NOVPUBOnce Aethersage accepted his rewards, the Alchemy God moved on to Alex next. As he approached, the crowd got quieter and quieter. And when he was finally before Alex, the world had grown silent.
"I will be the most honest I have ever been," the Alchemy God said. "I do not know how to judge your performance in thismpetition. I do not believe I have the right to. You have far surpassed any and every one of my wildest dreams of what an Alchemistuld do. You have shown me that there is still so much room for me to improve, and I intend to do that."
Coming from the Alchemy God's mouth, those were the greatest praises anyoneuld have asked for. Alexuldn't help but smile.
"To you who won it all, nothing Iuld give would be enough. Still, here you are," the Alchemy God said as he handed Alex his rewards: the Alchemy book he wrote and a Snd Chance pill.
Alex took the thick tome and gave it a closer glance. He didn't flip through it just yet, but from the looks of it, it had been meticulously prepared.
After that, he looked at the Snd Chance pill. He was still not very sure what heuld do with this pill. It was meant for someone who regretted the choices they made during their Immortal cultivation base so theyuld go back and change what they did.
Primarily, it was used by someone to erase their Origin and Spirit to return to the Immortal Ascendant realm so theyuld create a new one. Alex didn't need it, and neither did Pearl.
Whisker was not even in the Immortal Origin realm yet, so it wasn't for him either. The only one Alexuld think of giving this to right now was someone from his family.
But who? Considering where they hopefully were, it was unlikely that any of them would have made the wrong choice by now.
It was an incredible pill, but no one he knewuld use it. That was not to say he had no use for it. Considering the rarity of the ingredients required to use this pill, Alex had some idea of what he was going to do with it.
"Alongside this, you will also receive a decade-long period during which you can exclusively use my treasure. I should imagine that will get you excited a little."
Alex slowly raised his eyebrows. He wasn't aware of this reward. The Alchemy God had purposefully failed to mention this reward when he was explaining the rewards at the start.
'A decade…' Alex thought. 'I can learn a lot in that time.'
However, there was something better than just a decade with that treasure. Forever.
"And for your final reward, I will let you speak your wish to me. Should it be in my capacity to fulfill it, I will."
Gaining the treasure forever through this was not a bad idea. Only, Alex didn't know if ituld work. Did the Alchemy God have the capacity to give away the treasure that made him who he was?
Unlikely.
"Could I make my wish later on?" Alex asked. He needed time to think about it.
"You can make your wish whenever you want," the Alchemy God said. "You have all the time in the world. For now, would you like to say something to the people? Anything you wish."
Alex paused for a moment. "Everyone is going to hear this?" he asked.
"Ofurse," the Alchemy God said. "This speech is going to go out to the world. You may speak what you wish."
Alex nodded and looked straight ahead.
"I have had two Alchemy masters in my entire life. One helped me get started with Alchemy, and the other one helped me prepare for thismpetition. Without either of them, I would not be where I am today."
Alex turned to the Alchemy God. "Your Majesty told me earlier that today is my day and I should bow to no one. But to my masters, I will always bow."
Alex turned toward where Silvermist was and gave a deep bow.
Silvermist's eyes got moist when he saw that. Heuld still remember the day when he met Alex in his junior disciple brother, Blackfrost's room. They had just returned from searching for what they later realized to be him, far to the east of thentinent.
Alex had seemed like a nobody at the time, selling a mere recipe for a True pill.
Neveruld he have ever imagined at the time that the young man before them would turn out to be the greatest alchemist of the younger generation, far surpassing even him when he was of that age.
After he raised his head once more, Alexntinued speaking. "I thank everyone else who rooted for me, who believed in me. Thank you to you too, Your Majesty, for providing an opportunity such as this where Iuld show the world what I am capable of."
"To my fellow participants, thank you for making my acquaintance. It has been a long time since I've made friends with my own peers, and I'm happy to have finally made some."
He looked toward Aethersage and the rest, giving them all a smile. The few of them nodded toward him in acknowledgment.
"Finally, to my family whould never doubt me. If you see this, I amming to meet you all where we promised we would meet. Wait for me."
Alex stepped back as his speech was finally over.
The Alchemy God took a moment to let the applause that came after Alex's speech slowly die down. When it was finally gone, he moved toward the center and faced the audience once again.
"There you have it, folks. These are the winners of my Grand Alchemy Convergence; the greatest alchemists of the younger generation."
"Thank you all forming all this way to watch this tournament, and I am both happy and sad to announce that this tournament, after 50 years, has finallyme to an end."
