As Noah picked up the thin paper and looked at it, he realized it was actually a formula for a pill. However, the formula was written with so many complex, unnecessary steps. It would be near impossible to concoct the pill following the formula within the given time. Failure would be inevitable if an alchemist failed to decode the formula and simplify the steps, failure would be inevitable.
Another hurdle for the participants was the number of ingredients on the table. Just like Olivia informed Michael, the guild gave the participants two batches of ingredients which meant each participant only had two chances. If the medicinal ingredients were completely exhausted and the participant concocted no pill, then the participant would be eliminated from the competition.
”How long will it take for you to concoct the pill?” Eve asked Michael sitting beside him. Quickly, all the nobles focused on Michael to hear his answer,
”Forty-five seconds,”
Everyone, including Hendrix, was surprised by Michael’s answer. Hendrix was a six-star alchemist who could achieve 95% purity, but even for him, it would take at least a minute to concoct the pill. So naturally, the others would take longer.
”That’s a bit unrealistic, don’t you think?” Alred leaned forward a bit and asked Michael,
”It’s not actually Grandmaster Alred. The reason why I can concoct the pill quicker is my method of directly refining ingredients in the fire instead of using the cauldron. It cuts the time approximately by half,”
”So it’s dangerous, and one should not use that method. There is a reason that method went extinct” Gabriel expressed his discontent, but Michael responded with a smile,
”Of course, I wouldn’t teach this method to someone else. It’s dangerous,”
”Then why do you do it?” Eve curiously asked Michael as he turned to look at her stoic angelic face,
”What can I say? I like thrills,”
His answer surprisingly made Eve gently smile. The nobles who saw her smile were stunned beyond words. The reason, however, is that Eve felt no creepy vibes from Michael and Noah as she felt from the others. They were sitting side by side, but he never even touched her finger. Michael always maintained eye contact while talking to her and kept his distance as a gentleman should. Moreover, he didn’t even try to make conversation with her. Everything made Eve see him in a slightly good light.
”No wonder teacher said the competition won’t be easy” Noah held the thin piece of paper and smiled bitterly, shaking his head. He then lifted his head and glanced in all directions, only to realize confusion on many of the alchemists’ faces. Turning his head to the side, he eyed Jennifer and Leilan on his left and right. Unlike the rest, both of them appeared much calmer. However, they were still both frowning slightly as they found some errors with the formula recorded on the thin paper.
Noah took a deep breath and focused on the thin piece of paper in his hand. Since Noah had neither competed in an Alchemy competition nor concocted a pill in front of thousands of people, Noah’s heart and mind felt a bit uneasy.
While Noah was focused on the formula, Leilan turned over to Noah. He saw the bitter smile on the former’s face that had yet to disappear and could not help but softly give a cold laugh.
”You should have stayed in your guild. Since you didn’t, you’re gonna embarrass yourself in front of Eve… fool”
Having studied under Gabriel since he was little, Leilan had great confidence in himself. So, naturally, he thought he would triumph over the rest and have the qualification to marry either one of the Voldogard daughters.
On the enormous open ground, all the competitors held the thin paper. Each displayed a different expression as they gazed at the paper. The entire plaza was totally silent. The silence haunted the arena for five minutes until a clear bell sounded suddenly out of nowhere.
Hearing the bell ring, all the participants immediately halted what they were doing. Then, following the bell ringing, Hendrix, whose eyes were closed, finally opened them.
”I hope you’ve studied the formula and found the errors, if there are any. Let there be an hourglass,” As Hendrix’s voice swept across the arena, an ethereal hourglass materialized in the sky above the alchemists.
” You have thirty minutes to concoct the pill with at least 20% purity. After that, you shall place the pill you concocted on the mirror on your table. The mirror will let out a green light if your pill has met the requirements. Otherwise red, which will indicate that you’ve been eliminated” Hendrix paused for a moment, letting the alchemists digest everything he had just told them.
”Do you all understand?” Hendrix asked with a smile.
”Yes!” The alchemists roared, shaking the arena.
Hendrix slowly lifted his palm as he smiled.
”The first round of the examination shall now begin!” His voice echoed through the arena and the moment he waved his palm, the ethereal hourglass turned upside down as the golden sands slowly rained from one end to another.
As soon as the timing began, the alchemist flicked their wrists, taking out their cauldron from their space ring.
”Shouldn’t we have given them all the same cauldron?” Michael asked the other judges,
”I think so too,” Eve nodded,
”Luck is a part of Alchemy, young man. One has to be lucky to achieve great success in alchemy,”
For a moment, Michael was confused about the connection between the question he asked and the answer he received from Hendrix.
”In simple words, if you aren’t lucky to get a great cauldron or born into a wealthy family, you won’t get too far,” Alred chuckled,
”Not everyone has a death wish to refine pills directly and potions like you Ghost,” Once again, Michael received a scornful response from Gabriel. However, if Michael wished, he could kill Gabriel in a flash since Gabriel was at the Core Strengthening stage. At the same time, he reached Soul Refining stage level 3 after killing King Bredia’s men.
Luckily for Gabriel, Michael wasn’t here to kill him, at least not yet.
Meanwhile, Noah quietly stood behind the jade table. With a flick of his wrist, Noah summoned his cauldron from the space ring. It was a pearl white cauldron with three handles resembling dragons. There were numerous undisguisable writings engraved on the outside as well as inside. Unlike the rest, Noah did not immediately summon his flame and start the refinement. Instead, he quietly held the paper and studied the formula once again.
As Andreas taught him, preparation was crucial for success. Considering he only had two chances, negligence wasn’t an option. The guild required one to refine a pill called burn healer. As the name suggests, it was a kind of medicinal pill used to treat wounds caused by fire and acid. Usually, these pills were used by those who couldn’t afford a healing potion and were fairly cheap. In an alchemy store, they wouldn’t sell the pill for more than fifty to a hundred gold coins depending on its purity.
Refining the pill required a total of five ingredients. Although the pill was cheap, the refining process was complex and needed an alchemist to possess good control over their alchemy fire and knowledge of each ingredient. Since Noah brewed his own healing potion, he was unfamiliar with the process of making a burn healer.
Michael silently watched Noah studying the parchment without starting to refine the ingredients. On the other hand, Jennifer and Leilan had already conjured the flames and let the fire surround the cauldron. Michael failed to see a different color flame other than emerald green. Why did everyone have green flames by default? It’s because fire created by pure arch energy burns green. Only by absorbing a Primordial flame could one change the flame color produced by the arch energy. Hence, Michael had black flames, Rowena had icy blue flames, and Noah possessed bright blue fire.
”Regardless of their character, these two are really talented,” Noah said to himself. However, no matter how he counted, Noah had only studied alchemy for four years give or take. Therefore, on certain aspects, Noah could not catch up with Jennifer and Leilan, who their teachers groomed for decades. After all, no matter how talented one is or whom one learned from, it would be impossible to catch up decades of experience in such a short time unless they had a system like Michael, of course.
Yet what even Michael failed to grasp was that he may have learned the book of alchemy through the system. Still, his innate talent for manipulating darkness and control over the fire made him reach the point he was at the moment. For a day, Michael refined hundreds of pills and potions. He had never slacked off despite having a system.
”So Ghost, can I call you Ghost?” Eve looked at Michael,
”I insist,” Michael said with his usual alluring smile that made Eve’s heart skip a beat,
”Do you think you can give some pointers to my sister?” she smiled. No one with a brain and eyes would say no to such an angelic woman, and Michael wasn’t an exception. But, of course, it was not because of her beauty but because of her family background. He needed some connections in Awor and making friends with Eve didn’t seem like a bad idea.
”Of course, just tell me, where do you want me to meet you?”
At this moment, over ten minutes had elapsed since the start of the examination. Red lights were already flickering off and on during these short ten minutes within the arena. After the red light flickered, those alchemists who had failed could only leave the arena with many regrets.
”They should have rushed like that,” Alred commented about the alchemists leaving the arena after their pills failed to meet the requirements.
Noah indifferently glanced at an alchemist before him who kept his head down as he walked out of the arena with a face on the verge of crying. Once again, Noah ignored the commotion to focus on refining.
”Let’s begin,” Noah cracked his knuckles as he finally decided to conjure his flames. Under thousands of gazes, Noah flicked his wrist as a bright blue flame materialized above his hand, dancing like a lady.
”A Primordial flame,” Michael immediately felt the familiar energy waves radiating from the fire above Noah’s hands. It was weaker than the Dark flames but still had off-the-chart energy radiations like the Dark Flames.