The hall was not very crowded, but those present were dressed rather elegantly. Alchemists had a good income, and their clients were generally quite wealthy as well.

The guild's automatons were not like Caroline, who had a human-like appearance. They merely had a humanoid form, with parts like exhaust mechanisms, gears, and springs completely exposed, moving among the people to carry out their programmed tasks.

Charlotte concluded that none of them used the Rational Spring. What drove them was merely Soul Metal and pre-defined commands.

"Automatons without the Rational Spring... Hmph, yet another of my father’s great inventions," thought Charlotte. "They’re nothing beyond Level Two, capable only of understanding specific voice commands. They definitely don’t have a soul, let alone the ability to use alchemy like Caroline."

The sound of the mechanisms at work, their "tick-tocks," made the hall seem like a giant clockwork warehouse.

However, for Charlotte, the endless "tick-tock" wasn’t irritating; she quickly noticed a certain rhythm in what seemed like mechanical chaos.

She also detected dissonant notes. Some automatons needed polishing and lubrication.

A jarring sound slowly approached.

Charlotte opened her eyes and saw an automaton in front of her, which spoke respectfully: "Please follow me to the evaluation area."

"All right," Charlotte replied, reminding herself that it wasn’t Caroline and could only follow pre-programmed orders.

The automaton led Charlotte through the hall to a spiral staircase. The steps rose gradually, like an escalator.

"Please be careful," said the automaton, stepping precisely onto one of the steps. Charlotte followed suit, waiting for the stairs to take her to the second floor.

"Mind your step when descending," the automaton warned as they neared their destination.

They crossed a narrow corridor until the automaton pushed open a door labeled "Evaluation Room 3."

Inside, a male evaluator was reading a newspaper, his feet propped up on the table.

"Miss Charlotte Bellamy, right? Good thing this tin can didn’t mix you up," said the evaluator, pointing to the room. "Pick any empty spot, sit down, and when you’re ready, we’ll begin the test."

"Understood."

Aside from Charlotte and the evaluator, there were three other candidates in the room. At the center of the ceiling, a lamp emitted a white flame that made Charlotte uneasy.

She chose a spot near the window and sat down.

On the bench in front of her were a piece of iron, a quill, and a parchment made of rabbit skin.

Further ahead, at the edge of the table, were several thin test tubes without labels, sealed with wooden corks, each containing liquids of different colors.

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"All right, let’s begin..." The evaluator was about to announce the start of the test when Charlotte raised a small black box and asked, "Sir, where should I leave my personal belongings?"

"Hold onto them," the evaluator replied impatiently.

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll cheat?" Charlotte was surprised.

"Is the evaluation this casual?"

"Cheat in a qualification test? Aren’t you afraid of being crushed by the Judges afterward?" mocked a candidate sitting nearby.

"This is just a qualification, not a ranking. Any problems out there will still be your responsibility. If you don’t have real skill, going around fooling others will lead you straight to judgment."

"Silence," ordered the evaluator, lowering his hand to impose order.

He picked up a paper bag and explained, "I’ll draw a question from the bag for the test. Do what’s requested, hand it to me when you’re done, and if I say it’s approved, fill out the form and you can go."

He pulled out a sheet and read aloud: "Increase the hardness of the iron by two times. This test evaluates Engravers, so only use engraving. The iron is on your benches, and the materials are in front of you."

"Time limit: thirty minutes. Begin."

The evaluator picked up an hourglass and turned it over to mark the time.

Alchemy tests followed traditional rules, and the hourglass was the only instrument allowed to measure time.

Charlotte picked up a test tube, opened it, and sniffed. The red liquid emitted a faint herbal aroma.

It was dragon blood ink.

Despite the name, dragon blood ink had no relation to actual dragon blood, not even in color.

Charlotte knew real dragon blood was colorless and translucent. The ink was actually a mixture of various herbs with magical properties, compatible with most metals.

Without hesitation, Charlotte dipped the quill into the ink, drawing an almost perfect circle on the parchment and placing the piece of iron at its center.

Within the circle, she began drawing an alchemical diagram using the ink.

As she drew, Charlotte mentally formulated the Language of Stone, transferring it to the quill's tip and finally imprinting it within the piece of iron.

When she finished, the diagram on the parchment was incomplete, but the iron had already been enchanted.

The hourglass sand was still flowing.

"Miss, do you have any questions?" asked the evaluator, thinking Charlotte was struggling.

"No, sir, I’m finished," Charlotte replied, handing over the iron.

"Already finished?" The evaluator took the iron block, infused it with magic, and white lines appeared on its surface.

"Language of Stone, huh." He picked up a knife of unknown material, forcefully ran it across the iron, producing a grating sound like nails on glass.

"Let me see your alchemical circle."

Charlotte handed over the rabbit-skin parchment.

The evaluator examined the incomplete circle closely, then muttered, "Miss, even as Beatrice’s niece, you can’t be this brazen. At least finish the drawing."

"Huh?" Charlotte didn’t understand. She wasn’t a professional engraver, but for this level of engraving, she didn’t even need a complete circle. Drawing half was just for appearances.

The evaluator crumpled the paper and, with a white flame in his palm, reduced it to ashes. "Forget it, forget it. You pass. Fill out the form."

Will you let me finish or not?

Charlotte thought the evaluator wanted her to complete the circle. She understood that; at school, auxiliary alchemy circles were evaluation criteria.

But why burn it, then?

Did he pass her because of Beatrice?

"Hurry up, hurry up," the evaluator urged her.

Full of doubts, Charlotte picked up a pen and began filling out the form.

After reviewing it, the evaluator retrieved a semi-circular iron badge from the drawer.

Charlotte recognized the badge as the Iron-level apprentice alchemist insignia. White filament-like lines appeared from the evaluator’s fingers, covering the badge. When the lines disappeared, the name "Charlotte Bellamy" was engraved on it.

"Take this; it’s your qualification certificate. When you reach the full Iron level, you’ll receive the other half," the evaluator said, handing over the badge.

"Thank you, sir." Charlotte accepted the insignia and bowed. Before leaving, she asked the question that troubled her most:

"Sir, the flame of that lamp doesn’t seem to be Alchemist’s Fire."

"It’s Purification Fire, an invention by Dr. Amon. Of course," he said proudly, "he used Solvellon’s exclusive alchemy—Transmutation."