"Ehhhhh…."

Ben stared at the black mess squinting his eyes.

Well, firstly, he had no idea about alchemy and pills and whatnot.

Secondly, even if someone had experience in this stuff, they would not be able to make out anything from the crap that was in front of them.

It was just an absolute charred disaster, yet this beauty wants him to find out what's wrong, just for getting an apprentice position?!

Heh. Bunch of BS!

Is this beauty even the alchemy master of this building? Ben suddenly had a doubt.

He had originally expected another Dumbledore to be the alchemy master so he was already skeptical that such a young person could become one.

So what if this beauty was simply playing tricks on him?

'Yep, that should be it. She is probably taking revenge. I called her a ghost so she is trolling me.' The more he thought about it, the more Ben became sure of this.

'Fine, you want to troll me? I can also troll you bitch.'

He quickly erased the dazed expression on his face and replaced it with a confident proud look. "Of course, I can take a look."

He walked over to the charred mess and used two of his fingers to scoop up some of the black gooey substance.

'Yuck. This shit stinks.' Ben tried his best not to cringe and rubbed the paste, putting on airs as if he was analyzing it.

The beauty in front of him, however, did not look like she was buying his act. She tapped her fingers on her arms that were casually crossed in front of her chest.

She looked as if she was waiting for the idiot to make a fool of himself once again. How could this stupid know anything about alchemy?

He did not even have a cultivation base for crying out loud!

So she was very confident as her arrogant phoenix eyes stared daggers at the noob.

But the next second… unexpectedly…

Ben stopped rubbing his fingers and looked up. "You added too much Thistle herb. You also did not control the flames properly."

"Because of this, the heat became too much and everything combusted, exploding on your face."

"Master." Ben added. He had a subtle smirk on his face that challenged the beauty. If you troll me, then I can also troll you!

He had randomly blabbered whatever nonsense came to his mind and he wondered how this arrogant young miss was going to continue taunting him.

Acting as the alchemy master? This should teach you. He too sneered inwardly.

He half-expected the beauty to continue trolling by speaking some more random nonsense to counter his random nonsense.

However, unexpectedly, she simply stood rooted at the spot, staring at him with her lips parted.

Eh? This is new. "What happened, M.A.S.T.E.R?" Ben teasingly asked.

His words snapped the woman out of her trance and she looked dazedly between Ben and the charred garbage.

"You… You… How did you know? How could you tell?" She looked utterly dumbfounded.

What she didn't know was that her words made Ben feel equally shocked. Was I correct?

At this moment, two robed NPCs came rushing inside. "Master, may we clear this mess?"

This made Ben do another double-take.

Fuck! She was really the alchemy master!

But then… how come she did not see through my bullshit? Everything was confusing.

'Let's worry about all of that later. For now, I should just continue playing the role.' Ben decided to see where this was going.

After all, this was an MMORPG in a slightly different eastern style, so maybe this was the sequence of events to unlock some quest?

He wiped away all the confusion on his face and then put on the airs of an expert.

He immediately saw a reaction as the young woman's face visibly changed in front of him. "Come with me." She muttered and then waved her hands at the two servants?

They immediately began cleaning the room while Ben and the beauty walked over to the adjacent room.

As soon as they entered, Ben heard a clicking sound and he turned to see that the beauty unexpectedly closed the door behind her.

"Huh?"

And she did not stop with that. She bowed, bending her head low, revealing the creamy top of her twin peaks as her robe shifted.

"Pease forgive me, Master. I made a mistake. I did not realize who you were. Your disguise really caught me by surprise."

Huh? Ben was shocked to see that her attitude somehow changed 180 degrees.

Who I am? Disguise? Does she think that I am some sort of expert who came to her place in disguise?

Ben looked at the beauty as if she was crazy. Were all good-looking women crazy?

But if she thinks I am a Master, then why should I bother correcting her! I should just keep playing that role. He He.

"It's alright?" He hesitantly replied, wondering if that was the right answer.

But it seemed like it was, as the beauty appeared to be relieved immediately after hearing his words.

She revealed a gorgeous smile and continued. "I am not sure why your excellency wants to become my apprentice, but if that pleases you so, I will readily oblige."

"Please accept the apprentice title."

[Ding. Alchemy Master Shen Yue wants you to become her apprentice. Do you wish to accept? Y/N]

"Fuck, yes!" Ben was excited. Though he didn't understand why he was getting so much respect, he was more than glad to take it.

"Master, then please can you spare some time to guide me in my pill forging? I am stuck at this bottleneck and I am unable to progress any further."

"Oh?" Ben tried to remain calm but inside he was cursing his bad luck. He had just now started acting and already trouble had arrived!

Wait. She is calling me Master, so maybe this will work?

He cleared his throat and yawned loudly. "I am feeling a bit tired today because I traveled quite a bit. Let's do this some other time. For now, I will just take a look around."

Ben peaked through his semi-opened eyes, hoping this lie would work, and just like he wanted, the beauty seemed to readily nod. "Anything you wish, Master."

Bingo! He ended his yawn and then came to the main point. "Oh, by the way. Do you have some cultivation techniques lying around? I just want to take a look at some for some research."

Ben knew that he was testing his luck, but he needed to strike the iron when it was hot. So he decided to try at least.

"Ah… cultivation techniques? But Master?" The beauty looked troubled.

Ben began to fret but the next second the beauty added in an apologetic tone. "This is just a rural town, Master. I don't have many things here."

"Oh. I see… that is understandable. But I don't need any high-tier manuals just something basic would do. Anything you have?" Ben sighed in relief and tried again.

He really made sure that the desperation in his words wouldn't leak out and luckily this time, the beauty gave a positive response.

She started taking out several scrolls one after another. "Here, Master. Please take a look."

Ben couldn't help but lose his composure and stare at the bizarre sight in front of him. These were technique scrolls, right? Aren't these hard to come by?

"You can also rest in this room, Master. Please just send me a word if you need anything else." The beauty bowed once again and politely turned around to leave the room.

"Shen Yue."

"Master, you called me?" The beauty immediately looked back, even blushing slightly.

"Nothing. Nothing. You may leave." Ben grinned from ear to ear.

Techniques handed straight to him? A beauty calling him a Master and even serving him? And this was just day 1, the first day he logged in!

This game was freaking awesome! No wonder everyone was so addicted to it!