The Advance Alchemist
Boom!
A loud explosion and white smoke permeated the test room. However, the smoke did not come from objects being burnt because the smell from that smoke was such a nice herbal smell. It was very refreshing once inhaling in. That loud explosion came from Zheng-Fu’s very medicine mixing bowl…
“Wh…what’s going on!?”
“What is that herbal smell? How come it is so soothing?”
“And there was that bright yellow light too. What was it anyway?”
The people in the test room did not understand what was going on. Only some did. They were Lei Tian Lu who stood next to Zheng-Fu, Kong-Chang, who never took his eyes off Zheng-Fu, some of the applicants who were nearby, and the three Elders…
The first Elder: “What is this nice soothing smell? And what about that bright light?”
The second Elder: “Yeah. What was that kid up to? Did it work or not?”
Ming-Wang: “Of course, it worked. Judging from the nice herbal smell that comes with the smoke, it looks like the boy just succeeded in making a third-ranked medicine!”
“A third-ranked medicine!?”
When the white smoke subsided, everyone saw Zheng-Fu standing and holding a yellow pill in his hand. There was this special aura glowing from that pill. It was filled with a certain kind of energy. Everyone who looked right into it had an appetite for it all of a sudden…
“What kind of medicine was that? How come it smells so nice and full of energy like that?”
Now everyone could not help but turn to Zheng-Fu and his pill. They were all in extreme awe. They would like to know everything about what just happened. Even Lei Tian Lu wanted to know what kind of pill that was because he had never seen it before. The two Elders of the association could only give out a dry smile because they did not get to mingle much with the third-ranked medicine, even though they are the Elders of the association…
Only the director of the association, the head of the association, and Ming-Wang regularly worked on the third-ranked medicine. They sometimes worked on the fourth-ranked medicine too. So, they knew right away that Zheng-Fu just produced a third-ranked pill as soon as he succeeded it…
“I can’t believe that he could produce a third-ranked pill. The ingredients that he had were just something easy to find. I’m curious what his pill can heal.” Ming-Wang said because he was so interested in the pill. Then he sent a signal to Kong-Chang to fetch the pill from Zheng-Fu to check instantly…
“The Elder wants me to take your medicine into check, brother Zheng-Fu,” Kong-Chang told Zheng-Fu the reason why he approached him…
“You got it, brother Kong-Chang.” Zheng-Fu gave the pill that he made to Kong-Chang. What Zheng-Fu could do now was just have to wait for the result. He just broke his medicine mixing bowl, so he could not continue to make some more. Even though there were a lot of available mixing blows in the room, he did not dare to use any of them because he was afraid that someone would condemn him that he just broke one…
After Kong-Chang got the pill from Zheng-Fu, he was very careful in transferring the pill from Zheng-Fu to the Elder, even though he did not know what the pill was for. He only believed that the pill must be something significant…
“Here you are, Elder Ming-Wang!”
“Great! Please leave us!”
“Yes, sir!”
As soon as Ming-Wang got a hold of the pill, he asked Kong-Chang to leave the scene right away. Kong-Chang felt disappointed because he wanted to know so much what that yellow pill could heal…
The first Elder: “What is this pill, Elder Ming-Wang?”
“I have no idea, but I’m certain that it must be in the third rank.”
The second Elder: “A pill in the third rank? If you were right, does it mean that that boy was at our level?”
“I would like to say that indeed, but the thing is I think that he might be at the higher level, despite how young he is. If he spends another 10 years in alchemy, he will surely be becoming a well-known alchemist.”
The first Elder: “And what shall we conclude for this test? Because to pass this test, an applicant must produce at least 10 pills of the first rank and two pills of the second rank. It’s either that or five pills of the first rank and one pill of the second rank…”
The second Elder: “The fact that he could produce a pill of the third rank made him more than a beginner or an intermediate alchemist. And there is still the final test left. Should we let him continue to take the test?”
“I’ve been thinking hard about that too. If we let him pass this test, it would create chaos. The pill that he produced belongs to the third rank. So, if anyone heard about this, it would put the boy and his future in danger. But if we don’t let him pass the test, our association will lose him as our next alchemy genius.”
The first Elder: “So, what should we do now? If we don’t let him pass this test, he might feel discouraged and want to give up alchemy.”
The second Elder: “That’d be very bad indeed. Even though we have Lei Tian Lu, who is very talented, with us, he is not as close to that boy, Zheng-Fu. I think our association needs someone like that boy.”
The three Elders were having a hard time thinking about what they should do in this situation. It would be controversial to let Zheng-Fu pass the test because he could produce just one pill, but it just had to be the great third-ranked pill. That was the thing. And they cannot announce to everyone that the boy could produce the third-ranked pill too because it would not be safe…
“How about we let him pass the test and tell everyone that the boy could produce a second-ranked pill successfully? We can tell them that this very pill is as powerful as two second-ranked pills combined. What do you think?” Ming-Wang came up with the idea, so he asked the other two Elders…
“Yeah!”
“Let’s do that!”
The two Elders both agreed with Ming-Wang’s idea. So, Ming-Wang ordered Kong-Chang to tell Zheng-Fu that he passed the test…
“The Elders asked me to tell you that you’ve passed this test, little Zheng-Fu. We have to take in the pill that you made though for now because we don’t know its healing power…”
“Is that so, brother? So, I’ve passed. But I have to leave now because my alchemy Master must have been waiting for me for a while now. I have to excuse myself, so I can’t participate in the next test.”
Zheng-Fu had to cut Kong-Chang off because he had been in the test for two shichen now, which was a very long time. He needed to leave because Sue-Wu had been waiting for him outside of the building. Zheng-Fu made the decision not to take the next test, even though he felt that it was too bad…
Outside of the Association of the Alchemists…
Sue-Wu started to feel a little worried about Zheng-Fu while he was waiting for him outside of the association. However, he thought that it was still alright because Zheng-Fu was in the association building, so no one could harm him. So, he ordered two bodyguards to guard the entrance and the exit of the building to get a hold of Zheng-Fu when he came out of the building. Sue-Wu himself had to go to an herb store to buy Hound Tongues as he intended…
Back in the room where the second test took place, a lot of applicants started to put everything down as two shichen was over. Most applicants did not pass this test. Only about two out of ten people did and one of them was Lei Tian Lu. He could produce two second-ranked pills successfully according to the requirement. Zheng-Fu remained still in the room because Kong-Chang asked him to stay according to the Elders’ order…
Zheng-Fu felt like he spent too long time in the building, so he tried to persuade Kong-Chang to let him go. But Kong-Chang’s very job was to withhold Zheng-Fu to make him stay according to the Elders’ wish. Zheng-Fu knew well why the Elders wanted him to stay. It was because of that pill that he just made…
“Kong-Chang, brother! Please let me go. I can’t stay here any longer. If I do, my uncle would be very angry with me.”
“But…”
“Well, then give me one second. I have to ask the Elders…”
“No need to!”
All of a sudden, Ming-Wang and the other two Elders approached Zheng-Fu from out of nowhere. The incident alerted people in the scene because they were aware of how important those three Elders were…
“Those are the three Elders of the Association of the Alchemists!”
“Why did they rush to that boy? Is it because of that pill?”
Ming-Wang did not say anything while people were being alarmed by his and his colleagues’ sudden appearances. He only started to look around the room and that made the noises stop…
The first Elder: “Alright everyone. The test has come to an end. Everyone can leave, except for you…kid!”
When everyone heard that, they started to leave the room, leaving behind Zheng-Fu and Kong-Chang, with the three Elders. The applicants who passed the test headed back home with extreme delight. They had now become beginner alchemists. Turning into an alchemist could raise their pay when they worked for those powerful clans…
But in the end, some had to walk home bitter too. The people who failed could only look at those who passed the test with jealous eyes…
“Well, see you next time, little Zheng-Fu.” Lei Tian Lu said goodbye to Zheng-Fu as he walked out of the room along with others. Right now, only the related parties were left alone in the room…
“Go fetch that thing, Kong-Chang!” Ming-Wang turned to Kong-Chang before giving him an order to get something for him...
“Yes, sir!”
*That thing?*
It did not take long for Kong-Chang to come back with a wooden box in his hands. It was an average-sized box that was decorated beautifully…
“This is yours!” Ming-Wang gave the box to Zheng-Fu right after he took it from Kong-Chang…
“What is it, Elder?” Zheng-Fu asked with curiosity…
The first Elder: “Open it…”
Squeak!
Zheng-Fu could not wait to open the box. As he opened it, he saw a wooden plaque in there…
“That’s the recognition plaque for the Advance Alchemist!” Kong-Chang did not know how to behave himself after seeing that plaque that Zheng-Fu just received. Although he understood how extraordinary Zheng-Fu was, he never expected that the boy could now become an Advance Alchemist in just a short period of time…
“The Advance Alchemist!?”
“Are you telling me that I’m now certified as an Advance Alchemist?”
“You’re correct. What you just did has made you something hard to find. This kind of alchemy genius comes once in a hundred years. Here! Your robe. Take it! But don’t be too proud and think that you are the big advanced alchemist now, alright? There are still many alchemists that are gifted out there in the world too.” Ming-Wang said while handling Zheng-Fu’s blue robe…
The second Elder: “That’s not all that you will get as an advanced alchemist. You can have this spatial ring too. It’s as big as three pings (1 ping = 3.3 meters). You can use it to keep herbs and other ingredients for medicine production…”
The first Elder: “You’ll get a medicine mixing bowl too, along with a certain number of herbal plants. You can find everything in your new spatial ring there…”
“A spatial ring!?”
The whole thing that just happened to Zheng-Fu could cause Kong-Chang a heart attack. Now Zheng-Fu got to enjoy the new alchemy position and the cool important things that were related to medicine production. It was absolutely something unexpected for Kong-Chang today…
“From now on, you are a part of our association. You can come in anytime you need something from us. We are more than happy to assist you.” Ming-Wang said and smiled at Zheng-Fu…
Grab!
Zheng-Fu took everything that he was presented from Ming-Wang. He then put the spatial ring on one of his fingers. He put everything back into his spatial ring. Then he said, “Respectable Elders! May I ask you a favor?” Zheng-Fu gave a usual innocent smile to the Elders…
“A favor? What about?”