Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

2500 alchemists of the Medicine World, all of them in the Immortal realm or lower, had now gathered around the remaining 499 contestants.

The Medicine World was the place where alchemists always went to hone their craft. It was, without a doubt, home to the most talented alchemists in the entire world.

And yet, because those from the Medicine World had not been allowed to take part in the contests, most had forgotten about them.

Alex had to acknowledge that he had forgotten he hadn’t yet met the greatest talents of the younger generation within this realm. He knew a few names in Silvermist’s Court who were apparently quite great, but he had no context for how good they were. He hadn’t even met them face-to-face, let alone watched them make a pill.

He had no frame of reference to compare himself to someone from the Medicine World.

Perhaps, this would be a good opportunity.

“We have 500 Saint realm alchemists and 2000 Immortal realm alchemists. And let me point out to you the fact that within these people are at least 500 Prime Alchemists, or what you may refer to as Level 10 alchemists in many of the other realms.”

Alex could hear gasps from all around him. While his senses were still blocked, he could hear the noise coming from all directions. Many people seemed surprised to hear how many Prime Alchemists there were.

Prime Alchemists weren’t just anyone who could cause Pill Clouds to form. One needed to be able to do so reliably enough to earn the title.

In the Blue Silk Sect, he had learned that if one could summon the lightning at least once a month, they would be awarded the title of Prime Alchemist. In the Medicine World, things were stricter.

Instead of once every month, one had to be able to do it once every week. If one could achieve this with a normal workflow of making a few pills every day, they would be awarded this title.

With such stringent requirements, it was no doubt quite the feat that over 500 of those present were Prime Alchemists. Alex wondered how many of the original 90,000 participants had the capacity to reach what these people had.

It was no easy task to summon the Pill Clouds, after all. Not everyone was like Alex.

The Alchemy God seemed to be taking his time watching the people react to that information before dropping another piece of news.

“What I say is important and relevant because the number of times you summon the Pill Clouds will also be very important to your overall scores.”

He glanced around as people began realizing that this competition was going to be a little more intense.

“As I mentioned before, I have more rules to tell you, and that I shall. To reiterate, you must replace the ingredients of the pill recipe I will be providing you with very soon.”

“Replacing six of the twelve ingredients is what you must do. Replacing the rest is your choice.”

“The first one to reach the six ingredients will be considered the winner of this competition, but winning that alone won’t necessarily get you the most points, so make sure to do the best you can.”

“The ones you see around you, the 2500 alchemists I have brought here, will also be competing in the same task. Their job is to do so well that you end up ranking lower than them.”

“They will be actively trying their best to beat you all in this competition. And believe me, they will be trying their best, for I have given them the greatest motivation they could require.”

He paused, waiting for all to focus on the next words he said.

“They will all receive points the same as the rest of you, and if, with only those points, they manage to reach the top 100 after the next competition, these alchemists will also take part in the final competition.”

The words were no doubt meant to rouse the competing alchemists, and they did.

‘They’re taking part?’ Alex thought. He could hear the gasps that carried the people’s shock, and whispers that carried their questions. He quickly ignored them and reviewed what the Alchemy God had just said.

After going through it, he was shocked to realize a truth hidden openly in the Alchemy God’s words. He had more or less openly stated that the number of points possible to earn from this single competition was so high that the other tournaments might as well not have mattered.

‘No, he wouldn’t do that,’ Alex thought. ‘There should be a small number of people who can bridge that gap. The tournament would fail if everyone here was potentially replaced.’

That meant that while these newcomers could earn points, the ones who performed best could more or less remain without worry.

“Of course,” the Alchemy God added, “even if they did join, they will not replace any of you. They will simply be an addition. 100 of you will have a guaranteed spot in the final competition. Even if one of these new alchemists surpasses you in our internal ranks, you will not be removed from the competition.”

That seemed to quell a lot of the doubts and fears brewing in many minds.

“Since that has been explained, let me go on to the rest of the rules,” the Alchemy God said and continued. “Since you will be replacing individual ingredients, you must make a pill with each swapped ingredient, adding one every time.”

“We will test your pill to see if it counts or not by testing how it fares against the original pill recipe. Should it count, you’ll be required to improve the recipe until you can create a 90% harmony pill with it. Once you complete that, you may finally move on.”

“Those are the simple rules you will have to remember,” the Alchemy God said. “Now then, let me explain how you may gain points.”