Ning roamed the city for a few hours and saw the many stores. He even bought a few souvenirs he could give to Anya and her kids once he went back to meet her sometime soon.
He tried some of the local delicacies and was absolutely floored by how it tasted. The restaurants in this city made foods that were beyond perfection. Not only that, it seemed the ingredients they used were quite luxurious as well as if they were made up of some rich spirit plants and animals.
Ning went to the tailor and got himself a new set of robes that he could wear around the city now. He felt his robes and was surprised at how smooth the clothes were as well.
"Damn, I wonder what this fabric is made up of. It doesn't look like the normal fabric we are used to getting in the other schools," he thought.
He went to the foot of the mountain and saw a massive line of huge tower-like buildings that went as high as 10 floors. The lowest floors were the largest, while the upper floors got smaller and smaller.
There were around 20 or more buildings here, but only 5 of them were truly towering. Others didn't even come in half of the 5 towers.
"Oh, these are the profession halls, huh?" Ning said as he saw them.
The Five Professions. Alchemy, Beast Mastery, Artifact Creation, Formation Mastery, and finally Talisman Making. There were the 5 professions that sold the most and were thus remained the best in the city.
The other towers were professions that were taught in the academy but didn't hold as much prestige as the 5 main professions.
He saw hundreds of thousands of people going in and out of the nearly 2 dozen towers. Ning shook his head and instead moved towards what was behind the towers.
There was a path opened up between the Beast Tamer hall, and the Artifact hall that led to the back of the tower. Ning walked through that path and reached a massive gate that had thousands of people grouping up to look at some of the information posted on the wall.
Ning walked to the wall too, pushing aside people left and right. Finally, he saw the information written on a notice.
The notice was an exam notice that mentioned when the tests were going to take place. Ning quickly read it and realized that the exams were all held on different days for different professions.
The one that mattered to him for now, Alchemy, was set exactly 29 days later. The Gate didn't seem like it was going to be opened for now and they could only wait outside so he had nothing to do here now.
"Guess I have time to waste," he thought and walked back from the gate. He went back to the city and found a tavern that he could rent for.
30 days of stay cost him about 5 spirit stones. At first, he nearly thought he was getting robbed when he heard the price, but they matched with how must things cost throughout the city.
'It really is a very expensive city,' he thought and went to his room. He had 29 days of peace and had every intention to make the 5 spirit stones worth their price.
He sat down in a lotus position in the bed and started thinking. There were many books on Alchemy in his mind that we're just staying there.
He had learned a book or two here and there and he could make about 3rd Grade's worth of pills. If he had tried just a little more, he was sure he could have reached the 4th or maybe even the 5th grade.
He took the information that was in his mind and started piecing them together. He had a month of time and didn't want to use the system to immediately learn it all.
Besides, the interface was annoying to use for him. He would rather spend his time like this than use the interface of the system.
There was much knowledge that he learned about in the 30 days that he was stuck. He learned about ingredients, the recipes, and the combination.
He learned how the higher grade pills could be made and how hard it was for him to do it. A month quickly passed by and he opened his eyes in the tavern room.
"Today is the day. I can't mess it up," he thought. He had the tavern room under his name for 1 more day, so he didn't visit the tavern's boss to let him know he was going somewhere.
It was 6 am in morning, and Ning was surprised how awake all the people already were. Not only that, they seemed to be going towards the Academy too.
'So many alchemists in one place,' Ning thought with absolute shock. This was just not possible to see in the other continent anywhere except for special Alchemist gatherings.
He walked past the two great towers and walked to the gate. This time, the gate was fully open. So, he went past the guard and walked up the mountain.
He looked around to see if he could find Ender, but he couldn't see him anywhere. 'I might find him in the exam room,' he thought.
"Where am I supposed to go?" Ning wondered a little and looked towards other people for help.
"Hey, how was your practice?" one of the two men walking up the stairs spoke.
"It was pretty great. I think I can do it this time," the other man said.
"Uhh… my name would be in tatters if I don't pass this time around too," the first man said.
'Are they going to the Alchemy exam as well? It sounds like they've taken the entrance exam before' Ning thought as he listened to their conversation and realized that they were indeed going to take the exam.
In about 10 minutes, Ning reached the top and looked at the massive academy in front of him.
"No, I can look at it later.. I need to go register first," Ning thought and quickly followed the two men to the examination place.