288 Array Master

Alex continuously dodged the cat until he could get a perfect chance. The fire sparked on his hand, and he tried to grab the shadow.

"Fire Phoenix Art, Second Stage. Phoenix Claw."

The moment Alex grabbed the shadow, it was scorched by his phoenix claw. The cat immediately disappeared.

Not long after, he proceeded in merging the pill.

The aroma of the pill started filling the room, and all of them knew it was the time to finish.

Alex merged the pill completely and burned it a little bit. He then opened the lid as his fire disappeared.

The yellow pill came out of his furnace. From normal people's perspective, Alex did it easily and flawlessly. But from the experts' perspective, he was insane.

There was no one dared to play along with the monster. One single misstep, the furnace would explode. But Alex did it flawlessly.

"Impressive." The guild master was the first one who commented and applauded him.

The other two also applauded him while Filma was still dazed. She thought Alex was not refining a pill but dancing as his pill refinement was beautiful.

"Perfect Purity rank 3 Energy Pill with 10-Star Grandmaster Stage monster core. Impressive." The guild master was one of the rank 5 alchemists in the continent. Although he could easily make this pill, he couldn't say he dared to confront the monster's will like what Alex did.

What Alex did was the hard but simple one, while the normal path was easier but more complicated and needed a longer time.

"I can only say how you treated the ingredients is perfect. I am wondering who taught you?"

Alex only shook his head.

In his eyes, Alex seemed didn't want to disclose his master's identity. But Alex shook his head because no one taught him. He learned Alchemist from books and experimented himself through trials and errors. It was the fruit of his hard work.

"Can I continue?"

"Of course." The old man smiled.

Alex nodded. He refined the ingredients one by one. He didn't know if refining all of them simultaneously was a norm or not, so just in case, Alex refined them one by one.

After around twenty minutes, a blue pill came out of the furnace. It was the perfect purity Ocean Mind Pill.

"Great. It is indeed a Perfect Purity Ocean Mind Pill. I am impressed with your skills. Our Alchemist Guild is honored to have a younger generation Alchemist like you." Even though the old man said 'younger generation.' In reality, he considered Alex as a middle-aged man, but because of cultivation, his aging was slower.

He was also too old for this and was not wrong to call a middle-aged man as a younger generation. If he knew Alex's actual age, he might die in shock.

The old man then patted Filma's shoulder, who was still in a daze. She snapped back to reality after the pats.

"Take the low rank 4 alchemist badge for him. After that, you can try to absorb everything you learned in this room. I'm sure no one objected to this result, right?" He asked the other elders who nodded their heads upon hearing the question.

"Ye-yes! I will immediately go." Filma left hurriedly.

The other elders started approaching him. One of them asked, "Truly a good seedling. What is your name?"

Alex thought a little bit but shook his head, refusing to tell his name.

"That's... too bad."

The atmosphere became awkward.

"How about your pill? Do you want to sell it to us? For both pills, we can give you twenty thousand Spirit Stones. How about it?"

"I'm good. I have another use for the pill."

"Alright. This old man won't force you." The guild master said. He then recalled one matter, "I heard your previous rank was high rank 2 Alchemist. Is that true?"

The other elders were shocked by his question. After all, it was rare for people to advance a test like that. They usually advanced step by step. They thought Alex was a high rank 3 Alchemist. But it turned out he was not.

"Yes. I didn't have time to take each test. So, I'm sorry if I created any misunderstanding."

"No no. Although most Alchemists advanced step by step, there are people who took the same path as you."

Alex nodded his head.

Not long after, Filma came back with the badge. The badge was a bronze badge with four stars on it. Alex thanked her and said goodbye to the elders before leaving the Alchemist Guild.

Filma was going to guide him to send him off, but Alex rejected her.

"I almost forgot. Didn't my daughter with you? Why is my daughter not here? It is such a shame to miss this opportunity as she will learn so much if she saw the refining process. After all, I can't teach her while I'm refining a pill. I can only explain it after I finish." The third elder asked Filma.

"I..." Obviously, Filma didn't know how to explain this.

The guild master agreed with his statement. It was indeed hard to explain while refining. If they had someone like Alex just now, it would be easier for Filma and that girl to learn while they guided them.

The guild master immediately explained it to him. "From my perspective, that person seemed didn't like her because she was rude or something. I think you should ask your daughter about the details."

"What?" The third elder immediately flared up.

The guild master whispered to Filma. "You better go back first."

"Ye-yes." Filma bowed to them and left.

...

Not long after, Filma came back to the counter. While the blue-haired girl immediately asked her. "Filma, how is it? How bad does he fail? Tell me."

Filma shook her head. "Ryan, I think you are missing something great. He didn't fail. Instead, he passed it with flying color. Even the Guild Master said his refining was perfect. Ah, I have so much to learn. He might be my idol. I think you better be prepared for later."

Judging from her father's expression, it seemed she will have a full 'Conversation' with her father, the third elder.

...

Alex didn't care about any of that as he made his way toward the Array Master Guild.

It was the time he visited the Array Master Guild. Surprisingly, the guild was not brimming with people. Alex didn't put his mask on according to his plan earlier.

He strolled for a while. He could see so many empty racks here and there.

He went to the receptionist. It was a young man with big round glasses. His coconut haircut made his appearance more plain. Alex didn't have any problem with his appearance, though. He thought if his appearance was like this too back on Earth.

"Can I help you?" He asked politely.

"Yes. I am wondering if I can take the Array Master test here."

"Of course, you can. Which rank do you want to apply for?" The glasses boy smiled as hard as he could. He was happy to see another person who wanted to test. Unlike Alchemist and Forging Master, it was hard to find Array Master around the continent.

"Em... Can you explain to me about the requirement first?"

"Oh, I forgot about it because I'm too happy. The population of Array Masters is not many to begin with." He said.

"I'm new here, so I hope you can explain it in detail," Alex asked.

"Of course." He nodded. Then, he started explaining, "Unlike Alchemist and Forging Master, we changed low, mid, or high rank Array Master to the color of the badge: Bronze, Silver, and Golden.

"Because of the scarcity of Array Masters and the high demand. We employ the achievement system here rather than classified them with how many symbols they could make.

"Everybody who took the test will always start from the bottom. In other words, if you test for rank 2 Array master, then you will start from bronze rank 2 Array Master.

"If you wanted to rank up to silver rank 2 Array Master. You need to contribute fifty rank 2 array plates to the guild. As for the golden rank 2 Array Master, you need to contribute two hundred array plates. Although I said 'Contribute,' it doesn't mean to give it for free.

"You sell it to the guild. You will get eighty percent, and the guild will take twenty percent. However, this also comes with a benefit. Your array plate would be more trusted if you are a golden ranked Array master. In other words, people tend to buy a rank 2 array plate made by golden rank 2 Array Master than buying it from bronze rank 2 Array Master. Because they know the golden rank 2 Array Master has experienced under his/her belt."

Alex pondered for a moment. Making an array plate was really hard. Take his Jadeite Mirror Array as an example. It contained a thousand symbols.

He could make it in a few hours on the ground. But with the limited space of monster skin.

He would need to cram all of those symbols in that little space. Array Master tended to stick a few skins together so they could make a bigger plate. Though they loved to call it 'Array Paper.'

Anyway, with that little space. Alex would need to make a thousand symbols. He would need a longer time and higher concentration. That was the reason why Array Master preferred making the array on the ground than in the array plate. They didn't need the array plate to boot since they could make the array themself.

"But most racks are empty around here. Wouldn't it be the same whether you are a bronze rank or golden rank Array Master?"

"Yes. Indeed. Because of our small number and high demand. They are usually empty. So, to fix that problem. We would take twenty percent from a bronze rank Array master, then fifteen percent from silver rank Array master, and lastly ten percent from golden rank Array Master.

"We also sometimes made an auction for golden rank Array Master, so their product could sell more."

"I see." Alex finally understood their approach. Then he asked, "What about the test?"

"If you want to take rank 2 Array Master test. Then you need to be able to make at least two rank 2 Array. It doesn't matter which array you can make as long as you can make them. You need to be able to make it with your spiritual energy, then on the ground, as well as on the plate."

"So, I need to make three on each array?"

"Yes."

He pondered for a while. He only had mastered four arrays, which were Jadeite Mirror Array, Pollen Illusion Array, Simulation Room, and Teleportation Array.

He thought he would only need to be able to use one rank 4 array and one rank 3 array just like the Alchemist test. Luckily he could still take the test with his Jadeite Mirror Array and Pollen Illusion Array.

Alex couldn't let them see his Simulation Room as it was such an absurd array. The same applied to the Teleportation Array. He couldn't imagine what kind of expression they would make when they knew he was a Space Element Array Master.

"Alright. I will take the test."

"Sure. Let me help you with the registration. Which rank do you want to apply for?" He took a paper to write Alex information.

"Rank 4," Alex said casually.

"..." The glasses guy thought he didn't hear him right, so he asked again. "I'm sorry, which rank?"

"You didn't hear it wrong. I want to take the rank 4 Array Master test." Alex said.

He unconsciously dropped the paper and his pen. He looked at Alex dumbfoundedly. The young man in front of him wanted to take a rank 4 Array Master, it was unbelievable.

But he remembered what his Master said to him back then, "Don't judge the book by its cover. You might regret it later."

He tried to regain his composure while getting his paper and pen on the ground. He tried to smile as hard as he could and said, "The fee is twenty thousand Spirit Stones."