Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Certification (3)
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In front of the exam hall, two men and women standing in the center scanned the examinees.
"The level is still pretty poor this time around."
The male proctor clicked his tongue. By now, they should have moved on to the second task.
Yet a significant number still hadn't even finished the first one.
"Thirty minutes have passed, and at this pace... Half of them won't even submit on time."
"Even we would need at least seventy minutes for this task. It's harsh for 3rd-grade examinees."
The male proctor's expression didn't soften despite the female proctor's defense.
Though the order varied, most examinees had caught on to the hidden intent.
They weren't checking quality.
In other words, abandon perfection and compromise for speed.
But they couldn't completely forsake the details either.
After all, if it didn't produce results, it was meaningless.
Dive too deep into the minutiae, and time ran out. Rush to completion, and the product fell apart.
The exam tested whether they could gauge the line of "just right" amid that balance.
But those who had only memorized the academy's rote methods crumbled helplessly before this basic application.
"At least that one over there, examinee number 7, seems decent. Solid fundamentals."
"Hm."
The proctors' gazes turned to Park Gibeom.
The man who had grasped the intent first and taken the lead.
Park Gibeom was just finishing the processing of his second material.
Not only was his speed impressive, but he didn't miss even the smallest details.
It was flawless textbook execution.
"Number 8 is still in the processing stage."
The male proctor's eyes shifted to the seat next to number 7.
The examinee he had kept an eye on since before the start, the one talking about leaving early.
Han Yujin was meticulously refining his materials with careful hands.
"We said quality doesn't matter... but at that speed, he might not finish in time."
"Guess he was all talk after all."
The male proctor shook his head, about to look away.
Dismissing him as just another examinee full of bravado without any self-awareness.
"...Huh?"
A bewildered exclamation escaped the female proctor.
It wasn't just her.
Examinees throughout the hall gasped, staring in the same direction.
When the male proctor looked back at number 8's workstation, he doubted his own eyes.
Han Yujin was placing pots on the burners.
Not one, not two,
But all three pots for the given tasks, going up on the burners simultaneously.
"That's insane."
The stage Han Yujin was entering now was 'combination.'
The pinnacle of alchemy, the most intricate process of mixing processed materials, applying heat, and triggering mana-based chemical reactions.
With different materials blending, the order of addition, temperature, stirring speed—every second mattered, no room for error.
A process where focusing on even one often led to failure, and he was doing three at once?
"We need to stop him right now."
No need to watch further. Uncontrolled combinations were a prime cause of accidents.
The female proctor moved immediately toward Han Yujin.
To halt the dangerous action and disqualify him.
But her steps slowed, then stopped completely.
Han Yujin was fully controlling all three pots.
His left hand stirred the first pot at a steady pace, while his right sprinkled refined powder into the second.
At the same time, his eyes checked the bubble state in the third.
"......What is this?"
Alchemy's 'textbook' methods were thoroughly manualized.
Material addition precisely after X minutes, once reaching a specific temperature.
But Han Yujin's approach belonged nowhere in those manuals.
He neither checked the timer nor inserted a thermometer.
He simply sniffed the steam rising from the pots and glanced at the solution's color.
Park Gibeom, who had been prepping his materials next to him, froze.
He doubted his eyes.
Was that even possible? Was that alchemy?
While he stared blankly, entranced by Han Yujin's technique—
Sizzle!
"Ugh!"
Black smoke suddenly billowed from his own pot.
Distracted by Han Yujin, he had missed the flame adjustment timing.
Park Gibeom hurriedly shut the valve and lifted the pot.
He had avoided disaster, but cold sweat dripped at how close he had come to failing over this stupid mistake.
'Focus. Getting tangled with that lunatic will only hurt me.'
He forced his gaze away, trying to concentrate on his task.
But his heart wouldn't calm.
The proctors had already approached Han Yujin's workstation. Their eyes were glued to his hands, unblinking.
Normally, they would have called out rule violations or dangerous actions, but they just observed in silence.
Had there been even the slightest slip, they would have stopped him instantly.
But they didn't.
Which meant Han Yujin's impossible combination was perfectly controlled alchemically.
'Damn...'
Park Gibeom bit his lip and completed the hemostatic herb potion.
One left. The low-grade magic stone inhibitor.
The potion that delayed a monster corpse's transformation into a magic stone.
The most difficult task.
Unlike the previous two, it required multiple materials, demanding precise ratio consideration.
'Gotta hurry.'
The moment he picked up his knife to prep the materials—
A clear clink of glass rang out from beside him.
Park Gibeom involuntarily turned his head.
Han Yujin had turned off all the burners and was bottling the finished solutions.
Liquids of different colors sloshed into the clear bottles.
Clink.
He capped the last one and set the three bottles neatly side by side on the workstation.
"Phew."
The clock on the exam hall wall read exactly 57 minutes.
In the utter silence, not even a breath audible, every examinee had stopped working to stare at him.
Han Yujin looked up and met the proctors' eyes.
But they remained silent.
Rules were rules. No matter how fast, evaluations happened only after the exam ended, for fairness.
'Right. Finishing fast isn't everything.'
Park Gibeom struggled to stay composed.
The guy was just quick. Potions slapped together ignoring process and relying on gut wouldn't work properly.
Park Gibeom followed the manual to the letter.
Precise material measurement, gradual temperature control, exact stirring counts.
Finally, adding stabilizer to prevent efficacy evaporation, then bottling.
Clink.
When he set down his last bottle, the clock read 77 minutes.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he turned and saw Han Yujin propping his chin, yawning from boredom.
A full twenty minutes.
The man had finished twenty minutes earlier and sat there looking bored to death.
Park Gibeom clenched his fist.
'...It's fine. I haven't lost yet.'
No way potions made so sloppily, roughly by feel, would work properly.
They were probably just colored water mimicking the hue or below standard.
The match wasn't over.
"One minute before end. Please wrap up."
With the proctor's dry voice, sighs and despairing groans erupted throughout the hall.
"Stop. Everyone, hands off."
A good number of examinees hung their heads, unable to complete the tasks.
"We will now begin inspection."
The proctors wheeled carts between the workstations, droppers of transparent reagents in hand.
Reagents to verify efficacy.
"Examinee 1, fail."
The dropped reagent elicited no reaction from the potion.
A failure.
"Number 4, fail."
"Number 6, fail."
Even if two changed color, they faltered at the last potion.
No one changed the color of the hardest one, the low-grade magic stone inhibitor.
Then the proctor stood before the next workstation.
"Examinee 7."
Park Gibeom swallowed dryly in tension.
The proctor raised the dropper and added one drop to each of the three lined-up bottles.
In sequence, green, red, navy potions clouded, losing their original colors.
The reagent shifted to complementary colors proportional to quality.
Park Gibeom's had merely lost color, but it was enough.
Efficacy confirmed in all three, including the low-grade magic stone inhibitor.
"Excellent. Textbook perfect."
The proctor nodded for the first time.
"Examinee 7, Park Gibeom, pass."
"Thank you!"
Park Gibeom pumped his fist.
Beaming triumphantly, he glanced sideways.
"Next, examinee 8."
Han Yujin sat with a completely relaxed expression.
Perhaps annoyed by the attitude, the proctor's brow furrowed.
Three bottles on the workstation.
The process and speed were near-miraculous. But the results?
Han Yujin's potions looked ordinary at first glance.
No, ordinary to the point of resembling mass-produced goods.
"Inspecting."
The female proctor gripped the dropper.
First, the gray moss potion.
Drip.
The droplet hit the surface, and the reaction was immediate.
The clouding green took on a single hue.
A faint red glow.
"...This."
Unable to continue, she hurriedly moved to the second bottle.
The red liquid shifted to a pale green,
And finally, the drop on the navy potion.
A cloudy but distinctly recognizable color.
Orange, its complementary.
"Ha..."
A hollow laugh escaped the male proctor.
Park Gibeom's results were fine, but only 'for an examinee.'
The provided materials were far from prime.
Standard issue—no, borderline discard quality.
Yet this... was nearly commercial grade.
A product possible only by maximizing the limits of the given materials.
And this examinee had completed that impossible combination in under an hour.
"Pass?"
The proctor finally snapped to and looked at Han Yujin.
His voice pure curiosity, no pretense—the proctor gritted his teeth.
This level of skill. He'd surely used reagents before.
Yet he wanted confirmation through others' mouths?
"...Yes. Perfectly so. Pass."
"Good," Han Yujin nodded lightly, as if relieved.
The inspections that followed were pointless.
Final passes: only five.
And top scorer, indisputably Han Yujin.
'Damn...!'
Park Gibeom barely restrained from slamming the workstation.
His stomach churned.
All the benefits for the top scorer—the alchemy combo privileges, the Meister's attention—went to this unheard-of guy.
'Self-taught? Bullshit.'
No way that skill was self-taught.
Definitely a hidden master's disciple or genius-trained from childhood.
Park Gibeom ground his teeth.
Fine, he admitted it. The guy had skill.
But this wasn't the end.
3rd-grade was just the start.
'Just watch. 2nd-grade will be different. Five years... no, three, and I'll get it.'
He had walked the elite path.
Solid foundation. In the long run, he'd win.
As Park Gibeom steeled himself to leave—
Han Yujin, midway through packing, asked the proctor,
"Excuse me, proctor. We're good on the pass, right?"
The proctor looked at him tensely. What wild thing now?
"Yes, registered in the system... Any issue?"
"Then can I apply for the 2nd-grade exam right now?"
Park Gibeom's hand slipped off the door handle.