章 101: Fool

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"Hmm?"

The old man who was currently refining a pill, heard the words of Raven, it was similarly heard as well by Jacob who can't help but be stunned with what he heard. Not long after saying that, Raven heard the old man sigh and said:

"Another one who thinks that he's so special huh…" He then straightened his back and coldly said: "I'll humor you then, young man. Why don't you explain the basis behind your claim?"

Raven frowned at the old man's attitude, while he didn't know why he was acting this way, isn't he acting a little too high and mighty for a puny Level 3 Alchemist?

"There's not much explanation to be said, in all honesty." Raven smirked, "You forgot your basics, that's about it. I guess we could blame it to your age."

Jacod shuddered in horror upon hearing Raven's words. He hurriedly tugged his sleeves and whispered: "Please retract you words while you still can brother, or else even if you asked the Institute Director, he might not be able to help you."

Noticing the obvious terror on his voice, Raven shrugged and maintained a solid stance behind his claim.

It was then that the old man who suddenly bursted out in uproarious laughter. He laughed so hard like he just heard the most hillarious joke he had ever heard in his entire life. That being said, Jacob knew that it will only get worse from here, he repeatedly tugged Raven's sleeves and kept on asking him to leave but he just remained impassive, he stood there casually waiting for a good show to unfold.

"Whew…" the old man calmed himself down after a while of laughing, he then continued by saying, "Throughout my entire 20 years of career, this is the first time that someone told me something like that. Many had come before you, and made similar attempts of persuading me, but your methods are incredible. Sadly, it's just outright laughable."

"Leave and I'll forgive your intrusion this time. Do not think of forcing it, or else you might never step into our pavillion again." The old man's tone became colder upto this point, he no longer then paid attention to Raven and instead focused on his refinement.

This old man had been working as an alchemist in this pavillion for at least 20 years, he had seen far too many things during his stay. In fact, the attempts of students to be a part of their pavillion became somewhat of an entertainment for him. Sometimes, humans just underestimates how far they would go in order to pursue their goals, this is specially true to those who wanted to ride along the coattails of thier fame to have an easier life.

This is one of the main reasons why they're having a difficult time whenever they tried to recruit for new members. There's just too many creative students who would stop at nothing just to get what they want. Who could blame them? Being an Alchemist brings too many benefits to ignore.

He had seen students cheat, create a scene, try to come up with ways to get in his good side, threaten him, and attemps just like what Raven did, trying to impress him with superficial knowledge while hoping that luck would be on their side. These aren't new to him, but Raven's attempt was just too outrageous even for someone like him ignore.

Talking basics with someone who had been refining medicine for the past 20 years? Who gave him this kind of idea? It was just truly laughable.

Raven heaved a deep sigh while shaking his head, his sighing was heard by both the old man and Jacob, in their minds they thought that Raven gave up…but then…

"A narrowminded old fool…" Raven's voice wasn't quite at all, Jacob shuddered even more but he didn't knew that Raven still isn't done. "The cauldron will explode in 10 seconds, it's up to you whether you believe me or not. If you wanne live, get out some sort of a protective treasure."

Having said this, Raven retreated towards the door, dragging the scared Jacob with him. He crossed his arms and leaned at the door, it was evident that he wanted to see if this old man will heed his warning or not.

10..9..8..7..6...

Seeing no movements from the old man, Raven scoffed and just kept couting down on his mind. As for the old man, he wasn't even remotely fazed by Raven's warning at all, he had seen to much of this stuff that it lost it's flair already.

5…

4…

3…

2…

"Time's up…"

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*

An ear-splitting explosion occured, the whole room fiercely shook from the aftermath. The desk was in a mess, papers are scattered everywhere, the room was dirtied with black grime from the explosion and the only spot that was left untouched was Raven and Jacob since he placed a barrier to protect both of them.

As for the previously 'oh-so-confident' old man, he could now be seen sitting on the floor whilst coughing up blood, his face and clothes are similarly dirtied by the explosion of the cauldron. He took out a pill from his ring and forcefully swallowed it, his expression was wonderful to behold as he looked up towards Raven from his location.

How embarrasing…this is what his thoughts are.

He wanted to think that this mad must've done something to cause his current predicament, but he can't think of anything since this man wasn't even remotely close to him, and judging from his cultivation base, there's no way Raven couldn't do anything without him noticing it, so this notion is just impossible.

Jacob on the other hand, was just too stunned to say anything. For some reason, he find it extremely hard to believe that the cauldron actually exploded despite the old man's ablities. He couldn't help but wonder if it was just luck or Raven was just really that capable.

Before any of them could say anything, Raven stepped forward and went towards the cauldron. He crouched down and took out whatever remained inside.

He grabbed the burnt residue and took a careful whiff off of it. He thought for a bit and then said: "Blood Essence of a Forest Troll, 3 spriggs of Mystic Rosemary, 4 drops of Blue Sunflower Essence, 3 Ghost Peppercorns, and…eh? A drop of venom from a Three-eyed snake? Hmm…"

The old man's body fiercely shook as he heard Raven casually stating one ingredient after another, his eyes widened because all of those stated ingredients were correct, not only that, Raven could also tell how much ingredients he used! All of this, was just from sniffing the burnt remains from a blown up cauldron! How is that even possible!? Even him who had been studying alchemy for 20 years isn't capable of that!

Just as when he thought things were over, it turned out that he was mistaken once again.

"Ah! So that's what's going on!" Raven's eyes shone brightly as he looked at the pitiful old man, "You, a Level 3 Alchemist, actually tried refining a Bloodburst Pill! A mid-rank A-grade Pill!"

The old man felt tremors go throughout his whole body as he stared at Raven like he was looking at a ghost. His mouth was wide open due to shock, as he can't bring himself to believe that this boy actually guessed not only the ingredients but also the pill he was trying to make, just by smelling a burnt remain!

"I wanna say that you are a very ambitious person, but I can't since the idea is just outright stupid." Raven scoffed, "Not to mention refining an A-grade pill, if you refined any pill with your condition earlier, it would've failed anyway! You just aren't in a proper state of mind to begin with! I'm guessing that you have been refining non-stop this week, going to the point where you haven't rested much less eat something."

"I get it, you have high cultivation and you can probably survive a month without food, water or rest. But there is literally no reason for you to do so, so why skip? Without catching even a blink of rest, how are you going to be on a proper state of mind to do anything? Much less do a tedious task of refining a pill?"

Raven relentlessly scolded the old man about his mistakes, each of his words were like sharp daggers that stabbed towards the old man's heart. He was like a child, lowering himself to admit his mistakes, what's even more painful is that it was the young who's scolding the old, a complete role reversal.

"Maintaing the correct state of mind is a basic knowledge that all Alchemist should know. It is so embarrasing to call yourself an Alchemist who had been working for 20 years after forgetting such a basic knowledge…"

Of all the things that Raven said, this is probably the most painful one for the old man's ears. Even then, after all of the scolding that Raven did to him, he still mustered up enough courage to ask a very important question.

"W-who are you?"