With the emergence of the Immortal pill, Jai Heiyun had easily beaten every single one of the other 39 people that were on the test.
Her single pill was better than every other pill that was created today, giving her the first rank on the test. However, it wasn't an individual test and instead one taken as a group of 20.
So, the numbers still had to be tallied up.
However, anyone who was keeping track of the numbers was already aware of who had won.
"I must congratulate you on the win this time around," the Dragon Emperor said before the result was even announced.
"Well, my alchemists might not have a lot of time and experience, but they certainly make up for it with talents," Alex said. "Besides, yours weren't that bad either. Just a few more percentages here and there, and your alchemists would have won, instead of mine."
The other kings and queens started congratulating Alex as well. Still, this was no time to be happy yet. There were still another two tests to go.
The next test included making as many pills as possible, all of which had to be above a certain standard.
Both the pill and standards were chosen by the 40 alchemists in advance, so all they had to do was make them.
Each person's pill amount and how much they had to pass was also shown, which surprised most of the people as the ones from the Southern Continent had a generally higher level that they wanted to reach.
Most of the people behind Alex spoke of how the alchemists were trying too hard and would eventually lose. Alex, Yao Ning, and Liang Shufen could only laugh internally at their reaction.
Even the weakest alchemist from the Southern Continent was planning on making Immortal-grade pills, which made sense why people would be so surprised by it.
The ones high up amongst them wanted to make better pills. Jai Heiyun wanted to make as many Saint Qi gathering pills as she could, and she wanted to make all of them with at least 85% harmony to them.
If she could do that, she would be just a small task away from reaching Level 9, which would immediately put her as one of the greatest alchemy figures when compared to the entirety of the eastern continent.
The headmaster gave the go, and thus began another test that everyone was curious to watch, but not curious to sit through.
The alchemists used the ingredients they were provided and started making pills, while the people from around the continent only watched it intently.
As the test ran, most of the ones on stage started talking amongst themselves again, occasionally looking over at the test scores that were shown in the sky.
The test was going just as expected at the start with each alchemist performing to their greatest capacity. The target for most here was around 100, but they could keep going if they wanted to.
This went on for nearly 12 hours before people started showing signs of mistakes. One of the alchemists from the Eastern Continent failed to reach his desired goal.
After that, one by one people started failing. Most of them had already crossed the threshold required for a certain level, so they were very happy despite failing.
As more and more failed, the last remaining few were no more than 5.
Alex had a lot of trust in Jai Heiyun for being able to cross the 100-pill line that was partially required for level 9. There was also the requirement of having to know 500 different Saint recipes, which she already knew by now. Even if she didn't, she could learn it in no time.
As the test was coming to an end, another person failed, leaving only 4 in the competition. When another person failed and only 4 remained, the Dragon Emperor looked toward Alex.
"I am surprised," he said.
"What for?" Alex asked.
"Your alchemists, while not the best at recognizing ingredients just yet, are quite good when it comes to pill-making," he said.
"Ah, thank you," Alex nodded.
"That girl especially, she could probably give my son a run for his money," the Dragon Emperor said.
"She is quite good, isn't she?" Alex asked with a smile.
"Why don't you marry her?" the Dragon Emperor asked. "She seems like she fits the criteria from what I've heard."
"I've already decided against her," Alex said simply. "Her beauty is not to my liking."
"Oh," the Dragon Emperor said. "Your subjects must not chide you for not having a queen as much as they did me."
"I suppose they don't," Alex said.
"Anyway, I am surprised how good your alchemists are," the Dragon Emperor said. "Still, they will lose."
Alex nodded. "They will," he said. "But this isn't the last competition, is it? There's still one more from what the Headmaster said."
"It is over after this, I'm afraid," the Dragon Emperor said. "The next test was supposed to be one where they sit around and come up with a new pill. They were asked if they wanted to go through it, but all of them refused apparently."
Alex frowned a little. "I wasn't made aware of that," he said. "No, wait a minute. If it was decided that there wouldn't be another test after this, why wasn't that relayed beforehand."
"Because I told them not to," the Dragon Emperor said and finally turned toward Alex entirely. "I know you said you didn't want to take part in the competition because you don't have any worthy opponents. So what if I was the one that took part in?"
Alex frowned for a moment. "You want to take part in the competition?" he asked.
"Why not?" the Dragon Emperor said. "I know I can beat you when it comes to making multiple pills, and you can beat me when it comes to making higher-quality pills. However, we don't yet know who is better at making new pills with interesting effects."
"Don't you want to have a competition such as that?"
Alex looked at the emperor, ever so curious about what he was planning. However, he couldn't deny that his proposition was quite fun.
"Be honest, Emperor," Alex said. "You want something out of this, don't you? And it is not to prove that you have better alchemy knowledge than me."
The Emperor chuckled. "What makes you say that?" he asked.
"You can't ask for me to help improve you and try to prove that you're better than me at the same time," Alex said. "So, what is going on?"
The Emperor smiled and looked up at the scoreboard. Another alchemist had failed, leaving just 2 more to go.
"The end of the competition is up ahead," he said. "You told me when it would be the end, you would give me an answer to my request. So, what have you decided?"
Alex stayed silent for a while, looking at the Emperor who seemed certain that he was about to get what he wanted. He could only sigh when he saw that.
"Yes," he said. "I am willing to trade with you the knowledge that allows me to make pill clouds."
