Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Trainee Alchemist

Ranking list (from the bottom):
Shi Qing Sheng
Zhang Three
Li Four
Rong Shu
Fu You Cai
…

[Huh?] [Did something just flash by?] Rong Shu blinked, then hurriedly swept her eyes over the list again. Was that her name? Was her name on the board?

Afraid she had misread, she checked several more times. Worried it might be a namesake, she verified the age and serial number twice.

[Name, age, serial number, all match.] [It really is me!]

Her eyes rounded. Only by mustering every ounce of self-control did she stop herself from leaping up in public for joy.

At last, dazed and floating, she accepted an apprentice certificate from a steward of the Alchemist Branch Guild, and only then did she gradually calm down.

With this apprentice certificate, she would never again need to sit the apprentice assessment. So long as she successfully refined a pill even once, even if it was just a single pill, she could be officially recognized as an Intern Alchemist.

Thinking of tomorrow’s alchemy assessment, Rong Shu felt heat kindle in her chest. Maybe tomorrow she would become an Intern Alchemist.

Unable to help herself, she grinned and whispered: Woohoo, so happy (??????)?.

As for what pill to refine tomorrow, she already had an idea. To be safe, of course she would refine the simplest, the Fasting Pill.

To ensure she had ample energy for the assessment, after finishing her reading at the Myriad Books Tower, Rong Shu returned to the inn and went to bed early.

Qin Yuan and Yu Ruan Ruan were also staying at this inn. In recent days their schedules and hers had not aligned; she left early and returned late, so she seldom ran into them.

She did not think much of it.

At first light the next day, Rong Shu rose early. She popped a Fasting Pill into her mouth while mentally reviewing the formula for the Fasting Pill again and again, determined to avoid even the slightest mistake.

Arriving at the doors of the Alchemist Branch Guild, she drew a steadying breath and stepped inside.

Compared to the apprentice lecture hall that held several hundred or even a thousand people, only a few dozen cultivators came to take the apprentice assessment, and many of them had been stuck at the alchemy trial for quite some time.

Rong Shu followed at the rear of the line into the alchemy room.

Inside, two male instructors were already waiting. After everyone sat, they—as always—read out the timing, content, and cautions for the assessment.

The presiding instructor said: The rules remain unchanged; as long as you produce a finished pill, regardless of quality or quantity, you pass.

He concluded: The assessment now officially begins.

At his words, the cultivators set to work. Each had already decided what to refine, so they quickly selected the herbs they needed from the piles before them.

They selected spirit herbs, discarded inferior ones, and ground ingredients.

They opened the furnace, raised fire, and fed in the herbs.

Most of the examinees possessed a fire-attribute spiritual root. Those without one could only rely on the power of an Exotic Flame. An Exotic Flame could substitute for a fire root, which showed its value; to obtain one required both strength and luck, otherwise one could only pay a heavy price to purchase it.

The assessment time was six hours, ample time, so Rong Shu focused on steadiness.

On the first attempt, her fire control was too fierce; the herbs scorched, failure.

On the second, the shaping failed just before the pills set; the finished pills came out looking as if they had been stepped on, all dried and flattened, failure.

On the third, she absorbed the lessons of the first two and proceeded steadily. When she finally opened the furnace, a waft of pill fragrance reached her.

Her eyes lit up: [It worked.]

She carefully lifted the pills out one by one with tools, not daring to use even the slightest object control.

An instructor came over, examined the result twice with care, then nodded to Rong Shu and announced on the spot: Rong Shu, Fasting Pill, seven formed pills, pass.

Relief flooded her; she lifted her head with a bright smile and said: Thank you.

The instructor glanced at her youthful face and said with a quiet sigh: Promising youth, keep it up. He then moved on to the next examinee.

When the assessment ended, Rong Shu successfully received her Intern Alchemist certificate.

As an Intern Alchemist, she could now attend the intern lectures and begin purchasing her own Pill Furnace to truly start on the path of pill refinement.

She took out the 1,199 Spirit Stones she had saved and bought two Pill Furnaces, one set of herb-grinding tools, ingredients for 30 sets of Tendon and Bone Pills, and ingredients for 20 sets of Spirit Gathering Pills, spending a total of 1,150 Spirit Stones.

In an instant, her little war chest shriveled.

Her heart twinged, but she still paid without hesitation.

Two Pill Furnaces came to 200 Spirit Stones; she bought a pair to bring back to the sect, so that if one unexpectedly exploded, she would at least have a spare. One full set of grinding tools cost 150 Spirit Stones. The 30 sets of Tendon and Bone Pill ingredients and 20 sets of Spirit Gathering Pill ingredients totaled 800 Spirit Stones.

After so long at the Alchemist Branch Guild, she had learned the market beyond the sect: if the ingredients for one batch could yield five pills, you not only recouped your costs but even made a profit.

When she first learned that, she had been stunned.

Alchemy really was a profession of immense margins. Ordinary spirit herbs were not expensive, but the price of refined pills doubled immediately, the profit between oozing like oil.

Rong Shu believed those 1,000 Spirit Stones were only gone for now; soon she would not only be able to support her own pill use, she would earn it all back.

Now that she had a Pill Furnace and herbs, she still lacked formulas.

She reckoned she had stayed in Scarlet Sun City long enough, around forty days already. She might receive Senior Brother Qin’s summons to return to the sect any day, so she needed to commit to memory all the formulas useful at the Qi Refining Stage as quickly as possible.

So, fresh from passing the assessment, Rong Shu dove back into the Myriad Books Tower and furiously memorized pill formulas.