I Awakened The Ancient Vampire System

Chapter 168: Chapter 168: First Lesson on Alchemy

The group arrived back at the academy after a long, quiet flight.

Calls had been coming in nonstop since they boarded the transport. Rose’s mother Céline Chevalier had called four times before the plane even left Swiss airspace — her voice cracking between relief and fury, demanding to know every detail, ordering Rose to eat something, telling her she’d sent people to escort her home.

For Lucian, it was the Knights.

His communicator buzzed mid-flight. Miss Solstice’s name flashed on the screen. He answered.

He gave her the summary — leaving out the parts that couldn’t be spoken over an open channel. The Dark Order’s coordinated attack. The plague. The Titan Ape. Hoffman’s betrayal. The mysterious master who killed him.

Miss Solstice was quiet for a moment after he finished. Then she murmured with a frown. "The Dark Order. It seems their influence has grown deeper than we estimated." A pause. "It’s good to hear that you’re okay. I will call you later."

The line went dead.

Rose, sitting across from him, lowered her own communicator. "Who was that?"

Lucian pocketed his device. "My boss, I guess."

They didn’t leave New Geneva empty-handed.

Before departure, Vice Master Yelena and the remaining administrative staff distributed rewards. Each student who had participated in the defense of the city received 500,000 credits. Mid-grade mana stones. Access to the Starveil Tower’s cultivation resources.

Iris and Ryan received additional offers. The World Government’s Research Division extended formal invitations — permanent positions, unlimited funding, access to classified databases. Ryan’s role in synthesizing the plague cure had not gone unnoticed.

They arrived at the academy gates late in the evening. Medical staff met them at the entrance, scanning each student for injuries. Most were minor — cuts, bruises, mana exhaustion. Arthur’s missing arm was the exception.

The Head Instructor met Arthur personally as they planned to restore his missing arm.

"Thank you, Master."

Their second year was to resume after a one-month holiday.

The next morning, Lucian walked the familiar path up the mountainside to Allistar’s clearing.

Allistar sat at the edge of the lake, his back to Lucian. His white hair caught the morning light. His cane rested against his hip. His closed eyes faced the water.

Lucian stopped a few meters behind him. "Master."

The old man turned.

"Wow. You look like a mess." He sipped his tea. "It seems New Geneva was not kind."

Lucian sat on the grass and told him everything. The Dark Order. The plague. The Black Forest. The Khamsin vampires — Khalil and Omar. Lemora’s appearance and her killing of Khalil. The interrogation of Omar. The memories he’d extracted through Mind Read.

And the Dark King.

Allistar’s cup paused halfway to his lips. He set it down slowly. His expression didn’t change.

"The Dark King, huh?"

Lucian leaned forward. "Do you know anything about the Dark King?"

Allistar’s cane moved.

THWACK!

It caught Lucian on the top of his head.

"Ouch—!"

"That’s not for you to know yet."

Lucian looked at the old man with a vicious expression.

Lucian exhaled. Scratched the back of his head. "Fine."

Allistar picked up his cup again. "As promised — if you took first place in the ICL tournament, I would teach you alchemy." He glanced at Lucian over the rim.

Lucian reached into his Shadow Storage and pulled out two items. The King Grade Bloodline Herb — a small, crimson-veined plant with leaves that shimmered like liquid blood. And the Blood Lily Core — a dark red, fist-sized crystallized mass that pulsed with faint, organic energy.

"I want to refine these two together to create a pill that can remove my bloodline seal by 7%."

Allistar set down his cup. He leaned forward and examined both items. His hand hovered over the Bloodline Herb — not touching it, just feeling the energy radiating from its surface.

"Oh." His eyebrows rose. "This herb is quite rare. And it’s King Grade. Where did you get it?"

Lucian didn’t answer. He smiled mischieviously. He couldn’t reveal anything about the system.

Lucian crossed his arms. "You have to tell me about the Dark King first."

THWACK!

"Ouch!" Lucian rubbed his head where the cane had landed a second time.

Allistar shook his head. "Never mind. We can start your alchemy lessons as we go." He stood, grabbed his cane, and walked toward the wooden house. "Follow me."

Allistar led Lucian through the back door of the house and into a room he’d never entered before.

The space was quite large. The ceiling was high enough to fit a two-story building. In the center sat a massive cauldron covered in rune inscriptions. It was wide enough for Lucian to sit inside comfortably. Steam vents lined the walls. Shelves of jars, vials, and dried ingredients surrounded the space.

But what caught Lucian’s attention was the garden.

A small section of the room had been converted into a living garden with herbs he’d only read about. Herbs that pulsed with mana signatures ranging from Earth Grade to king Grade or even higher.

"Don’t worry," Allistar said, noticing Lucian’s stare at the massive cauldron. "We ain’t using the big one."

He walked past it to a smaller setup against the far wall — a modest copper cauldron the size of a cooking pot, a mana-powered heating element beneath it, and a wooden bench with preparation tools: a mortar and pestle, a set of silver knives, glass measuring vials, and a small jade cutting board.

Allistar sat on a stool beside the bench and gestured for Lucian to sit across from him.

"Now then. Let’s start our lecture."

He held up one finger.

"Unlike the various misconceptions floating around Earth — the rankings of beasts, the so-called gradings of pills from Earth Grade to King Grade, all that nonsense — alchemy has its own system. A proper system. One that predates the Cataclysm."

He drew on the wooden bench with the tip of his cane — lines, numbers, symbols.

"Alchemist ranks and pill grades are divided from Tier 1 all the way to Tier 8. Each tier represents two things: the skill level of the alchemist, and the grade of the pill produced. A Tier 1 alchemist can only refine Tier 1 pills. A Tier 4 alchemist can refine Tier 1 through Tier 4 pills. You cannot skip tiers. You cannot rush mastery."

He tapped the bench.

"The pills themselves are also graded from Tier 1 to Tier 8. Tier 1 pills are basic — mana recovery, minor healing, stamina restoration. The kind of garbage they mass-produce at academies. Tier 2 pills — body tempering, meridian cleansing, the stuff they hand out like candy. Tier 3 and above — that’s where pills become valuable. Core condensation. Bloodline enhancement and so on."

He glanced at the King Grade Bloodline Herb.

"The pill we’re refining today — using your Bloodline Herb, the Blood Lily Core, and three supplementary herbs from my garden — is a Tier 3 pill. A Bloodline Unsealing Pill. The herbs themselves are graded by the Earth system — Earth, Sky, Heaven, King — because that system measures the rarity and potency of raw materials. But the finished pill? That’s measured by the Tier system. The pill grade depends not just on the ingredients but on the alchemist’s skill. A Tier 1 alchemist using King Grade herbs would produce a Tier 1 pill — wasting the materials entirely. A Tier 3 alchemist using the same herbs would produce a Tier 3 pill. The materials set the ceiling. The alchemist determines whether that ceiling is reached."

Lucian absorbed every word. He nodded slowly.

Allistar stood and walked to his garden. He selected three herbs with practiced ease — a silver-leafed stem, a cluster of dark blue berries, and a root that glowed faintly orange.

He placed all five ingredients on the bench. "Watch closely."

He cleaned the herbs with the silver knives, peeling away outer layers to expose the mana-rich cores. He ground the Blood Lily Core in the mortar until it became a fine crimson powder. He sliced the Bloodline Herb into paper-thin strips. He measured the silver-leafed herb, the dark blue berries, and the orange root — each in precise quantities.

He placed all five ingredients into the copper cauldron. He lit the mana flame beneath it — a controlled, steady heat, the flame adjusting with minute gestures of his fingers.

"Temperature control is everything. Too hot and the mana in the herbs burns. Too cold and the compounds don’t fuse. The flame must match the melting point of each ingredient — and they all melt at different temperatures."

He showed Lucian the sequence — when to add each ingredient, when to stir, when to reduce heat, when to increase as a mysterious energy guided it.

Thirty minutes passed.

The cauldron glowed red. The contents had fused into a single, swirling liquid — crimson with threads of gold and blue running through it like veins.

Allistar poured the liquid into a pill mold — a small, circular jade container. The liquid cooled. Solidified. Contracted.

A small red pill sat in the mold, faintly glowing with internal light.

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