Elder Tianshen inspected William's body but couldn't find anything unusual except that it was difficult to move William's arms. They had become stiff, like rocks.
"Elder Fuxi!" Elder Tianshen called out.
Elder Fuxi turned his attention away from an Alchemist to see Elder Tianshen standing next to William. His eyes became solemn, and he rushed over when he noticed William's arms hanging by his side.
"What happened to him?"
Elder Tianshen shook his head. "I don't know but his arms aren't moving. You have the Life Element, can you sense anything?"
Elder Fuxi sent some Life Mana into William's arms to inspect the area. The results came back worse than he expected. "It's a curse, and a powerful one at that. I have only seen this a few times in my life. Boy, who did you upset so much that they would do this to you?"
William didn't know the answer to Elder Fuxi's question. "I'm not sure which one it is, but I've made a few enemies recently."
Elder Fuxi turned serious. "List them out, I might be able to help you if I know who the source is."
William tried to keep his voice low. "Uh...the Rhio Ancient Family, the Thieves' Guild, the Pillars of Justice, some kid named Briar from a noble family, most of the new disciples...that's about it."
What do you mean, that's it?!? You've hardly narrowed it down at all! And how did you manage to anger both the most righteous and the most criminal organizations on the Continent?
Elder Fuxi was speechless, but tried to keep his calm as this was a serious situation. "Well if I had to guess, I'd say the Thieves' Guild placed this curse on you. It's one of their most signature abilities. But the question is, how could you have come into contact with them? A curse usually takes a few days to develop..." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on noⅴelfire.net
Elder Fuxi's last sentence made William think about the other night. "Well, an assassin came to visit me a few days ago, and one of the Elders told me she belonged to the Thieves' Guild. It must have been that night."
He must be the one I heard about the other day. It all makes sense now...
"I see. In that case, I will call a specialist that is proficient in curses from the Thieves' Guild. You don't appear to be in any imminent danger, hang on a little while longer." he stepped to the side and dialed on his communicator.
"It's Elder Fuxi. I need a Curse Mage to treat an Outer Core Disciple. It's not too urgent, he'll live. Okay thank you." He put away the communicator, "Disciple William, someone will be here in half an incense stick. Can you still continue, or would you like to forfeit the competition?"
Forfeit? No way! I'm not missing out on these Potential Points!
"I can still continue, Elder." William cooled the ingredients in his cauldron and started condensing it into a pill.
Elder Fuxi was left speechless by William's determination and skill. This was his first time seeing a mere Outer Core Disciple using his Magic to refine pills. He nodded his head and returned to attend to the other Alchemists, while Elder Tianshen remained by William's side in case there were any further complications.
William was touched by Elder Tianshen's attitude. He successfully condensed the pill, but the curse caused him to be a few points shy of perfect refinement, so no Tribulation was present this time.
-Refined a pill: +1 PP
That's it? The Thieves' Guild is going to pay for this!
William was depressed. The rewards for refining a pill weren't very good compared to before. He essentially lost out on 12 more Potential Points and progress towards two of his Titles.
He allowed Elder Tianshen to inspect the pills and was even more depressed when he received a score of 90 and only refined two pills with the ingredients. He should have been able to make at least four!
Thankfully it was only the first phase of the competition, and William still scored in the top five. Lu Bingying received a score of 94 and Yuming scored 93 points, which was mostly thanks to absorbing the Fire Roots that greatly improved their control of the Fire Element.
The first phase of the competition was completed, with only thirteen Alchemists successfully refining Tier 4 pills. The remainder were doomed to failure as their time ran out without a single passing score.
Elder Arthur moved on to the second phase of the competition. The Alchemists were now required to refine a specific Tier 4 pill, and only the top three scorers would continue to the final round.
William looked at an ingredients list that the Elders handed to him. Three Blood Frog's Tongue, an Iron Root, and two Greater Mana Grass. So it's just a Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill, huh? Easy enough.
William assumed the Elders picked out the Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill since the competing Alchemists were already familiar with its refinement process.
I have less than half an hour before someone can heal my arms, and who knows how long that will take. I don't have a choice, I can't start the refinement process , I'll definitely fail!
William decided to prepare the ingredients beforehand using some Mana. He used the Wind Element to slice up each Blood Frog's Tongue, then set them aside while he mashed the Greater Mana Grass into a paste.
Just as he finished the second step, an Inner Core Disciple walked into the Alchemy Hall and approached the judges' table. "Where is the cursed individual?" he asked.
Elder Fuxi pointed the Disciple towards William and Elder Tianshen. "It's that boy over there."
The Disciple nodded. He approached William and began inspecting his arms, where he came to the same conclusion as Elder Fuxi. "It seems you have a Minor Immobilization Curse. This is quite simple, but I'm surprised it took this long for it to take effect. Usually this type of Curse activates within an hour, but you say the assassin visited your residence a few days ago?"
William nodded. He also wasn't sure.
The Inner Core Disciple didn't ask further and proceeded to heal William's arms using a dark substance that invaded William's body, wiping out the similar substance that was currently rock solid between his joints.
-Discovered Curse Magic: +1 Potential Points
"There you are. Good as new. Try not to anger any powerful factions again, the Sect isn't omnipotent."
The Inner Core Disciple stood up from his position and reported his findings to the judges' table. Elder Fuxi thanked him for his time and dismissed the Disciple.
With his arm fully healed, William was able to successfully refine pills again, so he got to work on the Tier 4 Blood Replenishment Pill.
The process was quite similar to the Tier 4 Iron Stomach Pill, except William didn't need to enhance the Iron Root into a Steel Root. He just poured the ingredients into the cauldron, stirred occasionally, and condensed the ingredients into four deep red pills with two golden star symbols.
Of course, William had a Tribulation to pass before he could claim his refined product from the cauldron.