54 HOLY SH* (2/2)
Suddenly, the door opened up. Fasona was extremely surprised. Normally, the test would take around five hours, the fastest pupils finishing in a little less than four hours, however Arnin was only inside for twenty minutes.
'Was he unable to solve any of the questions?' Fasona had this thought and couldn't help but be really worried. 'I told him to wait, but he was too arrogant!' She cursed in her mind, but still waited for Arnin to come out.
When Arnin walked out the door, Fasona rushed in front of him and said in an anxious tone. ”The test was difficult, wasn't it? Don't worry about it, everyone fails it on their first try, plus you didn't even study. Don't feel down, try again ne--” Just as Fasona was going to finish speaking, Arnin had already began to walk towards the second floor.
When Fasona saw this, her face became ghastly white. 'Did this failure really make him lose all confidence? Did a person who exuded fire essence at such a low realm lose his chance to become an alchemist?'
Fasona followed behind Arnin and was very worried. She looked at Arnin's face and found his eyebrows wrinkled. Her face became even paler when she saw this. Her mind was quickly coming up with reasons for why Arnin would have such a face.
'He failed, and is trying not to show his sadness.'
'He is angry that he failed, but is trying to suppress it.'
'The failure hit him so hard that he is debating whether or not to commit suicide.'
Ridiculous ideas rushed through her mind, however she couldn't think of the reason. Armin had a wrinkle on his forehead, but he didn't seem sad or angry, rather his face was calm.
'Maybe he passed the test? No, that's impossible. Doing this test in twenty minutes is impossible for a new person. Even alchemists who have reached Pink level would barely be able to do this.' She completely pushed the idea of Arnin passing aside. She just didn't believe that such a scenario could be possible.
Arnin continued to walk, while Fasona kept her silence. She wanted to say something, but she felt that giving Arnin some time to accept his failure would be a good thing. Arnin just needed some time. Eventually, he would heal.
She then saw Arnin walking towards the bookshelves very slowly. He picked out a few books and sat on a table, reading quietly. He then sat down cross legged to cultivate. He repeated this process multiple times. Arnin had finished over ten books in only about three hours.
Fasona continued to watch Arnin's abnormal actions. 'Is he studying? But why isn't he studying with the book I gave him? All the books he is using seem to belong to the Orange Alchemist level.' Every book that Arnin grabbed was meant for the Orange alchemist exam. The topics varied from different herbs, to the creation of pills.
Arnin would read, and then cultivate. Finally, he got up and went towards Fasona with a slight smile on his face. ”Teacher Fasona, would you mind lending me a pill cauldron?” Arnin looked at Fasona and asked, however he already had his hand out, giving her no time to say no.
Fasona was confused, but she took out an old pill cauldron that was about the size of a baby's head. ”You can use this one, but why do you need it?” She still mentally rejected the idea of Arnin wanting to create pills, or anything of the like. In her mind, Arnin was only going to look at the cauldron to study it.
Arnin kept the cauldron on his side, and then extend his other hand. ”Would you happen to have some Moon Flower, Ice Petal, Water Flower, …” Arnin listed out ten different herbs in one breath.
No matter how much Fasona wanted to reject the idea of Arnin passing the test, she couldn't help but gape at Arnin's mention of such a list. 'Aren't these the herbs for the Orange level water pill?' She thought, and then looked at Arnin in surprise.
”Are you trying to create the Orange level water pill?” Even though she knew that it was very likely that he was trying to make one, she still needed to confirm, unwilling to believe.
”Yes, and no.” Arnin grabbed the many herbs that Fasona was slowly pulling out. She had many herbs in her bag, which was similar to Arnin's interspatial bag, but bigger.
”Arnin, shouldn't you study for the apprentice test bef--” Arnin waved his hand and gestured her to stop speaking. He didn't answer her and went towards the stairs to the third floor once again.
”Don't follow me up, I want to do something. Make sure that no one else comes up.” With that, Arnin walked towards the third floor. Fasona stood there in shock, before collecting herself and shaking her head.
'He hasn't even passed the Apprentice test, and wants to try and make a pill? I can only hope that this won't be another major blow to him.” She sighed bitterly and stood guard.
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Arnin sat down in the narrow hallway and pulled out the herbs from his robe, placing them onto the ground before him. He also put the cauldron a couple centimeters away from them.
”Time to see of the Flames of Neutrality can be used to make pills.” Arnin smiled before igniting a grey flame on his palm. Within the grey flame, the two different coloured flames continued to rotate. Arnin took a deep breath, and began to change the flames' shape into a ring. He then surrounded the top of the cauldron with the ring of flames.
Arnin picked up an herb and broke a piece off. He then threw it into the cauldron, and began to surround it with fire. He needed to test out whether he could rid the herb of its impurities, and turn it into a liquid form of essence.
Half an hour passed, and Arnin had a huge smile on his face. It could be done! The Flames of Neutrality really could be used for pill making! Arnin was thrilled. If anyone walked up and looked into the cauldron, they would be extremely astonished.
Inside the cauldron, there were five completely formed ocean blue pills.. Arnin continued to smile as he took a look at the room that said, 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.
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Three hours passed, and Fasona couldn't take it anymore. Turning around, she rushed towards the third floor.
*CREAK*
When she reached the top, she saw Arnin walking out of one of the testing rooms. She gasped when she saw which room it was. 'Orange Alchemist Test Area'.
”What were you doing in there? You need to pass the Apprentice test before trying the official alchemist test. These are the rules.” Fasona was extremely shocked. Sh couldn't believe that Arnin was coming out the Orange Alchemist examination room.
”Don't worry, I passed the Apprentice test when I first did it, and I also just passed the Orange Alchemist test, meaning that I am now an Orange Alchemist.” Arnin smiled brightly as he stared at the gaping Fasona. It had taken Fasona one year after passing the Apprentice test to become an Orange Alchemist, and that was already considered quite fast.
The Orange Alchemist test was much more difficult than the Apprentice test. Not only did one need to know more than a thousand different herb names, looks, and functions, it was essential that one was able to create an Orange level pill. This would require years of practice, and memorization. One year was already extremely quick, but how much time did Arnin take? It only took him twenty minutes to complete the Apprentice test, three hours of study, and then he was on the third floor for another three hours. That was a total of just over six hours.
Fasona took a couple steps back, before looking at Arnin as though he was a demon. ”Let me see your identity sphere first.” Fasona was still in a state of denial. She wanted to confirm this with her own eyes before believing it.
Arnin took out the sphere and handed it to her. Fasona quickly vanished. She walked into a room that had an identity analyser and placed the sphere on top of it. Some basic information quickly appeared in front of her.
Arnin Foro:
Age: Five Years Old
Race: (D)Human Race
Realm: Orb Birth - Hell
Jobs: Pink Level Mark Master | Orange Level Alchemist
'HOLY SH*T!'