Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex found himself standing in a twisting line of individuals that stretched a long distance within the secret realm. Before him was Jai Heiyun, and behind him were the other three.

They were sent into the secret realm when they arrived at the park, and upon arriving here, they were put into a line.

Alex didn’t even have a chance to look at the changes that this place had gone through once again before being thrust into the line.

The large stadium that surrounded a massive stone plaza was no longer in its original place. The stadiums seemed to have been moved to the edge of the secret realm, right next to where they were now standing, no longer toward the center.

The stone platform where he had made pills in the previous competition couldn’t be seen anymore. Not because it had been taken apart, but because it was instead being hidden by a large barrier formation that blocked all sights and senses.

Alex frowned a little, not understanding what they were hiding in there. What was the purpose of the barrier? What was the next test?

Alex looked ahead in the line, slowly counting to see where he stood. There were a good 2,000 people before him. Considering there were 40,000 total contestants, this could be considered early.

No one had yet been told what they were doing here, so they all waited. Then, the Alchemy God himself appeared in the sky, hovering high above them. He looked down at the masses, slowly nodding to himself. No one else stood by his side.

“Welcome back, everyone. I hope you are well prepared for the next competition,” the Alchemy God started. “You have been gathered here for a… head start you shall receive for the upcoming tournament. I cannot tell you much about it, except that it will be a competition to test the speed at which you can make pills.”

The man stopped, letting the gathered contestants take in the information that he had just given.

‘A speed contest?’ Alex thought, quite surprised. ‘So we see who can make pills the fastest.’

He believed he had an advantage in that, thanks to his ability to slow down time for the cauldron.

“As you all know, there can be many factors in how a pill can be made quickly,” the Alchemy God said. “Many of you have different cauldrons, different techniques, different flames—all of which help you speed up.”

The Alchemy God paused, smiling as he watched the curious faces of everyone. He raised a finger.

“But, while all of those things are something you can rely on yourself for, there is something you cannot rely on. That is the pill you will be making itself.”

“Each recipe is different, each ingredient needing a different time. And that is the head start you will receive. Each one of you, in the order of how you arrived in the secret realm, will be allowed to choose a pill to make for yourself.”

“The first 1,000 will be allowed to choose 10 pills they wish to make in this contest. The second 1,000 will be allowed to choose 9 pills. The 1,000 after that will choose 8 pills, all the way until 10,000 of you have all chosen at least one pill for the competition.”

“The ones outside of the first 10,000 will have to rely on luck and receive the pills they will have to make on that day.”

He looked down at the people. “Do not worry. We will not disadvantage the latecomers. These are the pills you can choose from, the ones which you will randomly receive to make as well.”

A massive list of names appeared in the sky next to the Alchemy God, containing within it names for generic pills that everyone knew of and used every day. There were about 500 or so names, each with the number 1,000 written next to it.

“Look upon these names, as these will be the pills you will be making in the upcoming competition,” the Alchemy God said. “So, make your decisions wisely. I shall see you all in a month.”

With that, the Alchemy God vanished.

Alex failed to focus on the names and instead his mind focused on the next competition and what it was going to be about.

“They’re going to make us make 10 pills?” he asked. “A speed test with multiple pills is… rare.”

Jai Heiyun looked ahead. “I think we only get to choose 8. We will have to get 2 random pill.”

Killersky was about to say something, but she stopped herself, letting the others talk.

“Okay. So a speed test, and we get to decide most of the pills we are going to be making, right?” Aethersage asked. “I think it would do us right to start thinking about what pills we want.”

“We should,” Alex said, looking back at the screen in the sky.

The panel was divided into two uneven sections. The larger one included Immortal pill recipes, and the smaller one included Saint pill recipes. And it was clear that an Immortal wasn’t allowed to choose those.

He ignored that group and looked at the names of the pills. His mind raced while he tried to think of what the fastest pills one could make were, while at the same time looking for their names to see if they were available there.

Alex couldn’t help but nod in appreciation at the fact that the participants weren’t allowed to make niche pills that had few ingredients, which would obviously be the easiest.

Instead, they were forced to stick to a list that was provided for them, where some were faster to make than others, but not so much that it would give the others a disadvantage.

He began thinking of what pills he wanted, listing them by priority in his mind for what would be faster. The pill had to have a mix of ease of making and a low number of ingredients, so making up a list did take some time.

Thankfully, they were given plenty of time to make the decision.