277 First batch of Pills

The host got off the podium and waited for everyone to prepare. Alex and the other few participants all brought out their cauldron at the same time and placed it on top of the fire.

As they waited for the cauldron to heat up, the host started the competition. A massive timer floating in a blue panel in the sky started counting down.

No one rushed, however. This was a competition that selected winners based on the best. So, everyone would be the most patient self of themselves they could ever be.

Alex took in long, deep breaths while waiting for the competition to start. He had a lot better sense than before and he looked at the timer in the sky to see if his timing was accurate.

After getting the capsule and gaining the permanent Focus Mode, he had managed to control everything, including the slowed downtime.

However, unlike the other senses, Time was never something that bombarded him with the information. So, it was impossible to say if he was back to normal or if it was just a little off still.

So, he decided to check it before he started making the pills as time was a really important factor in making pills.

For the first 10 or so minutes, everyone waited for their cauldron to fully heat up normally. After that, they started to put in ingredients one by one.

Wan Li put in his, so did Han Long and so did Huang Fu. Alex was among the last of the people to finally start making the pills.

Alex's ingredients had a total of 13 components to them and he needed to make sure every single one of them was in the perfect condition it could be.

So, he took the first ingredient and placed it inside the cauldron. However, unlike everyone else, he immediately closed the cauldron.

The staff members and the host were a little surprised at a participant doing something so bizarre but said nothing.

Alex followed the recipe and waited for the first ingredient to turn into powder. Once it was powder and the energy had escaped into the cauldron, he quickly took off the lid and put in the 2nd ingredient.

He wasn't faster than the other participants, nor was he slower. He was about the same speed as everyone else, and that was a little comforting for him.

He had always wondered if he was slower than the other people at making pills, and it seemed he was not.

Once the sect ingredient's energy mixed with the first one and created a new energy, he put in the third ingredient.

Seeing him close the lid once again, the staff members got a little confused once again.

"Senior, do you think he is cheating?" one of the staff members asked.

"I don't think so. There doesn't seem to be a reason as to why he is doing that. Maybe it's a technique?" the host said.

The other staff member got quiet after that as there didn't seem to be a problem anymore. So, they just waited for the different participants to finish.

Few more minutes passed and the participants got to the end of their pill-making process. The staff hurried up and placed a load of pill testers in front of the group.

Alex was on the last leg of the pill-making as well. He put in the final ingredient and the energy of the final ingredient escapes from the burning ingredient and mixed with the already dense ingredient inside the cauldron.

Once those two energies reacted with each other, the final resulting energy of the pill became metal energy, just what Alex wanted.

Alex then proceeded to move the powder around a little more before it was time to form the pills. He used Elemental Guidance to move the energy around and force it towards the power to make it stick in there.

However, even though it was Metal energy, he couldn't control the energy perfectly, and more than half of the energy escaped back into the open air in the cauldron.

However, that alone was very good. Alex then started to form the powder into a pill.

However, just then the thing he didn't want the most to happen, happened. Suddenly, a stream of Qi moved around his whole body and escaped out of his palms before moving into the cauldron.

He wanted to curse right now, but disturbing the other disciples would get him disqualified, so he simply endured it.

However, on the inside, he had pretty much given up on the pill becoming any good now. Still, he wasn't going to not perform his best now.

The stream of Qi slowly go into his forming pill and separated it into two. After that, the two vortexes he was waiting for appeared and started sucking in the energy from the environment.

Slowly the two pills started forming.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw two people simultaneously get up and walk to the lined-up pill testers at the front.

Alex was a little surprised and he kept his eyes on them while his two pills were forming. The two contestants put their pills into the pill testers.

He watched the two pill testers slowly grow fog outside of it that reached above 30% in harmony. Soon, one of the pill testers stopped at 34%, while the other one stopped at 38%.

The one with the 34% got a little sad, while the other guy was happy. However, they were both going to try it once again, so they returned back to their place and started preparing.

Soon, more and more people started standing up from their seats to test their pills. Some were good, some were bad. However, both the sad and happy people went back to their places to make the pills once more.

Alex looked away from the people and looked down on his own pills. His two pills were finally prepared. So, he took off the lid and put his hands in to take out the pills.