Stella ignored the examiner's words to start—her focus was entirely on the Qi Flowing Grass presented to her. She picked it up, and after spending a moment to check, she let out a small sigh of relief behind her mask.
"It's not one of yours, Tree," Stella said mentally, "Although I almost thought it was, thankfully, there are still some impurities in here, so there's no way it can be yours."
"That's a relief. I thought Elder Margret had let my plants enter circulation for a second, which would have been terrible news as it would mean she somehow stole from the cavern and betrayed me."
"You didn't want her to distribute the plants for the tournament?" Stella asked.
"No, at least not yet. Because the plants are too perfect, their use in a tournament like this is questionable." Ashlock mused, "Also, now that I understand their value, the other families may get suspicious if the Redclaws start handing out perfect Qi Flowing Grass for use by novices in a tournament."
"I see," Stella muttered as she inspected the Qi Flowing Grass in her hand. Seeing the grin on the examiner's face made Stella grind her teeth behind the mask. Deciding enough was enough, she held up the near-perfect Qi Flowing Grass and glared at Kassandra Skyrend behind her.
"I didn't know the lofty Skyrend family would need to stoop so low to protect their fragile egos to the point of bribing the examiners and tampering with the ingredients," Stella said with calm fury, "How much did you even pay for this near perfect Qi Flowing Grass? Was it all the allowance Daddy gave you?"
Kassandra's eye twitched, "Those are bold accusations, Roselyn. What evidence do you have that I have done such things? And you should stop wasting time accusing me. Time is ticking, after all."
Stella reigned in her anger and focused on the task as Kassandra wasn't wrong. Time was ticking, and if not for the Mind Fortress pill helping numb her mind, she would be unable to concentrate, knowing that Kassandra was staring at her back with amusement.
"Are there enough impurities in that grass to pass the test?" Ashlock's voice helped Stella drown out the rest of the room and find a solution.
She could throw her hands up and call them out on their bullshit, but that would feel less satisfying than beating them at their own game.
"No, even if I removed every last one, it doesn't have enough, assuming the number of impurities Roderick Terraforge removed is the passing mark."
"Have you got a plan?"
"I think so," Stella's eyes briefly flickered to the bowls of impurity-riddled Qi Flowing Grass right in front of her, just an arm's reach away and under the noses of the examiners.
The way I remove impurities may not be as fast as void Qi or flashy as lightning, but I have one massive advantage—I can remove impurities from afar with spatial Qi.
"Tree, I plan to steal a few impurities from each of the other Qi Flowing Grass bundles on the table," Stella said mentally, "Could you flood this area with spatial Qi for me?"
"Just around the table?" Ashlock asked, "Or do you want the whole room suffocating in my Qi?"
Stella glanced up and locked eyes with the examiner while mentally replying to Ash, "Encompass the table and the examiners. Filling the entire room would be overkill and unrealistic."
"Got it," Ashlock replied, and just as the examiner was returning a slightly confused expression due to her staring at him, the area around Stella exploded with spatial Qi so pure and dense that it was almost suffocating even for Stella.
All three examiners stumbled back to avoid being killed by the Star Core Qi that was far too dense for any normal human. The grey-haired man furrowed his brows as he glared at Stella, "What is the meaning of this?"
"For you to present me with such a high-quality ingredient, it would be an insult to the art of alchemy for me not to go all out," Stella tilted her head, her grin obscured by the cloth mask, "Wouldn't you agree, examiner?"
The grey-haired man gulped and nodded slowly. It was clear to Stella that the man was unsure what to do in this situation, and she relished in it briefly before getting back to work as a few minutes had already been wasted.
A minute was spent trying to remove a few impurities from the already purified Qi Flowing Grass in her hand. This was done for the sole reason of deliberately leaving a slight trace of spatial Qi in the grass so if anyone checked, they could confirm she had retrieved the impurities from this plant.
Slowly specks of impurities formed next to the grass in the bowl under the scrutiny of the examiners.
Stella kept her eyes closed to not show any signs of losing concentration as she switched her focus to an impurity-rich Qi Flowing Grass in another bowl nearby.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as she very carefully made use of the incredibly pure and dense spatial Qi all around her from Ash to obscure her retrieval of impurities.
A tiny rift popped into existence over the impurities pile and deposited some impurities that had come from another Qi Flowing Grass bundle—the examiners seemed non the wiser as this had been the exact same process as before. And they had no way to spiritually check for the anchor point of the portal as it was hidden under the shroud of Ash's Qi.
Stella held back a smirk as she moved on to the next Qi Flowing Grass, removing only a minimal amount from each and leaving no trace of spatial Qi behind to avoid suspicion.
As time passed and Stella felt the end of her ten minutes approaching, she felt the Mind Fortress pill begin to wear away. The mental strain of performing alchemy without even having physical touch on the ingredient was so draining that Stella only managed to remove a minuscule amount, even with cheating.
As the examiner spoke up, the pile was only about the size of Roderick Terraforge.
"Time's up. Please pull in your Qi and gather all the impurities into the bowl so I may verify its amount."
Stella felt Ashlock release his hold on the Qi and let it disperse into the room. The examiner leaned forward to inspect the small pile of impurities, and Stella saw a flash of surprise on his face before he quickly put back on his act.
Kassandra also walked over and loomed behind Stella, clearly interested in the contents of the bowl. Kane Azurecrest and Roderick Terraforge remained seated on the lounge chairs, with only Roderick showing a hint of interest in her results.
Tsk, this Skyrend bitch doesn't even care about being so obvious. Is her family name giving her the arrogance to cheat in the tournament this blatantly? Actually... even if they killed a Redclaw, nothing much would be done about it, so compared to that, what is cheating in a random tournament run by a 'lesser' family?
Stella smiled behind the mask. Of course, that would have been true with the old Redclaws, but now that the Ashfallen sect is in charge, none of these bastards will be repeating their mistakes.
"Ahem," The grey haired examiner grinned as he put down a bowl with traces of mud and a pile of impurities next to Stellas, "Even with a quick glance, it's clear that you have slightly less impurities than Roderick, who I gave a barely passing grade to."
"Well, we all know what that means," Kassandra smirked, "The infamous Roselyn that dared challenge the Skyrend family was the only noble unable to pass the preliminary round! Isn't that right examiner?"
Stella stayed silent as the examiner nodded to Kassandra, "That is correct. She is just slightly below the pass threshold. Therefore Roselyn failed."
Kassandra burst out laughing, "Your just a pretty face that deserves to be chained outside our doorstep. To think you, a nameless cultivator hired by the Redclaw dogs, dared to humiliate us and thought you could get away with it—"
"What's this then?" Stella reached forward and calmly pushed the bundle of near-perfect Qi Flowing Grass to the side of the bowl, exposing another small pile of impurities underneath that had been obscured from sight by the grass.
"In your own words, examiner, I was to 'gather all the impurities into the bowl,' which I have done," Stella said and enjoyed seeing the examiner frown and Kassandra's eye twitch.
"It's not my fault you rushed to conclusions without verifying all of the impurities in the bowl," Stella said as she reached forward and, with her finger, pushed the two piles together to form one taller and wider than Rodericks. In fact, it would even be clear to a blind bat that Stella had gathered more impurities.
There was an awkward silence as the examiner and Kassandra seemed to communicate with one another via irritated facial expressions.
Stella chuckled, "It's a shame you set the bar so low so you could pass Roderick."
"You cheated," The examiner said hesitantly, "You had to have gotten the impurities from somewhere else. Did you bring them in with you? Hidden in your clothes or perhaps your spatial ring?"
Stella raised a brow, "Even if I did, how are you so sure? Are you suggesting there wasn't this amount of impurities in the Qi Flowing Grass you provided me with?"
"Yes!"
"No, you idiot—" Kassandra tried to interrupt the man, but Stella had already gotten him to admit what she wanted.
"So if what you say is true, then the Qi Flowing Grass you provided me didn't contain enough impurities to give me a chance to pass the test." Stella crossed her arms and enjoyed the despair on the man's face, "Therefore, it was rigged from the start."
To Stella's surprise, the examiner nervously doubled down, "Ahem, even if I admit that you still cheated somehow and I can disqualify you."
"But then I will report you to the academy, and you will be fired..." Stella retorted and didn't like the crazed look in the man's eyes.
"Guess we are both going down then," The man grinned and tapped his parchment, "I disqualify you for cheating—that will be all. The test is over."
Stella was speechless at this man's shamelessness. Was there no honor left in this world? No integrity?
"I deposited Elder Margret in a nearby corridor via a portal. She will arrive any second."
Stella perked up behind her mask as the door abruptly opened behind her. She didn't even turn to look at the new arrival and instead enjoyed the examiner and Kassandra's brief expressions of pure annoyance.
"Elder Margret, how may I assist you?" The examiner said with a pleasant smile that made Stella's skin crawl.
"I just came to check up on the test to ensure everything is running smoothly," Elder Margret stopped next to Stella, "How are the results thus far?"
"Everyone except Roselyn here has already passed," The examiner calmly explained, "We were just verifying her results and have suspicions that she cheated."
Stella smirked behind her mask as Elder Margret raised a brow, "Oh? How do you believe she has cheated? That's a very grave accusation to make against a noble."
"She's not a noble," Kassandra muttered, which earned her a harsh look from Elder Margret.
"You mean she isn't a noble that you know about," Elder Margret retorted, "I would keep your thoughts to yourself or risk earning the ire of someone you can't offend."
Kassandra snorted, "Yeah right, as if that person exists."
Elder Margret ignored Kassandra and turned back to the examiner, "So? How did she cheat?"
"Well..." The grey-haired man scratched the back of his neck, "I believe she obtained impurities from somewhere else."
"Interesting. Is this hers?" Elder Margret pointed to the bowl with bits of mud caking the bowl.
"No, that is Roderick Terraforge's," The examiner stated, "This is her bowl."
"Perfect, so neither has an awe-inspiring amount of impurities, but Roselyn's clearly has more, so she should pass on the volume collect alone. However, you claim she sourced them from somewhere else?" Elder Margret mused as she picked up the Qi Flowing Grass from Stella's bowl and closed her eyes.
A moment later, after Kassandra and the examiner exchanged a glance, Elder Margret opened her eyes with a frown, "This Qi Flowing Grass has had almost all of the impurities removed, and I detect some spatial Qi left over within the grass. Therefore, Roselyn either lost impurities, or this Qi Flowing Grass was of far too high purity for this test to begin with. So which one is it?"
The examiner cycled through contemplation and despair before finally giving up.
"Elder Margret, your words of wisdom have opened my eyes to this confused situation. I was unaware of the Qi Flowing Grass's purity and therefore made an almost terrible mistake," The examiner bowed deeply to the point his nose touched the table, "I hope you can forgive my foolishness."
"So you agree she passes the test?" Elder Margret asked, and the examiner nodded, hitting his forehead against the table, "I do."
"What about you two?" Elder Margret sternly asked the two assistant examiners, "Do you agree?"
They glanced at one another and nodded, "We were just following the chief examiner's guidance."
You're both rats working for the Skyrend family with no backbone, is what you mean to say. Stella resisted rolling her eyes. These people were beyond infuriating to the point she felt her hands itching to shove a dagger in their faces.
"Well then, that solves this minor issue. Congratulations, Roselyn, you and all the other nobles have been cleared to participate in the main event tomorrow," Elder Margret said as she turned to leave, "And you three examiners, I will be putting a word in about your performance today with the academy."
And with those parting words, she left the room under the gazes of Kassandra, Roderick, and the three examiners. Kane Azurecrest didn't seem bothered by anything happening and mostly sat silently, looking at the floor.
"Fine, you win this round, but let's see if you can also cheat in the finals," Kassandra sneered as she left the room alongside Roderick, who shot her a scowl.
Stella ignored them and turned to the examiners, who all backed up a step under her glare. She debated saying something but held back with all her might and silently left, passing Kane on the way out.
The guard gave her a nod, but she didn't return it as she was too preoccupied with manifesting a portal to escape the Colosseum's grounds. Stepping out into a nearby alleyway with piles of trash, she let out a sigh.
"I'm surprised you didn't try to kill them," Ashlock chuckled, "You from just a month ago would be calling for their slaughter."
Stella leaned against a nearby wall and clutched her hair in her hands, "What can I say? I've grown up and learned to tolerate annoying people."
"Mhm, I guess you have. Are you alright? You seem exhausted."
Stella massaged her forehead, "The Mind Fortress pill's effects have worn off, and I'm in a terrible mood. Could you retract your telepathy, Ash?"
"Sure. Do you need a portal back to Red Vine Peak?"
"No thanks. Since I am already here, I will walk around the city to clear my thoughts."
"Alright, see you later."
Stella felt Ash's presence withdraw and finally felt the pressure on her soul subside. Performing alchemy in such an advanced and stressful way had worn down her mind, and she needed to relax.
Exiting the alleyway, she began walking in a random direction.
The stroll was supposed to be a peaceful one, but with every step, her anger only grew. She knew it was childish to give in to her rage, and she didn't want to become one of those young mistresses that killed anyone that offended them, but in this instance, she felt justified.
"Psst, Maple." She whispered as she stepped into a nearby alleyway and distorted her voice with spatial Qi. A second later, she felt some weight on her head, and reaching up, she felt a fluffy paw grasp it.
After giving some head rubs, Stella requested in a low voice, hoping Ash wouldn't hear her, "Maple, if you can kill those three examiners, I will buy you some acorns. They were nasty people working for a lady who wanted me chained up like a dog."
Maple tapped her forehead with his paw and then vanished in a bubble of void Qi, leaving Stella alone in the alleyway.
A smile spread across her lips as she exited the alleyway and hummed a happy tune to herself, "Now, where do I find some lovely roasted acorns."
