A few breaths later, as the cauldron reached its peak temperature, in one motion, Izroth added in the remaining seven ingredients.
Seeing Izroth’s actions, Pill Master could not help but burst out into a small fit of laughter.
"Hahaha! Can this be considered pill crafting?" Pill Master commented mockingly. Find exclusive stories on Freewebnovel
Pill Master had crafted many pills himself. He was even fortunate enough to witness the crafting methods of a grade four Apothecary at the guild in Danaharpe. That’s why watching Izroth casually toss the ingredients into the cauldron as if he was making soup caused him to turn his nose up. He thought Izroth was hiding his skills considering his arrogant behavior earlier; however, it turned out that he was just a fool!
Izroth’s gaze was locked onto the roaring flames of the cauldron as he watched the ingredients melt and meld together as one.
Besides the Morning Glory that was a superior-ranked ingredient, Izroth gathered two rare plants, three uncommon plants, and two common plants. But, these were not the only ingredients on the list. In truth, there were a total of eleven ingredients.
For a grade two pill, such a combination of quality ingredients could be considered extravagant. But, that was only to the untrained eyes. If a high ranked Apothecary saw the pill recipe, they would only be able to sigh in awe while simultaneously scratching their head in frustration.
’This pill recipe is definitely that of a grade two pill, but... To give this kind of recipe to those who was taking a trial to inherent his legacy, he used quite the interesting method. This Franz must have been quite the prankster when he was alive.’
Undoubtedly, the pill recipe of the Spiraling Flames Pill was that of a grade two pill. However, Izroth realized something unusual about the pill recipe in that some of the ingredients must have been slightly altered. In reality, the true Spiraling Flames Pill was most likely a grade three pill, but it had been adjusted in such a way that lowered its grade to that of a grade two pill.
The question now was, why would someone of Franz’s caliber, a grade ten Apothecary, go out of his way to forcibly lower the grade of a pill? To Izroth, the reason was simple. It was just another part of the trial.
"Hmph, one can only pretend for so long! Not only are you ignoring the crafting process, you have not even gathered all the requirements ingredients! You don’t want to waste time? How ridiculous!" Pill Master said as he shook his head.
"He didn’t gather all the ingredients? That would explain how he was able to return so fast." Steel Mountain said with furrowed brows.
"Leader, why did you invite this guy as an Apothecary? Isn’t he just fooling around?" Mystic Lock commented with a frown.
Haishe remained silent as he observed Izroth’s actions.
"All the facts from the information I gathered led to him being one of the Pill Emperors. I was 99.99% sure, but... Could I have been wrong?" Haishe thought to himself.
Pill Master was not wrong about two things. First, Izroth did indeed ignore the crafting process located at the bottom of the scroll. And, he really did only collect eight out of the eleven listed ingredients that were on the scroll.
That being said, Izroth did not overlook those things just for the sake of doing so.
This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēwebnovel.com.
’This should be enough.’
Bang!
Out of nowhere, Izroth kicked the side of the cauldron, causing it to tremble and the flames to go wild.
"You! Are you trying to explode the cauldron?!" Pill Master exclaimed as he took a few steps back.
It was common knowledge that one shouldn’t physically disturb the cauldron during the pill crafting process. Doing so could cause the pills being crafted to end up in failure. But, in the worst cases, the cauldron would become unstable and explode!
Woosh!
In the blink of an eye, Izroth cut off the flames within the cauldron. Simultaneously, the trembling stopped.
Pill Master breathed a small sigh of relief as he stepped back forward and cleared his throat and stroked his beard.
"Alright, stop putting on airs. Maintaining that level of heat for so long, you will have burned all the ingredients to a crisp. This old man was trying to be considerate and save what little face you had left by not bringing it up, but you were missing the main component of the Spiraling Flames Pill, the Morning Flames. Without it, even a trash pill won’t form from such reckless crafting." Pill Master said with a gleeful grin.
Just as Pill Master finished speaking, a strong medicinal aroma spread throughout the platform and drifted all the way to the edge of the garden.
"Impossible...!" Pill Master gasped as his eyes widened in shock.
Based on everything he just witnessed, there should have been no medicinal scent, let alone pills that formed. Yet, unless his eyes and other senses were deceiving him, those were wholly formed pills!
Hovering just above the cauldron were five pills with a deep saturated red color and faint golden markings etched onto their surface that was nearly indiscernible to the naked eye.
’Since you enjoy pranks so much, then you should appreciate this all the more.’
"This smell... Just taking a small breath makes my body feel like its burning up..!" Steel Mountain stated.
"What a powerful medicinal scent..! Does this really only belong to a grade two pill?" Autumn Winds said as her brows rose in surprise.
Pill Master was unable to hide the disbelief on his face. It had been less than ten minutes since the trial started, yet the young man before had managed to successfully craft pills. This kind of crafting speed was unheard of. However, after Pill Master took a second look at the pills Izroth crafted, the expression of disbelief quickly left his face and was replaced by one of disdain.
"Hmph, it’s just a failed product. Why bother putting on a front? Brat, since you’re so confident, why don’t you share with everyone here the grade of the pill you crafted?" Pill Master said with a grin.
"Failed product? That can’t be right. The medicinal scent it’s releasing is so potent. How can it be considered a failed product? Elder Pill Master, as a respected elder, I hope you won’t slander others without sufficient proof." Haishe stated firmly.
"Slander? Ha! Haishe brat, is this old man’s words not sufficient proof? Very well, then I will enlighten all of you. One can determine the grade of a pill by the faint residual aura that lingers around it. The residual aura coming off of those pills do not belong to grade two pills, but grade one pills! Tell me, am I still slandering others?!" Pill Master scowled.
"Grade one...?!" Haishe exclaimed.
How could this be? Whether it was the scent or the appearance of the pill, it was unlike any grade one pill anyone present had consumed. Some of them even thought Izroth created a miracle and crafted a grade three pill. But, Pill Master was saying the pills he crafted were actually grade one pills?
"This... Palace Master Izroth, did you really craft grade one pills?" Haishe inquired.
In the end, what use was there overthinking things? Wouldn’t it be better to confirm with the person himself?
A carefree expression formed on Izroth’s face as he said, "The pills I crafted are indeed grade one pills."
When Izroth confirmed that Pill Master was telling the truth, everyone present was taken aback.
"Palace Master Izroth, I don’t know the reason why you did not collect all the materials. But, given the skills you’ve just shown us, it should have been possible for you to create a grade two Spiraling Flames Pill as long as you have the correct ingredients and employ the right crafting method. Why did you take such an unnecessary risk?" Autumn Winds sighed disappointingly.
In truth, when she heard that Izroth was coming, Autumn Winds was excited to work with him. After all, as the owner of the Mystical Realm Palace and the player ranked first on the event leaderboards, you could barely go anywhere without his name coming up. However, his actions in the trial dungeon were too arrogant.
Based on the rumors she heard about his character, Autumn Winds was optimistic; however, it seems some rumors were indeed false.
"In life, if one is afraid to take risks, how can they ever reach the pinnacle of what they hope to accomplish?" Izroth said as he then looked over at Pill Master.
He then continued, "You said I made a failed product? What gives you the right to judge whether or not what I made counts as a failed product or not?"
Izroth grabbed the five pills hovering above the cauldron and looked toward the table’s center. There, sitting neatly in the middle, was a tray made of special jade there where one was supposed to place their pills after they finished crafting in order to be judged.
"Open your eyes and see for yourself if I, Izroth, failed." Izroth said as he placed his pills into the jade tray.