Death... and me

Roan was having a good time extracting the herbs' medicinal liquids to the point that he ignored everything else. That's to show how high the quality of the materials in the Alchemist Main Branch is.

'Old Worm told me that they cultivate most of their herbs here. Seems like they're very good at it too. It was the first time I used the Galova Leaves, but I still got a superb result on the first try. It was not only my Light and Dark Element, but the herb itself helped in the process.'

Roan was a rarity between the participants. Most of the participants focused on the herb they were best at. They kept extracting the medicinal liquid of those herbs time and time again, trying to get the best result possible. Still, a few of them were as confident as Roan, so they also took the opportunity to try other herbs afterward. Lita Xue and Cluhe Sol were good examples of it.

Time passed as more and more vials of medicinal liquids arrived on the stage. All of them were put in a queue so that they could be checked with the formation later. Eventually, the two hours were over.

"Enough! Any vial of medicinal liquid that appears from now on will not be accepted. Assistants, bring the ones that have been finished already."

In just a few minutes, a few more of those vials appeared on the stage.

Roan heard that but decided to ignore it. They would be analyzing the vials, which would take some time. He might as well work on a few more extractions since he didn't have time to try all the new herbs. Old Worm couldn't help but show a faint smile as he saw that.

'It's good that you know what's really important.'

He left Roan alone and then focused his attention on the stage. Waki also noticed that Roan wasn't paying attention. After all, Roan was one of the few that caught his attention. Still, he simply ignored that since it would make no difference.

"Every vial has the participant's name and number. We have prepared several analyzing formations in partnership with the Formations Guild. To see the results in real-time, just send your Spiritual Sense into the monitoring formations around the room."

"All of you sent several vials, but only the highest result will be considered. Suppose you perform better with a later Vial. In that case, your previous result will be deleted as the new one will be displayed. Obviously, it will be matched accordingly in the ranks. In case there's a draw, the results of your second or third best medicinal liquid will be used to determine who is better."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time. I want to see who will be in the top 100. Start!"

The assistants on the stage immediately began to work as they put the vials on the formations one by one. Because there were several rolls of shelves with vials, the first ones to be delivered ended up in the back of the queue. That being said, the last ones to arrive would be the first ones tested.

Immediately, everyone sent their Spiritual Senses into the monitoring formations mentioned by Waki. Old Worm, of course, did the same thing. Only Roan and a few others who were confident in their results continued to practice as if nothing was happening.

At first, the positions in the rank shifted nonstop. But after ten minutes, they finally began to stabilize.

-Cluhe Sol, Vermilion Rak: 82.53%-

-Salan Vinci, Ramulia Sun Flower: 79, 67%-

-Roan Larks, Southern Ice Ginseng: 78.96%-

-Manu Filaken, Wind Leaves: 78.65%-

-Lita Xue, Tantum Swamp Root: 77.73%-

-Jonaf Qerliot, Samal Region Uvra Flower...-

And just like that, the results kept coming. The variations were enormous as well. While the top 100 was all above 70%, the bottom 100 had results below 40%. Obviously, the base had most of the changes.

Still, none of the elders and spectators paid much attention to it. The best candidates had already finished their best herbs at the start of the competition. The results showing right now were the results they got from other types they weren't used at. Only by the end would the best products appear.

Still, the alchemists beside Old Worm were surprised with Roan.

"Fauk, your kid is doing quite well."

"Indeed. I never thought that Dark and Light ELement could be used for alchemy."

"Well, that's why Dead Fauk decided to take a disciple, no? He liked the kind of rarity his disciple brought to the field."

"That makes sense. Otherwise, it would be hard to catch Fauk's attention."

"By the way, what position you think he can take?"

Everyone was quite curious about Roan, so they kept bothering Old Worm with questions. Well, Old Worm kept ignoring them as always, much to their helplessness.

Around thirty minutes later, the average of the top 100 increased once again. Because the herbs provided for extraction were the same, herb names began to repeat as different results were achieved with other alchemists.

-Cluhe Sol, Ramulia Sun Flower: 84.73%-

-Lita Xue, Vulcan Lotus Seeds: 82.12%-

-Ilma Sasamil, Wind Leaves: 82.10%

-Salan Vinci, Midnight Algae: 81.78%-

-Roan Larks, Afrilo Cold Mucus: 80.86%-

-Manu Filaken...

Eventually, the batch of herbs made in the first 20 minutes of the exam began to be tested. Roan also just so happened to finish the extraction of another plant. Just as he was about to take another one, he received a Spiritual Sense Message from Old Worm.

'That's enough for now. The last results will appear, so you won't have enough time to finish the next extraction.'

Old Worm wasn't warning Roan about the results. With the numbers displayed so far, Roan would definitely be in the top 100. It's just that Roan would be called with other qualified alchemists to another place, so he would need to stop his extraction midway. Naturally, the herb would be wasted, and Old Worm didn't like to waste things.

Roan nodded as he looked at the results so far.

'Qalan Herb, huh? As I thought, this Cold Yin Plant was the best one among those I never tried before. It still gave me the 5th position. Still, it is far from the quality I achieved with Tavarian Stalk.'

It turned out that the only herb Roan had worked with before was the Tavarian Herb. The guild had purposely selected a few rare materials to see how the participants would deal with them. The situation wasn't much different for the other participants too.

Finally, the last batch of medicinal liquids was analyzed as the results began to appear one after another. Roan was almost the very first one to deliver his medicinal liquid, so his result would appear at the very end.

The first one of the favorites immediately caught everyone's attention as soon it appeared.

-Cluhe Sol, Midnight Algae: 91.73%-

"Oh! It's Elder Sulikan's disciple. As expected, that's an excellent result. He should have consolidated his 1st position with it."

"Indeed. Still, I'm curious about the others."

"Indeed. The best results always appear at the end."

Sure enough, someone ended up passing Cluhe.

-Avram Samikil, Xakron Green Sap: 92.12%-

"See? Using a herb that you know can make a huge difference."

"Avram wasn't even in the top 20 before. Now, he immediately shot up to the first position."

"We might get a few more surprises."

-Lita Xue, Ramulia Sun Flower 92.79%-

"And there we go. It's the girl from Zafril Country."

"The top 100 has a lot of the Capital's powers like the Subordinate Clans, Sasamil Imperial Family, and some other wealth and strong families. Still, there's a good amount of outsiders too."

"There is Fauk's boy as well. He came from outside. He is still in the 7th position even after the best medicinal liquids were processed."

Sure enough, the results of the only herb Roan had worked before appeared at the very end.

-Roan Larks, Tavarian Stalk: 94.82%-

In an instant, the entire room froze, just like what happened to Rean. Immediately, everyone focused their eyes on Roan and Old Worm.

However, Old Worm and Roan shook their heads in disappointment.

"Indeed. It's hard to achieve a good result when you aren't using your own tools."

Everyone almost vomited blood! Is that what you call a bad result? What kind of master and disciple is this? Are they trying to humiliate everyone else?