"Well, I still think our s.h.i.+ Meng ranks above all of those seniors. Who can beat him in talent! Hmph"

"Don't say that loudly. Fans and followers of seniors Wu Cheng are everywhere. Do you know how difficult it is to master the whole herbology galore? Senior is one of the few who smashed his way into the top."

"I have heard that he doesn't even have a xenon, but still there is no one who can beat him in the art of alchemy. He even managed to forge a successful pill in fifty attempts. The academy head instructor can only forge a successful pill for every 3 attempts and he is already at the pinnacle. Our senior has barely started and he already is so far ahead."

"Never mind all that will we even be able to clear the preliminary testing. Remembering 5000 herbal plants, their names, traits, handling and properties is not a simple task."

"We have been working hard since we joined the academy .. still .. I am nervous as well"

"Ya .. me too.."

"At the least we stand a chance, but that country b.u.mpkin Eluraa! Why is she even accompanying us? Shouldn't she just focus on combat training. That seems to be all she can do!"

"Hey Reina.. you are the big shot here.. your father is a well-known alchemist and even 5 percent of the royal orders are filled by your father's guild. Remember to help us later!"

The students were all excitedly discussing and gossiping on their way to the blood academy's herb garden. In order to learn the secondary occupation alchemy, students needed to first clear the herbology exams. The success rate of forging a pill and concocting a potion is extremely low.

Hence it is extremely important to understand the diverse herbs thoroughly and memorise every single aspect about them. Knowing which herb has a cooling nature and which herb has a volcanic nature and when to add them in the process of pill forging will make all the difference in both the quality and quant.i.ty of the final products.

Alchemy preliminary exams not only test the mental ac.u.men of students but also their concentration. It is a fifteen hours long test, in which each and every detail, about every other herb is completely questioned.

Then the students are allowed in the herb garden with an hour of allotted time. They need to traverse and examine thoroughly the million-acre garden. And at the end of an hour, the student is graded on the quant.i.ty and quality of herbs they had acquired. They also need to use the appropriate storage techniques for each herb and submit with them a sheet of description.

If they think this is c.u.mbersome, they are completely not suited for alchemy. Forging a pill requires much more patience, attention to detail, hard work and practice. And it also helps if you are a money bags. The more materials you get to practice and the more you practice, the better will be your results.

Of course, there are others like Wu Cheng, who is three years elder to this batch of students. He was born with the raw natural talent and is able to intuitively perform better at alchemy. He was the academy alchemy instructors' priced possession, crown jewel and darling disciple.

He didn't want to have to focus his attention on anyone else. "If I could nurture this genius and help him with the best of my abilities, he would definitely be the first person to attain 100 percent success rate, even if it is in the basic stage 0 pill forging". Following his thought process, he even set the exam this year extremely difficult.

s.h.i.+ Meng and Jian Tan were not really interested in alchemy and were just observing the general atmosphere. Even if they were not interested, they still wanted to know more about all the pills and potions available and how useful they were. Having and using the right potion, when in time of need, during a long and drawn out battle, is often the difference between life and death.

Contrary to all these nervous students, Eluraa was actually pretty confident about the preliminary test. With her mental strength, it was child's play for her to memorise all the herbs and their traits. She was more nervous about the actual test in itself.

Unlike all these students, she had never watched anyone forge a pill or even looked at a basic recipe before. These were all heavily guarded secrets and only if you have connections in the right places, you will have any exposure to these beforehand. The other way is to pa.s.s the official tests and become an alchemy profession disciple.

Only ten out of the batch of twenty-five students partic.i.p.ated in the preliminary exams. The rest were all eagerly watching and wagering on the results.