Hidden genius: Black belly snake

A slender pale blue woman sat cross-legged with a variety of herbs laid out in front of her.

Next to her, a small wisp of fire was jumping up and down, occasionally even revolving around the woman playfully.

"Here you go." Tang Yue took out a couple of herbs and fed it to the wisp.

Though, fed might not be the appropriate description for the said deed.

Because, the instant the herbs came in contact with the blob, they were simply burnt to a crisp.

Tang Yue however, didn't seem to be surprised by the incident.

She simply flicked open her status screen to see if Little Plum's level changed.

But unfortunately, to no avail. Just like her earlier tries, this time also nothing changed.

In fact, Tang Yue had locked herself up in her chamber for the past couple of days, familiarising herself with the elemental youngling and her newly acquired fire element control.

Since she had already attained a Higher affinity for the fire element, she was easily able to manipulate mana into small balls of flame.

This was her limit for now considering her very low cultivation base.

So Tang Yue shifted her attention to the next party, Little Plum.

The small red blob was not really a complex being.

It had a single word in its vocabulary and behaved like a sweetie pie.

It clung on to each and every single order from Tang Yue as if that was the law and followed her around like a lost little beast cub.

While Tang Yue was feeding some herbs to the little ball to see if she could increase its level, a loud knock sounded on her door.

"You may enter." Tang Yue muttered.

Little Plum immediately became a wisp of energy. It swiftly dove into Tang Yue's body and disappeared completely.

"Your highness, Greetings." Lotte bowed and entered the room. "Disciple exams are starting today at noon."

"Mmm. Thanks, Lotte." Tang Yue nodded.

Previously she had asked the palace aide to inform her about the exam announcements and it looked like it was finally the time for the testing.

Since Tang Yue was able to cast fire magic and even had Little Plum to help her, she didn't want to wait any longer.

Boosting her strength and position using alchemy was one of the surest ways to get the cold-blooded tyrant's attention and respect.

If she became another Alchemy Master, then the arrogant elf would definitely have to consider waiving her position as a political hostage, to say the least.

It was not as if he was interested in his consorts.

Tang Yue had long since started to doubt the sexual orientation of the Crown Prince.

As far as she knew, all the consorts were clearly just for namesake and the mad man didn't show the least amount of interest.

So she doubted if he would even care if there was one less beautiful figure roaming around in the palace.

If she could somehow work hard and excel in alchemy, then that would be for the best and she could easily negotiate the terms of her stay in the elven establishment.

This was her current plan.

Of course, just because one could use fire magic, it didn't mean that one would be proficient in the art of alchemy.

It was a far more complex and meticulous art than a mere fire element manipulation technique.

Tang Yue was well aware of the difficulties and the tribulations that laid on her path ahead.

But with the little guy near her, she decided to dive in headfirst and give it her best.

"What do you say Little Plum? Shall we head out and face that horrible Master Dranuk again?"

She chuckled finding it a bit ridiculous to interact with a blob of fire.

Ollu Ollu

Little Plum buzzed and disappeared back into Tang Yue's body.

She donned on her alchemy association disciple attire and prepared to head out to the exam venue.

Her long black curls were neatly braided and pinned together so as to not wildly dance around.

The somewhat short emerald green robe matched her fluorescent eyes and clung to her slender waist and seductive figure.

With everything taken care of, the snake's long forked tongue licked her lips and danced around her fangs as she confidently set out to the association building.