The Fallen Vampire

Vermeil was inside of a very special room that she had previously been avoiding until she was ready.

But now, today was the day.

She was finally going to try her hand at alchemy!

She'd been studying for a few weeks now, and she was sure that she was more than prepared.

She knew all of the medicinal plants growing in the garden and their effects!

She had studied dozens upon dozens of pill formulas and memorized them all like they were the lyrics to a song!

Like cultivators and Arcane users, alchemists are also divided into ranks.

There is the beginner stage referred to as Pill Apprentice.

From there, there is Pill Adept.

Pill Master.

Pill King.

Pill Emperor.

Pill Ancestor.

Pill Venerable.

Pill Saint.

Conversely, pills are also divided into eight different ranks and to advance a level, one must be able to successfully refine a pill of a higher level three times in a row.

Knowledge-wise, Vermeil was already at the level of a pill emperor after all of the studying she had done to prepare, but she still had yet to actually forge her first batch of pills.

But now that she was actually about to, she smiled knowing that she had a slight edge.

To forge a pill, one must use qi to create a small flame and control the heating and cooling process through every step of the way.

This process is easier for one's who are born with an inbound element of fire or have come to possess one through an extraordinary set of means.

And it just so happened that her husband was a trickster fox who could give her part of his own power that she could use just as freely as if it were her own.

'Kyaaa!!! I can't believe I really have a husband already!'

Vermeil gave herself two quick smacks on the cheeks so that she could focus.

Focusing back on the present, she turned her attention to the golden cauldron in front of her and marveled once again at the sheer profundity of this equipment.

Even from here, she could feel the overwhelming holy aura coming from the device.

Just by being near it, she felt like her mind was being expanded and she felt like she was now capable of thinking about multiple different things at once.

The time had come, and she was more than ready.

Opening the cauldron door, Vermeil shoveled four ingredients inside.

Revitalizing Bone Grass.

Dried Blood Flower.

Clipped Butterfly Wings.

Blue Ocean Leaves.

All of the ingredients necessary for a basic batch of marrow cleansing pills, the one all alchemists attempt to make for the first time.

Once the ingredients were floating in suspension within the cauldron, Vermeil injected a bit of her energy inside to take control.

'Alright... Let's do this.'

Closing her eyes, Vermeil held out a single finger in front of her face and concentrated on the ingredients inside and pressed them all together.

Pointing towards the cauldron, a ball of pure blue flame shot out and entered the golden chamber.

Once it was inside, Vermeil controlled the temperature of the flames so that they were not too hot or too cold.

Even without opening her eyes, she could sense the various oils being cooked out of the ingredients and becoming congealed into a large ball of brown-ish white sludge.

The oils were absorbing a part of the inner profundity of the cauldron, becoming more and more magical as they cooked slowly.

Now, here came the hard part.

While she continued to keep the flames hot enough to bring out the various oils, she also had to drop their temperature simultaneously so as to allow the oils to cool and congeal into a batch of pills.

Out of everything she read, this part was honestly the most vague when it came to pill theory.

The only tips she got were basically saying, 'You either have that dawg in you or you don't.'

Meaning Vermeil's talent would be the only thing that could get her through this and form a successful batch of pills.

However, she had to get the hang of things quickly.

If she allowed the ingredients to burn, a volatile reaction would occur in the form of an explosion that would knock her onto the butt that she was very proud of and cover her in so much soot that she'd look like a piece of coal.

She could only imagine how much of a nightmare it would be to get that stuff out of her permanently white hair.

'I have to figure out a way to... Huh..?'

-

Taira, Enyo, Lucia, Keran, and Aveena were all standing in the hallway just outside one of the seclusion rooms.

After a lot of smooth talk, a lot of charming smiles, and a generous amount of massages of the sexual and nonsexual variety, Taira's wives had finally agreed to let him attempt one of the dangerous ideas he had first disclosed last week.

Since trying to pick apart breathing arts of the supreme grade is PROFOUNDLY dangerous even for a being like Taira, they had only agreed to let him try his idea for the creation of multiple cores.

Now, they were currently waiting for the last member of their family to arrive and then they would finally get this insanity underway.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Vermeil suddenly appeared in a whoosh of air, wearing her usual charismatic and slightly mischievous smile.

However, her hands were behind her back as if she were hiding something.

"No worries." Taira said with a smile. "How did it go?"

Vermeil suddenly smiled before revealing what items were hidden behind her back.

It was a small jar around the size of a flower pot, and it was filled with marrow cleansing pills.

However, these were far from an ordinary batch.

"T-These are all Rank 3 pills!" Keran exclaimed.

"Y-You made these on your first attempt?!" Aveena questioned.

"I did indeed! Your girl is now a certified Pill Master! You're free to praise me!" She said smugly.

Normally everyone would have admonished her or rolled their eyes, but today Vermeil had indeed done something truly praise worthy.

Forming a rank three pill three times in a row on one's first attempt was beyond amazing, it was extraordinary.

Though Vermeil was young, her talent put her in the top echelons of all alchemists in Tayar, whether they came from above or below.

"I figured that my wife would do something amazing, yet I must admit I am still more proud than I can express." Taira said sincerely.

Vermeil blushed just a bit as she stared into her jar of pills with a sheepish smile.

"I don't really think I deserve all of the credit... Truth is your spiritual flame makes pill making so easy that there is almost no difficulty.

It's hot and cold properties are really helpful and do wonders to simplify the whole process... I doubt that I could have had this much success."

"Oh? Where has my arrogant wife gone? Lost your celebratory mood already?"

"Not quite... I just don't want you to think that I am ungrateful for your help or incapable of recognizing the role you played in my-"

Flick!

"Ow!"

"Don't be silly. Whether you had my fire or not, it would never have aided you if you did not have the know-how to apply it. This is your achievement, love. Not mine."

"...Thank you." Vermeil said sincerely.

"She's so cute."

"Smother her!"

At Enyo's behest, all five of them wrapped Vermeil in the most fearsome bear hug that she could muster.

The human girl felt a few of her bones pop, her butt get grabbed and a few discreet kisses were placed on her cheeks as she gradually lost oxygen in her lungs, but she had never felt so loved.

When they finally let her go, it was time for Taira to attempt his own miraculous feat.

Stepping into one of the isolation rooms, he shrugged off his open kimono and sat cross legged on the ground.

The girls glanced at Aveena and she nodded before stepping inside with him.

She dropped to both her knees behind him and concentrated a large amount of qi into her fingertip.

"Ready?"

"Of course, my love."

Smiling, Aveena started to burn a pattern into the skin of her husband that was eerily similar to her own tattoos.

The markings on Aveena's body only make an appearance when she is in the midst of combat and about to initiate more dangerous techniques that had an enhanced strain on her bones, tendons, and muscles.

The markings helped to evenly disperse and lessen her burden while also expelling excess energy output.

Taira had only remembered them as he was gropi- I mean, massaging her one night, and he immediately had the idea to use a modified version of these markings to help stabilize multiple cores within his body.

Only when Aveena was done tattooing his chest, arms, back, and legs did she finally give him a small kiss and leave the chamber.

Once she closed the door behind her, all five wives sat crosslegged on the ground before closing their eyes to meditate.

This process would no doubt take a very long time, and they all wanted to stay outside of Taira's chamber while he attempted the most dangerous task of his life.

Once he was inside of the dark space alone, Taira immediately got to work on his plan.

First, he absorbed a massive amount of qi into his body and tried to stop it from rushing into his already existing core.

And because such a large amount of energy was going to places where it wasn't supposed to, through channels that it wasn't supposed to, he ruptured every nerve and blood vessel in his body.

Blood flowed from his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and just about every open pore he had.

However, his supernatural regeneration had already begun to heal him, and he tried again.

This cycle of absorption and destruction continued for a very long time, and Taira forgot about everything else in the world as he focused on strengthening himself.

With every time that his tendons and nerves grew back from their obliterated state, they became stronger and more durable than before.

After a week and a half of this, something finally changed.

Taira absorbed the surrounding qi directly into his chest and for the first time ever he didn't almost kill himself.

He kept consolidating and solidifying until he had formed a pure white core within the area between his lungs.

Concentrating on his element of wind that he'd gotten from his darling Lucia, he dyed it a verdant green.

But because his chest cavity felt like it was about to pop, he knew he didn't have too long to celebrate.

'Next...'

Connecting it to the closest tattoos on his chest, a feeling like a phone being plugged into an outlet occurred, and that temporarily lit up.

He did the same thing with the violet core that represented his lightning, and his body started to light up like the bat signal.

A small, visible smile showed up on his face before it disappeared instantly.

'Two more left.'

-

It was three weeks before the door to Taira's chamber finally creaked open.

The girls who had remained in trances cultivating before now immediately jumped to their feet with expectant looks in their eyes.

When Taira stepped out, he immediately smiled at the girls before all five flew into his arms and knocked him over; uncaring of the dried blood all over his body.

He laughed and returned the affections of each one of them as he let his body rest on the floor for the first time in weeks.

It was nice that his plan had gone off well, but at least for now he wasn't satisfied.

There was more that needed to be done, and more ways that he needed to push himself.

And lucky for him, he had an isolated part of the world where he could focus, train, and be with the women he loved most.

When he was finally ready to come out... maybe it would be time to revisit Keran's desire to be paragons for their people.

And hopefully, get a little revenge along the way.

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