Rise of the Alchemy God

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Although Ethan had no problem going first, he was still a bit surprised to be the first to compete.

'Oh well, the sooner I go, the sooner I come back, right?' he told himself as he stepped forward and grabbed one of the cauldrons placed at a fair distance at the two ends of the small field.

Tan Chi had already positioned himself as well, and now both were waiting for the master alchemist to tell them what their tasks would be.

From what Ethan knew, the test would last an hour for each competition, both for the novice and expert categories.

The expert category would likely finish within the day, while the novice one would take at least two more days.

But that didn't matter to Ethan.

He wanted to finish the selection quickly and go make preparations for when he would begin closed-door cultivation.

It would be the first time he did so, but he thought it wouldn't be much different from what he usually did.

Only this time, instead of focusing more on refinement, he would concentrate on reaching the peak of the third stage and surpassing it, to then make as much progress as possible toward the next stage.

He still had no idea how to deal with the being inside the sphere of light, but he knew he had to do it soon as that being was supposed to be his beast spirit.

While Ethan was lost in thoughts about the various things he had to do after today's competition, the other participants were more focused on something else.

Tan Chi was a bit irritated by the fact that his opponent didn't even glance at him, making him think that perhaps he wasn't being taken seriously.

Xun Wei was still annoyed that Ethan hadn't been eliminated but had passed the test by answering all 10,000 questions, something impossible in his view.

'If I couldn't do more than 4,000, how could a nobody like him answer all 10,000 questions?' he thought, frustrated.

Yan Mei, on the other hand, was more curious about who this person was.

She could tell it was a man, but due to the mask hiding his facial features, she couldn't determine whether he was young or not, in other words, whether he was older or younger than her.

She could accept that someone much older than her might be better at alchemy, but she could never accept that someone around her age could have a talent similar to hers.

Even Xun Wei, in her eyes, wasn't as good as she was.

As for Xiang Hua, she had a strange feeling that she knew this person.

'How strange, I'm sure I've never seen him before,' she thought, but since he was hiding his face, he could be anyone, maybe even someone she knew.

With her cultivation base at the peak of the third stage, she could tell the person was strong, but she couldn't determine just how strong he was.

Apart from that, she couldn't gather any other information about him.

But she didn't dwell on it much.

Although it was extraordinary that he had answered all 10,000 questions in a minute, it wasn't far from her own record, which was 7,124.

Finally, the elder took two seemingly identical sheets of paper and made them fly toward the two ends of the small field.

Ethan and Tan Chi both caught the sheets in mid-air and examined them while the examiner's voice echoed.

"For the third and final test of the selection, you must prepare the products listed on the sheets, specifically pills.

Normally, in addition to the pills, we would also ask for the refinement of at least one potion and a few other products, but this year we decided that the refinement of the pills was more than enough." he said.

Ethan, hearing this, understood why.

Although the methods for preparing potions and pills were similar, they differed in many other aspects, and in terms of difficulty, pills were more troublesome to refine.

Therefore, he thought they had decided to choose only pills because they were the most difficult in terms of challenge.

Seeing what was written on the sheet, Ethan didn't have much of a reaction and continued to look everything listed one by one:

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1- Prepare a batch of three high-grade basic recovery pills (Lvl.1)

2- Prepare at least one high-grade qi gathering pill (Lvl..1)

3- Prepare a batch of high-grade martial purification pills (Lvl.1)

...

9- Prepare one low-grade meridian cleaning pill (Lvl.2)

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The sheet given by the elder listed various types of pills, ranging from simple Qi recovery pills to those strengthening meridians and more...

They were all pills Ethan was familiar with and had already produced at least once.

What he wondered was which ones to make.

They only had an hour, and from what he understood, their objective was to prepare as many as possible within this limit.

At the end, not only the total number would be checked, but also their purity.

Every little factor that could determine the winner would be examined.

It was impossible to produce all these pills in just one hour.

It was even impossible for Ethan if he used only one cauldron and refrained from using his system's alchemy lab.

So he had to carefully choose which ones to refine.

'Let's see…'

In reality, the best choice would be to directly refine the only level 2 pill that was listed.

A pill of this level alone would outclass at least ten high-grade level 1 pills.

The problem was that Ethan hadn't learned the recipe for this pill, and it wasn't exactly cheap to obtain.

It wasn't impossible for him to produce a level 2 pill as long as he had the recipe, and with his recently improved alchemy skills, he could make one with more confidence than before.

Just as he was pondering how to handle the level 2 pill, the examiner,

who had remained silent while giving the two competitors time to review the list of pills they had to produce, finally spoke:

"Well, now that you've looked at the list of pills from which you must choose, you've probably noticed there's also a level 2 pill, right?

At your level, producing a pill of this grade isn't impossible, but I don't expect you to know the recipe for every level 2 pill out there.

So, to give you an idea of which materials to use and how to prepare it, I will refine that pill in front of you.

Whether or not you'll be able to refine it afterward will depend on you."

The elder said this while pulling out a cauldron no taller than 80 centimeters from his ring.

"Normally, for an expert-grade alchemist to produce a low-grade level 2 pill, it would take at least 30 minutes, but we can't afford to lose that much time.

I'll do it in 15 minutes, and I'll make sure the various steps and materials used are clear for all of you.

For the Imperial Tournament happening in three months, it would be ideal if each of you were at least able to refine a low-grade level 2 pill, because rest assured that many of your opponents will know how to do it.

After all, you won't just be up against other adept alchemists, but also expert ones," he said with a serious expression.

"I'm sure some of you already know how to refine level 2 pills, but for those who don't, if you're chosen to participate in the tournament, it would be wise to catch up with the others before the competition begins."

After this, his expression suddenly returned to its calm state from before.

"So if you intend to try refining this pill, then pay close attention."

Saying this, he quickly pulled out a series of materials and herbs, and after lighting the fire under the cauldron, he began the refining process.

Everyone kept a good distance from the elder to avoid disturbing his refining, but even so, they could clearly see all his movements.

From the materials he was taking to their preparations, the control of the flame, everything.

Every movement was being watched as if to imprint it in their minds.

Only three people were observing but not with the same intensity as the rest.

One was Xiang Hua, who at her current level was already capable of refining low-grade level 2 pills and was already aiming for those of mid-grade.

Then there was Yan Mei. She too, having already mastered the refinement of low-grade level 2 pills, was training for higher grades under her grandfather's guidance.

And finally, there was Ethan.

Although he could prepare level 2 pills as long as he had the recipe, the reason he wasn't paying close attention to the demonstration was due to something floating in front of his vision:

DING!

[Preparation of a pill detected]

[Analyzing...]

[The pill being prepared is a high-grade level 2 Meridian Cleaning Pill]

[Initiating learning process…]

[5%]

[11%]

[34%]

The further the elder progressed with the refinement, the more the learning percentage of the recipe displayed on the system screen increased.

Ethan, seeing the sudden appearance of these system messages, was momentarily shocked.

'There was a feature like this?'