27 Grades of Alchemist

Jiang Chen " Uncle I have been recently trying my hands on Alchemy and managed to concoct few pills from the books . I want to get certified by you and also few pointers from senior."

Manager was shocked hearing this and others who knew Jiang Chen previously including the seventh uncle were dumbfounded. Jiang Family already knew that Jiang Chen started practicing alchemy few days ago but they didn't knew the improvements he made.

Bo Wen's face changed colors hearing this "You think you can be an alchemist just by concocting few pills and you even dared to come to pill palace to make an exhibition of it."

Jiang Chen "Uncle what is the procedure for things to get started. It is my first time applying things officially, since I am from Jiang family my process fro weapon smith license got stream lined."

Manager expected Jiang Chen to reply something to Bo Wen but he just ignored him.

Manager "Hmm I will call a senior alchemist from our River Spring city . He will be conducting your test. There would be two rounds of test .First would be written test on various herbs and known processes. Then you should concoct three types of pills of your choosing before the senior alchemist we will provide you with all ingredients based on the success ratio of pill concocting, purity of the pill and standards your grade would be decided."

Bo Wen was furious seeing that he was completely ignored.

Jiang Chen "Then I would have to trouble uncle and the senior alchemist."

Manager " No not at all everyone in the Pill palace have long heard about Young Master Jiang's talents in weapon's making and Martial Techniques we wanted to meet you and now you wanted to show your hand in Alchemy too."

Jiang Chen "Uncle praises me lot."

Bo Wen "Is it over. You truly think yourself as a genius just because few people from this backward city called you one. You even wanted to humiliate the art of alchemy."

Jiang Chen "Uncle can we proceed." Jiang Chen behaved like he didn't hear Bo Wen at all. Manager was very pleased at this. How can Jiang Chen stop himself down to reply for some barking dog. Even though Jiang Chen was from blacksmith family. Weapon smiths and Alchemy are two complete different fields and they specialized in different things. He was graded as 8th grade human Rank weapon smith and his weapons were all of superior quality.

Bo Wen stopped manager "Are you seriously allowing him to take the test? You are even ignoring me."

Same time a loud voice came from behind

"Mr Bo Wen it is business of our Pill Palace you don't have any right to interfere our business. There is an understanding between all Pill Palaces for sure that is why we are lending you support in your business but you can't boss us from doing our job."

Bo Wen was more furious when he heard some one replying back to him. "Jiang Chen is one of suspects so we need him for questioning."

The Alchemist from the River Spring Palace smiled at Jiang Chen "He already told what happened that time with lightning. It would be really foolish for you even to think that a Martial Disciple did it. So he is not a suspect but just a eye witness ."

Bo Wen "So you want to stop us and protect him."

Alchemist "Jiang Chen came here giving face to Pill Palace of River Spring city so we are responsible to hold that faith on us."

Jiang Chen slightly bowed to him "Uncle Qin are you the in charge for testing my Alchemist grade?"

Alchemist Qin "Sure am boy." Uncle Qin is one of the family friends of Jiang family he is from River Spring city itself and when he was tested for fire attribute he got good support from Jiang Family then he went to be an Alchemist.

Bo Wen "Lets see how you pass the test."

Jiang Chen started following Alchemist Qin to take the test and Bo Wen blocked the path .Jiang Chen simply turned around and passed him.

Manager "Young master that guy will think you are scared of him."

Jiang Chen "Uncle my Aunt Ming told me not to step on puddles or else my robes will get soiled. I love my white robes." Jiang Chen spoke clear and aloud. Bo Wen wanted to chase after him but his lackeys stopped him seeing Seventh uncle following Jiang Chen.

Uncle Qin took him to an empty room for Jiang Chen to take a test. Uncle Qin asked Jiang Chen to explain about few basic herbs and pills and their uses and concocting methods. Jiang Chen had no trouble writing the answers for them. He read too many books of Alchemy and herbs his Aunt Ming gave him ,he could write the answers without the help of Mo Qingcheng.

Mo Qingcheng "You can answer all of them without my help you truly have great talent in alchemy even without me."

Jiang Chen "I was just teasing you that day. Even though I didn't want to take alchemy completely I wanted to learn about few basic pills."

Mo Qingcheng "Scoundrel."

After almost an hour Jiang Chen's written test was concluded and Uncle Qin came along with someone else to collect the papers even Bo We was there along with him.

When Uncle Qin checked all the papers and gave a satisfactory nod.

Uncle Qin "Chen'er your knowledge in Alchemy is no weaker than your knowledge in Martial Techniques and weapon making."

Jiang Chen " Uncle I lack true experience in making pills. Under Aunt Ming's tutelage I was taught about many herbs and pills and learned recipes of over hundred pills."

Uncle Qin "Oh! Your results in written test is satisfactory so you can proceed to pill making."

The Person beside Uncle Qin was giving a smiling expression but Mo Qingcheng has already told him that guy is called Nan Kong he is a senior alchemist from Cangtok city Pill Palace and one of the main conspirators.

Uncle Qin "Jiang Chen you can select any three pills you want to make we will provide ingredients for ten sets you will be qualified to be graded as an alchemist if you succeed in making even one pill and enter grading system if you make more than one pill with average standard ."

Nan Kong who was listening to in the sides smirked and spoke "The pill palace standards are truly below grade in River Spring city he can enter alchemist grading with just one average pill from ten tries. With that result we will not even call a person alchemist in our city."

Uncle Qin was silent for a moment then asked "So what are the standards in Cangtok City then?"

Jiang Chen found it somewhat amusing hearing that. One with avg. standard was a no trouble for Jiang Chen at all it is not even considered a challenge at all.

Nan Kong " He should make at least four pills with average standard." he spoke and by his side Bo Wen was smirking at that.

Mo Qingcheng who heard this was surprised seeing this "Jiang Chen they are just bluffing 2 pills with avg. standard are considered very good for alchemist entering grading system first time. Four is considered a good seedling. Even though they are well below your level but they are to shameless."

Jiang Chen "Among you and that Bo Wen who is better?"

Mo Qingcheng " He is a Grade 6 Human Ranked Alchemist with open cauldron and I am grade 8 Human Ranked closed cauldron alchemist .Are you planning something?"

Jiang Chen "Our both grades should be equal right? "

Mo Qingcheng "Yes you are equal to me in every aspect in this five pills."

Jiang Chen "You are not jealous?"

Mo Qingcheng "Scoundrel."

Jiang Chen "Oh! Four pills with avg standard." Jiang Chen gave a stern expression.

Seeing the complicated expression in Jiang Chen's face Bo Wen's face was brimming with smile.

Even uncle Qin felt it is too overboard to ask for 4 avg grade pills in ten tries from first time grader.

Jiang Chen "Uncle I don't know about pill grades well .I will try my luck hope I can get an Avg. grade pill."

Bo Wen "You don't even know what an average grade pill looks like."

Bo Wen "Senior can I show my alchemy skills too. It may help junior Jiang Chen in future to see my concocting skills."

Jiang Chen knew he was trying to provoke him. Seeing Jiang Chen's gloomy expression no one was sure that whether or not he can concoct a avg. grade pill.

Uncle Qin "It is alright Chen'er you concentrate on pill making other things can wait."

Hearing that Jiang Chen was taking alchemist grading test many people from Pill Palace came by to see it. They were rooting for Jiang Chen to succeed they already know four for a beginner was really far fetched."

Jiang Chen "Uncle I want to concoct Healing Pill, Body clearing Pill and Soul Refining Pill." everyone who heard that were dumbfounded at this and they doubted their ears. Usually beginners will choose Absorbing Pill, Healing Pill and Fire Pill .

Uncle Qin just nodded and asked for the manager to bring the materials for the same.

Bo Wen "I will make same pills." said smiling smugly.

Soon every material was brought but everyone felt bad for Jiang Chen because Bo Wen wanted to take test simultaneously with him. Even if he clear the test his result would be eclipsed by Bo Wen. No one in Pill Palace liked that cocky youngster everyone in River Spring city has one definition for a genius and that is Jiang Chen good at so many things but ever polite to everyone no one who met him left disappointed. He was ready to bow down his head to lead the way. That was the true definition of genius for them.

Jiang Chen then took out his rusty cauldron from the Natal Palace. It even shocked Nan Kong.

Bo Wen "Such a good cauldron is being wasted on a beginner." Jiang Chen just ignored him.

Uncle Qin "Is it your cauldron? Have you concocted pills in it before?"

Jiang Chen "Yes uncle." when he said that most people felt relieved and surprised even Bo Wen was surprised that Jiang Chen can use a closed cauldron.

Jiang Chen immediately dumped all the material in the cauldron directly acting like an armature Bo Wen and Nan Kong just smiled at it even uncle Qin was shocked at it and shook his head disappointed.

Even Mo Qingcheng was bit surprised at it but then knowing Jiang Chen better than most people here she just smiled at it. Bo Wen is gonna see the worst day of his life. Jiang Chen's control of heavenly energy far surpasses her she knew about it very well it might be impossible for others to do that but Jiang Chen can create a perfect balance of things here. Since Jiang Chen was a closed cauldron alchemist no one was sure on what Jiang Chen is doing exactly.

Jiang Chen was just patiently creating a labyrinth with heavenly energy inside the cauldron. He hasn't started refining them yet. Jiang Chen just closed his eyes and continued with his plan.

On the other side Bo Wen was patiently extracting essence from each ingredient step by step and storing them in bottles. It took him over three hours to completely extract essence from all the ingredients he had. He stored them all carefully then he observed Jiang Chen who didn't move an inch from the place he was standing and his hands were still in the same place.

Others were curious on Jiang Chen's progress and few even tried to probe into the cauldron but they were stopped by spiritual sense of Uncle Qin for some reason he felt there was a huge surprise coming for him. Bo Wen looked at Jiang Chen still standing like a statue then smirked and started mixing the pills and making the pills. After around two more hours.

Bo Wen "I am done making my pills." he said showing 16 pill bottles containing total of 24 pills.The quality of pills is not determined yet.

Bo Wen "Jiang Chen hasn't completed extracting yet I guess. No one tries to extract all essence at once it is faulty method." he spoke making a judgement ,he didn't comment on time because he know first time graders take longer for pill making.

After around 60 breaths Jiang Chen finally opened his eyes and breathing out air he took the bottles from the table and opened the cauldron every one were surprised thinking that Jiang Chen was able to extract essence at first place.

Just as every one were impressed that he was able to extract essences from big mixture of materials their expressions turned to shock. What Jiang Chen was putting inside the crystal bottles are not essence but perfect pills and there were 28 completed pills. Even Mo Qingcheng was shocked at this.

Few even collapsed seeing this. Uncle Qin was somewhat expecting a shock but he didn't expect what is coming at his face was such big one. 28/30 and all concocted at once in one time closing the cauldron. He didn't doubt the standards of pills he already started to expect the quality to be superior too.

Bo Wen "You finished concocting the pills already. And all pills at once." he had a shocked expression on his face. He heart felt some dread even the greatest alchemist genius he knew Mo Qingcheng couldn't do that.

Jiang Chen "I was slower than senior. I just concocted them I don't know about grades."

Jiang Chen passed all the pill bottles to Uncle Qin. There were few more Senior alchemist gathered there who came there to inspect the pills too.

Jiang Chen "I hope to know more about grades of pill. So I await senior's pill as guidance."

Everyone understood that Jiang Chen wanted to look at Bo Wen's pills inspection first.

Everyone agreed to it too. Bo Wen is considered a genius alchemist from Southern Grand and he is even going to become a disciple of Pill Heaven Palace sooner. No one felt suspicious of Jiang Chen's words it was always Jiang Chen's way learning from even rivals and everyone knew about it.

Uncle Qin "Jiang Chen you said you don't know about Pill grades right."

Jiang Chen "Yes Uncle Qin I await more information about it. I know about grades but never saw the difference with my own eyes so can't judge the quality correctly."

Uncle Qin "I will explain it to you." uncle Qin said as he inspected Bo Wen's pills one by one.

Uncle Qin " Jiang Chen pills are classifies to same grades as weapons like Human,Mortal,Earth,Sky,Heaven grades and along with it there is another classification based on difficulty of the pill making it is low,mid and High . There are few pills tougher than others to make even under same grade. Example both Clearing Pill and Fire Pill are human ranked pills but Clearing Pill is high Human raked while Fire Pill is Mid ranked."

Uncle Qin "That is to classify the pills by nature. Then comes grading of the pills they are graded based on quality of pills they differ based on alchemist so we use that as medium to grade alchemists. "

Uncle Qin " Trash ,Poor ,Average, Good, Excellent, Perfect and Extraordinary are the quality grading of pills Trash grade are all just failed quality pills and Poor are still considered pills but they are below par and there would be too many impurities so they are not desired type of pills either."

Uncle Qin "Average quality pills are first success grade and can be consumed by cultivators even though their quality is still considered poor they are usable. If you can concoct an average quality pill it is considered you can step into alchemy path. They would be graded as grade 1 alchemist they are alchemists just for name they try to improve the quality of pills next. "

Then one of the Alchemists testing Bo Wen's pills tossed a pill at Jiang Chen "This is how an Average quality pill looks like."

Jiang Chen looked at the pill it was a Healing Pill which lacked the luster of original Bright Red color and it has nonuniform color shade.

Jiang Chen observed the pill for few minutes and gave it back to the alchemy master.

Uncle Qin "Then comes good grade and excellent grade. Good grade pill has far lesser impurities it is like if Average pill has 30% impurities Good pill will have 5-10% impurities in it. They are very good for consumption and most of the pills sold in Pill Palace come under this grouping."

Then the Alchemist passed another pill for Jiang Chen to look. He wanted to help Jiang Chen more so he was showing him with examples. Jiang Chen observed the pill for few minutes and then passed it back.

Uncle Qin " Perfect Grade pills are very rare they are with zero percent impurities in them .Only top grade alchemists can make them and extraordinary grade pills are special kind they carry additional affects than the pill intended they are considered best of the best of the best grades of pills."

Jiang Chen "So how does that define the grade of alchemists."

Uncle Qin "There are three important factors that define the grade of alchemist there was a formula to define that .I will not speak of complex things now. Let me explain you with pills of Bo Wen as reference.

Uncle Qin " Alchemist Bo Wen has concocted 24 pills from 30 sets and among them there are 3 average grade,5 good grade ,15 excellent grade and 1 rare perfect grade. With this rate and grades we calculate his grade to be 7th grade human grade alchemist with open cauldron."