The Female CEO's Personal Bodyguard

Chapter 1512: Chapter 1512: Choice, One Chance!

Upon waking, Carson Flores left the Green Building.

The competition venue was already packed with people. Cultivators surrounded the place completely, and many hovered mid-air, eagerly awaiting the start of the contest.

Today marked the beginning of the most intense and thrilling final rounds of the competition. At this point, the remaining thirty-two alchemists were all top-tier masters, and the battle was about to grow increasingly fierce and ruthless.

All thirty-two participants gathered at the venue, and the rules of the contest were promptly announced.

It wasn’t the one-on-one elimination draw Carson had imagined, turning thirty-two into sixteen. Instead, all thirty-two alchemists were competing simultaneously!

This round’s rules were relatively difficult. Each alchemist would receive a large chest of preprocessed herbs, with at least a few hundred types of herbs within.

An alchemist’s task was to use the allocated herbs to concoct one elixir within a set time limit. Whoever’s elixir was of the highest grade and best quality would emerge victorious!

This round would eliminate twenty-four alchemists!

Cutting down by three-quarters!

From thirty-two to eight!

Upon hearing the rules, Carson immediately grasped the essence of this round—it was a comprehensive test of an alchemist’s overall abilities.

First, you needed to identify all these hundreds of herbs in a very short time. Then, swiftly determine combinations—what elixirs could be made from the selected herbs. You also had to judge whether your chosen elixir was the highest-grade possible with the provided materials. Finally, you had to successfully concoct the elixir and ensure its quality was as high as possible.

The competition time was tight. You’d have enough for a single batch, but not enough for two. In other words, each alchemist had only one shot at choosing which elixir to make, and the process had to succeed without fail.

Choose an elixir not high-grade enough—failure!

Botch the refining process—failure!

Produce an elixir of subpar quality—failure!

This test was highly demanding. Even if you identified the optimal pairing of herbs for the highest-grade elixir, you might not be confident in succeeding. On the other hand, if you chose a safer option, that elixir might not be high-grade enough to win.

This round wasn’t just about true skill; it tested an alchemist’s decision-making, resolve, and decisiveness.

You only had one chance—no do-overs!

”Begin!”

With the booming declaration of the Referee Supervisor, all thirty-two alchemists simultaneously opened their rune-sealed chests, revealing the myriad herbs within.

With a casual wave of his hand, Carson Flores caused all the herbs in his chest to rise into the air, floating before him.

Carson’s Divine Sense swept over each herb one by one, and their details swiftly flooded his mind.

Primordial Wood—main ingredient for Primordial Azure Pill—requires seven auxiliary ingredients...

Yellow Jade Fruit—usable as the primary herb for Yellow Jade Pill—grade too low, not worth considering...

The information of hundreds of herbs intertwined rapidly in his mind.

After five minutes, Carson finally decided on the elixir he would refine. With another wave of his hand, the excess herbs floated back into the chest, while the chosen ones landed neatly on his workstation.

Black Bone Pill.

Carson’s choice, the Black Bone Pill, was quite high in grade but not the highest possible with the provided herbs. The highest-grade elixir should have been the Rising Dragon Pill. But truthfully, Carson wasn’t one hundred percent confident in pulling it off.

The Rising Dragon Pill’s materials were extremely rare. Carson knew its elixir formula and understood its crafting process, but he had never practiced it before. Rather than gambling everything on the Rising Dragon Pill, it seemed wiser to settle for a safer choice.

He had refined Black Bone Pills before. Though not perfect, his confidence level in succeeding was at least ninety percent, and the quality would still be excellent.

After all, it wasn’t about vying for the sole winner’s spot. In this thirty-two-to-eight elimination round, Carson felt he had a good chance.

As Archie Cooke had mentioned, advancing was what mattered most.

If others took the risk and chose the Rising Dragon Pill and managed to succeed, Carson would simply accept defeat and concede with respect!

Having made his decision, Carson stopped overthinking and channeled all his focus into the alchemy process.

He was fully aware that many other alchemists might also be refining the Black Bone Pill. If he wanted to win, the quality of his pill had to be exceptional.

Not far from Carson’s station, Archie Cooke likewise took about five minutes to finalize his choice of elixir.

Rising Dragon Pill!

He had tried refining it once back in his sect, but that attempt ended in failure due to issues with the herbs. Since then, he hadn’t had a second opportunity to try.

Though his previous attempt failed, Archie had deeply reflected on the reasons behind his failure and was confident he’d succeed this time!

Archie’s choice involved some risk, but it was grounded in hard-earned experience and trust in his own abilities.

After making his decision, Archie instinctively glanced toward Carson’s section. However, the dividers between testing stations blocked his view.

He couldn’t confirm which herbs Carson had chosen or which elixir he was planning to refine.

It didn’t matter!

Archie clenched his teeth, his gaze firm and filled with determination.

As long as I successfully refine the Rising Dragon Pill at a quality exceeding the standard, I’ll undoubtedly be among the winners!

Carson Flores?

I don’t believe he can create a Rising Dragon Pill!

Victory is mine!