Chapter 187: An Unusual Request

.Unlike the one-on-one matches held so far, the final match would be more of a battle royale.

This last round would determine the first place, while the remaining four would compete in subsequent one-on-one duels to decide the rankings from second place onward.

With a fifth participant, it was too complicated to proceed solely with one-on-one matches, so they'd opted for this solution.

Naturally, they could have foreseen this situation earlier, but for reasons unknown to Ethan, no measures had ever been taken regarding it.

That said, he didn't particularly mind.

Whether it was a solo challenge or a group battle, he was confident of his victory.

The gray-bearded judge stepped forward to announce the final competition rules.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached the last day of this year's Imperial Alchemy Tournament, and just as in previous years, the rules will remain the same.

The base requirement for pills remains as it was in the previous rounds:

pills must be high-grade level-2 with a purity above 85%.

The minimum quantity will be raised to five pills.

The maximum time for completion is 3 hours, just like the tournament's initial rounds, and 1 hour and 30 minutes for ranking matches following the first round.

"There's no need to remind you that any trickery or attempts to cheat will be immediately detected, and the person in question will be disqualified.

Likewise, there's no need to list every rule, at this stage, they should be well-known to you all.

"Each of you, having reached this stage of the tournament, has proven your skill several times over, so reciting the rules here is hardly necessary.

However, allow this old man to tell you one thing," he said, turning to the ten finalists.

"Regardless of the outcome of this match, each of you will have the chance to make one request of us judges, and as long as it's reasonable, we won't refuse to fulfill it.

You're all more than qualified to be the future pillars of alchemy, and as such, it's only right that each of you is granted this recognition.

"Normally, this privilege would be reserved for the first-place winner, but this year, we judges have chosen to make an exception and grant this opportunity to all of you," he concluded, wrapping up his opening address for the final match.

Winning the Imperial Tournament carried various benefits, from reputation to privileges granted by the Alchemy Association, and more.

One of these was the opportunity to make a request of the attending master alchemists, who would fulfill it as long as it wasn't excessive or beyond their abilities.

This was less enticing to the second-category participants, as they were mostly at or near the level of a master alchemist themselves, if they hadn't already reached it, as was the case for some in this year's tournament.

For them, such perks were simply a bonus.

Many of them already had high-ranking alchemists assisting them, so half of the offered benefits were redundant.

To fulfill a request for them would involve not only the judges but also a grandmaster alchemist.

Among the few grandmasters, at least two were members of the Alchemy Association of the Long Empire, the most prestigious alchemical institution in the empire.

For participants, the chance to interact with such figures was enough of a prize, even more so to make a request of them.

Many in the second category who were eligible to participate in the tournament were already at master alchemist level and chose to compete solely for this privilege.

Everything else was just an added bonus.

With that, the judge finished speaking and stepped back, leaving the participants to take their places in the two areas prepared for them.

The two platforms set up for each category were spacious enough to hold over a hundred people each, so there was more than enough room for each contestant to refine their pills without being distracted or hindered by others.

Additionally, the five stations were already set up, so they only had to reach their stations and wait for the match to begin. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

As Ethan arrived at his station, he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the events of that morning.

In the lobby of the building where they were staying, he had been approached by Xiang Hua.

Ethan hadn't understood why she'd come up to him, but he found out soon enough.

"So, you want me to go all out?" he murmured now at his station.

In short, she'd asked if he'd been giving his best in the tournament, a question to which Ethan, for a moment, wasn't sure how to respond.

It had come so suddenly, but in the end, he decided to be honest and shook his head.

He was curious about what might be running through her mind.

Ever since they'd met, she seemed to fixate on him in some way.

Not directly, but in one way or another, she always ended up with a bad impression of him, first as a disciple of her sect master and then as the masked alchemist.

Ethan was certain that girls in this world had a few screws loose, but he didn't dare say it aloud, or else he'd end up being pummeled by Bai Yu during training.

Previously, their battles were all in his mind, and he could heal himself with a thought.

But since he advanced to the fifth stage and she regained enough freedom to return to a physical form and a portion of her cultivation, their sparring sessions took place in the real world.

He could only count the times she had knocked him out during their 25 years of secluded cultivation.

In the end, the reason Xiang Hua had approached him was to ask him to go all out in the first match.

The problem was that she'd made her request and left without waiting for him to ask any follow-up questions.

Ethan wasn't entirely sure how to interpret it.

He had no intention of going all out since, in this tournament, and probably this entire plane of existence, there was no one capable of matching him in alchemy.

He knew that doing so would only bring more trouble, which for him translated to pointless hassles.

That being said…

"Well, I can at least try a little harder than I have so far," he muttered.

Bai Yu, currently using the part of her spirit left in Ethan's consciousness, saw his smile and realized he had something mischievous in mind.

'I just hope he doesn't bully her too much,' she thought, shaking her head at Ethan's behavior.

She knew that while he was calm most of the time, he didn't hold back when something piqued his interest.

She was sure his intention was to teach Xiang Hua a lesson, though he would almost certainly deny it if asked.