I follow the boy up the stairs as he guides me to a room on the third floor. Several others are already sitting in the room as they read their notes or anxiously wait for the examination to start.
The participants here are wealthier than the ones in the army by their dress and attire.
"What? That's..."
Some of the participants recognise me. They were questioning why a fighter would want to be an alchemist. I can already feel the annoyance and frustration of candidates here.
I don't blame them. After all, a person has to be a genius to be in a hybrid career.
The room is a spacious golden room with a few marble tables and chairs fixated to the ground.
A woman wearing a red shawl, black coat and white inner shirt walks into the room. She was one of the people who carried the bags of Deathworm teeth just now.
She throws her glance at me before looking away.
"We will begin the examination without delay, please take a seat."
I sit at the last table at the back of the room. Each table is spaced out at an interval of about 1 meter behind one another. There are three rows of tables, one in the middle, the rest at the sides of the room.
The lady hands out stacks of paper to the people at the front. The person at the front takes a stack and passes the rest behind.
When I received my stack of paper, I realise it was a written examination about alchemy materials.
"You have 30 minutes, please begin." She says.
I look through the paper, I need to write down the properties of different materials that alchemists use such as various plants, blood, teeth, reagent, etc.
Since I was an adventurer in the past, I can easily breeze through the nature section. I was a frequent customer of potions and pills to make up for my talentless state so I pretty much know which materials go into which potion or pills, allowing me to roughly guess what their properties are.
The only problem I might have is reagents...
Atomic Spider diarrhea...?
Uhh... Atomic spiders are category 4 monsters that are as big as a dog. They have purplish skin that has small spikes to protect themselves. Generally, they are harmless by themselves as their skin is soft. But a swarm of Atomic spiders can easily overwhelm a small party.
Uhhh... Atomic spiders feed on mana crystals and are mostly found in caves so...
Mana diarrhea??????
When the 30 minutes almost is up, I had no choice but to scramble some guesses on the reagent section.
I sigh as I hand the paper up. As long as I can pass, it is fine. I am not looking to ace it and gain some attention from the higher alchemists anyway.
The next part of the examination is practical.
The woman leads us to another even bigger and spacious room on the next level of the tower.
There's a cauldron spaced apart in rows of 5.
We walk in and take a seat at a cauldron. Since I was last in the queue, I can only take the one remaining spot at the edge of the 2nd row.
An instruction manual that includes the steps and images of pills is laid down in front of the cauldron.
"In one and a half hours, make at least 3 different pills listed on the instruction manual."
!!
One and a half?
Most of the candidates in the room gasp. The test suddenly escalated to a near-impossible tier.
I dart my glance around to see only a few candidates who are unfazed by the sudden difficulty.
It is not impossible to make 3 pills in one and a half hours. However, that is if the 3 pill is the same pills.
To make 3 different pills in such a short time requires intense manipulation of the fire and materials.
I...
"Begin."
"Wait what!"
Every candidate scrambles through the book. Some have already started putting the materials into the cauldron.
I look through the Instruction Manuel. It is impossible to create 3 different pills separately within such a short amount of time; they must be created together.
Shit. In the past, even making one pill is difficult. Why? What was my mistake?
I look through the pages. It illustrates the action of each step in the cauldron and shows the final product of the pills. The instruction manual has also listed the properties of the materials presented and the properties of the pills.
There's a bucket to the right of every cauldron. Inside it are different plants, parts of monsters, and vials of blood.
I scratch my head as I try to figure out why.
I have to stop panicking. Let's go back to the basics of alchemy, it involves using heat imbued with mana to combine materials into a singular pill.
Combine...
Wait...
I look at the properties of materials in the instruction manual. There's an element symbol beside the picture of materials.
Feng Shui Element!
I finally understood.
Each Material contains a type of mana. It follows the principle of Feng shui. There are five elements of mana that materials have: Fire, water, metal, earth, and wood.
Fire nourishes the earth by creating ashes. Wood nourishes fire by extending its lifespan. Water nourishes wood by allowing plants like trees to grow. Metal enhances the life-giving properties of water. Earth, as it condenses over time, turns into metal.
This creates a cycle of compatibility with each element. For example, a material grown at a high temperature may have condensed fire mana. In which this case, have great compatibility with materials grown in abundance nature due to them having the Wood mana.
Of course, when elements are compatible with one another, some are not.
For example, fire is not compatible with water as water extinguishes fire. Fire is also not compatible with metal as metal is melted by fire. Going by this logic, Fire materials can only be produced with Wood and Earth materials.
Now, this goes to my next decision. Which pill should I make now that I know how to make a pill?
I need to make pills that are compatible with each other and won't disturb each other's processes.
Although I can try to experiment with making pills that have compatible elements, it is much safer to make pills of the same element.
I quickly flip through the instruction manual and pick three pills of the fire element: Heat-resistance pill, Flame affinity pill, and fire skin pill.
All of these have the same elemental properties so the materials used to make them are similar.
The only difference is the way each is being created, one small mistake can change the effects of pills drastically.
I start placing materials into the cauldron. I place one batch of materials in the middle of the Cauldron and the other two batches on opposite sides to separate them.
I light up the fire below the cauldron and control them with mana fluctuations, adjusting the strength of the fire carefully.
I close my eyes and sense the materials. They are floating in the cauldron and each stack is slowly combined into one ball.
I stabilise my breathing as I open my eyes to check the clock. I still have about 10 minutes left.
There are three candidates already done with their pill. They are looking around to see potential opponents or friends. From the look and aura of the pill in their hand, those are grade 2 pills.
The pills I am creating are grade 1 but they should be enough for me to pass.
I exert all my strength controlling the fire. The cauldron starts to vibrate vigorously.
Other candidates check the commotion and look at me, my cauldron is the only one trembling so much.
"Is it going to explode?" One of the candidates says in worry.
The woman examiner walks to me and stares at me.
!!!
"Everyone get back!" She shouts.
A violent burst of red energy shoots out of my cauldron. The lid of my cauldron slips off, revealing a bright light emitting from within.
I stop the fire and take a look inside the cauldron. An Ember pill is gleaming with a reddish powder aura floating around it, the Fire Affinity pill.
I look at the pills on the side. On the right, is a scarlet pill with a burning sensation when you look at it, the Flame Skin Pill.
And finally, on the left, a crimson pill with random stripes carved into it, the Heat Resistance pill.
The woman walks to my cauldron with jaws dropped open. "P-Perfect pill!" She exclaims. "A perfect pill!"
"Perfect?! What!" Says a candidate.
"I didn't expect him to be a genius at both Alchemy and Swordsmanship."
"Oh my goodness!"
A massive commotion occurs. Almost everyone outside can detect the intense aura of a perfect grade 1 pill and come to take a look.
My reputation skyrocketed on that day as I become more recognised. I don't know if this will spew more trouble, however.
The reason why they are so riled up even though it is just a grade 1 pill is because of the perfect state. A perfect grade 1 pill can pretty much be classified as a grade 3 pill as the effects of a perfect grade 1 pill are tripled. Having talent is amazing...
The woman takes the pills I made and seals them in a black box laced with gold at the edge. She then reaches for her ears as she stares at me.
I detect mana fluctuations in the air, someone is using sound transmission to communicate with her.
"Sir Loi, please follow me, the headmaster would like to speak to me."
"But I need to get to somewhere soon..." I reply.
"It will be quick."
...
I nod.