"At this point, you have all earned a material prize," Researcher Fu announced. "Depending on your results in the next round, you will be able to take away one or more pieces of Eclipse Empowered materials. Your standing in the final round will determine the extent of the reward you receive. Now, for the final round, allow me to introduce the lead Alchemist of the expedition, Instructor Huang Yeyan, who will explain the final round."
"Welcome Initiates," the owlish woman said, stepping up to the front of the room and addressing the five remaining contestants. "I know time is the most precious thing to all of you, so I'll be very brief. You have already demonstrated that you have what it takes to 'win' this competition and the Amber Lily Academy considers all of you to be winners. Please consider this a 'bonus round.' You have access to the six ingredients from the last round as well as any other common ingredients from the shelves at the back of the hall. Your challenge, in the next two hours, is to propose a formula for an elixir that draws on the strengths of at least one of the ingredients from the expedition."
Her words landed on the young Initiates like an exploding cauldron! Elixirs, properly speaking, were the domain of Novices. Only when one reached the very limits of being an Initiate would a person barely gain the capability to refine an elixir and only the most simple of elixirs could be created with great effort. Properly, an Initiate should restrict their concoctions to Medicines mostly used to treat mortals rather than the Elixirs that cultivators relied on!
"I realize that this is a bit of a stretch for Initiates, however, I believe that if you possess a true Scholar's thirst for knowledge and a passion for Alchemy, you will take hold of this opportunity to unleash your creativity and accumulated knowledge to create something novel," she told the contestants.
"You will be judged on three categories. First, feasibility, whether or not your formula can succeed as you write it. We do not expect that your measurements will be sufficiently precise or that any of your formulas will work exactly as written but we will judge the level of modification necessary to produce a version of your formula that can be tested," she explained.
"Second," Huang Yeyan continued, "you will be tested on creativity. We're interested in seeing how much you work to create something genuinely new. If you propose a formula that substitutes one of the empowered ingredients for its normal counterpart in a barely modified formula, that will be worth less than a completely original solution, even if the former is more technically sound."
"Finally, you will be judged on the level of impact your recipe can produce. It should be useful enough to justify the rarity of the ingredients used. If you could achieve the same effects with a more classic formula using more ordinary ingredients, then you'll fall short in this challenge. Take this as a chance to push yourselves. I promise the rewards will match your efforts," she finished with an encouraging smile.
Once the time began, Yu Jinqi spent several minutes just handling the ingredients and browsing the selection of other elements they could include in their formula. Ever since he'd seen the scales of the Pure Yang Swordfish, an idea had been gnawing at his mind but he didn't dare put ink to paper until he considered whether or not the other ingredients would support it.
Once again, Xiong Dahuo served as his inspiration. He'd watched his friend suffer numerous small wounds in his battle against Aesthete Wu and when he'd tended to those injuries afterward they'd left a deep impression on him. The night after the banquet Jinqi had spent hours tossing and turning thinking about the innumerable small cuts inflicted by Wu Ling's swarm of Blade Winged Birds. The thought of someone unleashing such a swarm on him had woken him sweating and breathless in the middle of the night.
Xiong Dahuo possessed a kind of strength that Yu Jinqi couldn't fathom. He wouldn't be stopped by any amount of pain but his body would betray his own convictions if he accumulated too much damage. Moreover, he was certain that once the heat of battle had ended, his friend must have suffered considerably while those dozens of cuts healed.
Sitting down at last, he placed the Pure Yang Swordfish Scale and the Blood Moon Fox's beast core on the table and began to write out a formula. The aggression from the Blood Moon Fox's beast core was mild enough to be suitable for low-level cultivators, but Yu Jinqi didn't want to use it as the entire power source of the elixir.
Rather, he thought of it as 'priming the pump.' The real source of power for the elixir he imagined should be the cultivator's own rage! The more a cultivator gave themselves over to their anger and bloodlust, the more power the elixir would draw into protecting their body with a sort of Yang Energy Scale.
When time expired, Yu Jinqi had several pages of notes with proposed enhancing or stabilizing ingredients, measurements and quantities, and a crude concoction method. The formula was so crude that he wouldn't dare hand it to his Uncle Tao to concoct for fear a cauldron would explode, much less attempt to administer, but the beginnings were there. With testing and further study, maybe it could be realized one day.
"Congratulations everyone," Alchemist Huang said after reviewing the submissions from the Alchemy Initiates. "Based on your answers, I'm sure that you all have a bright future in Alchemy ahead of you. Of all of the submissions, only one demonstrated sufficient refinement to be a viable concoction," she announced.
"While somewhat lacking in originality, Initiate Sun Yang's proposed elixir should yield more than three times the effect of a normal flesh rejuvenating elixir through his proposed use of Bloody Moon Reed Extract. As such, you may select three ingredients to receive a sample of."
"Thank you Alchemist Huang," the handsome young man said, as though he expected nothing less. "I'm grateful for the opportunity." While he acted calmly outwardly, inside, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. He'd stumbled in the second round but he made it through in the end.
"Initiate Yu and Initiate Rou," Alchemist Huang continued. "You each came close but suffered different problems. Initiate Yu, your proposed elixir is bold, creative and powerful, but your formula lacks a sufficient binding agent to hold so many volatile components together in harmony and the concoction method is quite risky. I believe that with more study, you may yet achieve the potential you've set out to with this elixir," she said proudly.
"Initiate Rou, your proposed elixir is technically very sound, you made many very safe decisions," Alchemist Huang continued. "But there is very little that your proposed elixir achieves that couldn't be achieved with a more ordinary one. You focused too much on ensuring your formula would be viable and not enough on maximizing the impact of your unique ingredients," she explained.
"Still, both of you demonstrated capabilities beyond your peers and you deserve to share the rewards of second place. You may each choose two ingredients to receive samples of," she said with a wide smile.
Of course, Yu Jinqi couldn't pass up the chance to obtain both the unique ingredients used in his proposed concoction. He would have liked the chance to obtain more, but it was already a heaven-sent opportunity to receive just the two.
Alchemist Huang was even kind enough to leave several notes in the margins of his formula with suggestions for books he should consult or alternative ingredients he should consider! To the young Alchemy Initiate, those notes were worth almost as much as the rare ingredients.
When he was finished collecting his winnings, he walked out of the lecture hall and into the late afternoon daylight with eyes that squinted at the brightness of the sun. After a few moments of blinking, he spotted his uncle and rushed over to display his winnings. When he drew close to the bench his uncle was sitting on, however, he slowed to a stop at the sight of the burly man speaking with him.
"Jinqi, congratulations, it looks like you've made the Yu family proud today," Alchemist Yu Tao said, standing to give his nephew a firm hug. "I was just talking to your friend here. Brawler Zhang came out all this way to find you today after learning you weren't at the sect and he has an opportunity for you that I think you should consider."
"Brother Yu," Zhang Buyan said, placing a meaty hand on the young Scholar's shoulder. "Congratulations on your victory! I knew you wouldn't fail today," he said warmly, praising the young alchemist in the same way he'd have praised one of his martial brothers for slaying a mighty spirit beast. A victory was a victory after all, it didn't matter what kind.
"Brother Wu Ling and I have been planning an adventure and we would benefit greatly from your skills," Zhang Buyan said without preamble. "We leave tomorrow. Will you join us?"