Chapter 2: Registration Exam
The person walking on stage is an old man although he doesn't look as old as he is with his bulky but stubby frame and sharp metallic gray eyes. The old man walks up to the podium bending the mic down to reach his height and begins speaking "Good morning young men and ladies. I am your examiner today and my name is Cornelius Flynn but just call me examiner. I am also an instructor from the mighty black star academy which some of you might belong to after this exam." he states with strong pride in his words "before the exam let me start with the basics which I'm sure some of you don't know" he looks around the crowd picking out the poorest-looking kids "There are 2 types of cultivation known as Ethereal energy cultivation and Ethereal body cultivation which can then be divided into 9 stages and I'm not going to name all 18 stages because I simply have no time for that." he states as a matter of fact.
"In each stage, there are 9 levels with levels 1-4 being early stage, levels 5-7 being middle stage, and levels 8-9 being late stage" he continues elaborating on the 9 stages "Humanity only has about 5 9th stage cultivators with 3 of the coming from black star academy" the instructor brags "This should tell you how difficult cultivation can be and you all should be happy if you even reach 4th or 5th stage, any lower and I'd consider you fodder" Jacob feels a little irritated with his tone rolling his eyes at the examiner.
"That's pretty much the basics, on to the exam" the examiner looks around for any raised hands and notices none making him grin "There are three stages in this exam. The first stage is to gauge your talent in both body and energy cultivation. Second is a test of survival considering most cultivators join the exploration corp to rid humanity of the entity and its hosts on foreign planets where you will have to survive for weeks or maybe months at a time on foreign planets with little food." the examiner looks around seeing the reaction on everyone's faces noticing some fidgety ones in the crowd "The last test is a battle against one of these five instructors" he points towards the five instructors that just walked in and they introduce themselves
"Instructor Tyler Perth, Golden Lion academy" the first instructor states blandly "instructor Georgia Chevelle, Bladesong academy and aspiring author" the second instructor states with a bright smile and a peace sign "instructor Charles Hill, Blazing Devil academy only accepting the best" Charles states with a murderous glare at everyone below his status 'scum' he thinks inwardly "instructor Landon Gill, Silver Wolverine academy" another bland instructor.
The last instructor caught Jacob's interest not because of her peerless beauty from her crimson fire-like hair and her red gem-like eyes, her sharp jaw and a bust comparable to Aphrodite, along with the meatiest thighs Jacob has ever laid his eyes on which he gazed on for a little longer than the rest of her body (Thighs ftw). The thing that attracted him most though was her heavy aura which was many times stronger than the rest of the instructors "Scarlett Solaris, White Dragon academy. I'm going to come out and say that there is nothing impressive about this group making my visit here almost worthless. Most of you have wasted my time but a few of you have made this visit worthwhile, to say the least," she did not move her gaze but Jacob could feel the vast pressure that now pressed on his shoulders. As she continued speaking saying a few words to describe how inadequate the group was Jacob notice a hostile glare from behind him. He turned his head noticing Penelope staring at him barely 2 feet away from Jacob.
He had to look down on her short 165 cm making him look rather scary to Penelope who immediately started breaking into a cold sweat "Back away" Jacob whispered neutrally but it sounded like booming in Penelope's ears making her scared and a little aroused because of the deep tone of voice that sounded melodious to her. She immediately snapped out of it realizing what she was thinking her face flushed "Back.Away.Now" Jacob said in a more commanding voice Penelope realized that she slowly got closer and was almost touching Jacob's broad back
Penelope immediately turned as red as a fire truck and started stuttering "I-I a-am s-sorry" she says slowly moving back under his intimidating gaze "Thank you" is all he says as he turns back around just as Scarlett finishes her speech. 'He ignored me...again' she thought inwardly feeling disappointed 'why am I so disappointed? Why would a poor commoner make me disappointed? He dares?!' Penelope thinks of many ways to get back at him throughout the exam while Cornelius the examiner reaches the podium "Thank you, Ms. Solaris..anyway let's begin the exam. Remember that these instructors will be watching your every move along with me and will be evaluating whether you are worthy to enroll in one of these academies. Let us begin."
The examiner finishes the introduction of the exam and the examinees follow both the examiner and instructors down a large hall and to the exam room where their potential will be scaled. "We will be going in line alphabetically" the examiner yelled for the examinees to get in line. After a few minutes, the first name was called "John Aaron". One examinee came forward and looked at a crystal ball that was used to test the potential of his energy cultivation. "There are 7 levels of potential with 7 being the highest. You will be able to tell what level you are by looking at the rings that will glow once you place your hand on the crystal ball with 1 ring being level 1 potential, 2 rings being level 2 potential, and so forth. You need at least level 3 potential to enroll in an academy and only level 1 potential to pass, it's already difficult enough to get 1 ring" after hearing the explanation the examinee put his hand on the orb showing 2 rings after 30 seconds "pass, go to the body cultivation testing site" the examiner said not caring of the person in front of him. This went on for about 15 minutes before someone caught Jacob's eye
"Charlotte Litwarth" there was audible muttering breaking out in the crowd "did he say Litwarth?" "That's one of the 5 big factions with a 9th-stage cultivator as the patriarch" "I heard Charlotte was the patriarch's daughter" such muttering could be heard throughout the room upon hearing such an important name and seeing Charlotte's beautiful figure with her plump assets, especially the thighs which were very plump but not as plump as Scarlett.
Charlotte walked up the steps and put her hand on the orb which started glowing with 1..2..3, all the way up to 5 rings. The examiner smiled and clapped joyfully upon seeing 5 rings which was the minimum needed to potentially reach the 9th stage "Your father had 5 rings as well so you and him should both be proud of such a result." Charlotte walked away without a word with a slight glint of disappointment in her eyes 'Damn it. I don't want to be like him that filth' she thought inwardly trying her best to maintain a neutral expression but none of this escaped Jacob's all-seeing eyes 'disappointment? Interesting..' he thinks 'she might be better than the rest even in mentality'. "Penelope Litwarth" the examiner called the weird lavender-haired girl that Jacob has been having a hard time with. Penelope ended up with the same 5 rings as her to-be-determined sister. "Jacob Lunalis" it was finally Jacob's turn after almost 20 minutes of waiting
'here we go' Jacob hypes himself up knowing what will happen once he was in the spotlight "look at that peasant. Why is someone so poor even here, everyone knows that commoners very rarely have any cultivation talent" one of the identifiable young masters stated with a laugh to his henchman. Jacob paid no mind to the laughs and degradation he faced and put his hand on the orb which immediately showed 7 rings and started burning brighter and brighter until *POP* like a balloon the orb busted and disintegrated into nothing leaving even Jacob bewildered. Silence, that was all from both exam sites even the examinees doing the body cultivation test stopped and stared at the handsome boy from the slums in pure astonishment. Jacob started editing his goals to fit his true potential as he walked off to the next site. The weight on his shoulders seemed even heavier as he noticed the piercing red gems that seemed to evaluate his very being.
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