101 Fool (2/2)
3…
2…
”Time's up…”
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
An ear-splitting explosion occured, the whole room fiercely shook from the aftermath. The desk was in a mess, papers are scattered everywhere, the room was dirtied with black grime from the explosion and the only spot that was left untouched was Raven and Jacob since he placed a barrier to protect both of them.
As for the previously 'oh-so-confident' old man, he could now be seen sitting on the floor whilst coughing up blood, his face and clothes are similarly dirtied by the explosion of the cauldron. He took out a pill from his ring and forcefully swallowed it, his expression was wonderful to behold as he looked up towards Raven from his location.
How embarrasing…this is what his thoughts are.
He wanted to think that this mad must've done something to cause his current predicament, but he can't think of anything since this man wasn't even remotely close to him, and judging from his cultivation base, there's no way Raven couldn't do anything without him noticing it, so this notion is just impossible.
Jacob on the other hand, was just too stunned to say anything. For some reason, he find it extremely hard to believe that the cauldron actually exploded despite the old man's ablities. He couldn't help but wonder if it was just luck or Raven was just really that capable.
Before any of them could say anything, Raven stepped forward and went towards the cauldron. He crouched down and took out whatever remained inside.
He grabbed the burnt residue and took a careful whiff off of it. He thought for a bit and then said: ”Blood Essence of a Forest Troll, 3 spriggs of Mystic Rosemary, 4 drops of Blue Sunflower Essence, 3 Ghost Peppercorns, and…eh? A drop of venom from a Three-eyed snake? Hmm…”
The old man's body fiercely shook as he heard Raven casually stating one ingredient after another, his eyes widened because all of those stated ingredients were correct, not only that, Raven could also tell how much ingredients he used! All of this, was just from sniffing the burnt remains from a blown up cauldron! How is that even possible!? Even him who had been studying alchemy for 20 years isn't capable of that!
Just as when he thought things were over, it turned out that he was mistaken once again.
”Ah! So that's what's going on!” Raven's eyes shone brightly as he looked at the pitiful old man, ”You, a Level 3 Alchemist, actually tried refining a Bloodburst Pill! A mid-rank A-grade Pill!”
The old man felt tremors go throughout his whole body as he stared at Raven like he was looking at a ghost. His mouth was wide open due to shock, as he can't bring himself to believe that this boy actually guessed not only the ingredients but also the pill he was trying to make, just by smelling a burnt remain!
”I wanna say that you are a very ambitious person, but I can't since the idea is just outright stupid.” Raven scoffed, ”Not to mention refining an A-grade pill, if you refined any pill with your condition earlier, it would've failed anyway! You just aren't in a proper state of mind to begin with! I'm guessing that you have been refining non-stop this week, going to the point where you haven't rested much less eat something.”
”I get it, you have high cultivation and you can probably survive a month without food, water or rest. But there is literally no reason for you to do so, so why skip? Without catching even a blink of rest, how are you going to be on a proper state of mind to do anything? Much less do a tedious task of refining a pill?”
Raven relentlessly scolded the old man about his mistakes, each of his words were like sharp daggers that stabbed towards the old man's heart. He was like a child, lowering himself to admit his mistakes, what's even more painful is that it was the young who's scolding the old, a complete role reversal.
”Maintaing the correct state of mind is a basic knowledge that all Alchemist should know. It is so embarrasing to call yourself an Alchemist who had been working for 20 years after forgetting such a basic knowledge…”
Of all the things that Raven said, this is probably the most painful one for the old man's ears. Even then, after all of the scolding that Raven did to him, he still mustered up enough courage to ask a very important question.
”W-who are you?”