"Hahahaha! Did you see how angry they were? If only the staff member they sent wasn't such an idiot, we wouldn't know what they were planning."
"I don't understand though, why would they choose to ruin our work instead of just focusing on theirs? If they just fought us fair and square, they might've had a chance!"
"Hmmph! Those losers knew that they couldn't defeat us fair and square and that's why they resorted to such dirty tactics!"
Albert, Marie, and Charles happily chatted in an empty corner of the waiting room while waiting for the other examinees.
After a while, the door opened and the young apprentices entered one by one.
Some of them were dejected while some were furious. Naturally, Corey was among those who were furious while Chris was absolutely depressed.
Upon entering the door, Corey looked at the three of them with an angry expression.
"Just you wait!! Our senior disciples will destroy the three of you in the upcoming master alchemist competition!"
Corey thought to himself while gnashing his teeth in anger.
Albert, Marie, and Charles simply snorted and no longer paid any attention to Corey.
As time passed, more and more examinees were entering the waiting room. However, there were visibly fewer examinees this time compared to the second round.
It seems that a lot of people were eliminated during the third assessment.
Pill crafting is harder than potion crafting and there was a high chance to fail on the first try.
Unfortunately, in the assessment, they got only one try so the people with weak mental strength were eliminated.
After another hour, all the examinees who passed were inside the waiting room.
Old man Wayne entered the waiting room and walked up to the stage.
"To all of you in this room right now, I congratulate you all for passing the examination and becoming master alchemists."
"However, it is inevitable that you will be divided into ranks based on your performance. As humans, we naturally prioritize nurturing those with better talents than others.
The door opened again and staff members entered while pushing an extremely huge wooden box with wheels.
Inside the wooden box, there were partitions with names. The rewards of each new master alchemist including their alchemist badges were inside each partition.
"Once I call your name, please go up on the stage."
"James Band!"
A middle-aged man slowly walked up on the stage and received his passer rewards from old man Wayne.
There was a bronze-colored badge, a master alchemist cloak with a bronze-colored logo embroidered around the left chest area, and a few books containing information that was beneficial to master alchemists.
After checking his rewards, the middle-aged man named James Band walked down from the stage happily.
The bronze-ranked master alchemists were the first ones who were called up on the stage.
However, not a single one of them was sad. It seems that most of them were content with simply being master alchemists.
It might be because they could finally open their own pill and potion shop since only master alchemists were allowed to open their own pill and potion shop.
The alchemist association's reputation might suffer if the alchemist who opened a pill and potion shop is a fraud so an alchemist must be a certified master alchemist first before opening their own shop.
As for the Chambers of Commerce, It was their brand that was at stake so the Alchemist Association mostly paid no attention to them.
…
"Corey Heimersen!"
After the gold-ranked alchemists were called, it was the young apprentices' turn.
Their rewards for being a platinum-ranked alchemist were way better than those alchemists who were silver or gold-ranked.
Upon checking his rewards, Corey was somewhat satisfied.
However, remembering that Albert, Marie, and Charles will get better rewards than him for being in the top three, Corey gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists in anger.
Still, they were in better condition than Chris.
After losing to Albert's trio, Chris' pill's purity went down drastically. As a result, not only did he fail to be a platinum-ranked master alchemist, he fell all the way down to silver-ranked.
He isolated himself in a corner with a blank look, he didn't know how to face his master after failing so miserably.
"Charles Barwynn!"
Finally, it was their turn. Charles walked up the stage with a proud smile on his face as he shook old man Wayne's hands and received his rewards.
Charles' eyes widened in surprise after seeing what was inside the box.
There was a diamond-colored badge along with a purple master alchemist cloak.
In addition to this, there were samples of various grandmaster-level pills that they could use as reference and a thick book complete with all the master and grandmaster alchemy techniques!
Corey's eyes were red due to envy.
He couldn't believe that these hillbillies were getting a massive chance to advance to grandmaster alchemist like this!
These rewards should've been theirs!
After Albert and Marie got their rewards which were even better than Charles' they were called up to the stage again by old man Wayne.
The other alchemists were looking at the three of them with respect as they walked up to the stage wearing their new badges and cloaks.
On the other hand, the young apprentices were looking at them with envious and furious expressions. They didn't want to accept this result but they were utterly defeated.
The young apprentices couldn't wait to tell their seniors about these unknown youngsters.
"Everyone! These three are this year's cream of the crop, please give a mandatory bow of respect for the three new diamond-ranked master alchemists!"
The other alchemists had no qualms and gave a slight bow to the three of them. However, the young apprentices couldn't bring themselves to bow to Albert, Marie, and Charles.
Old man Wayne was displeased and called them out for their behavior.
"Hmm? Didn't I say mandatory? Or should I revoke your status?"
Corey and the other young apprentices gnashed their teeth in indignation before finally bowing reluctantly
Albert, Marie, and Charles smiled happily after receiving so much respect. In the beginning, everyone was very rude to them and they were even humiliated by these young apprentices.
Now, they were receiving respect from everyone albeit forced from some.
At this moment, the three of them felt that all their hard work day and night was worth it!