My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Apart from Rexor, who had a stern face, the others nodded in response with slight smiles.

Professor Allen, a student of Master Colas, looks younger than in the portrait, except that his hairline is receding and his forehead appears somewhat large.

Kulov's poison alchemy teacher, Master Adanavados, had several wrinkles of varying depths on his face and looked as old as Kulov.

Perhaps due to the limitations of this discipline, even with the help of unknown drugs that enhance vitality, aging is still inevitable due to the accumulation of toxins.

Lady Sylvia, the messenger of Lady Starry Night, dressed in a starry night robe, opened the picture book in front of her:

"Xia Zuo, we already know that you have an exceptional memory. The inspection team has decided to simplify the first part of the inspection. Now, I will ask the questions, and you can answer them directly."

Xia Zuo looked into the other person's eyes, which were shimmering with emerald light. "Yes, ma'am."

Chapter 42 A Detailed Test (Bonus Chapter)

Sylvia asked about more than a dozen points from the general education courses. Xia Zuo answered them all fluently.

We quickly moved on to the second stage.

"On the alchemy table, there is an introductory poison recipe that has never been included in the academy's textbooks, as well as its refined powder recipe."

Sylvia closed the picture book in her hands:

"We need you to concoct a refined poison within two hours. You have only one chance to do so, and the alchemical product must be of perfect quality."

"As you wish, madam."

Xia Zuo bowed respectfully to the figure on the sofa, then turned and walked to the wardrobe by the wall to put on a complete set of poison-making attire.

Then, he walked up to the alchemy table, came to the storage table, lowered his head and cast a detection spell, his eyes scanning the lines of alchemical text, his expression gradually becoming serious.

This poison formula uses four basic toxins, one or two more than the formula recorded in the textbook.

The complex toxins needed to create the poison alone involve a total of 15 alchemical processes.

If we include the refining of powder, there are a total of 32 alchemical operations, of which 8 require the most difficult steaming and baking processes.

Xia Zuo glanced at the wall clock and silently calculated the time. On average, each operation only took four minutes. Based on his past experience in drug refining, he had to start in ten minutes.

He picked up the recipe, walked past the four shelves, checked the raw materials against the recipe to ensure they were accurate, and mentally simulated the steps and movements involved in the refining process.

He didn't immediately begin refining it.

Instead, they pulled the rope loop of the blower to observe the size of the fire in the stove.

The first alchemy table that Shazo encountered after entering the academy was the one now used specifically for teaching. Kurov used that alchemy table for a demonstration in the first class.

In the advanced alchemy room, Kulov first demonstrated the advanced alchemy table before allowing Shazo to use it to concoct poisons.

The ability to successfully concoct poisons in one go depends on understanding the performance of the alchemy table.

Xia Zuo had never touched this advanced alchemy table before.

It is difficult to guarantee that the fire intensity of the furnace, the heat transfer rate of the crucible, the heating rate of the oven, and the cooling efficiency of the condensing stove will be completely consistent with the advanced alchemy table in the poison alchemy zone.

If any of these details goes wrong, the entire refining process will be ruined.

When I was a temporary teaching assistant, the freshmen made a mistake because they were not familiar with the alchemy table.

He doesn't want to make the same mistake again.

Xia Zuo pulled the blower's rope loop three times in succession, and a roaring flame shot out from the nozzle.

Fortunately, I was able to test the fire.

The fuel in this stove wasn't just the usual dry firewood and coal. Beneath this fuel was buried something that aided combustion.

That's so damn insidious.

Xia Zuo suppressed the twitching at the corner of his mouth, holding back the urge to complain.

On the sofa, the master of poison alchemy, Adanavardos, smiled and exchanged a glance with Kulov, who was sitting beside him. Both of them saw the satisfaction in each other's eyes.

The bald Rexor let out a deep sigh, as if venting some pent-up emotion:

"You poison alchemy students are lucky; you've managed to snag a sufficiently cautious and good student."

When the bald man opened and closed his mouth, the sound only traveled a few meters, firmly confined within the range of the sofa seat.

“Hmph,” Adanavados chuckled lightly, a hint of smugness in his eyes, his wrinkles deepening with the smile:

“This wasn’t stolen, Rexor. These are students trained by our Alchemy School. If your Witcher School wanted to manage a territory, couldn’t you also have a stable source of students like us?”

Rexor remained silent, his eyes fixed on the figure on the advanced alchemy table.

Adanavardos noticed that Shazzo was inspecting the oven.

He stroked his graying beard and said:

"It seems this test wasn't too difficult for the little guy. Kurov, did you remind him to check the alchemy table?"

"No, teacher. I never mentioned it to him."

Adanavardos was increasingly satisfied. "He has a high degree of compatibility with poison alchemy. The effects of toxins on the body are very obvious."

Kulov chimed in from the side:

“That’s true. I noticed it when he first tested the poison. The elemental resistance he gained from taking the poison was very significant, about three times that of an ordinary person.”

Rexor, standing to the side, was somewhat moved, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the alchemy table.

"If only he had been born in the Silvermoon Federation," Adanavados sighed, then focused on observing the activity on the alchemy table.

The sofa seat returned to calm.

On the advanced alchemy platform.

After inspecting all the alchemical equipment, Xia Zuo placed several vials of poison on the table with a blank expression.

These old foxes...

Indeed, the longer you live, the more cunning you become.

On the surface, they were testing the students with a complex formula. But secretly, they were also tampering with the alchemical equipment.

He carefully examined the alchemical tools, including the ladle used to stir the crucible, the tongs used to hold the scalding tray, the spatula, the glass rod, the measuring cup, and so on.

They even used the cloths meant for wiping face masks.

Who can guarantee that there isn't some kind of oily substance hidden in this dishcloth that makes things dirtier the more you wipe it?

Xia Zuo muttered a few more complaints under his breath, stood in front of the crucible, picked up the potion bottle, and poured in the bottom potion...

Puffs of mist of various colors sprayed out from the liquid in the crucible and were sucked away by the vents overhead.

An invisible barrier now separates the advanced alchemy table from the sofa. The lingering mist, blocked by the barrier, drifts towards the ceiling but is eventually drawn away by the vents.

Xia Zuo was engrossed in the alchemical process.

He constantly casts a detection spell, refreshing the information it provides every three seconds. At the same time, the stirring motion in his hands cannot stop.

About half an hour later.

A bottle of perfectly high-quality unknown poison appeared on the table.

Xia Zuo leaned against the table to rest, casting a detection spell towards the glass bottle.

[Item Name] Unknown Poison

[Item Type] Poison

[Item Grade] Beginner

[Item Quality] Completion Rate 100%, Perfect

[Related Resistance] Soil Resistance

[Item Description] Made by Xia Zuo.

[Item Effects]

After drinking one-third of the bottle, a bump will appear randomly on a part of the body.

Each time a bulge appears, you gain 1 stack of the Painful Effect, which deducts 2 health points per second for 5 seconds.

The pain effect can be stacked, and the duration of each layer of pain effect is calculated separately.

The swelling caused severe pain

Xia Zuo quietly noted down the effects of the poison. Once his strength had recovered, he went to the shelf again to retrieve the vial.

The refined powder of this poison requires repeated evaporation to remove moisture, with most of the time spent stirring in the crucible.

Unfortunately, every time the water is evaporated, the crucible only contains one-fifth of its capacity of liquid, so it must be operated manually and the self-stirring arm cannot be used, otherwise it is easy to burn the pot.

Xia Zuo could only obediently slide the ladle around and around like a numb machine.

The hour hand of the wall clock points to 10 a.m.

Xia Zuo poured the freshly made green powder into the poison bottle, put on the stopper, and gently shook the bottle to allow the powder to dissolve completely into the poison.

"Detection Techniques"

[Item Name] Unknown Poison

[Item Type] Poison

[Item Grade] Beginner

[Item Quality] Completion Rate 100%, Perfect

【Associated Resistance 1】Soil Resistance

[Related Resistance 2] Wind Resistance

[Item Description] Made by Xia Zuo.

[Item Effects]

After drinking one-third of the bottle, a hard bump will appear randomly on a part of the body.

Each hard bump that appears grants 2 stacks of the Painful effect, deducting 4 health points per second for 2 seconds.

The pain effect can be stacked, and the duration of each layer of pain effect is calculated separately.