Published: December 25, 2024
Controlling Fire?
The many contestants began discussing among themselves.
Controlling fire is a skill that all alchemists must master. An alchemist who wants to concoct powerful pills must be very proficient in controlling flames. The importance of controlling fire in alchemy can definitely rank among the top few.
Therefore, there wasn't much surprise among the crowd that the first round of the assessment focused on fire control.
However, the assessment of fire control comes in many forms. There are competitions like the flame mimicry contest that Qin Chen had previously with Jin Shengjie, simple hot furnace competitions, and even direct flame confrontations.
Thus, what everyone was discussing now was the form of this round's assessment.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Master Ouyang Zhengqi suddenly waved his hand, and in an instant, thousands of flames appeared densely in the sky.
These flames were divided into nine types, including white, red, dark red, golden, and more.
Thousands of flames floated in the air, grand and beautiful, creating a strong sense of shock. Under the amazed gazes of all, these flames fell in front of each contestant.
In front of everyone, there were nine flames, all the same size and color.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the flames before you are the basic flames specially prepared by our Alchemy Pavilion. Each type of flame has different attributes, and they can complement or restrain each other.”
“What you need to do is to merge these flames one by one. The more flames you can merge and the greater their power, the higher your final score will be.”
“This question has a total of one hundred points. The score is not based on your ranking but on the strength of the flames you’ve merged.”
“The first round of the test is an elimination round. If you cannot merge at least three flames, you will be directly eliminated and will not qualify for the next round.”
“Now, I declare that the first round of the assessment officially begins!”
After Ouyang Zhengqi announced the competition rules, he immediately sat down.
But on the entire arena, a huge wave had already stirred.
“The first round of the competition is actually about merging flames?”
“Impressive, nearly three thousand flames, divided into nine different attributes, each contestant has nine flames in front of them, and they are all identical. Only the Alchemy Pavilion can have such an unpredictable method.”
“The attributes of flames are very diverse. For example, while they are all Geng fire, they can also be classified into Geng metal fire and Geng wood fire… The nine types of flames have completely different attributes, and they can complement or conflict with each other. Some flames will enhance their power when merged, while others will decrease it.”
“The assessment of this round will likely not only test the alchemists' control over flames but also their familiarity with various flames, as well as their predictions of the new flames formed from merging different flames. The difficulty is exceptionally high.”
“Impressive, as expected of the Alchemy Grand Competition, truly remarkable!”
After understanding the rules, many alchemists who came to spectate were deeply shocked and started to voice their thoughts.
Each of these flames is quite terrifying. Just refining them will require a significant amount of time from the contestants, and after refining, they still need to identify the attributes of the flames and merge them. The difficulty of this task is obviously much higher than a simple assessment.
Even Qin Chen, looking at the flames before him, couldn't help but nod slightly.
In fact, refining the flames in front of him isn't difficult. The aura levels of these flames are all at the peak of the sixth stage, barely reaching the seventh stage. The alchemists participating in the grand competition are at least seventh-grade Pill Kings. Although refining nine peak sixth-stage flames is not easy, the difficulty is not too high.
The most challenging aspect is the merging of the flames. With nine types of flames merging in pairs, the possible combinations are immense. Each new flame formed from the combination of two flames would be different, which tests the true foundation of an alchemist.