Ning worriedly looked at the next question. With barely 3 minutes remaining, he needed to answer the next question as fast as he could.
Thankfully, the next 2 questions were very easy.
The 2nd question asked to list the various pills and their effects that could be created from the ingredients listed in the question.
As soon as Ning saw the ingredients, his mind worked extra fast to think of as many combinations as he could think of. However, due to time constraints, he could only list out about 13 pills and their effects.
He needed to immediately move on to the next question and answer it too.
The third question asked for a list of pills that could regrow a fully detached limb. The examinees were to answer as many pills as they could.
Ning didn't have a lot of time, so he hurriedly wrote as many names as he could on the talisman.
"STOP!" Jezeere shouted as his divine sense started forcing everyone to stop what they were doing. Ning reluctantly put down the talisman after naming around 43 pill names.
If he had the time, he could go above 200 pills, but unfortunately, he didn't.
The paper floated up and went towards Jezeere as they stacked on the desk in front of him. "Come back tomorrow around noon to hear your result," he said and left.
Ning stood up and left the room along with everyone else.
"I hope I did well."
"Thank god we only require 2 questions to pass. Otherwise, I would've failed."
"You too? I had the exact same experience."
Ning could hear the people talking. 'I guess learning everything already made me a great alchemist. Still, I have yet to make pills and such,' he thought.
He walked down the mountain stairs and didn't see anyone other than the ones he was with. 'Did only our group leave?' he wondered.
He went back to his room in the tavern and decided to skip a day.
****
Late afternoon, in a room inside the Alchemy wing.
Jezeere was looking through the questions, testing them. He was currently looking through the papers to decide who to grade, and who not to.
He made two piles of paper as he separated them accordingly. He was mindlessly doing so when another teacher that was checking the papers of his own on the side stood up to stretch.
"God, the kids are getting smarter and smarter these days," the teacher said and walked up to Jezeere. He looked at the question sheet and laughed as he read it. "Only 2 out of 3 required… you still use this trick huh?" he asked
"Of course," Jezeere said. "Why wouldn't I use something that works so well?"
The man then read the first question and got a little confused. "How are they supposed to answer a question that doesn't have an answer?" he asked.
"They don't. They should be writing either 'I don't know or 'I haven't learned this yet. Accepting that you do not know about something and can still learn is the first step for these people," Jezeere said as he put aside the sheets that had the 1st question left blank or answered with 'You can't.'
"Oh, and what about someone who just makes stuff up? What do you do with them?" the teacher asked as he handed Jezeere an answer sheet.
"Huh?" Jezeere grabbed the talisman and read it. "What the? The hell is wrong with this person?" he thought as he read through the different answers for the first question that was written there.
"Not only that, check the other two answers too," the teacher said.
Jezeere quickly checked the other two talismans and started reading the answers. Suddenly, his eyes went wide.
"Th-This!"
*******
Ning opened his eyes around 11 am in morning. That was the timer he had set through the interface for himself to wake up at.
He quickly left the tavern and went up the mountain. Although the results would be published at 12 pm, it wasn't a bad idea to get there a little earlier than normal.
Ning reached the top of the stairs and was stopped by a massive crowd of people who were there to check their own results. 'So many,' he thought.
"Oh, brother Ning," Ender spoke from the side when he saw Ning.
"Hey, it's been a while," Ning said. He then looked around and asked, "Your sister is not here right?"
"Haha, no. Don't worry about her. Sorry about last time though, I've never seen her be so protective," Ender said.
"Well, she is your elder sister, so I guess it makes sense," he said.
"By the way, I didn't see you yesterday. Did you miss the entrance exam?" Ender asked.
"Oh, I was in a different room from yours," Ning said.
"Different room?" Ender made a confused look. "I don't thin—"
"Hey look, it's here," someone shouted.
Suddenly, a massive image flew up in the sky as a list of names with some numbers next to them appeared out of the blue.
People saw the list and read the first thing written on it.
PASSED
"Ah, I hope my name is there," Ender prayed as he looked through the list. Ning did the same.
It didn't take long for Ning to realize something weird about the numbers on the right that represented the registration number.
"5 digits? Mine is only 3 though," he thought. "Maybe mine has 2 zeros in the front." He looked through the list, but no matter how many times he checked, he couldn't find his name at all.
"I passed!" Ender cried out loud.
"Congratulations," Ning said. "Unfortunately, my name isn't there."
"Huh?" Ender stopped celebrating. "Are you sure, Brother Ning? What's your number, I can help you look for it."
"It's a 3 dig—"
"May I have your attention please." Zeheere flew up above the masses and addressed them. "I will be releasing the results of the exam now."
"Ruger Pillet, Bagoo Erety, and Ning Ruogong. Congratulations on passing the exam," Zeheere said.
Ning's heart finally got calmed down after learning that. 'But why announce just our 3 names? did we do exceptionally well?' he wondered.
Zeheere continued.
"Welcome to the Five Professions Academy to you 3. You are now officially a Teacher."
"…. Huh?"