I Will Definitely Live Up to Your Expectations!

"Why was she here too?" When the girl who entered alongside the old man saw Gu Xia looking at her through the light screen with a proud, haughty expression, a hint of delight appeared in her beautiful eyes. But when she looked around and spotted the silver-haired girl, her mood instantly went from sunny to cloudy...

"Hea... Heavenly Flames!"

While the young people's attention was focused on what they could see, the old man's gaze was completely drawn to the inconspicuous little figure made of green flame. His still fairly clear eyes widened to their limit, and he stood there utterly dumbfounded...

"Heavenly Flames? What Heavenly Flames? Th... that's impossible..."

The girl beside the old man had been staring at the silver-haired girl while biting her nails. When she heard her teacher's unusually agitated cry, she followed his gaze. To her eyes, that silly-looking little green flame figure was incomparably dazzling...

At that moment, the girl who considered herself a genius alchemist suffered a blow for the first time. She had never felt this way before, not even when she encountered that Xue Mei.

Yet as that youth appeared behind the platform—his lips elegant as mist and lovely as cherry blossoms, his skin delicate as fine porcelain, calmly gazing at the parchment as though he were a jade-like young gentleman from a country lane, though he was actually an unromantic straight man—she learned for the first time that monsters truly existed.

"..."

The girl, who had originally been lively and playful, fell silent after learning that the youth possessed Heavenly Flames. None of her former vitality remained. As for why, perhaps only she herself knew...

"Sigh, perhaps this will let you understand that there is always someone better."

Although the old man, as the girl's teacher, was deeply shocked, he had lived most of his life and recovered quickly enough. Looking at the dejected girl, like a lark that had lost its freedom, he could only sigh helplessly. Whether she could overcome the hurdle in her heart would depend on herself...

As the old man led the girl to the president's side, Gu Xia's refinement of the Power-Storing Pill reached its final pill-forming stage.

The little green flame figure split into two streams of green fire and entered the cauldron. As the green fire entered, the flames surrounding the cauldron gradually withdrew. Before long, a fresh and pleasant pill fragrance slowly wafted out from Gu Xia's cauldron...

"Th... this is pill fragrance!"

The old man, who had been discussing something with Frank, and Frank himself cried out almost at the same time! Pill fragrance was a phenomenon that only appeared when a refined pill reached a certain level of quality. They had originally thought that for this youth, who looked only fourteen or fifteen, possessing Heavenly Flames was already the greatest fortune imaginable. It would have been impressive enough if he could use them to refine an ordinary-quality pill. After all, although Heavenly Flames were more powerful than other flames, that power also meant they were more violent and harder to control.

They did not believe that a fourteen-year-old youth, who had somehow concealed his cultivation, could perfectly control Heavenly Flames for alchemy.

Even if he succeeded, refining a high-quality pill was practically impossible. His age was right there for all to see. Unless he had been born with cultivation, it was absolutely impossible...

"Th... Old Tuo, what do you think?..."

Frank looked toward Gu Xia, where a round, smooth pill emitting waves of fragrance had already risen into the air. He gave his old friend beside him a bitter smile...

"What is there to think? I'm looking with my eyes... I'm old, and my eyesight's failing..."

Seeing such a rising talent, the old man took it quite calmly. After all, they truly were old. This world would eventually belong to the young...

"Hehe, that's true. We're old, no match for the young anymore. Then shall we give that spot directly to him?"

Seeing his old friend's carefree demeanor, President Frank laughed freely as well and tested the waters with his old friend...

"Mm... Let's watch a little longer. After all, he's only a first-tier alchemist right now, isn't he?"

In response to Frank's probing, Otto thought for a moment. The value of that spot concerned whether he could advance further. In any case, there was still time to consider it. They did not need to rush...

"True. Then let's observe a little longer..."

Frank thought briefly as well and agreed with Otto's suggestion. He planned to wait and see before making a decision.

After their brief conversation, Frank also walked over to Gu Xia's light screen. With a sweep of his hand, the screen vanished.

"Little brother, have you finished refining?"

Normally, those taking an alchemist examination would bring their refined pill before the examiner for inspection. But on Gu Xia's side, he had only just retrieved the pill and had not even had time to look at how the pill refined on Little Qing's behalf had turned out when Frank approached him with a smile...

"Not yet..."

Facing the chief examiner, who looked at him like a kind and benevolent grandfather, Gu Xia somehow felt as though something strange had been placed upon his shoulders. The feeling baffled him, and he answered Frank instinctively, without even blinking...

Frank: "..."

Young man, this president may be old, but I'm not blind! You're holding such a huge pill in your hand, not even trying to hide it, and you just blurted that out. I seriously suspect you're insulting my intelligence!

"Cough, cough. What I meant was, this junior's pill isn't very good, so I was too embarrassed to let you inspect it, President..."

Faced with Frank's Are you kidding me? look, Gu Xia coughed awkwardly and redefined the meaning of "not yet" for Frank. After all, he was a "talent" who had received nine years of compulsory education.

Wasn't expanding a simple, easy-to-understand phrase into a pile of sentences that nobody could understand exactly what people often did when writing those eight-hundred-word essays? Gu Xia declared that this was what he was best at!

"It can be explained like that? I didn't read much, don't lie to me!"

The young man beside Gu Xia had ruined his first batch of ingredients because the president had suddenly entered the scene. He looked speechlessly at a certain Gu, who was explaining himself with a straight face.

"Oh, I see. This old man misunderstood you, little brother..."

Yet what surprised the young man even more was that President Frank actually accepted the words of this youth, who was far, far more handsome than himself.

"Fine, as long as you're both happy..."

Since the president had said so, what else could he say? He had originally been a little annoyed with Gu Xia for causing him to ruin a batch of ingredients, but seeing even the president willing to yield to this outrageously handsome youth, he no longer had any thoughts about it. There were still ingredients for two more pills, weren't there? Instead of wasting time arguing with Gu Xia, wouldn't it be better to try again? Besides, the president was backing him. Why would he be full enough to pick a fight over such a trivial matter? Didn't villains in novels always die because they mindlessly targeted the protagonist over things like this? He couldn't afford to provoke him, but he could avoid him!

After President Frank spoke, the young man said nothing further. He turned around, went to the stone table where the spare herbs were laid out, took another set of ingredients needed for his examination pill, then returned to his place and resumed his preparations before refining...

However, it was worth mentioning that the silver-haired girl at the very end also began using her second set of ingredients shortly after the young man took his herbs...

"Hehe, truly, heroes emerge from the young. Congratulations, young man. You are now an official first-tier alchemist! I hope you can come take the second-tier alchemist examination soon..."

However, Frank's last sentence had originally been merely an offhand remark. But in the next instant, his hope became reality...

"Alright! In order not to disappoint your expectations of this junior, I have decided to begin the second-tier alchemist certification examination right now!"

Frank: "???"

Young man: "???"

Silver-haired girl: "Boom!" (Her cauldron exploded to express her bewilderment!)

Gu Xia: "(???)"