Assessment

These Alchemists were no longer young; most of them were over forty, and the youngest was already in their thirties.

Now, seeing a fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth claiming to be able to perform Alchemy, everyone was shocked and simultaneously felt a sense of disbelief. Some even shook their heads secretly, a trace of mockery appearing in their eyes.

However, they were all discerning individuals. They had long heard that Great Master Yun Qi had specially given a youth an Alchemist Apprentice Nameplate. Although they did not know if it was true or false, no one was foolish enough to mock him rashly.

"Long Chen, although I am the Guild Leader, I cannot break the rules. If you want to advance Medicinal Materials, you must refine a Medicinal Pill in front of all the Alchemists. Then, we will decide your withdrawal quota based on the quality of the Medicinal Pill," Great Master Yun Qi said with a serious expression.

"This junior understands."

Long Chen understood this matter. After all, the Alchemist Guild was not a private enterprise. Given Great Master Yun Qi's style, he would absolutely not give him special treatment.

"Here are one hundred and eighty-seven Pill Formulas for first-grade Medicinal Pills. You may choose any one of them," an Alchemist said, handing over a piece of animal skin paper, his eyes filled with a hint of schadenfreude.

The Medicinal Pills recorded on that animal skin paper were not ordinary first-grade Medicinal Pills. Their difficulty was in the upper-middle range among first-grade Medicinal Pills, and the success rate for ordinary Alchemist Apprentices was not high.

Furthermore, refining Medicinal Pills in front of all the Alchemists, especially with a Great Master like Yun Qi present—it would be strange if he weren't nervous. In such an atmosphere, successfully refining a finished Medicinal Pill was extremely difficult.

The person who handed the animal skin paper to Long Chen was also an Alchemist Apprentice, already over forty years old. When he took the assessment to get his withdrawal quota, he had failed seventeen times before passing.

Everyone present was not much better than him; basically, they all took over a dozen attempts to pass.

It was evident that wanting to advance Materials from the Guild was not an easy matter, but once successful, it would be much more convenient.

Long Chen looked at the animal skin and pointed to the last Pill Formula, saying, "I'll take this one."

"What? Are you sure?"

The person's expression was somewhat strange as he spoke. The Medicinal Pill Long Chen chose was called the Qi Explosion Pill, an extremely domineering Medicinal Pill.

It could allow a person to unleash powerful combat strength in a short period, almost allowing for an increase of nearly thirty percent in combat power.

The Qi Explosion Pill was something adventurers loved the most. Although using the Qi Explosion Pill would cause a person to enter a relatively long period of weakness and leave behind significant sequelae.

However, for them, living daily under the sharp claws and giant maws of Demonic Beasts, the Qi Explosion Pill was undoubtedly a life-saving treasure.

But the Qi Explosion Pill was very difficult to refine. It contained several Materials with extremely fierce medicinal properties. Even experienced Alchemist Apprentices rarely refined such Medicinal Pills.

After all, Alchemy had risks. Although the price of the Medicinal Pill was extremely high, the Materials were not given for free; those all cost money.

Moreover, the Medicinal Materials for the Qi Explosion Pill were exceptionally expensive. If one failed to refine it three times in a row, the Alchemist would lose money.

Therefore, not many people refined this type of Medicinal Pill. After all, adventurers could not afford the high cost of the Medicinal Materials. If adventurers were truly very wealthy, who would be willing to go on adventures?

"That's right, it's this one," Long Chen said indifferently, completely ignoring the schadenfreude in that person's eyes.

Great Master Yun Qi smiled slightly and had a medicine boy prepare three sets of Medicinal Materials. This was the rule of the assessment; there were only three sets. As long as one was successfully refined, it counted as passing.

When the three sets of Medicinal Materials were neatly placed in front of Long Chen, he did not hesitate at all. He took out his own Medicine Cauldron, and a pale yellow flame rose in the palm of his hand.

After the time of one breath, Long Chen slowly directed the power of his Alchemy fire beneath the Medicine Cauldron to heat it. After heating the cauldron, it was time to open the cauldron. The so-called opening of the cauldron meant that after the Pill Furnace was hot, one used Soul Power to drive the Alchemy fire to circulate inside the cauldron.

The benefit of doing this was that it could thoroughly put the Medicine Cauldron into an Alchemy state, reduce the danger of the cauldron exploding, and also provide a nourishing effect on the Medicine Cauldron.

Actually, Long Chen had more Advanced methods, but he had to use those most basic techniques learned at the Alchemist Guild.

He did not want to make himself too astonishing; that would be unfavorable for his future path. If someone secretly harbored malicious intent, that would be purely looking for trouble for himself.

Everyone had originally looked down on Long Chen, but seeing Long Chen's movements, which were meticulous, very standard, and experienced, the look of contempt on everyone's faces gradually diminished.

Once all preparations were made, Long Chen did not hesitate at all and directly threw a piece of Iron Thread Grass into the cauldron first to begin refining it.

This action of Long Chen caused the faint interest that had just arisen in many people to immediately turn into mockery.

The Iron Thread Grass required the longest time to refine and was generally placed in the middle or Late Stage, waiting until the Medicine Cauldron was thoroughly hot before refining it.

However, only Great Master Yun Qi had a flash of strange color in his eyes and secretly nodded.

What surprised everyone was that the Iron Thread Grass had only been refined halfway, not yet fully forming into powder, when it was taken out of the cauldron by Long Chen, placed to the side, and he began refining other Medicinal Materials.

When he finished refining the sixth type of Medicinal Material, Long Chen continued to refine the Iron Thread Grass, but it was still not fully refined, and he began refining other herbs again.

This action left everyone puzzled, but seeing the appreciation revealed in Great Master Yun Qi's eyes, everyone could not help but be shocked in their hearts. Could it be that there was some trick in this kid's technique?

Long Chen's Iron Thread Grass was refined a total of thirteen times before it was considered completely refined. At this time, more than twenty types of Medicinal Materials had already been completely refined.

Under normal circumstances, an ordinary Alchemist Apprentice would take a moment to regulate their breathing at this time to relieve their tense spirit.

However, Long Chen did not have the time to waste. After refining the essence of the herbs, he directly began the Alchemy process, throwing one herb after another into the Pill Furnace.

What everyone could not figure out was that Long Chen put the essence of the Iron Thread Grass into the Medicine Cauldron in several batches.

"Whew." Soul Power circulated, the Alchemy fire surged rapidly, and a wave of scorching heat came over. Long Chen began the actual Alchemy.

"What powerful Soul Power." Everyone could not help but be shocked, but at the same time, they all secretly shook their heads. Starting to increase the fire at this time—when it came time to form the pill, what would he use to gather the pill? Young people were young people after all, too impatient.

Great Master Yun Qi looked at the youth with great interest. Only he here understood the meaning of what Long Chen was doing, and at the same time, he liked Long Chen even more. With a powerful Soul, and being willing to put in the hard work to study, it was easier to achieve results this way.

What everyone did not expect was that after half an hour passed, Long Chen's Soul Power showed no signs of exhaustion; on the contrary, the output became stronger and stronger.

"Bang." With a sound, the Medicine Cauldron vibrated slightly, and a strong fluctuation came over. Everyone's hearts could not help but tighten. They all knew that this was the critical moment.

The Medicine Cauldron kept making noise. According to logic, at this time, the Alchemist should slow down the force of the Alchemy fire to let the Medicine Cauldron stabilize.

However, not only did Long Chen not slow down, but he increased his Soul Power, the Alchemy fire became even more scorching, and the noise inside the Medicine Cauldron became even more intense.

"What is he doing?" Someone could not help but change their expression. This was not Alchemy; what he was doing was completely trying to explode the furnace. This was clearly intentional.

"Boom." With another explosive sound, the Medicine Cauldron jerked. Long Chen suddenly pressed one large hand tightly onto the cauldron lid, and suddenly a powerful Soul Power erupted with full force.

"Bang." The rampaging Pill Furnace suddenly stopped its violence, landed on the ground, and returned to calm.

"This lousy method is really exhausting." Long Chen wiped away sweat. Using this method for Alchemy was simply tiring to death. The main thing was that he couldn't expose his own strength and had to do it by the book. Long Chen had bitterness that he couldn't speak of.

Clack! The furnace lid was gently lifted, and a rich fragrance of Medicinal Pills instantly filled the entire hall. Everyone could not help but be greatly shocked.

"He actually succeeded." Everyone present was an expert. Without looking inside the cauldron, just by smelling the medicinal fragrance, they knew that Long Chen had succeeded. Many people's hearts were filled with shock.

"Very good, there should at least be one Medium Grade Medicinal Pill inside." Great Master Yun Qi looked at Long Chen, his eyes filled with appreciation. This time, Long Chen had greatly exceeded his expectations.

He knew that with Long Chen's Soul Power, being able to successfully refine Medicinal Pills should not be difficult, but he really wanted to know what Long Chen's foundation was truly like.

Seeing it today, he saw that Long Chen's basic techniques were extremely solid, not in the least inferior to some Alchemist Apprentices who had practiced for many years.

What was most commendable was that Long Chen had a deep knowledge of pharmacology. He understood that the fierce medicine, Iron Thread Grass, needed to be refined several times to reduce its fierceness, which would make the Medicinal Pill's effect better and also increase the success rate.

Such a refining method was not yet known in the current Alchemist Guild, but in the Secret Manual library of the Guild, some Seniors had recorded this kind of experience and understanding.

Unfortunately, what was recorded there was very vague, only expressing a theory: Iron Thread Grass, after being refined multiple times, should reduce its fierceness.

However, most of those experiences and understandings were extremely common methods, or else they were some immature ideas. One might ask, how many Alchemists were great enough to take their own hard work and share it with others for free?

Not to mention others, even Great Master Yun Qi knew the method of refining Iron Thread Grass, but he had never mentioned it to anyone.

One reason was that he had no obligation to teach others, and the other was that, as an Alchemist, if one didn't even dare to innovate, one could forget about having any major achievements in one's lifetime.

Hearing Great Master Yun Qi say this, everyone could not help but be greatly shocked: Medium Grade Medicinal Pill? Is this possible?

Seeing everyone looking at him, Long Chen smiled slightly, waved his large hand, and with Soul Power guiding, five plump and round Medicinal Pills appeared in his hand.

Among them, two Medicinal Pills were strikingly imprinted with very eye-catching patterns—Pill Patterns, which were the exact characteristic that only Medium Grade Medicinal Pills possessed.

For a time, the whole hall was silent. Except for Great Master Yun Qi, everyone's eyes were filled with shock and envy, and of course, there was also a trace of jealousy.

Looking at the five Medicinal Pills in his hand, Long Chen let out a sigh of relief. Just at this moment, Great Master Yun Qi said, "Long Chen has successfully performed Alchemy. He is granted Level 2 credit."

Great Master Yun Qi's words caused everyone's eyes to change instantly. Level 2 credit—that was the right to advance second-grade Medicinal Pills! This made people jealous to the point of turning red.

Under the complex gazes of the crowd, Long Chen followed Great Master Yun Qi and left the hall. Great Master Yun Qi suddenly said to Long Chen seriously, "Long Chen, be careful of that woman."