[Hidden Information: This is a slow-acting poison from bygone eras. As its effects take hold, the poisoned individual will notice gradual changes in their temperament, and eventually, they will fall completely into the control of the person who poisoned them.]

After seeing the hidden message's prompt, Fike immediately thought back to the bottle of black potion that Serena had handed over to him in the lounge.

​​

"Could it be related to that?"

Fike wondered.

"Hidden message, what should I do now?"

[Hidden Information: Please head to the Alchemy Hall of the Spell School immediately. You will receive further instructions to complete the preparation of an antidote.]

Obediently heeding its instructions, Fike rushed over to the Alchemy Hall immediately.

As he had completed all his matches for today, there was no problem leaving early as he did yesterday.

In the arena, Sertia was left alone.

...

He soon arrived at the Alchemy Hall, located at the basement of the south bloc of the Spell School.

At its entrance sat a sleepy old man, and Fike tried to enter quietly without disturbing him.

"Stop!"

The old man snapped awake.

"Kid, the Alchemy Hall is only permitted for use by students from the Healing Magic Department! You'd best leave quickly!"

Hearing the old man's words, Fike hurriedly explained.

"Old Sir, I am a student from the Healing Magic Department. Can you grant me this favor?"

The old man looked at Fike and smiled.

"Kid, don't scare me with such a lie. You don't look like a priest at all!"

Fike glanced down at the demonic sword still in his hand that he had not put away.

He quickly kept it before procuring a badge that detailed his student information, including the fact that he was indeed from the Healing Magic Department.

"This should be enough!"

As the old man stared wide-eyed at the badge held in front of his eyes, he couldn't help but be shocked.

"You're the Fike that director Chambers mentioned? So it's you!"

Seeing that the old man's attitude was no longer aggressive, Fike laughed along.

"It's me!"

The old man continued to speak.

"I wonder why young Fike wants to visit my alchemy hall at this time? Could it be..."

Seeing that the old man was confused, Fike did not keep anything from him and explained truthfully.

"I was poisoned by a very strange drug during the assembly of the freshmen trial just now. So, now that my matches are over, I've come here to concoct an antidote.

"I hope that Old Sir can allow me this leeway."

The old man looked at Fike in disbelief as he asked.

"Do you even know how to concoct an antidote?

"Are you sure you know how to combine medicinal herbs? If you make even the slightest mistake, it will cost your life!"

The old man looked at Fike, his words seemingly intentioned to dissuade him.

"Of course I know how to concoct an antidote. Old man, quickly let me in!"

Seeing that Fike had to become impatient, the old man gave up on trying to stop him.

However, as the saying went, life and death depended on fate and wealth.

"Hand over the entrance fee, 50 Romon gold coins!"

Fike handed his gold card over to the old man before hastily pushing open the doors of the Alchemy Hall.

His eyes were immediately greeted with rows upon rows of neatly arranged medicine cabinets. In the middle of the room, there were many medicine cauldrons of different qualities as well.

"Hidden information, what should we do now?"

[Hidden Information: You will need to obtain 1 petal of a Prismatic Sunflower, 2 Sun Fruits, 1 Thousand-year-old Black-striped Herb, and your Primordial Spirit Herb. ]

[Hidden Information: Then, find a medicinal cauldron that is at least of gold-tier or above. You will receive the following instructions after doing this.]

As he memorised the list the hidden information had given him, Fike immediately began to rummage through the hall.

The old man watching by the side kept his eyes on Fike, who seemed to be adept as he searched, and let out a sigh in his heart.

'Looks like this young man's deeply familiar with medicinal herbs!'

Seeing that the ingredients Fike had gathered in his hands were all yang-type items, the old man could already make a rough guess as to the nature of the poison he had been poisoned by.

"Young man, I'm afraid what you've been poisoned by isn't a simple one!"

The old man said.

Fike wasn't paying too much attention to the old man. He simply turned to him and nodded in respect.

"A person who would use this yin-type poison probably wouldn't have any kind of deep hatred towards you."

The old man continued.

Meanwhile, Fike had already found everything he needed.

Carrying the ingredients in his arms, Fike scuttled around trying to find an appropriate medicinal cauldron.

"Bronze-tier... silver-tier... why are there only defective products here?"

He scanned through all of the equipment, but couldn't find any that were above gold-tier.

The old man seemed to have noticed Fike's frustration.

He took the initiative to speak up.

"Young man, use mine!"

As he spoke, a huge cauldron rose from the middle of the Alchemy Hall.

Fike turned his gaze to it in shock.

The cauldron was a dark hue of purple, with exquisite and intricate patterns carved onto its surface. The mingled scent of countless herbs exuded from it

[Hidden Information: Thousand-year-old Spirit Cauldron, Grandmaster-tier. It would be a suitable cauldron.]

Fike looked back at the old man in disbelief.

How could this frail-looking old man in front of him so casually reveal such a high-quality tool?

After giving him a brief thanks, Fike began the alchemy process.

The old man stood silently by the side, eager to watch Fike's performance.

[Hidden Information: Use and control the intensity of a fireball spell to heat up the cauldron. Then, gradually put in the Sun Fruits, Thousand-year-old Black-striped Herb, Prismatic Sunflower petal, and Primordial Spirit Herb.]

With a flick of his wrist, Fike sent a wave of hot flames rushing to the bottom of the furnace.

Seeing his flexibility and ease as he controlled the intensity of the flame, the old man could not help but sigh.

"A priest who can use long-range spells? Sure enough, refining medicine would be much easier for him than for ordinary people!"

By now, the entire surface of the thousand-year-old cauldron was glowing red.

Fike continued to control the flame with one hand as he put in the herbs with the other.

[Hidden Information: Spike the temperature of the flames to the maximum, and channel the heat directly at the center of the bottom.]

Fike followed the instructions to a tee.

Not long after, the entire alchemy hall was filled with a hallucinatory fragrance.

After just a slight whiff of the scent, the old man was startled.

"He actually plans to fight poison with poison? To think that he would have thought of that!"

After a short wait, two golden pills flew out of the furnace, and Fike quickly caught them in mid-air.

Although they were both a brilliant gold in color, one of them seemed to be a little dimmer than the other.

[Hidden Information: Red Flame Golden Pill, king-tier. It will dissolve all poisons if consumed by an infected person. If consumed by a healthy being, their strength will increase dramatically, however, it contains a slight poison on its own.]

[Hidden Information: Take the one with a brighter color!]

Noting what the hidden message said, Fike swallowed it without hesitation.