Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex watched as the Alchemy God left after explaining everything. In his stead came many other Divinities who were going to check the fairness of the match.

A young man arrived next to him at that moment, handed him a small storage bag, and introduced himself. “I am Ji Hanmi. I will be your assistant today, Alchemist Dawnblade,” he said.

Alex nodded softly and looked inside the storage bag. There were 3 dozen ingredients for 3 pills. Alex looked through them to see what they were.

The names came to him one after another as he sorted through the bag.

Heaven Reaver Pine leaves

Soul Asper Flower Poisonous Storm Tyrant Root Bronze Tail Fire Fruit

Maroon Ash plant stem Five-Eyed Snake Scales Silver Cherry Vine Golden Sun Beans Indigo Mullflower Fruit Sky Dream Rose Petals Red Carnelian Poison Thorns Long Granite Song tree barks

12 ingredients in total, each of which he was going to have to replace.

Alex was confused for just a moment, wondering why he was being allowed to inspect the storage bag before the competition even officially started. That was when he realized that the bag was missing the recipe. Without knowing what he was going to make, replacing any ingredients on its own would be difficult.

“Where is the recipe, Brother Ji?” Alex asked.

“It will be provided in a minute once the seniors confirm that we are ready to start the tournament,” the young assistant replied.

Alex nodded softly and looked into his bag again. Even without the recipe, he could already think of alternatives for a few of the ingredients.

These ingredients were just that obvious, after all. But perhaps, that was the point. ‘I can’t go for the obvious ones, right?’ he thought. Any idea he was getting before the competition even started would be detrimental to him in the end as everyone else would have the same ideas.

‘But it will make me fast,’ he thought.

He wondered what he should focus on more. Should he try and get the highest ranking as fast as he could? Or should he try and make the pills with more unique ingredients? The more unique he was, the more points he would gain, after all.

‘What do I really need?’ Alex thought. ‘Rank or points?’

He could certainly go for a lot of points with great and unique ingredients chosen as replacements during the time. But he decided that the safer choice here was to do things fast.

Points didn’t matter to him since points only took you to the final competition. With all he had done, he had enough points now. What he needed was the next pin.

With the pin, he should have double the advantage as any other individual, giving him a greater chance at victory. Solemnly, Alex decided to put his pride aside and work for the pin. His master deserved that.

‘5 ingredients at first,’ he thought, already deciding on 3 of what those would most likely have to be. For the other 2, he would need to see the recipe.

“Brother Ji, when I request ingredients, how many will I receive?” Alex asked.

The young man gave him a curious look. “5, I suppose. That is the maximum,” he said.

“No, I mean unique ones. If I were to request 5 different ingredients, would I receive one of each or 5 of each?” he asked.

“One of each. It’s 5 in total regardless of how many you want,” the assistant explained.

Alex nodded. That made things a slightly annoying, but he could work with it. He thought of how he was going to do this when he heard a distant voice instructing everyone to prepare.

Alex got alert and waited for them to pass along the recipe. Only, they didn’t.

“The competition will begin once you see the recipe in 1 minute,” the Divinity spoke, and suddenly a massive panel appeared in the sky, facing down toward the contestants.

They all craned their necks upward to see the large timer that was on it, which began counting down from 1 minute. Everyone sat patiently, including the staff and audience, as they waited for the timer to reach 0.

The moment it reached 0, the timer started counting upward, and right below it came a massive block of text that was the recipe for the pill they were going to make.

Alex looked away from the recipe and toward his assistant. “I need 2 Blue Light Agar Tree flowers, 2 sets of 3 Ocean Heart Lily leaves, and 1 handspan of Rockleaf Bamboo stalk.”

The young man blinked in surprise at the sudden request, and it took him a moment to process what he had asked for. He quickly counted what Alex had asked for, making sure there were only 5. He then pulled out a medallion and transferred the request for the ingredients.

“I will be back swiftly,” he said and left.

Alex sighed somewhat in relief. He had worried that the 3 Ocean Heart Lily leaves, that were the alternative to the Five-Eyed Snake Scales —both with a heavy water element— would count as 3 ingredients instead of 1. Thankfully, it did count as a single ingredient.

Once the young man left, Alex began heating up Memory. The cauldron came to life in Alex’s senses, the thoughts now more distinct than ever before.

An impression of a question came from the cauldron, seemingly asking whether they were making pills or feeding it. “You can eat this one, but don’t eat the other ones unless I tell you to,” he said and began making the pills.

Following the recipe that hovered in the sky, Alex began placing the ingredients in one by one. First went the pine leaves, then the Soul Asper Flower, followed by the poisonous root.

Alex was familiar with these ingredients, so what he was trying to figure out was how they mixed together and, hopefully, what they did. That information had been conveniently omitted from this recipe.

His first task was clear: make the pill and familiarize himself with all its aspects. Only then could he replace the ingredients effectively.