Rise of the Alchemy God

.

Since arriving in this world, Ethan had encountered many situations where his life was at risk.

The most recent of these was when he ended up being dragged into that dark space, where he found the cocoon of light, which had nearly absorbed him at the time.

Back then, he had almost thought it was the end, but was saved just in time by the amphora of the Seven Sages.

He didn't expect to return to that place. From what he could see now, that space was within his Dantian.

'Fate sure loves playing cruel jokes,' he thought as he noticed something strange about the place compared to the last time he had been there.

Previously, the entire surrounding area had been covered in a bluish-greenish black cloud, charged with energy, with the giant cocoon of light at the center, surrounded by a large spiraling ring, likely formed from the condensed energy cloud found in this place.

But now, everything was calmer.

The cloud was still present, but in smaller quantities, and the sphere of light was no longer as intense as before.

It was still there, large, with the translucent figure of the primordial chaos creature swimming inside, but it no longer had the same intensity, and the energy ring was gone.

In short, everything seemed too peaceful.

It no longer gave off that chaotic feeling from before.

It was as if someone had unplugged the power cord, and now everything was still in the darkness.

After examining the entire space inside his Dantian, Ethan returned to his spiritual sea.

As soon as he emerged, he felt the connection between him and the creature grow stronger.

He could sense what the creature was feeling at that moment, and it seemed the creature could feel him too.

At that moment, he heard the system notification once again.

[Primordial Chaos Beast Soul successfully assimilated]

[Assign it a name: …]

A name?

Ethan was a bit caught off guard by this request.

He had never had a pet before, so he had no experience in naming a creature.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he realized that he would spend a lot of time with this beast, so he would have to come up with a name to call it sooner or later.

Given his previous worries, he had completely overlooked this matter, being more concerned about whether the beast inside would listen to him and whether he could successfully bring its soul into his Dantian.

But now, those concerns no longer existed.

Finally, he thought for a moment and decided on a name.

Bending his knees slightly, he crouched down, looked at the creature in front of him, and, extending his right hand, he called out.

"Zhong Hei, come here," he said gently, pronouncing its name directly.

[The beast's name has been set]

[You can now view Zhong Hei's status screen]

The system seemed to have recognized the name he gave, and so did the creature.

Upon hearing Ethan's voice, it looked at his hand for a moment before slowly slithering toward it.

At first, Ethan had decided to call it "Black Serpent," but then he thought that was too direct and not a great name.

Then he remembered the circumstances under which they met and eventually came up with "Zhong Hei," which means "Midnight," essentially surrounded by darkness, just like he had been when he ended up in that strange space with the dark cloud.

Considering the creature's physical traits, Ethan thought it was a fitting name.

Bai Yu, who was still nearby, raised an eyebrow when she heard Ethan call the creature by that name.

From her previous experience with him, she knew the Ethan had a terrible taste in names, so she wasn't expecting him to come up with something so fitting this time.

'It seems the bond between the two has strengthened,' she thought, noticing the sudden familiarity they both seemed to show.

After all, this was their first meeting.

There was no way they could interact so easily, especially the creature, which instinctively should have been a bit wary of strangers, even if it was just born.

Remembering the subtle light beam that had emerged from Ethan and struck the creature before returning, she could only assume that the process of assimilating the beast's soul into his Dantian had been a success.

Normally, the process for doing this was much different, but she could only guess what had allowed for such a quick result.

After all, this wasn't the first time she had seen that light beam.

It had appeared before when Ethan's spiritual sea had begun to collapse due to the pressure that had been imposed on it.

The small creature, resembling a black horned serpent, slithered quickly and reached Ethan in a few seconds.

Once in front of his hand, it paused, seeming to examine it for a moment.

Hiss, hiss.

It hissed a few times before gently touching Ethan's open palm with its head.

Even though it's said that reptiles are cold-blooded, Ethan could feel a strange warmth emanating from the creature in front of him.

Naturally, saying that reptiles were cold-blooded wasn't entirely accurate.

From what little he knew, they adapted to the temperature of their environment.

In warmer environments, they gained heat, which allowed their metabolism to be more active, while in colder environments, their metabolism slowed down, allowing them to survive by consuming less food, a survival function they possessed.

It wasn't like other animals that had to maintain a certain internal temperature or risk getting sick and so on.

This basic knowledge of beasts was one of the many pieces of information Ethan had acquired from the system when he gained access to the complete alchemical knowledge.

More precisely, it was knowledge related to poisons and the species that carried them.

He gently stroked the small serpent-like creature's head for a bit before lowering his hand slightly, sending it a mental command.

Immediately after, the creature coiled itself around his hand, slithering up to his shoulder and wrapping around his neck like a scarf.

Ethan didn't know how, but he wasn't afraid of the creature.

Like most people, he had an instinctive fear of snakes, and even though he was now a cultivator and knew that a creature of this type couldn't harm him, that feeling was still there.

But with Zhong Hei, he didn't feel anything like that.

He could only attribute this to their bond.