YM778.TV Chapter 52: Test Day
A strange sensation washed over Ethan as the piece of information in his head kept growing larger.
This sensation was not accompanied by the excruciating pain Ethan had been bracing himself for.
The process was much faster and smoother this time, and the resulting pain was reduced to a level that was bearable for Ethan.
Ethan could attribute this only to the fact that he was now two levels higher than the last time.
In a short time, the process finished, and Ethan could sense the new information in his head.
A recipe that, although it was level 1, could cost several tens if not hundreds of lower-grade spiritual points due to its high grade, was now in his hands.
Just the thought of such a thing lifted Ethan\'s mood.
"Haa, if only I could sell it, I wonder how much money I could make from it," he thought, somewhat comforted.
Indeed, if it weren\'t for the restrictions on the circulation of recipes, Ethan would not have hesitated to put his high-grade recipe up for sale.
These restrictions had been put in place by various alchemical organizations to limit the spread of alchemical knowledge.
In essence, exchanging a recipe in one or two transactions was not a problem as long as it passed the alchemical pavilion\'s scrutiny, but selling in large quantities was severely prohibited.
This was understandable, as it would jeopardize the fragile balance maintained by the various powers.
Just the dissemination of a high-level recipe into the wrong hands could cause immense chaos.
In the past, there was a rogue alchemist who decided to spread his knowledge of several pills, many of which were forbidden.
This led to the spread of many diseases and plagues caused by the effects of some of these pills and the improper creations by some alchemists who had attempted to stretch their capabilities beyond their limits.
The number of victims from this incident was not insignificant, and eventually, all the alchemical associations decided to collaborate to suppress this alchemist and impose various types of restrictions on recipes and their circulation.
Ethan could only shake his head at this.
Although he understood the necessity of these restrictions, he couldn\'t help but think about how much money he could make by selling them.
Now that he had elevated the recipe to a high grade, Ethan wondered how his shop screen had changed.
He wondered if the shop would now sell him the level 2 recipe for this pill.
Driven by this thought, he opened the system screen and navigated to the shop section.
In the second following the opening of the shop screen, Ethan looked at it to see if there were any changes.
[----------------------------------
[Basic Recovery Pill Recipe]
Level: 1
Grade: High
Description: A pill capable of restoring fatigue after intense physical exertion and accelerating the healing of minor superficial wounds.
The purity of this pill cannot exceed 75%.
[Upgrade] (1000 Sp)
-----------------------------------]
Seeing that the [Upgrade] button was still there, Ethan couldn\'t help but feel a bit excited.
Filled with anticipation, he wanted to press the button immediately to see what would happen next, but he remembered that he didn\'t have enough system points.
"Tch, I\'m poor even in the system," he said sarcastically to himself.
He eventually shook his head and let out a slight sigh as he closed the system screen.
"At least now I know that the shop allows for further upgrading of a pill even after it has reached the high grade," he said dejectedly.
Now, he was almost certain that the system could indeed allow users to upgrade their pill recipes.
He wasn\'t entirely sure, but if it wasn\'t that, what else could it be?
Ethan was now looking forward to earning enough points to perform the upgrade.
This was because if the recipe could indeed be upgraded, Ethan would not need to hunt for higher-grade recipes in the future. It would be enough to find the lower-grade version and level it up with the help of the system.
Thinking this way, he placed the pills he had just created into glass vials.
Each vial could hold a maximum of 5 pills.
These vials were a bit special.
On the cork of each vial was a small symbol.
This symbol was a rune of ..., and it ensured that the contents inside the vial remained sealed, preventing the medicinal properties of the pills from escaping and thus causing the pills to lose some of their effects.
Ethan used to use ordinary glass vials, but now that he was in business with Da Shu, he couldn\'t afford to have the quality of his products compromised. Therefore, he had Da Shu provide him with these runes.
And so the last days before the test passed, and finally, the much-anticipated day arrived.
Ethan, who had just arrived at the pavilion, made his way towards the entrance and headed straight for the test hall.
This hall was the same as last time, with the exception that the arrangement of the various stations had changed.
The large hall no longer had rows of tables as it did last time but rather small stations with a series of materials on top.
On the sides of these stations were medium-sized cauldrons, no more than half a meter tall.
Ethan observed and entered the hall, finding the station with his number.
Once he found it, he approached and stood there in silence, like the others.
Looking around, Ethan noticed that, unlike last time, the number of people who had come to take the test was significantly lower than before. In fact, the number did not exceed one-third of the participants from the previous test.
Ethan was not surprised by this.
It was well known that becoming an alchemist apprentice was much more difficult than becoming an adept.
This was because to become an adept, one had to study and understand the basic knowledge of alchemy, which almost anyone could do with some effort.
The same could not be said for refinement.
There was a reason why everyone considered the apprentice level as the first real step in the alchemy journey.
To refine a pill, one needed not only basic alchemical knowledge but also technique and a bit of talent.
Technique was not acquired overnight but was gained through a considerable amount of time spent refining and failing, learning from one\'s mistakes.
Certainly, this rule did not apply to everyone, but in general, everyone had to go through this process.
Some learned quickly, while others never mastered the technique in their entire lives.
As alchemists advanced in grade, they not only increased their alchemical knowledge but also continued to perfect their refining skills.
This was the basic pathway, which was the same for everyone, with minor variations depending on who you spoke to.
There was only one exception to this rule, and that was Ethan, who, thanks to the aid of the Seven Sages\' Amphora, skipped these steps one after another with little effort.
If people knew how quickly he was becoming skilled, they would probably have kidnapped him and made him spill everything.
----------------------------
FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:
Here\'s today\'s chapter; I hope you enjoyed it.
As usual, if you have any questions, comments, or errors to report, you know where to do so.
See you tomorrow with a new chapter.