The Pill Tribulation started immediately, Heavenly Lightning Bolts at the Golden Core Realm dropping down on William in short bursts.
Even though the Tribulation was for the Pills and not William, the clouds seemed to sense that William had dispersed them before, its strength increasing slightly above what it would normally be.
It's still just a Golden Core Tribulation. Not really an issue for me. William yawned as the consecutive Lightning Bolts failed to even crack his Forcefield, which was normally weak to Heavenly Lightning.
The Tribulation ended without consequence, granting William some Potential Points while also progressing both the Alchemist and Trial Taker Titles. He would need to perfectly refine four more unique Pills to progress the Alchemist Title to Epic, while the Trial Taker Title was only three Tribulations from reaching the same rarity.
After successfully completing his test refinement, William moved on to refine Tier 4 Heavenly Resistance Pills. The only difference between the two recipes was the quality of material, so William had the choice to either use high-quality Mana Grass or high-quality Heaven Enduring Soil.
Since Tribulations turned the Soil into an easily renewable resource, William used the better Soil for his Pills, refining them in groups of four at a time.
He was pleasantly surprised to discover that differently-tiered Pills counted towards his Alchemist Title, so he took the initiative to refine four Tier 1 and 2 Heavenly Resistance Pills as well.
--Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP
-Trial Taker (Rare --> Epic): You have transcended at least 10 Heavenly Tribulations. With great risk comes great reward. 10% resistance to Heavenly Lightning, +3 Attention.
-Attention has reached 5 points. The Heavens will now attempt to periodically check on the Host. Current period: One hour per week.
-S-Rank Stealth Talent has blocked the prying of the Heavens.
A short wave of System Messages forced William to take a peek at the corner of his vision. While his Trial Taker Title had upgraded and given him five percent more Heavenly Lightning Resistance, the adverse effect was also increased.
Thankfully, it seemed that the Heavens didn't place much priority on watching him, since they didn't pry again after failing the first time. He was once again thankful for upgrading the Stealth Talent, which seemed to have many hidden effects that the System didn't outright mention.
Before he continued refining Pills, William appraised those he currently had on hand.
———
Heavenly Resistance Pill (Tier 4 Pill): Refined by Alchemist William.
Effects when consumed:
+20 Heavenly Lightning Resistance
+20% Heavenly Lightning Resistance
--Title upgraded to Epic: +20 PP
-Alchemist (Rare --> Epic): You have perfectly refined ten unique pills, making a name for yourself among your Alchemy Peers. Pills of all Ranks will be 20% easier to refine.
Appraise.
———
Earth Boosting Pill (Tier 4 Pill): Refined by Alchemist William.
Effects when consumed:
+20 Earth Magic Strength
+20% Earth .net
Lasts for three hours.
Effects diminished by fifty percent if more than one Pill of the same type is consumed within six hours.
Effects diminished by ninety percent if more than two Pills of the same type are consumed without resting.
———
He repeated the refinement process three more times for a total of eight Pills, then went back to refine one more set of Tier 4 Heavenly Resistance Pills. This way he would have eight of each Pill.
The Tier 4 Life Boosting Pills were made with four Lifeshrooms and six medium-quality Mana Grass, but the recipe condensed four Pills each, so he only had to refine them twice.
He also made eight Tier 4 Reinforcement Pills, which increased the defensive ability of his body by twenty percent. If he ate all four different Pills before undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation, his survival chance against the more difficult Tribulations should be greatly increased.
The entire refinement process for the Pills only took roughly seven hours, so William still had quite a bit of time to return to the residence and check on his friends and the enslaved Cultivators.
Most of the friend group was diligently Cultivating or practicing their Techniques, but Yuming was also conducting Alchemy.
When William saw the man inside covered in burns and the floor scorched black, he instantly knew that the man had perfectly refined a Pill and incited a Pill Tribulation of his own, though it seemed quite weak compared to the ones he had just gone through.
Of course, William had constructed Yuming's room with the Pill Tribulations in mind, so the Arrays were able to automatically repair the damage caused. As long as his Pill Tribulations weren't in the Nascent Soul Realm, William's Arrays should be able to handle anything that happened within Yuming's room.