Chapter 417: Making A Pill [II] They were over the sink now, the warm sunlight reflecting off the polished metal as Esme scrubbed away the last stubborn streaks of foamed honey sticking to the inside of the cauldron. Her brows were pinched together in silent disappointment. She worked with a kind of precision only someone who had cleaned cauldrons a thousand times already could produce, her hands were delicate but efficient as she rinsed the final suds away. Behind her, Azel was drying his face with his shirt, he looked very guilty. "You wasted perfectly good honey." Esme shook her head as she carried the now-clean cauldron back to the crafting table. Her voice was resigned and tired as if emotionally drained by the fact she now had to use more honey. "I’ll make sure you pay for the honey." "I just thought the Inflating salt would, you know... increase the amount of honey," Azel said, sounding genuinely confused by the outcome though he was having fun with it. ’Double revenge is really nice.’ He thought, suppressing the urge to laugh evily. Esme looked at him with an absolutely tragic deadpan stare. "You’re not that dumb..." Azel opened his mouth to defend himself, but Esme was already pouring a fresh batch of honey into the cauldron carefully. Unlike Azel, she treated ingredients like sacred artifacts. She tapped the side again, activating the enchantments. A low hum vibrated the cauldron as the honey began bubbling steadily. "Watch properly this time." She shifted the cauldron slightly aside and then rushed to the tap to rinse the mortar and pestle, water splashing as she worked quickly. "This part will be very important for the next stage," she explained while shaking the water off. Droplets flicked from her fingers and glowed under the sunlight. "Because we’ll need to pound everything smoothly into powder." She placed the mortar on the table and began adding the ingredients: Mindpetal leaves, the glowing slivers of Ember-bud shavings, and precisely measured Whisper-root powder. Each ingredient added a distinct scent to the air... They were like spices but vastly different at the same time. "Alright, come pound it." She stepped back, motioning for him to take over. Azel stared at her as if she had just asked him to perform open-heart surgery. "What? You didn’t think I would do everything myself, did you?" Esme scoffed, crossing her arms. "It’s a date, so that means both of us work together." Azel sighed dramatically but stepped forward, taking hold of the pestle. "I just have to pound it, right?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚 "Yes, that’s all you need to do." The moment she said it, Azel brought the pestle down like a machine, his arm moving in blurs Esme could barely follow. The sound of grinding leaves and crushing powder sounded rapidly, It was far too fast to be human. When he finally stopped, the mixture inside had turned into a perfectly fine crimson powder. Esme blinked. Her breath hitched. ’It’s... very smooth...’ She cleared her throat quickly, recovering her composure. "That’s nice," she said, her voice slightly higher than normal. "The Mindpetal leaves, Ember-bud shavings, and Whisper-root powder help stabilize volatile synergy between mana and body responses. They give structure to the pill’s effect so it doesn’t overload your system." She lifted the mortar with both hands and brought it over the cauldron. The honey inside had darkened slightly and a warm, sweet smell drifted up. "We’ll apply this now." She tipped the mortar and used the pestle to push every bit of powder into the bubbling honey. The moment the crimson powder mixed in, the color shifted... first it was pinkish, then pastel blue, swirling like paint mixing on water. She grabbed a clean spoon. "Now stir clockwise seven times and counter-clockwise once. It helps the mixture spread evenly and activates the first-stage reaction." She stirred with impeccable rhythm... one... two... three... she did it very gently. By the time she finished the last rotation, the mixture had changed color again and become darker. "It’s like cooking," she murmured, watching the bubbles rise. "Just that it’s more complicated than that." Then she picked up a thin vial filled with shimmering crystalline grains. "This is Crystal Mana Sand," she explained. "It’s not actual sand... the alchemist who discovered it named it based on how it looks. But it’s basically compressed, crystallized mana." She sprinkled in a small pinch and the reaction was immediate. Big bubbles formed... round and perfect spheres that burst with soft pops, releasing brief clouds of visible mana into the air like smoke. "When this happens," Esme said seriously, "you should know the mixture is in a very reactive state and unfit for consumption. If you were to swallow it at this stage, you’d get the pill’s effect but it would destroy your organs at the same time. It’s like drinking magical acid." Azel nodded firmly, committing this to memory. Then she took another vial into her hand. This one was filled with a thick, translucent liquid that clung to the glass like syrup. She raised it over the cauldron and tapped the bottom twice, letting two precise drops fall into the mixture. The reaction was instant... the bubbling honey thickened sharply, its texture becoming heavier as the mana bubbles grew larger and denser. Esme stirred with controlled force, grunting softly as the resistance pushed back against the spoon. After several turns, she pulled the spoon out and flicked the excess back into the cauldron. "The mix is ready." She exhaled, wiping her forehead with her wrist. He leaned over the cauldron and inhaled sharply only to recoil violently. "The hell... it smells so bad..." He quickly wiped his nose, shaking his head as if trying to fling the stench away. "Not everything is supposed to smell good," Esme said dryly. "Alchemy isn’t about being pleasant. It’s about results. Now we only have one final thing to do..." She bent over to open the cabinet under the table... She already found what she was looking for. These were the pill plates... They were flat metal slabs engraved with rows of shallow circular molds, each one designed to hold a portion of the mixture. Once the liquid blend was poured into them, the embedded enchantments would activate on their own, cooling and stabilizing the mixture until it hardened into a proper pill. The plates looked simple, almost mundane at first glance, but every alchemist knew they were one of the most important tools in the entire process. Then she noticed something, she was bent over and Azel’s eyes had been staring at her ass this entire time. Her entire body froze. She immediately shot back up, her hands clasped behind her backside with a red face. "Perv... you were looking at my ass..." she mumbled, cheeks puffed and burning red. "I didn’t," Azel said quickly. "It was just in my line of visi—" "I... I’m not packing as much as Sybil back there but if you want to see it, just ask," she muttered, her eyes widening the moment she realized what she had said. "Not now though!" "O... okay..." She slammed the pill plates onto the table with flustered force. "Come help me pour the mix into these holes." She rinsed them at the tap, lined them neatly, and Azel grabbed the cauldron by its handles. Thanks to the enchantments, the metal wasn’t hot. He began pouring the mixture carefully into each circular slot. The pale-blue syrup filled twenty slots perfectly. The moment the last slot was filled, the enchantments on the pill plates glowed to life, activating the cooling and hardening sequence. The mixture thickened, firmed, and slowly solidified into smooth spherical pills. Minutes later, Esme picked one up gently and held it up to Azel. It was marble white, streaked with delicate lines of blue and beautiful in a subtle way only alchemists truly understood. "And here’s your pill... it’s a Focus-Bloom Concentration pill."