Chapter 54 - Examination [1]

"What do you think is the test?" Lucas asked.

"You came here unaware? I commend your talent but you are rather careless," the young lady said in a bit of an aggressive tone.

Lucas smirked and just continued asking.

"You are a bit of a harsh critic. I came from the northern region, so I don't really know what to expect here." Lucas said, rendering the young lady speechless.

"I am from the east, but I am still aware of what to prepare." the young lady retorted.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"It's Mischelle Cai."

'Cai? Like the Felip Cai, I encountered in the Golden Pavilion in Saber City? I think they are related to each other.'

"I see... I am Lucas Wei." Lucas said, well, in actuality, just making his name have an alias surname.

However, Lucas didn't expect a reaction from Mischelle Cai.

"Are you related to the Wei Family?"

And again, Lucas was left perplexed.

"I don't know why you are asking but I am not. Who is this Wei family, by the way?" Lucas asked.

Mischelle slowly pointed at someone in front of the group. He was a tall, young man with a respectable demeanor, even just looking at his back. As a result, Lucas was left with a question once more.

"Who is he?"

"He is one of the Wei Family. I don't know if you are really related, but if you are not, I hope you try to hide your surname. "

"Why?"

"Because the Wei family doesn't really like copycats or people who use their surname. They are a family of cultivators who doesn't like to be misled or misinterpreted because they have the same surname as someone who has a bad reputation." Mischelle said, with a hint of worry on her face.

"But I don't have a bad reputation," Lucas said.

"Maybe. But even if you don't have a bad reputation, at least have the surname of Wei that doesn't belong to the Wei family, you'll still be hunted regardless of whether you are just a nobody." Mischelle added.

"Thank you for informing me. I will surely keep it in mind." Lucas said, but his thoughts beg to disagree.

'Meh. I don't really like this surname anyway. If I could just use my real surname, but people here in this world have really short surnames and have plenty of similarities.'

Sometime later, after following the attendants, the group that was on the left was guided into a wide hall away from the rest.

It was the group where Lucas was that consisted of 16 people, including him.

And thus, when they finally stopped in the middle of the hallway, the attendants began to disappear.

'Such a flashy exit.' Lucas thought.

"Welcome. I commend you all for having outstanding talents in cultivation. However, even if you are really true to what you say, we will know after you take the test.

Some of you might ask why we didn't gauge your cultivation base? Well, because, the first test was honesty. Since you are all honest, and since your claim to have a higher cultivation base despite your young age was true, you all passed the first test."

After hearing it, Lucas felt some agitation inside his system. The first test of the examination was 'honesty' but he had just lied earlier.

'That was a great hit of luck.' Lucas thought.

"Now everyone, enter the portal. It will bring you to the second test."

As the announcer finally finished his words, Lucas didn't bother to listen as it was all about praising the examinees, who one by one entered the portal.

When it was finally Lucas's time to enter, he didn't immediately enter and observed the portal up close.

From afar, it looks like a door, but after taking a few steps near it, he can see the lightish effects that make the door a portal.

He intently observed it, and as he was already taking too much time, the person behind his back called out for him.

"Are you retarded? Get inside now."

Lucas just looked at the person who called him out and glared. With a little idea of messing with him, Lucas mischievously leaked his killing intent to pressure the person.

"You wait." And then he finally entered the portal and was transported to a different space. It still had the same appearance as the hall, but right now, on the floor, there were various arrays of imprinted patterns.

Lucas just giggled after remembering the face of the person who called him out. He wasn't intentionally scaring him, but what he noticed in sects was that even with normal ranking, there were people who set hierarchy.

He wanted to know how a sect normally operates, and as it was normal, it wouldn't be a problem if he acted like a normal cultivator, right?

'Recognition is the pride of a cultivator.' Lucas thought and looked again at the arrays on the floor. Each array had at least a diameter of 12 inches.

His group wasn't stepping onto one as it was ahead of them. However, as they were starting to get curious, they asked each other to know about their opinions.

"What do you think we'll do with these arrays? There are a set of different ones, and there might be an array that seems to be dangerous as well." Mischelle whispered to Lucas.

Lucas just raised his eyebrows as he faced Mischelle.

"You told me earlier that you came here prepared. But why are you still curious about the arrays on the floor? " Lucas retorted.

"Right, right. But I just prepared important notes like being observant, honest, and so on, like what my father said," Mischelle responded.

Lucas thought for a second, then came back to Mischelle with an answer.

"I think we'll have to observe the arrays on the floor. Perhaps see the difference between them and then we're good to go." Lucas confidently said.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't see any purpose of it as a material for a test. They might make us distinguish it, but isn't it too soon? That's why we came here to learn."

"How about activating one?" Mischelle cut him.

"It's too soon as well. Activate? I don't think they would let beginners do that. Isn't it going to be useless since we actually don't know what these arrays are?"

"I see... Now that you said it, I don't see any other purpose of the arrays."

And in the next few minutes, when everyone was finally in the hall, the announcer, who was only visible as a silhouette, started talking, but he was just talking from afar.

"Welcome to the second test!" Now it was a female voice.

"You see. On the floor ahead of you, there are various arrays imprinted. What we need you to do is observe the differences in the structures of the arrays. We will give you 2 minutes to observe and after it, you will pick 5 arrays that have similarities, and each wrong number that doesn't belong with the 5, will be deducted from your initial points.

Everyone is given a total of 100 points. It is the total of points you'll earn in the first test and with it, you can use the points you earned to exchange for items when you are finally accepted to the sect.

But why deduct? Every wrong you have will be deducted, so it means that only two wrong arrays will be counted. And so, if you have two wrong arrays, 10 points will be deducted. And since you have three correct, you will be given 15 points.

Now, do the math! It is also important for learning array!"

'100 to 90 and 15, so 105 points.'

"You all are right! If you have only 3 correct arrays, your points will be 105! But the first thing I mentioned wasn't all that. That only tackles a situation where you wrongly picked two types of array. But what will happen if it's more than 3?"

'We are already disqualified, then.' Lucas thought.

"If you pick three different types of array, you will be disqualified. That's all, thank you! Now begin with the observation!"