"Enough! How dare you speak so arrogantly while in the presence of two great Alchemists?!" Loyd couldn't take it anymore, why should they be afraid and threatened when two great Alchemists were here with them?!
But Claire was confused, why did Loyd make it sound as if Alchemists were extremely rare in this new place she was in? Nick also noticed the weird expression on Claire's face and he could tell she was not following the situation well, and since he didn't have time to tell her about the rarity of alchemists in this place he just reprimanded her sternly instead.
"Listen here Claire, as Alchemists, there are certain standards we hold ourselves to, bowing and pleading with people who stand before us, is not the way an extremely rare and powerful Alchemist ought to behave!" Nick was basically letting her know that they were precious and needed to act as such.
"Alchemists?!!" The Cultivator was having trouble fathoming the words he just heard, since when did alchemists have so much time that they would concern themselves with low-level secret realms?!
Yes, although it was true that there was no definite way to tell what was inside a secret realm or its restrictions before arriving, there were still devices that measured the energy surges these doors create as they appear in the world, which would let those Empires and sects know how beneficial it would be for them.
Basically, the energy emission from a secret realm can classify it as either a low level, medium level, high level, or premium level secret ream, and this realm was already classified as a low level the moment it began appearing in this place. Which was also the reason why no scary powers were fighting over it. It just wasn't as enticing to them as sleeping was.
But the fact that two young Alchemists would take time to come to a remote secret realm like this just didn't make sense, one has to know how revered and respected Alchemists were, as long as they desired and their abilities were high enough they could even enter the premium level secret realm.
"Oh, looky here, husband, do you just believe anything some random liar says? I'm truly disappointed in you, you will be punished accordingly at home!" Suddenly a classy looking middle-aged woman walked up to the scene with a smile on her face, and although it was excessive for her to walk on the air when she could just float towards them, she somehow made it seem natural.
Nick nodded in support of the wife, she indeed needed to teach her husband a lesson, men were all pigs unless they were beaten up by their wives, he was the exception of course. Just thinking about how the man's face got flushed when he was complimented by Claire earlier made him angry, so despicable!
It was married dogs like this that made it tough for a single dog like himself, they keep one bone in their home and chase after the single dog's bone fiercely! Why can't they just be satisfied with what they have?!
"Lying...?!!" The husband only heard the words punishment and liars, and immediately both his eyes went bloodshot. These bunch of pricks have gotten him into trouble with his crazy ass wife.
"No! We really are alchemists! I swear, look!" Claire felt anxious all of a sudden, if she could not pass this trial successfully then her lifelong...new dream of becoming a great cook...food Alchemist would go down the drain!
So to make sure that these doubts wouldn't continue to linger she took out an Alchemy furnace from her storage ring and began concocting a pill using some of the herbs in her possession.
"A storage ring?!" The Immortal realm experts were shocked, it was common to see these among their peers, but to see it on a woman who was still at the transcendence realm shocked them dearly, but it would all make sense if the woman was actually who she said she is, an actually Alchemist!
Nick was on the sidelines calmly stroking his nonexistent beard to seemed calm and composed, when in reality he was holding back the urge to flee, he would be deader than dead if this woman decided to kill them to cut off the bad first impression she made on them. So Nick thought about it for a while and decided to wait until Claire finished her concoction before he spoke.
But Nick did find this Alchemy thing interesting, first of all, Claire just summoned fire out of practically nowhere, and even though the flames reached nowhere near the power or the abilities of his flame, it was still amazing how she was able to communicate with the elements and summon a powerful flame which would aid her.
Then she added every herb separately and began to melt them, not cook them, but melt them, that alone required an elite level mastery over flames.
And so, time ticked on, and no one was willing to enter the Realm while a Great Alchemist was currently refining right next to the door, but while everyone was looking on with awe and excitement the Classy middle-aged woman was looking on with worry, what was she going to do if the girl succeded, she had already offended her, and everyone knew how powerful the connections of an Alchemist were!
And as countless thoughts circulated in the woman's mind her eyes began flowing with a thick level of killing intent, that seemed to be the only way to resolve this issue, kill the Alchemist by claiming they were frauds.
But even though the woman's killing intent was leaking heavily out of her eyes, no one was able to notice it except Nick, who had been paying attention to the expressions of the woman and her husband for a while now.
Boom!
Suddenly the lid of the furnace was blown open and from within five glossy pills surfaced, and just as they entered the eyes of the crowd Nick waved his hands and made three of the pills come towards him, and sent the other two to the husband and wife duo.
Nick then calmly took a glance at one of the pills and yelled 'Ingredients!' in his mind.
[Energy regeneration pill-(Transcendence grade)
A pill created from the refinement of twelve herbs, the pill can be consumed as food...but I don't think it will be filling! Anyway, this pill was made by an Alchemist, Claire, whose real Alchemy abilities reach that of a fourth rank Alchemist but due to being repeatedly held back by an examiner who had a crush on her, she just graduated to be a third rank today! Let's all congratulate Mrs.Claire for a moment!
Ingredients used to make this pill-Two tongue herb, naughty little kitty herb...etc
Errors made while cooking this pill-
A) Did not use the Cooking skill!
B) Slow refinement led to the effects waning!
....etc
Effects of the pill- Can help a person whose cultivation is below the fifth rank of the transcendence realm recover a tiny bit of their energy! Side effects may include(Diarrhea, excessive vomiting, baldness, and stupidity) Recommended strongly not to use these drugs, just stick to an all-natural meal made using the Godly cooking skill!]
Nick knew very well that he could look at a fully cooked meal and find out its composition and the errors made while cooking it, but he had no idea if it would work on a pill as well, and he was glad it did, but he also felt his interest in Alchemy fading rapidly when he saw how a pill which took so much time to refine actually held so many mistakes and side effects!
Hmph! The Cooking skill is still the best after all! Nick praised his own technique which made the cooking skill feel...nothing its a skill for crying out loud! And every side remark that looked so human-like in the description must have come from some Artificial Intelligence created by the system.
Or at least that's what Nick thought, he had no idea that deep, deep down, further down from the dark space the Old geezer was situated in, another person sat in front of a typewriter sweating heavily, this person was in charge of writing the descriptions whenever Nick asked for it and since he only had a few seconds as a time window, he was usually in a rush to provide Nick with a detailed description.
And although this person was no less interesting than the Old geezer, it wasn't yet time for him to make a preview in this story just yet.
But what made Nick shocked was that Claire's abilities were actually at the fourth-star level, and the fact that she was held back by the teacher because he had a crush on her made Nick applauded for the man, the man sure was a romantic.
"Claire, do you plan on being my disciple with only this level of Alchemy! Look at this pill, so many flaws that I can't even feed it to a pig!" Nick then started reading the errors from the system description, it felt so great sounding like an expert when you were just an ignorant bumpkin!
"Firstly, you did not use the cooking...Cough, excuse me, first off, your slow refinement led to the effects waning, which is...bad! Then you added the four-leaf clover before the dream stick so they did not complement each other like they were supposed to, which is also...bad!" Nick was having trouble reading the description while also trying to sound like an expert, sigh, life sure was hard on him.
The Husband and wife duo had already taken their share of the pill and had tried it out, and to their surprise, this young lady was no ordinary Alchemist since the pills she refined were able to influence those at the transcendence realm while she was still so young! Her potential was nearly unrivaled in this continent!
But what was more shocking was that the pill which had shocked both of them, seemed to carry so many flaws in the eyes of the person she called 'Master', and although Claire may not be able to tell Nick's age due to their cultivation levels not being so far apart, the two were still able to determine Nick's age with ease, which told them he was even younger than the girl before them!
"Wow master, you were able to tell the flaws of my pill with just a glance?! Do you perhaps possess the Mystical golden eyes of the Alchemist!" Claire's shock was much more pronounced than theirs though because she knew what it took to see through an already refined pill just as Nick did.
Nick did not deny it, he simply smiled and looked at the sky, this was the Cultivator version of a lawyer saying, I will neither confirm nor deny that statement! Nick then turned his head towards the Classy woman and nodded at her appreciatively, which confused the woman.
"Now Claire, you should thank the woman who helped you mend the errors of your ways quickly! Hmph, flirting with a married man, how despicable!" Nick then turned into a stern teacher who was reprimanding his student.
The Old geezer vomited a little in the dark space hearing this, oh the hypocrisy.
"But master...I wasn't flirting with him! I was just acting coy!! COY!!" Claire spoke up righteously which made Nick smile at this dumb little girl, yes you were coy, but why were you acting coy, was it not to allure him?
Seeing her master staring at her in amusement Claire finally gave in and deeply bowed to the Classy woman.
"Sorry madam, I swear I did not do it intentionally, I had no idea that he was married! And if I may say so, you are too much for him!" Claire made a sincere apology since she was doing it anyway, that way Nick would praise her.
But Nick had been nodding all along agreeing with her approach for an apology when he heard her last line, great, now they made an enemy of the husband! Yet Nick did not let his mind dwell on this and continued on not to let anyone feel suspicious about his actions, after all, Alchemists were known to be proud, and making one's own disciple apologize was not usual.
"Good! Now you, Classy lady over there, your turn to apologize! My disciple has proven to be an Alchemist, and you have wronged her earlier by calling her a liar, now apologize!" Nick was just as stern on the woman as he was with Claire.
But only he knew how many puddles of pee he would have made around his feet if he wasn't so dehydrated form back sweats right now.