Chapter 2382 Hours before Start


    The Alchemy God exined the rules of thepetitions and how it would go.


    Everyone in thepetition was to make pills at the same time. They would be given one of the 10 random sets of ingredients, which they would have to turn into a pill above a certain threshold of Harmony.


    Everyone believed the threshold to be higher this time around, but in actuality, they had decided to lower it instead. The threshold was now 75%, meaning for the pill to count as being sessfully made, one had to reach that Harmony.


    One didn''t immediately fail upon making a bad pill, only instead of getting another set of ingredients for another pill, you would receive two instead.


    The sets of ingredients woulde every 20 minutes, each of which had to be turned into a pill. While each pill had to be above 75%, there was also the requirement that at least one of the pills in every five pills must be above 90% in Harmony.


    With such requirements, there were three criteria for where one''s time in thepetition might be cut short.


    If they failed to make at least three pills with 75% or higher.


    If they failed to make at least one 90% pill every five pills.


    If they ended up gathering a stack of five sets of ingredients without having turned it into pills.


    Once the rules and criteria for the Endurance Test were passed along, everyone began formting their own ways to survive in thepetition for as long as they could.


    Alex too was in a simr state of thought, wondering about how he could make pills for as long as he could.


    As he hade to understand, he only needed to make a single pill every 20 minutes. That made things much easier, but at the same time, there had to be some sort of reason why it was so easy.


    Something wasn''t right. Or at least, something was being hidden from them.


    Alex couldn''t guess what it was, and asking the others didn''t help much at all. He was only continuing to propose more ideas when suddenly he heard his name being called.


    "Young Dawnde, please show yourself," the Alchemy God said.


    Alex turned around, surprised at first, but then he realized what this was most likely. He slowly got up and walked toward the Alchemy God.


    "Ah, right. It''s you," the man said.


    Alex walked up to the man and bowed slightly in greeting.


    The Alchemy God pulled out the pin from his soul space, the one that had his emblem stamped onto it, and handed it over to Alex.


    "Here you go, the Immunity Pin," he said, cing it in Alex''s palm. "Make sure not to lose it. It wille in very handy for the final tournament. It will also stop you from getting disqualified, but then… I do not believe you will be needing it at all."


    Alex nodded and bowed in thanks before walking away.


    "Alright, thepetition will begin at noon tomorrow, and it will be all of you going up at once. So, prepare yourself until then. Do not hold anything back," the Alchemy God said and then disappeared.


    The participants remained quiet in the hall after the Alchemy God left, and as he suggested, they began cultivating onest time to get ready for thepetition. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Many hourster, arge group of staff entered the hall and began visiting every single one of the participants. One by one, they began preparing them for thepetition — making sure they only had their cauldron and nothing else before they went up there.


    All other storage artifacts were to be put aside, just likest time.


    As the staff got the participants ready to go onto the stage, the Alchemy God weed the audience and announced to them what thepetition this time was going to be.


    After a brief introduction, the contestants were brought out.


    Alex walked alongside others in a file, having his way shown by the staff, until he arrived toward the middle of the tform where arge space was set only for himself.


    He was surprised for a moment howrge the space was — a square region with about 10 meters on all sides, at the center of which were a few formations to help the alchemists.


    Alex looked at the formations and recognized me control formation, energy suppression formation, and temperature maniption formation.


    Alex wondered if he would have to use them this time around. The more help he could get, the longer he wouldst in thepetition. That was the case, wasn''t it?


    He looked away from his seat and saw the vast stadium that encircled the secret realm. He searched around for a brief moment, trying to locate Pearl and the rest.


    He couldn''t use the connection with his bond to find them as everything surrounding outsidemunication waspletely obstructed. He couldn''t ry information or get any back.


    All he could do was manually search for them.


    Thankfully, Pearl''s greenish-blonde hair stood out enough in the crowd that Alex noticed it. He could see them all watching toward him, giving him looks of motivation.


    Alex smiled back and sat down. He brought out Memory, cing the cauldron before him. He took a deep breath and waited for thepetition to begin. He was as ready as he could ever be.


    He looked around him, seeing the people that were adjacent to him. He didn''t recognize anyone. They weren''t ced there in a proper order. If not, Aethersage might have been next to him.


    Instead, his friends were somewhere far away.


    A staff member arrived and stood at the cross-section between four of the alchemists.


    "I shall be the one to hand you the ingredients," the man said. "We will start as soon as His Majesty gives themand."


    Everyone nodded.


    Alex looked forward to when the tournament would begin. And just then, something incredible happened that changed how he viewed the entire tournament.


    A single fundamental change that immediately shot the difficulty through the roof.