Chapter 569: The Competition Begins (3k)
“This is… Dragon Rhythm?”
Su Jiu’s gaze fell on Naz’s hand, her eyes slightly narrowed. The space’s settlement voice sounded in her mind again. She looked up at his smiling face and her mouth twitched. She quietly asked, “What do you mean by this? ‘No merit, no reward’…”
This old guy is very cunning; this is probably another test.
Looking at Su Jiu’s behavior, Naz was stunned. Her reaction was clearly not what he had expected. He thought Su Jiu would happily accept it, but she refused. He then asked with some curiosity:
“May I ask why Miss Su refuses? This Dragon Rhythm is incomparable to the ordinary Frost Dragon Rhythm from last time. What it contains makes many War Gods infatuated…”
Su Jiu didn’t take it. Instead, she carefully sensed if there was any special craving within herself. After confirming that it was not the special Dragon Rhythm she was expecting.
However, the quality of this Dragon Rhythm was indeed much better than the previous Frost Dragon Rhythm. If she could win it, she could give it to someone by her side…
She waved her hand helplessly, but then thought of something and smiled slightly, narrowing her eyes and softly asking, “Mr. Librarian, is this Dragon Rhythm part of the reward, or the entire reward?”
It was like playing a game. There were two different ways to play, and the way she chose was completely different. One way was to keep accumulating rewards and then take them all at once when the rewards were abundant.
The other was like a staged reward. If this was a phased reward, not taking it would be foolish, right?
Naz was not young, so he naturally heard the hidden meaning in Su Jiu’s words. He glanced at the Blood Clan girl, who didn’t seem that old, with surprise. After a moment of silence, he smiled and said, “Naturally, it’s the entirety of the reward. There aren’t that many Dragon Rhythms for you. This is the best…”
He felt that she already knew his intentions and that he possessed another special Dragon Rhythm, which was why she said that.
“Last time, Mr. Librarian said the same thing.”
Hearing his words, Su Jiu couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She had a feeling that he might not be telling the truth, and that she might not be able to have both the clam and the crane. It was unlikely she would get this Dragon Rhythm…
But the previous Frost Dragon Rhythm was definitely obtainable. After all, it didn’t look very advanced. If she gave it to Aman, she might be able to make him her left and right guardians.
“Uh… an accident, an accident. This Dragon Rhythm is indeed the entirety of the reward. However, if Miss Su becomes the National Master, I can give you the previous Dragon Rhythm as well.”
Upon hearing this, Naz gave a dry laugh. Since the other party had said so, he couldn’t appear stingy. As Su Jiu had expected, he agreed to give her the Frost Dragon Rhythm as well.
The two soon chatted as they headed towards the competition center. Along the way, they passed many pedestrians dressed as alchemists. Naz looked at them and couldn’t help but smack his lips, asking:
“Are you really ready? I heard that the Female Chief is a Senior Alchemy Master, just one step away from the Monarch realm. Her creation is a simplified magic crystal cannon with extreme destructive power, said to be close to the War God level.”
“I’m alright. If it’s an alchemical item that competes in power, we definitely can’t just look at the power, but also the range, right?”
With her hands behind her back, Su Jiu glanced at the belt on her waist, curled her lips, and said cheerfully.
It could only be close to the Demigod level, and definitely not as good as her modified [Fusheng]. Su Jiu predicted that this modified Fusheng would have at least the power of a Beginner War God, and its explosive range would be extremely wide.
Currently, she could only produce [Fusheng] bombs that were at the same level as her own secondary attributes. Otherwise, if the suppression and conversion of the same attributes were missing during the crafting process, it would be difficult to maintain balance.
Lightly, the materials would be destroyed; severely, all the personnel present would be treated to a “large meal.”
“The range is indeed important, but the most important thing is the quality of the item itself.”
Naz did not know Su Jiu’s alchemy level, but he knew that her mental power was extremely high, so he said meaningfully, “You should also have a certain alchemy level, right? With both attributes and mental power fulfilled, I don’t believe you wouldn’t learn this respected and coveted profession.”
“I’m just a barely Alchemy Master…”
She smiled faintly at him. Su Jiu knew her general level. If she only made bombs, she could reach the level of the Female Chief, but she could forget about making other things. She estimated that she could only barely reach the Alchemy Master level.
“If it’s just a barely Alchemy Master, then it’s hard to say. Besides that Chief, another person from the Ancient Imperial Capital also has the level of an intermediate alchemist, and that Snow Tiger seems to have the Alchemy Master level as well.”
Naz nodded slightly. He had also received the latest news that two people had withdrawn from the competition. With that, only four people would participate in the competition: the Female Chief, another strong man of unknown strength, and the other two being the Snow Tiger youth from Su Jiu’s side.
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu’s face showed surprise. Just as she was about to speak.
Before she could ask, Old Naz seemed to have seen her confusion and immediately explained:
“Because they do not interact with the outside world, anyone with a little talent will learn alchemy. These people are naturally prodigies or nobles from high-level forces, and their age is close to fifty or sixty. It is not too exaggerated for them to have this strength.”
Su Jiu nodded. She was not wearing the alchemist’s attire, but she walked towards the center. Along the way, she attracted the attention of many people. It seemed they also recognized her identity, and even those alchemists who usually held their heads high treated her with great respect.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the competition arena in the center. Following the crowd, they came to a VIP seat. Su Jiu stopped at the railing and looked around. She found that the competition arena below had indeed changed.
The previous arena was nowhere to be seen, and the entire area had been divided into four blocks, all separated by transparent energy walls about half a meter thick and three meters high. Each area had many instruments similar to those in a laboratory, but compared to a laboratory, more things were inclined towards being more classical.
For example, the load-bearing rods that connected the operations would use a mixture of electronic equipment and alchemical equipment in the human world, but here, they used retro methods like pulleys to lift some heavy, unknown crystals.
“This place is worthy of being an old-era alchemy venue. It’s exactly the same as the scenes from memory. Perhaps this kind of venue is more suitable for me.”
With a slight sigh, Su Jiu lowered her head again and looked below…
There, a row of people were seated in the judges’ seats, but unlike the previous matches, there were only seven people. Elder Shuangkong of the Great Clan, Elder Hanye of the Second Clan, and Elder Evelyn of the Nine Clans were nowhere to be seen.
Sitting in the chief seat was an alchemy youth wearing black clothes, fiddling with a compass, with a hint of laziness on his face and no concern for the outcome of the match.
Beside him was another female Chief, also holding an engraving pen. She kept choosing her pen tips and said with a gloomy expression, “Even if I win first place in this match, I’ll only have two points in total. Teacher, will there be tie-breaker matches if it’s a draw?”
“There probably will be, at least Elder of the Second Clan might start one?”
The youth swept his gaze over the endless stream of alchemists arriving on the field. He took out a mechanical gear-shaped medal and put it on. The medal glowed with a crimson stream of light, as if the entire gear was about to rotate.
If one had sharp eyes, they could also notice that most of the alchemists also wore similar medals, though most of them were made of gold and silver.
“I hope that Blood Clan member isn’t some alchemy expert! That bald guy must know the Blood Clan and know that he has no hope of becoming the National Master. He withdrew specifically to sell a favor. He’s truly detestable.”
Seeing her master put on the medal, the Female Chief pouted and felt for a blue crystal medal. Although it also glowed, it was not as dazzling and lively as the one on the youth’s chest.
“Isn’t it better not to be the National Master? Isn’t being carefree better than shouldering the karma of the common people?”
He chuckled lightly. As if sensing the gaze, the lazy youth suddenly turned his head and cast his seemingly casual gaze towards Su Jiu. A kind smile appeared on his fair face.
Seeing the youth turn his head, Naz beside Su Jiu bowed slightly and then explained in a low voice, “This Elder of the Third Clan is also the master of the Chief of the Ancient Imperial Capital. He is a neutral person, and it is rumored that he is one of the cabinet elders of the Alchemist General Association.”
“Cabinet member…”
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu quickly lowered her head and bowed. Although she didn’t know what a cabinet member was, it didn’t prevent her from feeling that this bald guy had a very high status.
As the clouds drifted by, time also came to noon. More and more alchemists were seated in the VIP section. Most of them were invited demons and a small number of humans. The audience seats opposite had already become a sea of people, their cheers converging into a flood that rushed straight into the sky.
“Dong!”
When a clear bell chime sounded from the youth in the seats, the sky-high noise suddenly quieted down, and all eyes turned towards him.
Holding a compass in his hand, Elder of the Third Clan slowly stood up and floated into the air, throwing the compass onto the square. The compass covered the four positions within it, like soundproofing equipment.
At this moment, tens of thousands of alchemists also raised their heads, casting their awe-filled gazes towards the Elder of the Third Clan, who had considerable renown in both the Snow Demon Kingdom and the human alchemy world.
He smiled faintly and, with a steady voice that did not match his appearance, used his external qi to amplify his voice, announcing proudly:
“I, as the Seventh Elder of the Alchemist General Association, announce that the second round of the alchemy competition officially begins!”
“Boom!”
Hearing the announcement, which was not made in his capacity as the Third Elder of the Snow Demon Kingdom, the crowd erupted in enthusiastic cheers. This declaration showed respect not only to the alchemists but also to the competition itself.
