Chapter 304 - One Hundred and Four - I begin practicing a new field of alchemy

Before Grandfather Jian left, he gave his grandson-in-law a small gift; a thin book written by himself with a few trick pill recipes contained within.

As the rest of his four day break had been used pacifying a beast before that person too went on his way, while glowing with radiant satisfaction, for the six day period of school, Leon could barely be bothered to rise from his bed, thus he took out the thin book to read.

The book contained just six trick pill recipes, but as previously stated, these were simple ones to make and as such, were usually considered by more experienced alchemists as nothing more than 'prank' pills. One even had a fairly familiar concept to a person with memories of a different world and era.

'The Stink Pill; once a spark of spiritual energy is implanted into the pill and thrown, it will emit a foul odour for a radius of half a li upon impact with the ground or other hard surface. Note, if the surface is too soft, such as loose sand, it will not complete its activation.'

Leon flipped the page unsure just how this pill would be effective if used in combat. Many alchemists would likely think the same or just think the pill was too embarrassing to be used in serious battle, however they would all fail to understand the impact such a distraction could cause in the flow of a fight. That and please consider the poor noses of beasts that rely on them!

'The Flash Pill; once a spark of spiritual energy is implanted in the pill, the pill will begin to radiate with a blinding array of light for 1.5 seconds. The after effects can be as long as eight seconds, depending on those caught unawares ability to recover, but usually no shorter than two seconds. Note, has a delay of 3 seconds on activation.'

Causing distractions by effecting smell and sight, naturally the following one caused distraction by emitting a high pitched frequency causing near deafness for a duration. The following two also attacked these particular senses, while the last was a strange combination and was intended not to trick within combat, but to trick in order to protect an alchemist's pills. Jian Juren called it; the mirage pill.

'The mirage pill; placed within the jade bottle amongst other pills, it fools the eye and the nose into believing that all pills within the bottle are lower quality or waste product of a pill of choice. Said pill must be added during creation of the mirage pill, thus it will also take on and emit an aura of chosen pill which it will reflect on all pills in its immediate surroundings. Can only effect around twelve other pills at any one time.  Will appear to be of one level of quality lower than its host pill.'

This particular pill couldn't help but appeal to Leon, likely thanks to the time when he had lost nine tenths of his current life at the hands of bullies which caused his physical body to almost break and his cultivation to deviate for a time. If they had believed his pills to be waste products, would they have continued to bother with him? He wasn't sure; Caprian had been a selfish, lazy and arrogant youth who had been raised to treat life as grass after all. It might have instead happened that he (Leon) was still beaten to near death just because Caprian couldn't find what he wanted to steal in Leon's house.

There was also the additional point that his home had been ransacked, some jade bottles broken. This pill could only effect pills close to it. If the bottle was broken, then the pills scattered, his trick would have been discovered and he doubted Caprian's anger could have been reigned in by Tor (Caprian's former subordinate) at that time.

Needless to say, there was no point thinking about it now. Caprian's path led him to return home in disgrace, while his own had led him to a cave some miles west to pick up a stray youth covered in bristles who would at some point claim him as his own and tie their lives together unendingly.

Leon's eyes glanced over the ingredients before ignoring the lingering aches in his lower back and rising from his bed. He hissed slightly as more pressure was felt upon that unspeakable place and he inwardly cursed Jin Li numerous times in his head. What 'payment', what 'punishment'? Leon pouted, pushing aside the vivid memories in which he, himself was a very active participant... at least until the point he begged for Jin Li to stop as he felt he'd surely been drained of all his senses and didn't feel as if he could cope with experiencing that ultimate peak of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e for the fourth time!

Jin Li had kissed him thoroughly and muttered that it couldn't be helped, before thrusting hard numerous times to finish deep inside his softened body. Leon had passed out not long after and had remained asleep as Jin Li had left for the inner martial arts school this morning.

Burying his embarrassment, he shuffled over to his kitchen to notice that the stove was lit and a kettle of water had been prepared for him to heat. No food had been prepared, but that was because a certain Jin Li did not abode well within a kitchen; boiling water and steeping tea was about the extent of his cooking abilities. That said, he could dissect a carcass into portions, which made Leon's life that much easier.

The he that was Leo could take a life in order to eat, but the he that was Leon had only ever bought meat from a supermarket, prepackaged and usually from the specials section. Actually killing something and cutting open it's recently deceased body made his stomach turn. It was one of the many contradictions he was still trying to come to terms with in this duality of an existence. Eventually, he felt, he would be able to come to terms with this. At least he could watch a small life be taken in front of him without throwing up anymore.

Leon lazily boiled the water and a couple of eggs to eat with some rice to pad his stomach. He didn't linger after breakfast as was his habit when Jin Li was about, but washed up in his bathroom, cleaning parts his lover had neglected as usual then refreshed the water to wash his sheets and any dirty clothes. Leaving them to soak, he headed to his small store room attached to the greenhouse to see what herbs he had remaining there.

As he thought, there were enough herbs to make at least one attempt at making the mirage pill. He gathered them up as well as a burning energy pill bottle and headed for his old hut.

The old hut was still located outside of the courtyard house. The old gardens surrounding it had not long ago been weeded and given a fresh covering of mulch. Several herbs grown from fallen seed or from hidden root stock were pushing through the covering to reach up and outward towards the dappled sunlight. Shrub-like herbs were budding new leaves and a hardy evergreen type was beginning to flower. Leon even spied shoots that belonged to the five blossom daisies herb, of which he'd been able to witness four different coloured flowers last year before it had died. It seemed that the seedlings would provide him another attempt to nurture it through its long flowering season and perhaps witness those final blooms.

Leon placed his cauldron onto the stove and turned to reach into the barrel of wood kindling and tossed a few pieces into the metal contraption, before attempting to light it. Fortunately, he'd developed a deft hand at doing this even before regaining his memories, so it wasn't long before the flames took hold and licked over the dry wood hungrily. Heat soon began to emanate from the old stove. With a deep breath, Leon went through the steps of making the trick Pill in his head before turning his hand to make it.