Chapter 100 - Blindfolded Exam
Qin Yi couldn't care any longer toward a mob character that only appears in three chapters. As he was walking towards Master Wu, Xue Chan suddenly came to block his way.
She cupped her fist and said, "Congratulations on your passing to the next exam round, Brother Qin."
"Thank you, Sister Xue." Qin Yi smiled and then casually asked, "What about you?"
"Too bad, my score is 87%." Xue Chan smiled bitterly.
"How about last year?" Qin Yi asked curiously.
Xue Chan replied without thinking, "I got 40%."
"From 40% to 87%. You've made a huge improvement. What's more, you can study at Wondrous Pills Peak after this. I dare to bet you will pass the Apprentice Alchemist Exam in the following year." Qin Yi grinned toward her.
"..." Xue Chan was silent for a while before she smiled confidently, "You are right, I will definitely become an Apprentice Alchemist in the next year. Thank you for your encouragement, Brother Qin."
After chatting for a while, the two of them finally parted ways.
Qin Yi, along with fifteen others, followed Master Wu to a different room.
For the second round of the Apprentice Alchemist Exam, the examinees who passed the first round were ushered into another room.
Along the way, Yun Qiu suddenly drew closer to Qin Yi and coughed lightly.
"You've done well. I didn't think that you would pass the first round. My judgment is wrong, but you must not get ahead of yourself. I heard that the second round of examinations is no less complex than the first round. I hope you can exceed my expectation once again. So, do your best in this round~."
After that, Yun Qiu walked ahead of Qin Yi.
Qin Yi was a little speechless towards this rich young master's behavior.
Nevertheless, he still smiled at his words.
Yun Qiu was proud, but not proud to the bone.
Nevertheless, at least he was rich.
It's worth befriending.
Soon, everyone arrives at the unfamiliar room, and an elder dressed in white is waiting for them inside.
Apart from that elder, there were five long, and wide tables lined up into two rows. On each of those tables sat a lot of alchemy ingredients.
"Greeting, Grand Master Du, I have brought the examinees here." Master Wu respectfully greeted his superiors.
"Mn, you may go."
After Grand Master Du gave his instructions, Master Wu immediately followed orders and disappeared.
Grand Master Du's gaze swept over the examinees, then he spoke, "As you can see, there are a hundred alchemy ingredients on the tables. Your task in this round of exams is to identify the names and uses of these alchemy ingredients. If you manage to identify 50 ingredients, you will be declared through to the next round. Less than that, you should try again next year."
"Alright. Now, you can go out and wait your turn."
Grand Master Du held up a piece of paper and read out one of the names.
"Luo Zexian, you're the first."
Apart from Luo Zexian, the other sixteen examinees went straight out of the room and waited for their names to be called.
Strangely, the atmosphere in this place was far more different from the crowd atmosphere in the lobby earlier. They are all quiet.
Maybe they were just too nervous.
Well, Qin Yi can understand this.
If the first round of exams was that difficult, then the second round of exams couldn't possibly be as simple as just identifying the ingredients.
As expected, twenty minutes later, Luo Zexian came out with a pale face.
"No one told me that..." He muttered as he walked away along the passage and gradually disappeared within everyone's eyes.
Witnessing this, the other examinees were also getting more and more nervous.
With Luo Zexian's departure, the name of the next examinee was called by Grand Master Du.
Just like that, the second round of exams is still ongoing.
Another twenty minutes later, the second examinee came out. His expression was no less pale than Luo Zexian's. He might as well fail.
The third examinee failed...
The fourth examinee failed...
The fifth examinee failed...
The sixth examinee failed...
"The hell, is it that hard?"
One of the male examinees couldn't help but yell in suspicion.
"Identifying the alchemy ingredients certainly isn't that difficult. But I heard from my senior brother that we need to be blindfolded..." Another examinee said.
"Blindfolded? Isn't it too much for only Apprentice Alchemist Exam?" The man was shocked.
"Too much? How narrow-minded of you."
Hearing this conversation, Yun Qiu couldn't help but speak up while opening the fan to cover half of his face.
"What did you say?!" Being called narrow-minded, of course, the man is furious.
"Hmph, the Secondary Profession Association always attaches great importance to quality over quantity. Therefore, an exam of this level is needed in order to obtain high-quality Secondary Professionals..."
"There are many unofficial Secondary Professionals out there, but their skills are nowhere close to the skills of Secondary Professionals who the Secondary Profession Association has acknowledged..."
"Therefore, if you think this kind of test is too much, you can resign now and become one of those unofficial Alchemists. Do not worry; at the very least, there are still poor cultivators who are willing to pay you to concoct some cheap pills."
When Yun Qiu had just finished speaking, coincidentally, his name was called from inside the room.
"Yun Qiu!"
"Humph."
Yun Qiu harumphed before he confidently entered the room.
Qin Yi took a glance at the man who had just complained.
That guy seemed to take Yun Qiu's words to heart.
Qin Yi personally thought that what Yun Qiu just said had some truth in it.
Although the number of members of the Secondary Profession Association was far less than the number of disciples from one sect, each of them is of high quality. Thanks to that, the cost of hiring them is prohibitive.
Even Qin Yi was a little surprised by the fact that it cost a small sect to hire a Master Alchemist from the Secondary Profession Association more than 100,000 low-grade spirit stones per month.
Though it was smaller than Yun Qiu's pocket money, it was still an astronomical amount of money even to Qin Yi.
He started to wonder how much money would it cost to hire a Grand Master Alchemist?
It could definitely bankrupt a small sect.
How about Spirit Alchemists?
Grand Spirit Alchemist?
Indeed, being an Alchemist can make a lot of money.
Although he may not need to work to earn money as he could just freely do an extraction here and there, after all, money earned from sweat and hard work has a different taste.
Qin Yi, of course, would like to have it.
Less than twenty minutes later, Yun Qiu still hadn't left the room, but Grand Master Du had already called out the names of the other examinees.
"Lai Wei!"
Hearing this call, the remaining examinees began to chat.
"What's going on? That arrogant brat still hasn't come out, yet another name has been called."
"There is only one answer, Yun Qiu passed this second round of exams."
"Hmph, here I thought that he is just a big-mouthed boy. He got some skill actually..."
Qin Yi did not participate in their pointless conversation.
He continued to wait until his name was finally called.
Apparently, he was the last one to be summoned into the examination room.
Only four people did not come out of the exam room. They are suspected of passing this second round of examinations.
Qin Yi was confident that he could be the fifth person.
When he entered the room, he immediately greeted Grand Master Du respectfully.
"Use this to cover your eyes!"
Grand Master Du handed this boy a piece of black cloth.
"Blindfold is an artifact that has the function of blocking your vision. Therefore, you can only rely on your other senses to analyze ingredients."
"Alright, you have twenty minutes to complete this exam. You may start now!"
Upon hearing the details of this exam, Qin Yi did not dare to beat around the bush as he immediately jumped into the business.
When he touched his fingers to the first ingredient, all he could feel was coldness.
When he smelled it, he could recognize it immediately.
"This is Snow Grass. It serves to preserve the freshness of the surrounding alchemy ingredients. It can also be used as the main ingredient in making Paralyze Snow Powder."
"Correct."
Grand Master Du immediately gave an assessment.
Qin Yi immediately moved to the next ingredient.
"This is Fire Revitalize Weed. It is useful for burning the toxic during the process of the concoction of a pill."
"Correct."
"This is a Snake Saliva Leaf. It is useful as a main ingredient in the manufacture of a Detoxification Pill. It can also be consumed raw in an emergency situation, however, it will cause you temporarily dizzy."
"Correct."
"This is... Mimicry Seed? It's a seed capable of mimicking the shape and use of common alchemy ingredients. It's usually used as a substitute ingredient."
"Correct."
...
"Hm? It's small yet sticky... What is this Grand Master?" Qin Yi tilted his head as he asked subconsciously.
Grand Master Du was stunned.
Are you asking me, a judge?