Watching the first batch of people enter the competitive arena, Shiro narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze across the entire place. She wanted to check how much mana each of them had since the more mana you have, the more powerful spells you could cast.
Of course, there were exceptions but if the majority of the mana was big, the outcome should be fairly decent.
However, after a quick glance, she was left disappointed with what she had sensed. All of them had below average mana and many of them didn’t even surpass level 200. Frankly, Shiro was bored of this round already but she couldn’t show it on her face.
Once everyone was inside, Shiro put down her book and stood up.
“Attention!” She called out. Even though she was bored, she still had to do things properly.
“This examination is to determine how good you are at your field of work. Alchemists will make their best potions and pills while healers and clerics will perform their best healing skill, proficiency in healing along with any unique skills that they’ve come up with. We will be using this test to filter out the most talented few within this crowd that have come today since we’re going to be going to the country of Vrish’ Lir. Many of you might not know this but Vrish’ Lir is chosen as the next location for the system event. With how things have been going, it’s clear that the country will most likely be destroyed so this is probably your last chance at ever entering.
“There is the possibility of other Queens and dangerous factors when we leave hence why I cannot bring everyone. Even if I am powerful, protecting thousands of you while fighting Queens is a task that is very strenuous so that’s why I have to filter you out based on performance. But do not worry, even if you’re not chosen to be the final 20 that comes with me, you will still be rewarded based on your performance during this test.
“Now, the first round is simple. Show off your talent in 30 minutes.” Shiro smiled as the sound of a whistle rang out behind her with a giant hologram of a timer appearing.
Quickly getting to work, Shiro was about to sit down when she noticed a boy nervously raising his hand before putting it down again and continued to work.
She was a little curious but since he didn’t ask anything in the end, she wasn’t going to ask. She’ll see what he wanted to say later.
Sitting down, she picked up her book once more while occasionally glancing down at the arena.
However, each moment she spent looking at contestants would only cause her to sigh.
“Too inefficient…” She muttered quietly.
“Perhaps but some of these people didn’t have teachers. You have to look at what they’ve managed to accomplish rather than what they haven’t accomplished yet. I can see one of two that are rather interesting personally.” Nan Tian chuckled as Shiro glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Really? Who?” Shiro asked curiously.
“The boy at the very front of the alchemist’s area and the man at the back of the healer’s area. The boy knows that there’s only 30 minutes but the recipe he’s trying is longer than 30 minutes. I did a quick search of his background that he registered and it seems like he’s living with a younger brother and his mother. They’re not that well off but he works hard in his studies.” Nan Tian said, showing her the page on his details.
“Hm… what recipe is he trying to make?” Shiro asked.
“There’s only one that he could possibly make since he never received teaching in alchemy. He’s trying to make a mana potion based on the one we have sold since it’s the most expensive thing. He managed to scrape up enough money to buy one a month or so ago. So I guess he probably analysed the contents and tried to make a recipe for it.” Nan Tian smiled as Shiro raised her eyebrow before smiling.
“Alright, that is rather interesting indeed. I wonder how much progress he can make in just 30 minutes. What about the man? What’s interesting about him since all I can see right now is him doing acupuncture.” Shiro asked as Nan Tian turned the page to show his information.
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“He was the apprentice of a rather famous healer in China. He joined the sect after his master died but his progress has been slow. After going into a seclusion for a while, he’s finally making an appearance again so I’m curious about how much progress he’s made.” Nan Tian explained.
“Hmm… So he’s skilled in acupuncture? But is a healer not just generally better? Acupuncture needs great precision and it won’t be easy to put his skills to use during combat.” Shiro frowned.
“That’s true but the reason why he’s having slow progress was because he was focusing on the combat aspect. 30 minutes isn’t enough to demonstrate everything but keep an eye on him for a little while.” Nan Tian suggested as Shiro shrugged her shoulders.
“Fine but only because you said so ok?” Shiro replied before drinking a potion to make two cameras and a screen that showed her a good view of these two.
Setting it aside, she started to practice the new runes while occasionally glancing at the crowd while also focusing her attention on the two that Nan Tian had mentioned.
Upon reaching the 25 minute mark, Shiro had lost her interest since neither the acupuncture nor the mana potion making had made any progress.
Sighing softly, Shiro placed down her book and focused on the competition for the final 5 minutes.
As the timer ticked down, Shiro was about to prepare to call that there was 1 minute left when she noticed some interesting movement from the two that Nan Tian mentioned.
The kid had suddenly brought out a knife and cut his palm before allowing his blood to enter the potion while the man snapped his finger and brought out some wires.
Threading it through all of the needles, he performed treatment on the simulation in an instant before buffing him up with a skill of his.
“Well I’ll be damned, he can use it during combat.” Shiro smirked as Nan Tian chuckled.
“His technique and the effectiveness of his buff have certainly improved. He’s even beginning to resemble his late master now.”
“I haven’t seen his mentor but I’m more interested in what the kid did. Not sure why he put his blood in the potion but we’ll see.” Shiro smiled, standing up.
“Time is up! Record what you have done in the tablet in front of you. Those that manage to enter the next round will have a special pass attached to your registered profile and a notification will be sent to you. You may leave the arena so that the next batch of contestants can enter.” Shiro shouted out as tablets appeared on the table for them to record their results.
Watching the crowd slowly make their way out of the arena, Shiro quickly glanced at the documents submitted by the boy and the man.
The boy was called Elai and his product was a harmless mana potion that apparently had no drawbacks.
Reading the document, Shiro raised her eyebrow at what he wrote since he claimed that his blood was apparently something akin to a purifying agent that could increase the purity of potions. He’s tried it with the mana potions but it had no effect since it was as pure as it could get, however, with lower quality mana potions, he could get rid of the harmful side effects that come with a large amount of consumption.
There seemed to be a limit since right now he could only purify potions that were lower than tier 3 however, Shiro guessed that if they could cultivate this power, there’s a chance of purifying higher tier potions but she wasn’t sure how his blood worked. To get the full picture she would need to have a day to chat with him so that she could learn more.
Showing the document to Nan Tian, she flipped to the next one while new contestants entered.
The man was named Tang Fu Yuan and he had apparently achieved the feat of halting the progression of internal injuries, boosting healing factors and increasing the person’s stats so that they could fight better.
While it was good, her main focus was on the latter half of his document which claimed that there is a chance to promote their mana output and strength output to the next tier for a limited time.
“Both of them are good but they’ll need to go for a few more screening processes. They’ve just started to properly cultivate their talent so we can wait a little while unless they really show me something impressive.” Shiro smiled as Nan Tian nodded his head.
Setting the two documents aside, he started to sort through the remaining ones in the first batch while Shiro welcomed the second group of contestants.
