Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 93: Chapter 93 — The First Step

Chapter 93 — The First Step

A few hours passed.

Victor remained inside the Alchemy Room, completely focused on the task before him.

His expression was serious, his eyes fixed on the materials suspended before him. The Black Flame danced around them, carefully refining and combining the medicinal properties of each ingredient.

A strange sound filled the room.

It was almost like the sound of something warping as the different energies twisted together, slowly being forced into a single, unified mass.

Victor’s breathing remained steady.

He didn’t dare lose focus.

The slightest mistake could ruin everything.

The medicinal properties continued twisting and merging as Victor’s soul power flowed through the flame, guiding the process with as much precision as he could manage.

Then—

WOOOM!

A deep, almost warped sound shook the room.

Victor’s eyes widened slightly.

The energies had finally merged.

The fusion process was complete.

For the first time, Victor had successfully passed the stage that had stopped him time and time again.

Excitement began to rise inside him.

I did it.

But he immediately suppressed it.

He wasn’t finished.

There was still one final step.

Pill condensation.

The fused medicinal properties remained suspended within the Black Flame.

Victor carefully began compressing them.

The first compression was surprisingly easy.

The mass shrank slightly.

Victor’s eyes brightened.

This isn’t as bad as I thought.

Then he began the second compression.

His expression immediately changed.

The difficulty increased exponentially.

Victor’s soul power surged as he attempted to force the medicinal properties into an even smaller space.

The books had explained that Tier One pills typically required somewhere between five and ten compressions, though certain materials could require even more.

Victor had only completed one.

And already, the second felt like an entirely different process.

He pushed harder.

Sweat began to form on Victor’s brow.

He continued compressing.

The closer he got, the more difficult it became.

The pressure contained within the fused material was enormous.

Victor had never experienced anything like it.

He poured more and more soul power into controlling the compression, trying to maintain the delicate balance.

Then—

BOOM!

The entire mass exploded.

Alchemical energy erupted outward.

Victor was thrown backward.

Jack was sent flying in the opposite direction, crashing into a bookshelf.

The force sent equipment and materials scattering throughout the room as the entire alchemical process collapsed in on itself.

For several seconds, silence filled the room.

Victor slowly climbed to his feet.

His hair was disheveled, his clothes covered in residue, and the room looked like a disaster.

Yet Victor was smiling.

He had failed.

But this failure was different.

He had finally succeeded at something that had held him back for a long time.

The fusion process.

He had done it.

Jack slowly climbed out from the bookshelf.

He looked at Victor.

Then at the destroyed laboratory.

Then back at Victor.

"Congratulations, Victor."

Victor’s smile widened.

"You destroyed half the lab."

Victor laughed.

"Jack, for once I thought you were being supportive."

He shook his head.

"I should have known."

"Oh, come now, Victor. Don’t be a poor sport."

Jack snapped his fingers.

Instantly, everything in the room moved.

Books flew back onto shelves.

Alchemy equipment returned to its proper position.

Scattered ingredients returned to their containers.

Within seconds, the entire room looked exactly as it had before the explosion.

Victor stared for a moment before walking over to the desk containing the alchemical instructions.

He began reading through the section on pill condensation again.

The more he studied it, the more obvious the problem became.

He hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong.

His soul power simply wasn’t refined enough.

His control wasn’t strong enough.

He needed to compress the medicinal properties again and again while maintaining absolute control over the entire process.

Victor sighed.

"So that’s the problem."

He looked down at his hands.

His soul control wasn’t good enough yet.

He still had a long way to go before he could complete even five compressions.

Victor stepped away from the desk.

At least now he knew what he needed to work on.

He needed better soul control.

And fortunately, he already knew how to train it.

Victor estimated that it would take some time, but he believed that within the next three months, he should finally be capable of creating his first Tier One pill.

He was getting closer.

Slowly.

Victor looked toward Jack.

"I think that’s enough for today."

Jack nodded.

Victor smiled.

"See you later, Jack."

Then he closed his eyes.

His consciousness returned to his body.

When Victor opened them again, he was back in the forest.

The first thing he did was raise his hand.

A tiny black flame appeared above his palm.

Victor immediately began practicing.

Bigger.

Smaller.

Bigger.

Smaller.

He continued manipulating the flame, focusing entirely on controlling his soul power.

He planned to keep practicing for several hours before finally going to sleep.

For now, there was nothing else he needed to do.

Just practice.

A few more hours passed.

Victor continued repeating the same process, making the Black Flame larger before shrinking it down again.

His concentration never wavered.

Eventually, however, his body began to ache.

Victor finally stopped.

He stared at the small black flame hovering above his palm.

"Twenty-four seconds."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

He had improved.

Only by one second.

But it was still progress.

That was what mattered most.

Victor extinguished the flame and slowly stood up.

Getting to his feet was no easy process.

His entire body still ached from his battle with Monkbala. Even after spending most of the day cultivating, the damage hadn’t completely healed.

He pushed himself upright and stretched slightly.

Pain immediately traveled through his body.

He looked back at the spot where he had been practicing.

His progress with the Black Flame’s soul-control technique was painfully slow.

One second.

That was all he had gained after hours of practice.

At this rate, mastering the technique would take a very long time.

Victor couldn’t help but think about the statue in the tribe.

His month-long cultivation before Samal’s statue had given him an enormous boost to his soul power. If he could find another statue like that, perhaps his progress would accelerate again.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t found anything since leaving the tribe.

Victor still believed there had to be more statues somewhere.

He just had to find one.

Victor walked over to his hammock and slowly lowered himself onto it.

Once he was comfortable, he reached toward his bag.

He opened it and pulled out the large black feather.

Victor stared at it for a moment.

His thoughts immediately turned toward Nala.

He wondered what she was doing.

He wondered when he would see her again.

He had no idea how long the evolution would take or when Nala would finally return.

Victor looked down at the feather.

"I wonder when I’ll see you again."

He missed the little Firebird.

Her antics had slowly grown on him.

At first, Victor had simply considered her annoying.

Now...

He couldn’t imagine traveling without her.

For a moment, Victor felt something he hadn’t expected.

Loneliness.

It wasn’t exactly a new feeling.

Back on Earth, he had spent most of his life alone.

He had gotten used to it.

Perhaps that was why he recognized the feeling so easily.

Victor stared at the feather for another few seconds before shaking his head.

These thoughts weren’t going to help him.

There was nothing he could do about it right now.

Nala would return when she could.

Victor carefully placed the feather back into his bag.

Then he leaned back into the hammock.

Tomorrow would be another day.

With that thought, Victor slowly closed his eyes.

Eventually, sleep took him.

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