Rise of the Alchemy God

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According to what he had read, it was no longer possible to upgrade this pill to a higher grade, as the perfect grade seemed to be the highest one.

The only option left was for the recipe to finally level up.

And to test it, he wasted no time, opened the store screen, found the pill recipe, and pressed [Upgrade].

His 1000 hard-earned SP vanished with the click.

As soon as the process started, Ethan felt that familiar sensation in his brain, telling him he was acquiring new information.

Just like the last few times, he managed to endure the pain of the process, which by now was more of a temporary annoyance and nothing more.

When the process concluded, the system's sound reached Ethan's ears.

DING!

[Congratulations, you've successfully obtained your first level 2 recipe.]

Seeing these notifications, Ethan waited for the one that would grant him some Qi, but it never came.

'Well, this is a bit unexpected.'

Ethan had assumed that every time the system mentioned 'for the first time' in its messages, he would receive some extra Qi. In fact, he had received some with his first missions, and other times too.

But it seemed this wasn't always guaranteed.

He eventually dismissed the thought.

It wasn't really important, given the amount he needed to advance now.

A small increase like that could be ignored.

Eager to see what improvements had been made...

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[----------------------------------

[Recovery Pill Recipe]

Level: 2

Grade: Low

Description: A pill capable of fully recovering fatigue from intense training and capable of increasing the healing of moderate injuries.

The purity of this pill will be above 25% but below 50%.

[Upgrade] (100 SP)

-----------------------------------]

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Seeing that the effects of the new recipe had improved, Ethan nodded with a smile.

Now, the pill could not only heal minor injuries like scratches or small wounds but also those that were a bit more serious.

Ethan wasn't sure what kind of injuries fell into the category of moderate injuries, but at least he could say they were definitely worse than minor ones.

However, when he saw the SP required to advance the recipe from low to medium grade, his eyebrows furrowed a bit.

It wasn't that the price was too high; on the contrary, it was much lower than he had expected.

'Only a hundred system points?'

With a hundred system points, he could upgrade a level 1 recipe to a high grade.

But here, it seemed like he could use the same amount to advance this pill to a medium grade.

You could see the difference in price was definitely higher when comparing their grade advancement, but still, the price was much lower than he had expected.

To advance to perfect grade, a level 1 recipe required 1k SP.

The same was needed to move it to the next level, meaning level 2.

Ethan thought for a moment about why this was.

'Maybe because perfect grade and level advancement are much higher factors compared to the grade of the recipe?' he thought, still unsure if this was really the reason.

This would explain the higher price for advancing the recipe grade, but at the same time, the lower price than what he had paid to move from level 1 to level 2.

Ethan wasn't sure of his theory, but with the current information, there was little he could do.

'If this reasoning is correct, then future prices for grade advancement will be lower than for perfect grade advancement and level up.'

Ethan was starting to get a headache thinking about why all this was happening.

It was in situations like this that he felt the absence of that system existence that seemed to guide the protagonists in the novels he used to read.

At least with that, he would have had his answers and wouldn't have to overthink why everything in the system happened the way it did.

He realized there was no point in dwelling on this.

As far as he knew, it was better this way; at least he would save a few more SP for other upgrades.

With the knowledge of the level 2 recipe, Ethan thought of trying to refine one.

He took out all the necessary materials and started refining.

Soon, he discovered a problem.

The refining wasn't going as he had thought.

The level 2 pill recipe not only required an additional ingredient but also had extra steps to follow.

The additional ingredient wasn't an issue since it was still something that could be acquired from the market, and as luck would have it, it was also one of the many types of herbs that Ethan had planted in this dimension.

The problem was the extra steps.

Ethan had never worried about his ability to follow the various steps of the recipe because he had a level 1 refinement mastery and a solid knowledge of the recipe thanks to it being directly implanted in his brain.

But now, one of these two factors didn't seem to be at a high enough level for refining this level of pill.

And it was obviously the refinement mastery.

'It seems like a level 1 refinement mastery only helps with level 1 recipes.'

Ethan thought, feeling disheartened.

The result was that, in the end, though he managed to finish refining the pill, 2 out of 3 failed.

And the one that was successfully produced seemed to have a purity of 27%, almost at the acceptable limit for a low-grade pill.

[Congratulations, you've successfully produced your first low-grade level 2 pill.]

[You have received 100 Qi]

[You have received 15 Qi]

[You have received 10 system points]

For someone like Ethan, who was always used to producing pills as if they were easy-to-refine candies, this was a hard blow.

Not even the system's reward of 100 Qi for creating his first level 2 pill lifted his spirits.

But it seemed the system wasn't done with him yet.

DING!

[A new item is available in the system shop]

Seeing this notification, he became curious and opened the shop.

He saw that the screen had changed once again.

Now, instead of immediately seeing the list of various recipes, he saw two options.

[Recipes]

[Skills] new!

Seeing the new addition, a flame of excitement ignited in him, and without thinking, he pressed it.

Entering, he saw that, much like it was at the beginning with the recipe section, here too, there was only one option.

[Refinement Mastery level 2]

Seeing it, Ethan's mood skyrocketed.

He didn't know why the system hadn't given him this feature earlier, but better late than never.

He couldn't wait to upgrade this skill.

But as soon as he glanced to the right and finally saw the cost in SP, his expression changed.

[5000 SP]

"..."

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

See you tomorrow with another chapter.