Hearing Fairy Luke's words, Boss hesitated. He hadn't seen Luca extract the essence of a herb without polluting it with his own eyes.
It could be that the boy at the inn was playing a prank on them—he could never be sure. Getting banned from the Sky Pill Shop wasn't a small matter.
"Let me talk with them for a moment." Pointing toward Kelly and Gray, Boss asked Fairy Luke to wait for his answer.
"Teacher is putting us in a difficult position. Banning us from the shop is cruel," Gray complained in a low voice, having heard the conversation between Boss and Fairy Luke.
Although they were no longer students learning alchemy at the Sky Pill Shop, there were still a few perks they enjoyed. One of the best was the ability to buy materials at discounted prices and access the shop's library. Even if they couldn't browse books whenever they wanted, they still had two hours of access to the library every week.
"Can you really extract the essence of herbs without polluting them?" Kelly asked doubtfully. With such a risk involved, she was hesitant to gamble.
"What? I don't understand what you're trying to ask."
Although Luca had recently heard about the essence of herbs from an alchemist he met, this was the first time he heard the phrase without polluting the essence.
"What she's trying to ask is: did you recently use your Gift, [Ki Control], to extract the essence of a herb for someone?"
Unlike the hotheaded Gray and the somewhat impatient Kelly, Boss was more clear-headed and asked Luca directly about his encounter with Kai.
"You mean Kai? Yes, I did use my Gift to take—what did you call it—essence, right? Yeah, the essence of the herb. He was trying to perform something called [Her Wear], and it seems my Gift, [Ki Control], was exactly what he was looking for."
Although Luca didn't remember the exact words they had used, he still told them about his encounter with Kai and admitted to using his Gift [Ki Control] to extract the essence of the Whispering Fern.
"What was the color of the essence you extracted?" Boss asked—the most important question.
The color of the essence. If the essence wasn't polluted with Ki, it would be transparent white. Otherwise, it would be slightly red.
"The color of the essence? It was white."
Thinking about the tiny drop he had extracted from the Whispering Fern, Luca answered honestly.
"That's good."
Seeing that Luca didn't seem to be lying, Boss decided to take the gamble.
If they lost, all they would be losing was access to the Sky Pill Shop—but it wouldn't be the end for them.
However, if they won, what awaited them was beyond imagination.
Soon, the trio, alongside Luca, followed Fairy Luke into the Sky Pill Shop and headed toward his alchemy room.
Returning to his room, Fairy Luke took out one of the most common herbs found in the Ancient World—Whispering Fern—and handed it to Luca.
"Here, take it and extract its essence."
Looking at the familiar Whispering Fern, Luca instantly knew what he needed to do.
Following the steps still fresh in his mind, he first broke the chunk of essence into smaller parts, then carefully grabbed hold of the tiniest drop of essence with his Ki and pulled it out of the herb.
For a whole minute, Luca focused on cutting the essence of the Whispering Fern into smaller pieces.
The trio watched him closely, silently praying in their hearts without pause.
The moment a tiny drop of Whispering Fern essence escaped the outermost layer, the atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically.
Fairy Luke—who had been waiting for Luca to finish so he could kick the trio out—was now frozen with shock.
It felt as if his soul had left his body.
On the other hand, Boss, Kelly, and Gray's faces were glowing with excitement.
"This... this... I need to report it!"
After the initial shock wore off, Fairy Luke's face lit up with excitement, and he flew out of the alchemy room at full speed.
Upon leaving, he immediately rushed to the communication room. But instead of contacting his superior, he reached out to his Master back at the Alchemy Association.
"Little Luke? Didn't you leave for the Ancient World? Why are you contacting me? Did you perhaps find a Super Genius?"
Inside the communication room stood a round table engraved with powerful runes and formations.
The moment Fairy Luke's call connected, a giant blue hologram appeared at the center of the table.
"Master, I'm not contacting you about a Super Genius. Instead, one of my students brought me information that I believe could be very helpful for the entire Verse."
Fairy Luke's master, Grandmaster Ruu, was an Alchemy Grandmaster from the Lu Dragon Race—someone who was very close to becoming a Saint.
It was thanks to Grandmaster Ruu that someone like Luke, who lacked any background, was able to come to the Ancient World and compete to get Super Genius of the Lower Worlds.
"Oh? Helpful for the entire Verse, you say?"
Grandmaster Ruu sounded intrigued. After all, this Fairy disciple of his wasn't the type to joke around.
"Yes, Master. Please take a look at this."
Fairy Luke immediately played a recording of what had occurred in his alchemy room just a few minutes earlier.
After watching the video of Luca extracting the essence of the Whispering Fern, Grandmaster Ruu remained silent. He watched the recording several more times.
Finally, after about half an hour, Grandmaster Ruu opened his mouth and spoke.
"What Gift is that human using?"
"Master, it's a D-rank Gift called [Ki Control]," Fairy Luke replied. He had been feeling uneasy during his master's long silence. But the moment Grandmaster Ruu finally spoke, he let out a breath of relief and answered promptly.
"[Ki Control], huh? Alright. After confirming what you've shown me, I will report this to His Majesty. You and those human students of yours will be rewarded."
Once Grandmaster Ruu finished speaking, the call disconnected automatically.
Fairy Luke was a little surprised by his master's last words.
He had thought only the humans who discovered the unique use of the D-rank Gift [Ki Control] would be rewarded. But now, it seemed he would receive something as well for his role in the discovery.
Thinking about what he might ask for as his reward, Fairy Luke headed back to his alchemy room to deliver the good news to the trio.