberry could only be found in frozen tundras, and the Eye of Harmony was obtained from slaying mythical creatures known as Angelwings.

That was not all, however.

The three ingredients to make this pill were hard to get, yes, but the refinement process was even harder. Kindleweed and Winterberry had directly clashing forces, one of Fire and one of Ice. Only two such opposing powers could, when paired together, entice someone enough to boost their awareness by such a large amount. It acted as a form of stimulation, brought together by the Eye of Harmony. However, even with the Eye\'s help, the refinement process still was much harder than many other pills. It wasn\'t impossible anymore, but might as well be.

The two herbs\' clashing voices were perfectly dissonant, making my mind unable to merge the two into one sound. However, I then heard the Eye of Harmony\'s ring, which resonated with specific notes of the other two herbs. Amongst the dissonance, there was but one single note that was in harmony. I found that note, and eased the three ingredients into one.

I opened my eyes, and found myself looking at a perfectly-crafted Golden Hypersense Pill.

Grandmaster Qian really picked a challenging one to give to us, but as a Golden Alchemist, this was nothing. Zhao Xiuying should also have no problems, given her talent and skill in the field of alchemy. I confirmed this after looking in her direction and discovering that she had already finished before me.

"Mm. Here. Hand them to me."

Grandmaster Qian stroked his beard, taking the two pills from us and inspecting them each closely. Zhao Xiuying\'s was a porcelain, shining silver, while mine radiated gold like the sun. Then, after some hesitation, he plopped the silver one into his mouth and swallowed it whole. His eyes widened as the effects struck him, but then quickly calmed down again.

"… Hm. Not too shabby, girl. 8/10. You have good alchemy foundations and a talent for the art. With a little refining and fine-tuning, you can become an alchemist worthy of being told about in stories, perhaps even having the potential to take my spot as the new number one alchemist in the world."

Zhao Xiuying didn\'t respond as usual, and instead merely blinked as if she hadn\'t heard his words at all. Grandmaster Qian didn\'t take offense and turned to me, then raised an eyebrow and plopped the golden pill into his mouth.

"…!"

His eyes widened, and he took several steps backwards as the pill\'s effects struck his body, nearly falling over. Thankfully, I didn\'t hate him enough to just let the poor old guy fall, so I teleported behind him and caught him before he could topple over.

"… Oi. You good, old geezer?"

"A-Agh!"

Grandmaster Qian suddenly straightened up once more, swatting my arm away, and coughed a few times.

"A-Ahem… that was… surprising."

I smirked. "Heh. Impress you, did I?"

"No!" The old man shrieked, throwing his arms into the air.

"Huh?"

"Heavens, no!" He continued, shaking his head furiously. "Your pill is horrible! Absolutely awful!"

"Huhhhhh?!" I raised an eyebrow, sincerely confused at what this guy was going on about.

"Your Golden Pills have incredible strength, yes, but they are not refined properly! They were done so roughly, in such a hurry! What were you doing when you refined this?! About to blow your load, and forgetting to pull out?!"

"W-Woah, there," I hurriedly said, not expecting an old man like him to make such a reference. "Explain it in a way that befits a grandmaster at alchemy, geezer."

"Ughhhh!" He screamed in fury, clawing at his own hair. "This triggers me to no end… such potential in you, yet you do not even use it to its maximum! You are undeserving of the alchemic talent you hold!"

I decided not to mention how I was quite literally first introduced to alchemy just a few days ago, since that would complicate matters unnecessarily.

"So? How do I use this \'potential\', then?"

"Hmph! Ask the girl beside you!" The old man snorted. "Until you reach at least her level, I refuse to teach you!"

"… You\'ve got to be kidding me." I turned to Zhao Xiuying, who stared back at me with that same neutral expression on her face, lips slightly turned downwards but not in a sad manner.

"So, uh… how do I… realize my potential…?" I asked awkwardly, scratching my cheek.

"…" She didn\'t reply. As expected.

Yeah… the heavens will fall first before I can get anything out of this girl.

But then…

"… Dual, refinement."

Her voice was so quiet I could barely even hear it.

"What? Duel? You want to duel me? Why?"

"No, you bratty kid!" Grandmaster Qian said with an exasperated sigh, facepalming himself. "I can\'t believe she actually suggested that… and you don\'t even know what it is?! What kind of alchemist are you?!"

Uh… one that only became one like, four days ago…?

Seeing my confusion, the old alchemist sighed deeply once more.

"… Listen up, kid. Dual Refinement basically means… two alchemists, one male one female, exchanging alchemic talent through sexual activity."

"… What?" I blinked. "How is that even possible? \'Exchanging alchemic talent?\' Since when could you just give someone else your talent?"

"D-Don\'t question it, brat. I\'m not questioning why she\'s offering to do that with you, am I?"

"Uh… that is actually a good question," I muttered, turning to Zhao Xiuying once more. "Look… you do know what sexual activity is, right?"

The girl nodded softly. I gulped.

"Well, if you know, then… you should also know that it\'s something you only do with the person you love."

Zhao Xiuying blinked and didn\'t make any other response, as if she hadn\'t heard my words. I cleared my throat.

"Uh… anyway, I should get going. If having sex with her is the only way I can \'improve\' enough for you to teach me, Grandmaster Qian, then I\'d rather not be taught at all," I said, standing up and dusting off my cloak. "Sorry, but I already have women I love. Goodbye."

"Hmph," Grandmaster Qian snorted. "Good choice, kiddo. You may not be worthy of my teaching, but at least you\'re not scum."

Ha… if he knew about all the people I\'ve murdered in the past… would he still think the same way? Well, it\'s not any of my concern anyway. This has been a waste of time, it seems like.

I\'ll just go back to the bank and check on my money…