Are You an Alchemist? [Seeking Flowers, Collections, and Reviews!]

To disguise himself, Su Xiaobai deliberately used spiritual energy to alter his voice, making it sound deeper—not like a young man, but more like someone in their thirties or forties.

On the other side of the consignment window sat an old man wearing spectacles.

The Spectacled Old Man was quite at ease, lounging in a rocking chair, swaying back and forth while sipping tea, as carefree as an immortal... After all, pills were high-value items; usually, more people came to buy than to consign.

"What grade?"

The Spectacled Old Man barely cracked an eyelid, glancing at Su Xiaobai. Seeing him dressed all in black, he drawled out a lazy question.

"Grade Four," Su Xiaobai said.

"Grade Four?"

The rocking chair came to an abrupt halt.

The Spectacled Old Man opened his eyes fully and gave Su Xiaobai a serious once-over.

An Intermediate Warrior.

Nothing remarkable.

To have gotten his hands on a Grade Four pill, he must have stumbled onto some incredible luck.

"Let's see it," the Spectacled Old Man said, slowly straightening up.

Su Xiaobai extended his hand and placed a Grade Four Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pill into the wooden box beneath the window.

"Hm?"

"A Grade Four Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pill?"

"And a Perfect Grade at that?"

The Spectacled Old Man only needed a single glance before his expression turned serious, a gleam of light flashing in his eyes.

Within Base No. 18, the sources of Grade Four pills and above were few and far between.

One was the Lin family, one of the four great families in the base—they had a genuine Fourth-Grade Pill Alchemist who could indeed refine Grade Four pills!

Another was to source goods through channels from other bases, which would inevitably cost more.

Yet another was to venture into the wild lands of Fierce Beasts, hunting down Martial Masters from other bases—if lucky, one might obtain pills from them!

But if the Lin family were consigning Grade Four pills, why would they need to do it at a window?

The Precious Pill Pavilion had dedicated personnel for handovers; the moment the Lin family gave the word, the Pavilion would send someone over immediately!

Thus, the Spectacled Old Man naturally assumed that this Grade Four Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pill was something the black-cloaked man before him had stumbled upon by chance... Otherwise, why bother hiding himself so thoroughly?

"Truly a Perfect Grade!"

After examining it closely for a moment, the Spectacled Old Man couldn't help but nod.

"Perfect Grade?"

Beyond the obvious grade classifications, each grade actually had deeper distinctions.

For example, among First Grade pills, some were [Inferior Grade], with less than 30% efficacy—these were considered waste pills, usually sold off cheaply on the Black Market.

Others were [Low Grade], with around 50% efficacy.

Normal [Good Grade] pills had 70% efficacy.

Above Good Grade was [Premium Grade], with 90% efficacy.

And above Premium Grade was the extremely rare [Perfect Grade], with efficacy reaching 100% of Good Grade... meaning one pill was worth three!

Su Xiaobai had only known the broad grade categories before.

As for Inferior, Good, Premium, Perfect, and the like, he had no idea... After all, he never used these things.

"May I ask your surname?" the Spectacled Old Man said, shedding his earlier lazy demeanor and giving a slight nod, showing a hint of respect.

No matter what channel this person had obtained the pill from, the mere words "Grade Four" and "Perfect Grade" were enough to make him a VIP client of the Precious Pill Pavilion... As a Pavilion employee, he naturally had to show some deference.

"Bai," Su Xiaobai said succinctly. "I heard your Precious Pill Pavilion allows anonymous consignment and auction without an Identity Card?"

"That's correct, our Pavilion does offer that service."

"Mr. Bai, if you wish to anonymously consign and auction this Perfect Grade Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pill, we'd be happy to oblige. However, after the auction concludes, we'll need to charge a 5% handling fee. Do you mind?" the Spectacled Old Man said.

"Fine," Su Xiaobai nodded.

"Then I'll write up the receipt for you now," the Spectacled Old Man said.

"Hold on. I have two more here. Consign and auction them together for me."

Su Xiaobai placed two more Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pills onto the counter.

The Spectacled Old Man's pupils instantly contracted.

Perfect Grade!

Both of these subsequent Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pills were actually Perfect Grade!

"Sir, may I presume to ask... are you an alchemist?" the Spectacled Old Man inquired cautiously.

He was merely an ordinary man, but due to extensive exposure to pill-related information, he had become a professional Pill Appraiser... He still held profound respect for true alchemists!

If someone produced a single fourth-grade Perfect Grade pill, he wouldn't find it all that strange.

But being able to produce three at once, all of the same type and all Perfect Grade... this meant the other party was very likely an alchemist!

Su Xiaobai pondered for a moment.

If he admitted it, it might draw attention.

But if he didn't admit it, he would still attract notice for producing so many pills.

He would definitely need to sell more pills later on; he couldn't disguise himself as someone else every time... and pulling back now was clearly too late.

After weighing the options, Su Xiaobai spoke: "Mm."

A single word, with no superfluous explanation.

"A real alchemist!"

"And one capable of refining fourth-grade Perfect Grade pills at that!"

The Spectacled Old Man's expression instantly grew excited.

"This... Mr. Bai, these three Golden Crow Marrow-Protecting Pills of yours may exceed what I have the authority to decide. Would you kindly move to the VIP Room?"

The Spectacled Old Man had now completely lowered his posture, speaking with exceptional deference.

Su Xiaobai nodded.

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief inside.

It seemed his guess was correct.

Admitting his identity as an alchemist had instead earned him greater respect... If he hadn't admitted it, others might have started investigating him!