Chapter-19
The students of the various departments are seated, talking and gossiping while waiting for the tournament to start. Most of them are here to entertain themselves and to search for interesting gossip. The students of the Mecha and Ability departments are here to build connections and to search for the pharmacist that they want to work with. While working in the field, the powerful pharmacists are very important for them since they could get hurt or accidents could happen.
The pharmacist department is here to learn and to support their friends. Each department seemed to have its own groups and they did not cross the invisible line. Among them, one group was totally different. This group contains about 8 girls from both Combats and Non-Combats departments and they are what you would call idol chasers.
They are not like the idol chasers from the earth but a group of girls that search for students that are usually talented, good-looking boys or girls. Once they found someone that met the condition, that someone would definitely become popular under their powerful and skillful hands online.
They did not disturb the students in real life but took photos, and videos and uploaded them on the school forums. Whoever gets their attention turns into a school celebrity even if they only come to know it later or did not know what happens at all. After many times like this, these groups of girls become popular as the idol chasers and almost everyone in the school knows them. Students who saw them could only light a candle for whoever is going to be the next idol of this group.
"Do you have anyone in your mind?" Ask one of the girls with light blue hair to their leader.
"There are three for now." The strong and smart-looking girl replied to her friend's question.
"Really, you already found three? Who are they?"
"Kim Kiyoung, Soniya and Shen Li."
"These three are 'Mister-100', the cute guide boy, and the pretty girl with red eyes, right? As expected of our leader, you always find the best."
"Yeah, these three are the ones with the highest points as of now and we will be keeping our eyes on today."
Their conservation comes to a stop as well as others when the 25 students of the pharmacist department come onto the stage and take their places for the final test. There is a white barrier surrounding the stage, which makes the students outside can hear and see inside but not from the inside to the outside. This barrier was here so that the participant would not be disturbed while working on their potion.
The materials would be provided by the school and the list of the provided materials list was given to the students. If some materials were not there on the list but are needed for their medicine, they could buy from outside and ask the teachers to put them on the shelf. Each of the students was given a shelf with all the basic materials needed to make most of the potions.
The tests started and the students took out the materials needed for their potion. The pharmacist students could guess what others would make based on their materials but they could not guess what Shen Li would make. Even the professors were confused since they could not think what kind of potion Shen Li would make. They have never known what these materials combining could make.
Shen Li was calm on the stage, he had already perfected the crops' growth potion. Some of the materials he chose this time were the substitute materials that could also work but were not as perfect as the ones with the most suitable materials. Shen Li is not a fool, he would not show the complete and perfect recipe on the broadcast since some strong people with malicious intentions could say that this recipe is theirs and even sue him.
Since he doesn't have any power, they would surely win. And they could even force him to give up his receipt, put the thief title on him and even his future career could be ruined. Shen Li had read too many dog-blood novels on earth and he knew that some could happen to him in real life. This is one of the reasons why Shen Li searches for alternate and other suitable materials even if they are not perfect. He would not let others bully him.
At the end of the three-hour-long tests, everyone put their potion on the long table in front of the judges. The students were given a tablet, where they would explain what kind of potion they make and they would appear on the big screen at the top of the stage. In five minutes, the explanation of each student appears on the screen for three minutes one after another.
Among the 25 students, most of them made the low or mid-grade smoothing agents or mostly common potions. There were some that were uncommon as well. Kim Kiyoung made high-grade smoothing potions, a girl made an internal healing potion which is very hard, one boy made a skincare potion, another girl made the hair elongation potion, and Shen Li made a strange potion. But the name of the potion caught the attention of the judges. It is a potion that has never been seen before and if the potions really have the effect as what it says then it is a big breakthrough.
After the brief explanation, all 25 students' photo together with their points appears on the screen. At present, Kim Kiyoung, Shen Li, and Soniya are in the top three places. The fourth and the fifth are the boy and girl who made skin care potions and hair elongation potions whose names are Ron and Rain. It was easy to guess from their faces and names that these two are twins. Each potion was put into the machine for testing and points were given according to the difficulty, perfection of the potion, and other minor things.
As Shen Li expected, only Kim Kiyoung, Soniya, and the twins get points above 85. The last potion to go into the testing was Shen Li's potion. The system can't decide the difficulty of the potion since there is no other same potion for it to compare. So, only perfection rate and effective rate points were given. The final decision was left in the hands of the professors. Looking at the result given by the system, it was clear that the potion was a success and the eyes of the professors were glowing.
"Ah, student Shen Li, could you explain more about your potion and its effectiveness of it? Was it you who create it?" The Principle takes the matter into his hands and questions the student. The second question was something everyone wanted to know, even those citizens watching the broadcast. Unknown to them the words of the new potion spread out quickly and usually the people of 10000 shot up to 1 million people in the broadcast room.
"Sir, yes I was the one who created the potion. It has two main effects, growth and purification. It can help the crops grow 1.5 times faster than normal and it also removes the pollution—" After the explanation from Shen Li, the principal immediately ordered some staff to bring one of the strawberry pots in the garden and the purity testing machine. The principal tests the potion in front of everyone, and a miracle happens.
The strawberry pot which never bears fruits and seeds grows fruits and seeds in front of their eyes. The principal took one of the ripe fruits and put it in the machine. The machine shows the result with a big 85% written on it. Both the crowds of the students, professors, and the people on the broadcast had wide eyes at this. 85% purity is unheard of for fruits and crops. The eyes of the principal shook, he knew the importance of this potion to both the Empire and Alkeliance.
Shen Li looked at the faces of the professors and the principal and knew that it was already a big success for him. They didn't even know that this potion made from substitute materials is not as good as the real one. Shen Li would have to choose the best moments to relieve this information. He really wants to know what the principal and professors will do when they learn that. This is the point where he would start to build his power slowly in this interstellar world and his life would get more complicated from now on but he will be ready to face the dangers that lie ahead of him.
