290 Chapter Ninety - It comes down to the small details

He'd won. Although their final pill products were equal in quality, he'd produced more pills and in a faster time period than Leo, this would count to his benefit. True Leo had produced more good quality pills, but his two average pills still counted as being of use and the poor quality pill was not trash. He just smiled gleefully as he waited for the Teacher to announce him as the victor, glancing up at the stands where he believed Miss Maimai was standing.

Could she see now that there were better Alchemists in the school than that trash Leo?!

"And the victor of this challenge..." the Teacher began as Jude anticipated, "is Leo!"

"Wait, What?!"

There was some applause from the audience, particularly concentrated in one area of the stands, but reality was; the battle really was boring to watch. Nearly thirty minutes of seeing people cut herbs and stand staring at their cauldron. From this distance they couldn't see the minute changes of the flames turning what, the beads of sweat upon the two Alchemist students foreheads as they split their concentration again and again in order to create this particular pill. Some had chatted as they waited about earlier battles, some had laid small bets of copper coins upon the winner and loser of this match, a couple had even played rock, paper, scissors in a corner. Only those supporting Leo and Jude respectively actually paid much attention as well as an Alchemy Teachers who had higher senses and could 'see' just what was occurring with the flames and within the cauldron.

Leon didn't mind that there wasn't any thunderous applause or anything, just pleased that he hadn't let down the expectations of his lover and friends. Jude also didn't care, he was too busy trying to figure out why he hadn't heard his name when the victor was declared.

Now, she had to pacify a sore loser. "What's not to understand?" She questioned, calmly and with no irritation in her tone. She could understand that from this boy's views, their pills were equal in value so their scores should have been untied with other factors.

Sure enough, he stated these very points.

The Teacher indicated the two translucent gold pills upon the table in front of the judges. They were of equal size, the colour at first glance seem equal in depth and shade, their scents were indistinguishable. However, the pill on the right somehow seemed more attractive and pure.

"You are correct in saying that the final pills were both equal in quality," the Teacher explained to the fallen youth, "however what won the battle was the amount of impurities within the pills." Seeing Jude frown, she continued to explain; "Leo's Seven-Steps Pill has two tenth less impurities than your pill, do you understand?"

"How can that be?" Jude muttered, then glanced at the array of fresh and dried herbs on the table in front. He'd grabbed what he needed without really looking at what was available and it had been down to luck that the amber within the Icerose was sizeable helping him to create a good number of pills. "Is that down to luck of ingredients? Were there bad ones mixed in with the good ones?" His hands formed into fists; he was unwilling to accept the consequences of his own actions.

The scholar judge sighed, but the amicable smile he'd been wearing all of this time did not fall. "Young one, herbs do contain varying amount of impurities and it cannot always be recognised which may contain more than others. Leo did spend more time than yourself when choosing his ingredients. Whether that was to his advantage or not remains unknown, but it is possible. However, Leo also took an extra step that you chose not to and that was to boil the water separately before seeping the herbs. In order to save time, you boiled the herbs with the water. Surely you were aware of the findings about this simple extra step, it has been a few months now." This step had been inadvertently discovered by young Leo, attributed to him via his Teacher. Any scholars interested in the theory of alchemy knew of this yet a student of alchemy was unaware?

Jude bit his lower lip, his eyes reddening in anger. He had heard about this in passing, one of his friends had mentioned this, but he hadn't realised it was such a big deal. If he could create a pill with better quality that Leo and in a better time, what did the impurities matter? If they were too much then fine it would make the quality of the pills worsen, but then, he wouldn't have picked that pill for judgement to begin with!

As if the alchemist Teacher could understand the thoughts running through his mind, she asked him; "If you were a martial artist seeking a Seven Steps Pill of good quality, which one of these pills would you choose? The ordinary one or the one that left his body in a better condition after consumption?"

Stated like this, Jude really had no choice but to accept his loss. He could only retreat quietly and reflect on what had gone wrong. He was unhappy, especially when he had to watch Leo return to Miss Maimai's side. He was jealous when she hugged him, when that tall martial artist pulled her away from Leo then kissed him soundly on the mouth... Wait, what??