The alchemist certification exam was held in Wu Tan City's central guild hall — a building that Xiao Yan had walked past a thousand times as a child and never once entered. Now he stood at its bronze doors, wearing his best robes (which were not very good), carrying a single Qi Replenishment Pill in a wooden box (which he had made himself), and hoping that his hands wouldn't shake.

'First Tier certification,' the guild receptionist said, not looking up from her ledger. 'Examination fee: five hundred gold coins.'

Xiao Yan's stomach dropped. He had exactly four hundred and twenty-three gold coins, accumulated through three months of selling his lowest-grade pills to the clan's medicinal hall. He was seventy-seven coins short.

'I can... I have pills,' he said, holding out the wooden box. 'Qi Replenishment Pills. I can pay with those.'

The receptionist finally looked at him. She was young, maybe a few years older than him, with the sharp, assessing gaze of someone who had learned to spot talent — and the lack of it — at a glance. Her eyes flicked from his face to his robes to his hands.

'You have Dou Qi burns on your fingers,' she said.

'Yes.'

'Those are alchemist burns. From extended furnace work.'

'Yes.'

She closed her ledger and studied him with renewed interest. 'Most people trying to buy a First Tier certification can barely light a campfire. You actually practice.'

'I... yes. I do.'

She slid a wooden token across the desk. 'Examination room three. If you pass, the fee is waived for first-time certifiers who demonstrate genuine skill. If you fail, you owe the guild your Qi Replenishment Pills. All of them.'

Xiao Yan took the token. His hands, somehow, weren't shaking anymore.