Chapter 299: Entrance Examination (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The crowd began to enter the academy gate, and under the guidance of Three Elements Academy students, they were directed into orderly lines.
As the largest higher education institution within the Eternal Clan, the Three Elements Academy not only offered transcendent courses but also a wide range of miscellaneous subjects.
Humanities, arts, sciences, and more.
The Eternal Clan, being the foremost clan of the current era, had the confidence to allow its young members to choose what they loved and pursue their interests.
With different subjects came different entrance examinations.
Not just that.
The evaluations varied between current students and adult learners.
A large number of young people were led to a building. Lu Ming, Quan Chao and the other adults headed to another building.
Mixed in the crowd, Lu Ming discovered that even after the crowd diversion, there were still many people around him—thousands of people.
Moreover, most of them had cultivation levels, and could be considered as disciples to established masters.
After about half an hour of progress, they arrived at a grand hall. Ancient Realm auras radiated from the front, silencing the noisy chattering among the crowd.
“To the left is the examination area for subjects like technology and culture that are not transcendent studies.”
“Directly ahead is the examination area for transcendent studies.”
“Now, please form your teams.”
As soon as the voice of the unknown Ancient Realm sounded, the crowd spontaneously moved.
A small number of people went to the left, following the staff.
However, over 90% of the candidates remained in place.
After waiting for a few more minutes, the Ancient Realm spoke again, “Alright, get in line and enter the main hall in order.”
Lu Ming could clearly sense that the people around him collectively held their breath, their expressions serious.
Stepping into the main hall meant that the examination had officially begun!
Three Elements Academy, in the new student examination area.
This place was filled with youthful energy, making Jiu Han feel significantly younger.
Standing in a quiet corner, he looked at the vast examination area.
When he saw some underaged or recently matured children displaying talents that could be considered extraordinary, Jiu Han could not help but smile from the bottom of his heart.
Jiu Han, the Divine Spirit Realm expert, appeared like a friendly elderly man. He had a slightly plump figure and wore light blue attire commonly worn by palace staff. Half of his silver-white hair was gone, and although his appearance showed some age, his features were soft, giving him a kind appearance, like a friendly grandfather next door.
As he looked around, this elderly man continued to mutter to himself.
“This is not bad.”
“Oh, this one too.”
“It seems like we have some promising talents here…”
At the side, a senior examiner who recognized the old man had already approached, accompanying Jiu Han while they surveyed the young examinees. After hearing Jiu Han’s comments, the senior examiner could not help but smile.
“Master, you come every year and say this every year, but I’ve yet to see anyone truly catch your eye.”
Jiu Han shook his head and said, “Well, they’re not bad, but I didn’t say that they’re very, very good, so good that it would make me truly satisfied. After all, I’m at the Divine Spirit Realm, and I’m very discerning with my eyes.”
The senior examiner smiled and remained silent.
When Jiu Han had seen enough, he shook his head and left the freshmen examination hall, and headed to the next location.
It was the adult examination hall.
Only a small number of people in the Hundred Schools of Philosophy knew one thing.
The Sect Master Jiu Han had a peculiar hobby.
He loved teaching and nurturing students.
According to Jiu Han’s own words, he had already reached the Divine Spirit Realm and it was impossible for his strength to take another step forward. However, as a Divine Spirit Realm cultivator, his lifespan was practically endless, and he had not grown tired of living and would not court death himself.
In that case, he could only find other ways to pass the endless years.
And what he had chosen to do was to develop and expand the Three Elements Academy. The scope of this hobby later expanded to include the Hundred Schools of Philosophy.
That’s right, the entire Three Elements Academy and even the Hundred Schools of Philosophy had grown from virtually nothing under Jiu Han’s guidance. He had nurtured them, step by step, into the massive entities they were today!
At its core, Jiu Han’s motivation was to witness young people grow and become stronger, stepping onto the pinnacle of their paths.
It gave him a sense of being reborn.
In his earlier years, Jiu Han particularly enjoyed taking in disciples personally.
During his lifetime, he had cultivated three personal disciples who reached the Divine Spirit Realm, including Shu Fang and Xiang Yi.
The number of direct disciples who reached the quasi-divine level was countless!
However, in recent years, Jiu Han rarely took in disciples personally —the reason was unknown.
Nonetheless, some of his habits had continued until now.
For example, he regularly held lectures in the Three Elements Academy, answering questions on knowledge and taboos on the path to transcendence.
Furthermore, each year on this day, Jiu Han would visit the examination site to see what kind of talent had appeared that year and to observe their temperaments.
His main focus was the current batch of students because they were young, malleable, and had relatively more potential.
But if there was time, Jiu Han would also visit the adult examination area.
Jiu Han walked into the examination area through a side entrance and declined the escort of the head examiner. He stood alone in a corner, observing the candidates entering the main hall.
The examination process for transcendent studies for adult candidates was quite straightforward.
It evaluated their current strength, bone age, talent, and temperament.
There were a total of four criteria.
Among these criteria, strength, bone age and talent played a more significant role because they determined how far a transcendent cultivator could progress on the path of transcendence.
The examination process was straightforward, using equipment checks and the visual observations of Ancient Realm examiners.
While the importance of temperament was relatively low, it was still significant and presented a more complex assessment, which is why it was evaluated last.
It was unknown how many candidates the adult group had already been screened.
Regardless, the ten individuals who entered the examination area in the same batch had somewhat solemn expressions.
One of the candidates stood before a column-like structure, seemingly made of crystal, and extended a hand towards it, causing lights and shadows to circulate.
The candidates could not discern the meaning behind the lights and shadows, but the examiner understood it clearly.
The examiner directly said, “Level Three Spirit Realm, Bone Age 2.4, Medium potential.”
With that said, the examiner shook his head and told the candidate, “Not qualified.”
Level and strength were very easy to understand. The 2.4 bone age referred to this person’s age being 2.4 times that of the adult age line of his race. Generally, a race’s maximum lifespan is about five times the adult age line.
In other words, despite this person’s youthful appearance, he was actually already a middle-aged uncle.
As for “moderate potential,” it referred to the individual’s proficiency in source power techniques. The source power technique level and bone age could be used to gauge how insightful the person was regarding source force techniques and whether in the future, he had the potential to advance to the Ancient Realm through Silver Patterns.
Moderate potential did not mean that advancement to the Ancient Realm was impossible, but it indicated a lower likelihood.
For a candidate with such potential, if he was a current student he might still have a degree of malleability. However, for an adult candidate of this age, his potential held little significance.
In summary, the criteria for passing the adult examination were much higher than those for current students.
However, this was only natural.
This handsome middle-aged candidate left the examination area in disappointment, making way for the next candidate..