Damned Healer-Chapter 726: Wild And Merciless

After making a few quick purchases in the city, Darian headed toward the great Tower. Ahead, a crowd of thousands waited patiently.

Everyone looked like ancient figures, with hundreds or even thousands of years behind them. Darian noticed the strong excitement on their faces, as if this registration was something they had been waiting for for a very long time.

Following the crowd, he realized everyone was arranged in a colossal line that twisted and curved in one place.

Up ahead stood a thirty-meter-tall black stone. Ancient runes had been carved into it. Darian didn’t know what they were for, but... he smiled faintly.

He felt a connection between it and the aura of his uncle Almin.

In front of the black stone stood a single elder, carrying out some registration.

The place was very quiet, and even from afar, it was possible to hear the elder speaking. He asked for the person’s name and origin, taking notes. Then he sent them to take the test, pointing impassively at the stone.

There was a small staircase that allowed people to climb up to it. When the person reached the stone, its countless runes lit up, bathing them in light. Then, words appeared on it.

The elder nodded. "Two thousand and seven years old. Next is the strength of your soul. Press the red button and send your spiritual power."

After learning a bit of Alchemy at the celestial level, Darian understood that alchemists needed great soul power, in addition to fire control and knowledge. Possibly, Veyle and no alchemist from his old universe knew this, but she had learned to use her soul instinctively, improving the quality of her pills and standing out enormously because of it.

The participant listened carefully and placed his hand on the red button. A small portal appeared in front of him. It wasn’t a real portal, just something for him to send his spiritual power into.

A line of words appeared on the stone.

"High Mortal Class. Disqualified."

That person could only leave in sadness.

After that person’s failure, many grew anxious. Another person stepped forward to take the test.

Ten people took the test in sequence. There were eight failures and two approvals. Darian realized the requirements were to be under ten thousand years old and to have reached the Divine level in spiritual power.

In addition, if you passed, you would receive a classification based on your age and soul power. So far, the only classifications he had seen were Acceptable and Excellent.

Nearly five hours later, Darian was only a few people away from registering.

"Name?" the elder asked again.

The young man in front looked very nervous and answered quickly, "P-Phillip McCracken, sir!"

The elder’s expression immediately darkened, and he slapped the young man across the face. "Fuck off! How dare you mock me to my face!"

*BANG!*

The man let out a cry of despair as he was thrown against the stone wall behind him. He passed out, causing a wave of shocked screams.

Everyone in line was speechless. He was definitely asking to be beaten. Otherwise, why would he say a name like that?

"Sir, he wasn’t trying to waste your time," someone explained hurriedly. "His name really is Phillip McCracken. His father is the illustrious Jack McCracken."

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions became extremely strange. Jack McCracken? Phillip McCracken? Were you sure he wasn’t just wasting everyone’s time with nonsense?

"The McCracken family, from Planet Cracken Shell?" the elder asked, suddenly understanding.

"Yes."

"Cough, ah, sorry. It was a misunderstanding. The people from the McCracken family are truly remarkable," the elder said awkwardly.

At that moment, others had already helped poor Phillip to his feet and gave him a healing pill. He gradually recovered.

"Senior, this junior really is named Phillip McCracken. It means ’The Fearless Knight’! At the same time, it connects me to my planet and the Leviathan legacy, Sir!" Phillip said with a very sour expression.

"It was my fault. Let’s continue. Take the test!"

"Age: Nine hundred and one. Spiritual Strength: High Divine. Excellent. The McCracken family isn’t bad at all."

The elder nodded in approval and recorded a new classification: Exceptional.

Acceptable. Excellent. Exceptional. Now there was a third category.

Phillip laughed heartily. But that ended up causing him pain, since the laugh pulled at his wound, and tears welled in his eyes, as if his extreme joy had turned into sorrow.

The rejected ones all left sadly. The people who stayed displayed satisfied smiles that carried a certain mockery toward those still waiting nervously.

Shortly after.

"Name?"

"Darian."

The elder frowned, looking at Darian. No surname? That meant he had no background or origin; sometimes people didn’t say it out of shame.

"Origin?"

"Planet... no, Golden Crow Sect," Darian answered calmly.

The elder’s eyes shifted slightly. Many Alchemist Emperors came from that sect, but at the same time, many idiots from that place showed up, thinking that just because they had the Golden Crow bloodline, they could be alchemists.

Every time, countless people from that sect tried to pass the test despite having studied very little Alchemy; they came from all the Halls, and it had nothing to do with status. It was complete disrespect toward the profession. On top of that, they failed miserably and embarrassed themselves greatly.

After writing down the name and seeing Darian’s disciple emblem, the elder spoke dryly, "Let’s see if you have the qualifications to participate. We’ll test your age and your spiritual strength."

Darian nodded and climbed the steps. Everyone in line stared at him; before Darian arrived, there had already been people from that sect getting pathetic scores and embarrassing themselves. Everyone was waiting to see this young man’s humiliation.

"Age: seventeen years."

Everyone was stunned, staring at Darian. Then their smiles grew even wider with excitement. At that age, being an alchemist? What a joke. He would definitely be humiliated on the spot.

"Now we’ll test your spiritual power," the elder said. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

A small portal appeared in front of Darian. When Darian’s spiritual power touched the portal, the entire stone lit up.

"!"

"This is... Celestial Class!" the elder exclaimed with great excitement.

Celestial Class?! Everyone was dumbfounded; their jaws couldn’t drop any further.

Seventeen years old? Spiritual power that had reached the highest peak, Celestial? Could this be some kind of illusion?

You only needed to be at the Divine level, and who knew how many generations it had been since someone above that, at the Celestial level, had appeared. But... it was always someone with thousands of years of experience working as an alchemist and very high cultivation.

The elder directly recorded the fourth classification for Darian’s talent: Genius!

Acceptable, Excellent, Exceptional, and Genius. This was the highest classification so far.

Darian gave a faint smile. That was only an extremely tiny fraction of his spiritual power. If he had used it all, that stone would have exploded instantly. That would probably scare some of these people to death.

But doing that would be too much and wouldn’t help his plans. He just wanted to pass the test; there was no reason to cause chaos.

After registering, Darian received a participant mark. It would take nearly three months for registration to end and the test to truly begin.

It would be divided into two major phases: the first was the grand elimination, where 99% of people would be eliminated. Then the finals, where only one new Alchemist Emperor would emerge... or not.

This whole test could end with nothing and no one being approved. The Hellfire Pill Sect had strict requirements and would not create a new Emperor who wasn’t competent.

There were still many people to arrive, and Darian was too lazy to keep watching. After saying goodbye to the elder, he left.

***

The days passed calmly at the ’inn.’ Darian made a point of helping little Temzi rebuild the place, giving her more resources. He only asked to be the only person staying there until he left.

She and her grandfather didn’t know how to react to that. But Darian was always friendly and even joked a bit with Temzi, making them more relaxed.

In one week, Darian spent some money to create a secure cultivation room with defensive inscriptions; that way, he could use the Stargazer Stone in peace and not waste the three months.

But every day, he left the room four times to make sure Temzi was preparing all the meals and eating properly. He also took the chance to chat with them a bit.

During that time, her grandfather had already become absurdly grateful. He didn’t know how to thank him, because he knew this inn would hardly attract clients with good intentions. Just a little girl and an old man running the place? The chances of something sinister happening were enormous.

But unfortunately, he had no choice but to take the risk and hope Heaven’s Will would be kind to Temzi. Little did he know his prayers had been almost directly answered by that very entity. After all, Darian, who had once been its missionary, was now its son and represented it.

During this time, Pyreus learned where Darian was after sending a message. Then Darian asked him for information about the sect and recent events. He couldn’t stay idle, so he spent his days cultivating, studying, and playing a little with Temzi.

...

In the final days before the end of the three months, the old man told his story to Darian.

In truth, he had been a mediocre cultivator in the past. He reached the first level of the Celestial Tribulation Realm and was part of a minor sect.

He married and had a single son. That son was Temzi’s father. His wife died shortly after giving birth, during a dangerous mission assigned by his sect. These missions were quite frequent for those who didn’t have much value in a sect.

But... he blamed himself for not paying much attention to his son, because he fell into deep depression after his wife’s death. As a result, that son grew up... and didn’t become someone upright.

He ended up getting involved in a major problem with cultivators of the Evil Path. In the end, his entire family was attacked.

In desperation, that man called his father, who was as strong as the leader of the Evil Path cultivators. He came rushing over... but that type of cultivator was naturally more powerful than a normal cultivator at the same level.

Temzi’s father and mother died, and she, who was only three years old, was left last. Her grandfather burned all his strength in total desperation; in the end, he managed to escape with Temzi after making a sacrificial move and injuring their leader.

But... those evil cultivators poisoned and cursed him.

Thus, in a short time, he was forced to seal all his cultivation so the poison wouldn’t kill him so quickly. He became a mortal, went blind, and the sect expelled him... he lost everything.

Using all the money he had left, he tried to raise his granddaughter. But eventually the money was running out, so he spent what little remained to buy this place.

Currently, he didn’t even have the strength to work and estimated he wouldn’t live even ten more years. At the very least, he hoped Temzi would become an adult. If something bad appeared... he would remove the seal on his cultivation and self-detonate, taking someone with him so she could survive.

Darian listened, somewhat moved. The cultivation world was wild and merciless. This old man, who was no longer important to the small sect, had simply been thrown away for no longer being useful. As for little Temzi, she knew nothing about this, only that she wanted to live and take care of her grandfather.

He listened to everything and would definitely cure the old man and properly fix this place so Temzi could support herself. But the old man’s cultivation, even if healed, would already be declining due to age. He wouldn’t be able to protect her properly, and a good place inside the city without protection would be like inviting a demon into the house.

So, Darian would wait until the end of the test to truly help them.

The next day, Darian rose with the first rays of sunlight. It was finally time to take the test to become an Alchemist Emperor.