When they entered the house, Xiao Linlin ignored Valeria and looked directly at Mais.
"What kind of mastery did you have to achieve at such a young age? Are you an alchemy master?"
Mais shook his head and used his cane to find his favorite seat. He sat there comfortably. Valeria flung herself into the seat, sulking. Anika, who had just entered the room, immediately frowned.
"Young lady!"
Valeria jumped up immediately.
"Auntie Anika!"
Anika's arrival awakened the instincts of a gazelle in her. With Mais around, she didn't have to pay much attention to her movements. After all, since Mais was blind, he didn't bother trying too hard to detect her movements. Moreover, even if he perceived it and got angry at her, Mais was much more compassionate compared to Anika.
"Didn't I teach you how to stand in the presence of your master?" Anika looked quite intimidating as she bent slightly to reach Valeria's height. No matter how softly she spoke, Anika was a former soldier. A former cultivator. Her weight and aura didn't easily leave her. Valeria, however, shrank in fear, making whimpering sounds.
"B-but... but—"
The little girl almost peed her pants. Xiao Linlin was certain she didn't want to see this. She couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"That's enough, Anika," Mais said. But Anika was absolutely against it. Although Mais couldn't see it, this little lady—who had just been stuttering in fear—had gone so far as to stick her tongue out at Anika. Her earlier pathetic behavior was definitely a lie. Xiao Linlin felt foolish for falling for it.
"But, sir! This little girl is definitely lying! Once she gets used to it—"
You don't have to worry about that."
Although she was angry, Anika didn't argue; she simply left the room. She still had a lot of work to do and wasn't about to argue with her naive master.
Still, she would make Valeria pay for her attitude later.
Valeria laughed, oblivious to Anika's thoughts. Xiao Linlin showed no more than a small smile in response to the events unfolding before her. She approached slowly and sat down on the couch. Mais knew she hadn't forgotten her previous question.
"Valeria, you haven't learned the basics of alchemy yet, have you?" Mais asked. Valeria shook her head, indicating her ignorance of the subject.
"Then, in response to Miss Xiao's question, I will also provide some information about the realms of alchemy."
Miss Xiao Linlin frowned. She sensed that the answer to her question was in this information.
The first step in becoming an alchemist is to become an alchemy apprentice. In the early days of alchemy, masters would give their students thick books on botany, medicine, geography, chemistry, and many other fields. They would require their students to memorize countless alchemical elements, ranging from the most common to the rarest in nature. Students would also have to memorize the elements' properties, laws, and structures. Those who begin to produce small objects through this memorization process are called Alchemy Apprentices," Mais said. Memorizing these books was certainly not easy, and it was difficult for someone who didn't start memorizing from a young age to progress in alchemy. Given the qualifications required to become an alchemy apprentice, you can imagine how few alchemists there were in the kingdom. Furthermore, most alchemy masters also required that their apprentices be able to cultivate.
Valeria was surprised at how difficult the first level of alchemical expertise was. Especially after hearing from Xiao Linlin that Mais was an alchemist.
"Weren't you blind from birth?" Valeria asked without a second thought. How had Mais read the thick books?
"I thought the scar on my face was obvious enough."
Valeria felt a chill run through her. Looking at the sword wound, she couldn't help but feel afraid. Even Xiao Linlin's face revealed a look of pity.
The wound suggested that Mais might not have been blind since birth. No, in Mais's words, that was certain.
"You're only ten years old. In the Yellow City, alchemy apprentices your age are considered geniuses. Did you become an alchemy apprentice in your mother's womb?" Xiao Linlin asked. Mais didn't object. The empire's alchemy learning techniques weren't accessible to ordinary people. That was largely why Mais had become an alchemy apprentice at such a young age. Despite not having a master.
"If you truly grasp the basics of alchemy—or rather, memorize them—you'll become an alchemy artisan. Even if you're a good enough alchemist to make a living, alchemy artisans often find themselves in debt. Learning alchemy to this level isn't cheap. So, it seems foolish to everyone that you haven't taken advantage of the opportunity I gave you," Mais said, specifically addressing Valeria. Xiao Linlin, on the other hand, felt embarrassed. She was an Alchemy Artisan and, despite being considered a true genius, was somewhat in debt.
Mais didn't dwell on this further.
"Next is the Alchemy Master. They are individuals who have absorbed the alchemical knowledge found in nature. They can easily apply the recipes and, if they find plants containing the Tao, they can create a fake pill of the Tao of Alchemy. Of course, Alchemy Masters who can create such pills are highly experienced experts who have memorized countless recipes and made countless pills. Young alchemists cannot do such things. Alchemy Master pills are generally effective in the Core and Sage Realms. However, as I mentioned earlier, experts who can create pills affecting Sages are older and have spent more time in this realm than necessary. Alchemy masters usually make pills for the Core Realm."
Even for Xiao Linlin, these words were significant at this point. She was close to becoming an Alchemy Master. She could create pills that could affect even Ulam in the advanced stages of the Origin Energy Realm. If she could reach the Alchemy Master realm at such a young age, she would be admired in the capital, too.
But she still needed time. At least a few years.
Moreover, these words had another distinct meaning: Pills that affected the Core Realm. The solution was affecting Maria. Did this mean Mais was an Alchemy Master?
Xiao Linlin breathed in the cold air. A ten-year-old alchemy master? She hadn't even heard of such a genius in the Kingdom Capital. Only...
Such geniuses could only be found in the Alchemy Empire.
Xiao Linlin glanced at Mais suspiciously. Mais could roughly guess what she was thinking.
At this point, Xiao Linlin expected Mais to finish, but Mais misled her.
"The next level often houses true alchemists who have glimpsed the Tao of Alchemy in the Origin Heart Realm through the pill-making process. They incorporate the alchemical teachings they have cultivated into a new pill, thereby becoming part of the Dao of Alchemy. The Alchemy Master requires an external source of Tao. True Alchemists are the source of the Tao. While they absorb the wealth of the sages, they leave a lifelong monetary scar on the Origin Heart Experts. The gap between them and Alchemy Masters is indescribable. Alchemy masters are not extremely rare in the Forgotten Kingdom, but true alchemists are."
Mais was also a true alchemist. The pill he produced was a meditation pill. Mais wanted to develop a pill that counteracts talent deficiency, and thus the Annual Meditation Pill was born. It allowed you to experience the effects of a year of meditation in just a few minutes. Mais was actually saving it to reach the Sage Realm. After all, he was at the tenth stage of the Core Realm, on the verge of reaching the Sage Realm.
Thanks to the Trace of the Tao of Alchemy, he instantly broke through the boundaries of his realm and reached Core Realm perfection. He could have stepped into the Sage Realm, but he had never studied in the palace and was afraid of making a mistake.
Xiao Linlin couldn't imagine that the young man before her was a legendary True Alchemist. Therefore, Mais didn't worry about her or anyone else's opinions. He was a genius alchemy master in everyone's eyes. They didn't need to know that he was a true alchemist and a beast when it came to alchemy.