A week later, Locke arrived at Feathered Serpent Pavilion and showed the red dragon half-dragon shopkeeper the seven bottles of Geralas Aging Potion he had refined during this recent period.

The red dragon half-dragon shopkeeper looked at Locke strangely. His originally calm and expressionless face now showed intense emotional changes.

He looked up at Locke in confusion. The instant Locke walked in just now, he suddenly became very nervous and inexplicably developed fear of Locke in his heart, along with an involuntary desire to submit.

But he quickly operated his advanced meditation method, maintaining his mental state in a state of neither anger nor joy, his soul calm as still water, overcoming this fear from the biological instinct level.

The red dragon half-dragon looked over Locke with confusion, then took out a transparent gemstone ring from his astral ring. But just as he took it out, that transparent gemstone ring turned golden.

The next moment, a deep purple dragon shadow suddenly appeared in that ring. As a result, the gemstone ring's surface cracked.

The red dragon half-dragon bowed slightly to Locke and saluted. "My apologies. This ring was created by someone who is both a bloodline wizard and alchemist—a bloodline testing ring. Only existences with extremely high purity can cause changes in the ring."

"Generally speaking, wizards rarely cause this ring to change."

"Do you possess an Immortal Dragon Scale?"

Locke hesitated slightly, then nodded.

A trace of awe and instinctive submission appeared on the red dragon half-dragon's face. "Then no wonder. The Immortal Dragon Scale is the mark of a true dragon."

"Possessing an Immortal Dragon Scale means being a true dragon. No dragon body is needed, because a dragon's power comes from dragon scales."

Locke said, "I only have one piece. Does that still count?"

The red dragon half-dragon smiled. "Earlier, I was truly disrespectful to you. How many Immortal Dragon Scales do you want? Although it's said that the more powerful the dragon, the more Immortal Dragon Scales it possesses. Legend has it that the ancient Dragon King in the deepest part of Dragon Mountain Range has all body scales as Immortal Dragon Scales. But for dragons, possessing one Immortal Dragon Scale is already sufficient."

"Feathered Serpent Pavilion welcomes all true dragons."

"You enjoy special privileges here."

Locke hadn't expected that the Immortal Dragon Scale he obtained by accident from a First Circle level wizard secret realm would actually grant him special treatment at Feathered Serpent Pavilion.

Locke asked, "For example, what privileges?"

The red dragon half-dragon said, "First, other potion masters cannot pause when participating in the ladder. Once they join, they must continuously participate in ladder tests. Otherwise, they can only withdraw."

"Either participate, withdraw, or fail. Choose one."

"But you are an honored guest of our Feathered Serpent Pavilion, so you have the right to freely pause. You can stop participating in subsequent ladder tests after completing one ladder test segment. When you want to participate again, you can rejoin the ladder."

"Besides that, you have the highest viewing permission for every Feathered Serpent Pavilion potion formula. You can trade for one potion formula you desire in Feathered Serpent Pavilion each day. This can solve your difficulty in needing precious potion formulas."

Locke raised an eyebrow, undoubtedly somewhat tempted.

He hadn't expected this Immortal Dragon Scale to actually be a status symbol.

The mysterious true dragon bloodline had brought him far too many conveniences.

Locke could also sense that this concealed an enormous secret, one that even his current First Circle liquefaction stage self couldn't investigate.

The red dragon half-dragon said, "Besides that, you have one final major privilege—you can use our potion rooms here at half price."

Locke nodded slightly. "I understand."

He suddenly spoke, "Is there a high-circle potion master related to dragon creatures behind Feathered Serpent Pavilion?"

The red dragon half-dragon looked at Locke in surprise. "Why would you think that? Feathered Serpent Pavilion only cultivates, we don't possess."

"If we ourselves possessed powerful potion masters, why would we cultivate for the broader society rather than cultivate our own students?"

"Unlike other chain stores, Feathered Serpent Pavilion neither seeks profit nor aims to cultivate descendants. We are a neutral organization."

Locke's eyes flickered. Indeed.

That meant the important figure behind Feathered Serpent Pavilion greatly needed some formidable potion masters.

Was the other party a wizard related to the dragon clan?

The red dragon half-dragon stepped forward and picked up a bottle of potion from the tray to smell it, confirming it was Geralas Aging Potion.

"You were given ten sets of refining materials earlier. Currently, you've provided seven Geralas potions. Your success rate is very good."

"You're already more excellent than many potion masters."

Locke nodded.

During this year, he often discussed potion studies matters with Alicia. Naturally, his progress was rapid, and his success rate far exceeded his expectations.

The red dragon half-dragon handed a magic box and a key to Locke. "This is your reward for passing the second round of the ladder. This is a Water Magic Box. This is the key."

Locke took the key, then inserted that key into the Water Magic Box. After opening it, the magic box immediately transformed into liquid and evaporated completely.

A blue stone floated in midair.

This stone's surface was covered with fine holes.

Seeing this scene, the red dragon half-dragon immediately said, "Lord Locke, your luck is very good. This is a treasure for potion masters called [Pure Flow Filter Stone]."

"It's an elemental core from a mutated Elemental Lord, extremely rare. Although it's only a First Circle item and Elemental Lords aren't difficult to deal with, the problem is that only one in a million Elemental Lords might possibly produce a mutated Elemental Lord that could yield a [Pure Flow Filter Stone]."

"So it's extremely precious."

"When you refine potions, if you add this stone to the potion, you can filter various materials in the potion raw materials and can increase potion effectiveness by about ten percent out of thin air."

"This kind of gemstone, even Second Circle potion masters would find useful."

Locke stored this Pure Flow Filter Stone in his astral ring. This kind of rare potion master equipment counted as his accumulation.

This kind of thing would be very difficult to purchase on the market since it purely depended on character luck. If it were really placed on the market for trade, the markup would probably be very high.

Locke said, "I didn't expect the ladder rewards would have such good things."

The red dragon half-dragon said, "It's your good luck. Our Feathered Serpent Pavilion's ladder rewards themselves are already of high quality. Otherwise, so many potion masters wouldn't actively join our ladder tests."

"Of course, your luck in Feathered Serpent Pavilion will definitely rise."

Locke looked at the red dragon half-dragon with confusion.

The red dragon half-dragon explained, "All Feathered Serpent Pavilions are enhanced by [Dragon Nest Protection Art]."

"As a true dragon, your luck in Feathered Serpent Pavilion will automatically rise by one level. This counts as one of your hidden privileges in Feathered Serpent Pavilion. Whether refining potions or drawing ladder rewards, you'll have more advantages than other potion masters."

Locke increasingly felt that the important wizard figure behind this Feathered Serpent Pavilion had deep connections with the dragon clan.

However, as long as Feathered Serpent Pavilion was currently very useful to him, that was enough.

The red dragon half-dragon said to Locke, "Lord Locke, do you wish to participate in the third round of the ladder now?"

Locke thought for a moment and said, "Participate."

Although he might soon enter an Advanced Origin Academy, this didn't prevent him from researching the test potion for the third round along the way. Moreover, he could still discuss potion studies with Alicia on the road.

Therefore, there actually wasn't any reason not to participate in the third ladder.

Rather, for the fourth ladder test, he'd pause if he could, because according to the difficulty increase sequence of this ladder, the fourth time would likely require configuring Second Circle level potions.

Second Circle level potions were no longer ordinary First Circle potions. Second Circle and above potion masters were extremely precious.

Many First Circle potion masters, even after becoming Second Circle wizards, might not necessarily become Second Circle potion masters.

Second Circle potion masters were already advanced potion masters.

So for the fourth round of the ladder, he actually did need to use the privilege brought by his Immortal Dragon Scale and pause.

The red dragon half-dragon said, "The test time for this round is three years."

"You need to use ten sets of materials to successfully configure one... Fortune Potion."

Locke was stunned for a moment, because Fortune Potion was the most difficult potion among First Circle potions, bar none.

Moreover, its formula... according to reason, was also inaccessible to ordinary potion masters.

He was indeed right. The third round of the ladder test actually directly tested the refining of the most difficult First Circle potion.

Then the fourth round of the ladder test would definitely enter Second Circle potion level.

Locke smiled somewhat bitterly. "Fortune Potion—that difficulty is truly too high. But just having the opportunity to see the Fortune Potion formula once makes this trip worthwhile."

The red dragon half-dragon said, "Lord Locke, you're truly too modest. But in fact, very few potion masters can enter the third round of the ladder. You're already very excellent. And you might also possess the ability to configure Fortune Potion within three years."

"Similarly, this time, you still cannot use Primordial Fire, nor can you use the Pure Flow Filter Stone."