Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex could feel the aura of Temporal Stagnation around him and knew that time within just the space around him was slowed down by a certain amount. From what the Alchemy God had just said, it turned out to be by a rate of one-tenth.

Meaning, for every hour that passed, he would experience about 66 minutes instead.

When Alex looked around, the world outside seemed to move just a hint slower than normal. It was as if both he and his thoughts were just one step ahead of everyone else.

'This… is an incredible advantage,' Alex thought. It truly was.

For smaller amounts of time, it didn't show much difference. But when one considered days instead of hours, the true benefit of this sped-up time showed itself. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

In a single day, Alex could get two and a half hours more than anyone else. In the time it took for one round of the tournament to end, he could get three extra hours. This was truly incredible.

The Alchemy God continued speaking as he explained the situation. The four of them could feel the words coming from him dragging just a little longer than usual.

"The advantage the four of them will receive is extra time, time that is no doubt essential during this competition," the Alchemy God said. "However, time alone won't help them. They need talent and knowledge too. So, while they do have the advantage in time, they do not have anything else that you do not."

"So, don't fear them and do the best you can. In the end, the only thing that will reign supreme in the competition is the one who is the best alchemist."

The Alchemy God gestured to the side, and several people walked up the stage and began spreading around. All who came up were in the Divine Realm, and every single one stood before one of the finalists, holding a pouch with them.

"In just a few minutes, the competition will begin. However, before that happens, I must tell you of a last-minute decision we have made."

"Because of some circumstances regarding the unknowable variable of how many of you will pass, we will need to set up the rounds for the one-on-one competitions afterward. And for that, some of you will get a chance to skip ahead without competing against others."

"To determine who will be the one that gets to skip on ahead, we will decide based on who completes the first leg of the competition the fastest. Meaning the one who creates three recipes the fastest will get some advantage for a round or two in the upcoming competition. As a result, I suggest you all do your best."

Once the Alchemy God said as much, he began gesturing to the various divinities that were standing before the finalists. One by one, they walked into the space where the alchemists were and handed over the pouch.

"You have five minutes to look through the ingredients. Once the five minutes are over, the competition will begin."

Not a single alchemist said anything in response to any of the other things the Alchemy God had mentioned. The moment they got their hands on the pouch, they immediately sunk their spiritual sense into it to look at what ingredients they were going to be working with.

Alex looked through the storage bag and saw 20 different types of ingredients, with dozens and dozens of them. From what the Alchemy God had mentioned, five of them would be the major ingredients that he must include in all recipes. And the remaining 15 would be up to his choice.

Aside from the ingredients, there was a talisman that floated within the pouch. Alex pulled it out and read the contents within it.

The Five Major Ingredients:

Carnelian Assault Boar's Tusk

Immortal Jadehorn Leaves

Eight Twilight Silk Seeds

Nine Star Jewel Fruit

Golden Mind Chrysanthemum

Alex looked at the names and the five different ingredients that were inside the storage bag.

The Carnelian Assault Boar's Tusk was a bright red tusk that was powdered for their sake at the moment, so it was nothing more than soft red dust.

Alex remembered making a pill with this ingredient maybe once or twice. That too was something he made using a recipe from his master, so he didn't know much about the tusk other than that it had hints of blood aura alongside a massive amount of Fire energy.

The Immortal Jadehorn Leaves were leaves that brimmed with wood aura and were ingredients that Alex had worked a lot with. The leaves were also said to have energy to soothe one's Qi and were frequently used in pills that were supposed to be eaten to quell Qi deviation should one occur.

The Eight Twilight Silk Seeds were tiny seeds no larger than sunflower seeds. When broken into, the seed oozed a fluid that, upon coming into contact with the air for a while, created silky threads. Because of the Water energy in the seed, any clothes made with these threads were used as bandages to heal wounded individuals.

The Nine Star Jewel Fruit was an ingredient with strong Earth energy. It was an incredible ingredient, such that even when consumed alone, it could improve one's physical prowess for a small period. In most pills, this ingredient was used to affect one's physical body.

Finally, the Golden Mind Chrysanthemum was a white flower with four petals. This was one of the plants that Alex had to find during the first competition. It was one of the ones he had found early on, too.

The flower petals had a strong Metal energy, but alongside that, they could also affect one's soul or their spiritual sea. It helped in making pills where the effect of the pill was meant to focus on one's spirit.

Alex took his spiritual sense away from the storage bag for a moment and looked at the five major ingredients with a strange look.

All five of these ingredients were surprisingly brimming with one of the five different types of regular elemental energy. Not only that, one of them also affected blood, one affected Qi, one affected the body, and one affected the mind.

Alex very quickly realized that the Alchemy God, or whoever else was involved in choosing these ingredients, had not done so randomly. Each ingredient was chosen with a clear purpose in mind, and to make it easier for the alchemists to know what they were going to have to do with it.

Alex nodded in appreciation and sent his spiritual sense back into the storage bag to check what the rest of the ingredients were.

The 15 Minor Ingredients:

Frostbloom Petals

Heavenly Emberroot Skin

Red Thornheart Vine

Immortal Mistwillow Bark

Thunderhorn Stag Antler

Skywing Moth Dust

Black Serpent's Eye Pearl

Coalfire Leaves

Sunblossom Pollen

Heavenly Mountain Grass

Immortal Azure Coral

Frostfire Sap

Jewel Cherry Pit

Evergreen Wood Bark

Winter Heart Bamboo Water

Alex looked at the 15 minor ingredients and found there to be less consideration put into them than the major ingredients. However, considering it was the major ingredients around which the pill recipes were going to be made, he supposed the lack of as much thought in them was understandable.