Chapter 283 Final Round, Bounty Hunt Scripture

The third round was about crafting a single class-10 potion in pairs. The avenue for the 3rd round was the forest on the other side of the mountain, and the duration of the round was 3 hours.

Arkhen still doesn't gain perfect mastery over class-10 potions or pills, so he becomes the supporter while Sasha craft the class-10 potion.

"First, we will need these ingredients," Sasha said as she passed on a list of ingredients to Arkhen. "Let's separate and find them. We'll keep in touch with comm crystal, so whenever we find an ingredient, we can notify the other about it and check it on the list."

"I have a better plan. Just come with me, and we will find all the required ingredients in a jiffy with my special ingredient finder skill."

…

Just like previously, Arkhen found all the required ingredients to craft a class-10 potion.

After quickly gathering them, they once again had to craft the potion without a cauldron.

Sasha told Arkhen to prepare the ingredients. Although similar, it was harder to refine 10th-grade ingredients.

Sasha was instructing Arkhen and teaching him to make the process faster. Arkhen was also a fast learner, so he was quickly refining ingredients.

"Dip that flower into the molten core of lava tiger for two seconds and then cool it down by putting it beside the bowl of Frigid Dew you collected. Remember, do it with extreme precision."

"Yea. Gotta take it out when there are a perfect number of red marks in each petal."

"Gotcha," Arkhen said as he quickly started working on the current ingredient.

The people watching there were stunned as they saw Arkhen and Sasha already moving to craft their potion within roughly thirty minutes of the round starting.

The combination was also very fast.

"It's clear that this is his first time refining these 10th-grade ingredients and doing new refining methods that are exclusive to 10th-grade ingredients," said the Shirashi family head with a surprised expression.

The other big shots of alchemy beside her also nodded as they could clearly feel the clumsiness in Arkhen's refining and preparation of ingredients.

To craft the class-10 potion, Wrath of Thunder Trample, they had to prepare a total of nineteen ingredients.

Out of those nineteen ingredients, twelve ingredients were 10th-grade ingredients, and the rest were 9th-grade ingredients.

Suddenly, both Sasha and Arkhen sensed a powerful aura.

They had to craft their item in the forest, and everyone had a high chance of being attacked by a powerful dire beast!

"I'll handle it," Arkhen said as he had just finished preparing the ninth ingredient after an hour of them working together.

*Grrrrrr!*

From the ground, a dark silver armadillo came out. It was only the size of a car but had a 10th-grade aura oozing out from it.

Alas, before it could do anything, Arkhen appeared right beside it and kicked its head.

*Splat!*

*Swooosh!*

After its head burst into the pieces with such a pinpoint kick, the extreme wind blew because of the force behind Arkhen's kick.

The way he kicked also concentrated the attack on the beast, such that Sasha was undisturbed despite just being five meters away.

After all, he had freaking 1920 points in all stats!

Everyone watching the scene was utterly speechless.

"Powerful…" Shirashi family head muttered as she narrowed her eyes. She couldn't sense Arkhen's strength from a display screen, but from the way that 10th-grade dire beast died, and the wind that blew, she concluded that Arkhen was more powerful than most of the 10th-class powerhouses in terms of physical prowess.

Including her!

"Such power, and that mastery over his bodily prowess…." someone muttered. "Is he single?"

…

Arkhen was preparing the thirteenth ingredient, and… he messed up.

"Shit…." Arkhen cursed.

"Forget it. Continue with other ingredients first," Sasha said. "I am done mixing seven ingredients, and your speed is fast despite being a newbie, probably because of your absolute mastery. So when the rest of the ingredients are prepared, you can go and find the one you just destroyed.

"Alright," Arkhen replied as he quickly started preparing other ingredients while Sasha continued teaching and instructing him how to do that.

Time passed as seconds turned into minutes…

Another hour soon passed, and Arkhen was done preparing the final ingredient. After failing that one, he also failed two more times.

But he had already made significant progress in this teamwork crafting session!

"Now, you just observe and see how it is to craft this," Sasha said with a grin as she started brewing the potion after mixing in various prepared ingredients and putting them in the cauldron one by one in proper order.

The time limit of the 3rd round was six hours, but Arkhen and Sasha passed the round in two hours.

"We are first!" Sasha said and side-hugged Arkhen after she finished brewing the potion and assessed it as a successful crafting!

"You two can return back to the mountain base," the staff member lady who assessed their potion said with a smile.

…

"So, what's the next round?" Arkhen asked after he and Sasha sat at a table in the cafeteria pavilion to eat.

"No idea. The fourth round is the final round, and it will be the hardest," Sasha said with a wry smile. "First of all, we will need to craft a class-10 pill or potion, that's for sure. But there will be a twist as well."

Just as Arkhen was going to say something, he heard Velshi's voice.

[My lord. Someone in the list of Bounty targets entered the 1st realm. You can open the Bounty Hunter Scripture for more information]

'In the flesh like that wench?'

[Yes. Bounty Hunter Scripture will only notify you if the person is in the same realm as you, in the flesh]

[Since you already got the quest, then I might as well tell you that the Bounty Hunter Scripture will also tell you about the high-ranking Myriad Mayhem members].

'But I don't understand. So why do I have to antagonize them?'

​ [Ummm… the thing is, they know about Reality Token, which is now a Reality System in you; they will come to hunt you sooner or later].

'I guess that's how the previous hosts died?'

[Correct].

'I fail to imagine how they lost despite having such powers,' Arkhen asked as he wryly smiled internally.

[You will know when you meet them. I mean, the high-ranking members. There are none in the 1st realm, so you have no danger here. You should be able to complete the current main quest without any trouble].

'Alright. I'll work on it after the competition.

…

Arkhen and Sasha didn't take a rest after eating. Instead, both of them started practicing alchemy.

Sasha had already procured many 10th-grade ingredients for Arkhen, so she gave them to him.

"Thanks. I'll disappear for a while and return when the next round starts."

"Alright," Sasha nodded.

After five seconds, Arkhen disappeared and entered Mystic Wonderland.

Alchemy Pavilion!

Inside the alchemy pavilion, Arkhen's learning speed was fast because he was getting direct teachings from Immortal Idol Alchemist. According to Velshi, Immortal Idol Alchemist was the most knowledgeable when it came to alchemy!

…

After six hours, Arkhen finally crafted his perfect-grade class-10 potion, and thirty minutes later, he concocted his first perfect-grade class-10 pill!

The 3rd round lasted 6 hours; after that, everyone got four hours of break.

In the end, only 38 pairs passed the 3rd round, leaving a total of 76 finalists!

Arkhen continued crafting pills and potions and emptied all ingredients. His speed of preparing ingredients also increased each time he attempted crafting a pill or a potion!

Two hours later, Arkhen came out of Mystic Wonderland as it was finally time for the final round.

Shirashi family head and four other judges arrived at the mountain base and gathered finalists while kicking out those who failed back to the academy.

"The final round is a bit different. We will have you draw lots from this glass bowl filled with small paper notes."

"Each paper has a single word, and you must craft a class-10 potion related to that word. For instance, if the word is fish, you will have to craft a pill or a potion related to fish. If the topic is mud, you will have to craft a pill or a potion related to mud."

Hearing such an absurd round, everyone was shocked and speechless!

"But that's not all," Shirashi family head continued as she smiled and glanced at everyone before continuing, "To make things a bit easier, but also tricky, we will give you half of the ingredients related to the theme you drew out from the bowl."

"The winner will be decided by the one who crafts their pills or potions fastest, but also the highest quality. For instance, if the fastest one crafted a high-grade pill and the 2nd fastest crafted perfect-grade pill, the winner will be later."

"Now, I shall announce the rewards. The first rank will get three Soul Mystic Pills and 10,000 high-grade essence stones. A single Soul Mystic Pill can refine your soul from 9th-class to 10th-class quality.

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"The second and third rank will get 10,000 high-grade rainbow essence stones and a single soul.

"Fourth to Tenth rank will get 5000 high-grade rainbow essence stones and a chance to enter Chance Library. Chance Library is a unique library where you can get a random skill or combat art. Highest rank is EX rank skill or combat art."

"The rest of the participants will get high-grade essence stones according to their ranks."

Everyone became excited after hearing about the rewards.

"Arkhen and Sasha. Come here and draw your themes," Shirashi said as she started withdrawing lots from winners who finished the previous round fastest.