I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 62 - 61: Intuition

The next day, Li Xing declined Yang Dawei’s company and strolled leisurely to the registration office of Harssas Academy.

After verifying her identity, the teacher at the registration office gave Li Xing a space button, which contained study materials and personal items uniformly distributed by the school.

"Li Xing, new students have one chance to retest their Primordial Spirit. Would you like to apply?"

Li Xing hesitated for a moment and stammered, "May I ask if retesting the Primordial Spirit is free?"

"Testing the Primordial Spirit is a welfare benefit given to every federal citizen by the government, but the welfare policy only allows for one test. The records show you were tested at six years old, so any additional tests would be at your own expense."

"How much?"

"Currently, it’s 160,000 star coins."

"What? 160,000! Are you robbing me?"

Li Xing’s loud shout startled the teachers and students around her, causing them to look over.

Seeing Li Xing glaring at him angrily, the registration teacher smiled awkwardly at his colleagues, signaling them not to worry, and patiently explained to Li Xing:

"Student, starting the Element Testing Instrument requires a large number of Energy Stones to provide energy, and the operating cost is very high. Generally speaking, the more people tested after the machine is started, the lower the cost for each person. But as of now, only twenty-two new students at Harssas Academy have applied to retest their Primordial Spirit, so the individual cost is high. 160,000 is an estimated price, and if more students apply for a retest, this cost might decrease."

Li Xing pouted, thinking that even if it decreased, it couldn’t possibly drop to 1,600. Every penny she had was a resource for her cultivation, spending so much just to test her Primordial Spirit was ridiculous!

Li Xing was reluctant, but she truly wanted to know why her Wood Spirit Root wasn’t reflected in her Primordial Spirit. If there was even a hint of the Wood Element Spirit, she could justifiably become a Healing Master and earn money by selling medicines. Ah, it was such a difficult decision.

In the principal’s office at Harssas Academy.

"Is this your beloved student?" The elderly man with graying beard watched the surveillance video of the girl with a distressed and conflicted face and teased Yang Zhou, who was lounging comfortably: "The cost for retesting Primordial Spirit isn’t low, shouldn’t you, as her teacher, help her out?"

Yang Zhou looked at the girl reluctantly filling out the retesting application form in the video and snorted with annoyance.

"Help my ass! I know exactly whether she can afford this money. Spending some star coins is like taking her life, show some backbone!"

"You haven’t left that remote place for ten years, honestly, when we first met, I was quite flattered. I thought as a mentor I was most important to you, so your first trip out of the city was to visit me, but unexpectedly it was for a little girl. I must say, I’m quite disappointed."

Yang Zhou’s eyebrows twitched, ignoring Wen Dao.

Wen Dao continued, "But seriously, why do you think her Primordial Spirit test was erroneous?"

Yang Zhou replied, "Just a hunch."

"Ahem..." Wen Dao almost choked on his tea.

"Do you believe, if the Elder Council heard that, they’d label you as defying authority and punish you by making you stay in Datang for another ten years!"

Yang Zhou lifted his head, "I couldn’t wish for more."

While others thought going to the lower city was suffering, he found it to be a place free of scheming, a pure land, and wished he could stay in Datang as a principal forever.

Wen Dao retorted, "Seriously, aside from intuition, don’t you have any more reliable reason? Using a high-grade Element Testing Instrument requires following the application procedures, and I can’t just write intuition in the reason column, can I?"

Yang Zhou smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes and changed the subject: "Lao Wen, is the tea good?"

"It’s good, it’s good to drink!" Wen Dao unconsciously squeezed the space button in his pocket, feeling apprehensive.

This kid always gave him tea sparingly, but this time he was generous, was it bribery or coercion?

"She roasted it."

"What, who roasted it?"

"Li Xing roasted it."

Wen Dao was stunned and then showed an expression of disbelief.

Yang Zhou continued, "The tea you’ve been drinking these years was all made by her."

Wen Dao’s expression finally turned serious. He had worked in the Elder Council and had experienced many things; he immediately knew the tea Yang Zhou sent was something valuable.

For so many years, he always thought it was the work of some Healing Master, who would have thought it was brewed by a little girl. The first time he received tea leaves from Yang Zhou was eight years ago, how old would she have been then?

Yang Zhou continued: "Besides brewing tea, she went into the depths of the Datang Forest every year to hunt Star Beasts, and to this day she has never been injured by plants, let alone poisoned."

The plants in the Star Beast Forest, sometimes more dangerous than the Star Beasts, could kill invisibly. Wen Dao stroked his beard, beginning to reassess this situation. The aptitude of a top-notch Fire Elemental Spirit indeed couldn’t explain her talent for communicating with plants, no wonder Yang Zhou was suspicious.

"I understand, on the day of her Primordial Spirit test, I will be present."

"Hmm, keep me posted."

"Sure."

Leaving the registration office, Li Xing contacted Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao, arranging to meet them at a shop. The two of them were indeed efficient; when Li Xing returned, they had already been waiting for a while.

"Xing! Did you miss your brother? Give your brother a hug!" Cui Tianxiao opened his arms as if Li Xing would actually jump in, but all he got was a cold glance.

"Ah Xing, you’re back." Ye Qingting, gentle as jade, looked at her with joy in his brown eyes.

Li Xing nodded, seeing her friends somewhat eased the frustration of her monetary loss: "Come on, let’s go upstairs to chat."

She led Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao to the living room on the second floor, where Yang Dawei attentively served tea and snacks before bowing out.

"Xing, are you the owner of this shop?"

Before Li Xing returned, Cui Tianxiao had already coaxed a lot of information out of Yang Dawei. Just as Qingting had speculated, Li Xing was very likely the "talisman master" supplying Yang Dawei.

"I’m not the behind-the-scenes owner, I’m a partner. I joined with technology, responsible for carving and repairing talismans, and in the future, I’ll also handle drug research and production." Since she had arranged to meet them here, Li Xing decided to explain everything.

"You, you’re really a versatile player!" Even though he already suspected, hearing Li Xing admit it shocked Cui Tianxiao. "But you don’t have spiritual power, how do you do it?"

No matter whether Li Xing’s aptitude test was wrong, her current state still showed no spiritual power fluctuations.

Most of the talismans Li Xing carved were mid to high level, which demanded a lot of mental and physical effort. Without spiritual power assistance, it was hard to imagine how she succeeded.

Before Li Xing could answer, Ye Qingting spoke first:

"High-level talisman masters require spiritual power to quickly comprehend patterns. When carving, they can use spiritual power to simplify the process and increase success rates, but that doesn’t mean you can’t become a high-level talisman master without spiritual power. The current Elder Council Secretary-General is an example. He, like Ah Xing, has no spiritual power fluctuations, but that doesn’t stop him from becoming a Heaven Ranked Great Rune Master."

"So, does Xing Er’s talent in talismans match that of the Elder Council Secretary-General? Impressive!"

Ye Qingting: "Ah Xing, I once suggested you retake the Primordial Spirit test after enrolling, have you considered it?"

Li Xing thought of the recently deducted 160,000 star coins from her account, feeling the pain intensely, she responded gloomily: "I’ve applied, and will test after enrolling."

Ye Qingting nodded and said, "Regardless of the test results, with your ability, you’ll have the opportunity to reconsider your specialization. Do you still plan to study in the Martial Arts Department?"

Without thinking, Li Xing replied: "Of course, I’ll major in martial arts. If possible, I’ll consider minoring in two other subjects."