The written examination that followed, of course, posed no challenge to the diligent Yang Ying. With a couple of swift gestures, the Imperial Apothecary Association handled matters with impressive efficiency. The moment Yang Ying stepped out of the examination hall, the youthful chief examiner promptly conferred upon him the title and certificate of Grand Apothecary.

The chief examiner then adopted an air of seniority, offering a few words of encouragement, suggesting that becoming a Grand Apothecary was merely the beginning for someone as young as Yang Ying, and he must not let his guard down. Furthermore, a Grand Apothecary who could only formulate a Rank Ten Potion in a virtual laboratory would not gain widespread recognition. Only by successfully formulating a genuine Rank Ten Potion in the real world could one earn the respect of other apothecaries.

Yang Ying saw the examiners out and departed the virtual examination venue, returning to the real world.

With a thought, the sapphire embedded in his forehead shot out a cone of blue light, forming a holographic mirror before him. Yang Ying saw his reflection, and with another thought concerning the Grand Apothecary insignia, a tree-shaped emblem materialized within the sapphire, featuring a single leaf adorning the tip of a small branch. Yang Ying retracted the holographic mirror, leaving the Grand Apothecary badge in place, and sent word of the good news to his three close friends, along with messages to the Old Dean, Tisia, and several familiar professors, detailing the events.

That evening, he and his three friends returned to the best restaurant near the academy for a celebratory feast. Yang Ying ordered a copious amount of celebratory wine, and the four of them drank until dawn. As they were all Awakened, the effects of intoxication were negligible, allowing them to truly let loose and drink without reservation.

As the sun rose, the four returned to the campus to discover that the news of Yang Ying’s promotion to Grand Apothecary had electrified the Apothecary Academy. While the academy had produced many Grand Apothecaries over the years, most achieved that rank decades after graduation. For someone like Yang Ying to become a Grand Apothecary just two years after enrolling was unprecedented in the academy’s history.

The Old Dean was away, but he sent Yang Ying a congratulatory letter. Tisia, having concluded his previous matters, had returned to the academy that day.

Yang Ying and his group encountered Tisia at the entrance of the teaching building.

“Igor, you have passed as a Grand Apothecary; your skills now surpass mine,” Tisia began, “Thinking back to two years ago when I oversaw your entrance examination, the changes over these two years have been truly dramatic.”

“Without the help of Professor Tisia and the Dean, I could not have achieved this today,” Yang Ying replied humbly.

Some nearby students, seeing Yang Ying, gathered around, eager to witness the glory of a Grand Apothecary. Upon spotting the tree-shaped insignia within the sapphire on Yang Ying’s forehead, their gazes immediately registered envy mixed with a hint of jealousy.

Several bold young women sent him flirtatious glances, their eyes brimming with a tenderness that seemed capable of melting a person.

“Enough!” A cold glint flashed in Lyra’s eyes as she swiftly positioned herself between those girls and Yang Ying, intercepting their advances.

The infatuated girls instantly became displeased, staring at Lyra with looks that could kill, but Lyra met their hostile gazes without yielding, returning the stare with even greater ferocity.

Lyra was a formidable Third-Level expert. Even though her cohort contained a prodigy like Igor, who had absorbed all the surrounding glory, she remained an exceptionally outstanding student with high status among the female students. Those girls who had been flirting could not contend with her glare and sullenly withdrew their attention, retreating to whisper to each other using telepathic communication.

Little did they know, Lyra was now in a truly awkward predicament. Taking that stand revealed to her what she had done, and she felt a rush of heat surge to her face. She had to exert mental energy just to suppress the rush, ensuring it didn't show on her features.

She could feel the looks of surprise, and perhaps even amusement, from Yang Ying, Danan, and Dimas. She dared not look back, wishing desperately for a convenient hole in the ground to crawl into.

“Perhaps even a Third-Level expert can be affected by alcohol,” Danan remarked in a tone that sounded outwardly calm.

But to Lyra, the statement felt like a direct mockery. She thought furiously, You wait, Danan, I’ll remember this!

Yang Ying coughed twice, turning his face away. He exchanged a few more words with Tisia, acting as if nothing untoward had occurred. As the others’ attention was drawn back to him, Lyra seized the moment, subtly shifting her footing to escape the embarrassing situation. Internally, she was unsure whether she should feel relieved or disappointed—or perhaps both.

Afterward, Yang Ying politely declined an invitation from several professors for a celebratory banquet, bid farewell to everyone, and returned to his dormitory villa.

Having attained the title of Grand Apothecary, Yang Ying naturally intended to continue his study of pharmaceutical science; his advancement to the Fourth Level would depend entirely on this discipline.

Since crossing the threshold from Rank Nine to Rank Ten Potions, Yang Ying’s progress in pharmaceutical science had accelerated monthly. He subsequently mastered Rank Ten Class Two and Rank Ten Class Three potions one after another.

However, despite the smooth progress, Yang Ying found himself mired in frustration, specifically regarding his advancement to the Fourth Level.

Initially, he had assumed that as his achievements in pharmaceutical science grew, reaching a tipping point where quantity turned into quality would summon the opportunity for Fourth Level attainment to him. But upon conquering the challenges of Rank Ten Class Two and Class Three potions, he sensed no discernible breakthrough.

Although researching pharmaceutical science provided him with more knowledge, it did little to aid his advancement; it felt as if the more he learned, the more he became obscured by surface phenomena, unable to perceive the essence that transcended concrete forms. Yang Ying knew he had hit a bottleneck. Thus, he entered the virtual world and located numerous memoirs written by existing Fourth-Level existences within the Empire, downloading and studying them meticulously, chapter by chapter.

For him now, the direct experiences of these Fourth-Level beings were far more useful than any specific cultivation technique.

After reading through them, Yang Ying discovered that the situation he faced had occurred with almost every Fourth-Level existence who achieved their comprehension through external worlds.

What Yang Ying valued most was an autobiography written by Du Neihow, the Dean of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Institute at the First Royal Academy. That Fourth-Level existence had followed a path remarkably similar to his own.

Du Neihow posited that pharmaceutical science itself was a discipline dedicated to the ultimate transformation of material properties, possessing profound knowledge and the effect of turning decay into magic when practically applied. However, the transmission of pharmaceutical science did not hand over the mastery of material transformation to students; it began with individual potions. Each potion corresponded to a course, detailing the principles behind the potion's effect, the changes inflicted upon materials during spiritual processing, and so forth.

These descriptions appeared deeply esoteric, yet compared to the actual transformation of material properties, they were all superficial. The essence of pharmaceutical science was material transformation, something that could not be described by any language; it could only be grasped through the potions themselves.

The more courses one absorbed, the deeper one’s understanding of the surface aspects became, easily leading to a habit of thinking in terms of appearances, which in turn obstructed the observation of the essence of material transformation.

Conversely, if an apothecary grasped the essence of material transformation, they would need fewer courses. Starting from the essence, they could easily deduce the surface manifestations. Any material placed in their hands could have its function derived from its material properties, allowing them to create formulas out of thin air.

The complex Rank Ten Potions that have survived to this day were precisely formulated by previous apothecaries through deducing formulas from the material properties. Relying solely on laboratory experimentation to create such precise, tightrope-walking formulas and compounding methods would have a near-zero probability of success.

Yang Ying held this autobiography as a priceless treasure, instantly shifting his previous direction to commence new research and study.

While Yang Ying diligently researched, the war in the Perseus Arm raged fiercely. The Imperial Army had recently annihilated the main fleet of the Fifteen-Clan Coalition in a peripheral star field. A colossal fleet of thirty-five million vessels had been completely encircled and utterly destroyed after a continuous battle lasting ten days and ten nights.

However, among the Fifteen-Clan Coalition forces, over a dozen Fourth-Level entities managed to escape the encirclement when the situation turned dire. They possessed the ability to tear through space to flee, making them extremely difficult to capture under normal circumstances.

When Yang Ying received this news, a strange feeling stirred within him. Although he hadn't even approached the threshold of the Fourth Level, he possessed a relatively clear understanding of the capabilities held by Fourth-Level existences.

Logically, Fourth-Level entities, unless they were newcomers like Hardic who had only grasped the rudiments, should acquire the ability to foresee the future after immersing themselves in Fourth-Level power for a time; it was one of their innate instincts.

The scale of this war was immense. Although he hadn't witnessed the front lines, even from the scattered reports, he could map out the conflict’s magnitude in his mind. Did those Fourth-Level existences in the Perseus Arm fail to foresee such a monumental event? Could it truly be, as the mainstream Imperial media claimed, that they were collectively out of their minds?

Due to the scarcity of reliable intelligence regarding the war, Yang Ying could not form an effective guess. He shelved the matter for the time being, planning to let the insectoids clean up the remnants once the Imperial Army advanced into the Perseus Arm and wiped out the fifteen clans.

Currently, the swarm on Xylos Planet had swelled to one billion. The planet’s surface was essentially blanketed in insectoid hives, which ceaselessly produced various insectoids, adding ten million to the daily population count. Over time, this growth would compound exponentially. Without resource limitations, the insectoids’ reproduction followed a geometric progression, not an arithmetic one, and their unparalleled reproductive capacity was now becoming apparent.

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