Vincent was confident that all of his pills were consumables and of the best quality.
Alex looked at the pill bottle in Vincent's hand with a scrutinizing gaze. A casual gaze was usually enough for him to determine the effect and quality of a pill as he was a master alchemist. However, this time it wasn't enough. He took the bottle from Vincent's hand and opened the lid. A bluish aroma burst out of the bottle, and Alex didn't hesitate before sniffing it.
The aroma went inside his body, and instantly he felt the changes taking place in his energy recovering abilities. Then, everyone saw Alex's squinted eyes opened wide! Alex immediately noticed that the quality of the pills was as good as the ones he had created a while ago. It was just that Vincent had made two more than him using the same amount of ingredients. He was a genius!
Alex raised his head and looked at Vincent, who appeared somewhat anxious. Vincent was waiting for him to announce the result. Alex didn't keep him under suspense any longer as he said, "All of these fourteen energy restoration pills are the best I have ever seen. A restoration rate of 1000 units of mana per second for a total of 10 seconds makes it nothing short of awesome! If you sell them in the auction, people will fight to buy them. I mean to say that you're on the level of a first-grade alchemist. Good work!"
Alex clapped his hands after announcing Vincent's result.
"Thanks for your compliment."
Vincent had only said those words when cheers erupted from behind him. He turned around and saw Eric, Salvador, and Gale giving him a standing ovation. Their actions seemed to have set an infectious wave that infected all the students in this place, causing them to move their tongues and hands.
The entire class started clapping and praising Vincent!
This was one of those rare times when no one expressed their jealousy and participated only in the joy of another's success.
The students got to work, and instructor Alex took Vincent to his office. As he was a titled alchemist and a person backed by instructor Theodore, the academy treated him well.
Alex had a place where he could conduct official business. After coming here, he took off his coat, placed it on the table, and sat down on the seat behind the desk.
"Instructor, we are here for what?" Vincent asked.
"Take a seat."
There were four sofas in this room; two could house four people and the other two only one. Vincent sat down at the edge of the double sitter and looked at instructor Alex in doubt.
The next moment, instructor Alex opened his table drawer and took out a document.
"This is?"
Alex smiled at him and said, "the reason why I took you here."
Instructor Alex handed over the grade-2 alchemist certificate and told him to fill it. Vincent wrote his personal information on the certificate and returned it to him. Alex checked it once and then stamped it with a legal seal. After that, he wired it to the headquarters of the alchemy association along with a video of Vincent's performance.
"The oldies of the alchemist association will review your performance before putting your name in its second-grade alchemist under 20." He suddenly clicked his tongue, "I wanted to give you a grade-1 certificate, but I am sure my enemies back in the association would decline and make trouble for you."
From his words, Vincent realized that there was a reason why Alex the alchemist hadn't joined any alchemist tournament in recent years. There wasn't one but many reasons. Alex's past was messy. Many people who knew what he was didn't like to associate with him.
One time a group of alchemists used his past as an excuse to blackmail him, and he ended up getting rid of them all. How much of this was true was still not verified. But the fact was Alex killed many alchemists, and the investigators at that time blamed it on them trying to blackmail him. Still, killing was a crime, not to mention, he killed alchemists of high grades and titles. If it weren't because instructor Theodore guaranteed that Alex would behave himself, the federation would have disposed of him already.
Because some higher-ups weren't willing to take the loss of several talented alchemists dying in silence, they banned Alex from participating in the competition. They wanted to make it public revoke his alchemy title too, but with a single word from the Federation President, they changed their decision.
The alchemist association didn't make the information of him getting banned from every alchemy competition public. At the same time, Alex got to keep his title as a master alchemist.
"Anyway, as you are too good, I am sure they will agree to make you a grade-2 alchemist. I put in an extra request so that they will review your performance within a week. On any day of the week, you will get a parcel from the association, which will contain your alchemy robe, certificate, high-tech cauldron, and a wishlist. Don't let anyone scam you off of that." Instructor Alex said to the happy and surprised Vincent.
Vincent was feeling thrilled. He was a no-name person who had only started dabbling in alchemy a few weeks ago, but now he would soon become a certified grade-2 alchemist! What an incredible stroke of luck. Everyone would respect him. Auction houses would treat him with extra care not because he was the son of war heroes but because he was a grade-2 alchemist. He would face no problem selling his pills and making connections with merchants. The truth was that some people would go out of their way to contact him once he became a second-grade alchemist.
"I'll make sure to get the parcel and keep it safe," Vincent replied.
"Any questions?" Instructor Alex gave him a look that said if you got any confusion, now was the time to clear them up.
"What's a wishlist?" Vincent asked