Twenty cauldrons and a basket of medical ingredients were arranged before all twenty participants who were sitting on the floor in a cross-legged position.
Almost all were surprised seeing a basket of medical ingredients kept before them, wondering if they were supposed to make dozens of pills or something since there was no need for so many ingredients to concoct a single pill.
Some got worried thinking whether they were supposed to concoct a new kind of pill where these many medical ingredients were required. But even after going through all the medical ingredients kept inside, they couldn't make heads or tails about what kind of pill they should concoct.
Even Maximus had his brows furrowed as he examined each of the medical ingredients.
The head alchemist continued, "After a lot of discussion after the results of the written round, we decided to have a single round and ask you all to concoct a pill which would suit Her Highness, Princess Yuria the most."
These words surprised all the twenty participants, firing up most of them, even more, determined to win Yuria's hand in marriage, thinking that this was the trial they had to pass.
All twenty here were either the best noble geniuses or prodigies from ancient sects. So how could they not resist the idea of gaining a top-notch powerful beauty as their wife?
Even Maximus felt a new wave of hope, thinking that Yuria might have changed her mind. But then again, he thought she could be doing this to find out what her lover might concoct.
However, Yuria was the most surprised of all and looked at her father with a confused look.
King Krisen only had a poker expression on his face and, seeing that Yuria understood that her sly father had purposefully done this so that she or her father could pick the winner. After all, the first prize rewards offered were too precious to be simply given away to some random person.
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But King Krisen expected Damien to be here when he conveyed the instructions thinking that he could easily pick Damien and get it over with.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})However, now that he was not here, he decided to let his daughter choose or make a pick according to one who concocted the most suitable pill for his daughter.
"So we can concoct any pill we like based on the given ingredients?" One of the participants questioned as he raised his hand.
The head alchemist nodded, "Yes. With the amount and variety of medical ingredients we have given you, there are more than a hundred varieties of pills you all could concoct. So it is up to you all to win Her Highness' appreciation and fret not, she is an exceptionally talented alchemist herself. So nothing would go unnoticed. This is the only way we could make sure everyone has a fair chance, and simply cultivation won't be the factor for winning. Everyone can begin, and this round will end in 1 hour."
Kale frowned since he was betting on his cultivation to win this competition. But now that the factors for winning looked quite ambiguous, he had no idea how to go about this or what to concoct to impress the princess.
He regretted not researching more about the princess' likes and dislikes, but instead, he was busy training the whole day.
Maximus felt the most confident since he had an idea about her likes and dislikes after interacting with her for the past seven years.
Damien, who was controlling Tristen, already began to put his hand into the basket to sort out the ingredients while others were busy thinking.
Yuria was confused about whom she should pick or whether she should pick the one who concocted a pill she liked since Damien wasn't here and her father left it all in her hands.
She continued to observe Tristen and saw him beginning to concoct a pill while most of the others were thinking. She didn't dare to think that Tristen was Damien since that would be too absurd and ridiculous.
Instead, she wondered if Tristen was here as Damien's messenger or something because Damien wasn't able to make it here for some reason.
Maximus was the next one to start and was completely focused on what he was doing and didn't look at others to see what they were concocting.
Kale decided to play the wait and see game to see what the others were concocting and see whether he should concoct the same as well but better if it seemed suitable for Yuria's liking.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})He especially took note of what kind of pill Maximus was about to concoct.
Finally, after a lot of brainstorming, everyone started to prepare to concoct their pills. These geniuses never expected the competition to be this tough. If they at least had a target pill to concoct, no matter how difficult, they would still have been able to do something.
But now, they were concocting pills without having any idea if the princess would like them or not.
Yuria felt a bit embarrassed seeing everyone trying their best to concoct pills of her liking without having a clear idea.
She couldn't help give a few stares in her father's direction since he made these surprise rules.
She also asked her father where Damien was, but he said that he had no idea and that she shouldn't worry.
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The audience keenly watched all these geniuses concocting pills while noting down some observations to better themselves.
After all, it was not every day they get to see the best alchemy geniuses in action and, in fact, could learn a lot by just observing them.
Most were cheering for Maximus and felt that he had the highest chance to win.
Damien finished first and on his palm was a pale silver pill that he looked at with pride since this was the first time he concocted it.
"Everyone, please stop. The time is up!" The head alchemist said in a loud voice.
