Death... and me

Back at the Alchemist Guild Main Branch...

Most of the tables in Roan's hall had already been filled. With a few exceptions like himself, most alchemists seemed to be around their late teens. However, Roan could see some who looked to be around his age. As for those who appeared to be older, that's probably only their appearance.

Finally, the door of the hall closed, which indicated that the exam wouldn't accept any more participants. Following that, a Spiritual Sense Message reached everyone present.

"The Alchemist Exam will now begin. From now on, you are prohibited from leaving your workstations. As mentioned in the rules, no personal tools are accepted. You will have to do with what you have on your table."

Suddenly, another door opened at the front of the Hall as an old man using the Alchemist Guild Main Branch badge came out. Behind him, several other alchemists using the same badge followed.

While the old man went up to the stage, the alchemists that came behind spread around the Hall in an orderly manner. One of them stopped just a few tens of meters from Roan. Everyone knew that those guys were there to prevent cheating.

After that, they all paid attention to the man on the stage. He seemed to be talking with a few of the alchemists there at the moment.

"It's Elder Waki Tou!"

"He's a Heaven High-Level Alchemist."

"We're quite unlucky. His exams are usually the most strict."

"Hmph! So what? This is just the starting phase."

"Correct. If you can't even pass this level, do you think you would have a chance for the ten slots?"

"If anything, it's good that the majority will fall here already."

"Still, you better be ready. Elder Waki doesn't like to approve many people at once. The ones who pass through his exams are usually a lot fewer than the other supervisors' tests."

Eventually, Waki seemed to finish his talk with the other alchemists. He then approached the stage front as he looked at all the young alchemists present.

"Welcome to the Alchemist Guild Exam. As you know, two exams are going on at the moment. The first one has a lot fewer participants, which is the one targeted at older alchemists. And there is the exam you all are taking now, the new talents exam."

"The requirements for this exam are simple. Be under the age of 20 and be recognized by the Alchemist Guild as a full-fledged alchemist."

When Roan reached the Earth Low-Level Alchemist rank, he was registered in the Alchemist Hall of the Dalamu Sect, which was then informed to the Alchemist Guild itself. Rean went through the same process for his Blacksmith and Formation Master side occupations. Even though they weren't part of the main branches in the capital, they were still recognized by the guilds as true members.

"You all heard the rules already, so I won't repeat them anymore. Just remember that anyone who breaks them will be expelled from the guild forever, so be careful."

"Alright, let's start with the first part of the exam, the medicinal extraction exam. As you all know, this is one of the very first steps when concocting pills. It's not just about bringing out the medicinal properties of the materials. You need to be sure that the quality of the medicine will not be lost in the process."

"There are many ways of doing it. Some like to use boiling methods. Others prefer to use pestle and mortars, a few choose to inject Spiritual Energy inside to force the medicinal liquid out, etc... I will not tell you to use a specific method since everyone has their own preferences. All that matters here is the quality of the medicinal liquid that you get."

Waki continued.

"That will be the first part of the exam. At the moment, there are 4981 alchemists in this hall alone. Usually, the guild asks to pass the first 300 into the second phase. However, I don't see any use in those below the top 100. That being said, only the best 100 medicinal extractions will go to the next phase."

Everyone couldn't help but become a bit nervous. Sure enough, Waki made it a lot more difficult for them.

"Once you finish extracting the medicinal liquids, put them inside the vials on your table. The assistants will come and bring it to the stage where the quality will be tested through a formation."

[Roan, different from Rean and the Formations Guild, I did not have the chance to analyze the formations of this place. I doubt I will be over in time to help you with that formation he talked about.]

'It's okay.'

"If you look into the right drawer of your table, you will see that we prepared a few herbs for you there. They are all of the same age and quality. You can select any of them to use in the extraction process. If you want to try several different ones, go ahead and do it. As long as you get a medicinal quality that you deem as best, I don't care which one you use."

"Alright, you all have two hours to go through the extraction process. After the two hours are over, no more medicinal liquids will be accepted. The exam starts now!"

On the sides, there were quite a number of alchemists that came only to watch. Most of them were the masters of these young alchemists. Old Worm, of course, was there as well to watch Roan.

Beside him, there were a few other alchemists from the Main Branch, just like him. Obviously, they were a lot fewer compared to the alchemists who came from outside. One of them just so happened to be the guy who registered Roan, Selio Mutban. 

"Hey everyone, look who's back. Fauk finally appeared again."

Immediately, a few eyes were attracted to Old Worm.

"Oh! Fauk, you came to watch the exam? You rarely come to pay a visit."

"That's true. You are one of our oldest members, but you seldom come out. How come you're here this time?"

"Hahaha! You might not believe this, but Fauk seems to have gotten a disciple."

"What? The Dead Fauk got a disciple? You're kidding, right?"

Sure enough, Old Worm's reputation of having no emotions was not something from Dalamu alone.

Old Worm massaged his temples as he sighed. That's why he didn't like to come. These guys were just too noisy.

"Tell me, tell me! Who's his disciple?"

Selio then pointed in Roan's direction in the distance.

"Can you see the black-haired boy there on the twentieth row?"

Everyone focused their Spiritual Senses and quickly found who Selio was talking about.

"Oh, he seems to be quite young, no? He's what? 15, 16?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm more curious what kind of boy would catch Dead Fauk's interest. You've never brought a disciple before."

"Hey, Fauk. Your disciple seems pretty calm. Is he really good?"

"Well, Dead Fauk took him in, right? He must be quite above average to catch Fauk's interest."

Fauk knew that they weren't really trying to offend him. Deak Fauk had basically become his nickname here, that's all.

Old Worm sighed before glancing at everyone. 

"He's good."

Well, that was all he said, much to everyone's disappointment.