Chapter 3972: Subpar

"Time is up!" The person in charge of the challenge spoke loudly. "Those who haven’t finished their Ground Alignment Dust can leave already. The equipment will only accept finished products."

Lukis took the vial filled with the dust, a slightly yellowed powder that interacted with the surrounding Earth Element. He looked pretty satisfied with the result of his effort, although he knew he likely wouldn’t win this challenge. He was confident in his abilities, but he also knew there was always a higher mountain. His objective was to make it into the top 10 of this challenge or close to it, and that would be a good enough result.

As he walked to the alchemy measurement equipment, he noticed Roan on his side, walking with him. On Roan’s hand, there was a pitch black powder in his vial... was that even a powder? It looked more like black sludge than anything else. "Just how did you get such a result?"

Roan glanced at him. "I only found out about this recipe in the terminal an hour ago. I could only try something different and see if it would work."

"An hour ago?" Lukis did wonder, when the challenge started, whether that was Roan’s first time making that product, but he didn’t expect it to be true. "Just what are you even doing? There are better places for you to test your abilities than humiliating yourself here."

Roan didn’t bother answering him, joining the queue to have his product tested like everyone else.

One by one, the Ground Alignment Dusts were added, analyzed, and then given back to their owners. There were no risks of the equipment being tampered with as the source codes were open for everyone willing to check.

The equipment didn’t give the results straight away, though. It could, but for the sake of entertainment, the operator made it so the results would only appear at the end, after all products were tested.

Roan’s time didn’t take too long to arrive, and he passed his vial with his black sludge to the operator. Those who were still close looked at that. Some felt like laughing, others wondered if Roan was trying to make fun of the challenge. Nonetheless, they all agreed on one point: that was definitely a failure.

"Is this a joke?" The operator asked Roan directly.

Roan glared at him. "Do I look like I care about jokes?"

"Hmph!" The operator didn’t say anything else and added Roan’s vial as well. He was already used to the arrogance of these experts. The analysis didn’t last long, and Roan was given back his vial of black sludge.

The tests continued, and it took another half an hour until the last one was analyzed. Only then did the operator come forward to give the results.

*Zum!*

The holographic projection above appeared once again, and the results were given. They were based on three variables specific to this one challenge: Effectiveness, Effect Lasting Time, and Side Effects.

Clearly, effectiveness refers to how well it was able to gather the Earth Element.

Lasting time was even more obvious. The longer the effect lasted, the higher the score.

Last but not least, if the product generated any side effects in the field where it would be used. It would be meaningless to use a Ground Alignment Dust that could gather Earth Element for a while and then cause all plants or the soil to die or have adverse effects after it was done. On the other hand, if it gave any beneficial effects, the score would be higher.

-276th: Lutru Cayint, 187 points.-

This guy’s name meant he was in last place, and that the total number of participants who took part in this quick challenge was 276.

Lutru had a terrible expression on his face, turning around and leaving straight away. He did not agree with the results, but complaining would bring no benefits to him either.

The names began to pop out one after another every second.

Lukis was already surprised that Roan wasn’t last, but when the 200th place’s name was displayed, he began to wonder why Roan’s black sludge’s result hadn’t appeared yet.

Roan wasn’t paying attention to the results. In fact, he wasn’t even there anymore. When Lukis looked for him, he noticed that Roan was back in his own booth, checking his personal equipment. "What? Hey, what the hell are you doing to my things?!"

Roan glanced at him. "I know it is yours, idiot. I told you. I simply wish to ask for the same kind of equipment after I win. Although you aren’t the best alchemist here, your equipment is definitely within the best I’ve seen in this place so far."

Lukis’ mouth twitched. "Aren’t you way too confident for your own good?"

Roan ignored those words. He was more interested in the equipment. "This heat exchange plate of yours. Can it transfer the heat from a Nogtal Fire fast enough for a Divine Level Pill? Hum... maybe a little bit of modulation will do the trick."

"Fuck you! Who the hell is answering your questions? Get out of my booth and take your hands off my equipment!" Lukis was furious. Roan was truly speaking as if he had already won.

"Tch..." Roan came out in the end. It wasn’t like he was trying to cause trouble. He just wanted to upgrade his alchemy workshop.

The results reached the top 50, but so far, neither Lukis’ nor Roan’s name has appeared yet.

By now, regardless of whether Lukis wanted to admit it or not, he had to accept that Roan likely made something good. "No, that can’t be true! How can that failure of yours have made it into the top 50?!"

Roan couldn’t care less about Lukis’ opinion, but it wasn’t like what he did was any secret either. So, he tossed his black sludge vial to Lukis. "Here, test it yourself. Now be quiet."

Lukis expected even less that Roan would let him test the black sludge. Nonetheless, he gritted his teeth and sent the vial into his Pocket Dimensional Realm. There wasn’t a single alchemist there who didn’t have their own herb garden in their realms, after all.

But then, by the time the list reached the top twenty, Lukis’ expression changed. He looked at Roan with wide open eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating. "This... how can this black sludge..."

-11th: Lukis Fordis, 257 points.-

Lukis didn’t even notice when his result appeared. Well, it was more or less within what he expected, even if he didn’t make it into the top ten like he wanted.

Roan spoke as the last ten names appeared one after another. "Why are you dwelling on the color of the product? Why does it matter if it is dust or sludge? It’s because of idiocies like this that you are a mediocre alchemist. Remember, results are all that matter. Unless it is relevant to the process, I couldn’t care less about the shape, color, smell, or any of that shit. Grow up already, kid."

Lukis wanted to give an answer, but before he could say anything...

*WOW!*

He heard a commotion, looking at the results on the holographic projection.

-1st: Roan Larks, 337 points.-

For context, the maximum points you could get from all three variables was 100 points each, so 300 was supposed to be the highest. And yet... Roan did 337!

"Tch..." Roan clicked his tongue again, clearly disappointed. "I knew it would end up as a subpar product."

Lukis wanted to die already.

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