William waited patiently while Yuming gathered the ingredients. Soon, each material was positioned on his table.


    William picked up the most important ingredient, the Iron Root, and began to inspect it. He frowned, noticing a small blemish on one side of the Root, almost invisible to the naked eye.


    He raised his hand, to which Elder Tianshen walked over. "What is it, Disciple William?"


    "I need a higher quality Iron Root. This one is not enough."


    "Not enough?" Elder Tianshen mumbled. He looked at the blemish that William pointed out and frowned. It truly wasn''t up to par, but that didn''t make sense.


    "Disciple Yuming, can youe over here?"


    "Yes Elder." Yuming ran over from across the stage.


    "Can you rece this Iron Root? It''s damaged."


    Yuming was confused. He looked at the Iron Root as well to find the issue, but confirmed Elder Tianshen''s words to be true. "Right away, Elder."


    He left and quickly came back with a different Iron Root. This time there was no problem, and William epted it readily.


    After inspecting the other ingredients, William noticed some other minor details that would affect the quality of the final pill. Again, Elder Tianshen was called over and Yuming had to rece the ingredients.


    Someone must be trying to sabotage me...William thought to himself.


    Yuming and Elder Tianshen were thinking the same thing, but no one said a word. Instead, Elder Tianshen made sure to keep a closer eye on William''s refinement for this portion of thepetition. He would not stand to allow a talented youth to be bullied.


    William was somewhat worried about someone affecting his Alchemy. If the Tier 4 pill was ruined, he would lose out on a lot of Potential Points. He didn''t even have a clue who was trying to sabotage him.


    It was better not to waste time thinking about it. Elder Tianshen seemed to notice something, so he would have to ce his trust in the Elder.


    William diced up the Blood Frog''s Tongue into many small pieces using a de of wind, then poured them into the cauldron with some water. The pieces floated to the top of the cauldron and remained there while the juices leaked out. It was actually quite disgusting, mostly the squelching noises it made when William prodded the meat.


    He took the Iron Root and poured it into a separate cauldron that he had to borrow from Yuming, then poured the salt inside. Using his Mana, William sped up the process of rusting away the Iron on the surface of the Iron Root to reveal ayer of zinc.


    The Cultivators didn''t have an extensive knowledge of the natural elements or the periodic table, but William had some ideas. The Iron was actually the least valuable portion of the Iron Root, and what prevented it from bing a Tier 4 ingredient.


    Below that iron shell was a thick steel root, protected by ayer of zinc that would resist the corrosion of the saltwater. Most Alchemists would probably melt down the entire Root, not knowing that the true treasure was inside.


    With this, William had gained a Tier 4 Steel Root, which he ced into the other cauldron with the diced Blood Frog''s Tongue and added some Mana Grass.


    One he had finished, William mixed it all together with an intense me until the ingredients were a viscuous liquid that seemed extremely inedible. He condensed the ingredients into four dark red pills with two golden stars inscribed on them, and waited for the tribtion to form.


    As expected, thick dark clouds gathered above, covering the ceiling of the entire Alchemy Hall. The nine nearby Alchemists already knew what was happening and quickly stabilized their cauldrons before something went wrong.


    "This again? How many Tribtions is this kid going to summon?" a Cultivator in the seating area spoke with surprise.


    "I know, right? We should give him a nickname."


    "Oh yeah like Lightning Boy!"


    "Uh...maybe let someone else decide."


    William prepared for the Heavenly Tribtion by immediately upgrading his Hard Skin Talent to A Rank.


    ———


    TALENT UPGRADED


    Hard Skin: (B --> A)


    Next rank up: 1000PP


    ———


    -DETECTED SYSTEM UPGRADE--


    --UPGRADING. PLEASE WAIT--


    ...


    William hadpletely forgotten about the System upgrade, but this was actually a good thing since it meant he would get some new features soon.


    He focused on the Heavenly Tribtion above him that was already emitting an aura at the Core Refinement Realm. William was prepared to put everything he had towards protecting himself, but he had some confidence in his Hard Skin Talent that seemed to have improved a hundredfold this time.


    Elder Tianshen was truly nervous. He saw William barely survive thest set of strikes. There was no chance that William would make it through the next Tribtion. He looked at Arthur, who gave a small nod.


    Elder Tianshen pulled an umbre from his Space Ring and threw it. "Disciple William, take this!"


    William was caught off guard by Elder Tianshen''s sudden movement, but his reflexes allowed him to catch the umbre.


    "What is this?" he asked loudly while the Tribtion rumbled.


    "Inject some Mana into it and hold it to the sky, It will help you!" Elder Tianshen summarized.


    William understood immediately. It was an artifact to assist him during the Tribtion. This was an expensive gift!


    He didn''t have time to thank the Elder as the first Heavenly Lightning wasing down. He injected Mana into the umbre, causing it to unfold. The device charged with Lightning Mana that matched William''s Mana signature, but amplified the effects to be a hundred times greater than William could possibly manage.


    Even better, the Mana expenditure was extremely small. William only had 60 Mana before the Tribtion started, but at this rate he would only spend half of it by the time the Tribtion was over!


    The first Lightning boltnded on the umbre artifact, scattering into many tiny sparks. The sparks bypassed the artifact, but were stopped by William''s Hard Skin with no difficulty.


    William''s eyes gleamed. He became a bit greedy for the artifact, but mentally restrained himself since Elder Tianshen had been good to him so far. William defended against the remaining two strikes without an issue, even though the third strike was at the peak of the Core Formation Realm.


    The clouds subsided for the third time since the beginning of thepetition, and William returned the artifact to Elder Tianshen with a grateful smile. If not for the artifact''s help, William probably would have had to reveal some of his secrets to survive the Tribtion.


    "Thank you Elder, this was a huge help." William bowed respectfully.


    Elder Tianshen nodded. "You''re very lucky the judges allowed me to help you. That being said, we will still be reducing your final score by 20 points.


    Let me see those pills so we can evaluate them."


    William nodded and handed over the four Iron Stomach Pills. Elder Arthur and the others inspected the pills closely and didn''t find any issues.


    Elder Arthur announced the results. "Your initial score would be 100 points. Minus 20 for receiving help during the Tribtion, but plus 6 for refining 3 extra Tier 4 pills. An additional +10 for refining a pill one Tier above the requirement.


    Your total score is 96 points!"