"Venerable Sacharro, I don't quite understand. Keeping impurities? Aren't you purposely ruining your pills?
"I have to admit that your words are correct. The idea of treating each herb differently and thus adjusting the alchemy formula accordingly sounds so perfect to me that it can't possibly be incorrect.
"But I can't wrap my mind around the idea of keeping impurities…"
Hearing Vargas' words, Dyon frowned slightly. He thought he had explained well enough…
After thinking absentmindedly for a moment, something clicked in Dyon's mind.
"Venerable Vargas. When you concoct lower Venerable pills, are you not already capable of purging all of its herbs completely of these 'impurities'?"
Vargas blinked. "Yes. I'm sure that I am."
"And what is the best purity percentage you've reached, then?"
Vargas blushed. "… Not even 80%."
"Then what do you think the problem is? If you believe you already purged the herbs of all of its impurities, why is your pill still imperfect? Further than that, if 100% purity is considered 100% pure already, then how is it that one to nine times refined pills can exist?"
Realizing that Dyon wasn't trying to insult or embarrass him, Vargas was both surprised and curious. For a moment, he really didn't know how to answer. He had truly never thought of this. No, rather, he had just assumed that he was making mistakes later on in the process. Was this the difference between a genius and him? Or was it that he had simply not practiced enough to realize something so simple?
"When you consume a rare herb in the wild, have you ever considered its impurity?" Dyon continued. "The truth is that there is no such thing as pure and impure. An herb, created by nature, can't possibly have 'impurities'
"There are failures that can occur during the alchemy process that can introduce impurities. For example, pollutants in the air, flame or cauldron, but these impurities never come from the herb.
"What alchemists mean when they mention impurities are the parts of an herb that don't directly improve the pill being concocted. An herb can have many main and sub functions, but only a few of those are needed for a pill, and sometimes the same herb can have completely different functions in completely different pills.
"However, these so-called 'impurities' are what gives herbs the perfect balance when they appear in nature, their existence is the reason why one doesn't worry about impurities when consuming an herb in the wild.
"By the same token, they can be used to both neutralize or boost certain aspects of an herb to allow the unique proportions they naturally come in to be perfectly adjusted to the pill that needs to be concocted.
"Do you understand what I mean now?"
Vargas stared at Dyon with a gaze so heated one would have thought the latter was the most beautiful woman in existence. But after a few moments, his emotions calmed, and he smiled bitterly.
"I don't know if I can ever accomplish this even if you've now told me. The level of genius needed to do this is far beyond my means… But I will take these words of wisdom to heart. I believe they are the most valuable I've heard in my lifetime…"
In the end, Dyon managed to explain it as simply as he could. But understanding what he meant and actually executing it were two completely different concepts.
Dyon was essentially telling them that each and every pill he concocted was entirely different from the last. Not only based on the herbs he was given, but maybe even based on the person he was concocting for. To make so many split second decisions and complete so many complex calculations, all while perfectly maintaining your flame and arrays… just what kind of person could do this so easily?
Not to mention Vargas, the apprentices especially only watched blankly as Dyon completed the last batch of 20 pills. The entire process took not even a third of an hour. Despite watching it personally, they found it hard to wrap their minds around it.
This sort of situation continued for a long while. After Dyon's first explanation, they no longer asked questions, instead straining their eyes to point of fatigue trying to catch every detail of his refinement process.
For the next week, those three hardly moved an inch. Their only regret was that Dyon hadn't concocted more pills. No, maybe their other regret was that Dyon was too good and finished concocting them too quickly.
On the 8th day, Dyon finally remembered a question he had been meaning to ask.
"Venerable Vargas. What can you tell me about these?" With a light toss, he threw a piece of mist glass over.
Vargas' eyes widened. Maybe it was only at that moment that Dyon realized that maybe it wasn't such a smart idea taking the mist glass out.
"Put it away! Quickly!"
Vargas threw the glass back toward Dyon, a slightly panicked expression coloring his handsome features.
Dyon didn't understand what was going on, but he acquiesced regardless. He was certain that this mist glass was the main resource of Metodel City. How could something be both the main resource of a major city and taboo at the same time?
But when Dyon thought more deeply about it, he realized there was something he overlooked. While it was true that when his senses swept over, he had sensed many people importing and exporting this mist glass, and even discovered many both open and hidden deposits, he hadn't checked to see whether it was being distributed amongst the normal population.
In the distance, on the battlefield, the clash of Skull and a man with a dull gaze raged one.
"You've insisted on this battle for over a week already, Skull. Do you really believe that if I had what you wanted, I wouldn't have given it to you? Do you think I want to be wasting my time like this?"
The man with the dull gaze seemed to be complaining lazily, but he rebuffed Skull's attacks without much effort. It gave the illusion that he could end the battle whenever he wanted, but this was little else other than his demeanor. He had no luxury to not use his full strength against Skull.
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