The Silly Alchemist Chapter 169

The Position (1)
“Interesting. These questions already make this trip worth its while!” thought Ye Lang, because Coldblood Five had stopped him from talking. Ye Lang was surprised when he saw the questions.
The questions themselves were definitely worth the trip. These questions were an artform themselves, with the essence of decades of history in the Coldblood Group.
However, not everyone would be able to see the catch in these questions. Only alchemists of a certain skill level could catch them, or rather, understand most sections. The rest can only hope to understand bits and pieces, unable to find the solution.
Of course, the questions were highly classified too. No outsiders were allowed to see them so Ye Lang was very lucky to be in such unusual circumstances to be able to listen to the questions.
“Coldblood One-Six-Zero, Coldblood…”
The remaining contestants registered once again, then the next round started immediately…
“All of you know what the Coldblood Group does, but half of that doesn’t concern us! The existence of the alchemy team is only to study weapons and tools! Therefore, in this round, you will have three tests. First, crack this obsidian boulder. The highest damage wins!”
“Second, solve this alchemy formation!!”
“For the third test, use alchemy to defend yourself from Lord Coldblood Eleven’s attacks. Of course, if you’re confident enough in your capabilities, you can shoot him down.”
When he finished, an obsidian boulder five meters wide, eight meters tall appeared in the middle of the lab. The marks on it showed it wasn’t the first time this boulder had been used. However, the scars left were not deep.
Obsidian was the hardest material, also being able to absorb most kinds of magic. With its unique qualities, it was often used as a practice rock for magic, alchemy attacks or douqi.
Ye Lang didn’t think much of this question. However, he was interested in what the contestants would do.
On the other hand, the question involving solving alchemy formations caught his attention.
Solving them was a very important skill in alchemy. It involved slowly solving the formations by the layer without triggering odd consequences like explosions.
Unless the formation itself had its own defence mechanisms. That is meant to stop intruders so anything inside would be destroyed once attacked.
On the other hand, if the intruder could solve it without causing destruction, then obviously they’re skill levels were a level higher than the owner.
Cracking these formations tested the alchemist’s familiarity with different formations, and formations were a very important part of alchemy. Naturally, this was one of the skills tested.
As for competing against Coldblood Eleven, Ye Lang definitely didn’t care about that. He didn’t even know who Coldblood Eleven was.
The obsidian stage was to determine the alchemist with highest destruction power. The formation stage was to determine one best at solving formations used in defence. The final stage, naturally, was to look for one with the best fighting skills.
Coldblood Group also wanted alchemy tools for these three skills!
In fact, the tools were the best. Tools made everything more convenient and could be passed to another person.
Why didn’t they just put these questions at the first stage? This was to make sure they recruited an all-rounded alchemist. The elimination rounds were to make sure they had the qualifications to be Coldblood Thirteen.
Perhaps people usually thought elimination rounds were only to weed out people, but Coldblood Group put the most important stages at the front.
The audition was definitely unique. They wouldn’t rely on the previous test results in this stage. The winner of this stage would be the champion.
After the elimination rounds, only three or four people were left. They were all qualified to be Coldblood Thirteen, so now they only need to win this round!
Ye Lang understood this concept too. So that was why the questions before this were more interesting. The current questions were not very interesting.
The alchemy formation tested would definitely be very complicated. Probably something never before seen, or an ancient problem never before solved.
To Ye Lang, the best would be ancient formations. If it were one of those famous unsolvable problems, he’d already seen them and wasn’t interested.
If they were ancient formations, there was a high chance he’d never seen hem before because they were rare treasures, often kept a secret.
“Woah, that’s…” Ye Lang shouted excitedly. It was a formation he hadn’t seen before, and from its style, it looked ancient.
Coldblood Five covered his mouth, whispering angrily, “Shut up! Do you want to die?”
At this moment, the ones with sharp hearing, i.e Coldblood Two etc, all turned towards Spirit Coldblood Five, puzzled. They were wondering if they were wrong- why was there a man’s voice from Coldblood Five?
Ye Lang pushed her hand away, disgruntled, “What are you doing, I want to leave….”
“Shhhh stop talking! Coldblood Two and the rest already heard something, I shouldn't have let you in here!!” she whispered. She felt several eyes on them. She was worried, but not afraid.
Yeah. She was worried. She never feared anything.
“...” Ye Lang fell silent. With the spirit’s eyes, he secretly checked his surroundings, only to meet the confused eyes of Coldblood Two and the rest.
“Coldblood Five, what are you hiding on you? Why was there a man’s voice?” asked Coldblood Seven as she turned towards Coldblood Five, puzzled.
They heard Ye Lang’s voice, but they never would’ve guessed there were two people hiding on the spirit.