Martial Online.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Zhen and Ambrose sat inside the comfy-looking cottage.

They had just returned from the blacksmith shop and they could still hear the explosions.

The Wisdom King and other Honorables evacuated the area around the blacksmith shop.

Luckily, it was tucked away in the most quiet part of the town, so there were only a few residents that needed relocating.

They were, at first, worried about Gensai's safety, especially the Wisdom King. However, after a short talk with the blacksmith, he gave approval.

And therefore, the explosion sounded basically every second.

Ambrose grabbed the coffee cup and took a small sip. He watched from the window towards the blacksmith shop with a quiet expression.

"I haven't ever seen Gensai be like this." Zhen dragged his chair next to him and looked out from the same window. "His passion had been dwindling lately, but this ignited again."

"Hmm…" Ambrose nodded thoughtfully.

"Where did you receive the crimson metal from?" Zhen asked curiously.

"Uh, it was from some buried mansion in Nether Forest." Ambrose said. "Very close to this place, actually."

"I am not about you, but I've never seen metal cause an explosion like this." Zhen chuckled.

"If Gensai succeeds, I wonder what kind of weapon he makes…"

Zhen had chills just thinking about it.

"Mm." Ambrose nodded, and felt very excited about possibilities.

However, also worried.

He wondered whether Gensai was at the level required to create a weapon powerful enough to represent crimson metal's power.

If he couldn't succeed, Ambrose's next destination would be the Dark Continent. They had plenty of powerful blacksmiths.

However, after remembering Gensai's firm-looking eyes, some of his worries were put to rest.

"Is it too late, or do you want to start learning about soul-healing potions?" Zhen asked.

"Let's start." Ambrose nodded.

Zhen, with a quick steps, retreated to his bedroom and brough a box with him. He then placed it on the living room's table, and opened it.

Ambrose stood up, and walked over to the table. He looked at the box's interior, and pinched his nose immediately.

There were very heavy-smelling herbs.

Zhen brought out a worn-out potion recipe that was made of parchment paper, and gave it to Ambrose.

"These are all the required ingredients for the Soul Healing Potion."

Ambrose checked out the potion recipe and read the ingredients out loud.

"1 liter of water.

"4 petals of the Flower Guardian Flower.

"The tear of the crying soul.

"100 grams of crunched dead bone.

"The Captured Light of the Crimson Moon.

"The blessing of the holy man."

Zhen nodded, and brought out different items down to the table.

Ambrose folded the potion recipe, pocketed it and looked at the strange items.

The first one—1 liter of water—sounded easy to get, but then the ingredients turned crazier and crazier.

"Petals of the Flower Guardian Flower." Zhen showed a bottle with tons of petals inside.

Those petals were all blue in color and shone brilliantly.

"These are very hard to get, as the flower is difficult to find." Zhen said, but then raised a finger. "However, in the nearby valley, there are many, luckily for us.

"However, if you accidentally happen to kill the Flower Guardian, the flower vanishes. Hard part is that the Flower Guardian dies very easily.

"That's why we're keeping them safe in the temple. We are ensuring that they aren't dying.

"Oh!" Ambrose exclaimed and scratched the back of his head. "I have encountered this flower two times; both times the Flower Guardian died and the flower mysteriously disappeared!"

"Yeah, this is one of the hardest items to get for the potion." Zhen said and then showed another bottle with strange transparent liquid inside.

It didn't look like it was water.

"Tear of the crying soul." He said. "It's possible to command your soul to cry. Those tears are incredibly valuable and the most important ingredient in the potion."

"Oh, you'll need to teach me how to commany my soul to do that, I suppose?"

"Exactly." Zhen nodded. "However, since you've already shown your talent, I am sure it wouldn't take long for you to learn it."

Ambrose wryly smiled as he could feel some saltiness in Zhen's tone. He had tried for so long to open his second gate just to be unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Ambrose did it mere months.

However, he was certain that the saltiness was just in a joking manner. Zhen wasn't actually salty or angry about the difference in talent.

"100 grams of crunched dead bone." Zhen put another bottle down, and inside was filled by strange grayish, powder-like substance.

"This should be a rather easy one. Find a corpse, steal a bone, and crush it till it resembles powder. 100 grams should be enough."

"Yeah, easy one…" Ambrose sighed. 'I am becoming a grave digger.'

"The Captured Light of the Crimson Moon!" Zhen brought out another bottle, which was glowing brilliantly with crimson light.

"For this, you'll only need a special 'Capture Bottle' such as this!"

Zhen showed the bottle, which was clearly different from other bottles. It didn't have a cork or opening of any sort. It was almost like a ball but shaped like a bottle.

"Just go outside when crimson moon is on the sky, point the bottle towards it, and the moonlight will be captured inside the bottle."

"I… guess I got it." Ambrose shrugged his shoulders.

"The last one is the blessing of holy man." Zhen said, and this time, he didn't take out any bottle. It wasn't an object.

"Our holy man is our very own grandmaster." He said. "You should be able to find holy man in a church. A priest, or bishop of some sort. Tell them to bless the nearly-finished potion, and it should finish off the process."

"All right." Ambrose nodded.

"Now, I'll teach you how to make the potion." Zhen said, and he spread the items across the kitchen table, then took out a cauldron from the cabinet.

"Watch closely. It is a very careful business, and a single mistake will ruin the potion."

Ambrose nodded and watched as Zhen started concocting the potion. He was doing it very slowly, and carefully.

As he started with pouring the water on the cauldron, he did it slowly, and didn't pour it all at once.

After the water gathered at the bottom of the cauldron, Zhen took out the four blue petals and put them gently on the surface. It caused the color of the water to turn dark blue.

After that, he squeezed one tear of the crying soul out of the bottle, and once it splashed into the dark blue-colored water, a sobbing sound resounded across the cottage.

It sounded like a woman was crying.

"Huh?" Ambrose looked around and wondered what the hell this sound was.

"That tear must've been from one of the female honorables." Zhen said. "All honorables have donated tears of the crying soul. Their crying soul's echo is still inside the tears."

"Oh, okay…" Ambrose looked at the bottle with tears in it. 'That bottle is almost full. Is that one liter of tears? That's a lot.'

Zhen then brought out the crunched dead bone, scattered it across the water on the cauldron, and then took out the bottle with the captured light.

He then pointed the bottle's head at the water, and suddenly a crimson light shot out and smashed into the water. The water somehow sucked in the light and again turned colors.

As the dark blue and crimson colors mixed up with each other, the liquid turned purple. It seemed like the potion was almost done.

Zhen brought out the spatula, and stirred the cauldron one last time, mixing the crunched dead bone with the petals.

After that, he put the spatula down, and said. "It only needs the blessing of holy man. Once the Wisdom King gives this a prayer, it will be done.

"It looked easy, didn't it?"

"Uh, I guess."

"Well, it isn't." Zhen smiled. "It is very straining business. I'll take this to the Wisdom King for now, you may go to sleep or train, whatever you do at the night.

"Tomorrow, you'll try to concoct the potion without any help."