12 Chapter 12: Is That Impressive? (1/2)
Although Nadran was annoyed by Zosal's attitude, Nadran still paid attention to his actions.[Just because someone is mean and abrasive doesn't mean they don't have real skill.Maybe I actually can learn some things from him.]He wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge against everyone who wronged him.If he did, he would have a list reaching the skies, and he would spend all his time on revenge and repaying petty grievances.While he certainly didn't like people like Zosal, he didn't want blow it out of proportion and lose chances to learn and improve himself.
Of course, this was only true if they didn't cross his bottom line.While he was still weak now, he would certainly seek justice against those who had wronged him and his family when he was able.First on this list was the person who had nearly killed his father!Compared to this, someone like Zosal was no more than a minor nuisance.
Under Nadran's attentive gaze, the third round of the exam began.Nadran focused on Zosal's actions as he collected and measured the herbs, seeing if he was doing anything noteworthy.[He seems to be well-connected and has chatted with a bunch of the other participants, and he seems confident in his own abilities despite knowing the strength of others.That probably means he has at least some skill, right?]
Zosal began measuring out herbs, and Nadran tried to figure out what pill he was making.[Hm, that particular combination of herbs… is that the Breath Enhancing Pill?I'm surprised he is making a pill I actually know about.I expected him to make some fancy high-tier pill.I guess not.]
Meanwhile, two other examinees were discussing the same subject.”So, do you know what pill Zosal is making?” one of them asked.
”It's probably the Breath Enhancing Pill,” the other replied after looking for a little while.
”Isn't that a really common pill?Why would he make that one as opposed to some more complex pill?” they replied, confused.
”You didn't know?Zosal comes from a respected family of alchemists, and they focus on polishing the basics above all else.They would rather make a common pill at a high level than a rare pill at a lower level.”
”Oh, I see.I guess Zosal is pretty skilled with such a background.”
”Indeed he is.I'd say he's probably one of the most skilled people taking this test.In addition, he has reached the high slate sigil realm at the age of 17.He's got some talent in that field, as well.”
Nadran didn't hear this conversation, though, focused as he was on Zosal's actions.After a little while, though, he began to get skeptical.[Why is he leaving the fire on for so long?The Breath Enhancing Pill only needs brief applications of fire between each step, but he's leaving it on the entire time.The fusion between the ingredients is a delicate process, and it is easy to burn the ingredients, lowering the grade or just directly ruining the pill if the heat is not properly managed.]
Nadran criticized Zosal's performance in his mind, feeling that any concept he had understood so easily should be common knowledge.After all, he was using publicly available books.What he didn't realize was that a lot of his knowledge was inferred from his knowledge of how the pill forms and the ingredients interact.It was not written explicitly in the books, and so most other beginner alchemists would not even consider these aspects unless they read a more advanced book that spoke about those matters directly.