Longcheng, the New Star Alchemy Competition entered its final round, the final ranking round. The alchemy arena was packed with upper-class spectators, where the grandstand welcomed the presence of the city lord – Dragon Clan Chief Long Tiandao, Dragon Clan Grand Elder Long Han, Dragon City’s number one holy master Tran Mong, in addition to the experts, famous alchemists from all over the East Sea.
All eyes were on the arena, where a large object covered by a cloth appeared. No one knew what it was, only that it was round, like a giant table with a diameter of more than 6 meters.
The final round was a competition between the top 4. After giving a long speech that was booed by the audience, the male MC of the competition quickly moved on to introducing the contestants.
“And now we would like to respectfully introduce the four most outstanding contestants of the contest. First, the contestant who currently has 260 points, Ho family – Master Ho Dao!”
“Bravo!” A corner of the stands cheered enthusiastically, waving a banner with the four words “Hu Dao is the champion!” when Hu Dao stepped out, clearly a member of this guy’s family.
The MC continued to introduce: “Next, Luyen Gia – Master Luyen Vien Trung, you are temporarily ranked 3rd with 261 points!”
Another round of enthusiastic cheers, the atmosphere was no less than that of Ho Dao.
“And the one holding second place with 268 points, the Long family’s alchemist beauty, Miss Long Mi!”
Long Mi stepped out, the cheers and applause completely overwhelmed Trung and Dao, it seemed like the beauty always had the advantage.
The MC continued, this time more solemnly: “And the contestant holding the top spot with 269 points: Lam family… Lam Trang Duong!”
“ACCLAIM!!!”
“Overthrow it! Create a miracle!”
“Trang Duong, keep it up!!!”
The audience cheered enthusiastically, partly because they were conquered by Duong’s talent, partly because they were looking forward to seeing a spectacular overthrow of the Lam family. If Duong won, it could be considered an unprecedented miracle in the history of the New Talent Competition.
Today, the owner of Lam Chi Khanh’s family was invited by the alchemist association to watch the final match. He was sitting in the row of honor, laughing his head off.
Duong bowed to the audience and then walked to his position with the remaining 3 contestants.
As Duong approached, Long Mi gave him a beautiful smile: “Give way!”
Duong’s face was blank, a bit confused and didn’t know what to say, he just nodded like a fool, then Vien Trung standing next to Mi also looked at him and said: “You’re good! But I won’t lose!”
Duong nodded and replied: “Yes! But I will be the champion!”
After Duong finished speaking, he heard a snort of disdain. It was Ho Dao, but this guy only had power over the small fry, and compared to geniuses like Mi and Trung, he was like a waste, no one cared. If it weren’t for his grandfather’s favoritism, he wouldn’t have made it to this round.
Duong accidentally looked towards the honor stand, sitting in the middle of the front row was a man with white hair but still middle-aged face, majestic and imposing body, with many features similar to Long Chuc Loi, it was Long Thien Dao, his grandfather, Diem and Bang’s father.
The 4 contestants stood in front of the thing covered with cloth, the MC also stepped forward to introduce: “And now we would like to introduce a product that has never appeared in previous exams…”
Having said that, the MC raised his hand and pulled the curtain open: “… INTELLIGENCE SPIRAL!”
The curtain was pulled back, revealing a giant cone-shaped rotating system similar to the one in the show The Strange Hat. This system had 5 floors rotating around the same axis with different speeds for each floor. The first and second floors were divided into small sections with the names of the beast soul elements from level 1 to 4. The third floor had more sections, with the names of the spirit cores from low to high level. The fourth floor had the names of the spirit engine from low to high level. The fifth floor had the names of the metals. In addition, there was a fixed arrow used to determine the selection position for all 5 floors.
Waiting for everyone to finish discussing in amazement, the MC continued: “Final round: Each contestant will have to create a Spirit Treasure of any level from the ingredients chosen from the wheel of wisdom. First, please invite the contestants to spin the wheel to choose the ingredients.”
“First, please invite contestant Lam Trang Duong to step up and dial the number!”
Duong stepped up and followed the MC’s instructions to spin the hat vigorously. The wheel made a very pleasant sound, and each level rotated at a different speed, which looked very interesting.
The smallest layer on top slows down and then slowly stops…
“Oh! It’s a level 4 Ice Beast Soul Heart!” MC exclaimed, he didn’t expect that Duong would get the best material on the first floor. A level 4 soul heart is much more precious and high-grade than a level 1 soul heart.
The second floor also slowly stopped…
“It’s a level 4 soul heart again! Level 4 Fire Beast Soul Heart! So amazing!” The MC shouted again, and Duong himself was also happy with his luck.
The third floor stopped shortly after.
MC widened his eyes: “The super-grade Tinh Ba nucleus! Oh my god, it’s the best nucleus on the 3rd floor!”
Level 4 stops.
The MC no longer wanted to introduce: “This… is a super compact high-end engine from the So Huyet brand, one of the best engines on the 4th floor!”
The audience was in an uproar, Mi and Trung frowned in worry while Dao was burning with jealousy. The wheel had many options and most of them were low-end and mid-range, how the hell did this guy get all the high-end items on the 4th floor? He was so good and lucky, who could beat him?
5th floor stop…
MC’s mouth trembled, unable to speak: “It’s… Platinum!”
Again one of the best ingredients, Duong was so happy that he couldn’t help but brace himself, certain of victory. The other 3 contestants sighed, already seeing defeat, while the audience was exclaiming because Duong’s luck was too good. Many people doubted the fairness of the spin.
The remaining 3 contestants also took turns, some still had good ingredients but no one had all the big stuff like Duong.
After the results of the four contestants’ spins were introduced, all four were guided to four sets of tables and chairs placed at four corners of the exam yard, each with a large cabinet.
The MC held up a large envelope for the audience to see: “And here is the exam, which was sealed so I myself don’t know the content yet, now we will see…”
The MC tore the seal, took out a piece of paper, and began to read aloud: “The final exam of the 69th New Talent Competition.”
“From the materials received from the wheel of wisdom, including 2 souls of different attributes, 1 nucleus, 1 complete engine and a type of spirit metal that has undergone the metallurgical process, combined with the tools and spare parts that the organizers have placed in each cabinet, the contestants must create a complete spirit treasure within 12 hours. The finished spirit treasure must meet the following conditions:
1. Spirit treasures are not limited to level or type, but must be of a type that can be used for a long time.
2. The finished product of the spiritual treasure must… Pfft… Ha ha…”
Everyone looked at the MC reading the exam questions and burst out laughing. What was in the exam questions that made a professional MC like him become so impolite and laugh like crazy?
After laughing for a while, the MC finally stopped and quickly cleared his throat: “Excuse me, everyone, I will continue reading: 2. The finished product must be brought… Pfft…”
“Sorry… The finished treasure MUST SIMULTANEOUSLY CARRY TWO ATTRIBUTES FROM THE TWO TYPES OF SOULS THAT THE CONTESTANT RECEIVED FROM THE WHEEL OF INTELLIGENCE!”
Hearing this, Duong felt as if the sky and earth had fallen on his head. The spirit treasure had two attributes at the same time. It wasn’t that he couldn’t make it, but in his hands was a level 4 Ice Soul Heart and a level 4 Fire Soul Heart! Ice and fire were opposites, and they were both level 4. It was fine to make bombs, but how could it make a spirit treasure?
Duong’s face turned pale, Long Mi covered her mouth and giggled, Trung and Dao burst out laughing, the audience also laughed out loud, not laughing at Duong but laughing because they just thought Duong had great luck, but now it turned out to be the opposite, this was miserable bad luck, a level 4 ice beast soul heart and a level 4 fire beast soul heart combined to form a spiritual treasure, even a Tran Mong saint would probably only be able to shake his head in defeat.
The competition had to begin anyway, and after receiving their materials, the contestants began diligently drawing.
Refining treasures is a long process, but the main components such as the core, engine, and spirit metal are all available, plus the diverse material warehouse designed by the alchemy association itself, so the contestants have been able to skip the most time-consuming steps. What the contestants need to do now is to create a beautiful, unique, creative, and useful spirit treasure to get a high score.
After drawing up the blueprint, the contestants, including Duong, began to choose the auxiliary materials and then used the provided tools to carve and polish them into satisfactory details. This was originally a hard job in Duong’s old world, but in the Spirit World, thanks to the support of spiritual power and powerful tools, it became very easy, only requiring meticulousness and dexterity. For example, Vien Trung was using a hammer to hit a large block of steel, hitting it more than ten times and the steel block as big as a baton had flattened into the shape of a sharp but still crude sword blade. Ho Dao was whistling while peeling a fist-sized block of silver like peeling a potato, Long Mi was even more outstanding, unexpectedly using a needle to sew two pieces of gold nearly 1 cm thick as easily as sewing a shirt.
As for Duong, the person everyone pitied the most, he was using an iron rod to roll platinum into thin, palm-sized pieces.
Seeing what Duong did was somewhat strange, many people wondered: “What is candidate Duong doing?”
“You know you’re sure to lose, so you play wonton rolling game?”
A kind person sighed: “It feels bad, but oh well…”
One person was still daydreaming: “Maybe he has thought of a way, maybe there will be another miracle…”
In the row of honor, Long Thien Dao turned to ask Saint Master Tran Mong: “What is contestant Duong making, Saint Master? He doesn’t look like he’s giving up…”
Speaking of Yang’s extremely formidable mask, even a mid-level Lord would have a hard time seeing it. Even the spy sent by the Great Sun Lord to follow Yang from the time the secret realm closed until Yang disguised himself and arrived at the gate of Hon Ba almost lost track of him because he didn’t recognize Yang.
Having studied to the level of a holy master, of course his knowledge must be extraordinary, but Tran Mong still couldn’t guess what Duong was doing: “Really… I don’t know either, maybe he’s just doing something reckless to keep his hopes up…”
As time passed, the three contestants’ spiritual treasures gradually took shape, while Duong was still diligently trimming the tiny details that no one knew what they were for.
This time, the speed of the test did not affect the score, so the candidates were not in a hurry.
By the 8th hour, Vien Trung completed the product, a large sword with the Lightning attribute, both glowing and creating lightning, looking very majestic, a high-grade spiritual treasure.
Ho Dao completed it 30 minutes after Vien Trung, it was a silver hat with Ice – Wind attributes, also a high-grade spirit treasure.
Another 10 minutes later, Long Mi completed a high-grade Wind-Fire spirit treasure, shaped like a pair of luxurious pure gold high heels.
At this moment, Duong’s desk was still cluttered with miscellaneous details. It was the 9th hour, everyone was waiting anxiously while Duong was polishing the platinum pieces…
30 minutes left, everyone is gradually losing patience…
With 20 minutes left, the audience started to boo, even curse. Duong seemed to be in a separate world, no longer listening or looking around, only focusing on assembling the tiny details…
With 10 minutes left, Duong pieced together something that looked like a small upside-down conical hat the size of a fist, with yellow threads around the pointed end that were white on the tip…
With 5 minutes left, the platinum pieces began to be assembled into the cone-shaped tip. The details were very small, so Duong had to meticulously assemble each piece one by one…
In the last seconds, Duong attached a piece of green painted platinum to the bottom of the cone’s tip, and the audience realized what it was, a platinum lotus flower that was still in bud…
TIME’S UP!
Under so many attentive eyes, the lotus bud in Duong’s hand unexpectedly bloomed vividly like a fast-forward movie. At the same time, the blooming petals slowly froze into a sparkling green layer. Finally, the flower bloomed, turning into a pure and magical ice lotus bud!
That was not enough, the ice layer quickly melted, from the base, the ice lotus bud began to burn, white mist sublimated, the ice lotus turned into a fire lotus!
Everyone’s eyes were dazed. When the fire burned out, the flower bud closed as before, then began to bloom again into a magical ice lotus…
Saint Master Tran Mong had stood up at some point, his mouth trembling as if he was crying: “This is… Ice and Fire Samsara… So it exists…”
Ice and fire reincarnate, ice is born and fire is destroyed, forming a beautiful immortal lotus, no one calls it a Spiritual Treasure, it is not a Fairy Treasure, not a Saint Treasure, and not a Divine Treasure, but a STRANGE TREASURE!
The Ice and Fire Samsara, the most beautiful artificial flower in the world that was thought to only exist in legends, is now blooming in the center of Dragon City, captivating all eyes as it undergoes its life and death.
No need to score anymore, the blazing firework was held high by Duong like the most beautiful trophy for the new champion.
After a moment of enchantment, everyone applauded, completely captivated by Duong’s masterpiece.
Yang breathed a sigh of relief in the glow of victory, this Google is indeed extremely powerful…
…