Death... and me

After complaining a lot, Celis eventually gave Roan the dead branches and barks that served no purpose anymore. In the end, Celis had to console himself with the fact that it was better than if they were going to waste. "Now go away. I don't want to see you anymore."

Roan obviously didn't stay. He went straight to the Soul Gem Alchemy Workshop to start his work.

Meanwhile, Rean was left alone with Foliel and Kentucky. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to collect that Molten Divine Rock Flower." After that, Rean strolled to where Kentucky was staying. During all of that, he didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"Wait! Where did he go?" Foliel asked. "No, first of all, what do you mean he'll concoct the pill? Is he a Golden High-level alchemist? He's only at the Elemental Transformation Realm."

Rean shook his head in response. "Not really. He's still a Golden Middle-level alchemist. However, these pills you asked for should prove a nice opportunity for Roan to break through to that level."

Rean was right. Roan was intending to do exactly that. One must remember that Saint Realm was only enough for one to reach the Golden Middle-level in a sub occupation. To reach the Golden High-level, one must be at least in the Elemental Transformation Realm. Roan, obviously, was now at the Peak Stage of the Elemental Transformation Realm, but that was something that happened just some time ago. He hadn't had the time to make his breakthrough. The good thing was that he only needed the cultivation level. With Roan's own skills and the Soul Gem Tools, he could have entered the High-level a long time ago.

The same went for Rean. Be it in forging or formations, he could also become a Golden High-level practitioner. He only needed the time to practice. Of course, he could have used his rest time in Dry Sky City for that, but both the twins had decided that they wouldn't work on anything during that time.

Foliel didn't know what to say in response to that. "You can't be serious, right? Would you use such a hard to concoct pill to break through to the next level as an alchemist? That's ridiculous. You first need to start with the easiest ones and then spend time practicing before moving on to harder pills. He's bound to fail like that."

Rean shrugged his shoulders while he collected the Molten Divine Rock Flower. "Well, he's using the flowers that we collected, so it's not like you're losing anything, right?"

"This..." Foliel couldn't counter that argument. Indeed, he wasn't losing anything at all. "Kekeke. I have to admit that's right. Well, if it works, then all the better for me."

It was then that Foliel remembered something. "Oh, right! You still haven't told me where he has gone to. If you could disappear so easily like that, how come you didn't use it to attack me earlier?" Of course, he could already guess that the ability related to Roan's disappearance had some limitations of its own. Otherwise, he wasn't supposed to be alive right now.

Rean sent the Molten Divine Rock Flower into the Dimensional Realm and got up, telling him, "Let's just say that he's still here, but you can't see him. I can't really tell you much about this ability other than that it isn't anything impressive from where we came from."

Foliel narrowed his eyes in response but didn't insist. At the moment, what mattered was the Fire Element Meridian Stabilizing Pills. Anything else could wait. "Very well. However, I still think he's wasting his time. My offer is still up even if he fails, though. You can go back and ask one of your elders to come and concoct your pills for me."

Rean smiled in response. "That's good to know." Not that there were any elders Rean could ask help for, though.

Back inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Roan had a dark expression while concocting the pills. 'What a piece of shit. These pills turned out to be of such low quality. Sigh... I guess that's to be expected due to its difficulty.' Roan then looked at the side and saw two small piles of burnt materials. In the end, he failed two times when trying to concoct these pills. The main difficulty was the fact that he didn't have Fire Element Affinity. When trying to change the pill into a neutral type that still carried the properties of Fire Element, he missed the first and second stages of the concoctions. 'Well, whatever. These ones should do the job.'

Roan then put the batch of five pills he concocted in a special bottle that prevented the pill from losing its energy. Following that, he used his control over the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm to return to the Blazing Sands.

Once again, Foliel was shocked by that. This time, he kept his attention on all his senses, trying to find out from where Roan would return. Unfortunately, he was unable to feel his presence until Roan suddenly appeared in the same place again. 'Just how is he doing that? Could it be some spatial treasure?'

Roan didn't give Foliel much time to think before throwing him the bottle with the pills. "Here you go. I was only able to concoct five of them in the end. Then again, you said you only needed three, so it should be fine."

Foliel looked at the pills in the bottle in dismay. He truly didn't think Roan would succeed, let alone this fast. However... "Wait! These pills don't look like the Fire Element Meridian Stabilizing Pills at all."

Roan nodded, saying, "Obviously. I don't have Fire Element Affinity, after all. I had to make them in a different way. Don't worry, though. They should be at least 50% more effective than the normal ones."

Foliel found that even harder to believe. "You aren't trying to poison me, are you?"

Roan narrowed his eyes in response. "If you don't want them, then so be it. Just give me the pills back and go away. I can at least fetch a good price for them in the city."

"There's no need." Foliel immediately took one of the pills as he said, "I'll test it myself."