Buying a Cauldron

Beside the counter, he saw Elder Yin talking heartily with a few other Alchemists.

"Elder Yin, your disciple must be really exceptional to take the Grade 1 Exam at her age. If she passes, I'm afraid that she would become the greatest genius Alchemist in the entire city!" A Grade 3 Alchemist exclaimed.

"I'm sure that Elder Yin's disciple will definitely pass the examination since she had the confidence to take it. I'll congratulate you in advance, Elder Yin." Another Alchemist cupped his fists as he courteously said.

"Haha, you're exaggerating. Although my disciple's talent is great, there will always be others that will be greater than her." Elder Yin chuckled as he replied, but his expression was unable to hide the pride he had for his disciple.

As they were chatting, one of the Alchemists in their midst saw Long Chen walking out of the examination room.

"Elder Yin, who is that person?" The Alchemist pointed towards Long Chen.

Elder Yin turned to look as he saw Long Chen, and was surprised, "He is just a person who took the examination along with my disciple. He most likely failed the test, judging by how long he took."

Long Chen strode to the attendant, who looked back at him in shock, before it quickly dulled down.

She had thought that he had failed the test and was there to pay for the herbs.

And then she saw him giving her a slip of paper that was stamped with the examination's elder mark.

Her eyes narrowed into a slit, and she gazed back up at Long Chen in astonishment.

"May I receive the Alchemist token of identification?" Long Chen politely smiled as he requested.

The attendant quickly reverted to her professional working attitude, and took a token that had one line on it, and passed it onto Long Chen, "This is your Alchemist's token. With this, you will are entitled to discounts for herbs and even a cauldron if you buy from our Alchemy Association."

"And at our Alchemy Association, we require you to refine at least 10 Grade 1 Pills for us. Of course, we will definitely buy it at a reasonable price." The attendant continued to explain.

"How much does a cauldron cost?" Long Chen asked after he took over the token.

"A Low-Tier Grade 1 Cauldron would cost around 40 Low-Tier Crystals, while a Mid-Tier Grade 1 Cauldron would cost around 100 Low-Tier Crystals. Of course, this price is only applicable if you buy from us. In other shops, the price will naturally be more expensive" The attendant informed him.

'So expensive!' Long Chen thought to himself.

He looked down at his storage bag as he started to count.

He had retrieved a few storage bags from the dead after the battle, and he had taken most of them, while he gave some to the rest of his subordinates to share.

Counting the crystals in his bag, he found around 78 crystals.

He was lucky that the Wild Wolf Gang had given him some donations, if not he won't be able to even afford a single cauldron.

"But if you are unable to buy a cauldron, you can also lend one from us." The attendant continued to speak in a practiced tone.

"It's okay. I can afford a cauldron. I'll buy a Low-Tier Cauldron." Long Chen replied as he took out exactly 40 crystals from his storage bag and gave it to the attendant.

The attendant froze for a while, before she quickly collected the crystals, and led him to a corner of the building where a few cauldrons lay.

The cauldrons were all rather big in size, but he was lucky that he managed to get a storage bag from Xiao Wan Wan.

Because he had noticed that the storage bag he got from her was countless times bigger than the one's from the Wild Wolf Gang, and was large enough to store a cauldron within it

If not, he would have to carry the fat cauldron by his side and walk by to the Sect, looking absolutely ridiculous.

After he stored the Low-Tier Grade 1 Cauldron inside his storage bag, he also bought some herbs at a price of around 10 crystals.

After all, how could he refine pills without the necessary herbs?

At this moment, his entire storage bag was screaming broke, but Long Chen was not feeling depressed.

In retrospect, he was utterly delighted, because his path to making money, or crystals, was about to begin.

With his pill refining skills, he was sure that he would be able to make a huge profit in this extremely profitable market.

Accomplished Alchemists were akin to a walking bank of crystals. The cost needed to refine a pill was many times less than the price of a pill.

With this ludicrous profit margin, Long Chen was sure that he would be able to easily earn back the crystals which he had spent.

This could be called, an investment.

Keeping all the items he had bought within his storage bag, Long Chen turned towards the attendant and thanked her, before he left the Alchemy Association.

On his waist, hung his Alchemy token that had one line to it.

Walking along the streets, he could clearly sense the stares of respect and awe directed to him.

In the past, with his disguised looks, the most he could receive was a spit on the face.

But now, with his newfound token, the passers-by all treated him as though he was their ancestor- could not be provoked, could not be insulted, and could only be treated with respect.

This was what the identity of being an Alchemist brought.

Long Chen couldn't not help but admit that he was quite enjoying this treatment, but he swiftly kept the token within his storage bag to not draw too much attention, as he headed towards the direction of the Sect.

------

On the other hand, within the Alchemy Association.

Elder Yin was still rather startled when he saw that Long Chen had passed. And in such a short time at that.

A while passed, before Xiao Ran walked out of the examination hall with a slight smile on her face.

"Teacher, I have passed the test." Xiao Ran softly said to Elder Yin, with her face still adorned with a smile.

"Good, good." Elder Yin stroked his bread as he chuckled in delight.

"Congratulations to Elder Yin for having such a genius disciple!" The Alchemists which surrounded Elder Yin all went forward one by one to send congrats.

After Elder Yin had received their congrats, he followed Xiao Ran to get her Alchemist token, and they both left the Alchemy Association.

While they were walking, Elder Yin turned to Xiao Ran and asked, "Xiao Ran, although you have a smile on your face, as your teacher, I can sense that you are still unhappy with something. What is it?"

Xiao Ran thought for a while, before she replied, "The man beside me just now was able to refine the pill one hour faster than me, and I heard the Elder exclaim that it was a Mid-Tier pill."

Although Xiao Ram was not that sort of an arrogant genius who let their unordinary talent get to their head, however, she still has an innate pride within her. This was the first time she had suffered a setback in her Alchemy path, and it was inevitable for her to be affected emotionally.

Hearing this, Elder Yin sighed as he spoke in a low voice, "Xiao Ran, there is no need to worry about such a small thing. Although he is currently better than you, but what about in the future? Judging by your age and potential, I am sure that you can quickly catch up to him, and even easily surpass him."

"I understand, Teacher. I will work even harder in the future." Xiao Ran responded in a gentle voice, yet her tone was one of resoluteness and determination.

"That's good." Elder Yin nodded his head in satisfaction after seeing Xiao Ran's change.