37- Meeting The Alchemists (I)

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"Excuse me, sir. I'm not sure what your name is, you haven't told us. " In a hurried tone, the examiner said to Adel, his cheeks flushed with excitement..

"You can call me Alchemical Alder. " Adel remarked, having already come up with an alias for his new alchemist persona.

Adel had kept his name hidden from them, which made them suspicious. They understood why he chose not to tell them at first after witnessing his alchemy testing results, or he could have given them a false identity to conceal his origins.

This would keep his identity hidden from possible attacks. To avoid people associating him with this new identity, he told Katrina to keep his absence a secret and give the illusion that he was achieving a breakthrough.

Katrina just nodded and brushed it off, as if she didn't really care about such minor issues. Adel had only told her that he was now going to sell some herbs in order to get some Dracha coins. Despite her doubts, she linked it to his consideration that they would also pursue him and threaten her over some political conflicts, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

The examiner responded with a nod, as if he understood. He then took a token from his pockets and offered it to Adel, before replying with even greater enthusiasm:

"This is the Taube clan's token. Our clan specializes primarily in alchemy, so if you want aid or are simply idle, feel free to drop by for a cup of tea.''

With the same expressionless face as always, Adel nodded his head as he grabbed the token. After all, he had to maintain the appearance of a middle aged man in his forties with some backing.

Though he was inwardly surprised as he heard his words - ' So the Taube Clan focuses on alchemy, making them have a high enough standing compared to Katrina's Klein clan. Doesn't that mean that the other clans, Protz and Frost could be focusing on blacksmithery and arrays, huh...'

Adel was a bit thoughtful inwardly. He aspired to be a jack of all trades when it came to professions, so he thought he should create two or three additional aliases and take the examinations.

Before Adel could depart, the elder grasped his shoulder and looked thoughtful before hesitantly asking:

"Umm... Sorry for the inconvenience, Alchemist Alder. It's just that one of the elders sent me a telepathic message requesting me to bring you there to trade alchemical knowledge...''

Adel had a frown on his face visibly. But he was inwardly relieved that the message had been conveyed. It was the only way he could start off his plans.

In a few seconds, Adel's frown changed to a hesitant one, making the elder anxious about his response.

Adel finally let out a sigh and returned to his expressionless visage a dozen seconds later, saying:

'' Lead the way. I can only stay for around two shi.'' (two shi = four hours).

-

Soon afterwards, Adel was met by a group of elders in a closed room, sitting around while the atmosphere seemed harmonious.

As soon as Adel entered the room, the elders got serious. One of the elders grabbed his pile of papers from his first test and started going through it.

With this theoretical test, he was able to clearly distinguish between them in terms of their knowledge of 1-star pills. He could tell that with enough time, this middle-aged man in front of him could be able to exceed him.

The elder delivered the test paper to the others, who were all surprised and inquired something, to which the elder nodded his head. Their gazes then moved to Adel, whom they regarded with a sparkle in their eyes.

Adel had chills run up his spine as he noticed that they were staring at him like predators chasing their prey.

He was puzzled about what sort of nonsense this elder had put into their minds to make them think of him like this.

But he didn't mind since the more favorable their impressions of him were, the higher his stature in their minds would be. Then again, he was going to appear mysterious regardless.

Adel then observed another individual standing close to a cauldron. It was a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties with exquisite curves that emphasized her breasts and buttocks, making any young man drool over her attractiveness.

Adel was surprised since he could sense her energy fluctuations and she was also at the high stage of the second step. But that wasn't what stunned him since he could feel it. Her cultivation was suppressed, meaning it could either be her being of higher cultivation, or cultivating in more than one pathway!

When the young woman caught sight of his stare, she smiled, nodded, and went back to concocting the pill.

Adel was even more surprised since she could give attention to him while still creating the pill.

"Truly, the younger generation will sooner or later exceed the older generation." An elder dispelled the silence between them with a hearty chuckle.

He had long grey hair and wore a green alchemist robe with three stars carved on it.

This indicated that he was a 3-star alchemist.

Although Adel looked like a middle-aged man, it only looked as if he was in his forties. So, he would be considered rather young for accomplishing such a feat at such a young age.

The beauty, on the other hand, appeared to be a hidden talent fostered by the Taube clan or other clans in order to become a useful alchemist for their respective sub-clans.

'It seems like it wasn't just me who decided to act like a hidden young master.' Adel smiled inwardly, as he felt the use of some disguise technique of some sort that was able to hide from one's energy sense.

Though that would naturally not be the case for Adel; he was using a disguise technique of his own, so whoever was using one, and wasn't higher of a stage than him, he would be able to discover it quite easily...