The time it took for the sand in the hourglass to run out wasn’t enough for these alchemists to create a perfect Fifth Level Top Tier pill. However, the closer they got to perfection, the greater their chances of victory.
Thus, these individuals labored with all their might to craft the pills. This time, Roderick didn’t dare to slack off anymore. He concentrated intensely on his alchemy, though he did still occasionally sneak glances at Jared.
However, Jared paid no attention to Roderick. He was completely engrossed in his own crafting. A Fifth Level Top Tier pill wasn’t something just any alchemist could craft, so the sounds of cauldrons failing and exploding intermittently filled the air.
Soon enough, the time was up, and everyone retrieved their crafted pills. As some had experienced cauldron explosions halfway through and failed the round, only ten Fifth Level Top Tier pills were brought to the judges.
However, they were all semi-finished products- not a single one was fully complete, Taking note of that, Roderick couldn’t help but smile smugly.
During the assessment previously, Jared had managed to craft a perfect Fifth Level Top Tier pill within the same amount of time. Now, he was struggling, clearly affected by Roderick’s poison.
When the ten Fifth Level Top Tier pills were presented to the judges, Gregory and the other judges picked up the pills, focusing intently as they probed each pill’s condition.
However, just as Gregory focused his attention on the pill, he felt a momentary dizziness in his head and was unable to sense the aura within the pill. Consequently, he couldn’t discern which pill was crafted more perfectly.
“Master, are you all right?” Pearl noticed and expressed concern for Gregory. “I’m fine, just a little lightheaded,” Gregory responded, picking up a pill and resuming his meticulous examination.
This time, the judging process noticeably took longer, but fortunately, they managed to identify the pills that came closest to perfection.”
Among those were Roderick’s and Jared’s pills. The elderly judge in the center seemed to notice the changes in Gregory and the others, so he asked, “Are you all feeling unwell? Should we pause the competition for a moment?”
“No need. We’re already down to the final round. It’s probably just a bit of fatigue. We’re fine,” Gregory quickly reassured the elderly judge.
“Very well then. Let’s proceed with the next round of competition. However, this round is the ultimate test of mental energy. Rest while the competition is going on.”
With that, the elderly judge announced the start of the third round of competition. In this third round, the five alchemists were to craft Focus Pills. Although it was just an ordinary Fifth Level pill, crafting one required extensive and focused mental energy. The stronger one’s mental energy, the more perfect the resulting Focus Pill would be.
For Roderick to secure victory, it all depended on this final round. That was why he had drugged Jared, causing damage to the latter’s consciousness field. I’m sure Jared won’t even be able to craft a Focus Pill. Even if he managed to, with a compromised consciousness field, the resulting pill would undoubtedly be flawed.
The remaining five alchemists stood in a row, their pill cauldrons having been removed. Then, each of them unleashed their spiritual sense and began to condense it.
In mid-air, five Focus Pills appeared, radiating light as they did. The alchemists continually released their spiritual sense, enveloping the Focus Pills they were crafting, which relentlessly absorbed the spiritual sense.
Roderick was next to Jared. As Roderick confidently began crafting his Focus Pill, he suddenly noticed that Jared was emitting an astonishing surge of spiritual sense. The Focus Pill Jared was crafting started expanding and growing increasingly radiant.
“What…”
Roderick’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw that. He couldn’t comprehend how Jared, with his damaged consciousness field, could release such immense spiritual sense.
