Chapter 3943: Making the Pills
Chapter 3943: Making the Pills
Alex took a minute to consider the man’s words before nodding slowly.
"Very well, if that is what you wish to test, then I will agree," he said. "Will Senior Ashmaker be involving himself in this in any way?"
"Hmph! What need have I to involve myself in such a trivial matter?" the man asked with a haughty expression. "My disciple alone is enough to defeat you, after all."
"That works for me," Alex said, turning toward Heatwave. "I’m afraid I may be lacking some ingredients. Have you prepared them by any chance?"
"Of course. I came prepared," the man said and brought out a bunch of fire-based ingredients, of which there was more than one. The man quickly separated the ingredients into two halves. "You may check and see if any harm has been done to any ingredient. I won’t be using any underhanded means anyway, but if you don’t trust me, we can call over the Alchemy God to check them for us."
Alex looked through the ingredients and shook his head.
"That’s alright. I trust you won’t do anything to lower your reputation," Alex said before taking his half of the ingredients. "I assume there will be no compounding involved."
"If it were involved, it would be an easy victory for me. So, no. There will be no compounding," the man said. "Take your time with the ingredients and see what you can make. I will give you some time since I’ve already—"
"That’s fine," Alex said, looking up toward the man. "I’ve already decided."
Heatwave blinked in surprise. "It’s only been a few seconds."
Alex shrugged. "As you said, I have a talent in alchemy. I didn’t need that much more time at all."
Alex already had some pill recipes in mind that he could use as a comparison point to work with the ingredients. Combined with the many minutes of thinking time he had given himself by slowing down time just around his mind, it had allowed him to think of an idea already.
He didn’t need much more time than that.
"O-okay," the man said, looking toward his master for a second before looking back. "We’ll test now, then."
Alex nodded and looked to the Sky God. "Please, let us know when we may start."
The Sky God nodded and looked between the two. "I’ll give you both a minute to make any preparations you may still need to make. Take your cauldrons out and look through your ingredients. The duel will start soon."
Alex found a spot a little to the left and sat down. Memory appeared behind him, a massive cauldron that made a few people there look over more closely.
The people who had been at the Alchemy Tournament, or had at least reviewed the final battle, would know that the cauldron had awakened in that tournament, which made it one of the few artifacts to do so through tribulation.
It was a fascinating artifact for that reason alone.
Once Memory was out, Alex closed his eyes and remained expressionless for a long time, showing not even a shred of emotion on his face.
The Sky God looked between the two of them and, as the time came to an end, gave her command.
"You may begin."
While no one had outwardly said anything at all, there was an understanding between them that while the quality of the pill would be important, so would the speed at which it was made. If one could not only make a better pill but also make it faster than the other person, that would be an undeniable defeat.
As a result, Heatwave rushed to get the pill ready as fast as he could, while also going slowly enough to avoid any mistakes he could obviously avoid.
He had only placed the first ingredient inside when he heard a wave of gasps coming from the audience. He kept his focus on his pill but took just enough of his attention away to look toward Alex and see what had caused the audience to gasp.
When he saw it, he nearly gasped as well.
Alex held a pill in his palm. He was already done.
’How... how can that be?’ he wondered. Given that he hadn’t paid attention to Alex, he hadn’t seen anything at all. Only the result.
Had he paid attention, he would’ve seen what the audience had: Alex pouring all the ingredients into the cauldron at once and then quickly bringing out the completed pill.
The Sky God knew Alex had talent in making pills, but this was absurdly fast. She didn’t know anyone who could make pills this quickly.
But still...
’No Pill Clouds,’ she thought. Even if he had made the best pill, if Heatwave could make a pill with Pill Clouds, it would obviously be much stronger, which in turn would mean that the explosions his pill would make would be bigger and hotter.
’He can only hope his opponent doesn’t form a Pill Cloud either.’
Alex stared at the pill in his palm and let out a deep sigh.
"As expected. A failure."
He was just loud enough that no one outside the arena heard it. But the Sky God and the Fire God were able to hear it precisely.
Ashmaker held a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms and waited. While it hadn’t been revealed to everyone, his disciple was, in fact, a Peerless Alchemist. He was someone capable of forming Pill Souls. For him, such a simple competition should’ve been beneath him.
And on top of that, Alex had failed as well.
Heatwave had heard Alex’s words as well and couldn’t help but grin internally.
’That’s what you get for being hasty,’ he thought. ’This is why you take your time with a pill. Your arrogance will be your downfall.’
Since Alex had already finished his pill, there was no reason for Heatwave to hurry. He took his time with the ingredients, happily refining everything.
Finally, it was time to form the pill and call upon the Pill Clouds.