Meanwhile... throughout the entire arena, hundreds of alchemists worked frantically.
The scene was chaotic, a mixture of intense concentration and growing anxiety. Some had already begun refining, their furnaces glowing with steady flames. Others remained completely still, unable to decide which formula to develop, their expressions frozen in indecision.
In several parts of the arena, explosions echoed.
'Boom!'
A furnace exploded, sending a cloud of black smoke over the platform of a young alchemist. He quickly stepped back, coughing, his eyes widening in shock. In the stands, some people chuckled quietly, while others shook their heads in disappointment.
Shortly afterward, another explosion erupted several meters away, followed by a third, then a fourth. Mixing unfamiliar ingredients was extremely dangerous. It only took a single incompatibility between two herbs for the entire medicinal essence to become unstable, turning hours of work into nothing more than a cloud of smoke.
