Chapter 230 - Leaving
Krune decided to use the last few days to raise his alchemist rank. As mentioned before, he could have gone further than Five Silver Stars, but he focused on high payment first. Now that he is focused on trying harder pills, his alchemist skills started to grow at high speed. Not to mention that it has been over a month since he entered the Five Silver Stars level, so he was already used to it.
'Hum... This one was very close to Six Silver Stars level, but I messed in a few places during the concoction. Still, I should be able to reach the Six Silver Stars in my next few batches if I fix some of the points. Let's try it out.'
Although Krune thought that, it wasn't that easy to get it right. There were a few times that he got some of those points fixed but messed with others that were right before. It wasn't exactly his fault, it was just the law of cause and effect. By fixing a method, another one that was working didn't go as expected anymore. Krune needed to find the balance between each other so that they would come out okay.
In the end, Krune had to work on another 15 batches of pills until he finally broke the final barrier and entered the Six Silver Stars level. Once again, his communicator received a message congratulating him for creating a Pill above his level. That was the proof of his success.
'Finally done. Just two days before we departed. Let's bring the pill out to be checked and then spent some time getting used to my new level.'
At the same time, Feifei was going through a similar process in the Formations Master Organization Branch. The Formations Master test is different from the Alchemist one, where you only had to show the pill that you had concocted. Every time Feifei, Tiane, or anyone else wanted to have their Star Rank raised, they had to build a Formation in front of the examiners.
Other members of the Organization were also watching since it was suitable for their own training. Even Feifei herself had observed other Formation Masters during their tests, which helped her a lot in the past. Because Feifei is quite young and had been improving so fast, she was quite famous between this Branch's members, especially men.
"She is already trying the Six Silver Stars test. Wasn't her a Three Silver Stars Formations Master around 5 months ago?"
"Exactly, Wulia Feier is so talented in formations that even the Supervisor is putting a lot of effort into teaching here in the few last weeks. It seems like she will be participating in the Junior Formations Master competition in Anach too. I believe Supervisor Hulio is expecting her to get some experience."
"I see, but won't it instead backfire on him? What if the other bigger branches try to steel her with better offers? She might not have the highest rank between our members in this competition, but she definitely has the highest talent considering her age."
"That is a problem for Hulio to resolve. Still, if he asked her to participate, he probably has a plan to keep her in here. If I'm not wrong, he will probably have her join under an Alias and change her appearance. So other than the members of our Branch and our Solar System Headquarters, no one else will know her real identity and face. The Branch that she is from will also not be displayed."
"I see, now that I think about it, quite a few do that during the competition. Let's hope that everything goes well."
"Exactly. There is no risk of anyone of our Branch leaking this information either. After all, no one is idiot enough to buy a fight with the Formations Master Organization for no reason. The Headquarters is extremely strict with their rules."
Feifei was oblivious to such conversations since she was entirely focused on the formation under her.
'The northwest side in getting in conflict with the inner core, I have to rearrange the connections from the two ends;
The flow of spiritual energy of the southern border is getting out of synch with the northern one. Maybe I should use another material to reinforce its balance;
I used too much Elemental Source Energy in the outer core, I need to compensate it somehow.'
Thanks to the Destiny Major Core, Feifei was being able to see where the problems would occur even before it happened. Thanks to that, she could build counter-measures in time to prevent the formation from being ruined.
Around one hour later, Feifei wiped the sweat on her forehead and stood up. The trapping fog formation that she was building was finally completed!
The examiners watching it then said.
"Alright, give us the key to the formation and activate it, we need to check the level from outside and inside."
Feifei did as they asked and activated the formation. It soon came to life, and the fog started to spread around the structure. Some of the examiners entered it with the key, while others stayed outside to observe. Around ten minutes later, they deactivated the formation and started to examine the formation composition. Not too long after, one of the examiners smiled and said.
"Congratulations, this is a real Six Silver Stars Trapping Fog Formation, you can go to the office later and apply for your qualifications to be raised. I'm looking forward to what you will achieve in the Junoir Formations Master competition."
Feifei felt quite happy! Even with her Destiny Major Core help, she wasn't sure if she had succeeded or not. There were just too many components that she needed to pay attention to individually. If she had the time, she could read the destiny energy and find the answer, but that would take too long. It was a lot faster to let the examiners test it by themselves. Not to mention that Feifei doesn't like to see the future unless it is something necessary.
Later, she received a video call from the Hulio Gokin, the Branch Supervisor.
"I already arranged your entrance to the competition, so you just need to go to Anach City and talk with the members there who are organizing it. Come to my office later to take a token, just give it to them, and they will know what to do. Don't forget that if you want to hide your identity, you should use the appearance change pill I gave you previously before departing."
Feifei nodded to the Supervisor on the other side of the video call.
"Thanks, Supervisor Hulio. I will do my best in the competition, so don't forget about our deal. I will participate, and you will give me that all-time discount token."
Hulio laughed and nodded. That was part of the deal that Feifei made with him to participate in the competition. One was to have her identity not being displayed, the other was to give an all-time discount token for all the items available in the Formations Master Organization Branch. Just like Krune, Feifei also had several things from there that she wanted, so she convinced Hulio about it.
"As long as you don't fare too bad in the competition, it will definitely be yours. Don't forget that Julian and Binou will be participating as well, so you can count on them if you need any help."
Feifei nodded. Julian Vian is a Seven Silver Stars Formations Master while Binou Rure is at the Eight Silver Stars level. There were others under 35 years old around the same Level as Feifei. Still, Fiefei was by far the youngest one, so Hulio wanted her to gain some experience this time around. What he was really relying on was the other two. Their talent isn't as big as Feifei's, but they were close to the age limit, so they had a lot of experience higher ranks.
'Well, from what I found from previous competitions, there is always some Eight or even Nine Silver Stars participants anyway. It will probably be impossible for me to get the championship. Still, I shouldn't do too bad as long as I put the effort.'
After that, Feifei met with Tiane, who had been watching her test. The two girls then left together to buy a few things.
Ruik didn't have much to do in this week before the competition, so he decided to go back to the Mission Hall and take an easy and fast mission to not waste time. Of course, it was exactly because he got a quick and easy task that he also found some places where he could stop to sleep. That snake will probably never change. Fortunately, Ruik was still back home the day before Krune and Feifei departed.
The day that they would be going to Anach finally arrived and the group went to the nearest long-distance teleport formation. Arriving there, a few members of the Alchemist, Formations Master, and other side occupation organizations were there already. The Alchemist and Formations Master competition weren't the only ones happening. There were also Blacksmith, Runestone Formations, and other competitions happening at the same time.
Feifei and Krune had already changed their appearance, so only the members of the Formations and Alchemist Organizations noticed them.
The Alchemist Organization side didn't think that there was anything strange. After all, there is nothing wrong with their members having a lover. But on the Formations Master Side, Julian and Binou narrowed their eyes. Both of them had been keeping an eye on Feifei, or better, Wulia Feier. So seeing someone else holding hands with her immediately affected their mood. Especially since they have no idea who this guy is.
Feifei knew that and had even told Krune about it before, but Krune's answer was straightforward to the point that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
That day, Krune looked at her and asked.
"Do you plan to leave me for one of them?"
Feifei just shook her head. Krune then smiled and said.
"Then why should I care?"
On one side, Feifei was happy that Krune trusted her that much. She couldn't see any sign of him being afraid of losing her. On the other, she was a little sad that he didn't show even a bit of jealousy. But now, they saw her with Krune, so she was curious about how things would play out. As mentioned before, if there is not a need for it, Feifei will not use her Divination abilities since she doesn't really like it.