Raising Alchemist Rank

After reaching the Corporeal Realm in his Soul Cultivation, Ryker decided to leave the Duchy, having no interest in staying any longer. After all, there is nothing he could gain here that he would not be able to get somewhere else.

 His main priority is finding a place to temper his body. He already had the Body Refining Art. The only thing he needed was the place. After all, while he could ask his lovers to beat him up, it simply would not do a thing with his current strength.

-x-

 Thankfully, the next Duchy seemed to have the thing he wanted. At least, from the mouth of the travelers and adventurers. He planned to get more information first for now.

 Of course, he also let out his group out of the confine of Hidden Ancient Mansion, while putting some more restrictions on both Myna and Eris. He did not wish to do so but better be safe than sorry.

 He also allowed his stead and the other beasts out so they could walk outside. While there are some spaces for the beasts to roam around inside the Hidden Ancient Mansion, it could not compare to the outside.

 Besides, he needed them to not appear suspicious. After all, what kind of travelers that have cultivators that did not reach the Genesis Core would not have a carriage? Especially with the young ones that were not even cultivators yet.

-x-

 They quickly find a house, similar in size to the one he had rented inside the Kilrun Duchy. After all, it is likely they would spend a long time in the Duchy, especially if he wished to refine his body to the best he could for now.

 However, before he could go to the Adventure's Guild Headquarters, Hylla's question made him change his mind.

 "Ryker, you are an alchemist and from the look of it, you can make high-level pills right? Then you should undergo the test and have your Rank go up accordingly," she proposed.

 And that is why, he is currently in front of the Craftsman Alliance Headquarters, in the Duchy Capital City at least. 

 Because he had already registered for five different professions, it was easy for him to enter the building. He found the receptionist before asking the questions.

 "Where can I do the test to improve one ranking, for the alchemy branch?" the receptionist looked at him calmly before asking back.

 "Give me your token," he handed it over. After checking the information, the receptionist nodded.

 "A Rank 2 Alchemist. So you want to raise your rank to Rank 3 I suppose?"

 "No," Ryker shook his head. "I want to raise my rank to Rank 7 or at least 6,"

-x-

 "What just happened?" Ryker asked nobody in particular. One minute he was in front of the receptionist and the next he was in front of the likely president of the branch.

 "I hope you are not fooling us, young man," ignoring his question entirely, the president looked at him with a glare.

 "How could a Rank 2 alchemist raise his rank so fast and high?" Ryker shrugged off the glare. While the president is a Genesis Sea expert, his strength is already equal to one and he is much stronger. The president is only at the 5th or 6th Stage as he could tell for now.

 "I was already able to create Rank 6 pills before. I just wanted to get my rank rise according to my current capabilities," he told the man before throwing a vial of pills. The man caught it and looked at the pills inside.

 At that exact moment his eyes bulged, "Are these the pills you refined?" the man asked in shock.

 "Yes. Besides, I do not think anyone would sell peak-level pills, no matter the Grade. At least I never see those in the market," he replied nonchalantly.

 "It is impossible to find those in the market but if this is your refining, then you will have your rank going up. But we need evidence," the man said seriously.

 "So I just need to refine pills of the level, right?" he asked, the president nodding.

 "In that case, I will jump to making Grade 7 Genesis Pills, I already made some before but it is a mixed success so do not expect much," he told the man.

 "Of course, you want to get your rank rise according to your current level. Considering you only just started refining Grade 7 Pills then it would make sense for you to suffer failure," the man said.

 Ryker nodded before following the man to the alchemy room. Inside the room, he could see a Grade 5 Cauldron. He looked at the man and asked, "Can I use my cauldron?" when he received a nod, he took out his cauldron.

 "Not bad," the president exclaimed, looking at the cauldron in interest. "You used it often, and from the look of it, you even used it just a day before," 

 Ryker looked at the man in interest. To be able to tell with just a look and maybe a bit of a sniff showed how experienced the man was. He is likely an alchemist himself to be able to make such an accurate guess.

 The look on his face seemed to tell everything to the president, who laughed out loud, "Yes, I am an experienced alchemist though I was not able to break the threshold of the Noble Rank. So I decided to go to this Duchy and become the president of the branch here," the man told him.

 Ryker nodded. While he was not particularly interested in such tales, knowing something about the president would not hurt him.

 "So, what kind of pills would you like to make? The Craftsman Alliance will be the one that provides the materials for the testing, including the items needed unless the alchemist in question already has their preferred items," the president asked.

 After thinking about it, he decided to just go to the basic, "I would like to make a Grade 7 Healing Pills," he did not state the exact name of the pills as it was not needed.

 Healing Pills are the most common and most varied pills, even more so than Energy Replenishing Pills. Most of the higher-grade healing pills were just improved recipes, but instead of using Grade 1 Materials, they used Grade 7 Materials as the main ingredients.

 In fact, many common pills are the same, just improved from the Grade 1 Pills and then using Grade 7 for better results.

 "I see, then wait for the moment. I will get the materials and recipe,"