Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

Locke and Alicia arrived at the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. The half-dragon wizard inside this pavilion had already been replaced.

Locke looked questioningly at this unfamiliar red dragon half-dragon wizard, "The previous shopkeeper was a blue dragon half-dragon, right?"

The red dragon half-dragon wizard's emotions were indifferent, his reptilian bloodline suppressing his feelings. "Yes, because he accumulated enough C-rank member contracts, he has already been promoted. Now, I'm in charge here. Potion Master Augustine, I've reviewed your test contract. You're currently in the first round of the Ladder test."

Locke asked, "Ladder?"

The red dragon half-dragon opened his mouth. Between his teeth remained some sulfur coloring, and when speaking, his mouth emitted the special odor of sulfur. "It's a form of special testing at the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. In Feathered Serpent Pavilions all over the world, countless potion masters are participating in the Feathered Serpent Pavilion's tests."

"Each time you pass a round, you'll receive some rewards. The more tests you pass, the more rewards you obtain."

"A potion master only gets one chance in their lifetime to participate in the Feathered Serpent Pavilion's Ladder. Once failed, there's no way to participate again."

"Regardless of what wizard rank they are."

The red dragon half-dragon extended his right hand, "Please let me see the Hive Mind Potions you brewed."

Locke took out twenty-four bottles of Hive Mind Potion from his astral ring.

The red dragon half-dragon glanced over in surprise. "Without using primordial fire, the success rate for brewing Hive Mind Potion can still be this high?"

"With thirty sets of materials, you actually successfully brewed twenty-four portions, only failing six. Generally, potion masters who can brew Hive Mind Potion only have a 60% success rate."

The red dragon half-dragon placed these twenty-four bottles of potion on the counter and pulled out a dried maple leaf from his hand.

Then he placed the maple leaf below his nostrils and sneezed slightly, spraying a spark from his nasal cavity that ignited this red dried maple leaf.

The maple leaf immediately burned, emitting rolling thick smoke.

Then, all twenty-four portions of Hive Mind Potion showed faint red magical radiance.

Only then did Locke realize that the Hive Mind Potion materials the Feathered Serpent Pavilion had given him before all contained specific fluorescent components.

And that red maple leaf was called a Revealing Maple Leaf, a commonly used tool in potion studies to make fluorescent marks visible after marking a target with specific fluorescent markers.

Making them was somewhat complex and required a larger personal pharmacy.

The red dragon half-dragon checked the concentration of light in each Hive Mind Potion and nodded. "There are no problems whatsoever."

"These Hive Mind Potion brewing materials were all given to you by the Feathered Serpent Pavilion. Moreover, there are no traces of primordial force here, and these materials were all personally brewed by you. Otherwise, the special magical fluorescent marks wouldn't appear."

Locke wasn't surprised by this.

He had long guessed that the materials the Feathered Serpent Pavilion gave him had special magical marks placed on them, absolutely not allowing the situation where he had other potion masters brew them and then submitted them himself.

The red dragon half-dragon took out from his astral ring a black iron magic box with a question mark pattern drawn on the front. "This is the first round reward of the Ladder, a black iron magic box. After opening it, you can obtain any reward, all related to potion studies."

"Wizard Augustine, this is the special potion key to open the question mark magic box. Here you are."

Locke glanced at the red dragon half-dragon, accepted the magic box and key, put the key into the keyhole on the question mark pattern side of the magic box, and gently rotated it. Immediately, the entire black iron magic box disappeared by itself.

Locke noticed that this black iron magic box evaporated and sublimated like water.

Or rather, this black iron magic box itself was a special water solid made using Alchemy School magic. As long as you used the key to open it, the magic box would instantly sublimate and disappear.

After the box disappeared, a paper formula appeared on the counter. Locke picked up this formula and glanced at it, seeing the name written on it: Laughing Potion.

The user would laugh heartily and be completely unable to stop, laughing directly to death. It belonged to a type of First Circle potion in toxicology.

Locke scanned over the formula. After memorizing it, he placed the formula in his astral ring.

The red dragon half-dragon said, "The quality of rewards that can be obtained in the first round of the Ladder is limited, but the Laughing Potion formula is indeed a very interesting potion. In the hands of a capable potion master, it will have different uses."

"Potion Master Augustine, this is the second round test of the Ladder."

Locke received the document from the red dragon half-dragon's hands. Alicia also leaned over to look. The document read: 'Within one year, using ten sets of materials, brew one portion of Geralas Aging Potion. Must succeed with five portions, and cannot use primordial fire.'

Alicia's expression changed slightly. "Geralas Aging Potion? That's a potion only slightly simpler than Sun Potion. Is the second round of the Ladder already this difficult?"

Before entering the Ladder, the three types of potion brewing used to test whether the potion master was qualified to enter the Ladder already represented that the potion master needed to have sufficient experience at the First Circle stage.

Those three types of potions had very high comprehensive testing abilities for potion masters.

The first round of the Ladder, Hive Mind Potion, already belonged to difficult difficulty potions among First Circle potions.

And this second round of the Ladder, Geralas Aging Potion, was actually brewing such complex difficulty, practically hell difficulty.

Alicia thought of something and looked at the red dragon half-dragon, "Does this mean the third round of the Ladder requires brewing top-difficulty First Circle potions equivalent to Sun Potion? Without using primordial fire, who can brew potions of that difficulty?"

The red dragon half-dragon's expression was cold, "No comment. Wizard Alicia, do you have the intention to participate in the Ladder test?"

Alicia's expression moved, but she still shook her head, "No, I've been busy with affairs recently. I don't have time to participate in this kind of test."

After receiving a clear refusal, the red dragon half-dragon didn't persist but looked at Locke and handed two badges to him.

One was a Plumed Serpent badge representing passing the first round of the Ladder, with a "1" written on it. The second was actually a formal potion master certification badge.

The red dragon half-dragon explained to Locke, "The Feathered Serpent Pavilion's Ladder test is recognized by the White Wizard Association. Wizards who can pass the first round test, if they don't have a formal potion master badge, can be directly awarded one."

Locke nodded in surprise. "Does this mean First Circle wizards can completely skip the formal potion master exam and directly use the Ladder to obtain formal potion master certification badges?"

The red dragon half-dragon said, "You can understand it that way."

Alicia smiled and said to Locke in a low voice, "Generally no one would choose this way, right? Never mind brewing complex potions like Hive Mind Potion. Even the three types of potions you brew before participating in the Ladder exceed the difficulty of the ordinary formal potion master certification exam."

"Who would give up the simple path and choose the difficult method?"

Locke nodded. "Then I accept the second round Ladder test. Give me the materials."

From the corner of his eye, Locke saw an unfamiliar old wizard walk into this shop, maintaining vigilant eyes, as if ready to flee at any sign of trouble.