My health recovery is incredibly fast.

If a plant has a negative impact on human health but does not exist in nature and is created through alchemy, then it cannot be called a poisonous plant. Instead, it should be called an alchemical product, or, as in this question, referred to as a "poisonous plant" in quotation marks.

in short.

The "poisonous weeds" that emerge from the silver sand are not naturally grown.

Xia Zuo spent a minute reviewing his knowledge base in his mind, but couldn't find a poisonous herb that matched "poisonous herb" perfectly. However, he did find five other poisonous herbs that had some similarities to "poisonous herb".

It seems that the professor who set the question combined the characteristics of these five real poisonous plants into one, creating a non-existent "poisonous plant" to test Xia Zuo.

This effectively tested Xia Zuo's mastery of five poisonous herbs at once...

To be considered a correct answer, you must accurately state the basic toxins contained in all five poisonous plants.

The first question was this difficult... Xia Zuo's lips twitched. He carefully considered his tone and gave his answer in a calm voice.

End of question one.

The professor who set the question manipulated the silver sand into a strangely shaped "ore," thus presenting the second test question.

This "ore" is spherical with several protrusions on its surface, some of which are cubes and others are cones.

Xia Zuo needs to identify the basic toxins that may be present on the "ore".

Based on his experience from the previous question, Xia Zuo searched his mind for ores that resembled the shape of "ore" and, unsurprisingly, found three ores that matched the characteristics of "ore".

But Xia Zuo did not answer immediately.

He discovered a potential trap.

As is well known, silver sand is silvery.

The props that can be created using it are also silver and cannot represent other colors. This is an unavoidable drawback when using silver sand to create questions.

The color of poisonous plants is definitely predominantly green; this is both common sense and has some alchemical basis.

But ores are different.

It comes in a variety of colors, including black, white, dark brown, and silver.

If we also consider the color of the ore, there are many possible answers to this question, because there are many ores with a silvery appearance...

Xia Zuo took a deep breath, puzzled by his own thoughts. He didn't know if he had overcomplicated the problem or if the question setter had done it intentionally...

He rubbed his chin, carefully imprinting every detail of the "ore" in his mind, then closed his eyes and meditated for a minute, suddenly understanding the key to the problem.

There are two types of protrusions on the surface of the "ore".

One is a cube, and the other is a cone.

The latter is a part of the former.

If a cube only has one corner sticking out, the exposed part will look like a cone.

If we consider all the protrusions on the surface of the "ore" as cubes, and the "ore" is silver in color, then there is only one answer to this question.

Adhering to the principle of "answering as comprehensively as possible, so that the examiners can find the scoring points themselves," Xia Zuo gave all the answers he could think of, striving to be watertight.

In the morning exam room, more than a dozen proctors took turns asking questions, each asking 10 questions. By the time the round was over, it was already noon.

After eating the lunch brought by the elemental servants, Xia Zuo rested briefly before returning to answering the questions.

The afternoon exam was significantly more difficult!

Xia Zuoguang, relying on his memory and the "knowledge reserves" of his cheat ability, could no longer provide an answer immediately.

The exam questions not only covered knowledge about toxins, but also involved the application of the meditation alchemy platform.

Let's take the simplest question as an example.

The professor will give you 36 different basic toxins and ask you to use the meditation alchemy table within 10 minutes to deduce how many compound toxins with specific toxic effects can be made from these 3 basic toxins.

The first point tested in this question is that the complex toxins derived from the meditation alchemy table must have a specific toxic effect.

Secondly, the number of compound toxins that meet the criteria must be accurately counted.

It is important to note that, regardless of whether it is the morning or afternoon exam, there is no paper or pen on Xia Zuo's desk.

To calculate the amount of the compound toxin, mental arithmetic is required.

Elemental minions will provide diluted concentration potions for candidates to enter deep meditation and use the meditation alchemy table to deduce the answers to the questions.

The meditation session, which wasn't mentioned, lasted only 10 minutes.

Once the time is up, Xia Zuo will exit meditation as the effects of the medicine wear off, and he must answer the question immediately, otherwise the question will be scored as 0 points.

Clearly, the afternoon's exam will focus on testing proficiency in using the meditation alchemy table.

After a moment's thought, Xia Zuo determined the solution approach:

First, deduce which basic toxin is related to the specified toxic effect in the question, and then use mental arithmetic to calculate the number of compound toxins that meet the conditions.

It's called mental arithmetic... but in reality, it involves manipulating blood-elemental servants residing deep inland to perform calculations by hand.

In the last two days of December, Xia Zuo found a good place to stay near Stillwater Town through his No. 1 servant.

Northwest of the town, by the roadside leading to the reservoir, there is a mountain called Huangshan. On the back of the mountain is a bear cave, which, after being abandoned by its original owner, has now become the territory of the Blood Element servants.

The Blood Elemental Servant's firing device, the copied monster alchemy notes, and a large box of white paper, pens, ink, and other items were all well hidden deep inside the cave.

The entrance to the cave was camouflaged with hard rocks and carefully woven turf. Servants number 5 and 6 guarded the entrance, holding heavy objects down to weigh down the rocks and prevent small animals from pushing them open.

Servant #1 manipulates the pen in the cave, while Servant #4 lights the alchemical lamp and helps Servant #1 turn the pages of white paper.

Xia Zuo squinted, fiddling with his fingers, pretending to do mental arithmetic, while distracted by manipulating the blood element servants to calculate the amount of compound toxins with pens and white paper.

After checking his answers several times, he reported his answers to the professor who had set the questions.

The rest of the questions were similar, all involving mental arithmetic and meditation alchemy.

As time went on, the difficulty of the questions gradually increased, and the number of basic toxins involved increased from single digits to double digits.

Xia Zuo was taking longer and longer to deduce the compound toxin using the meditation alchemy platform... Even with the help of the blood element servants in his left arm, he still felt extremely strained.

At 6 p.m., as soon as the exam ended, the elemental servants guarding the entrance to the exam hall opened the door.

The glass marbles that had been floating all day drifted into the podium.

Xia Zuo's face turned a little pale. He took a breath and walked towards the door.

The continuous high-intensity question-answering quickly depleted my energy and physical strength, and even repeated deep meditation failed to restore me.

He took off the spell-casting alarm device from his wrist and placed it on the shelf next to the door. As he headed to the academy's cafeteria, he chatted with Anruer, who had just gotten home from get off work, using [Bloodline Sense].

"Was the exam difficult?" Anru asked in her mind.

"It's quite difficult. Especially the afternoon's test, which required using the meditation alchemy platform to deduce a complex toxin. I entered deep meditation more times this afternoon than I did last month..." Xia Zuo sat down in a corner of the restaurant, ordered a classic steak set meal from the menu, and picked up a bell to summon his elemental servants.

"Oh~ when will today's exam results come out?" Anruer continued to ask.

Xia Zuo pulled his exam admission ticket from his jacket pocket and glanced at the schedule on the back. "I'll know my score tonight. A letter will be dropped in the mailbox next to the dorm door. I think I should pass... sigh... I'm not sure. The exam format this afternoon is unlike anything I've encountered before..."

"I see..." Anru noticed that Xia Zuo was a little down and comforted him, "It'll definitely be fine. At worst, you can come back and prepare again, and take the exam when you're fully prepared."

As Xia Zuo waited for the elemental servants to bring the food, he thought to himself, "Let's talk about it after I get the test results tonight. If I pass on my first try, you can use this time to practice more at the women's jujitsu gym. Change your per-session membership card to a monthly or quarterly card, and sign up for a training course. That way, you can fill the time after dinner and before going to bed."

"Hmm...it seems so." Anru'er paused, still feeling that Xia Zuo would pass the exam. "Then I'll go take a look now. We'll discuss the cost later."

"Okay. Wear more clothes before going out, don't catch a cold." Xia Zuo reminded himself in his heart, then cut open the steak that the elemental servant had brought and put it in his mouth.

He was actually quite uneasy.

He was certain he got a perfect score on the morning's exam.

But the afternoon exam is hard to predict.

In the initial exam, the professor only specified one toxic effect.

Later, the number of toxic effects specified by the professor who set the questions gradually increased, eventually reaching as many as nine.

What is this concept?

In the final question, Xia Zuo was asked to combine 20 basic toxins to create a compound toxin with 9 specified toxic effects, and to count the number of these compound toxins.

The time allotted for answering questions is still only 10 minutes.

Xia Zuoguang spent nearly 10 minutes using the meditation alchemy platform to pinpoint the basic toxins related to these 9 toxic effects…

The remaining ten or so seconds were simply not enough to calculate the amount of the compound toxin.

He could only rely on his past experience in drug production to give the proctoring professor an approximate number.

If I fail the afternoon exam, I'll have to pack my things and go home early...

After finishing dinner, Xia Zuo took the elevator to the garden of Boying Academy, walked around a lake for a while to calm his nerves, and then headed back to his dormitory.

Chapter 23 The Mystery of the Ring-Breathing Worm

Xia Zuo's accommodation at Boying Academy was on the 17th floor of the academy building, a single dormitory room of about 30 square meters.

Standing in the corridor in front of the dormitory, you can overlook the southern district of Silvermoon City and take in the bustling night scene and brightly lit commercial street.

Xia Zuo reached into the mailbox next to the door, rummaged around, took out an envelope, tore open the seal, unfolded the letter, and saw the words on it:

To examinee Xia Zuo:

You scored 96 points in the first stage of today's promotion exam, passing this stage. Please arrive at the designated poison alchemy room by 8:00 AM tomorrow, as instructed on your admission ticket.

Use your exam admission ticket to unlock the access to the Poison Alchemy Lab.

Once you enter the exam room, please read the second part of the exam manual on your desk and strictly follow the instructions in the manual to conduct the drug-making experiment.

[Message left at the Academic Affairs Office, Promotion and Assessment Department, Boying Academy.]

"We passed the first round of the test!" Xia Zuo and An Ru'er said.

"Great!" Anru thought to herself. "I'm listening to the receptionist introduce the course. I'll pay the fee after you pass all the exams."

"Okay. I'll go wash up first, then I'll meditate when you get home." Xia Zuo pushed open the dormitory door and went inside.

More than 8 o'clock in the evening.

After arriving home, Anru quickly took a hot shower, then crawled into bed, inwardly complaining that the bed was too cold…

Xia Zuo lay in his dormitory at Boying Academy, comforted An Ru'er for a few words, and then entered into deep meditation with her.