The Female CEO's Personal Bodyguard

Chapter 1516: Chapter 1516: Am I Going to Compete for the Pill King Title Myself?

”Although the Bloodthirsty Pill is of a very high grade, I believe everyone present here knows how to refine it; what determines the outcome is the quality!”

”But why add some other herbs? In fact, the Alchemist Association should have long discovered that adding Skyfire Grass to the publicly recognized elixir formula for the Bloodthirsty Pill enhances its effects. Yet they didn’t disclose this; they merely placed a series of ingredients on the side, leaving us to choose.”

”When the quality of the elixirs is the same, whoever knows to incorporate the Skyfire Grass will elevate the elixir’s quality significantly—and thus achieve victory. This could actually be considered a hidden technique test.”

”I added it, you didn’t, and so I won.”

Archie Cooke was left stunned.

Adding ingredients to the elixir formula?

It wasn’t that he was unaware of such practices. After all, elixir formulas were also developed by alchemists, and that didn’t mean they were in their ultimate form. Alchemists would continuously refine formulas to make elixirs more effective.

What he never expected was that something like this would arise in the Pill King Championship—and more importantly, that it would be the crux of the exam!

Those who knew, who understood, who could utilize this, would have an overwhelming advantage, almost ensuring a win!

He had foolishly followed the original formula for half the day, only to find out in the end that others had refined a more optimized version?

Who could he blame for this?

The examination criteria were the same for everyone. If he didn’t know, but Carson Flores did, didn’t that just prove that he was inferior to Carson?

Archie Cooke stared at the corpse of the Blood Frenzy Hound lying on the ground and listened to Carson Flores’ words, his mind buzzing.

He had lost!

He actually lost to Carson Flores!

An elixir formula he didn’t know—Carson Flores actually knew!

Archie’s mind went blank as he looked at Carson’s face. Even Carson’s words sounded distant and near, as if echoing. For a moment, he even felt a sense of dizziness.

He had always believed himself unmatched in alchemy. Not to talk about the elder generations, but among the younger ones, he was undoubtedly first. Yet now, his confidence had been trampled directly into the mud.

And the one who defeated him was the one person he most despised losing to.

Because Carson Flores had beaten him in combat, and now also defeated him in alchemy...

A double humiliation!

Archie clenched his fists so tightly his nails nearly pierced his palms.

Humiliation!

Utter humiliation!

He wished he could rewind time, back to when he first encountered Carson. Then he would absolutely stop his junior sister from saying, ”I’ll take the bet of 100,000 Immortal Spirit Stones.”

All these grievances started with that one sentence. His arrogance, his pride, his conceit—everything, up until this moment, had been shattered into fragments.

In combat, he couldn’t win. In alchemy, he couldn’t win...

What right did he even have to be proud?

A frog at the bottom of a well?

Overconfident bumpkin?

Overestimating his abilities?

Archie’s face flushed red with surging blood. Staring at Carson Flores—in contrast calm-faced and even slightly smiling—that blood surging in his chest seemed to boil even more violently.

”You’ve won!”

Archie threw down these words and turned to leave the arena without hesitation.

The competition process wasn’t even over yet, but for Archie, none of it mattered anymore.

He just wanted to get away from this utterly disgraceful place.

Carson watched Archie’s retreating figure, his expression calm.

Though he had beaten Archie, he didn’t feel like the victory was entirely his own skill but owed to Theo Eaton’s insight.

It was Theo who had taught him to add Skyfire Grass. Otherwise, how could he have known to include it?

Purely in terms of alchemy skills, Carson didn’t think he was much stronger than Archie.

Archie was a prodigy—how many years had he been refining elixirs compared to Carson?

Five years!

Archie had likely spent many times the amount of time Carson had on alchemy. If it came down to a direct technical contest, Carson wasn’t certain he could surpass him.

It had simply been a fortunate turn of events!

Archie—what bitter luck...

While Carson felt a trace of sympathy, he had no intention of extending pity.

They were rivals—why waste time feeling sorry for him?

The fact that he hadn’t stepped on Archie when he was down was already a testament to Carson’s generosity.

The competition ended.

Carson emerged victorious and would face the other group’s winner in the final showdown for the championship—for the title of this year’s Pill King!

The peerless Pill King!

Even Carson himself found it a bit incredible. How had he muddled his way into the finals?

If he won one more time, wouldn’t that mean he had succeeded?

Wouldn’t that make him this year’s Pill King?

That was too absurd!

While Carson had harbored aspirations when he came, he never imagined they might come true. And yet, now as he stood on the brink of the finals, Carson felt as though he was in a dream.

Had his skills already reached such a height?

Was he already close to being a Pill King?

Although Elder Theo had always praised him highly, Carson had always assumed he wasn’t that exceptional. After all, he had only dedicated himself to alchemy for five years, hadn’t he?

This was a bit unexpected!

Carson turned to look at his final opponent—the white-haired, illustrious Alchemy Master Ricardo Tate.

Ricardo was the Supreme Elder of the renowned Bloodline Sect, a legendary Alchemy Master famous throughout the entire Skyland Continent, with a reputation stretching back thousands of years.

And now Carson was supposed to contend with such a master for the title of Pill King?

Wasn’t that far too outrageous?