Master Alchemist test part 5

In this day the academy was bustling with people. There was a lot of movement around the Alchemy Pavilion. The new that a student of an alchemist that was very popular and as many people were speculating that he would become a master alchemist would take an exam to be an alchemist as well after a month of studying was something unheard of. Max did not mind. It was more good publicity for him all around the academy and outside of it. He did enjoy the spotlight. He knew that he had the status and the power to handle the pressure and any other surprises that could pop up. Vanessa was very nervous. Adam, the Alchemy Pavilion master did make two exams for at the same day. One test for Vanessa to become an alchemist apprentice and if she would do well, she will undergo the test to become an official alchemist right away. Adam did apologise before Max, for him making her take the two tests, but Max did not mind. He did not mind following the rules if they were reasonable. He was sure that Vanessa would pass and because of that he even agreed Adam's request to get more alchemy apprentices and alchemists to take a look at her test. 

Before the test Max saw that Vanessa was very nervous so he tried to get her out of this situation in an unusual way. It was like a shock therapy. Max came over to Vanessa before she entered the exam and said in a way that only she could hear: "Vanessa I don't know why you are so nervous, but if you fail the exam now there will be no more simulation for you to progress until I decide otherwise. In the future you may need to be in much more pressure. If you can't handle such an easy test that you know you can easily pass than are unworthy of more opportunities. Now get your shit together and just be yourself. Like you see I am just myself. If someone don't like it, they could look at another direction. I don't mind. Stop thinking about stupid shit and get to work."

Vanessa was bewildered at the beginning, but she quickly got into the right mood after the shock therapy Max gave her. Max was still pretty soft with her. If it was a man, he would just scream at him before everyone to hear to shake him up.

Vanessa got into the room and got the test for apprentices. She quickly finished this exam. After the tests of the simulation, it was like questions for retarded people that were asked from a professor. It was very easy. This exam was not ordinary, so some answers were discussed between the different alchemists, while the apprentices just listened. They did not have a voice in a discussion between alchemists. Most of the time it was just some complimentary things that some of the alchemists thought she could add, but most of the time it was just to enlighten the apprentices to why she answered in this way and not another. The answers were not textbook answers that the alchemists were accustomed to. It was a refreshing experience for a lot of the alchemists. They saw that Max was "teaching" Vanessa differently. One question about making a potion did get some negative commentary from some of the alchemists. 

One of them said: "You wrote that to make a potion of a higher quality than just normal you need to be a mage of water or fire attribute? The best-case scenario is being both? Can you explain? It does not make a lot of sense. You can become a good alchemist with a knowledge and good timing without being fire or a water mage."

It was a young alchemist that got his position recently. He wanted to get himself some reputation for shutting down this so-called prodigy. 

Vanessa started to explain, but it seemed that this alchemist and his friends did not want to hear her point. They started to interrupt her and tried to make her to make mistakes, and it was somehow working. After Max saw Vanessa stuttering and having hard time explaining this retard why she was right Max just sighed. He did not really want to get involved, but he saw that those guys wanted to make some trouble, so he needed to shut those guys up.

Max stood up and said to the young alchemist that was smiling while Vanessa was trying to find the right words to explain. Max coughed a couple of times to get the attention to him and said: "She is indeed right. She talks about how to make potions on the level of a master alchemist. It is very hard to make potions of high level just using your hands. You can be very nimble, but a potion is not a soup. If you want a higher quality product you need a better way to make the potion. With only using your hands speed and no magic it was very hard to make a stable product. Even getting to a level when your product is of medium quality is very hard that way. Controlling the way the potion is mixed and its temperature stability all the way from the beginning of the process until the end is the most important step to get a potion or any other alchemical product of medium level and higher. Because Vanessa is still improving in this right now, she cannot show you how it's done right with a 100% probability. However, you can see it from my products that I sold. I hope it answers your question. Because this is a theoretical question she doesn't need to show this technique yet."

The alchemist did not have much to say, and Vanessa did pass the theoretical test. After that there was a test to make an apprentice level potion which Vanessa finished quickly. It was even of a medium level, which was very impressive even for the alchemists present. 

After that there was the test for alchemists. Vanessa was one of a few people that took this test that day. They just needed to produce an alchemist level potion and they will become alchemists. 

The audience saw a very different technique from Vanessa and the other people. They saw that she was actively using the fire element to aid her in the temperature control of the whole potion. The result was straight forward. Only Vanessa and another man passed the test, while the man got a potion barely passable, and Vanessa got a medium level potion for increasing cultivation speed. It caused a lot of the testers to cheer. It was not every day when a new alchemist was able to do a medium level potion. Most of the alchemists will not get to this level at their lifetime. After finishing the exam Vanessa stayed, while getting swarmed by people that wanted to chat with her with different reasons and intentions. Max left after getting the information from Adam that his time to get tested will come after a week. He wanted to quickly get over with it and move forward with his plans.