As she spoke, Olivia Walker extended her fair, jade-like hand, gave a delicate shout, and a faint green glow appeared around her palm. She said softly, “Refining Hand—gather the true energy within your body to refine the medicinal essence in the herbs. This is the first step you need to learn.”

Refining Hand was the most basic technique in alchemy. Olivia Carter didn’t understand it, but he knew he had mastered another similar technique—Condensing Hand. This was also a reward for reaching the grandmaster level in alchemy. Condensing Hand could absorb the essence of herbs more thoroughly and remove impurities, resulting in higher-quality potions.

Olivia Walker looked at Olivia Carter’s half-understanding expression and couldn’t help but shake her head, saying, “Then watch how your senior does it first!”

With that, Olivia Walker opened her palm. With a light command, the silver thread grass began to tremble. Under the guidance of the Refining Hand, the leaves and roots of the silver thread grass slowly peeled away. Some green medicinal essence, almost invisible to the naked eye, began to flow and was absorbed by Olivia Walker. After a few minutes, a small cluster of green powder appeared in Olivia Walker’s palm—the legendary medicinal essence of silver thread grass.

Turning around, Olivia Walker smiled gently and said, “This might be a bit difficult, but as long as you focus, gather your true energy into your palm, and concentrate on sensing the elements within the herb, you can act the moment you catch the medicinal essence!”

Olivia Carter stood there silently, staring at a stalk of silver thread grass. Sure enough, after about half a minute, the structure of the silver thread grass began to slowly unravel before his eyes. Tiny particles appeared in the roots and leaves—these were the medicinal essence!

Amazed in his heart, Olivia Carter slowly opened his hand toward the silver thread grass and activated the Condensing Hand technique from alchemy with his mind!

But nothing happened, which made him a bit anxious.

Olivia Walker gently said from the side, “Aaron Brooks, don’t be anxious. Take your time. True energy is something everyone has, because qi is a mysterious power bestowed upon people by the universe.”

Olivia Carter didn’t reply, continuing to grit his teeth and urge the power within his body. Finally, a warm current appeared inside him, slowly flowing to his fingertips. Immediately after, a faint cyan glow emerged from his body. This feeling was so familiar—it was the Condensing Hand!

“Shhh…”

Under the guidance of the Condensing Hand, the silver thread grass trembled slightly, its structure began to separate, and the medicinal essence gathered toward Olivia Carter’s palm. After about two minutes, a tiny bit of medicinal essence quietly lay in his palm!

“Huh?”

Olivia Walker opened her mouth wide, standing there dumbfounded. She was completely stunned. Every alchemist could eventually master the Refining Hand, but this was the first time she had seen someone master it on their very first try. She herself had practiced for nearly a month, failing thousands of times before finally mastering it!

“Aaron Brooks…” Olivia Walker shook Olivia Carter’s arm, her big eyes blinking: “You… is this really your first time making medicine?”

Olivia Carter didn’t know how to answer. It was his first time in this world, but in the game, he had done it countless times. He had even refined level 10 divine medicines, let alone this mere level 1 herb. So he replied, “It’s indeed my first time here…”

Olivia Walker was overjoyed and hurriedly shouted, “Grandpa! Grandpa! Come and see!”

James Walker thought something had happened and rushed in from outside. When he entered, he saw Olivia Walker and Olivia Carter standing there and quickly asked, “What’s wrong, Aaron Walker?”

Olivia Walker pointed at the small bit of medicinal essence in the dish and said, “Look, Aaron Brooks has learned the Refining Hand—he succeeded on his first try!”

“Really?”

James Walker was half skeptical. He naturally didn’t believe anyone could master the Refining Hand in one try. No one in the empire had ever done it. Even those revered as Medicine Gods needed at least one to three days to master it. Olivia Walker had good talent and took a month, while apprentices with slightly worse aptitude needed three months to half a year. Those with poor aptitude could never master it in their lifetime.

But looking at the medicinal essence in the dish, the truth was right before his eyes. What shocked James Walker even more was that Olivia Carter’s medicinal essence was much smaller than Olivia Walker’s. As an expert in alchemy himself, James Walker naturally understood that the smaller size meant the impurities had been refined even more thoroughly. Olivia Carter had used about the same amount of silver thread grass as Olivia Walker, but the medicinal essence was only about a third the size of Olivia Walker’s. This was simply unbelievable.

…

Looking at Olivia Carter, his appearance couldn’t fool anyone—he looked just over twenty years old. But this level of Refining Hand was at least at the level of a Saint Alchemist!

“The youngest Saint Alchemist in the empire is already 52 years old…” James Walker was completely puzzled. Could this young man before him be a noble’s son who had ended up in Silver Fir City?

“Grandpa, isn’t Aaron Brooks amazing?” Olivia Walker asked with a happy smile.

James Walker nodded with a smile. Olivia Walker was innocent and had no idea of the significance. James Walker looked at Olivia Carter again and asked, “Aaron Brooks, can you try some other herbs? For example… this iron pear flower?”