Chapter 268: Deciphering The Given Pill

The three elders smiled at Elder Wade while full and well knowing what kind of a person he was; a womanizer.

Although he was a womanizer and would frequently visit the cathouses, when it came to his master, he would become genuine and loyal to a great degree leaving others bewildered at his actions.

If it weren't for that, they would've long kicked him out for being unscrupulous towards the women he entangled with in the past.

Although to them, it doesn't matter what he does with those women, it still tarnished their reputation as both his elders and colleagues.

They nodded and congratulated Tina for becoming Low-Level Earth Grade Alchemist.

Tina nodded her head and said politely, "Tina thanks all the Elders for their patience... Without my master, I wouldn't have come this far."

In the hall, all of them were smiles except for a single person. 

It was none other than Davis!

Inwardly, he was shouting at them, 'Hey! I'm only 16 years old and am going to become a Mid-Level Sky Grade Alchemist! Stop fawning over her and start my exam already!'

He stayed like a statue the entire time they were exchanging pleasantries.

Suddenly, Elder Seylas turned his gaze to Davis and said, "Mister Scythe, was it? Please step forward if you're going to continue with your exam..."

'Yeah, that's what I'm waiting for, you idiot!' Davis inwardly cursed him as he walked forwards.

Only then was he noticed by Tina who looked at him with a confused gaze.

Realization suddenly dawned on her but still, she asked in admiration, "Are you here to take the Low-Level Sky Grade Alchemy Exam?"

Elder Wade who stood by the side answered instantly, "No, he's here to take the Mid-Level Sky Grade Alchemy Exam..."

Tina's expression changed. She originally knew that Davis was a Peak-Level Earth Grade Alchemist, but even then, her intuition and something else told her that this person should still be within 100 years of age.

But now seeing this person take the Mid-Level Sky Grade Alchemy Exam instead of the Low-Level counterpart, she was left confused.

'There's no way this person is still within 100 years of age, right?' Tina thought with a scrutinizing expression on her face.

No one below 100 years of age could become an Elder Soul Stage Cultivator, this fact was almost like common sense to the alchemists in this territory.

She wanted to believe that her initial intuition was right but the scene in front of her was proving that she was wrong. She inadvertently let out a sigh, thinking that she had indulged in her fantasy too much.

"Alright, junior sister. Leave that person some space to take the exam, will you?" Elder Wade said while seeing that she was spacing out.

Tina nodded and moved but didn't leave the hall. Instead, she walked over to the side and fixed her gaze on Davis.

Davis stood in front of another cauldron, which he could tell that it was of Mid-Level Sky Grade in quality.

He nodded in satisfaction but knew that before he could concoct a pill, there was another test he should complete.

Elder Wade walked towards the judges and said something. He was then handed a pillbox, which he took it to Davis.

Davis accepted the box and opened it to see a single green pill.

He knew the rules and understood that he must guess the ingredients used to make this green pill.

This was a pill which was custom made by one of the elders over here and that elder eventually spoke out, "This pill was made by me and I used 10 ingredients to concoct this Mid-Level Sky Grade Pill. If you can guess even 5 of the ingredients right, you will pass the second test."

It was Elder Garner who spoke. Once he said that he turned his head over and started to discuss with Elder Theren before saying, "You have 30 minutes to figure out the ingredients. You can start now..."

Once the signal was given, Davis took the pill and sniffed it. With just this sniff, hundreds of ingredients flashed past his mind.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the other apparatus over the table. He dipped the pill in spirit water for a moment, slightly diluting it.

He then drank the diluted spirit water, directly feeling out the effects of the pill, even the taste.

A few minutes later of mental calculation, he narrowed it down to 19 ingredients.

Just 5 minutes had passed, and he wrote the ingredients which he felt that was the most suitable on a scroll that was present on the table.

Elder Wade came over and took the scroll to Elder Garner who then corrected it.

"You have guessed 8 out of the 10 ingredients correctly!" Elder Garner's eyes widened, his gaze falling on Davis with an incredulous expression.

It had just been 5 minutes exactly from the start of the second test but the examinee had already deciphered his pill formula? By just sniffing and feeling the effects of the pill?

Initially, Elder Garner laughed thinking that the answers were probably wrong but he didn't think they were all almost right!

The other two elders also blinked, even going so far as to suspect Elder Garner had leaked the ingredients but felt that it was unlikely.

In truth, the reason why Davis could decipher the pill and find out the ingredients was related to his knowledge. People might have one or more secret ingredients but most of them are just common ingredients that one could find by a little bit of testing. 

One could decipher the ingredients to an extent but could they find the timing and the necessary methods to extract the essence in the final moment? That was the truly difficult part, and unless that person had the pill recipe, it was difficult to copy one's work.

"Why did you submit it so soon? Wouldn't it be better if you gave it after 15 minutes? You made me lose face..." Elder Garner laughed as he shook his head.

'Huh? That's a drag...' Davis inwardly thought but he said entirely something else to Elder Garner, "There's no way I can completely understand and decipher this pill, so I just wrote what came to my head. It was all just luck..."

Davis's eyes twitched as he inwardly laughed at himself.

What a cliched sentence to say...

The three elders also smiled wryly as they all felt that he was joking.

Elder Seylas opened his mouth in interest, "You've got quite the sense of humor, haha. Let's start the final test then..."