Rise of the Alchemy God

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Ethan, like everyone else, had approached at a safe distance to observe the ingredients that the Alchemist Master would use, but he didn't expect this to happen.

As soon as the alchemist started the refining process, the system appeared, asking him if he wanted to learn the recipe.

For a moment, Ethan didn't know how to react, but instinctively, he accepted, and the analysis process began.

[56%]

[72%]

[97%]

Ethan had no idea what to expect.

It seemed too convenient to be able to learn a high-grade level 2 technique, just like that, without any cost.

Since he had started using the system, there was almost always a cost for everything it offered him.

Most of the time, it required system points, and occasionally, special missions or daily tasks.

He was certain that after the system finished acquiring the technique, he would definitely have to pay a price for it.

As the Master Alchemist continued with the refining, the recipe acquisition percentage kept increasing.

At one point, the Alchemist Master, still gazing at the cauldron, said:

"Although the refining process of the pill is finished, this doesn't mean I can proceed to shape it and extract the pill," he said while moving his hands in the air.

Ethan, who was already in the third stage, could sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy moving as the Alchemist Master waved his hands.

He was using the manifestation of spiritual Qi, and more specifically, he was using it in small amounts to manipulate what was inside the cauldron.

Normally, alchemists, after nearly finishing the refining process, would manually shape the mixture into a pill, but the higher the alchemist's rank, the more complex and dangerous the pills became.

For instance, if one were refining a poison pill of a certain grade, one couldn't expect the alchemist to shape the final mixture with their hands.

This was because, by doing so, they risked direct contact with the poison, and depending on the poison, they could end up infected either immediately or later on.

Most experienced alchemists had at least reached the Qi Refining stage, so they could use the surrounding spiritual energy to protect their hands, and for those who were at the third stage, they could directly shape the final mixture using spiritual energy without needing to use their hands.

Although alchemists were considered weak in terms of physical strength and cultivation, this didn't mean there weren't alchemists with high cultivation levels.

In fact, the four Great Masters Alchemist were all beings who had at least reached the peak of the third stage, with two of them in the fourth stage.

Alchemists spent most of their time refining pills, so the time they dedicated to cultivation was minimal.

As a result, most of them didn't have very high cultivation levels.

As the Elder finally extracted the fully refined pill, the system's progress bar also completed.

[100%]

[Recipe for a high-grade, level 2, Meridian Cleansing Pill, acquired.]

[You can now purchase the recipe from the shop.]

Just as he had suspected, it was too good to be true.

'Well, it's better than nothing.

At least now I can buy a recipe of this level instead of starting from scratch and upgrading it,' he thought, though he wondered what the recipe's price would be.

And what if the price was higher than the total points needed to upgrade it to that level?

In the weeks before the start of the selection exam, he had accumulated a good number of system points.

Enough to perfect three recipes.

Once the refining process ended, everyone returned to their places, including Ethan and Tan Chi.

As soon as they did, the Elder, seeing they were ready, gave the signal, and the competition began.

Tan Chi, who seemed to have already chosen the pills he wanted to refine, didn't waste a second and began pulling out some materials and working.

His movements weren't too slow or too fast.

Sufficiently fluid and without interruptions due to hesitation or anything else.

He quickly prepared the materials, while the cauldron had already been prepared at the beginning.

Without wasting time, he placed the prepared materials one by one into it and began refining, while simultaneously preparing the materials for his second pill.

Xian Wei, seeing this, scoffed and stopped paying attention to him.

He didn't even bother to glance at Ethan, as he considered both participants to be at the same level.

Unlike him, however, the two girls were somewhat curious about the alchemical abilities of the boy with the mask, so they didn't hesitate to take a look at him.

Too bad for them, Ethan was busy doing something else at the moment.

Turning their gaze toward Ethan's station, what they saw was Ethan standing silently, seemingly doing nothing but staring at the cauldron, or at least, that was the trajectory of his gaze.

Two minutes had already passed, and he had been standing in that position since the beginning.

"…"

"…"

'What is he doing?' they both wondered with furrowed brows.

Even the examiner, seeing Ethan's strange behavior, didn't know what to think.

'Is it possible that he's still thinking about which pill to prepare?' the examiner thought, not even considering that Ethan might be incapable of refining.

For him, someone with cultivation at Ethan's level and such deep knowledge of alchemy would hardly not know how to refine, so he could only assume that Ethan was contemplating which pills to prepare.

So, while the three of them reached their own conclusions, Ethan, still standing motionless, continued to look in the same direction.

But instead of observing the cauldron, he was examining the status screen in front of him.

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[---------------------------

SHOP:

Recipe for a Level 2, High Grade, Meridian Cleansing Pill .

Price: 2000 SP

---------------------------]

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'Hm... the price is surprisingly lower than I expected,' he thought, considering how much time it would have taken him to upgrade a recipe to this level.

He was sure the price would have been at least twice the indicated amount, so he was a little caught off guard when he saw the pill's cost.

In the end, he decided to buy it.

No matter how he looked at it, this was a good price, especially for a recipe of this level.

Just thinking that he now owned a high-grade Level 2 pill excited him.

At first, he thought the examiner would show them how to prepare a low-grade recipe, but it seemed that he had directly produced one that was two grades higher than expected.

Adding to this the discovery of the system's new feature, Ethan had to admit that today was going great.

He currently had a little more than 3000 SP saved up, so he didn't mind using 2/3 of it for the recipe.

Ethan raised his hand and pressed the purchase button, and the recipe was immediately downloaded into his mind.

This action of his didn't go unnoticed by the three who were watching him.

'What is he doing?' they all wondered, even more confused by Ethan's behavior.

But then they saw that the boy with the mask suddenly started refining, and seeing this, they set aside their previous thoughts and focused on observing his movements.

In less than two seconds, Ethan had already completed the initial preparations and was now ready to proceed with the cooking phase.

Seeing this speed, all three of them widened their eyes.

'What the hell is that speed?' they all thought.

What amazed them the most wasn't just his speed but the fact that, despite how fast his steps were, they were fluid and free of any imperfections.

Being skilled alchemists themselves, they could tell that despite his great speed, he performed every step flawlessly.

It didn't take long before the examiner could identify the pill he was making.

'Hm, it seems he's refining a Foundation Pill,' the examiner thought, stroking his beard.

This pill was one of the high-grade Level 1 pills listed in the provided sheet.

Although it wasn't particularly difficult for an experienced alchemist, it still required at least several minutes to refine successfully without too many impurities.

Yet, just after 4 minutes, Ethan made three pills float out of the cauldron and sealed them in a small glass bottle.

"..."

Once again, the three observers were speechless at what they had just witnessed.

'That's definitely a Foundation Pill. How is it possible that he refined it in just a few minutes, and three at that?'

Yan Mei thought, stunned as she watched Ethan set the prepared pills aside and proceed to the next.

Even Xiang Hua, who was particularly fast at preparing Level 1 pills, didn't know how to react to this sight.

'Could they have low purity?' she wondered, but then shook her head.

With her skill and heightened senses, she could tell that the purity of those pills was not low at all.

She was sure that all three were of high grade.

But this made it even harder to believe that Ethan had refined them in such a short amount of time.

While the examiner and the two girls were lost in contemplation over what had just happened, Xun Xei, who had been ignoring the competition, noticed their astonishment and decided to take a look.

'Eh?'

At first, he saw only Ethan preparing a few materials, and for a moment he was confused, but then, noticing the glass vial beside him, his eyes narrowed.

'When did he prepare those?'

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