My health recovery is incredibly fast.

On the day of being promoted to a junior poison alchemist, there will be a test to measure alchemical potential, but it is much more complicated than at Starry Night Academy.

The exam questions are no longer limited to the refined powder formula of black eye poison.

The toxicology professors at the Elite Academy will randomly select one recipe from a vast collection of introductory poison recipes that involves all alchemical operations, and give it to the candidates to concoct.

This is no secret within the academy; many students prepare in advance—for example, by renting condensation crucibles within the academy or learning recipes that might be on the exam at alchemist guilds outside the academy.

In order to select students who truly possess alchemical potential, professors at Elite Academy will increase the difficulty of the exams while adjusting the grading criteria, taking into account the students' usual performance in the assessment.

Xia Zuo clearly remembers that his "fully automatic" self-study habits earned high praise from Professor Kulov.

His behavioral pattern might not be applicable at Yingrui Academy, because Yingrui Academy has a large number of poison alchemists, unlike Xingye Academy which only has 1 to 3 people.

However, learning itself relies on self-discipline.

The ability to practice self-discipline stems from an understanding of its benefits.

Xia Zuo is now Janice's role model. As long as he is disciplined enough and studies hard in the academy and practices poison making, he will still have the opportunity to become a master alchemist and enter the temple for further study.

After listening for a while, Anruer smiled and added many stories about her studies at Xingye Academy, most importantly Xia Zuo's method for dealing with general education exams.

As memories deepen, past experiences unfold before one's eyes.

Xia Zuo and Anru noticed each other's emotional fluctuations and ended the conversation at the dinner table by reminiscing about the passage of time and urging Janice to make the most of her time at school.

Inside the study.

Xia Zuo forked a piece of fruit from the fruit plate, put a sweet apple slice into his mouth, and recalled what Rexol had said earlier that day.

Rexor is a person who strictly adheres to the laws of the Mage Temple.

Xia Zuo asked him about the history of the era several times, but the other party did not respond.

Today, Rexor has revealed the recipe for the Witcher Apprentice Trial Potion, as well as a part of the Witcher's history in the Fourth Age.

This is very rare.

It's likely that Rexor consulted with powerful figures within the Temple using the Ring of Secrets and received clear instructions before doing this.

Xia Zuo stuffed a few more apple slices into his mouth and picked up the assessment manual to read it again.

The content of the assessment for advancing to the Master-level Poison Alchemist is currently unknown, and it is not disclosed in the examination qualification certificate or manual.

All Xia Zuo could do was prepare the refining formula for the elemental toxins in advance, as well as the base liquid formula needed when peeling off the extra toxic effects produced after refining.

Besides that...

Xia Zuo felt it was necessary to review the poison alchemy textbook from Yingrui Academy to avoid any discrepancies in the details between the poison alchemy knowledge in the Federation and the content taught at Xingye Academy that might affect the assessment.

Janice has the venom alchemy textbook for the apprentice level.

He also redeemed the introductory and later textbooks when he redeemed his exam eligibility.

Xia Zuo found a notebook and listed all the tasks to be completed, tentatively deciding to take the intercontinental airship to Silvermoon City on January 3rd.

He had requested a long leave from his supervisor at Vickers and probably wouldn't return to the Posing Building until he passed his assessment and completed his training.

One more thing...

Xia Zuo rested his chin on his hand and looked at his blood-colored servant.

He wasn't sure if he could still control the Blood Element servants so effortlessly once he entered the outer sanctuary of the temple.

The place for further study should be near the core area of ​​the temple. There, powerful detection spells and defensive barriers might exist, which could potentially interfere with all types of spells.

Therefore, it is necessary to arrange the Blood Element servants in advance to prevent them from being discovered by the other people in Stillwater Town if they do not receive instructions.

Xia Zuo drew four circles in his notebook, labeled them 1, 4, 5, and 6, then circled them again and added a few exclamation marks to remind himself to properly settle the Blood Element servants.

Having done all this, Xia Zuo glanced at the perspective of the Blood Element servants. Seeing nothing amiss, he settled down to read the apprentice-level textbook on poison alchemy.

Anru was helping Janice pack her things to take to school tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow night, Janice will be staying at the university and won't return until the next long weekend.

...

11pm late at night.

Inside the study.

Xia Zuo put down the poison alchemy textbook from Yingrui Academy, stood up, stretched comfortably, drew back the curtains, and stretched his shoulders and neck facing the moon.

Based on several hours of reading, the poison alchemy taught at Yingrui Academy is more detailed and covers a wider range of topics.

The knowledge taught at Xingye Academy and Yingrui Academy is roughly the same at both the trainee and introductory levels.

Their differences lie in the separation of basic toxins.

The western continent where the Starry Night Kingdom is located has no naturally occurring monsters, magical herbs, or magical ores, only ordinary materials.

When separating toxins from ordinary materials, the separation operation is relatively easy, has a high tolerance for error, and the consequences of errors are relatively minor and generally do not endanger life.

The Eastern Continent is home to a large number of magical creatures, magical herbs, and magical ores.

Isolating toxins is quite difficult and sometimes dangerous.

However, the methods for separating the toxins from ordinary materials and monster materials are largely the same.

As long as Xia Zuo keeps the operating discipline in mind, strictly follows the instructions to carry out the experiment, and ensures that there are no mistakes in the separation process, he will be able to pass the test related to the separation of toxins.

Starting from the advanced level of Poison Alchemy, the teaching content of Starry Night Academy and Elite Academy becomes significantly different.

Its primary manifestation is in detoxification.

The natural environment of the Starry Night Kingdom is much milder than that of the Eastern Continent. The complex toxins in nature are not very potent, and the corresponding antidotes are not complicated.

When teaching detoxification knowledge, both the teaching materials and the head of the academy, Beatrice, who is in charge of the lectures, simplify the detoxification teaching content to match the natural environment of the Starry Night Kingdom.

In the Silvermoon Federation, the effects of compound toxins are more potent and complex, and correspondingly, the preparation of antidotes is more difficult.

In the advanced-level toxicology textbook of the British Academy, the preparation of antidotes occupies a large portion.

[Complex detoxification] is a significant challenge.

The so-called compound detoxifier refers to a detoxifier that can neutralize more than 30 kinds of toxic effects at once.

In his nearly ten years in the industry, Xia Zuo has encountered the most poisonous things: the Blood Demon's body.

The amount of poisonous effects on the Blood Demon's body is unrelated to the quality of the Blood Demon's own blood patterns.

When Xia Zuo read about the compound detoxification, he specifically recalled the findings from two months ago.

He encountered a total of 13 Blood Demons—1 high-level Blood Demon and 2 ordinary Blood Demons.

Of the 11 Blood Demons that make up the High-Rank Blood Demons, 10 were once imprisoned in the underground laboratory of the Bosing Building.

Xia Zuo examined the bodies of nine of the Blood Demons.

The information obtained from the detection spells regarding these blood demons indicated that the strongest was the oldest blood demon, Hawthorne, but after its blood demon body was removed by the universal antidote, it was taken away by the temple guards.

Iboik is a Blood Demon whose Bloodline quality is second only to Hawthorne.

Xia Zuo remembered that because Iboik only had nine types of poisons in his body, he became the first Blood Demon whose body could be broken through by conventional means.

The remaining Blood Demons all had more than 12 poison effects on their bodies, but none of them had more than 20.

Therefore, when researching the antidote to break through the Blood Demon's shell, the expert poison alchemists in the Bosing Tower did not attempt to create a compound antidote.

Xia Zuo was no exception.

After reading the content on compound detoxification, he immediately realized that this might be a test point.

Based on his more than 20 years of experience in exams across two lifetimes, the complex detoxification method is difficult enough, unfamiliar enough, and enough to make candidates make mistakes, making it an excellent test point for screening candidates.

It makes absolutely no sense for the question setter not to include it as a test point!

It will definitely appear in the promotion assessment!

Moreover, the exam manual clearly states:

The entire promotion assessment process typically lasts between one and two months.

After much deliberation, Xia Zuo concluded that with his current level of poison-making skills, only exam questions involving complex detoxifications could keep him occupied for a month.

We need to study this carefully.

Xia Zuo made a mark in the book and looked at the desk calendar.

Today is February 12.

Before setting off on January 3, he had three days to solidify his knowledge of compound detoxification.

The best approach is to rent a poison alchemy lab at the Yingrui Academy and practice the alchemy techniques thoroughly, referring to the methods described in the textbooks.

Okay...it's settled then.

Xia Zuo nodded, planning to go to the academy with Janice the next morning, and after sending the girl to her dormitory, he would go to exchange for the right to use the poison alchemy room.

Outside the study.

Anjou and Janice are already resting.

Xia Zuo finished reading the textbooks from Yingrui Academy and switched to the perspective of the blood element servants.

Considering that he needed to focus on promotion assessments for the next month, he decided to temporarily stop spending time transcribing the unknown language in the magic alchemy tome.

After all, cracking a language takes a very long time and would delay important matters.

Xia Zuo controlled the three blood element servants in the alchemy room to fly out of the Mishima Group's base and rendezvous with Servant No. 1, who was stationed in Stillwater Town.

Later that night, Xia Zuo found a good place to settle his four blood element servants and his transcribed notes on magic alchemy.

Chapter 21 Recruitment

From December 30th to January 2nd of the following year, a long and heavy snow fell.

Every morning, Xia Zuo braves the wind and snow to fly to Yingrui Academy, where he studies compound antidotes in the poison alchemy room. He doesn't return home until 7 p.m. to reunite with Anruer.

After Janice moved into the university, Xia Zuo and Anru were finally able to have a deeper conversation...

January 3rd of the new year.

Today, a ray of sunshine finally peeked out from the sky outside.