First-Grade Alchemist Assessment

Seeing that most of the participants had arrived, Master Otto gave the order.

"Most of you are here. Let's begin."

At Master Otto's words, everyone in the hall walked toward the enormous stone platform in the center.

The platform was divided into more than a dozen sections, and each participant chose one.

Xiao Fan's spot was not far from Xiao Yan's, while Linda and Xue Mei occupied adjacent sections.

Linda raised her chin, looked haughtily at Xue Mei, and patted the Medicine Cauldron before her with a soft snort.

"Don't blow up your cauldron again and interfere with my assessment."

Xue Mei glanced at Linda and replied coolly.

"Hmph. Even without my interference, your chances of failing are pretty high."

"All right, the assessment is about to begin. No more talking."

Master Otto raised a hand to stop their quarrel and announced the official start of the assessment.

After Master Otto stopped them, Linda snorted at Xue Mei but made no further fuss.

Everyone began inspecting the Medicine Cauldrons before them and the other tools on the stone platform.

The First-Grade Alchemist assessment required participants to refine a fully formed pill on their own. Which pill they had to produce depended on the Alchemist Guild's arrangements for that particular assessment.

Xiao Fan glanced at the parchment on his section of the platform and picked it up. It described a First-Rank Pill called the Swift Pill, which briefly increased the user's speed. Among First-Rank Pills, it ranked in the upper-middle range.

But for Xiao Fan, who had already reached the level of a Third-Grade Alchemist, refining a Swift Pill was as easy as turning his hand.

He raised his head and studied the expressions of those around him. Everyone seemed to have received a different pill recipe, and both Linda and Xue Mei looked thoroughly confident.

When Xiao Fan looked toward Xiao Yan, their eyes happened to meet. He gave a slight nod in greeting. Xiao Yan looked briefly surprised, then returned a friendly smile.

Xiao Fan recognized the ingredients on Xiao Yan's table. They were for a Power Accumulation Pill, a first-grade pill that briefly increased the user's strength a little. Its difficulty also fell in the upper-middle range.

Xiao Yan likewise scanned the ingredients on the surrounding stone tables. Seeing those for Xiao Fan's Swift Pill, he muttered.

"Only our two recipes are harder. What rotten luck."

That was indeed the case. Both Linda's Wound Recovery Pill and Xue Mei's Fire Condensing Pill were relatively simple first-grade pills, making them the easiest choices for passing the assessment.

Xiao Fan swept his gaze around but did not mind. After all, the others had a guild president as their teacher, and producing any first-grade pill counted as a pass. The procedure could not be changed, but this was a society built on personal connections.

"Finished checking? If there are no problems, the assessment officially begins now!"

Frank swept his gaze over the participants, asked his question, and signaled for them to begin. He then sent a burst of force into an ancient bell hanging at the top of the hall, its clear chime echoing through the chamber.

The ringing bell marked the official start of the assessment. No one else was allowed inside, lest they disturb the alchemists taking the test.

At the sound of the bell, all the students began their alchemy. They swiftly pressed their palms against their Medicine Cauldrons' fire ports, and Dou Qi surged from their bodies. Flames immediately sprang up in the Medicine Cauldrons across the stone platform.

Only Xiao Fan had yet to move.

Xiao Fan glanced toward Xiao Yan's section in surprise. Ordinary yellow flames burned inside Xiao Yan's Medicine Cauldron. After all, unless an alchemist had reached the fourth grade or possessed another kind of flame, he could only produce a physical flame through the Medicine Cauldron's conversion.

Xiao Fan had originally expected Xiao Yan to release bone spirit cold flame, but a moment's thought cleared things up. There was no need to borrow Yao Lao's bone spirit cold flame for an assessment he could already pass. If Xiao Fan had obtained purple flame, there would naturally be no problem using it himself. Although beast flame was rare, it would not draw powerful enemies to wreak havoc.

And because of him, Xiao Yan had not obtained purple flame, leaving him with only the most ordinary method available to alchemists.

Everyone else had already lit their flames and begun refining, while Xiao Fan remained standing where he was. Outside the testing area, Master Otto and the others found their gazes involuntarily drawn to him.

"Why hasn't this youngster started refining? What is he doing over there?"

"No idea."

Frank spread his hands, equally puzzled. Surely this Mo Shang did not lack even the ability to light a flame? If he could not manage such a basic task, was he not making a mockery of them by coming to take the assessment? At that thought, Frank's expression darkened.

"Ahem... Where's his teacher's letter of introduction? Let me see whose student he is." Frank beckoned a subordinate over and asked.

"President, he has no letter of introduction, and his records don't name his teacher either."

At his subordinate's reply, Frank grew so furious that his beard nearly bristled into the air.

"What kind of work are you doing? With nothing at all, how can you prove he knows alchemy?"

Master Otto understood Frank's anger. For something like this to happen in a city under his jurisdiction, any word that spread would reflect poorly on Frank's management. Of course he was angry.

"All right, all right. Let's discuss it after their assessment is over!"

Master Otto tugged at Frank's sleeve and tried to soothe him.

While everyone outside thought Xiao Fan had come to make fools of them, the participants inside also grew curious about him.

After all, although three sets of ingredients had been prepared on each stone table, anyone who failed to make the most of their time would not have enough left for a third attempt if something went wrong.

With every eye upon him, Xiao Fan finally moved.

He slowly pressed his hand against the Medicine Cauldron's fire port. Dou Qi circulated through his body, flowed along the meridians in his hand, and entered the Medicine Cauldron.

Bang!

Purple flames abruptly appeared inside Xiao Fan's Medicine Cauldron and blazed fiercely.

At the same time, Frank and Otto outside also saw the purple flames rising from Xiao Fan's Medicine Cauldron.

"Purple flames? Heavenly flames?" Frank exclaimed.

His cry startled everyone in the hall, and all eyes turned toward Xiao Fan's section.

Xiao Yan also turned curiously toward Xiao Fan and asked Yao Lao inwardly.

Teacher, is that person using heavenly flames?

Yao Lao carefully sensed the flame, then spoke to Xiao Fan with a smile.

"Hehe, those aren't heavenly flames. That's beast flame."

"Beast flame?" Xiao Yan asked curiously.

"Beast flame is fire that certain magical beasts can control. Alchemists pursue heavenly flames with a fervor that can only be called terrifying. Later, some alchemists discovered another kind of flame in the world, one more powerful than ordinary fire and accompanied by various unique properties. Through research, they found ways to harness it. That is beast flame."

After hearing Yao Lao's explanation, Xiao Yan understood that Xiao Fan was using a kind of beast flame. He then began wondering whether he could use beast flame to evolve the Flame Mantra.

That distraction caused Xiao Yan to lose control of the heat, reducing the ingredients he was refining to ashes and forcing him to start over.

Outside the testing area, Master Otto and Frank also identified the flame Xiao Fan was using.

"That should be a kind of beast flame! Heavenly flames aren't so easy to control."

"Right, and heavenly flames are far more powerful."

Frank smiled.

"This youngster is no ordinary boy. No wonder he dared take the Alchemist assessment at such a young age." As he spoke, he also glanced toward Xiao Yan. Both had come to take the assessment at nineteen, and both had concealed information about their teachers, greatly increasing Frank's interest in them.

Watching Frank, Master Otto did not know whether to laugh or cry. Frank seemed to have completely forgotten his earlier outburst as Otto spoke.

"Still, this will teach those two girls a lesson. They'll learn that beyond every expert stands another, and beyond every sky lies a higher heaven."

Regardless of the reactions outside, the other participants besides Xiao Yan also noticed the unusual nature of Xiao Fan's flame.

Linda and Xue Mei were distracted as well, forcing them to restart their refining.

Ignoring everyone's stares, Xiao Fan looked at the ingredients on his stone table and tossed them all into the Medicine Cauldron.

"He actually dared put all the ingredients in at once?"

Everyone was stunned by Xiao Fan's actions. Extracting the essence of each ingredient required a different temperature, with strict demands on heat control. Throwing everything in at once as Xiao Fan had done was hardly something a mere candidate for first-grade certification could manage.

Yet Xiao Fan's expression remained utterly calm, as though such a feat were effortless for him.

Linda and Xue Mei exchanged glances, each seeing a trace of defeat in the other's eyes. This young boy had finally dealt both of them a blow. Looking back now, their years of rivalry seemed as childish and laughable as a quarrel between children.

"On the other side, Xiao Yan was also stunned by Xiao Fan's methods, but this time he steadied himself in time and kept the ingredients from going to waste again. Otherwise, he would have ruined another batch."

Xiao Fan paid no attention to the gazes around him. Every time he advanced to a new major realm, he received soul tempering from the system. Moreover, during his month with Xiao Yi Xian in the Little Mountain Valley, he had continually fused heavenly flames. Both his cultivation level and soul power had once again increased tremendously, and controlling purple flame had become as familiar as driving along a well-traveled road.

Carefully sensing the changes in the ingredients within the Medicine Cauldron, Xiao Fan controlled the heat with utmost care. During pill refinement, even the slightest mistake could cause the entire process to fail.

Xiao Fan perfectly extracted the essences of the various ingredients, leaving them floating inside the Medicine Cauldron.

Using his soul power, Xiao Fan blended the remaining essences together, then gradually adjusted the purple flame's temperature as the medicinal liquid condensed.

At last, beneath the slowly encircling purple flame, a plump, pale-green pill gradually took shape inside Xiao Fan's Medicine Cauldron.

Only then did Xiao Fan, who had been engrossed in his alchemy, extend his awareness to check the others' progress. He discovered that most had already finished their assessments and were watching him. Only two or three remained, and Xiao Yan was one of them.

After all, the Power Accumulation Pill he had drawn was also one of the more difficult pills to refine.

The pill inside Xiao Fan's cauldron finally took complete shape. He picked up the Jade Bottle on his stone table and carefully placed the Swift Pill inside.

"Good, the assessment is over!"