In a short span of time that felt like an eternity, the first round quietly concluded, making many sighed in relieve. Many of the participants had already resigned themselves as they knew their limit. The test was far harder than their average alchemy test.
The Steel Cauldron was one of the most prominent associations within the Mountain Union. It had held most of the authority regarding the arts of alchemy and crafting. Most of the greatest alchemists had the backing and support of the Steel Cauldron.
Although there was only a small brunch in this city, it was still one of the most respected associations in the city. Even the leader of the sorcerer family wouldn't want to offend them.
The way the descendants of those sorcerer families abused their background and caused the problem was not against the rules of the Steel Cauldron. The higher-ups also wanted to use these people to keep the arrogant prodigies in check and used their greed and jealous as the motivations to strive for success.
"Mister Glacie, I would like to know who dares to offend your mighty bloodline?" The dull yet awe-inspiring voice of Ocelia Coruscare made Glacies Ninguis' face twitched a little. The brainless excuse he used to come and see this mistress had already backfired him. If he confessed that he deceived her with his trick to arrive to see her, his reputation would fall apart, and he would lose all his pride.
He gazed at his newly-appointed servant, signalling him to do his work. The servant in grey trembled in fear and quickly kneeled before the eldest mistress of Coruscare Family and knocked his head on the ground loudly, breaking his forehead.
"This servant, Avidas, would like to ask for forgiveness for deceiving both the eldest master and mistress. This lowly one doesn't know the true culprit and could only lie to you. Please, spare this one's life." His voice trembled pitifully, causing the onlookers to pity with him. He had already practised this line for countless times, hoping that it would save his miserable life in a crucial time like this.
"Well, Miss Ocelia, let us not bother with that servant anymore. How about this? Would you like to wager that who would place first in the test of formulating pharmaceutical pills?" The young master used his hand to slap the servant in grey, causing his body to stumble backwards before spluttering out blood from the internal injury.
Seeing the confident look on Glacies' face, Ocelia merely turned her vision towards the female receptionist and called her. The receptionist almost exclaimed joyously, but she managed to restrain herself and walked towards her.
"You should have some basic regarding alchemy. I shall give you the chance to choose. Choose wisely, and you would receive your reward." Her request indirectly made the receptionist worried.
If she chose the perfect one, she would obtain the blessing of the sorcerer family's mistress, but if the female receptionist didn't pick the correct one, she might face the wrath of this strong mistress.
The receptionist girl was the daughter of an elder from the Steel Cauldron. Although this elder's status wasn't high in the association, being able to become a part of the Steel Cauldron was the sigh of a great mind. As the daughter of an elder, she had naturally learnt the arts of alchemy. She was also one of the great talented alchemists as well.
Her father had tasked her with this receptionist job for her to make connections with the neighbouring power and with the soon-to-be-influential alchemists. If she had numerous and firm relationships with outstanding people, her future would be a lot smoother than her father.
After a moment of deep thought, she accidentally saw a black-robed man who sat relaxingly, reading his medical book. His loose robe partly concealed his feature within, creating a sense of mysteriousness and awe.
"That man would be able to score number one for you, mistress." The receptionist immediately pointed her pale finger at Forus, who was sitting alone and watching the scenery.
"His body had the strange scent of medical powder and the likes. If one had practised concocting the medicinal pills for a long time, their scent would have the unique fragrance of the medicinal powder that would be exceedingly hard to wash it off." That was the reason why she chose him. At the first moment when they met, the receptionist girl had already noted him inside her mind.
She had tried very hard to remove such fragrance when it had appeared in her bodily odour. She precisely knew how challenging and annoying such a scent could get as she had a very acute perception of smell.
"Well done, girl. I, the mistress of the Coruscare Family, would never go against my word. You may keep this pendant as the proof of your contribution. You may request my favour once with the use of that pendant." Ocelia smiled lightly before handing out a grand-looking pendant. It had a beautiful fairy with a pair of blazing wings engraved on its surface.
"Thank you, Mistress. I, Iracia Chlora, would never forget this moment of kindness." The receptionist girl repeatedly thanked the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. For her to get a favour from the future leader of the Coruscare Family, her father would cry out tears of joy.
Strangely, her feeling of carefreeness and comfort gradually turned into the sensation of appreciation for that black-robed man. It was him that she could get this favour. Without knowing it, she had already begun to consider his capabilities and potential.
"Hello, Mister Falsus Nomen. The lady of the Coruscare Family requires your presence. Please show us your brilliant techniques and capabilities. If the lady had taken a liking in you, your future would be limitless." Miss Iracia came running towards Forus while shouting at him, expressing her joy for his opportunity.
Forus merely frowned upon hearing her declaration, revealing his confusion. Although he knew his disguise was not perfect, he had confidence in his experience and would not get caught on regularly.
"Oh, sorry for suddenly saying such things, mister Falsus. I had recommended you to the mistress to let you have this opportunity to show your abilities. Congratulations!" Her goodwill had already made Forus helpless as not only would it threaten to blow his cover out, it would also trap him in the dilemma of choices.
If he lost, he would most likely have to face the consequences for making the Coruscare Family's anger and wrath, but if Forus succeeded, he would also have to face the wrath of the Ninguis Family. Although the Coruscare would unquestionably shield him and offered him a position in their family,
"Greeting, Mistress Ocelia, this lowly one could feel your magnanimous charisma even only seeing you for only once." Throwing in random praises and things, Forus tried his best to please this miss' unpredictable temper.
"So you have already chosen your side? Very well, that girl over there shall destroy your confidence." Glacies pointed at the woman in purple who was looking at Forus in a disdained manner. She felt that Forus was extremely lucky and didn't deserve his place as a contender of the bet.
Seeing that young master of the Ninguis Family had chosen her, she didn't feel much more than a little happiness and thought that it was how thing should be, recruiting a great talent for one's party was one of the most important things for the faction to survive.
The geniuses were those who had astounding abilities. They were those whom the families and sects valued the most, supplying most of their resource to nourish them, hoping for them to rise high and mighty and brought about the time of glory to them.
This action had caused severe cases of arrogance and massive ego prodigy. They would regard everyone else as inferior people below them. The higher-up of the Steel Cauldron also saw through this problem. That was why they had always invited the descendants of the influential families to attend the recruitment event as a special guest.
They wanted those young masters and mistresses to stomp the ego of the prodigies and broke their delusional pride apart, helping them refined their mental state. If those geniuses developed hatred towards the sorcerer families, it would also help ensure that they would never betray the association and sided with the powerful families.
"Such a lowly person, yet being so lucky that the beautiful mistress chose him." Another man whose cloth was as red as blood spoke out his thought without any restain. He was the first person to hand in the paper with unparalleled confidence as he was already meditating to rest when others were writing nervously.
However, seeing that Forus ignored him and continued to fix his eye on the female in purple caused his anger to rise. If the masters and mistresses of the influential families weren't here, he would have directly challenged Forus already.
"Pipe down. Then, let us start the next test." The next test would challenge the ability to comprehend and calculated for the best decision-making. The participants would have to read the exotic recipe that had some hidden falses and fake ingredients. They would have to fix the methods and used the limited resource the Steel Cauldron provided to create the potion.
The score would depend on the quality and the quantity of the potion you could make and how well you could modify the recipes to enchant its effect and reduced its cost.
The test would examine almost all of the collective abilities of the alchemists. They would have to be able to clear and steel their mind from the stress and distraction during the refining stage and used their creativity to change the combination of the recipes, enchanting the effect of the potions.
"There would be no private room for any of you. The stage would be right here. You will be performing your refinement process in front of the observers and guests." The higher-ups from the Steel Cauldron had already arrived and would be the judges of this test. They would observe the participants' every movement and decision as well as their displayed emotions.
These actions caused many inexperienced and naive alchemists to sweet out and lost focus, making it easier to mess up their refining process. Only the top geniuses with confidence would be able to remain calm and collected. The Steel Cauldron too only required the best of the best.
"We hope that there would be at least someone who could impress us. Don't let us down." The voice echoed the hall, mocking the participants. The purple-dressed lady and red-robed man frowned slightly, revealing their displeasure.
Forus began to unravel the record that the examiners had prepared for him. The paper detailed the information of a potion that existed in the ancient remains whose property was to kindle the soul and purify the polluted elemental power that remained in the consumer's body.
The refinement process of this potion was very bizarre and wicked, using the corpse of a newborn as the base ingredient and blood of a person with your desire elemental affection as the secondary component. The alchemist would have to thoroughly dehydrate the infant corpse and submerge it with the prepared blood and circulated the blood flow throughout the body, letting the elemental power to integrate into the flesh and shell of the infant.
Only when the skin of the infant turned blood-red could the alchemist use it to refine the pill.
Reading the procedure, Forus lightly frowned before rearranging his idea. Although the method was cruel and demonic, Forus strangely didn't feel anything, not even a fluctuation of emotion manifested in his mind.
The world of sorcerers regarded mortals without any power as ants and insects, having no real right or freedom. Their purpose was to help expand the pool of population to give birth to more talents. Most of the mortals didn't know about the existence of the supernatural beings as they would die by their hand if they ever encountered one.
