.
The colosseum, along with the stands, had separate rooms for watching the matches in private.
These rooms were mainly dedicated to VIPs, who preferred their own space to watch in peace without being disturbed by the crowd.
Usually, as these rooms were limited in number, they ended up being shared by multiple individuals, after all, there was no lack of space inside, and many VIPs ca with acquaintances or business partners.
At this mont, in one of these rooms, an elderly man, not taller than 180 cm, with a slim build and a composed appearance, dressed modestly, was watching the match in silence while stroking his long white beard.
He was comfortably seated in a single armchair, as a waitress served him a cup of hot green tea.
He nodded to her, took the cup, and sipped it calmly.
"This year, there are certainly many high-level talents," he thought, recalling each of their performances, both from the novice category and that of the experts.
"Especially that Nuyu, I can say that he hasn't played all his cards yet," he pondered as he contemplated everything he had been told about Ethan.
He was one of the two grandmaster-level alchemists of the Alchemists' Association, and this year, he was the one representing it in the tournant.
His colleague had done so the previous year, so now it was his turn.
Personally, he would have preferred not to participate at all.
In previous years when he participated, there was rarely anyone skilled enough to capture his attention, so he expected to be disappointed this year as well, yet against all his expectations, he found several rather skilled individuals this year.
Among all, the one who stood out the most was undoubtedly the boy with the mask.
He was certain he had never heard of an individual like that, so he initially thought it was an expert disguised, but upon reconsidering his age, which was under 100, he had to rethink his assumptions.
He couldn't understand how soone so young was already at the level of the most talented grandmaster alchemists.
And if his guess wasn't wrong, then perhaps he was even a notch above them.
He intended to see if he would give a better performance than the previous one this ti.
Already producing that level 2 mid-grade pill was a feat, one that even he could not claim to produce with 100% success, and if he pulled off sothing even more astonishing, then he had considered taking him under his wing.
"Let see what other cards you have," he murmured as he waited for the competition to begin.
It had been a long ti since he had accepted a disciple, due to his exceedingly high standards.
Ethan and two other participants this year were the only ones who had proven themselves skilled enough, and he intended to ask the best among them if they wanted to be his disciple.
He expected to see a great battle, but what he saw next was sothing he would never have expected to witness.
Sothing that made even a person like him lose his composure.
***
The judge, just after finishing the previous match, looked towards the participants and then officially began the match.
As soon as the signal was given, the flas under the cauldron of almost everyone ignited, as each hurriedly pulled out a series of materials.
Clearly, all of them had a clear idea of the pill they wanted to produce, so none of them wasted ti.
This was, of course, expected, but what no one anticipated was to see the masked boy also preparing his items.
"Well, maybe he doesn't want to risk losing this match," said one of the spectators.
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised, after all, this match is different from the previous one, and all his rivals are people who know their stuff," said another.
Many speculated on why this ti the masked boy had decided to take the situation a bit more seriously, but most thought he was afraid of losing.
The judges, too, upon seeing this scene, were a bit surprised, but unlike the spectators, they were relieved that this ti Ethan was taking the competition more seriously.
They thought his excessive confidence might have caused him to make a mistake and lose.
Seeing such a talent lose for such a trivial reason would be too hard to bear for even them.
That said, it didn't take long for them to notice sothing.
"It seems he has also decided to use the Qi manifestation," said one of them.
"It's not just that, look, at the materials he's taken out," said another next to him.
At his colleague's words, the judge shifted his gaze to the materials Ethan was pulling out and wondered for a mont if the other wanted him to guess the pill he might be trying to produce.
But then he reconsidered.
By now, they all knew that the masked boy could be unpredictable, and trying to guess what pill he was aiming to produce was pointless.
But then, just as he was diverting his attention from the masked boy's refining materials, he noticed sothing.
"Hm? That root looks familiar," he thought, trying to identify the material.
For them, all grandmaster alchemists, recognizing ingredients was child's play.
Practically anyone at their level knew by heart a good portion of the ingredients used in alchemy.
And indeed, it didn't take him long to realize what material that root was.
"Wait, that's the root of a Blood flower?!"
He nearly stood up as he recognized the material.
He could tell that it was the root of a Blood flower, a very rare herb, difficult to find, and even more so expensive to cultivate, as it required a lot of ti and effort, and even then the result would often be so other herb.
The price of that material was not low at all, and only beings at his level could afford to buy it, always assuming they had the chance to do so, but for him, the surprises didn't end there.
Not for him, nor for his fellow alchemists.
They had also noticed that ingredient, and just like their colleague, they were shocked by the fact that the other side wanted to use such an herb.
There were many reasons to be astonished, but the main one was that although this herb could be very useful in producing many high-level pills, it was more common to use one of its petals or just a small part of it.
Cutting its root was like cutting off the possibility of using that sanguine flower for producing another one, sothing no one would do given the rarity of the material.
But now they were seeing soone who seed to have exactly the intention of doing so.
If it were up to them, they would have rushed to stop him, but they knew they couldn't do that.
Ethan was using his personal materials and had not violated any rules, so none of them could intervene;
they could only watch from the sidelines.
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