The third round of assessment ended fairly quickly, lasting only about thirty minutes.
However, Fitch didn't immediately announce the results, although the admission list seemed to have been finalized already.
It was as though he and the other two were waiting for something, or someone.
Soon enough, a streak of grayish light came from the sky and landed on the square.
"Steward Foster!"
The three of them called out in unison as they quickly walked up to where the light was.
A male figure materialized as the light faded. As it turned out, the man who was addressed as "Steward Foster" was a cultivator refining at the preliminary stage of Master Realm. Dressed in gray, he looked like a plain middle-aged man who was around forty years old.
"Which one of them is the Marsh guy you have mentioned?"
was the first thing Foster asked once his feet touched the ground.
"Come, Marsh," Fitch called out. "Come and meet our steward, Foster."
With a wide smile, he gestured at Austin to come near.
Austin was a bit taken aback, but he went up anyway, trying to look calm.
Upon arriving in front of Foster, he greeted him politely, though hesitantly. "Hello, Steward Foster." In response, the man nodded his head.
"It's Marsh, right? Fitch and the others have told me all about your performance in the assessments.
If they weren't making things up, you seem to be a really talented young man and is worth training," Foster said with a smile.
"But to know if that really is the case, you will go through another test. This time, however, I will personally test you," he explained, his face mellow but serious. "If you are able to pass it, I myself will nominate you to become an enlisted alchemy disciple of our Magic Hand Sect.
What d
s beyond amazed. It was obvious that Foster was also an experienced pill refiner.
He guessed that the little flame from Foster's palm was his pilot fire, from which he would generate the magic fire he needed for pill refining.
"Marsh," Foster called, his face now serious. "This is what I want you to do: I want you to direct your vital energy into this herbal pot, and control the fire and its heat to a certain level as per my instructions. Do you understand?"
With an expression mirroring Foster's, Austin nodded.
It had dawned on him now. Controlling the conditions in the herbal pot was one of the basic skills for pill refining, but it took talent as well. At the very least, you needed to have good control of your vital energy.
He walked up to the pot, put his right hand on the mouth of it and started sending his vital energy in.
Of course, he had done it with restraint--He made sure that he kept his vital energy at a relatively low level which would match a cultivator at the preliminary stage of Sky Realm he claimed himself to be.
With Austin's vital energy as the fuel, the fire in the herbal pot flared up, getting hotter and becoming brighter.