Tales of The Mighty Dragonair

"Indeed," Mr. E gave him the pills back, "compared to our top alchemist disciple, he can make eight to nine out of ten with three above average and one good pill."

Arthur took the pills and said, "thanks for the instructions master, is there a manual to make pills I can study?"

"Take this," he took out a small thick book full of many pages, "here are the main recipes conducted by the top alchemists in our world. Study them and try to keep producing the same result in them all and your ability will increase."

Arthur took the book and opened it to see small lines in front of his sight. "Don't think every pill is as easy to make as this one. This is considered one of the easiest pills out there. The higher the difficulty the lower the results and you need to maintain such results you have right now to have a good shot in the tournament."

"Thanks," Arthur nodded before taking away his cauldron and the book, "I'll go and see other masters then."

"Take some rest," Mr. E suggested, "how is Amanda doing with you?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.

"She is… alright," Arthur embarrassedly laughed as he recalled the offer he gave to her to sleep together.

"She is quite bold and thick headed sometimes, but she is kind and pure here," Mr. E pointed towards his heart before adding, "you have to put some effort to penetrate the thick veil around her heart and you'll be surprised by what you'll see inside."

Arthur nodded before excusing himself away from this awkward conversation.

"Don't listen to him," the golden dragon suddenly said, "these are just trash pills in my opinion. Plus the test is done in a hundred for beginners like you or a thousand for msters like him."

"Wow, this much at the same time?" Arthur said in faked surprise.

"This is the standard, if we are talking about real geniuses then this is just a play for them."

Arthur knew he was right. Back in his cultivation world, he used to control a thousand pills in one go and he wasn't considered even to have good talent in alchemy.

"Ding! Which master will you go to next?" the system asked after a long period of silence.

"Slone," he headed directly towards Slone where he was making weapons with others. "I need to see if I can learn a thing or two of him."

When Arthur appeared nearby, Slone smiled as he turned to him while pointing towards a certain direction, "this Agnus here is a genius, a monster in forging. How the hell did you find someone like that?" he shouted while Arthur laughed.

"I just accidentally met him," he honestly replied, "and there are other good seedlings too."

"Sure, sure," Slone nodded, "but this Agnus is in a league of his own," Slone laughed out of excitement before adding, "if I have a year with this kid, then I can turn him to our academy strongest blacksmith disciple and a fierce candidate to be a master."

"We have much time, don't worry," Arthur smiled before adding, "and I'll make sure he would do whatever you ask him without slacking when you are away."

"That's great," Slone said before adding, "are you ready to start crafting?"

Arthur nodded before listening to the next words of Slone and was slightly disappointed. "Can I make a higher version of this sword?" he asked while taking the product he had with slight disappointment on his face.

The sword was short and thin, hardly can be called a sword. The technique he used was rudimentary to the degree he felt disgusted following Slone's meticulous guidance.

"Oh you need more difficulty then," Slone smiled before adding, "why not try to make this one then?" he took out a large mold where a cavity suited for a giant sword was present in the heart of this mold.

"This looks promising," Arthur commented while examining the mold in hand. He was using his own equipment, the ones he took once from Agnus.

"This one is tricky," Slone warned, before explaining, "you need to keep injecting your own power into it, or else the materials would crumble at the final stage," he took out a giant sword similar to the big hole in the mold as he added, "see this little berserk one here, if not taking days to forge and nearly consuming me to death, it wouldn't have been made at the end and eventually recognized me as master."

Slone handed the sword to Arthur and the moment Arthur held it, he felt a strong force hitting his body and soul. He staggered a couple of steps back while a thin line of blood emerged from his nose and that sword rang on the ground, falling off his hand.

"Hahah, see? I made such a masterpiece yet no one else can use it. Sigh, this is the main drawback of being a mighty blacksmith."

Slone went to take the sword while Arthur took the healing pills he just made and consumed them all to make his body return to its optimal state.

"Agnus is also making this sword, here are the instructions about it," Slone said while taking away the sword and giving Arthur a large piece of paper with drawings and many writings in it. "As for materials, it's best to select similar ones according to your own feelings."

"Shouldn't I stick with materials mentioned here?" Arthur was speechless for a moment while Slone explained, "this won't do. Each sword is unique and this blueprint is just a general guidance left by the grandmaster who first made it."

Arthur glanced at the paper to see materials drawn and described yet not given their names. "He made sure not to mention the names," Arthur muttered while adding, "thanks master. I'll go to see others now."

He took his equipment before moving away. Before leaving, he noticed Agnus was deeply immersed in making his sword. "You owe me a spear, kid," he muttered to himself before adding, "yet I think this experience will expand your horizon a bit."