Emperor's Reckoning

An alchemist was someone that was able to concoct pills out of the ingredients provided. However, the level of mastery of an alchemist was determined by how pure the pill he or she concocted.

"Why is there no demonstration this time?" asked one of the crowd.

"If Renduval showed them how to do it, then they could do it as well?" answered another.

"Is that an answer?"

"It's a guess."

"Meh, fine I guess, I'll take it."

Meanwhile, on the field, the two rookies were palpitating without even making an effort to hide it. They were nervous to the neck. With no demonstration from the more experienced alchemist, getting a seventy percent and above purity would be a hard feat. However, Lyon was not.

He was nonchalant as ever. His calmness brought certain confidence that couldn't be thwarted by any being. Though everyone heard that the cauldron he was using was slightly cracked, he seemed not to be agitated nor worried. He had his arms crossed like he usually did and the duality smirk that was both obnoxious and charming.

"Young friend is full of confident, but the perfect attitude of an alchemist was always, calm," said Tamuh. "Why didn't you teach him that, Elise?"

Elise furrowed her brows but said nothing. She had taught him nothing. She saw his soul flame and she straight gave him her invitation scroll. (I was about to give him a pointer one or two today, but who would have thought that he would enter the test before I could give him one?). She had now learned how random Lyon was.

"Well, let's see how you fare with this one," said Malaqa.

"Is there a time limit?" Lyon asked.

Malaqa shook her head, "No, there is no time limit."

"Right," Lyon nodded before he examined the ingredients. It was all plant-based—a root, a flower, and leaves. They all had a thin hue of mana surrounding them thus proving the quality of the ingredients.

"Agi Pill," Lyon muttered as he nodded.

"Here goes nothing!" said one of the rookies before he took the leaves first and plunged it into the dark pit that was his cauldron. He quickly fired up his soul flame after putting it. The crowd was stunned, but the experts shook their heads.

"Going for the leave first is a rookie mistake," said one alchemist in a gold cloak. "One must start from the oldest ingredients first to achieve proper balance."

Meanwhile, the other rookie took the root first and then plunged it inside the cauldron. The experts nodded as they saw him doing according to their way.

"That one most likely becomes our newest member," said one expert with a smile.

Renduval furrowed his brows as he looked at Lyon pondering. He couldn't give him a pointer but his mind was shouting at him. (C'mon, pick up the root! The root! Lyon pick the root! No not the damn flower the root!).

Lyon was picking up the flower before he could hear a few gasps from the crowd. He examined the flower carefully with his eyes before trying to identify the scent of it. He found nothing weird except for the growling Renduval on the side.

Lyon shifted his glance slightly to Renduval only to find that the latter's eyes were glaring at him and challenged its sockets. (What the hell is he trying to say?).

"Hm?" Malaqa frowned as she squinted at Renduval who quickly looked away in response. "Hmm..."

Lyon put down the flower before hearing a sigh of relief. Then, he picked up the leaves and hear the gasping again.

Renduval's eyes were bloodshot looking at Lyon. He couldn't believe that he couldn't take the obvious hint that he and the crowd were giving him.

(You're picking the wrong ingredient!) screamed Renduval inwardly as he glared at Lyon. The itch in his throat was incredibly excruciating. He wanted to help but with Malaqa constantly having her eyes on him, it was almost impossible.

Lyon smiled, "Heh."

With that single smirk, the atmosphere suddenly changed. He had become the nexus of attention inside the dome.

"Oh, here it comes," Kesya grinned.

Lyon put down the leaves gently back on the tray with the rest of the ingredients. He closed his eyes and calmly took a deep audible breath.

Cecile was on the edge and straightened her back. Her auburn eyes turned radiant as she saw his man bring out a charm that could severe a maiden's heart.

*Crackle!

Instantaneous flare was brought out. His burning white soul flame crept up his arms before glorifying past his shoulders.

"Woah!" The new spectators were awed. Words had spread and reality was laid upon their eyes.

(Show off!) thought the two other rookies.

Lyon picked up the root. The root was the oldest ingredient according to experts amongst the spectators. They all nodded firmly as they saw the root entering the cauldron.

However, the soul flame was not being set under the cauldron just yet. This brought about furrowed eyebrows to the alchemists around.

(What are you doing Lyon?!) thought Renduval as he heard the thud of the root hitting the base of the cauldron. (Set your flame!) he tapped against the ground to signal him.

(Tch! What is he waiting for?!) Elise bit the tip of her thumb.

"Hmm," Tamuh squinted his eyes. He knew that Lyon would be able to set his soul flame under the cauldron easily. (What is he planning).

Everyone was clenching their fists but Lyon made the next move. He picked up another ingredient, the flower, and put it inside the cauldron.

"What?" Malaqa and the rest of the spectators were stupefied by his action. Taken back, but not a single person utter a blatant complaint. The only thing that lingered was a question that they shared.

Lyon was unfazed as he kept his smirk. He picked up the last ingredient, the leaves, and let them leaves dance their way inside the cauldron.

"He put everything in..." Renduval muttered as his mouth gaped open.

"What is he doing?"

"What's gotten into him?"

"Is he going to purify them all at once? That's..."

Elder Malaqa squinted her eyes. (The cauldron is cracked, what is he trying to do here? Purifying them at once is stupid but with a broken cauldron? That's beyond). She took a few steps back before some of the spectators spent a laugh.

However, Lyon was not intrigued by their comments. He was still confident. His eyes were looking down at the cauldron in front of him. Slowly but surely, the soul flame began to fly out of his hands.

Everyone gulped.

The serenity of the flow that the blazing soul flame had was belying its character. It was calm and graceful, a tamed flame. The absolute control of the soul flame was on display, none of the experts even Malaqa could guess that it would happen. The rest of the rookies had their soul flame jumped out of their hands and immediately fired up the cauldron, but Lyon was not.

"The absolute emotion that an alchemy must-have during concocting is calmness," muttered Elise. "That is his calm, his eyes are laser-focused!"

"Alchemy is an art," muttered Cecile as she smiled. "And he is the artist."

The beast of a flame rest under the cauldron. Its flares were higher than the cauldron itself. The great flame of the soul was awed by many but he was not done yet.

Lyon slowly raised his arms as the soul flame raised over the cauldron and left the place it should be.

"Heh," Lyon's eyes turned sharper than blade before he slammed down his arms.

The glorious soul flame crashed down inside the cauldron and petrified the alchemists around.

"Na?!" Tamuh had his eyes widened. "What is he doing?!"

"Lyon! You...?!" exclaimed Renduval.

Lyon answered none as he kept going. His hand were moving around and guided the soul flame with his thought.

Malaqa opened her mouth and was intending to stop his act at once before something caught her eyes. "Huh?"

She carefully approached the cauldron to see what was going on. Her eyes immediately widened. "What the...."

The soul flame made three spiraling vortexes inside the cauldron. The speed of their rotations differed from one another.

"Prepare to catch," said Lyon with a smirk before he fused the three vortexes into one.

Malaqa raised her brows as the cauldron trembled greatly.

"Look! The cauldron is hovering!" said Kesya, "That's amazing! Go go go Emperor!"

*Puff!

The cauldron spat out an item clouded in smoke before Malaqa quickly caught it with her hand.

*Thud

The cauldron fell with its four legs intact.

The spectators gawked as silence filled in the dome.

"Heh," Lyon crossed his arms before he turned around.

*Thock!

Lyon raised his brows. He could feel his hip hit something when he turned

*Clank!

A part of the cauldron fell. It jig-sawed calmly under the silence of the dome.

"Eh?" One of Lyon's brows raised with his smile twitching.