After flying for a while, Wang Wei finally arrived at his destination. He walked in with great side heading straight to the counter and registered for his test.
According to the rules of the Alchemy Association, each participant of the test has to pay a certain fee, no matter the success or failure of the test. Because of Lou Cheng's master and status, he can receive a discount for the fee.
Unfortunately, it was not free, secretly complained Wang Wei. Although he was rich, Lou Cheng was not. So, with a pained expression, he paid the fee for the test.
Meanwhile, during the entire process of registration, he had to ignore the weird look that some people gave him. He guessed their reasons for doing so.
Lou Cheng was nothing but a Low-level Tier 2 Alchemist. But now, a little over three months after breaking through to the Supernatural Realm, he was applying to become a Middle Tier 2 Alchemist.
Wang Wei ignored their chatter and lined up like everyone else. His eyes scanned the surroundings, then an idea came to him. He secretly hypnotized one person and had the person approach him, have a short conversation with him before leaving.
Then, he waited for his term; this wait lasted for a full three hours. Finally, Wang Wei along with five other people entered a large room. The first thing he noticed after entering the room was the five old man floating in the air while sitting cross-legged.
They all had white long hair and beard, had tanned skin, most likely because of always being around intense flames for alchemy. Additionally, a faint scent of medicine could also be detected from them.
The five old men looked at all the participants, only briefly pausing on Wang Wei before ignoring him. The old man in the middle who was referred to as Elder Fang Lie said:
"You should all be aware of the rules. You can refine any Middle Earth Grade pill. To pass the test, you have to refine at least 3 pills with normal quality. You can have as many trials as you want during the allocating time.
"Now, show me your materials."
All 6 of them took out the materials needed for the refinement, then the five old men used their Divine Sense to check and ensure that nothing was wrong or any cheating did not occur.
Finally, Elder Fang Lie waved his hand and 6 ordinary-looking cauldrons appeared in front of the participants.
According to the Association's rules, the test required the participants to use ordinary cauldron as a way to display their true skills.
Wang Wei checked the cauldron in front of him: it was nothing but a Low-level Profound origin artifact that only Body Refining Realm cultivators would use.
Since everyone was restricted to the same rule, he did not say anything. Countless runes starting appeared on his body as he immediately used his Innate Talent.
With it, he instantly understood the perfect ratio needed to refine the pill he chose: the Fortune Enhancement Pill. The purpose of this pill is to increase the strength of a cultivator's Good Fortune Flame, which will in turn increase the speed that they can temper their bodies in the Divine Body Realm.
This pill is quite popular amongst cultivators, and the difficulty to refine it is between middle to the upper levels.
After Wang Wei used his Innate Talent, the five judges were not surprised as many alchemists have Innate Talent that helped them in pill concocting. In this group along, there was another person who was also using his Innate Talent.
The only difference was that the person had already entered the Divine Body Realm, so runes did not appear on his body.
Wang Wei ignored everyone as he concentrated on his refinement. After using his talent to get the perfect ratio for his recipe, he did not stop there. Instead, he used his [Precision] talent to find the precise or perfect way to remove impurities.
After controlling the flame properly to do so, he melted the herbs into liquid, mix them into one before condensing the mixture into pills. Finally, he engraved the necessary runes.
After Wang Wei finished, he ended up with 3 normal pills and 2 superior ones. The judges checked the pills, nodded in satisfaction before giving him a badge with his newly updated status as a Middle Tier 2 Alchemist.
The information regarding his status was updated in the main brain of the Association that was located at the city right in front of the Origin Pill Dao Sect.
While leaving the Testing Pavilion, Wang Wei used his Divine Sense to refine the new badge, and also review the new benefits he will receive with his new status.
For one, he will receive a few hundred sect points. Although not a lot, still better than nothing.
However, the greatest advantage of that badge is the discount it can be used for. Whether it was buying herbs from the Sect or directly from the Association, whether he can send missions, he will receive a discount.
And that's not all. Many places that are unrelated to Alchemy will give discounts to professionals as long as they showed their badges. For example, when using Teleportation Array, renting Flying Demonic beasts, and even using the constructs that Wang Wei popularized: the badge can be used to get a discount.
Finally, the badge contained a Defensive Formation inside that can protect the user based on their tier. With Wang Wei's badge, the formation can be used to protect him from a powerful attack from a Peak Divine Body Realm cultivator.
From what Wang Wei knows, the Tier 3 badge is actually very precious as it contained not only a defensive formation that can protect from Void Shattering Realm cultivator but also can be used as a Void Breaking Talisman.
That way, once the alchemist is in danger, they can run away. Even if the opponent blocks the void, they can still tear it open and run away.
The badge is one of the reasons that many professionals are eager to join the Associations–especially the loose cultivators. After all, the badge is equal to a second life for them.
After leaving the pavilion, Wang Wei flew back to his cave. However, midway through, he received a Communication Talisman and changed his destination.
"Disciple has seen master," bowed Wang Wei.
"Little fifth, I've heard the news about your promotion, congratulation," said Ye Lao.
'It seems that my master's power is not as bad as I imagined. Not even a few minutes after my test he already received the news. However, from his body language and tone, he seems to wonder about my sudden increase in alchemic ability," thought Wang Wei, who placed a happy smile on his face as he said:
"Master, it's all thanks to Innate Talent. At first, it could only be used to find the perfect ratio of herbs to use for Alchemy. Then, I thought to myself, why not try to use to find the precise way to remove impurities in the herbs, then it worked.
"I could not believe it. Now, I have so many ideas. Maybe I can use it to find the perfect way to control flames and more important, to engrave runes. If can succeed, I cannot imagine what I could achieve in the future."
As Ye Lao watched his excited apprentice babbled on, his eyes lit up in surprise, albeit his face remained calm. If his disciple succeeds to develop his Innate Talen to this level, his Alchemy Talent would reach an unimaginable level.
Ye Lao became excited after hearing this. This is one of the advantages of the Origin System as a cultivation method. With the right Innate talent, a mediocre person can quickly become extraordinary as long as they developed their talents in the right direction.
"Good, good, good." Ye Lao repeated his words three times. "You did well, Little Cheng. You did not disappoint your master."
'I have finally removed this guy's suspicions. Plus, from now on, I do not have to worry about showing too much talent.'
Wang Wei personally developed Lou Cheng's Innate Talent in that direction to display his talent and be more favored by his master, thus also increasing his chances at achieving his goals for coming here.
Truth be told, he has even more ideas for the development of this talent. For example, in the future, he wants to develop this [Precision] talent to apply to other things.
For example, develop the perfect way to apply physical strength, the perfect way to control origin essence, the precise way to apply the soul. Finally, the precise way to control the Law.
Although Lou Cheng's ability seemed to be limited to only alchemy, for now, Wang Wei will try to develop in these directions. If he succeeds, he will not return that talent to Lou Cheng after giving him his body back.
Even if he fails, he will try to develop a cultivation technique that has these effects using that talent as a springboard–just like Empress Wu did with her Universal Seal.
After being praised by Ye Lao, Wang Wei displayed a happy face, followed by a little shy and embarrassed appearance. Then, a look of hesitation appeared on his face.
"Little Cheng, do you have something in your mind?"
"Master, I've been wondering about the [Controlling Flame Art]."
"Is there a problem? If there is something that you do not understand, I can explain it to you."
"No, it's not this. While I was waiting for my test, a disciple named Jiang Yu approached me. Based on my brief conversation with him, I could feel like he was interested in what cultivation method I cultivate.
"I don't know. I somehow feel like this technique has some secret."
Ye Lao frowned after hearing this. According to the information he receive, someone did approach little fifth. And that guy also belonged to Fu Caiyun's faction.
'Has he already suspected something?'
With a calm look on his face, Ye Lao said: "You do not have to worry about anything. As long as you cultivate it to the 6th stage and break through the Primordial Spirit Stage, you will know everything."
"Master, I feel like, with the combination of my Innate Talent, I should be able to cultivate to the 6th stage really soon."
The Controlling Flame Art is a weird technique that not only showed how to control flame but can also be used as a cultivation method. As such, it is possible to cultivate it to a high level without reaching the realm–as long as you have enough talent.
"I understand that you're curious," said Ye Lao. "But you have to understand, some secrets cannot be known without the appropriate strength."
'It seems that I have to find another way to quickly learn the secret of this technique.'
Wang Wei nodded his head, chatted with his cheap master for a while before returning to his cave.
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Sorry about the mistake.. I even got the chapter title wrong using the next chapter's title.