The Glorious Evolution

Crowglass thanked them pleasantly and allowed the departing candidates time to settle.

The second question concerned a failed concoction... its quantities and temperature matched the recipe, but the brewer added the next ingredient as soon as Pearl-Hush Distillate cleared the foam.

’Isn’t this...’

Levi recognized the mistake from Alzhukar’s notes... although it didn’t apply to the exact concoction, the scenario was similar.

He soon realized why Ash’Kral had pushed him to join even when he believed himself not to be ready... he knew that Alzhukar’s ancient notes were so rich in information that most of Crowglass’s difficult questions would either show up in the notes or at least share a similar problem with different materials.

He submitted his answer, explaining that testing for unreacted essence would have confirmed whether the mixture was ready.

”The distillate suppressed the foam, but the ingredients beneath it were still reacting,” Crowglass explained afterward. ”Covering a boiling pot hides the bubbles, my dears... it doesn’t mean the water has stopped boiling.”

Four more candidates withdrew with depressed looks, leaving Levi and six others.

Jasmine and N’ibby were surprised that he had found time for alchemy among everything else.

They didn’t know that Levi had been reading through Alzhukar’s library as a hobby for close to a Boundless year now... soaking in a treasure trove of knowledge he could finally start cashing in on in the real world.

Meanwhile, Crowglass presented the final question with an amused smile.

”An ingredient contains half the active essence specified in your recipe... the brewer doubles its weight to compensate. Is the preparation now correct?”

The accompanying record listed the expected species and maturity, with the lower concentration as the only reported difference.

Levi checked the figures.

Half the concentration, twice the weight... the amount of active essence remained the same.

He entered his answer and calculated the adjusted quantity... several candidates had already submitted theirs. One leaned back with a satisfied smile, while another exchanged a confident glance with his family.

Before confirming, Levi added a short instruction to remove the additional residue during extraction.

But then... his hand paused.

’Residue?’

He read that sentence again... he had assumed everything accompanying the useful essence could simply be filtered out.

One of Alzhukar’s failed preparations came to mind... the extraction had removed the solid waste perfectly, yet another soluble essence had passed into the mixture alongside the intended one.

Levi reopened the ingredient’s record.

Nothing identified the remaining contents... doubling the quantity might work... or it might introduce enough of another substance to spoil the concoction.

’This can’t be right.’

He deleted his answer and submitted a correction just before time expired.

Beside him, a candidate caught the hurried movement and smiled faintly. Wick’Ral’s daughter had already closed her answer screen, waiting with her hands folded.

Crowglass examined their submissions.

”Doubling the weight would indeed restore the required amount of active essence.”

The candidate beside Levi relaxed. Across the table, another gave a small nod, as though the explanation didn’t need repeating.

”Unfortunately, only two of you established whether we had enough information to approve the concoction.”

The smiles froze while Count Wick’Ral’s daughter unfolded her hands, her heart skipping a beat.

Crowglass brought up one of the calculations.

The quantity was correct... she left it untouched and highlighted the rest of the ingredient’s weight.

”What is this?”

Nobody answered her.

”I don’t know either, from the record you received.” Her voice remained pleasant. ”Yet five of you approved adding twice as much of it.”

The candidate beside Levi looked down at his answer, realizing the foolishness of answering quickly instead of taking his time.

”It might be harmless... It might contain another essence that spoils the concoction at that quantity. Until you examine it, you cannot tell me the adjustment is correct.”

One disappointed candidate muttered that she should have provided the missing information in the first place. His father’s glare silenced him before he could elaborate.

Wick’Ral’s daughter reopened her notes and crossed out a sentence.

She had treated the unlisted substances as harmless... an assumption the question’s record never supported.

She glanced toward her father and flinched at his cold glare... the Count said nothing, as there were too many eyes on them for that conversation.

But she knew the return to their county wasn’t going to be delightful.

The five eliminated candidates withdrew, including her, leaving Levi beside a young alchemist in a dark green coat.

Pell Bracken.

His name appeared above the remaining station, accompanied by his standing as an Aspiring Alchemist.

Unlike the rest of the candidates, he was a lean Cauldron-Fey with copper-brown hair and narrow amber eyes.

He had smoky patches marking his throat, while the sleeves of his coat ended neatly above his wrists... short enough to keep clear of whatever he worked on.

Levi didn’t know why he had even bothered to join them, since he should already have a Master Alchemist behind him... After all, he was from their bloodline, and whether he was royalty or not, it didn’t matter.

’Did he take part to brag or...’

Levi turned to face him and saw him offer a small smile.

”Good luck, Baron.”

”Likewise.”

Meanwhile, Count Wick’Ral turned his attention to the two finalists and opened Levi’s public profile... intrigued.

He found the Dark Sun Beast Trading company, which dealt in beast materials in the Eighth Sky Province... his own province.

He followed the company’s link, but its public information revealed little else.

The location of its facilities remained undisclosed, leaving him unaware of its connection to House Targon’s former territory.

He saved the profile as Crowglass manifested a second station and had the attendants place the ingredients before the two finalists.

”Now, my dears...” Crowglass addressed them. ”Let us see whether your hands understand what your heads do.”

A shared recipe appeared on their screens.

Saffron Clarity Tonic.

A low D-grade potion intended to ease mental fatigue after prolonged concentration... its main ingredient, Saffron Mirror Fraction, required careful extraction before it could be combined with the other materials.

This was the sole difficulty of the entire concoction.

Crowglass permitted them to use their own abilities, though they couldn’t introduce ingredients beyond those provided.

Pell began arranging his tools meticulously while Levi continued reading, checking each ingredient’s purpose and the order of preparation.

Levi had already prepared several evolutionary formulas, and he occasionally used Alzhukar’s laboratory inside the dimensional wallet to practice low-grade potions.

Whenever his schedule allowed it, he tested something from his reading... a method of extraction, a different heating sequence, or a simple preparation from the old alchemist’s notes.

Those attempts familiarized him with the equipment, but they were too infrequent to develop much proficiency... without Ash’Kral’s mentorship, he kept most of his focus on reading.

Still, he knew at least the basic steps to follow... Levi started by testing the controls of the empty cauldron, getting himself familiar with his station.

Beside him, Pell had already finished examining his ingredients and begun the preparation.

Levi followed the changing readings as heat spread evenly through Pell’s cauldron.

Two currents of spiritual energy entered the extraction vessel... one drew out the useful essence, while the other held the waste behind.

Pell collected the essence in a receiver... a thin layer of his energy remained around it while he began extracting the next ingredient.

’His Kettleheart can store as well as separate,’ Levi observed. ’He’s preserving the first extract while working on the second.’

’And barely losing anything during the transfer.’ Ash’Kral nodded. ’Not bad...’

Levi’s brow twitched at Ash’Kral praising Pell... but he knew that his current talents as an alchemist were nowhere near the same realm as Pell’s.

After all, the Kettleheart belonged to the Cauldron-Fey’s ancestral evolutionary inheritance.

Like other Trueborns, the Cauldron-Fey were born with Shadowlife Seeds carrying the path established by their Ancestor... the Kettleheart was one of the physical traits inherited along that path.

Levi remembered the descriptions of the chambered organ beneath their sternum, resembling a miniature cauldron made of flesh.

Most could only separate essences... more gifted individuals could also store them, while the rarest, with higher bloodline purity, could combine them under controlled heat... completing an entire concoction inside their bodies!

Pell had already demonstrated separation and preservation.

Then he switched off the heating array of the cauldron.

The Alchemists suddenly went quiet as the young alchemist lifted a receiver to his lips and swallowed its contents!

The second extract followed... then a measured portion of the base.

”Surely he isn’t...”

The murmur came from one of the Master Alchemists.

Pell set the empty vessels aside... his hands remained above the table, leaving the station’s cauldron untouched.

Several guests stopped speaking.

”Why did he drink them?” a noble’s wife whispered.

”He’s going to complete the concoction inside his Kettleheart!”

The answer drew a sharp intake of breath from someone nearby.

’Whoa... all three functions?’

Levi’s attention returned fully to Pell, raising a brow in surprise... even he was stunned by Pell’s bloodline gifts, feeling like the situation was a bit unfair for an amateur like him to be put against him.

’Levi... you know the funny picture you showed me of a coughing baby against a bomb?’ Ash’Kral suddenly asked.

’Yes...’

’You’re the coughing baby.’ Ash’Kral mused.

’I passed all three questions... asshole.’

’My apologies. A well-educated coughing baby.’

Levi’s brow twitched... incapable of mastering a retort.