Almost all the cultivators in the world start focusing on side professions like Alchemy, Puppet Creations, Talisman Creations and so on.
And Gallant was no different as he had focused on creating puppets whenever he got the time.
Finally, with the help of the special mid-level spirit stones that Leo had given him to reach the peak foundation establishment realm, he was lucky and became a high-level puppet master.
With a high-level puppet master beside him, Leo could have a supply of high-level rank 1 puppets in the future and with the help of his [Fundamental Merge], Leo could have top-level rank 1 Puppets which might even have the strength of peak foundation establishment realm cultivators.
'The mid-level rank 1 combat puppet I got from merging ten 10 low-level rank 1 combat puppets could temporarily burst its strength to peak Qi-refinement. So, I am very sure that the top-level rank 1 combat puppet will give me a pleasant surprise.'
With that thought in mind, Leo became excited as he congratulated Gallant.
However, on the other hand, Gallant didn't look very happy because he knew the cost to create a single high-level puppet could be as low as 100 low-level spirit stones and as high as 1000 low-level spirit stones.
"Since you have just broken through to a high-level puppet master, your success rate will be very low and I know you are worried about the expense to practice your puppet creations."
As a mid-level puppet master himself, Leo knew it was very costly to nurture a puppet master in the early stages where their success rate is as low as 10 percent.
However, Leo had already thought of something as he said, "Take these 500 low–level spirits and refine as many mid-level puppets as possible."
"Creating mid-level puppets? 500 low-level spirit stones?"
The sect only has 1000 low-level spirit stones and how could Gallant dare to use half of the sect's money for his practice of puppet creations?
"Wait a second…what is your success rate of refining mid-level puppets before the breakthrough?"
Suddenly, Leo thought of something as he asked Gallant about it.
"It's 30 percent and I am confident that I can have a 50 percent or even higher success rate now."
Gallant replied instantly without thinking much.
"What about low-level puppets? What is the success rate?"
"Previously, it was a little above 50 percent and right now, it might be around 80 or even 90 percent."
Gallant thought about it for a moment and answered.
"Good…let's focus on refining low-level rank 1 puppet until you have a success rate of 100 percent. Use these 500 low-level spirit stones to buy the required materials for creating low-level puppets."
Once he heard Gallant's reply, Leo thought of something and ordered him to focus on the low-level puppets.
"But, it won't be very profitable even if we have a 100 percent success rate. The material cost and the selling price of puppets are almost the same unless we get a huge discount for the material cost just like the other two sects."
Gallant felt it would be a waste of their time and money to rely on the low-level puppets to make money.
Even though Gallant was a loyal follower, he was not a blind follower that would follow whatever Leo asked him to do. Of course, if he felt something was wrong with it, he would ask about it and suggest Leo change the plan.
"Don't worry and just make 10 low-level puppets for me every day and I will turn them into money…haha."
With a laugh, Leo assured Gallant.
"Since the master looked confident, I will not think too much about it."
Seeing how confident Leo was, Gallant followed Leo's order and silently thought, 'As long as I make 50 low-level puppets from these 500 low-level spirit stones, we can still make 100 low-level spirit stones as profit. So, I guess, it's not a big issue; instead, it's just a time-consuming process.'
Since Gallant had already reached the peak Foundation Establishment Realm, he had nothing better to do and could try to improve his skills in the puppet creations.
"Go and bring the necessary materials right away and from tomorrow onwards, no one is allowed to go out of the sect."
After saying that, Leo quietly returned to his courtyard which was three times bigger than other courtyards and looked more majestic than any other courtyard in the sect.
…..
In the Alchemy Room,
'Since I am not tired at all, I will test my pill-refining skills after enlightenment.'
Even though Leo was able to extend his lifespan by a year, he knew he didn't have enough time and wanted to improve his strength and financial status as soon as possible.
Therefore, as soon as he returned to his courtyard, without wasting any time, he directly entered the Alchemy Room and cleaned the cauldron before starting his pill refinement session.
'Let's start with the easiest pill….Qi-refinement Pill.'
Among the ingredients bought by Leo, Leo selected the Qi-refinement Pill and started the refinement.
'My predecessor's success rate in refining mid-level Qi-refinement Pills is 50 percent and for low-level, it is 80 percent. I wonder what level of pills I will get from the refinement.'
Among all the side professions, only in alchemy, the quality of the output was not known properly until the end of the process.
So, Leo started working on it, as he took the first set of ingredients out and started extracting their essence inside the cauldron.
At the same time, he controlled the temperature with the fire crystals below the cauldron.
Even though his actions were simple, if others saw it, they could tell that he must have at least accumulated a lot of experience.
'Ting'
In less than 10 minutes, the lid of the cauldron made a sound, which is a sign of completion of the pill refinement.
'I wonder what the high level of pills in this batch is.'
With a lot of hope, Leo slowly opened the lid and looked into the cauldron to see 20 perfectly round-shaped pills.
'What? 20 pills? Isn't 18 pills the highest record in a single pill refinement?'
Before he could check the level of the pills, Leo had already received a shock.
Generally, in a single refinement, 8 pills are the most common and 10 pills could be considered rare and 12 for genius.
Of course, some geniuses were capable of refining 15 and even 18 pills in a single batch in history.
And, now, Leo was able to refine 20 pills which was twice as much as his predecessor was able to refine in a single batch.
'I think it is because of enlightenment. How many alchemists increase their knowledge by enlightenment? It won't be a shock to refine 20 pills in a batch.'
When Leo thought about how his alchemy skills were improved, he was not shocked any more and looked forward to seeing the quality of the pills.
'10 high-level pills and 10 mid-level pills? Haha.'
Once Leo checked the quality of the pills, he was over the moon and looked at the remaining 499 sets of ingredients for the Qi-refinement Pill.
'If I can refine all of them, I can have 5000 high-level Qi-refinement Pills and 5000 mid-level Qi-refinement pills. If I can keep the high-level Qi-refinement Pills and merge them into top-level pills for my disciples and sell the mid-level Qi-refinement Pills, I can easily get 25000 low-level spirit stones.'
The average selling price for the Qi-refinement Pills is:
1) Low-level Pill - 1 Low-level Spirit Stone.
2) Mid-level Pill - 5 Low-level Spirit Stones.
3) High-level Pill - 10 Low-level Spirit Stones.
Previously, he thought of selling some merged pills to increase the financial status of his sect; however, after his rough estimation of earnings from selling the mid-level Qi-refinement Pills, he removed the thought of selling the merged pills.
Instead, he planned to use those pills to increase the cultivation of his disciples and in the future, he could find a few more loyal disciples.
'As for finding the loyal disciples, I have the [Quasi Divine Knowledge] that takes care of the issue.'
With that talent, Leo could check out the loyalty of someone towards him and earlier he checked it with Gallant and others.
They all have die-hard loyal followers. So, having those special top-level Qi-refinement pills is not a bad thing for him.
'Since it is taking 10 minutes per pill refinement, I can complete 100 pill refinements by tomorrow morning.'
With his current strength, Leo could stay awake for an entire month without eating anything. So, refining for a night was not a big deal for him.
Soon, Loe got the motivation he wanted for refining the Qi-refinement Pills as he started his refining spree.
…
Time continued to pass and in a flash 15 hours passed by as the moon turned a bright orange signifying it was afternoon.
'Ting'
The cauldron made a crisp sound as Leo excitedly opened the lid and found 20 pills just like how he found in his first pill refinement.
'10 Mid-level Pills and 10 High-level Pills.'
With a smile, Leo stored them in the long gourds separately in one gourd, there were 1000 mid-level qi-refinement pills and in the other one, there were 1000 high-level qi-refinement pills.
Since there were so many pills, Leo didn't bother to store them in a pill bottle as it would take too many pill bottles.
Therefore, he just used the two gourds after learning that storing the pills in them won't affect the pills.
[Congratulations to the Ascender for successfully refining 100 rank 1 pill refinements without a failure]
[The Ascender can pick two of the three rewards]
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