Chapter Fifty-Four

Fasona looked at Arnin with shock. She had assumed that Arnin would need at least a month or so before taking the apprentice exam.

Arnin, on the other hand, was feeling very confident. He had thought that even if he did find herbs that he recognized from his previous life, they would at least have different names, but he completely forgot one point.

When he created Afloria, he did not create the people and animals living there. The ancestors of everyone in the world were past citizens of his previous world. Some were alchemists, other warriors. He had relocated the people into Afloria since he didn't have the power to create sentient beings.

The ancestors brought their previous world's knowledge to Afloria, which was why it had many similarities to the original world. Not only that, but herbs almost always the time stayed the same, regardless of the power in the place. It was a mystery why this happened, but Arnin wasn't ever able to figure it out.

Now that he knew that most, if not all of the herbs would be the same, so he was ready to do the exam for an apprentice. Not only that, but he would go for an official alchemist title as well.

Arnin had entered the shop once more, while Fasona stood in a daze before chasing after him. She was still thinking about why Arnin wanted to do the exam so quickly.

"Hey, wait for me!" Fasona yelled towards Arnin, ignoring the stares that others were giving her. Arnin slowed his footsteps and looked at Fasona with a calm expression.

"Where do I take the test? Take me there, so I can quickly complete it." Arnin allowed Fasona to go in front of him, as he didn't know where the test would be.

"Are you sure you want to do it right now? You just got the herb book, so shouldn't you go back and study it first?" Fasona spoke with goodwill. She felt that Arnin would do very well in alchemy if he could memorize herbs, simply because of the fact that she was able to feel the fire essence around him.

"It doesn't matter. Just take me to do the test. Is there an entry fee, or anything like that?" Arnin knew that most tests would ask a person to pay beforehand. He was alright with paying as long as he could do the test.

"The apprentice test is free. Only the official alchemy test has a fee." She took a deep breath and decided to explain.

"That's good. Hurry and take me to the testing place." Arnin waved his hand nonchalantly, gesturing at Fasona to proceed. The latter shook her head and walked towards the door beside the counter. The set up was similar to the Mark Master area, where the door was right beside the counter.

Everyone watched the two enter the the door and the disappear. They were momentarily shocked before moving on with their own business.

Arnin and Fasona quickly arrived to the second floor. Just like the Mark Master department, the second floor also had some bookshelves and desks. People were roaming around the area, and when they noticed the duo enter, they bowed towards Fasona before moving along.

Alchemist were proud people who liked to mind their own business. Although they would be happy to learn from higher ranked alchemists, that could sometimes be useless. Alchemy was heavily dependent on talent, hard work, and affinity. Only if someone had talent for alchemy, would they do well. If one practiced everyday, and never forgot the herbs that were to be memorized, it was possible to do decently well. To do extremely well, it was mandatory to have a strong affinity with fire. This was the main reason Fasona wanted Arnin to become an alchemist.

"So, how do I do the test?" Arnin looked at Fasona with a confused look.

"We will have to enter the testing room on the third floor." She spoke before walking towards a different door. Unlike the connected stairs in the Mark Master department, the Alchemy department had the stairs at two different ends of the room.

In the other department, Mark Masters would usually work on the second floor. They would have their own private areas on that floor, and would usually do their work there, however the Alchemy department was different. The third floor was for testing, while there was another area where alchemists would concoct pills and other alchemic materials.

The third floor had a narrow passage with many doors on the left and right. The first door on Arnin's left said 'Apprentice Alchemist Test Area,' while the one on his right said, 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.

When Arnin saw the color, he became somewhat confused. He understood that Mark Masters would be differentiated through color since the mark color determined strength, but why would alchemists also have the same types of levels? Was this some new concept in Alfoira that other worlds didn't have?

Arnin looked at Fasona with some confusion, who had noticed that Arnin was at a loss. She smiled a little before speaking.

"Just like there are colors for Mark Masters, Alchemists are also differentiated in a similar manner. If you are wondering why, it has nothing to do with product color. It is simply a way to make the levels easier to understand. Pills have various colors, but their levels aren't as numerous…" As she explained, Arnin finally understood. Mark Masters were ranked by colors because of their products, but the other jobs simply borrowed the ranking system. They just used colours to represent rank to make things easier to understand, and also to make sure all the jobs had similar ranking systems.

Alchemy, and many other jobs, were organized into different levels of skill. Alchemists could make eight different types of pills. An orange level pill was the lowest level of pill, while a silver level pill was the highest. Things like weapons from blacksmiths were ranked using the same scale as well.

"That makes sense. Do I just enter the room?" Arnin didn't know the procedure, so he had to ask Fasona.

"Just enter the room. Since you are a Mark Master, you must have been given an identity sphere, right?" Fasona looked at Arnin and asked. The latter pulled the black sphere out from his sleeve and showed it to Fasona. "Well, once you enter the room, you will place this sphere into an empty hole inside a pillar. Then, the test will then begin."

Arnin knew that the sphere was not specifically for Mark Masters. Although Xillar said that it was for Mark Masters, but in reality, it could be used for multiple jobs. The type of identity items people received differed depending on their first job. Mark Masters would get spheres, Alchemists would get prisms, while blacksmiths would get cubes. Other jobs stick with cards, but those would not be able to hold as much information, and their level of security would be lacking when compared to the items used by the three big jobs.

Arnin walked into the room and found that the lighting was very dim, however his eyesight was extremely sharp, so he could still see very clearly. Right in front of the entrance, slightly to the right, was a large white pillar. In the middle of the pillar was a hole. The shape was that of a hexagon. It was slightly larger than Arnin's sphere.

He slowly inserted it into the hole and found that the hexagonal shape began to change to match his sphere. Suddenly, a question came to his mind. If one didn't have a previous job of any sort, how would they take the Apprentice test?

Arnin decided not to think too much about it, since it didn't really impact him. When the hexagonal hole finally changed into the shape of a sphere and tightly held onto his identity sphere, Arni couldn't help but release a smirk. "Interesting."

Suddenly, lights began to appear, and the whole place lit up. Arnin looked around with interest, and found that on his right, there was a platform, and on his left, a huge shelf with a small table and chair in the side.

Arnin walked towards the platform first and stepped onto it. He knew that nothing bad would happen since he was taking test offered by the academy, and they would not risk hurting potential future alchemists..

When he stepped onto the platform, he felt something begin to scan him. Arnin knew that this was the affinity part of the exam. It was just a check to see whether the person had an affinity with fire or not. Arnin slightly released some fire essence from his Neutrality seed.

BLINK BLINK

A blinking noise began to sound, and then the scan was complete. "Affinity Test: Complete!" When Arnin stepped off the platform, he noticed that the pillar had some words written on it. He smirked and laughed at the technology used in Afloria. It was cool, but just a waste, in his opinion.

Arnin then walked towards the other end of the room. When he got there, he noticed that the large shelf held around a hundred herbs. All of them were from the book that was given to him by Fasona. Beside the large shelf was a table and chair. On top of the table was a large stack of papers and a couple of ink pens.

Arnin picked up a piece of paper and looked through the questions. They generally just asked for the herbs' names and effects. He couldn't help but lightly laugh. He knew more about the herbs then anyone else, so this test was way too easy for him.

Outside the testing room, Fasona stood by anxiously. No one else was around, or else they would have been shocked to see Fasona acting in such a way. She was usually very calm and didn't show much of an expression in response to anything.

"I wonder if he will pass. He did go in without even studying." Fasona spoke to herself. She thought of Arnin as a good seed solely based on the fire essence she could feel around him. She wanted to make him her apprentice, and train him to become a great alchemist.

Arnin didn't know this, but Fasona was actually a pretty good Alchemist. She was a Green Alchemist, which was considered to be quite uncommon. Plus, she was very young, which only emphasized her talent.

She kept walking back and forth. She was tense, because if Arnin didn't pass, then it might be a big blow to him. This could affect his future as an alchemist, and her goal to make him her apprentice.

CREAK

Suddenly, the door opened up. Fasona was extremely surprised. Normally, the test would take around five hours, the fastest pupils finishing in a little less than four hours, however Arnin was only inside for twenty minutes.

'Was he unable to solve any of the questions?' Fasona had this thought and couldn't help but be really worried. 'I told him to wait, but he was too arrogant!' She cursed in her mind, but still waited for Arnin to come out.

When Arnin walked out the door, Fasona rushed in front of him and said in an anxious tone. "The test was difficult, wasn't it? Don't worry about it, everyone fails it on their first try, plus you didn't even study. Don't feel down, try again ne--" Just as Fasona was going to finish speaking, Arnin had already began to walk towards the second floor.

When Fasona saw this, her face became ghastly white. 'Did this failure really make him lose all confidence? Did a person who exuded fire essence at such a low realm lose his chance to become an alchemist?'

Fasona followed behind Arnin and was very worried. She looked at Arnin's face and found his eyebrows wrinkled. Her face became even paler when she saw this. Her mind was quickly coming up with reasons for why Arnin would have such a face.

'He failed and is trying not to show his sadness.'

'He is angry that he failed but is trying to suppress it.'

'The failure hit him so hard that he is debating whether or not to commit suicide.'

Ridiculous ideas rushed through her mind; however, she couldn't think of the reason. Armin had a wrinkle on his forehead, but he didn't seem sad or angry, rather his face was calm.

'Maybe he passed the test? No, that's impossible. Doing this test in twenty minutes is impossible for a new person. Even alchemists who have reached Pink level would barely be able to do this.' She completely pushed the idea of Arnin passing aside. She just didn't believe that such a scenario could be possible.

Arnin continued to walk, while Fasona kept her silence. She wanted to say something, but she felt that giving Arnin some time to accept his failure would be a good thing. Arnin just needed some time. Eventually, he would heal.

She then saw Arnin walking towards the bookshelves very slowly. He picked out a few books and sat on a table, reading quietly. He then sat down cross legged to cultivate. He repeated this process multiple times. Arnin had finished over ten books in only about three hours.

Fasona continued to watch Arnin's abnormal actions. 'Is he studying? But why isn't he studying with the book I gave him? All the books he is using seem to belong to the Orange Alchemist level.' Every book that Arnin grabbed was meant for the Orange alchemist exam. The topics varied from different herbs, to the creation of pills.

Arnin would read, and then cultivate. Finally, he got up and went towards Fasona with a slight smile on his face. "Teacher Fasona, would you mind lending me a pill cauldron?" Arnin looked at Fasona and asked, however he already had his hand out, giving her no time to say no.

Fasona was confused, but she took out an old pill cauldron that was about the size of a baby's head. "You can use this one, but why do you need it?" She still mentally rejected the idea of Arnin wanting to create pills, or anything of the like. In her mind, Arnin was only going to look at the cauldron to study it.

Arnin kept the cauldron on his side, and then extend his other hand. "Would you happen to have some Moon Flower, Ice Petal, Water Flower, …" Arnin listed out ten different herbs in one breath.

No matter how much Fasona wanted to reject the idea of Arnin passing the test, she couldn't help but gape at Arnin's mention of such a list. 'Aren't these the herbs for the Orange level water pill?' She thought, and then looked at Arnin in surprise.

"Are you trying to create the Orange level water pill?" Even though she knew that it was very likely that he was trying to make one, she still needed to confirm, unwilling to believe.

"Yes, and no." Arnin grabbed the many herbs that Fasona was slowly pulling out. She had many herbs in her bag, which was similar to Arnin's interspatial bag, but bigger.

"Arnin, shouldn't you study for the apprentice test bef--" Arnin waved his hand and gestured her to stop speaking. He didn't answer her and went towards the stairs to the third floor once again.

"Don't follow me up, I want to do something. Make sure that no one else comes up." With that, Arnin walked towards the third floor. Fasona stood there in shock, before collecting herself and shaking her head.

'He hasn't even passed the Apprentice test, and wants to try and make a pill? I can only hope that this won't be another major blow to him." She sighed bitterly and stood guard.

Arnin sat down in the narrow hallway and pulled out the herbs from his robe, placing them onto the ground before him. He also put the cauldron a couple centimeters away from them.

"Time to see of the Flames of Neutrality can be used to make pills." Arnin smiled before igniting a grey flame on his palm. Within the grey flame, the two different coloured flames continued to rotate. Arnin took a deep breath and began to change the flames' shape into a ring. He then surrounded the top of the cauldron with the ring of flames.

Arnin picked up an herb and broke a piece off. He then threw it into the cauldron, and began to surround it with fire. He needed to test out whether he could rid the herb of its impurities and turn it into a liquid form of essence.

Half an hour passed, and Arnin had a huge smile on his face. It could be done! The Flames of Neutrality really could be used for pill making! Arnin was thrilled. If anyone walked up and looked into the cauldron, they would be extremely astonished.

Inside the cauldron, there were five completely formed ocean blue pills.. Arnin continued to smile as he took a look at the room that said, 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.

Three hours passed, and Fasona couldn't take it anymore. Turning around, she rushed towards the third floor.

CREAK

When she reached the top, she saw Arnin walking out of one of the testing rooms. She gasped when she saw which room it was. 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.

"What were you doing in there? You need to pass the Apprentice test before trying the official alchemist test. These are the rules." Fasona was extremely shocked. Sh couldn't believe that Arnin was coming out the Orange Alchemist examination room.

"Don't worry, I passed the Apprentice test when I first did it, and I also just passed the Orange Alchemist test, meaning that I am now an Orange Alchemist." Arnin smiled brightly as he stared at the gaping Fasona. It had taken Fasona one year after passing the Apprentice test to become an Orange Alchemist, and that was already considered quite fast.

The Orange Alchemist test was much more difficult than the Apprentice test. Not only did one need to know more than a thousand different herb names, looks, and functions, it was essential that one was able to create an Orange level pill. This would require years of practice, and memorization. One year was already extremely quick, but how much time did Arnin take? It only took him twenty minutes to complete the Apprentice test, three hours of study, and then he was on the third floor for another three hours. That was a total of just over six hours.

Fasona took a couple steps back, before looking at Arnin as though he was a demon. "Let me see your identity sphere first." Fasona was still in a state of denial. She wanted to confirm this with her own eyes before believing it.

Arnin took out the sphere and handed it to her. Fasona quickly vanished. She walked into a room that had an identity analyser and placed the sphere on top of it. Some basic information quickly appeared in front of her.

Arnin Foro

Age: Five Years Old

Race: (D)Human Race

Realm: Orb Birth - Hell

Jobs: Pink Level Mark Master | Orange Level Alchemist

'HOLY SH*T!'