Lucid dreams potion was just a standard two-star level potion. However, it contained several intricate, complex steps to brew it without the cauldron exploding on an alchemist's face. Rich noble kids consumed this potion as a kind of drug to have a dream of their desire.

Elmer noticed three batches of ingredients materializing on his table. Each batch contained one sprinkle of Sweet Aniseed, one tablespoon of Snowy Clove, six bits of Sun Shiso, four teaspoons of Winter Seed, and one cup of Knot Petal.

"Piece of cake," Leilan snickered. As the last disciple of Gabriel, he could brew such a simple potion in his sleep. Every challenge Leilan tackled boosted his confidence to another level. In Leilan's excitement, he failed to notice Elmer's strange, amused smile. The smile disappeared as fast as it appeared.

"Beat the Sweet Aniseed as you'd do with your enemies and put the result in a container," Leilan mumbled under his breath. He didn't even look at the recipe scroll.

"Add a sprinkle of liquid ice to turn it into messy water, then add the Snowy Clove all at once and make sure you don't leave any remnants," Leilan continued to work his magic on the ingredients. Despite being a clone, Jennifer was extremely well-versed in alchemy. She was slower than Leilan but so much faster than Elmer.

"Fill the cauldron with unsalted seawater, add the mixture and bring it to a boil, freeze it, and bring it to a simmer. Let it reduce by half before adding the Sun Shiso and Winter Seed, mix both together first, then add all at once,"

While Leilan was brewing the potion, a tinge of sorrow rose in Olivia's heart. A year ago, she was beside Ghost, her teacher, and watched the competition. She still couldn't believe her teacher was the Dark Lord the entire world was afraid of. When she thought about Ghost, she had nothing but pleasant memories. Without him, she couldn't have reached her current state.

Every day, she asked herself whether he really helped her or used her for his own benefit. Unlike Ricky, she couldn't drop everything and follow the Dark Lord to be a criminal wanted for the rest of her life.

For some strange reason, she felt Ghost was watching her from somewhere in this arena. But she quickly dispelled the feelings as the arena was protected with all kinds of defense arrays and runes. It was impossible for the Dark Lord to step into the arena. Little did she know that the Dark Lord was in the arena and closer to her than she thought.

"Are you alright, Miss Palmer? You look a bit worried," asked Hendrix Gardner. He was the six-star alchemist who almost lost his life to the vampires. The reason he was sitting here alive was Michael. Unlike Gabriel, Michael did not want Hendrix dead.

"Nothing," Olivia shook her head.

"You remembered him, didn't you?" Hendrix surprised Olivia with his question.

"No, Lord Hendrix. Why would you say that?" Olivia creased her brows.

Hendrix leaned closer to her,

"Friendly piece of advice. Every coin has two sides," Hendrix whispered to Olivia. For a moment, she almost doubted Hendrix to be one of the Dark Lord's minions. Even if he was, Olivia had no way of knowing. But this was the first time anyone had talked about the Dark Lord without fear in their eyes.

In the meantime, Leilan completed half of the process. The wide grin on his face told everything.

"Reheat what by now is a foul liquid, mix in the Knot Petal, and let everything rest for fifteen minutes. You could do something else in the meantime, like laughing at how pathetic the rest of them are," Leilan laughed at Jennifer and Elmer, who hadn't even finished refining the ingredients.

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Two hours flew by in a blink of an eye. As expected, Leilan had the highest purity rate, followed by Jennifer and another new alchemist. Elmer placed sixth in the ranking. He barely avoided elimination by purity. After the results, the second day of the competition ended. The judges dismissed the alchemists. Most of them stayed in the building. Instead of staying in the room allocated to him, Elmer went outside. When she stepped out, he met a silver-haired elf surrounded by knights. The elf was at the Soul Refining stage and radiated an aura of a born leader.

"There he is. Took you long enough Elmer," the elf greeted Elmer with a stoic face.

"Lord Hamon," Elmer bowed deeply, showing his respect.

"You still in the competition?" Hamon tilted his head. He was an Elder in the Genric family and the man who brought Elmer to the family.

"Apparently," Elmer said.

"Brother Elmer," suddenly, two elven kids jumped out of the carriage behind Hamon. They were twins. One was a silver-haired boy, and another was a golden-haired girl. They were just seven years old who loved to play with almost anyone.

"Voron and Eva?" Elmer was surprised by the kids. Usually, these two wouldn't leave the family compound for security reasons.

The kids hugged each of Elmer's thighs as Hamon sighed.

"I have an important task for you, Elmer. You need to get them to Genric family safe house,"

"Did you win brother Elmer?"

"Nah he lost,"

The kids played with Elmer,

"Why me?" Elmer asked Hamon.

"Because I said so, and I must be somewhere else," said Hamon.

"You expect me to ride in the carriage with them?"

"Yes. We cannot fly until we cross the border, remember?"

Looking at Elmer's worried face, Hamon patted him on the shoulder.

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"Quit worrying. My guards will be with you all the time. Just take a quick nap inside, and when you wake up, you'll be at the manor,"

"It's not like I have a choice," Elmer rolled his eyes,

"Come on kids. Get inside," Elmer pulled the two kids away from his legs by their collars.

"That's the spirit," Hamon patted Elmer on the back as Elmer opened the carriage door for the kids.

"I will see you soon, Lord Hamon," Elmer bowed before getting inside the carriage with the kids. Hamon signaled a couple of his men to get on the carriage. Inside the carriage, Elmer sat in silence without indulging the twins in their silly games. The carriage slowly moved away from the arena, leaving Hamon and his men behind. Something felt off to Elmer. The twins were the heir of Genric family, yet Hamon only sent two guards with them. However, a bigger party might attract unwanted attraction. No one would bother to think twice about a carriage with two Soul Refiners in the Awor continent. When Elmer thought like that, Hamon's actions made sense. Elmer looked at the sky from the window. The sky was unusually cloudy as though heavy rain was due. He hoped to reach the manor before the rain.

"Brother Elmer, come play with us," said Voron. He climbed on Elmer's back and played with his pointy ears. Since they were kids, their ears were not as pointy as Elmer's.

"Instead of playing, why don't you two meditate? It's good for both your brains and souls," said Elmer. The kids shook their heads as Elmer expected. He let them do whatever they wanted and focused on the buzzling streets. As time passed, they exited the street. The lush green field was in stark contrast to the busy streets of Mvarion. Soon, the field extended into lush forest. Everything became dark after they entered the woods.

The forest was small, thick, and blooming. Its canopy was eclipsed by alder, larch, and ash, and twinkling lights bursting through their crowns allowed for a mosaic of shrubs to claim the brittle leaves on the ground below.

Swooping tree limbs held onto every tree, and a range of flowers clung to any space they could find and looked almost out of place in the otherwise mundane terrain. A cacophony of beastly noises, predominantly those of insects and critters, filled the air, and were accompanied by the occasional sounds of large animals in the distance.

Elmer savored the sight and silence outside. He trained himself to ignore the two annoying kids and focus on something else. For example, the elven rune in the Genric family underground vault. This particular elven rune favored the fire element. Thus, anyone who wields the rune would gain an unimaginable amount of increase in fire manipulation, which was crucial to every single alchemist.

The Genric family had been protecting the rune for centuries. Only the core family members had access to this rune. Winning the alchemy competition was one way of getting access to the rune. That was one of the reasons why Elmer decided to compete in the competition. As Elmer was focusing on the passing trees, his ears twitched.

"Do that again," Eva shouted excitedly.

Elmer heard rustling wind and a strange howling sound.

"Did you hear that?" Elmer heard the guards outside murmur.

"I think we've been followed," said another guard. The two kids were too busy playing with Elmer's ears to hear the guards.

"How far are we from the border?" asked a guard.

"Not very far," said the marriage driver. Elmer realized something was wrong. He creased his brows.

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"You two," Elmer grabbed the kids by their necks as though they were his kittens.

"Stay here," said Elmer.

"Are we going to play hide and seek?" asked the boy.

"Kinda,"

Soon, the carriage sped up. As a result, the carriage bobbed up and down. The ride became extremely uncomfortable. Elmer grabbed his seat tight to balance himself.

"We are being followed. I see figures in the woods," said a guard. His voice had a tinge of panic. Suddenly, Elmer heard a thud.

"Hey-" another cry resonated in the area but was cut short abruptly.

Elmer felt the carriage slowly coming to a halt.

"Why are we stopping?" asked Eva.

"Aren't we playing hide and seek?" asked Elmer.

"Really?" the kids' faces lit up. They had been nagging Elmer to play with them since they first met. So when Elmer agreed to play, they were so excited.

"Yes. I am going to close my eyes, and you are going to hide within this carriage,"

"Aww. where do we hide in here?" Eva complained.

"I don't know, but that's the rule. To make it a fair game, I will step outside," said Elmer. Having no choice, the kids nodded.

Finally, Elmer opened the door and stepped outside the carriage. They were in the middle of nowhere. When Elmer walked to the front, he saw an arrow sticking through the driver's head.

The very next moment, several figures dressed in dark armor stepped out of the shadows. Each of them was at the Soul refining stage level 5. Elmer counted at least twelve of them standing around him.

"The kids inside?" one of the dark-armored figures asked Elmer.

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"Hand them over to us, and we will kill you painlessly," the figure threatened Elmer.

(Michael will make his appearance in the . Stay tuned)