Chương 53: Invitational Disciple Examination II: Preliminary

"Not a lot of people are being turned away," noted Shokoya, "I guess that's the difference between an open disciple recruitment and an invite-only one like this."

"A few are though," said Jue Zhu, "it looks like they're using some kind of crystal as a talent measure. It's changing different colors in succession—see, look there."

An examinee on the stage was putting both hands on a crystal about the size of the door orbs. At first, it glowed with a faint white light, then it changed to dull red in color, then a brighter orange, then yellow. Then, it started to turn green, but there was quite a bit of yellow left when it stopped changing. The elder took back the crystal and nodded at the examinee to go through. "They need to at least make it fully turn yellow to pass," said Jue Zhu, "after green is blue and I've only seen blue three times in all the time I've watched, and only one made it blue all the way."

"Most people with better talents than that probably have the kind of background to join an elite sect directly," I mused, "without going through a subordinate sect first."

Amusingly, I heard a few noises of assent from somewhere behind me, from examinees who weren't even from the Academy.

The line kept moving steadily, and watching the stage, I noticed a few examinees get turned away when a crystal stopped changing color at orange or red, just like Jue Zhu had said. Directly in front of me, Quan was getting more and more agitated by this, and with about 50 people left in front of us, I took pity on him. "Don't tell me you forgot that lesson? Overall talent never fully shows itself in the Earth ranks. You ought to have enough potential for growth to at least get a pass."

"Oh yeah," he said, "thanks Zuhui."

Watching the others' talent crystal results was surprisingly effective at keeping me from getting bored until it was our turn. Jue Zhu went first, and I actually craned my neck to see when he placed his hands on the crystal. It went through red, orange, yellow, and even green very quickly, barely slowing down through blue and starting to turn violet. And I was far from the only one who took notice.

"Woah…who's that guy? He's from the Academy, looks like they found a hidden gem."

"When was the last time someone made the crystal turn violet? Five years ago, I think it was?"

"Look, it's not stopping!"

The crystal had turned violet completely, and now, a golden light was starting to form in its center, steadily expanding until the entire crystal shone with brilliant light. "Gold—it actually turned gold! Someone from the Academy has talent on par with a blood member of the Nine Sacred Families!"

The elder who took Jue Zhu's information actually shook his hand before sending him through the portal. Meanwhile, Shokoya and Quan had also been called, and Shokoya was testing, his crystal turning green without slowing. It got halfway to blue before it stopped. So, I was called to the same elder, one of them from the Iron Tortoise Castle, that Jue Zhu had been. "Name and cultivation base?"

"Xu Zuhui, 8th Earth Realm, first stage."

The elder's eyebrows raised. "8th Realm, pretty good. You're from the Academy, correct?"

"Correct."

"Preferred sect?"

"The Library."

"Hmm. Place your hands on the crystal."

Just before I did, I saw Quan enter the portal, and noticed that next to me, Jong was speaking to Elder Shin. When I touched the crystal, it changed quickly, reaching yellow in just a few seconds. It only slowed down a little through green, finally changing at close to normal speed as blue grew from the center. It completely changed, and then…

"Look, violet! Another one is changing the crystal violet!"

"No wait, there's two of them!"

I didn't want to break my focus on my own crystal, so I didn't see Jong's result. However, mine stopped not too far from turning the crystal violet completely. "Very good. Here is your exam token." The elder handed me a silver colored coin about half the size of my Academy badge. "You may wear it on your person or store it in a spatial ring or Inventory if you have one, it will record the detailed results of each stage of the exam.

Proceed through the portal and assemble with the others. Instructions for the first stage will be given once everyone here is processed."

Through the portal was a small clearing surrounded by the darkest woods I'd yet seen. There was as much chatter as before, but now it was a lot more nervous. I quickly spotted Shokoya, Quan, and Jue Zhu and rejoined them. "Reckon we're going hunting?"

"It sure looks that way," said Jue Zhu, "and I bet this will be pretty different from Academy summers."

After about a half hour more, the five elders followed the last of the examinees in from the portal. Some of the examinees already there made a path for the elders, and others made an open space in the center. The purple-robed elder cleared his throat, and talk among the examinees soon stopped.

"Thank you. Now, I can properly welcome you all to this year's disciple selection exam. I am pleased to note that preliminary rejections were reduced to less than 10% this time around.

Without further ado, I will now explain the first stage. We are currently standing in an enchanted safe area within the region known as the Forest of Fear. This forest is home to a wide variety of magical beasts, with cultivation bases ranging from the 5th to the 9th Earth Realms. For each beast you kill, points will be recorded on your exam token. You may work together with your brothers and sisters from your subordinate sects if you wish, but the points from each kill will be split among all those who landed a blow against it. You may also interfere with each other's hunts; however, directly striking another examinee is strictly prohibited and will result in disqualification."

"Translation," I murmured to Shokoya, "watch out for kill-stealers." He nodded sagely.

"Once you have obtained 100 points, make your way back here and the gateway portal will take you to the location for the second stage. That is, 100 points is a pass, but your overall score will increase based on how quickly you reach the target total and return.

The rundown on points is as follows: 1 point for 5th Realm magical beasts, 3 points 6th Realm, 5 points 7th Realm, 10 points 8th Realm, and 20 points 9th Realm. There are also a few Ascended Beasts nearby of 6th Realm and above. If a group of you somehow manages to kill one of those, the five cultivators who dealt it the most damage will be awarded 50 points. But if you don't have excellent cultivation bases and a good plan, you should probably just run. You are all free to use any treasures in your possession, as well as any consumables—consider this test no-holds barred, at least against the magical beasts. The five of us, plus more elders, are standing by to prevent fatalities, but none of your lives are guaranteed in this test. All of you have 72 hours, starting now."

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