Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The number of people who had already dropped out was surprisingly a lot. No one had expected to lose over 8000 this early on.

“Of the ones that have returned, 523 of you have already passed the first competition, so I suggest the rest of you speed up if you want to be in the top 10 thousand who go on to the final tournament.”

The Alchemy God then pulled out a small talisman, holding it tightly. “Now, for the 3rd Competition, it is going to be a Quantity Test. We are going to see how many pills you can make in a short period of time.”

Alex’s eyebrows raised.

“You will each be given half an hour to make as many pills as you can. We have many ingredients gathered for this tournament, so you don’t have to worry about using any. When the staff come around, tell them the pills you will want to make and they will give you the ingredients necessary.”

“Each pill must have over 80% harmony to be considered a success. If it is any lesser, it won’t count.”

“Each pill in our list will have a point associated with it. You will be given 10 times those points for each pill you make. For every other duplicate pill, you will get 1 less times the pills.”

“So if the pill gave you 12 points. The first pill will give you 120 points. The second will give you 108 points, the third 96 points, and so on until you have made the 10th pill which gives you 12 points only. There won’t be any more point than that from the same pill, So, once you have made 10 of the same pill, I suggest making another pill.”

“In addition, should you call upon the Pill Cloud, you will receive an additional 100 points per pill vein.”

The Alchemy God waited for a beat, letting everyone take in the context of the next competition. Soft murmurs spread through the crowd as everyone got excited for the next competition, many even beginning to think of all the pills they could make.

The Alchemy God waited just long enough before giving them the obstacle in the competition.

“However, that is not the end,” the Alchemy God said. “When you will be requesting for ingredients, you will only be allowed to request for an exact number.”

“And if by the end of the competition, you end up not making those into pills or don’t reach 80% with them, those points will instead be deducted from your final points, each unmade pill taking away 100 points. So make sure you do not make the mistake of requesting too many.”

“There are no major rules this time around. Everyone will be under constant surveillance to make sure you don’t cheat, and your storage bags will be locked away before you enter. You will still be wearing that medallion as well.”

“The competition will start in 2 days exactly, starting in an ascending order based on the number you were all given.”

“Every day, a thousand different people will take on the contest, and those with later numbers will have to wait for much longer. Those who complete earlier can move on to their other competition, but those who have to wait will have the chance to make amends to their request and have the time to think. So more or less, it is all fair in the end.”

“Make as many pills as you can within the 30 minutes and if luck is with you all, you will pass.”

The Alchemy God disappeared from the room, and he was immediately ignored by the people as they began thinking about the next competition, mulling over what they were going to do.

Alex was happy for one to know what the next test was going to be. He had practiced for this, so he was ready for this. Now, he only wondered if he should call upon the pill clouds or not. The reason for Pill Clouds giving points was simple to him. It was not because the pill clouds made the pills better, but rather because of the risk that came with it.

If the pill lightnings were fought off, one could get extra points. But if they couldn’t be fought back against, the whole cauldron full of pills would be destroyed.

‘That’s not all,’ Alex thought. ‘Pill clouds take time to come down. That is precious time wasted that could be spent making pills.’

It was surprising how many little things had to be considered before deciding what pills they could make. The list still wasn’t here so he decided to wait until the pills were there.

Alex knew his number. 15403. Which meant he was going to take part on the 15th day. That would be in 17 days counting today as well. ‘A 3-month long competition and I go up on the first half of the first month,’ he thought. That was a lousy deal.

It was better if he got to go toward the latter when he knew what sort of people he was up against. Now, he needed to work his darn hardest to get as many points as he could so that the people who came 2 and a half months after him didn’t make as many.

’30 minutes,’ Alex thought. ‘I won’t have much time to make a lot of pills.’ Supposing he made 10 of the same pills because it could all be done in a single cauldron at once without much headache, how many of those could be made in just 30 minutes?

‘No, pill clouds are out of the question,’ Alex immediately decided. There was no way he was going to be able to handle pill clouds while making pills. He needed to do things quickly, one after another without waiting for something like a pill cloud. Every second wasted was one less pill made.

‘Now, I just need to see the list of pills and how many points I can get through them before I decide on what I want to make.’