Mage And Wolf
Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Chapter 178

Once the examination is complete and the nobles leave, Elder Song opens a portal back to the Shadowed Blade Sect, where teachers are waiting to receive their first batch of students. The Sect also takes this opportunity to send us this year’s competitors, along with a handful of Elders to supervise and the group from the High River Sect.

It only takes a few minutes for everyone to get settled into their rooms for the upcoming week before the conversation turns to the competition itself.

"Young Miss, will you be competing in the Inner Disciple tournament this year? I wasn’t there to see you last time." One of the disciples asks me hopefully.

"Not this time. It’s been decided that too many would either cry or forfeit if I fought, so I will be doing my best for the Inner Sect alchemy competition, as well as the pre tournament cooking competition. Those two should be enough to uphold the honor of the Shadowed Blade. The fighting is up to the rest of you."

"You’re the odds on favorite to win cooking again this year, but what will you do for the alchemy competition? The prank you played last year, letting someone steal the aphrodisiac, is legendary. A prank like that will be hard to beat." the disciple smirks.

"Pranks are for Outer Sect Disciples. I am going to be totally serious this year, and make them a high quality pill that will impress even the most upright of judges." I declare, actually having no idea what I’m going to make. I had planned to work something out, but got sidetracked by the other life skills tournament and the kids for the training program. I’ve always had a soft spot for kids.

That training program is going to be huge for the Sect. We should have loyal members in every noble household within the next ten years, and an Assassin embedded as a Lady in Waiting, coachman or Bodyguard at every important social event. The Sect has a good information network now, but it will be nearly unstoppable if everything goes well.

"Elder Song, any idea what pill I should make this year? I haven’t even gotten ingredients ready yet." I call when I see him and Karl passing by the spot where I’m chatting with the freshly arrived competitors.

"They say competition is going to be tough this year, how about we bring back something obscure?" He suggests, his eyes vacant as he thinks hard about what to make.

"Did I give you the memories of the Celestial Insight pill?" he finally comes up with.

That’s an interesting choice. A Rank 6 pill, an upgrade to the Soul Forging pill. The creation method is considered a closely guarded secret, but the ingredients are fairly common, as far as pill ingredients go. It’s only usable by Immortals and those with vast soul strength, but I should be able to make it. In fact, with this level of divine energy in my system, I might even be able to use it.

"Will it be enough to win? After all, I took last year’s outer disciple competition with a Rank 4 pill, surely someone else among the Core Formation level Alchemists can create Rank 6 pills?"

"You are correct. So the competition will be in your creations quality, not in simply overwhelming them with obscure recipes they don’t know. Plus, I want some of those pills to help with my cultivation base now that I’m back into early divinity." He shrugs. Ah, there it is, the real reason he wants that particular pill made.

"You’ve got a deal, I’ll make your medicine up on stage." I laugh, thinking about ways to make the process more efficient. This pill will come very close to the four hours allotted to the Inner Sect Alchemists during the competition.

There’s not really much I can do to speed things up, but it does give me an idea on how to remove some extra impurities in advance of the final refining step, which will create pure pills with less effort and should save a bit of time.

For the next few days, that’s all anyone in the life skills competitions can think about. How to complete their recipe faster, with better purity, or create their inscription more precisely for better effects.

I’ll also be competing in Inscription, as it will conflict with Karl’s fights. I don’t have much practice, but I’ve got good handwriting and the transferred knowledge from Elder Song that I never got around to putting into practice.

He’s given me an idea and instructions for that competition too, A grade 5 inscription for a Curse Of Transformation. But not one that has a random effect like the Hex Curse, one that is determined during the creation of the Inscription. Unlike the overpowered grade 6 polymorphism pills, this will only last a few days, and anyone but the wearer can remove it, so application is essential.

Maybe I’m not too grown up for a little prank. I can think of quite a number of forms it would be amusing to turn someone into.

The easy part of the week begins in the morning. The cooking competition. I am currently going around among the disciples gathering votes on what I should make, as I plan on making far more than enough for the judges, which means lucky spectators will get a chance to sample to final result.

The taste tests were the very best part of last years competition.

The winning recommendation looks more like we’re throwing a party than competing with elite chefs. They want a whole smoked pig with all the trimmings, a summer holiday feast. That means I’ll have to go to Karl and get a smoker created. I can speed up the process from 14 hours to 14 minutes with mystic cooking, but I still need the actual smoke to determine the flavor of the meal.

I’m going to add cornbread, Mac and Cheese, scalloped potatoes with bacon, maybe some coleslaw. I’ll make them regret asking me to hold a holiday cookout during the competition. It’s going to smell amazing.

And since nobody can approach the competitors until all judging is done, they’re going to have to smell it for an entire hour before they even get a chance at getting a sample.

It’s the little things that make life worth living.