Hal saw no reason to refuse her help since she was being helpful and so far the male apprentices seemed to be trying their absolute best to ignore him.

"This way" she said and made to leave when one of those same young men cut in and stood between him and her,

"What's your rank?" He asked.

Hal narrowed his eyes and smiled lightly,

"I don't think that's really any of your business" he said and made to walk around the young man but another blocked his path.

"He asked you a question" said the other one.

Hal shrugged,

"I heard him. I just don't want to answer." Once again he made to walk past the two but could not help but pause when another spoke up,

"Well, we want you to answer" he said and there was a charisma about him that made Hal consider that he might actually be the leader of this renegade gang of theirs.

The one with charisma drew himself to full height,

"My name is Blaise Augustus" he said and paused as though to allow it to sink in.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Hal asked with a confused expression.

"You are joking, right? I'm a member of the Augustus family" he said.

Hal shook his head,

"Sorry, that really doesn't ring a bell. You should have heard where I am from right. I have no idea who any of you are" he said.

Blaise blanked and then composed himself as quickly as he could,

"You know what? That doesn't matter. It's not what this is about." He said.

Hal shrugged,

"Well, I don't care either way. I just want to follow that lady to the test center. None of this intrigues or interests me in the slightest.

This time when he tried to walk past them, with Karmen glaring the entire time, they let him pass, and then he met the black-haired lady in front with her arms crossed below her breasts,

"This 'Lady' is Irene Chastain, cultivation and Alchemy genius of Chastain family and this should interest you as you are the competition and we are 'assessing you'." She said.

Now they all made a sort of semi-circle around Hal and Karmen and Karmen's eyes flashed crimson quite ready to burst out her fiendish armament and cut them all down.

And Hal was honestly very tempted to allow her to do so as the five were really starting to get on his nerves.

So despite him not being remotely interested, the other three guys decided to make use of Hal's silence to introduce themselves...

Dex Hooche, Odon Ariste, and Isidor Colbert.

... and in the process, embellish their names as much as they could for enhanced effect.

All five were quick to reiterate to Hal that they were not in any sort of alliance and, were at their most competitive, however, they now had a common enemy in Adeline Silva.

While they were the cream of the crop, Adeline was a step further and someone the guys were obviously interested in while also working to surpass.

"And this concerns me how?" Hal asked with a sigh.

Irene looked over at the door, behind which the Alchemy masters were having their meeting,

"Do you know what they are discussing behind that door? They're discussing the Alchemy convention. Where Alchemists from across the continent converge at the Empire's center; the Imperial City and during which there will be a competition for young Alchemists to showcase their talents.

Not only do we get the chance to win superb rewards, but there is also a chance that we dazzle enough to be awarded the title of Alchemy Master and get the opportunity to serve the empire..." She said.

"Also, we get to meet the Emperor. Some people don't get the chance to meet him throughout their lifetime. It's bad enough Adeline easily outranks us all, we don't need another Darkhorse." Blaise added to the nodding of the other guys.

The idea had intrigued him at first since rewards could be won but all that went out the window the moment an opportunity to serve the empire was mentioned.

That said, it still made for a cool concept.

"And when is this convention?" Hal asked.

"In seven months" Odon replied.

'Hmm, that's about four months after the Royal Academy selection' Hal thought.

Irene noticed the faint glint in his eye and pointed right at him,

"Don't get any ideas mister." She said.

"Is this supposed to be to intimidate me not to participate?" He asked.

Blaise tilted his head back,

"Well, we can't actually stop you from entering if you wanted to, especially since your master is Alchemist Nadia. However, we demand you tell us what your Rank is." he said and withdrew a token from his spatial ring.

On the token was three stars which Hal took to mean Rank 3.

The three other guys withdrew their tokens and on it was three stars as well.

Irene's had three bright stars and one dull-looking star which Hal took as Rank 3 intermediate. From this Hal, could infer that Adeline Silva was at least rank 4 since they all admitted she was the best.

Hal shrugged,

"I don't have one" he said and the statement was met with an eerie silence that seemed to pervade for a few seconds.

Eventually, it was broken by Isidor,

"What?"

"You heard me, I don't have a rank and I am here to take the test for Rank one so if you can finally stop all these shenanigans and let me go, that would be great."

...

So the shenanigans stopped and they finally allowed Hal to pass... only to follow after him to the test center where they were sure he would not be able to lie.

Indeed, once Hal arrived at the test center and showed the token he was given by the branch head and would let him take the tests for free, he told the examiner the exact same thing and asked to take the rank one test, and only then did they truly believe him.

"Damn! Rank one? That's a little disappointing." Odon said.

"A little? That's a lot disappointing. I don't want to be in competition with someone that pathetic." Dex said.

"You don't have to worry, Rank one can't be allowed to compete, right Blaise?"

Blaise nodded with a smile,

"That's right." He said.

Irene rolled her eyes and could not believe they were this dumb,

"The fact that he doesn't have a rank yet does not mean his spiritual sense is weak. He might just never have had the chance to take the test.

You do remember he's from a city with no Alchemy testing center. For all we know, Alchemist Nadia might have been mentoring him for years and only brought him to take the test when she was sure he was ready." She said.

Blaise placed a finger on his lips and looked thoughtful for a short while,

"That's possible. Well, we'll just ask her what his spiritual sense rank is." He said and his words were directed at Karmen who had not followed Hal into the test.

Karmen met and held Blaise's gaze for a while before she finally said,

"What?"

Blaise looked a little taken aback that she was not the least bit intimidated by him but he decided to table that and asked what Hal's spiritual sense rank was.

Karmen shrugged,

"I have no idea" she said and looked over at Hal through the transparent partition.

At that time, Hal had been given instructions on what to refine at which point he lit a fire underneath the cauldron before shrouding it with his Rank 4 astral sense now made devoid with Astral energy and then...

*Bang!*

...the cauldron exploded and Hal cursed,

"Damn it. I was a little over-eager" he said with a serious expression even though he had done it on purpose to garner attention and showcase the rank of the sense he was using.

The five felt it through the partition and gaped while Blaise could not hold it in,

"Fuck, he's at Rank 4!"