From the moment Maria kindled the furnace, he recognized her extraordinary talent!

A few more glances, and he immediately discerned that Maria's prowess far exceeded the requirements of this exam, fully qualifying her for direct admission!

However, even Jadiel couldn't pinpoint the precise type of pill Maria was crafting. He could only hazily gauge that its potency was approximately at the fifth-grade level.

As a grade six pill alchemist, Jadiel naturally couldn't resist the opportunity to witness the refining process of such a high-level pill.

He had no intention of imposing any time constraints on Maria's pill refinement.

Even if it took Maria days on end, Jadiel possessed the patience to endure until the pill was successfully completed.

"Maria..." Barbara clenched her teeth, and balled her fists until her nails dug into her palm.

It turned out that she had lost. Once more, she was defeated by Maria.

“Good heavens! What is she even doing? Instead of placing the herbs into the pill furnace, she's incinerating them with charcoal?"

Maria's unanticipated actions left everyone bewildered.

The three rare herbs she had requested earlier, including the ten- year Palm Mustar, three-foot-long Vermilion Grass, and a Knife-Shaped Core weighing more than half a pound, were being used for burning?

“This is..." Clearly, Jadiel hadn't anticipated her approach either.

His eyes widened in astonishment, yet his gaze was brimming with intrigue.

"Holy shit! Look, the furnace fire is consuming the herbs!"

ALL those present possessed martial cultivation and extraordinary eyesight.

Even from a considerable distance, they keenly observed the flame within Maria's pill furnace, guided by her mystical technique, seeming to pulsate with vitality.

The flame parted to form a wide mouth, and only after the three herbs were introduced did it commence a slow "chewing" process, digesting the herbs as if masticating.

Subsequently, three distinct-colored smokes, crimson, cyan, and violet, emanated from the furnace flame, gently drifting under Maria's guidance into the pill furnace.

“Oh my! She's transmuting the medicinal potency!"

“What kind of technique is this? I've never witnessed anything comparable!"

“She has truly mastered ‘Creating Something from Nothing'!"

Previously, the candidates who passed the exam had somewhat stretched their interpretation of the “Creating Something from Nothing" problem.

However, Maria took the initial step of transforming the solid herbs into a gaseous state, encapsulating the very essence of "Nothing."

Now, clarity dawned upon everyone.