54 HOLY SH* (1/2)

[Note: Orange -> Pink -> Yellow -> Green -> Blue -> Purple -> White -> Silver]

Fasona looked at Arnin with shock. She had assumed that Arnin would need at least a month or so before taking the apprentice exam.

Arnin, on the other hand, was feeling very confident. He had thought that even if he did find herbs that he recognized from his previous life, they would at least have different names, but he completely forgot one point.

When he created Afloria, he did not create the people and animals living there. The ancestors of everyone in the world were past citizens of his previous world. Some were alchemists, others warriors. He had relocated the people into Afloria since he didn't have the power to create sentient beings.

The ancestors brought their previous world's knowledge to Afloria, which was why it had many similarities to the original world. Not only that, but herbs almost always the time stayed the same, regardless of the power in the place. It was a mystery why this happened, but Arnin wasn't ever able to figure it out.

Now that he knew that most, if not all of the herbs would be the same, so he was ready to do the exam for an apprentice. Not only that, but he would go for an official alchemist title as well.

Arnin had entered the shop once more, while Fasona stood in a daze before chasing after him. She was still thinking about why Arnin wanted to do the exam so quickly.

”Hey, wait for me!” Fasona yelled towards Arnin, ignoring the stares that others were giving her. Arnin slowed his footsteps and looked at Fasona with a calm expression.

”Where do I take the test? Take me there, so I can quickly complete it.” Arnin allowed Fasona to go in front of him, as he didn't know where the test would be.

”Are you sure you want to do it right now? You just got the herb book, so shouldn't you go back and study it first?” Fasona spoke with goodwill. She felt that Arnin would do very well in alchemy if he could memorize herbs, simply because of the fact that she was able to feel the fire essence around him.

”It doesn't matter. Just take me to do the test. Is there an entry fee, or anything like that?” Arnin knew that most tests would ask a person to pay beforehand. He was alright with paying as long as he could do the test.

”The apprentice test is free. Only the official alchemy test has a fee.” She took a deep breath and decided to explain.

”That's good. Hurry and take me to the testing place.” Arnin waved his hand nonchalantly, gesturing at Fasona to proceed. The latter shook her head and walked towards the door beside the counter. The set up was similar to the Mark Master area, where the door was right beside the counter.

Everyone watched the two enter the the door and the disappear. They were momentarily shocked before moving on with their own business.

Arnin and Fasona quickly arrived to the second floor. Just like the Mark Master department, the second floor also had some bookshelves and desks. People were roaming around the area, and when they noticed the duo enter, they bowed towards Fasona before moving along.

Alchemist were proud people who liked to mind their own business. Although they would be happy to learn from higher ranked alchemists, that could sometimes be useless. Alchemy was heavily dependent on talent, hard work, and affinity. Only if someone had talent for alchemy, would they do well. If one practiced everyday, and never forgot the herbs that wereto be memorized, it was possible to do decently well. To do extremely well, it was mandatory to have a strong affinity with fire. This was the main reason Fasona wanted Arnin to become an alchemist.

”So, how do I do the test?” Arnin looked at Fasona with a confused look.

”We will have to enter the testing room on the third floor.” She spoke before walking towards a different door. Unlike the connected stairs in the Mark Master department, the Alchemy department had the stairs at two different ends of the room.

In the other department, Mark Masters would usually work on the second floor. They would have their own private areas on that floor, and would usually do their work there, however the Alchemy department was different. The third floor was for testing, while there was another area where alchemists would concoct pills and other alchemic materials.

The third floor had a narrow passage with many doors on the left and right. The first door on Arnin's left said 'Apprentice Alchemist Test Area,' while the one on his right said 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.

When Arnin saw the color, he became somewhat confused. He understood that Mark Masters would be differentiated through color since the mark color determined strength, but why would alchemists also have the same types of levels? Was this some new concept in Alfoira that other worlds didn't have?

Arnin looked at Fasona with some confusion, who had noticed that Arnin was at a loss. She smiled a little before speaking.

”Just like there are colors for Mark Masters, Alchemists are also differentiated in a similar manner. If you are wondering why, it has nothing to do with product color. It is simply a way to make the levels easier to understand. Pills have various colors, but their levels aren't as numerous…” As she explained, Arnin finally understood. Mark Masters were ranked by colors because of their products, but the other jobs simply borrowed the ranking system. They just used colours to represent rank to make things easier to understand, and also to make sure all the jobs had similar ranking systems.

Alchemy, and many other jobs, were organized into different levels of skill. Alchemists could make eight different types of pills. An orange level pill was the lowest level of pill, while a silver level pill was the highest. Things like weapons from blacksmiths were ranked using the same scale as well.

”That makes sense. Do I just enter the room?” Arnin didn't know the procedure, so he had to ask Fasona.

”Just enter the room. Since you are a Mark Master, you must have been given an identity sphere, right?” Fasona looked at Arnin and asked. The latter pulled the black sphere out from his sleeve and showed it to Fasona. ”Well, once you enter the room, you will place this sphere into an empty hole inside a pillar. Then, the test will then begin.”

Arnin knew that the sphere was not specifically for Mark Masters. Although Xillar said that it was for Mark Masters, but in reality, it could be used for multiple jobs. The type of identity items people received differed depending on their first job. Mark Masters would get spheres, Alchemists would get prisms, while blacksmiths would get cubes. Other jobs stick with cards, but those would not be able to hold as much information, and their level of security would be lacking when compared to the items used by the three big jobs.

Arnin walked into the room and found that the lighting was very dim, however his eyesight was extremely sharp, so he could still see very clearly. Right in front of the entrance, slightly to the right, was a large white pillar. In the middle of the pillar was a hole. The shape was that of a hexagon. It was slightly larger than Arnin's sphere.

He slowly inserted it into the hole and found that the hexagonal shape began to change to match his sphere. Suddenly, a question came to his mind. If one didn't have a previous job of any sort, how would they take the Apprentice test?

Arnin decided not to think too much about it, since it didn't really impact him. When the hexagonal hole finally changed into the shape of a sphere and tightly held onto his identity sphere, Arni couldn't help but release a smirk. ”Interesting.”

Suddenly, lights began to appear, and the whole place lit up. Arnin looked around with interest, and found that on his right, there was a platform, and on his left, a huge shelf with a small table and chair in the side.

Arnin walked towards the platform first and stepped onto it. He knew that nothing bad would happen since he was taking test offered by the academy, and they would not risk hurting potential future alchemists..

When he stepped onto the platform, he felt something begin to scan him. Arnin knew that this was the affinity part of the exam. It was just a check to see whether the person had an affinity with fire or not. Arnin slightly released some fire essence from his Neutrality seed.

*BLINK BLINK*

A blinking noise began to sound,and then the scan was complete. ”Affinity Test: Complete!” When Arnin stepped off the platform, he noticed that the pillar had some words written on it. He smirked and laughed at the technology used in Afloria. It was cool, but just a waste, in his opinion.

Arnin then walked towards the other end of the room. When he got there, he noticed that the large shelf held around a hundred herbs. All of them were from the book that was given to him by Fasona. Beside the large shelf was a table and chair. On top of the table was a large stack of papers and a couple of ink pens.

Arnin picked up a piece of paper and looked through the questions. They generally just asked for the herbs' names and effects. He couldn't help but lightly laugh. He knew more about the herbs then anyone else, so this test was way too easy for him.

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Outside the testing room, Fasona stood by anxiously. No one else was around, or else they would have been shocked to see Fasona acting in such a way. She was usually very calm, and didn't show much of an expression in response to anything.

”I wonder if he will pass. He did go in without even studying.” Fasona spoke to herself. She thought of Arnin as a good seed solely based on the fire essence she could feel around him. She wanted to make him her apprentice, and train him to become a great alchemist.

Arnin didn't know this, but Fasona was actually a pretty good Alchemist. She was a Green Alchemist, which was considered to be quite uncommon. Plus she was very young, which only emphasized her talent.

She kept walking back and forth. She was tense, because if Arnin didn't pass, then it might be a big blow to him. This could affect his future as an alchemist, and her goal to make him her apprentice.

*CREAK*