Small Conflict

The old man cleared his throat before resuming his speech.

"Mhm! I apologize to the three of you for experiencing such an inconvenience. The apprentices of the grandmasters are usually very confident and this is the first time they encountered such a thing."

"I hope you understand things from their point of view."

Albert's trio nodded in response to the old man. They didn't mind it that much as they were already used to it after being constantly tormented by the young apprentices.

"Now, I shall discuss the second assessment. For the second assessment, all of you will be allowed to roam the grand alchemy forest."

"This is the forest where the praetorian alchemist association is growing all of their alchemy ingredients. Your task is to gather your own ingredients and craft potions. Remember, only potions are allowed in the second round."

"You can craft any potion you want and the examinees will be ranked based on the grade of potion that they could craft."

"To summarize, you are tasked to find your own ingredients and create the highest grade of potion possible within the time limit of 6 hours."

"This exam will not only test your knowledge about the environment where each ingredient grows but also test your ability to remain calm under pressure."

"Any questions about the rules of the second assessment?"

The old man scanned the crowd of examinees to see if there were any questions. Seeing that everyone understood his instructions, the old man was satisfied.

"Since there are no more questions, let me take this chance to explain to you certain things about being a master alchemist."

"As you all know, master alchemists will have different statuses depending on the rank they achieve during the master alchemist examination."

"Those who achieve the top 10 will be the only ones who can achieve the diamond and platinum master alchemist rank."

"Specifically, the top 3 will be diamond ranked and the top 4 to 10 will be platinum ranked. Those within the top 50 will be gold ranked and those within the top 100 will be silver ranked. Lastly, the rest of the passers will be given the rank of bronze."

"Since there will be three assessments, each examinee will be given points based on the rank that they achieved."

"For example, during each assessment, the rank 1 examinee will receive 1 point, the rank 2 examinee will receive 2 points, and the rank 300 will receive 300 points. Basically, what rank you will get for each assessment will give you the equivalent amount of points."

"The lower your total points are after the assessment, the higher your rank will be. Are there any questions?"

The old man scanned the crowd again. Seeing that there were no more questions, he announced the start of the second assessment.

"If there are no more questions! You may begin. The staff members shall guide you towards the entrance of the grand alchemy forest"

The staff members immediately started organizing the examinees and led them toward the entrance.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the entrance of the grand alchemy forest.

He then led them inside and showed them the workshop where they could brew the potions after gathering the ingredients.

"You may craft your potions in this workshop after gathering your ingredients. Do you have questions before we officially start the assessment?"

Albert raised his hand.

"Albert Brinestine, correct? What is your question?"

"I'm just concerned, what if another alchemist bothers us while we are gathering ingredients or making our potions?"

"An excellent question! Don't worry, the Praetorian Alchemist Association has eyes inside the forest and the workshop. The troublemakers will immediately be disqualified and banned for twenty years.

The young apprentices of the grandmasters visibly paled upon hearing the words of the staff member.

They indeed had plans to bother Albert's trio but seeing that there would be dire consequences, the young apprentices were forced to drop their evil plans.

Instead, they just stared daggers at Albert's group as if saying "This is not over! You better watch yourselves!".

As a response, Albert's trio just smirked the most annoying smirk they could to piss off the young apprentices even more.

Although the three of them had impressive patience, it eventually ran out due to the constant antagonism by the young apprentices.

Veins popped on the heads of the young apprentices after seeing their annoying smirks. 

One of the young apprentices almost charged at them in anger but fortunately, he was stopped by the other young apprentices or he would have been disqualified and banned.

"Mhrmm!"

The staff member cleared his throat to stop the small conflict.

Albert's trio stopped paying attention to the young apprentices upon seeing that the assessment was about to start.

"Well then, if there are no more questions, then you may begin!"

Albert's trio immediately sprinted towards the forest after the second phase officially began.

They were used to this kind of thing since they always entered the Forest of Echoes to gather their own resources when experimenting or enhancing a certain potion. 

Of course, they were escorted by Resonance City's soldiers every time they went inside the forest.

This assessment is nothing but a piece of cake to them.

Unfortunately, the young apprentices noticed their actions and they formulated a new plan to bother them "within the rules."

The young apprentices hurriedly followed them and stuck to them like glue.

They were excitedly chuckling as they followed Albert's trio everywhere they went. They planned to steal every herb that Albert's trio was going for by "picking them first."

"Let's see how you will craft your potion once we pick the herbs first! With our knowledge, there's no way we won't know what potion you guys are trying to craft!"

The young apprentice who was leading their group muttered to himself.

Fortunately, Charles noticed it early and told Albert about the young apprentices who were following them.

"Hmm…We don't need more than three hours to complete this assessment. If they want to play games then let's play with them. Follow me! I have a plan."