William waited patiently while Yuming gathered the ingredients. Soon, each material was positioned on his table.
William picked up the most important ingredient, the Iron Root, and began to inspect it. He frowned, noticing a small blemish on one side of the Root, almost invisible to the naked eye.
He raised his hand, to which Elder Tianshen walked over. "What is it, Disciple William?"
"I need a higher quality Iron Root. This one is not enough."
"Not enough?" Elder Tianshen mumbled. He looked at the blemish that William pointed out and frowned. It truly wasn't up to par, but that didn't make sense.
"Disciple Yuming, can you co over here?"
"Yes Elder." Yuming ran over from across the stage.
"Can you replace this Iron Root? It's damaged."
Yuming was confused. He looked at the Iron Root as well to find the issue, but confird Elder Tianshen's words to be true. "Right away, Elder."
He left and quickly ca back with a different Iron Root. This ti there was no problem, and William accepted it readily.
After inspecting the other ingredients, William noticed so other minor details that would affect the quality of the final pill. Again, Elder Tianshen was called over and Yuming had to replace the ingredients.
Soone must be trying to sabotage ...William thought to himself.
Yuming and Elder Tianshen were thinking the sa thing, but no one said a word. Instead, Elder Tianshen made sure to keep a closer eye on William's refinent for this portion of the competition. He would not stand to allow a talented youth to be bullied.
William was sowhat worried about soone affecting his Alchemy. If the Tier 4 pill was ruined, he would lose out on a lot of Potential Points. He didn't even have a clue who was trying to sabotage him.
It was better not to waste ti thinking about it. Elder Tianshen seed to notice sothing, so he would have to place his trust in the Elder.
William diced up the Blood Frog's Tongue into many small pieces using a blade of wind, then poured them into the cauldron with so water. The pieces floated to the top of the cauldron and remained there while the juices leaked out. It was actually quite disgusting, mostly the squelching noises it made when William prodded the at.
He took the Iron Root and poured it into a separate cauldron that he had to borrow from Yuming, then poured the salt inside. Using his Mana, William sped up the process of rusting away the Iron on the surface of the Iron Root to reveal a layer of zinc.
The Cultivators didn't have an extensive knowledge of the natural elents or the periodic table, but William had so ideas. The Iron was actually the least valuable portion of the Iron Root, and what prevented it from becoming a Tier 4 ingredient.
Below that iron shell was a thick steel root, protected by a layer of zinc that would resist the corrosion of the saltwater. Most Alchemists would probably lt down the entire Root, not knowing that the true treasure was inside.
With this, William had gained a Tier 4 Steel Root, which he placed into the other cauldron with the diced Blood Frog's Tongue and added so Mana Grass.
One he had finished, William mixed it all together with an intense fla until the ingredients were a viscuous liquid that seed extrely inedible. He condensed the ingredients into four dark red pills with two golden stars inscribed on them, and waited for the tribulation to form.
As expected, thick dark clouds gathered above, covering the ceiling of the entire Alchemy Hall. The nine nearby Alchemists already knew what was happening and quickly stabilized their cauldrons before sothing went wrong.
"This again? How many Tribulations is this kid going to summon?" a Cultivator in the seating area spoke with surprise.
"I know, right? We should give him a nickna."
"Oh yeah like Lightning Boy!"
"Uh...maybe let soone else decide."
William prepared for the Heavenly Tribulation by imdiately upgrading his Hard Skin Talent to A Rank.
———
TALENT UPGRADED
Hard Skin: (B --> A)
Next rank up: 1000PP
———
-DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE--
--UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT--
...
William had completely forgotten about the System upgrade, but this was actually a good thing since it ant he would get so new features soon.
He focused on the Heavenly Tribulation above him that was already emitting an aura at the Core Refinent Realm. William was prepared to put everything he had towards protecting himself, but he had so confidence in his Hard Skin Talent that seed to have improved a hundredfold this ti.
Elder Tianshen was truly nervous. He saw William barely survive the last set of strikes. There was no chance that William would make it through the next Tribulation. He looked at Arthur, who gave a small nod.
Elder Tianshen pulled an umbrella from his Space Ring and threw it. "Disciple William, take this!"
William was caught off guard by Elder Tianshen's sudden movent, but his reflexes allowed him to catch the umbrella.
"What is this?" he asked loudly while the Tribulation rumbled.
"Inject so Mana into it and hold it to the sky, It will help you!" Elder Tianshen summarized.
William understood imdiately. It was an artifact to assist him during the Tribulation. This was an expensive gift!
He didn't have ti to thank the Elder as the first Heavenly Lightning was coming down. He injected Mana into the umbrella, causing it to unfold. The device charged with Lightning Mana that matched William's Mana signature, but amplified the effects to be a hundred tis greater than William could possibly manage.
Even better, the Mana expenditure was extrely small. William only had 60 Mana before the Tribulation started, but at this rate he would only spend half of it by the ti the Tribulation was over!
The first Lightning bolt landed on the umbrella artifact, scattering into many tiny sparks. The sparks bypassed the artifact, but were stopped by William's Hard Skin with no difficulty.
William's eyes glead. He beca a bit greedy for the artifact, but ntally restrained himself since Elder Tianshen had been good to him so far. William defended against the remaining two strikes without an issue, even though the third strike was at the peak of the Core Formation Realm.
The clouds subsided for the third ti since the beginning of the competition, and William returned the artifact to Elder Tianshen with a grateful smile. If not for the artifact's help, William probably would have had to reveal so of his secrets to survive the Tribulation.
"Thank you Elder, this was a huge help." William bowed respectfully.
Elder Tianshen nodded. "You're very lucky the judges allowed to help you. That being said, we will still be reducing your final score by 20 points.
Let see those pills so we can evaluate them."
William nodded and handed over the four Iron Stomach Pills. Elder Arthur and the others inspected the pills closely and didn't find any issues.
Elder Arthur announced the results. "Your initial score would be 100 points. Minus 20 for receiving help during the Tribulation, but plus 6 for refining 3 extra Tier 4 pills. An additional 10 for refining a pill one Tier above the requirent.
Your total score is 96 points!"
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