Rise of the Alchemy God

Chapter 166: A random mix of ingredients

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Although the challenge itself lasted almost three hours, he had no intention of staying idle for that long.

An adept-level alchemist could refine several low-grade pills within this time frame, about one every 30 minutes.

An expert-level practitioner could refine a medium to high-grade pill every 15 minutes.

So, if his opponent decided to produce several high-grade pills, he wouldn't be able to make more than 12.

Ethan didn't have much to do.

He had already set aside several years' worth of pill stocks of every kind, which he'd prepared over the time he spent within his minor dimension.

Thus, there was no point in creating additional ones, especially level-1 or level-2 pills, since they were not profitable enough for him to bother with.

At his current level, this grade of pill was child's play, and he preferred not to refine them.

The participants were required to follow basic guidelines for their pills, each one had to be at least a high-grade level-1 pill.

At this point in the competition, the requirement was reasonable, even if unnecessary, since all remaining participants could at least refine low-grade level-2 pills.

So, he decided to ask the examiner directly.

He raised his hand, signaling for the examiner to come toward him.

The commentator, noticing this, couldn't help but say:

"Oh, it seems that Participant Nuyu has a question. What could it be?" he said.

He wasn't the only one who noticed; several audience members and participants who hadn't yet competed began to wonder what the issue could be.

"Could he have already given up?" one of them asked.

"I told you theory was the only thing he was good at. He probably can't even produce a low-grade level-2 pill," said another, and murmurs spread among them.

Yan Mei, Xiang Hua, and Elder Shu, seeing his actions, furrowed their brows.

They knew his alchemy skills weren't the issue, after all, they knew better than anyone just how capable the masked boy was in this field.

So, they were puzzled by his actions.

'I have a bad feeling about this,' thought Elder Shu.

The alchemist master who was serving as the examiner approached Ethna and asked:

"What's the problem, participant Nuyu?"

He, too, was eager to see this person in action, so he was perplexed by this move at the very beginning of the round.

"If a participant finishes refining their pills before time is up, can they leave early?" Ethan asked nonchalantly.

The examiner: "..."

The audience: "..."

The participants: "..."

At these words, silence followed, then, as if a bubble had burst, the crowd erupted in laughter.

"The round just started, and he's already talking about finishing it."

"He says that as if finishing that long list is nothing."

"Kids these days have such a strange sense of humor."

While the crowd broke into laughter and jeers, the examiner who had approached didn't know how to respond.

It wasn't the first time questions had been asked during the competition, but one like this was a first even for him.

Finally, seeing Ethan's expectant gaze, he coughed and forced himself to say:

"A participant isn't obligated to stay here until time runs out; certainly, I would still advise staying," he said.

Ethan nodded in understanding and began to prepare for refining.

The examiner, seeing he was about to start, returned to his position.

Like the selection round, here, too, a list of pills to refine within three hours was given.

The difference was that they now had certain level and grade requirements, as well as others.

As for the pills themselves, they could be refined to any level desired.

This allowed some flexibility for the alchemist since if refining a certain type of high-grade pill was easier and quicker, they could do so first, then move on to more challenging ones.

Ultimately, it wasn't only the number of pills produced that counted, but also their grade and purity.

Ethan knew they didn't expect anyone to refine every pill on the list, but at this point, he held nothing back and began.

He didn't need to use his Spiritual QI Manifestation Technique to move the ingredients.

He simply chose a few and tossed them straight into the cauldron.

This action made everyone's eyes widen as another wave of exclamations erupted.

Even his opponent, who had been constantly distracted by the uproar, couldn't help but glance over to see what was causing all this commotion.

The moment he saw what Ethna was doing, he nearly dropped the ingredient he was holding into his cauldron.

'What the hell? Is he cooking food or refining pills?' he thought, not expecting to encounter such a person.

He came prepared to face other geniuses of his level, or even higher, and when he saw that he was up against the boy who had scored the highest points in both theory tests, he thought his fate was sealed.

But now, seeing this scene, he couldn't help but think he had overestimated his opponent.

'In the end, he's all smoke and mirrors,' he thought as he resumed refining his pills.

That said, even if the crowd was incredulous at what they were seeing, his group members were not.

They had already seen him do something like this a few days ago and knew he was capable of refining in this manner.

Even Elder Shu could only shake her head at this behavior.

What none of them expected, however, was that Ethan didn't just throw in one precise series of materials; he added many more afterward.

At this, both the audience and the examiners were even more astonished.

The first set of materials made sense, as they were ingredients for a known pill, but seeing him add more made them reconsider and start guessing what pill he intended to refine.

They thought the outcome would be anything but a pill, but they at least wanted to determine the type of pill he intended to refine.

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As time passed, Ethan continued adding ingredients.

At a certain point, even the judges gave up.

They noted that the ingredients combined made no sense together but could be separated to create several of the pills required.

After five minutes, Ethan finally finished putting ingredients into the now probably overloaded cauldron.

He closed the lid, lit the fire, something usually done right from the beginning and waited.

"…"