Blob! Blob!
The sound of bubbles popping and liquid gurgling could be heard. The source of the said sound came from a large cauldron with a strange colored liquid within.
A large flame was under the cauldron, while various plants and powder were being thrown in like cooking beans. The color of the liquid only became stranger as more ingredients were being thrown inside.
The young men awaited the perfect timing to throw the ingredients into the cauldron. Once all the required ingredients were in, they put the lid over the cauldron then sat down and awaited the end result.
A good thirty minutes later, they opened the lid of the cauldron and small objects within flew out on their own into the hands of the two young men.
On their palm, small round balls made up of the ingredients they had thrown into the cauldron all merged and formed the pill in their hand. With the number of ingredients used, only six pills were created.
"Boss, I feel like the main character of a xianxia novel, the pills literally flew out on their own. We don't even have any spiritual qi!" one of the young men said.
"What do you think, peak master?" the other young man asked an old man not far away.
The two young men were obviously Ye Qin and Wang Tao. They had successfully created the first set of pills that came into the former's mind on their first try.
"Fantastic, though I don't know what you made exactly, I can tell that they are good stuff. From the ingredients used, it must be some sort of energizing pill, it may sell for a lot if we put it up." the peak master replied.
"En, that's exactly right. Since the main ingredient used was the Seven Star grass, let's call it the Seven Star Energy Pill." Ye Qin said.
"A befitting name indeed, now let's put them safely away." the peak master said as a small bottle which was obviously used to store pills inside came out of his pocket.
Putting the pills inside the bottle, they prepared to make the next to set of pills.
*************
Three exquisite bottles were gently placed on a wooden table within a small wooden hut. After successfully making the pills, the pills were all put inside the three small bottles in front of them.
Ye Qin had briefly explained their usage to the peak master, making his eyes widen.
"Say, I feel like you made pills in those novels used for cultivators instead of things that are actually useful for us." the peak master couldn't help but say.
"I guess we can qualify as alchemists, hehehe." Wang Tao joked.
"Well, it was just something I tried making, who knew I would get things like this. At least we know that something could be made this way." Ye Qin replied.
"While we may not be able to cultivate like in novels, maybe there is a way for us to merge with our monsters and integrate their powers within our bodies, or have armor like in that ancient anime Kn*ghts of the Z*diac along with the energies of our partners." Wang Tao said.
"That might be possible in the future, but as for now... I don't know if its possible, however, with you two here, believe we may succeed in our lifetime."
"This will take a lot of research, oh yes peak master, the other day; the two of us found these." Ye Qin told the peak master.
Knowing what his brother meant, Wang Tao tapped his smartwatch as the strange crystals they had extracted from the underwater ravine appeared within the hut.
Boom!
When they landed, the wooden floor creaked as a few spots cracked and a small hole could be seen on the ground.
"Er, I think we should do this elsewhere." Wang Tao rubbed his head.
Seeing the crystals for a brief second, the peak master's eyes sparkled.
Outside the hut, Ye Qin and Wang Tao brought out all the crystals they had taken. "Peak master, do you feel anything?" Ye Qin asked.
"Hmm.. Yes, indeed I do, this familiar feeling I am getting from deep within me." the peak master replied as he closed his eyes and touched the surface of the crystals.
When he opened his eyes, the peak master was shocked.
"This... it's the same." he stuttered.
"En, we felt the same thing when we found them. It seems like it was more effective on you, peak master. Do you know anyone who can help us research them?" Ye Qin asked.
"I do know someone, however, I don't know if that old man is still there. It's been decades since I last saw him."
"Good, we'll leave them with you for now. When the time is right, we will come back to help with the research." Wang Tao added.
"We'll head off for now, peak master." the two brothers said as they prepared to leave.
"En, I'll see you again, let me try contacting that old fella."
************
Leaving the Medicinal peak, Ye Qin felt the presence of a familiar aura. Looking up high into the sky, the Battle peak's master was sitting on his partner while drinking.
"Peak master." the two brothers said.
"I saw what happened, I'll help convince that old fella." the peak master said before turning into a bolt of thunder and disappeared from sight.
Now that everything they needed to do was solved, the two brothers went back to their rooms for the day.
A few days later, an assembly was held for the entire academy. The news of the competition had been spread throughout the entire academy as students began to become rowdy.
It was announced that the twins of the student council will be the representatives for their year along with three others. When the news was spread, no one seemed surprised as if it were a natural thing.
After the assembly, the other years left the hall as the first-year students had all remained behind.
The headmaster himself stood behind the podium to speak.
"The candidates of the other years have already been chosen. Now it is time for the first-year candidates to be chosen. I will hand it over to teacher Yang to announce the candidates." the headmaster spoke with his deep voice.
Ye Qin's homeroom teacher stood behind the podium, taking the place of the headmaster. Without needing any notes, she began to speak.
"First, the five gold star students will remain as gold stars next year. A new gold star student will be joining the five of them starting from today." she said.
Sitting at the front, Ye Qin and his dormmates got up and stood on the stage behind their homeroom teacher. A spotlight shone upon a young man sitting amongst the crowd. Looking at him, Ye Qin and Wang Tao recognized him right away.
"It's him." Wang Tao whispered.
Ye Qin nodded.
The young man that appeared on the Battle peak test walked up to the stage to stand beside them. The young man at that time with his monster of four elements, who had overwhelmed a gold star student from a higher year on his own.
It was obvious that he too would be joining them. The weird thing was that he didn't join in the first place as a gold star student, but rather, as a bronze star.
"Student Yang Chen will be the sixth gold star student of the year." teacher Yang continued.
"Yang Chen? He has the same last name as our teacher, it must be that..." Ye Qin thought.
"Now moving on to the candidates, students Ye Qin, Wang Tao and Yang Chen will take three of the spots without any need to compete. As for the remaining two spots, you will all decide amongst yourselves with the remaining gold stars."
"Teacher, why do they not need to be tested?" a bronze star student raised his hand to ask.
"Oi, didn't you hear about what happened during the Battle peak's test months ago?" another bronze star beside him whispered.
"The three of them have more than enough strength, if you aren't convinced, we don't care." she replied to him.
"I... I see." the student replied softly as he kept his mouth shut.
"Now that, that has been decided, today's assembly will end here. The three of them can leave while the rest of you are to remain here with the headmaster to decide the remaining two spots." Yang Xinyi finished her speech.
*************
Back at the dorms, Yang Chen's belongings had arrived by the time they got back to the dorms. "You can take one of the remaining rooms." Ye Qin told him.
Yang Chen stared at the two brothers but didn't reply. He went into the room next to Ye Qin's and closed the door shut without making a sound.
Wang Tao shrugged as he saw this take place.
"It's been a while since we last played, wanna log in?" Ye Qin asked.
"Sure, it really has been a while. I wonder if I can still use my equipment with this new frame of mine." Wang Tao laughed.
"See you there." Ye Qin said as he closed his door.
Inside his room, Ye Qin logged onto the game and waited for Wang Tao. It had been a while since they last played, looking at the leaderboard, it seemed like the ranking shifted a bit, while the same top ten players still remained up there.
When Wang Tao logged in, he opened his eyes and noticed Ye Qin waiting for him.
"My body doesn't feel much different to before even in the game, I guess stats are more important in a game after all despite this game supposedly reflecting a real world." Wang Tao said.
"The training I did must've strengthened my body a lot if I can hold such a big sword with one arm with this frame of mine, do you want to have a try boss?"
"Erm, I use dual swords, I doubt I will be able to lift it even with both arms." Ye Qin replied.
Despite that, Wang Tao through his large broadsword into the air as it rotated and dropped down with immense speed and vigor.
Ye Qin looked up and jumped high into the air before reaching out with his right hand to grab the handle before putting his left hand onto it then pulled it as hard as he could in the air.
Boom!
The huge broadsword plummeted onto the ground, creating a small crater. Ye Qin could be seen on top of the broadsword trying his best to pull it out of the ground.
After pulling it for over five minutes, he barely managed to lift the entire thing off the ground before dropping it, making the crater slightly bigger.
"I guess I should increase my strength more." he said.
Wang Tao laughed before standing behind the sword and picked it up with one hand as though it were a toy. Holding it on his shoulder, the two brothers went to town in search for quests.
***********
Roar! Grrww!
A large bear with a horn on its head growled as a large x mark appeared on its chest. Blood flowed from the mark as the bear dropped to the ground.
The sound of swords swishing as well as the heavy sound of things being crushed clearly resounded within a large open forest.
Ye Qin held his dual swords and moved like a phantom through multiple horned bears within seconds.
Wang Tao crushed the horned bears with the sheer weight of his sword. With a single swing, groups of the bears died at the same time as their bodies were blown to bits mid-air.
Just before, they had accepted a quest to subjugate horned bears in a forest. In the town they were in, most quests take place in the same forest, meaning they must travel back and forth between the town and forest every time.
After subjugating the bears, they are to take some honey that the bears were protecting and bring it back to the quest giver.
So far, they had slain dozens of bears upon arriving in the forest. Ye Qin's lack of strength was made up for his speed which meant he could defeat the bears in the same timeframe that Wang Tao did despite the disparity.
After landing the final blow on the last horned bear, Ye Qin grabbed the honey deep within their lair before crushing a teleportation item that sent them back to town.