Chapter 27: First Experience with Alchemy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Ah, so you're from the Tremere clan as well?"
Ye Ming did not know what he should say. But if he were to say yes, what if Alice were to ask him something about the Tremere clan in the future? He would not be able to answer. Therefore, he could only deny it. "No, but I'm really interested in the Tremere clan's magic and alchemy."
"Really? That's great! I can teach you! I finally won't be so lonely anymore."
Ye Ming suddenly realised that this might actually be a great idea. No one knew about his past here and he could hide from pursuit. Moreover, this hiding spot was high on a cliff face, so it would not be easily found. And most importantly, he would enjoy the company of a pretty girl. Hey, maybe they could cultivate some feelings during the learning process. He could definitely do worse than this.
"Hey! Why are you grinning?"
Ye Ming quickly wiped off his foolish expression and asked in a serious demeanour, "But will I cause you any inconvenience? I see that you only have one bed here. Are we going to sleep together?"
"In your dreams! This place is huge, you can just find a corner you like to sleep in."
"What?! Not even a blanket? I have to sleep on the floor?"
"Of course. Or do you want me to find you a rock that you can lie down on?"
"That...that's not necessary. But can you get me some dried grass instead? I can at least make a makeshift bed with it."
"Okay, that's not a problem. I'll look for some when we go out tomorrow."
"In that case, I'll just sleep on the bed for tonight. Your bed is quite big, so there should be enough space for two."
"No way!" Alice jumped up from the stone bench.
When Ye Ming saw that the female Vampire was about to get mad, he quickly tried to calm her down. "Wait, calm down. Sit back down and listen to me. See, didn't I save your life? You can't let your benefactor sleep on the ground. How can you live with your conscience? Besides, I'm just going to lie down on the bed, it's not like I'm asking you to do anything more than that. There's really no need to make a big fuss out of it. Or could you be having some dirty thoughts on your mind?"
Alice's face instantly blushed red. "Of course not. There's no way I'm thinking of those things."
Ye Ming laughed inwardly. 'Hehe, you said no, but you're obviously thinking of something naughty! Ah, women. They always say things that are contrary to what they really think.'
"I know. There's no way a woman as pure as yourself would think about something like that. All right, so it's decided. You take that half of the bed and I'll take this half. When my bed is ready, I'll move to the ground. Well, lots of things happened today, we're both tired, so let's get some sleep." Before Alice could say anything else, Ye Ming had already snuck onto the bed. He did not forget to leave half the space for Alice to show her that he was a gentleman who respected the rules.
"Come on, get some sleep." Ye Ming patted the other side of the empty bed, then turned around and said, "Good night." He snored lightly soon after.
This was the first time for Alice to share a bed with a man. She was feeling really apprehensive, but she could not just stand there until the next day. With much nerve and apprehension, Alice lay down on her side of the bed. "Damn it, this is my place. There's nothing to be scared of. He's right, if I don't think of anything dirty, it's no big deal."
With complicated feelings, Alice closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Ye Ming was not sleeping at all. He was also nervous and apprehensive, because it was his first time too.
In his previous life, he was a poor loser who had never even touched a girl's hand before, let alone share a bed with such a beautiful woman. He was so nervous he felt like his heart was going to pop out of his chest.
Slightly rotating his body a little, he admired the lines of Alice's body that rose and fell like a mountain range, and imagined himself caressing it. Then, looking at Alice's back, he gradually fell asleep.
The next day, an unbelievably shrill cry sounded next to Ye Ming's ears.
"AAAAHHH!"
Ye Ming awoke with a start and thought the Werewolves were attacking them. But when he opened his eyes, the only thing he saw was Alice. The two of them were hugging each other in a very awkward postion.
"What happened? We didn't do anything, right?" Ye Ming sat up in a hurry and looked down to check his lower body in panic.
"Oh God, what the hell happened? Why were we hugging each other?!"Alice rubbed her forehead with an expression of disbelief.
"Come on, they were just some unintentional body movements when we're asleep. Don't take it to heart. It's not like anything happened between us. See, we still have our clothes on, don't we?"
"This won't do. I have to make a bed for you as soon as possible."
And so the next few days, building a bed for Ye Ming became the main priority for the two of them. They would explore the Dark Mountains and the dense forest together. In addition to looking for herbs and treasure chests, Ye Ming now had another thing to look out for – dried grass.
The good news was that Ye Ming had found quite a few treasure chests in the forest, although they were silver treasure chests without exception. The items he got from them were all either ingredients or supplementary potions, none of which were helpful for his cultivation. Ye Ming was even starting to wonder if he had fallen into a silver treasure chest base.
It was troubling.
Today, the two of them returned to the cave with some herbs and dried grass. Alice started practising alchemy with the herbs. Ye Ming did not hide from her the fact that he could perform some basic alchemy. Honestly, there was nothing to hide. He had told her before that he was interested in alchemy, so there was nothing strange about him having a bit of alchemical knowledge.
Ye Ming stood next to Alice and watched her process and purify the herbs, then mix them up with other reagents. Whenever Ye Ming saw something he did not understand, he was not shy to ask questions. Alice would readily and patiently explain to him, while Ye Ming would jot it all down.
Thanks to his formidable mental power and learning ability, Ye Ming was constantly able to draw his own inferences when he was shown a single example. After he absorbed what Alice told him, he was often able to generate new ideas, consistently surprising Alice. Her evaluation of this friend of hers, who could also be considered her student, had inevitably gotten higher.
They spent a week together in this way. One day, Alice was stirring some herbs in a large pot with a long stick in order to squeeze the juice out of the herbs, while Ye Ming was adding wood to the fire under the pot.
"Be careful. Don't slip and fall into the pot," Ye Ming could not help but remind Alice when he saw Alice swaying hard from side to side unsteadily.
"Don't worry. I do this a lot. Even if I accidentally slip, I can adjust my body in time so that I fall outside the pot. I definitely won't fall into the pot and ruin the potion. Bring me the medicinal powder I prepared yesterday. It's time to add some more ingredients into this potion."
"Okay." Ye Ming walked to the wooden shelf where the potions were kept and retrieved a packet of powder. He turned around and asked, "Is this it?"
Alice turned around to look and answered, "Yes, that's the one." Right after she said that, the large stick somehow dropped out of Alice's hands. Alice instinctively reached for it, but that caused her to lose balance. With a yelp of surprise, she fell backwards!
"Careful!" Ye Ming instantly threw away the powder he was holding, lunged forward, and grabbed Alice before she could fall to the ground.
-- Gift
received