18 Don't you feel related?

The hall was big. Nobles wore expensive clothes, orned by gold and silver, and they were currently feasting on delicious meat and exotic fruits.

'Or at least they might be exotic for a chinese...'

Melons, peaches...

Raden was sitting at another table with all the other younglings, eating and looking around. And was alone: people around him all started talking about cultivation, gossip, their accomplishments...And he was left behind.

The majority was sixteen or seventeen, so he was one of the smallest of the group.

'Well...It's not like it's going to be difficult to look for information about my teacher if I stay silent...' He thought ironically.

Yes, Raden wasn't able to start a conversation with someone at his age.

'Wait, I have an idea! It always works in novels!'

Gazing at one female showing interest: in that way, someone would surely give Raden information about her and so, he could continue the conversation!

'What an intelligent plan.' 'But it may work...'

He picked the most beautiful one. And started gazing.

"Elder, what are you doing?" He heard Jin Liang saying.

'I totally forgot about him!'

He started blushing. 'Damn! That's rapidly becoming worse'

He was dying (and dyed) of embarrassment right now.

*Coff* *Coff* "Hey what are you doing?" A young man, seventeen, asked him.

"Eh...Nothing." 'Well...It worked...kinda.'

"Oh, you're looking at Bao Li! Eheh, kid you're definitely out of her league. She's the nephew of the viscount, and she is one of his preferred younglings! Imagine, Dantian Opening at that age...she may even go to a higher rank country!"

'I knew this sheep would work!'

"Why? Can't she go a higher rank country now?"

"Ahahah! You don't understand when I say go to a higher country I don't mean as a student, but as a conqueror!"

"Hmm..." 'That's true, the Zhao County Clan is actually pretty weak, and it had to decentralize a lot under the pressure of the viscounties but...' 'The family head is still a Half-Qi Compressing Cultivator!'

"By the way, I'm Ah Tang, you?"

"I'm Jin Liang" 'The Tang dynasty? Ah... one of the four nobles families, alchemists.'

"Ahah, for such a young boy to be in this meeting, you must be quite talented."

'You're a man of culture as well! Seeing my talent with a glance!' 'He's quite good at speaking...I must say. But I'll take the lead.'

"You're flattering me. You're from the most powerful alchemist of the state, your accomplishments precede me! I've heard you've concocted a high third-grade pill at this age, it's really impressive!"

"Impressive? Yeah...truly." He said smiling.

"I'm quite interested in alchemy too. You know in my academy there are a lot of alchemy teachers, can you please lead me?"

"Yes! From which academy are you from?"

"Chao Academy."

"Chao Academy...There aren't a lot of good alchemists there...I think the best one is Hai Lao: he's an alchemist master and can forge up to grade four pills. Nothing else really."

'Blablabla, I don't care.' "But I've heard of another alchemist Ai Bai, do you know him?"

"Ai Bai?!?" He was shocked.

'Well, it's the moment of truth. I guess.'

"H-he's the exiled one...The most infamous alchemist of all times! I suggest you stay away from him, he's too dangerous!"

"Hmm, why?"

"There's a reason why such a great alchemist went into an academy as a teacher..." "He's from the Skullseeker association: the most powerful crime organization of the empire. They sell whatever you want, from prohibited pills to stolen artifacts! And he's the head alchemist of that organization! He killed an entire town poisoning the wells some years ago. Fortunately, our clan discovered him..."

"Why isn't he in prison?"

"He's...simply too strong for our clan to handle it." He said shamefully. "That's why we need fresh talents in our clan, to keep delivering justice!' He said determinedly.

'Why did it suddenly turn into an ad?' 'I mean, with those last words I can't help but feel a little suspicious about this story...' "Ahah, surely brother is part of a great clan, delivering justice like that!" He said 'enthusiastically'.

"Eheh! Truly." "Oh, she came, the ceremony is starting!"

It's true that they would want to use good actions to sponsor their clan, so it might be true.' 'Maybe I trusted too much my teacher?' Raden sighed.

A girl in her twenties entered from the main door, on the other side a boy of around the same age.

'The daughter of the Li viscount and that one must be from another viscounty...' 'It seems that the royal family has gotten quite a big supporter.'

They met at the centre of the hall.

'This should be the famed maternal marriage. It must be because this viscounty is stronger than the nearby one, perhaps?' 'Maybe he's from a noble family instead of a royal one?'

"Present yourselves." An elder, carrying an authoritative tone, said.

"I am Hua Li, daughter of Li clan head, viscount Qiang Li." She said smiling at the boy.

"I am Yong Yu, son of Yu clan head, alchemy apprentice Fu Yu." He said proudly.

'An-an alchemist apprentice? How can he be so proud of that?'

Raden was shocked.

Alchemists were divided into different levels based on the grade of the pill they were able of concocting: alchemy apprentice, adept, master, grandmaster, sage, genius, immortal, dao master, son, father.

His father could only concoct a grade one pill!

'Is...May this be...true love?'

Waves of shock spread through the crowd.

The boy didn't seem to care about the reaction of the crowd. He put, instead, an air of arrogance.

"R-Right I shall present you Yong Yu, the youngest alchemy grandmaster of the kingdom! He is a Qi Manifestation cultivator and came from a humble background!" The elder explained the situation to him.

The crowd erupted into chaos.

"Hey, why are they so surprised about that?" He asked Ah Tang.

"An-an alchemy grandmaster! It is extremely difficult to concoct a grade four pill!"

"But you did concoct a grade three pill before"

"It's...completely different between grade three and grade four there's a huge bottleneck. Pretty much like cultivation between Qi Manifestation and Dantian Opening!" "In comparison breaking through all the previous rank combined isn't difficult at all. My father is an alchemy grandmaster, he's like him, but much younger!"

"Oh, I understand."

"Wait, who's your father?"

"Min Tang"

"!" 'The clan head! Yes...he did have quite a lot of children that's why I didn't know who this talent was born from.'

'Ah. It makes sense.'

He watched the boy as the ceremony went on.

"It's time to show you the talents we have today!" The elder said.

"In a...tournament!"

'Another...that's true that I'm in a fantasy world but...'

<<New Mission: Be first in the tournament>>

<<Rewards: System Update>>

'Yeah, again!'

A sudden change in mind.

'I hope this change will be good. I mean, until now the system doesn't have many functions...'

<<Idiot, the system hears you>>

'Th-that's true!' 'So there's a sentient being behind the system...'