Automated Alchemy Is Now Online!

"This! This is... a Heavenly Flame!"

The old man rose to his feet in shock, disbelief filling his already somewhat clouded eyes.

Feeling the terrifying heat radiating from ahead, even the silver-haired girl, whose face was usually as cold as an ancient glacier and who had not yet begun refining, showed a rare look of horror...

"Um... what pill was I supposed to refine again?"

Gu Xia's summoning of the Azure Lotus Emperorheart Flame had originally pushed the atmosphere to its peak. Yet just as everyone wondered what earth-shattering alchemical talent this fourteen-year-old boy with a Heavenly Flame would display, Gu Xia froze for three seconds before suddenly remembering that he had not even picked up the pill formula on the table to look at it!

Old man: "..."

Silver-haired girl: "..."

Random examinee: "..."

Everyone in the hall: "..."

"Ahem, let me take a look at the formula first..."

Under the gazes of so many people as though they were looking at an idiot, even the shameless Gu Xia could not help feeling his old face heat up...

Ignoring everyone's bizarre stares, Gu Xia picked up the yellowed parchment formula from the table. Looking at the pill's name written on it, he fell into deep thought...

Seeing Gu Xia fall into contemplation as soon as he picked up the formula, everyone assumed he was merely a novice who had gotten lucky and obtained a Heavenly Flame. After all, he needed several full minutes to think over even a first-tier alchemist assessment...

"Hiss... which idiot copied this damn formula? The handwriting is uglier than chicken scratch! Don't they know that a formula is an alchemist's life? Who the hell can read it when it's written like this? If it weren't for my extraordinary talent and mastery of all sorts of gibberish symbols, including pictographs—the predecessors of oracle bone script—in thirteen languages, I really might not have been able to read this crappy formula that looks like it was scribbled at random..."

While Gu Xia was ranting away, he completely failed to notice that the face of a certain elderly chief examiner on the platform was growing darker and darker...

"By the way, who came up with the name 'Beast Pill'? What a genius!"

After saying that, Gu Xia cleverly gave a thumbs-up to the big shot who had created this "Beast Pill" formula!

"Those two characters are read as 'Power-Storing'..."

Just as Gu Xia was lamenting that the Dou Qi Continent also had wise comrades like himself—no, idiots—a gloomy voice suddenly drifted down from the platform...

Prompted by the old man, Gu Xia was visibly stunned. He then picked up the formula again and brought it close to his 24K titanium-alloy dog eyes for a careful inspection.

"Um... it really does seem to be 'Power-Storing'!..."

After another two minutes of difficult deciphering, Gu Xia finally made out that the name written on the parchment was "Power-Storing Pill"...

"I knew it. How could any idiot name a pill they created something like that?"

After realizing he had misread the characters, someone showed no embarrassment whatsoever and very cleanly forgot the words he had just said himself.

"Enough! The assessment officially begins now!"

Seeing that Gu Xia was about to start showing off again, the president of the Alchemist Guild directly announced the start of the assessment, giving this idiot no chance to boast himself to the heavens.

Gu Xia: "..."

Ignoring Gu Xia's resentful little eyes, the old man flicked his palm. A burst of force shot from it and struck the ancient iron bell hanging from the ceiling of the hall. Immediately, a crisp chime echoed through the hall.

As the assessment officially began, the silver-haired girl and the random examinee swiftly pressed their palms against the fire ports of their cauldrons. Dou Qi surged from their bodies, and with two muffled thuds, flames blazed to life within both cauldrons.

They both began their alchemist assessments with utmost steadiness and focus.

But in this examination hall, which had become somewhat solemn, one person's method of refining pills took on an utterly bizarre tone!

Gu Xia glanced at the formula in his hand, then placed it back on the table in less than a second. Stretching out his right hand, a cluster of azure flame streaked with faint golden light slowly condensed in his palm...

Up to this point, Gu Xia's approach was still fairly normal. But what he did next completely overturned the traditional notions of alchemical techniques held by everyone who witnessed that scene on the Dou Qi Continent...

The azure flame in Gu Xia's hand gradually grew larger, stopping once it had reached roughly the size of his palm.

Then, no one knew what Gu Xia said to the azure flame. As though it possessed intelligence, the flame bobbed slightly up and down at him before flying directly toward the platform where the medicinal herbs needed for Gu Xia's pill refinement had been placed.

Then, the flame transformed into a little person. Once the little person arrived on the medicine platform, something miraculous happened...

That tiny sprite, barely a dozen centimeters tall, began bringing the medicinal ingredients Gu Xia needed for the assessment back to his cauldron one by one, like the conductor of a symphony...

Using the Dou Qi supplied by Gu Xia, the little flame person refined each medicinal herb tossed into the pill cauldron!

Meanwhile, Gu Xia, the little fire man's owner, boredly began counting how many bricks there were in the hall!

"What the hell is that? That counts as breaking the rules, doesn't it?"

"No way, does a Heavenly Flame come with intelligence built in?"

"Automated pill refinement?"

"Was my teacher scammed, or did my teachers scam me?"

"I know this formula. The question is, where do I get a Heavenly Flame with built-in alchemy functions?"

"Am I the only one who noticed he's slacking off?"

"President Frank, shouldn't this count as cheating? Please, President, step forward and uphold—"

Watching Gu Xia pass the first-tier alchemist assessment with such effortless ease, a middle-aged man who looked to be only in his thirties or forties stepped forward in the hall, clearly intending to stir up trouble!

"He is not cheating. The fact that he can subdue a Heavenly Flame with such high intelligence already proves that he can be considered a true alchemist. This first-tier assessment is merely a formality for him..."

Frank, the president of the Alchemist Guild, directly cut off the middle-aged alchemist.

"President, I'm afraid this is somewhat—"

"Am I the president, or are you the president? Don't forget the basic principles of an alchemist just because your son is taking the assessment inside!"

The middle-aged man had wanted to say more, but Frank gave him no chance. A single authoritative glare forced him back!

After all, as the president of the Alchemist Guild in Black Rock City, there were certain matters he had no choice but to consider...