Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 256: First Competition

The explanation for the pill was hung up behind the woman in front of them.

-The pill increases the muscle density of the human body by a certain percentage above 10% and below 25%. It increases the strength of someone's physical body by just that amount. However, it does not increase the bone's rigidity, so there are chances of breaking the bones due to high strength.-

That was all that was written in the text. With the sight, smell, and information floating in front of them, everyone got into thinking about the potential ingredients that might be in the pills.

"Woah, I don't think I could figure out a single ingredient if I were in this competition," Alex said.

"Yes, until you start making your own pill and testing them, it is hard to understand what ingredients are responsible for what in a pill."

"Once you are used to it to an expert level, you can even start tailoring pills to meet your requirements. However, not many people can reach that level. I am still far off from that. The only one aside from hidden experts that can do this is the Royal Alchemist," Ma Rong said.

Time slowly passed as Wan Li, Fan Ruogang and the rest started to insert their answers into the talisman. Wan Li found specs of minuscule red dots at some places in the pills when he looked closely.

"Hell Chery pits?" He wondered as he went in for a sniff. Yes, this was exactly what it smelled like. So, he quickly jots down the answer.

Fan Ruogang read the muscle density increasing part and thought of Red-eyed Stork tendons. There was no visual or Olfactory aspect of it to the pill, but it rarely did. So, Fan Ruogang put that in as well.

Similarly, everyone else used their own experience to figure out answers.

Soon, 15 minutes passed, and most people had put in what they believed were the answers.

"We will now show the effects of the pill on the pill swine," the woman said and brought forth the pill swine that was brought to the front of everybody.

The footage of whatever happening was all floating in giant panels in the air and the entire audience could see it.

The woman took the pill and fed it to the pill swine. From Alex's perspective, a pill swine looked no different from a normal swine, so he was curious why the pills worked for them.

Once the woman fed the pill, the swine started to fidget a little, and soon people could see well-defined muscular figures appear on the swine's body beneath its skin.

The participants quickly looked at the information they could gather from this event, aside from what was already told in the explanation.

The swine fidgeting, its muscle getting stronger from the feet up, its eyes turning slightly red, the amount of time taken for the change to happen, the slight increase in temperature and heartbeat they could tell from all the way back where they sat, Everything gave them the exact information they were looking for.

The group started to quickly answer the questions, and by 20 minutes mark, most of them had already handed their answer.

Getting a wrong answer deducted points, so many didn't want to take the chances and stuck with what they had written. Soon, the competition was over.

The group stayed where they were as they waited for the competition holders to tally the result.

"The result is ready. You all did well, and some exceptionally well. The pill had exactly 17 ingredients, you people, in total, managed to figure out all of them," the woman said.

"As for the result, we will now announce the top 3. The top 3 people who successfully answered the most ingredients, starting with the 3rd place is…"

"Wan Li, from Hong Wu sect, who managed to get exactly 28 points."

Wan Li's face drooped in slight disappointment when he heard that he was in third place.

"In the second place is… Fan Ruogang, from Hong Wu sect as well, managed to get exactly 29 points."

Fan Ruogang's eyes opened wide when she learned that she was in 2nd place.

"As for the first place, it is none other than, Huang Fu from Royal Fu Academy, who scored exactly 31 points. The rest of the results are on the board," the woman said as a ranking screen appeared behind her.

"Huang Fu, is that supposed to be someone famous?" Alex asked.

"Yes, he is the Royal Alchemist's direct disciple. Considering that he got 31 points, he must've made a mistake on the final ingredient. What terrifying talent to know that there were exactly 17 ingredients in the pill," Ma Rong said.

Alex wished he could be that great of an alchemist soon. It seemed he had to forget about everything else and focus solely on cultivating and making pills now.

After returning back to the sect, he doubted he would have anything else to do, so he would have a lot of time.

'Oh, I will have to go back to the tiger sect as well. That's gonna cause a lot of problems,' Alex thought.

He was a little worried about that. Wan Li and Fan Ruogang returned back to the seating area.

"I'm sorry sect leader, I couldn't do better," Wan Li said in a sad tone.

"Are you kidding me? You only got 1 less correct than me, and I'm used to playing such games. Why do you keep talking down on yourself? She said as she patted his back a little too strongly.

"She is correct. You did well, far better than I would have expected honestly. Come and sit now, the rest of the competition is continuing," Ma Rong said.