Arkhen drew the lot and opened his paper.


    Fire


    "Fire? Sounds easy," Arkhen said with a grin.


    "Good luck," Shirashi family head said with a smile.


    "Thanks," Arkhen said before he walked towards an empty ground area.


    Afterward, Sasha drew the lot and got…


    Poison.


    "Ew, but ok," Sasha stuck out her tongue.


    Shirashi family head rolled her eyes, "Hand it over after you are done."


    "Ok, Aunt," Sasha said with a light chuckle before she also walked to the ce where Arkhen was standing.


    One by one, participants drew the lots.


    After everyone was done drawing the lots, the Shirashi family head pped her hands as staff members approached participants and gave each one of them a storage pouch.


    "You have thirty minutes to think and contemte on what potion or pill you can craft with half of the ingredients we gave you. That potion must be rted to the theme you drew. Time starts…now!" Shirashi family head said after everyone received a storage pouch.


    Arkhen looked inside the pouch with his soul sense but was stumped as he didn''t know what kind of potion or pill he could craft. ''Velshi, spend reality motes and give me an answer.''


    [83 reality motes deducted]


    [Belruga me Burst pill]


    ''Nice. First time hearing about this pill,'' Arkhen wryly smiled. ''Well, now we just wait for thirty minutes to pass. I think they will send us to a new location for thisst round. Velshi, once we arrive at the location, spend reality motes and locate missing ingredients to concoct this Belruga me Burst pill.''


    [Understood]


    …


    Thirty minutes soon passed as Shirashi family head announced, "After five seconds, all of you will be teleported randomly in the Alchemy Dimension! Find the missing ingredients there and craft the pill. The time limit is 2 hours."


    *WAHHH*


    Uproar ensued, not just among the participants, but also audience all over the empire!


    Alchemy Dimension. It was a ce filled with, well, alchemy ingredients…but with a twist!


    All ingredients there were alive! They would attack people, and they were powerful and stubborn. If you didn''t show enough conviction and care to remove them even after defeating their monster avatars, they would self-destruct, so that you wouldn''t gain the ingredient you wanted!


    Shirashi family head crushed a mysterious silver-blue stone that produced a big and wide portal. "Enter inside and gather ingredients! After two hours, you will be forcefully teleported back here via that token''s function. In the Alchemy Dimension, you only need to collect ingredients! If you''ve collected ingredients before 2 hours, you can return here by infusing any energy in the token."


    "Now go. All the best!"


    Everyone rushed inside the portal, with Arkhen entering the fastest with his insane speed. He just tapped his feet on the ground before he disappeared and entered the portal.


    After entering, Velshi quickly deducted reality motes and produced blue arrows that pointed at missing ingredients needed to craft the Belruga me Burst pill.


    After a minute, Arkhen arrived on top of a dynamo volcano that shot a burst ofva high in the sky every minute! Inside that volcano, he saw a giant flower monster avatar in the bubblingvake. That flower monster avatar was of the Lava Astra Lotus, the 10th-grade ingredient he needed.


    Lava Astra Lotus was at the center of thevake on a small red stone, while its monster avatar was towering over it.


    Arkhen jumped inside the volcano, but the moment he did that, the volcano spewed out a burst ofva that looked like a short bout ofvaser and swallowed him whole.


    At first, people watching this scene were shocked and taken aback as Arkhen''s screen turnedvatic. However, they soon saw a clear scenery with Arkhen being perfectly fine!


    The only thing different was his outfit.


    ''Phew…'' Arkhen sighed a relief as he barely changed his outfit using reality motes in time. If he didn''t do that, he would be visible to all in his birthday suit!


    After thatva burst, Arkhen flew down towards the giant flower monster and punched its core, destroying it in a second. He then proceeded to carefully and properly remove the Lava Astral Lotus from a red stone.


    Five secondster, he managed to procure the ingredient and put it in the storage ring before doing a V sign with a grin. "Time for the next ingredient."


    …


    "Arkhen''s advantage is clear," Yosin said with a wry smile. "He will be the first one to get all needed ingredients and might even be able to get two batches."


    "Yes. I think he needs to get a second batch of ingredients," Tifani said with a nod. "Last we saw, his mastery of crafting ss-10 potions or pills was not strong."


    "Let''s bet if he can seed in the first attempt or not," Sherly said with a grin.


    "I bet he a seed."


    "Alright, I bet he will fail in his first attempt."


    The group betted on Arkhen without any price on it and continued watching.


    On the other hand, Arkhen was quickly going to various ces and collecting ingredients without any pause.


    The interesting thing was that other participants didn''t know about Arkhen''s ability to quickly find and collect ingredients! All they knew was that Arkhen was first in rounds, but didn''t know that he could find ingredients that quickly!


    If they knew, they would''ve definitely cried about Arkhen cheating!


    In the blink of an eye, one thousand six hundred and twenty seconds passed, and Arkhen finished collecting all required ingredients.


    Yosin and others saw Arkhen taking out the token and wryly smiled.


    "Well, he is not going to collect 2nd batch of ingredients even though he can."


    "I''ll remain optimistic, haha. He is confident of crafting the item in one attempt, so he is not collecting the second batch."


    …


    Arkhen returned back to the mountain base and looked at spe


    "Go ahead," Shirashi family head said as she wryly smiled while shaking her head. ''If he crafted a perfect-grade pill, there won''t be any suspense about the 1st rank.''


    Arkhen started preparing ingredients one by one and mixing them as they were prepared before putting them into the cauldron.


    After thirty minutes, he was 70% done, and 2nd person also arrived from the Alchemy Dimension.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Seeing Arkhen, she was startled, "H-How?" She turned to Shirashi family head and asked, "When did he arrive here?"


    "Well, you were a contender for the 1st rank, Gineva. But… if he managed to concoct a perfect-grade pill," a middle-aged man with a white beard said.


    "As for your question, he arrived here thirty-five minutes ago."


    "Damn…" Gineva cursed under her breath as she quickly started preparing ingredients to craft her potion.


    A man soon arrived a minuteter. If there wasn''t a dark horse like Arkhen, those two were contended for the first rank along with two others.


    Due to Sasha''sck ofbat power, she was not believed to contend for the first rank in other people''s predictions, but she was believed to be in the top ten nheless.


    Surprisingly, Sasha also arrived two minutester after that as many got surprised.


    But she only nced at Arkhen and others before quickly started working on her craft.


    Twenty minutester, Arkhen pped his cauldron as three red pills with majestic orange me designs flew out!


    *crackl!*


    Dark clouds gathered as the pills came out, shocking everyone!


    "Holy shit! A blessed craft in the final round!"


    Even those not participating turned red in excitement.


    Three ss-10 Blessed Pills! It was going to be massive!


    "What are those pills?! Quickly identity!"


    People who didn''t know about alchemy quickly inquired.


    "That''s Belruga me Burst pill! Fuck! That guy is going to get rich if he sells those blessed pills!"


    *Crackle…Boom!*


    "FIRST!"


    Everyone shouted with eagerness in their eyes.


    *Crackle…Boom!*


    "SECOND!"


    Even Shirashi family head and other alchemy heads were nervous and excited. All of them wanted those blessed pills and the more lighting fell on them, the more valuable they would be!


    *Crackle…Boom!*


    "THIRD!"


    "Let''s fucking go!"


    "Tell me about the effect of that pill, please!"


    *Crackle…BOOM!*


    "FOURTH!"


    Nobody was standing anymore, and after that fourth lightning bolt, everyone turned silent.


    It was such a stark contrast to the situation a few seconds ago!


    "Will fifth lightning bolt drop?"


    Someone uttered in the silent atmosphere, and the moment he finished speaking… Mayhem descended!


    *Crackle…Boom!*


    *Uproar!!*


    While the public became excited as if injected with chicken blood, many other people also turned solemn.


    Yosin, Sherly, Tifani, and other heirs of the council family stood up with serious expressions and quickly left the Royal Academy.


    "Should I contact my father to send people here?" Sherly asked as they quickly flew out.


    "No need. My father must have sent news everywhere to prepare for the trouble."


    ...


    Shirashi family head and other heads looked at each other with a hint of fear in their eyes.


    "Shirashi-"


    *Crackle…BOOM!*


    The hint of fear turned into dread with that six bolt of lightning!


    Shirashi family head raised her hand and said, "Emperor must be watching as well and should have started taking steps. Inform Arkhen when he is done. Exin him properly and take the pills."


    After saying that, Shirashi family head left.


    Arkhen was watching his pills with a grin, but even without looking at others, he suddenly felt the atmosphere turning weird.


    "A-Arkhen…" Sasha said with fear evident in her voice. She was going to speak but stopped when she saw those alchemy heads flying towards Arkhen.


    "What''s the matter?" Arkhen asked with a frown.


    *Crackle…boom!*


    Seventh lightning!


    "Fuck, stop it already!" One of the alchemy heads, ady with dark maroon hair and a busty body said with fear and anger mixed in her voice.


    Everyone looked up in the sky, but saw that the dark clouds were still there!


    "Arkhen, listen carefully," the middle-aged man with a white beard said after taking a deep breath. His expression was utterly somber.