281 Up-Grade
60%, that was the harmony level of the pill that was the center of attention right now.
The pill tester had finally stopped working and the final result was 60%. Alex walked up front and picked up his pill before putting it into his storage bag.
He didn't have a bottle right now and had to resort to keeping pills in the storage bag.
Although externally, he didn't act like what had just happened was a big deal, that was only because he was already done celebrating internally when he had found out the pill's harmony level before he had even brought it.
He waited for the staff and host to get on with announcing the results, but no one was saying anything.
He looked around and realized that everyone was still looking at him. Alex felt a little anxious with so many eyes on him and turned to the host.
"Umm… what about the result?" he asked.
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. Everyone, please get your stuff, we will prepare the results right now," the host said and went to consult with the staff members.
"What's your name?" Huang Fu walked up to him and asked.
"Yu Ming," Alex said while looking straight at Huang Fu's eyes.
"Yu Ming…" Huang Fu murmured, "I will remember it. Congratulations."
"Haha, you too," Alex said.
"Brother Yu, that was amazing. Since when can you make such amazing pills," Wan Li asked.
"Ah, I got a little lucky with this one. It was only because I made the Bronze Tiger's Rage that I was able to get such a result. Had I tried any other pills, I doubt I could've gotten the same results," Alex said.
"I see, still, that was amazing. Although…." Wan Li trailed off as he thought of something and asked, "Are you an elder now?"
"Ah!" Alex had forgotten about the Elder rule where if one made a Heaven grade pill, they would be upgraded to an elder.
"I shouldn't right?" Alex said. "After all, I am not registering this pill."
"That makes sense," Wan Li said.
"Everyone, gather around. The results are set," the host said.
"Congratulations to everyone who managed to make the pills. I have good news for you lot and your sects. Thanks to so many people getting such close results, a lot of you will get the same ranking, and thus a high point from this competition in general."
"As for the winners, we already know who the Top 3 are, but let me still announce them so everyone in the audience who didn't catch the incredible event can learn it as well."
"In the third place is Wan Li from Hong Wu sect who made a Hundred Poison Antidote with an incredible harmony of 49%."
"In the second place is Huang Fu from Royal Fu Academy, who made an Ulterior Bones pill with an incredible harmony of 53%."
"And now, in the first place, the star of this competition, and perhaps the entirety of Alchemy competitions for this year's competition in whole, is Yu Ming from Hong Wu sect, who managed to make a Bronze Tiger's Rage with a beyond amazing harmony of 60%," the host said.
Everyone started applauding and the rest of the results showed up on the ranking board behind the group. The girl from the Hong Wu sect managed to get 41% of harmony in her pill, making her 7th in the ranking.
There were more than 9 people in the same ranking as her, but that didn't deduct from the fact that her 41% harmony pill was considered to have ranked in the 7th place.
The young men and women took their items and returned back out of the arena, and went straight to the seating area.
As soon as the sect members saw the 3 of them come back, everyone started congratulating them.
"As expected of the set leader's disciple, that was great"
"You can make Heaven-grade pills?"
"Wan Li you did great too."
Heaps of praises rained down from both the elders and fellow disciples. Alex nodded towards everyone thanking them for their congratulations.
Fan Ruogang and Zhou Mei congratulated the 3 too.
"Good job you kids. That was amazing. That was much better than I could've expected of you guys. I doubt Fanfan or my Meimei could've done that good," the second elder said.
"True, true," the third elder said.
"You guys come take some rest. You deserve it," Ma Rong said.
Everyone went back to their seats and looked at the next competitions starting soon.
"Is that the best pill you've made till now?" Ma Rong asked Alex slowly.
"Yes. If I remember correctly, the last one that I made was 59% in harmony. So this beats it by a little," Alex said.
"Good. You've improved a lot. Thankfully, the metal energy pills are great for you. We will go see why those are the only ones that work in the library today," Ma Rong said.
Alex nodded. He was looking forward to going to the library since he had a lot of things to read up on. Things that pertained to both himself and the things he had.
Alex thought about something and asked his master, "Master, are we in the 1st grade now?" he didn't lower his voice so everyone heard it loud and clear.
Suddenly, everyone started counting. The girl got 14 points, Wan Li got 33 points and Alex got 100 points. Altogether, they needed 146 points to advance onto the next grade and they managed to get… 147.
"We… we got 524 points in total. We— We did it right?" the second elder said.
"We got more than that. The others got a few points here and there too. Woohoo, we finally did it," Fan Ruogang said.
Suddenly, everyone celebrated. Even Ma Rong smiled when she realized that she had succeeded in what she came to accomplish.
"Master!" Alex called, jolting her out of her happiness.
"What is it?" she asked.
"You see… since we succeeded in becoming a 1st-grade sect… can I not take part in tomorrow's competition?"
