Chapter 458: A Head Start

Supreme Pill Forging Guild Branch.

Yi Chen, along with the sixty-five other disciples who had cleared the written examination, was guided into the Testing Hall by the invigilators ten minutes later, after the invigilators had personally confirmed each of their identities.

"Whoa... It feels like I’m in a totally different hall altogether," Yi Chen muttered, surprise evident the moment he entered the Testing Hall.

It was the same vast hall, but unlike before, all the seats had been removed, and instead, on both the left and right sides, lines of cauldrons stretching all the way to the end of the hall could be seen.

There were thirty-three cauldrons on each side, each accompanied by two large tables that had all the necessary processing equipment neatly arranged on top of them.

"Sweet!" Yi Chen exclaimed inwardly the moment his eyes fell on the pill-refining setups, each of which would be assigned to a candidate for the second test.

It wasn’t just him. A similar glimmer was also evident on the faces of all candidates as they couldn’t help but share this delight with one another.

"This set-up... it’s so great!"

"I just love it!"

"Hmph! Newbies... Though they’re not wrong."

"Won’t my pill refining go seamlessly with such a set-up?"

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Following the invigilator all the way to the end of the hall, the sixty-six of them soon arrived right in front of the raised teaching platform.

In front of them all, Elder Tao’s figure was sitting behind a table with a serious expression on his face all along.

Seeing that they had all gathered at the spot, Elder Tao subtly nodded at all of them and said, "First of all, congratulations on making it to the second stage. Only a few manage to make it to the second stage, and your having made it this far is clear evidence that you’ve worked hard to improve your theoretical understanding. However..."

Elder Tao paused as his expression turned grave the very next moment. "...But this alone isn’t enough for you to qualify as a Pill Apprentice, which brings me to your second test.

In this test, we’ll be testing your ability to successfully refine a mortal pill for us to judge. You’ll be given three hours at most to refine a mortal pill as per your wishes, and it can be of any grade you want, as it doesn’t matter.

What matters is whether the efficacy of the pill which you’ve refined crosses the minimum threshold of 30% or not, as only those who are able to breach this threshold will be clearing this second test.

So, make sure to give your best and refine the best possible pill you can with your current abilities, is this much clear?"

Elder Tao asked as his eyes scanned all sixty-six of them before landing back on Yi Chen’s.

"Yes, Elder Tao!"

Yi Chen, just like the rest, answered energetically the very next moment.

"Good." Elder Tao nodded at the collective response the very next moment and continued, "As most of you would already be aware, for the second test we discourage bringing personally bought ingredients for fairness purposes. Therefore, please submit your storage rings and pouches to the invigilator next to me."

Hearing those words, the candidates went forward one by one and handed their storage rings and pouches to the invigilator standing beside the table. After placing their storage items inside a wooden box, the invigilator handed each candidate a numbered token.

The entire process took a few minutes. Once it was complete, Elder Tao cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention and gestured towards a door on his right.

It was the door that had remained shut throughout the first test, so seeing that action sparked curiosity on many faces.

"That room over there is the Ingredient Room. We’ve created it with this test in mind, so you can rest assured that you’ll be able to find whatever ingredients you need for your pill over there.

Once the test starts, you’ll be rushing inside that room to collect all the herbs, raw ingredients and solution that you’ll need for your pill. Once you’ve collected them, rush back here and begin refining your pill at any available workstation. Is everything clear?"

"Yes!"

"Then, your time starts...NOW!" Elder Tao declared the very next moment, and the moment he did so, all the candidates scurried towards the Ingredient Room like moths to a flame.

’Well, they never said we couldn’t use our martial techniques, did they?’

With that thought, Yi Chen instantly used his Bursting Fire Steps to take the lead and rushed towards the door.

"What?!"

"Isn’t that cheating?"

"We can do that?"

Many candidates immediately turned questioning gazes towards the invigilators, who let their silence do the talking instead of responding.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen pushed open the ingredient room’s door the very next moment, rushing straight inside.

"So big..."

Yi Chen’s eyes widened the moment he looked at the vast room that was completely lit in white light. Tens of dozens of crates filled with miscellaneous ingredients were lined along the room’s sides, neatly labelled in alphabetical order.

Meanwhile, several rows of metallic racks filled with commonly used ingredients were lined from one end of the room to the other.

’Luckily they are properly labelled...’

With those thoughts in mind, Yi Chen instantly grabbed hold of a basket from the side and, without losing sight of his goal, started collecting the required ingredients as fast as possible, before the entire place was swarming with other candidates.

"Yellow Stone’s extract...there!"

"Crane’s feathers...collected!"

"There’s the Violet Toad’s Skin Oil!"

One after another, he kept collecting the ingredients as his entire basket was soon filled with all the necessary ingredients that were required.

’Let’s go then!’ he muttered after collecting the very last ingredient before rushing his way out of the room, as time was of the essence.

’Oh? He’s the first one?’ Elder Tao watched with interest as Yi Chen rushed to a workstation and immediately began the pre-refinement procedures.

By the time Yi Chen had finished setting up his fire, he saw a few more candidates rushing out of the room and taking their spots.

However, paying no heed to them, he finally grabbed his first set of ingredients and started processing them with utmost seriousness in his eyes.

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