The old man was utterly stunned, staring blankly at the young man before him.
Seeing his expression, Xiao Yu felt helpless. This was the consequence of showing off. He had found taking the assessments one step at a time too slow, so he had sped up his pill refining just a little.
"Sir, where can I take an assessment for a higher alchemist rank?"
Xiao Yu spoke again, bringing the old man back to his senses.
The old man then looked at Xiao Yu in shock, his words coming out in a stammer:
"Young man, are you saying you passed the assessment?"
It was not that he did not believe Xiao Yu. This simply exceeded anything he could imagine.
Although he could sense the considerable aura emanating from Xiao Yu, he had never expected him to emerge from the fifth-grade assessment in less than fifteen minutes.
Even a Sixth Grade Intermediate Alchemist like himself could not accomplish that!
"If you don't believe me, sir, you can ask the young lady in this Alchemy Room."
The old man hurriedly shook his head. "It's not that I don't believe you. Your speed was simply too astonishing, young friend. May I ask your name?"
He was not worried about Xiao Yu deceiving him. Falsely reporting a result during an assessment at a branch tower was no trivial offense; it would bring sanctions directly from the Pill Tower.
Regardless of whether the offender could refine pills or how talented he was, anyone who dared do such a thing would be barred from alchemist assessments for life and expelled from the Pill Region, never to set foot there again.
Such a punishment was equivalent to being stripped of one's standing as an alchemist. For an alchemist, it was the harshest penalty of all.
"My name