Chapter 6: Alchemy Time!

Ishida suddenly felt a tremor in his soul.

The light gathering behind me just the sight of it made his legs start to tremble.

“What… what power is this?!”

An unknown spirit art, the likes of which he had never even heard of.

It hadn’t even been released yet just the pressure and aura it emanated were already enough to fill him with sheer dread.

Blinding lightning flared wildly behind me, shaping into a form so radiant that even the clouds overhead parted. 

Sunlight poured down through the break in the sky.

A primal fear of death surged within Ishida as he stared down the technique known as Heaven and Earth Manifestation.

“I concede!”

Thud—!

……

Hmm… unfamiliar ceiling.

I struggled to sit up, but my body felt as heavy and sore as if I’d caught the flu. 

Not an ounce of strength left.

“Cough—cough—”

Crap, did I really catch something?

My whole body was aching… and it felt like I was being crushed by something.

I couldn’t even breathe.

“Cl—Cluru! You’re gonna strangle her!”

Grumbling, Cluru crawled off me, retracting her tentacles.

No wonder it felt so heavy…

“You unleashed an unidentified transcendent-tier spirit art just like that? Took advantage of your divine beast to act all high and mighty?” 

Teacher Xiao Yuan brought over a glass of water, clearly annoyed. 

“Do you have a death wish?”

I didn’t expect to pass out… 

Girls’ bodies really are too frail. 

Even weaker than I thought.

Well, to be fair, Cluru has been draining me dry for the past seventeen years…

“I… lost?”

“No, you won. Even though the students are grumbling about it, Ishida-sensei’s been telling everyone he lost. Said he couldn’t take your move, and that you held back at the last moment.”

Huh… At least the guy’s honest.

“Don’t be mad at Ishida-sensei, okay? He’s a bit intense, yeah, but he loves spirit beasts more than anything. He can’t stand seeing them mistreated…” 

Xiao Yuan-sensei sat by the bed, her face tinged with concern.

“I’m not mad.”

He was a worthy opponent.

…Besides, I really should treat it better now.

I mean the Qilin.

If spirit-based combat is the new norm, then I’d better adapt to using a spirit beast like everyone else, or I’ll keep standing out way too much.

First things first, I need to heal Qilin’s latent injuries.

I need Soul Nurturing Pills… but who knows if I can even find the right ingredients in this world.

“That plant… is that…?”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a potted plant sitting on the windowsill.

“Touchfruit—it’s an electric spirit’s favorite,” Xiao Yuan-sensei explained.

So here they call it Touchfruit… 

In my old world, it was Soulgrass, one of the ingredients for Soul Nurturing Pills.

“Want one?” Xiao Yuan-sensei gave me a sly grin. 

“Pass your theory exam and I’ll reward you with a pot~”

Hmph. Mortal. 

If you’re willing to hand over the herb to me, I might—Ack! 

Wh-What are you doing?!

Face flushed, I curled into the corner of the bed and guarded my chest.

“These are your uniforms.”

Before I could react, Xiao Yuan-sensei stripped me and Cluru at lightning speed.

Then just as swiftly, she dressed us in matching violet-blue school uniforms.

White blouse. 

Violet-blue mini skirt.

I clutched at the hem in shame—ugh! It’s so drafty and weird!

“Alright, I’m off to teach. You two can walk around the campus a bit. Come back to my place in the evening—we’ll assign your dorms in a few days.”

“I never said I was going to school…” I pouted.

Too bad Xiao Yuan-sensei didn’t care about my protests at all. 

Her fiery red hair flared as she turned away and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

……

Well, might as well look around.

I slipped out of the teachers’ dorms alone.

And was honestly stunned by the changes I saw.

This… this wasn’t the Kangcheng No. 2 High I remembered.

The sandy, barebones playground from before was now a vibrant dueling field of lush green grass.

Even the neglected grove behind the school building had been transformed into a thriving nursery garden.

“Hm?”

At the edge of the nursery, I spotted a familiar figure.

Wearing a straw hat and hunched over like an old farmer, Ishida was tending to herbs and fruit trees with quiet diligence.

“Ishida-sensei…”

“What are you doing here?” 

Before Ishida could speak, a female student stepped in front of me with hostility written all over her face. 

“You’re not welcome here.”

“I came to thank him.”

Learning knows no rank; whoever masters the craft comes first. 

Ishida-sensei had shown me his excellence in nurturing spirit beasts—at least in this domain, he had far more experience than I did.

“We don’t need your thanks! Sensei always helps students—helping you was no different! But because of you, his injuries are worse now!”

Injured?

I glanced toward Ishida. His Flameback Croc lay beside him, clearly listless, breathing ragged and wheezing—its condition looked terrible.

“During our last field mission, Ishida-sensei took on a Lord-rank vicious spirit head-on to save us all. That’s when the Croc got seriously hurt. And now, thanks to you, its wounds have reopened! Hmph… so what if you have a divine beast!”

“Yue.”

Ishida straightened up and cut her off with a sharp tone.

“The battlefield is merciless. Injuries are inevitable. And besides, she didn’t even attack It was my own forced spirit merge that tore the wound open.”

As he spoke, Ishida looked at me.

“I made the wager. I lost. I failed to guide you to properly respect and cultivate your spirit. That’s my fault, not yours.”

Jeez…

I shook my head slowly.

“To fight someone already injured… it wasn’t a fair win.”

I rested one hand on the nursery fence, planning to vault over with grace.

RIP—thud!

My skirt caught on the fence.

Face-first into the dirt.

Expression blank, I calmly got up, dusted myself off, and pretended nothing happened—doing my best to maintain the composure of a mighty immortal.

My ears, however, were burning red.

“If it’s injured… then I’ll heal it. And then we’ll fight again. I can heal that wound.”

Pffft— The girl burst out laughing.

“Heal it? Do you have any idea how serious Ishida-sensei’s wounds are? He’s a professional cultivator. If he couldn’t fix his spirit beast, what makes you think you can? Just look at your Qilin—it’s practically starving!”

“Hmph.”

A faint smile tugged at my lips.

Excitement bubbled in my chest.

Finally, The moment had come—the classic scene: doubted by the masses, I rose with dazzling skill to shut them all up in style…

Mwahahaha.

C’mon! Say more. 

Keep mocking me. 

The harder you go, the sweeter it’ll feel when I prove you wrong! Insult me more!

“If it weren’t for the injury, Ishida-sensei would still be one of the strongest cultivators and spirit masters in Kangcheng! But because of that wound… he’s regressed. If he hadn’t been hurt, he never would’ve—he wouldn’t have lost to you!”

She was crying by the end.

I could feel how much she respected Ishida.

And she wasn’t alone. 

Most of the students here probably felt the same.

Looks like I’ve officially become the school’s public enemy.

“I’m borrowing some herbs from the nursery.” 

My eyes swept across the patch of medicinal plants.

“Take what you need,” Ishida said. 

“Tell me what you’re looking for—I’ll help you pick it.”

He wasn’t angry.

In fact, the moment I said I wanted to gather herbs, he actually seemed… pleased.

He thought I’d turned over a new leaf—thought I’d finally learned the value of nurturing, ready to begin raising my Qilin properly.

“No need.”

I lifted my hand lightly.

Remote manipulation—come to me, herbs.

“What the—? Is that a telekinesis-type ability? Can Qilin do that too? Is it electric, psychic. What even is this divine beast?!” 

The onlookers were freaking out.

To avoid attracting too much attention, I summoned the Qilin as a cover—my “tool,” so to speak.

“Little Qilin, lend me your thunderfire.”

Lightning counts as a form of alchemical flame.

Summoning danfire directly was too exhausting right now but with Qilin’s help, I could use thunderfire to refine pills.

There was no furnace here, so I didn’t bother with a traditional cauldron.

Furnace-free alchemy. 

If this were a proper fantasy realm, the bystanders would already be gasping in awe, begging to befriend a divine alchemist. 

Unfortunately… no one here knew what they were looking at.

Which was probably a good thing.

Less trouble that way.

“Heaven and earth are my furnace, creation itself is my craftsman.”

Ignite!