The dean, who was watching him all of this time, only stood there stunned. He saw the new refining process that Alex used. It was very different from the way he usually did. He thought Alex would only need a few minutes to a half-hour to finish the pill. But it took over two hours to finish the pills.
When he watched Alex refining the ingredients one by one, he thought that Alex was going to waste the ingredients. After all, they usually refined all of the ingredients at the same time. But when he saw the light gray vapor, he knew what that was. After all, he had seen that thing, that was the impurities. But he never saw that many impurities. He thought that the ingredients might be special, so the impurities were a bit too high. But when he saw the other ingredients' impurities, he was stunned. The process was the same. Now he questioned himself, it seemed that the impurities that he used to expel were nowhere enough. That was why it was rare that he managed to make a peak-grade pill. He understood all of it when Alex used his flame to cover the completely refined ingredients.
He also thought of another factor, which was Alex's flame. Because of its pure element, the rate of the peak-grade pill was also higher. Well, he was true about that. Now he wondered what was the use of the rank 6 Monster Core. After all, he never saw Alex give him pill recipes with a Monster Core as one of the ingredients. When he saw Alex started the refinement of the Monster Core, he stared intently at the process. He was very surprised when Alex tossed the other ingredients and refined them together.
The Monster Core seemed to be a catalyst to merge all of the ingredients. Well, it was true because soon enough all of the ingredients started to merge. He frowned when there was a fluctuation of energy and the pill that was soon to be ready started to glow. He never saw this phenomenon when Alex or he refined pills. The phenomena were not long, but his jaw dropped when the pill formed into a big size. Even when his jaw dropped like this, he wouldn't be able to eat that big pill. He thought that Alex wanted to kill himself if he ate a pill of that size. But he understood when Alex divided the pill into four. The pills then had the same size as the regular pills that they used to make. He was relieved, all of his thoughts were proven to be wrong.
But even though he was relieved, he just couldn't close his dropped jaw. This whole process was very shocking to him. He looked at Alex while stunned.
***
Back to Alex.
After Alex was confirming the pill, he scratched his cheek when he looked at his teacher's shocked expression. He then stood up and walked to his teacher.
"Teacher."
"Ah... ah... cough... Alex, what is it?" The dean took a while to get himself together once again.
"Let me explain to you the new refining process that I just learned."
The dean wanted to say 'no need' but he instinctively nodded his head.
"Well, the refinement is as such. You refine the ingredients. You can refine them together or separately. I don't have enough confidence to go through that arduous process together yet, so I refine them separately. Then I use my flame to cover the finished ingredients to keep them from contamination. If you don't have the complete ingredients, you can refine the ingredient first and keep it in the jade bottle, though you need to coat the jade battle with your flame. However, this is a risky move. After all, if the bottle breaks, all of your effort will go to waste.
The second process is removing the impurities in the refinement process. The amount we usually expelled before was nowhere near enough. That's why we rarely can produce a peak-grade pill. This time, the expelling process uses flame control, not the flame types, this might be the reason why I can produce a peak-grade pill. That also means Teacher and I can have the same result if our flame control is at the same level. Of course, a special flame can also make the process easier.
The next step is using the Monster Core as one of the ingredients. A few pill recipes need a Monster Core as one of their ingredients. The higher the rank, the more pills will need Monster Core as its ingredients. At first, I didn't know what this Monster Core was. After all, when I killed a monster before there was no core or whatsoever. I thought it did not exist. But when I killed a monster in the dungeon, a crystal was dropped which I knew must be the Monster Core.
We use the Monster Core as a catalyst to assimilate the energies from each ingredient. After that, the ingredients will start to merge and a pill will be formed. Oh right, when I use a Monster Core as an ingredient, the pill size is always that 'big'. That is a failure, so I divide them into a few pills of regular size, for example, this Quenching Fire Pill."
The dean took a while to process all of the information that Alex had just revealed. But there was one thing that caught his attention the most. "Flame Control?"
"Oh... I practiced this technique to train my Flame Control. The process..." Alex explained the technique in detail. The dean tried everything that Alex had just explained, he was too shocked.
"Haiz... I thought my Flame Control is at a very high level. But after I listened to your technique, I noticed that I didn't even go in the right way. Thank you."
"Eh... no… Teacher," Alex was flustered when the dean thanked him.
"Wuu!"
Alex wanted to explain but couldn't. At that time, Sherry noticed the energy fluctuation, especially since Alex used his flame. So she followed the directions and found Alex.
"Sherry!"
Alex stroked Sherry's fur, but he didn't notice that Sherry's eyes remained on the pills in his other hand. He felt Sherry move her head, but before he knew it, Sherry already ate one of the Quenching Fire Pill.
"Eh... the pill!" Alex was surprised to see what the fox did with the pill.
"The pill was for Firia, Teacher, and princess Mi..." but before Alex finished his sentence, the dense fire started to rush out from within Sherry's body and engulfed her body. Alex was too startled by this. "Ahhh... aaahhh... forget what I said."
He immediately jumped back. The dense pinkish flame seemed burning Sherry's body and its surroundings. It was like all of the flames within Sherry's body were out at this moment.
The dean was very astonished when he watched this phenomenon because he could feel that the flame in his body was suppressed with this pinkish flame. "Alex... this..."
"Umm..." Alex knew what happened, after all, he was the cause. He embarrassedly scratched his cheek and said, "Sherry evolved when she ate my flame back then. This is what it looks like when it evolves."
"..." The dean facepalmed.
He then saw Sherry's process. The tyrannical flame that gushed out from Sherry's body was very blazing. It burned the ground within 5 meters from Sherry. This fiery flame gradually became smaller and smaller.
"Wuu!" Sherry screamed in pain. From when the flame started to shrink, Sherry started to scream in pain. Alex wanted to help the fox but he held himself. This was the refining process of the pill. He waited for the flame to gradually come back to Sherry's body.
When the surrounding flame got back inside of its body, Sherry stopped screaming and it made Alex feel relieved. But he was suddenly awestruck once again when the flame suddenly got out from her body once more. This time, the flame was even more tyrannical. Because of this, Alex immediately regained his bearing. This meant the process was successful. He felt Sherry's fire become stronger. But what surprise him the most was that he felt Sherry's strength rose sharply. He felt Sherry's strength became as powerful as the bear from the cave, the rank 6 bear. This could mean that Sherry had completely become a rank 6 monster.
Soon enough, Sherry opened her eyes. "Wuu!"
She leaped joyfully toward Alex. The tyrannical flame in the surrounding had been retracted by Sherry which left a few black spots on the ground. "Wuu!"
Alex stroked her head again, "Good, you become stronger now."
"Wuu! Wuu!" It seemed like the fox was saying, 'It's because of Master'.
After enjoying this joyful moment a bit, Alex stood up and awkwardly looked at the dean. "Teacher, your courtyard..."
"Don't mind about this, I can easily fix them," then he continued, "You can give the other two pills to that lass Firia and that quiet girl Mia. I don't need them, even if I want them I can make one myself. After all, just like you, I'm also an alchemist. I'm fine with the recipe alone. Alright, it is time for me to go back. Tell those lasses if they want to eat the pill, they can use this courtyard. I will fix the courtyard when all of you finish taking the pill. Alright, then it is decided. I will go back first and practice this Flame Control technique. Oh yeah, that lass Alicia will be jealous you know."
The dean heard when Alex said who he would give those pills too. He was happy when he heard Alex would give him one pill. But after Sherry ate one of the pills, he already decided. After all, the future was for the youngster. Even if he got stronger, it wouldn't be too much of a use. If Alex could help strengthen them from a young age, they would achieve much greater things from him. That's why he decided that he wouldn't receive the pill.
"Teacher," Alex was moved by the dean, he then gave a pill recipe to him. "This is the recipe for Crystal Pill."
Alex already predicted this, he knew Alicia would get jealous if he didn't give anything to her. Alex already prepared a recipe, which was similar to his Quenching Fire Pill. It also boosted the power of Ice in the user's body. Although he was wrong to think she would get jealous. After the previous accident, Alicia didn't care about that already. As long as she could be with him, that was good enough for her.
The dean took the recipe and nodded, "Alright, I will inform you when the ingredients arrived." As he said that, he walked away and left the courtyard.