William finally could get some rest following the Elder's departure. It was quite late now, and he was completely exhausted. Even Atticus had spent quite a bit of energy concealing William's presence for so long. The snake was currently curled up on William's shoulder silently sleeping.
Will fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Unfortunately, he was doomed to only get 5 hours of sleep since he had to be at the Alchemy Hall. An alarm he set with the help of an Array set his toe on fire, jolting him awake. With William's natural regeneration, a simple burn wound was nothing. A crude and somewhat destructive method, but very effective.
He walked to the Alchemy Hall, where Yuming was waiting outside.
"You're actually on time, but you look like death." he commented on the dark circles around William's eyes.
"Thanks.." William responded with a bit of sarcasm.
The two headed to the storeroom, where William and Yuming prepared the ingredients for the competition like yesterday.
Day 2 of the competition went just like the first day, with an overall winner and the top ten places that would advance to the final round. William had become more proficient than the previous day, so he and Yuming had time to watch the third phase of the competition again.
Lu Bingying wasn't present, so the Alchemists today seemed quite dull. The highest score was only 90 points. Although William didn't like Alchemy, he found the process of creating a powerful Magic Pill out of some herbs somewhat interesting. Since he now had over nine hundred Potential Points, William felt it wouldn't be a waste to spend 5 on upgrading the Alchemy Talent to D Rank.
With the new upgrade, William had no problem understanding the entire process of each disciples' Alchemy during the competition. He even found their methods to be somewhat lackluster. His mind was filled with thousands of ingredients and the best way to use them, so when William returned his attention to the Inner Core Disciples, he noticed dozens of mistakes immediately.
He also learned that Alchemy ingredients were actually tiered weakest to strongest from Tier 1 to Tier 10.
There were still a few Alchemists refining their pills, but William felt he had seen enough. The disciples were clearly not going to earn more than 80 points unless a miracle happened.
"Senior Yuming, I'm going to leave early if that's alright with you." William asked respectfully.
"The contest isn't over yet, are you sure you want to leave so soon? It's still anyone's win, you don't have to understand Alchemy to have fun." Yuming looked with a hint of surprise at William, who had clearly been bored by the contest.
William waved his hand. "It's not that, today's Alchemists just seem too boring. The competition ended when they added too much Blue Dragonfruit."
"What do you mean?" Yuming was quite confident in his Alchemy skills and was even a favorite to win the overall competition, but William's words confused him. Wasn't half a Blue Dragonfruit the correct amount for a Minor Lifespan Pill?
The room was quiet, so most of the disciples currently refining their pills heard William's harsh words and frowned, but they maintained their focus on the cauldrons in front of them.
One Alchemist, who was about to add his Blue Dragonfruit, paused for a moment. He was present in the stands the previous day when William commented on Lu Bingying's Alchemy, so he wondered if William wasn't being arrogant, but actually giving them tips. He waited to see what William would say next.
"Isn't it obvious? The Blue Dragonfruit is a Tier 3 ingredient. Why would you use only half of the fruit on a Tier 3 Pill? If you're worried that the Dragonfruit will destabilize the pill, why not just offset it by slicing the skin off, which is the most unstable part?"
Yuming's eyes widened at the suggestion, he had never thought of this! But...could it really work?
The Alchemist on the stage was thinking the same thing, but it was worth a shot since he was about to be eliminated from the competition. He did as William said, slicing off the skin of the Blue Dragonfruit before tossing the entire thing inside his cauldron, causing it to bubble intensely.
The difficulty of handling the ingredients inside the cauldron instantly increased, but it was still within a manageable range. After a few minutes, the Alchemist brought the cauldron back under control successfully, sparking murmurs among the crowd. Was William actually a renowned Alchemist? How could he make such a calculated statement with just a glance?
The Alchemist was overjoyed. He scooped the ingredients into a sphere and cooled them down, forming four pristine blue pills the size of a thumb.
A judge came over to inspect the pills, but his eyebrows raised when he noticed a pale blue marking the size of a fingernail across the bottom of each pill.
"92 points!" he announced to the group. This pill was clearly close to the peak of Tier 3 and deserved such a rating. Follow current novels on NoveI(F)ire.net
"The kid was right! But how could such a simple method improve the quality of a pill so much?"
Even Elder Arthur and the other judges were amazed. They knew quite a bit about low-ranked ingredients, but an Alchemist was always learning. No one could possibly claim they knew everything about every ingredient, even if they had a thousand years of experience.
Every year, new pills were invented, and famous Alchemists were born. Was William one of those famous Alchemists, just waiting to be discovered? Elder Arthur didn't know, but one thing was for sure.
He approached William from the stands. "Disciple William, I heard that Elder Tianshen invited you to the Alchemy Hall yesterday and that you asked for a few days to think about it. While I was skeptical at first, I am now fully convinced that you at least have some talent in the fields of Alchemy.
I hope to make your decision to join a bit easier with some incentive. Since you were so interested in that Root yesterday, would you like to participate in this year's competition? We still have some space on the stage two days from now."
Some Inner Core Disciples on the stage heard Elder Arthur's offer and became jealous. 'How come Elder Arthur is being so generous to this kid?'
System Quest: The Alchemy Hall has invited the Host to join the 450th Annual Alchemy Competition. Winning the competition will greatly improve the Host's potential.
Rewards: 250 Potential Points, Gold-Ranked Fire Root
Failure Penalty: None
Another Quest involving the Alchemy Guild...Why do you do this to me System? William grumbled in his heart.
-The Host does it to himself by always standing out in the presence of Alchemists. If the Host does not want Alchemy-related quests in the future, perhaps the Host should consider not exhibiting psychopathic tendencies.
F*ck! I didn't need your input! William forgot that he had told the System not to ask for confirmation if the request only needed one point.
While William was turning the function back on, Elder Arthur stared blankly at his unmoving expression. The kid obviously has talent, but he seems to be...very special sometimes...