Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 2375  Fastest

Alex finished the final pill and handed it over to the man before him. Only then could he finally let go of the aura of Temporal Stagnation he had been projecting the entire time.

He felt his entire body wobble as his mind let go of the large burden it had been keeping up for what felt like the past 25 minutes. He took a deep and long breath and looked at the man before him for the sign to move on.

The man moved aside, and Alex walked in.

He was now at the very center of the ring, where a woman sat on a chair, waiting for the contestants to make it to her.

Alex looked at her and saw her eyes wider than he would've imagined them to be. It didn't take a genius to understand that he had shocked her with his performance. Only, how fast had he been?

"Your Medallion," she asked, and Alex handed over the thing he wore around his neck. The woman checked to see if he had used anything from his Soul Space and put it aside once she was certain no rules had been broken.

"Give me your coin," she said next, and Alex handed it over too.

The woman took the coin and pulled out a medallion that was around her neck.

Alex waited for a bit, and the woman was finally done. "Do you know how fast you were?" the woman asked.

Alex shook his head. "How fast?" he asked.

The woman smiled. "18 minutes and 41 seconds."

Alex froze for a second upon hearing the number. "Less than 19 minutes?" he asked.

The woman nodded. "Less than 19 minutes," she repeated. "And you were the first in each ring, so no penalties either. I'm… shocked, I must say. Congratulations."

Alex felt the satisfaction and joy of winning fill him deep from the inside. A wide smile broke out on his face, and he quickly nodded to the woman. "Thank you!"

Alex soon returned to the hall, where he heard a few people congratulate him here and there, but most just looked at him with shock in their eyes. They simply couldn't believe what had just happened.

Alex walked over to where his group was staying and stood before Aethersage. He grinned toward the red-haired young man and said, "There you go. I beat your time, just like you asked."

Aethersage's jaw was wide open the whole time. He slowly shook his head. "Wow, I shouldn't have tried to pick a fight. You're too amazing, brother Dawnblade."

Alex sat down. "Only slightly better than you," he said. "In this competition."

Aethersage's jaw was wide open the whole time. He slowly shook his head. "Wow, I shouldn't have tried to pick a fight. You're too amazing, brother Dawnblade."

Alex sat down. "Only slightly better than you," he said. "In this competition."

"You were just slightly better in the last one too," Aethersage said. "If you continue being slightly better for the rest, then I have no chance of ever winning."

Alex smiled and said nothing. The others congratulated Alex and began asking him what he did exactly. There wasn't much he could tell them except for the fact that it was faster if you didn't waste the precious few seconds just walking and waiting for the staff to check your pill.

Alex's technique was immediately copied by many, but none managed to do it successfully. They either tried making multiple pills at once while they walked or did it like him and made one pill at a time.

Those that made multiple pills found it difficult to carry around multiple cauldrons with them while making a pill. Alex had physically carried the cauldron because he didn't want to have to split his attention to this. That was not something these people could do while having multiple cauldrons, and many only managed to make a few pills.

Those that did make a single pill took way too long for any of it to matter. In the end, both sides failed in making any meaningful advancement in their overall Final Time by following Alex's way. In fact, most came out worse than they might've had they done it their own way.

"I don't think I can do what you did," Killersky said. "I'll have to copy his instead." Him being Aethersage.

Killersky's turn was next, and she performed decently. She lagged slightly behind Leafheart, coming in at around 23 minutes with 16 added seconds.

Then a few more batches of participants went up, none of whom managed to do any better than the others. They were all no better than the ones that went on the first few days.

And then, the competition came to an end.

The competition was over, but the Alchemy God asked the audience to wait around for a bit.

The contestants were inside the hall as well, waiting to learn whether they had passed or not. Many who managed to perform poorly wanted a second chance at things, and those around the middle range were anxious about whether or not they would be chosen.

"Are we really waiting to find out who is disqualified?" Riveroak asked. "Why not just tell us? We can already see the ranks."

"But the timings are different," Aethersage said. "They're still showing Real Time outside instead of Final Time."

Everyone waited to learn what was going on. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Alchemy God returned a few minutes later and, upon arriving, showed a massive single panel that had a total of around 38 thousand names on it. And next to each of the names was their timing.

Even inside the hall, the same panel had come up, showing only their Real Time. Then, the Alchemy God's voice came from the outside.

"This time around, instead of us choosing what the appropriate cut-off point would be for the next competition, we would like to ask you to do it. You can see the list of all the participants here and how long they took."

"There are 4 more competitions to be held, so please determine on your own how many of these nearly 38 thousand different contestants deserve to go on to the next round," the Alchemy God said. "Once you have decided, you may let our staff know your answer as you leave."