Or so he wished.
'Why is this happening to me?'
As for everyone else, they didn't know what to say anymore. This went totally out of anyone's expectation. It would be one thing if by lucky, a Nine Silver Stars Alchemist got one score above the Golden Star Alchemists. But Krune, or better, Jolk, got the entire top 4. Not to mention that his results utterly crushed the Kaio and the other two.
Kaio was already greeting his teeth after seeing that result.
"That's not possible! There must be a mistake here! How could I lose to a wisp, and one still at the Six Silver Stars? I demand the analysis be done one more!"
He wasn't the only one thinking that something wasn't right. But then again, it would be one thing for one of the results to be wrong. But could four results be incorrect at the same time? Especially that Azure Grass, what if it isn't wrong?
Palo Yiag was as impressed as everyone else. Before the results were shown, even he didn't know about it. The formation has always worked perfectly fine, so there had never been a need to check the results before it was announced.
"Cough, cough. Bring Jolk's medicinal liquid bottles here. Also, ask the Formations Master that is waiting to check the formation."
Palo looked at Jolk's workstation direction and narrowed his eyes. If it was anyone else, he would be delighted to see such a result. But he knew that Jolk is a wisp because of the commotion yesterday after the knowledge test. As unbelievable as this wisp's talent might be, it doesn't change the fact that he will die way too soon. It's not worthy of spending resources on him.
Krune's medicinal bottles were brought back, and the Formations Master rechecked the formation.
"There is nothing wrong with the formation, it is working as perfectly as it could be."
In fact, the only need for the formation was to get an accurate reading. The alchemists like Palo could still use their Divine Sense to check how pure the medicinal liquid is. It's just that they wouldn't be 100% precise as the formation is, but they definitely would be close to it. So when Palo opened the bottle with the Azure Grass and checked it himself, he couldn't help but sigh.
'There is no doubt, this is definitely a Diamond Stars Level rate of purity. The formation definitely wasn't wrong.'
Still, Palo put all the four Medicinal Liquid Bottles on the formation again for check. As expected, the results were the same.
Xaia and Irken also decided to protest against this result.
"There is no way this can be true!"
"He's right, how come a Silver Stars Alchemist reach the level of a Diamond Stars in purity?"
Palo looked at those three Golden Star Alchemists and then threw to each of them one of Jolk's Medicinal Liquid Bottles.
The trio immediately understood his meaning. They, too, could see how pure it is through their Divine Sense, although not as precise a someone of Palo's level. They opened a bottle each and checked it themselves.
"Unbelievable."
"This can't be possible, just how did he do it?"
"He must have cheated without the examiners noticing. Have him try again in front of everyone."
Krune was already feeling depressed with all the attention, but when he heard that, he got even gloomier. If there was something good, that was the fact that his appearance and identity are concealed.
'Sigh, whatever. I will just ask the examiners to let me leave through a backdoor later and change my face once more.'
In fact, Krune was feeling a little mad too. Everyone around him keeps saying that he must have cheated, and that's is really bothering him.
'Since that's the case, I might as well throw my skills direct on their faces.'
Krune looked at everyone and said.
"No problem, I can do it again in front of everyone. I will even let you select one of the herbs of the list so that you don't think I cheated in the selection of the herbs too."
Kaio's eyebrows narrowed, hearing that. He could at least feel the confidence behind those words.
Palo came down and stopped beside Krune's workstation.
"Very well, the three Golden Stars Alchemist, come over to see it too. If it turns out that he isn't cheating, I want you to give an apology. Is that okay with the three of you?"
Kaio, Irken, and Xaia nodded. They are all proud alchemists themselves. If Jolk proves that he can really do it, then neither of the three would mind recognizing their mistakes.
Those three looked through the herbs list and selected one for Krune to try.
Krune didn't mind and took the herb that they selected.
It was at this moment that he heard Light Spirit's voice.
"Someone just put a Divine Sense Mark on you. Judging by the level of it, the owner is at least at the Divine Path Level, probably in the Divine View."
Krune stopped for a second and then smiled. According to Ramon, If there is one thing that the Alchemist Organization paid attention to, it was to protect its members. Krune could totally use them to say 'hello' to whoever it was that left this Divine Sense Mark on him. But that can wait until he is finished with the Medicinal Extraction.
As mentioned before, the Headquarters already knows Krune's real identity and face. So they had no need to use a Divine Sense mark since they could come to him directly.
Krune started to work and followed the same process as always. The herb that was chosen to him was a Haka Flower Stalk, suitable for some types of anti-poison pills. He filled the stalk with his Spiritual and Elemental Source Energy and started to once more 'push' the medicinal properties out. This time, instead of paying attention to the stalk itself, Palo and some of the other alchemists decided to check the medicinal liquid coming out straight away.
This time, they could see that the medicinal liquid coming out of the stalk was already around 80% clean. They finally understood what was happening here. Jolk's most significant advantage was during the extraction. He was able to bring the medicinal properties out with a lot fewer impurities than any other alchemist present in this competition.
"Just how is he able to do that?"
Krune then explained while he worked on it.
"I'm not doing anything amazing. Instead of pulling the medicinal properties out, I push it instead. That's all."
The alchemists around understood what he meant. But there was a problem with that method, which was the fact that the herb would most likely be damaged instead. Usually, unless you reached at least the Void Breaking Realm, you wouldn't have enough control over the Spiritual and Elemental Source to achieve that. At most, some alchemist geniuses might be able to do it around the Soul Forging Realm. But doing such a thing in the Core Formation Realm is unheard of.
Kaio and the others wanted to refute his words, but they were seeing the process with their own eyes too.
As for Palo, he already believed what Jolk said. If not through such a process, there would be no way that he could achieve this level of purity in the very first part of the process. That made him feel even sadder since he knows that Jolk is a wisp.
Around an hour later, Krune Started to use Spiritual Fire to burn the rest of the impurities away. Once again, the alchemists around were surprised. Krune's level of control could only be matched by the Golden Star Alchemists. The problem is because he isn't in the Divine Soul Realm like them, but in the middle of the Core Formation instead.
"Such a frightening level of control, just how many Core Formation Realm alchemists can achieve this? This is crazy!"
The same way as before, Krune finished the process after two hours. The alchemists looking at it didn't even have to use the Analysis Formation to know that this Medicinal Liquid was at the same level as the previous ones. Except for that Azure Grass, of course. Anyone could tell that Krune, or better, Jolk, was a lot more familiar with that and could do much better if he used the grass.
Still, Palo knew that there were a lot of alchemists watching their competition through the internet. So he had to put it for analysis so that the result could be seen by them as well.
-Six Silver Stars, Jolk: 90.49% (Haka Flower Stalk)-
It was decided, Krune didn't cheat.
As hard as it was to believe, Kaio, Xaia, and Irken had to admit defeat. In the end, Krune's level is simply higher when it comes to impurities removal.
Kaio was the very first one to apologize. Since it is proved that Krune played by the rules, his pride as Alchemist wouldn't allow him to deny the reality anymore.
"I'm sorry."
Xaia and Irken came right after and did the same.
Krune just sighed and said.
"As long as no one says that I'm cheating on the exam anymore, I'm okay with it."
Kaio then asked something else.
"How come you are still at the Six Silver Stars level, then? With his degree of purity, you should be able to advance in the ranks pretty fast."
This time, it was Palo who answered in Krune's instead.
"That is a secret since the supervisor of his branch applied for secrecy."
Kaio didn't like that answer, but he knew how the headquarters worked. So he didn't force the issue.
"Anyway, the fact is that you are still a Six Silver Stars Alchemist, which means that you still have to refine your skills at the pill making. I will be looking forward to your results tomorrow in the final phase."
Palo then asked Jolk to follow him since it would be too hard to leave a place like this. Once they got into a private room, Krune decided to talk about the Divine Sense Mark.
"What?! Did someone dare to do it right under our noses? No, wait, how do you even know that there is a Divine Sense Mark on you?"
Krune Shrugged his shoulder and said.
"That is a secret that my elders passed to me back in my Universe. I can't tell you how it works, I'm sorry."
Palo felt like something was fishy about that explanation, but since it was a secret, he couldn't simply force it out. Not to mention that the issue at the moment was the Divine Sense Mark. He is already the early stages of the Divine Path Realm, but he can't feel it, which means that it is of a higher cultivation level than himself.
He took out his communicator and made a call.
"Connect me with the elder Lagan in the headquarters."