Test Rules

By the time he returned to his quarters, it was already pitch-dark.

After a full day of training, he felt as though someone had taken him apart and haphazardly put him back together. Every joint was protesting. Chen Chuan took off his training uniform and collapsed into a chair before remembering the booklet tucked inside his clothes.

He spread the booklet open on the desk. The cold white light made the paper a little hard on the eyes. It was thin, with not a single word on the cover, only a dark red seal pressed into the lower right corner—whether it was lacquer or something else, he couldn't tell. It was cool against his fingertip.

The seal seemed alive. Even after he lifted his finger, the chill lingered where it had been, refusing to fade.

He turned to the first page.

There were only three lines, written in a steady hand that wasn't his:

[Registration Process]

[Assessment]

[Precautions]

In the corner of the header was another line, printed in even smaller characters. Its ink was darker than the text below, almost as if it had been pressed into the paper:

[Year 743,216 of the Wizard Calendar]

Chen Chuan stared at the line, momentarily dazed.

Seven hundred and forty thousand years.

He counted it out twice in his head.

Only a little over four hundred years had passed since the Blue Star Federation was founded in the first year of the New Calendar.

The knowledge the Wizard World Alliance had accumulated over those seven hundred and forty thousand years.

Chen Chuan suddenly understood that the depth of knowledge behind the wizard profession might be beyond what ordinary professions could match.

[Registration Process]

[Wizard seeds reside in the planes of the Wizard World Alliance. When the time is right, a plane messenger will deliver a Wizard World test notice. Please follow the steps on the notice to conduct the summoning test.]

Chen Chuan stared at the words "wizard seeds" for a while.

Wizard seeds. Seeds of wizards.

So, in the Wizard World's eyes, people like them were merely seeds scattered across the planes, waiting to sprout or rot.

The words "when the time is right" stirred something in him.

He couldn't take the test whenever he wanted. They would send someone only when they decided the time was right.

He looked up and glanced out the window.

A little over two months.

Would that "plane messenger" come down from the sky?

He didn't know what the messenger would look like, whether it would be a person or one of those things cloaked in light that he'd read about in books.

The booklet didn't say. It only said to follow the steps; everything else was blank.

He didn't like blanks. They meant that when the day came, no one could decide the next step for him.

He turned to the next page.

[Assessment]

[First stage: mental power test]

[According to the information gathered, none of the candidates may have practiced any mental power techniques or spells. This stage looks only at the most raw mental power data—only pure geniuses are wanted.]

Chen Chuan breathed half a sigh of relief.

For the past three months, Gu Changgeng had made him practice drills, cross-country running, crawling and combat—the things he had once cursed inwardly, wondering, Isn't it a bit of a waste for someone preparing to become a wizard to be practicing this?

He hadn't spent a single day practicing a mental power technique.

At the time, he'd assumed Gu Changgeng was just being cautious. Only now did he understand—the old man had most likely known about this rule all along.

Then he suddenly felt a little uncertain: did the mental power he'd gained from his talent count as having "practiced"?

After two seconds of thought, he shook his head. A talent wasn't a technique; it was something he was born with. It probably counted as the "most raw" kind they wanted.

He hadn't practiced. He didn't even know how.

[Second stage: Realm of Illusion]

[Candidates who pass the mental power test will enter the Realm of Illusion for assessment.]

A short note had been added beside it: (Related to mental power.)

Chen Chuan's finger paused over the line.

Related to mental power.

[Third stage: academy test]

[After passing the Realm of Illusion, candidates and wizard academies will choose each other, and candidates will undergo a final test. Those who pass may change professions to become wizards.]

"Choose each other?"

Chen Chuan murmured under his breath.

So there was more than one wizard academy. Passing the test didn't mean you could get in, and an academy wanting you didn't mean you had to go—both sides had to agree.

He suddenly felt like laughing. Even at this stage, they still bothered with a bit of courtesy.

Below that was the final section.

[Precautions]

[Warning: those who are not mental-type are forbidden from conducting the summoning test. You bear responsibility for the consequences.]

Beneath the main text was a note in smaller writing, added by Gu Changgeng himself:

(According to the information, the stage with the highest death rate is the second.)

Chen Chuan's fingertip paused over the word "death."

He remembered what Gu Changgeng had said that day.

"Your mental power talent will become a sacrifice."

In that case, the notice delivered by the plane messenger looked like an invitation, but when you laid it out and took a closer look, it was a menu covered in names.

He stared at the note for a long time.

Then he suddenly laughed.

"Then I'll just be the one eating people, won't I? They really don't leave any room at all."

After laughing, he still had to swallow the chill in his heart himself.

He thought again of the two extra people in this world.

When he'd told his mom it wasn't dangerous, the words had come so easily.

Yet here, in black and white, the booklet spoke of the stage with the highest death rate.

What if he couldn't come back?

He didn't dare think any further.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Chen Shaohua came in. He wasn't wearing his uniform, just an old jacket, but when he stood in the doorway, his frame still filled it completely.

"Still awake?" He sat down across the desk and glanced at the booklet.

Chen Chuan didn't hide it from him. "Elder Gu gave it to me. It's about the Wizard World test."

Chen Shaohua fell silent for a moment.

"In the plane war I took part in, a fifth-tier professional from Walot joined forces with Blue Star and nearly twenty surrounding planes to launch a plundering plane war against another intermediate plane."

"The war was full of setbacks, but fortunately, we managed to kill the plane guardian in the end. When we were collecting the spoils, we ran into a stranger. With a single sentence, he took nearly half of what we'd gained."

"We only found out later that he was a fourth-tier wizard. Can you believe that?"

"With just one sentence, he made even us fifth-tier professionals afraid to act rashly, and we gave him half the profits to please him."

Chen Chuan didn't reply.

Chen Shaohua looked at him but said nothing more. He silently patted him on the shoulder and headed out.

Chen Shaohua didn't return to his quarters. He turned into the windowless room deep in the base.

The light was still on. Gu Changgeng was awake, several sheets of paper spread out on the desk. He leaned back in his chair, looking tired from staying up late.

"Elder Gu."

"Has he finished reading it?"

"He's reading it." Chen Shaohua paused. "He knows everything he needs to know. I also passed on the words you asked me to."

Gu Changgeng grunted in acknowledgment and said nothing more.

Chen Shaohua stood before the desk without leaving. He seemed to have something caught in his throat; several times the words reached his lips only for him to swallow them back. At last, he spoke.

"Elder Gu, there's something I've been holding in for days."

"Go on."

"Why didn't you report Chen Chuan's case to the higher-ups?" Chen Shaohua stared at him. "A mental-type, the third in four hundred years. Something this big, and even now, only a few of us in this Southern Military Region base know about it. The Xia Country Alliance—"

"I reported it," Gu Changgeng cut him off.

Chen Shaohua froze.

"I didn't use the military region's usual channels." Gu Changgeng took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses. "I used my personal connections, bypassed several levels and sent it straight to Xia Country."

"Then..."

"Xia Country sent a reply." Gu Changgeng put his glasses back on and looked at him, speaking each word distinctly. "Their exact words were: do not inform the Blue Star Federation's upper echelons."

The room fell silent for a moment.

"What?" Chen Shaohua wondered if he'd misheard.

"You heard me."

"Why?" His voice rose involuntarily. "If he really gets into a wizard academy, that concerns all of Blue Star! The Federation is counting on this to improve its standing in the Wizard World Alliance—"

"It's precisely because we're counting on it that we can't report it up the chain." Gu Changgeng's voice wasn't loud, but it stopped him at once.

He pulled a sheet of paper from the desk and spread it out. It was covered in densely packed blocks marked in different colors, like a map pieced together.

"Xia Country isn't the only country in the Federation." He tapped the chart with his fingertip. "Three leading countries, plus some thirty strong countries and regional alliances. The waters are muddy enough already."

"If Chen Chuan is brought out into the open at the Federation level—" He paused. "The Tsarist State, the Beautiful United Kingdom, all those alliances big and small, which of them wouldn't want to get their hands on someone like him? If they can't recruit him, they'll want to destroy him; if they can't destroy him, they'll want to snatch him. If it really comes to that, tell me: is he Xia Country's Chen Chuan, or the Federation's Chen Chuan?"

Chen Shaohua didn't reply.

"Only three have appeared in four hundred years, and the first two both perished out there." Gu Changgeng pushed the paper back into the stack of files. "Xia Country wants to protect this one itself for now, until the day he can stand on his own."

"So we're keeping it from the Federation's upper echelons?"

"We're not keeping it from them." Gu Changgeng shook his head. "We're just not telling them yet."

He gazed at the lamp on the desk for quite a while.

"Once he comes out of the wizard academy, once he's strong enough that no one can touch him, it won't be too late to report it. By then, even if there are dirty hands in the Federation, they won't be able to do anything to him." He paused. "Report it now, and we'd be putting him alone over the fire."

Chen Shaohua stood there without speaking for a long time. Finally, he nodded slowly.

"I understand."

"Good." Gu Changgeng lowered his head again and leafed through the files beside him. "It's half the night gone. Go back and get some sleep."

Chen Shaohua reached the door, then suddenly stopped.

"Elder Gu."

"Yes?"

"What if he... doesn't get in?"

Gu Changgeng's hand paused over the file.

It was a long while before he spoke, his voice very soft.

"Then we'll act as though none of this ever happened."

Chen Shaohua said nothing more. He pushed the door open and left.

In the dormitory.

Chen Chuan closed the booklet and leaned back in his chair.

Outside the window, the night lights glowed one after another. It was unbelievably quiet.

He suddenly began to understand why Gu Changgeng had made him practice drills, cross-country running and all those things that seemed the most useless.

Because once he got there, whether he could change professions was still uncertain. Staying alive came first.

Having understood that, he felt relieved instead.

He knew how he should spend the days remaining in those three months—not dwelling on whether he could pass, but figuring out how to stay alive long enough to reach that point.

He turned off the light and lay down.

In the darkness, he kept his eyes open and went over the three lines of the booklet's contents in his mind again.

Registration process. Assessment. Precautions.

A little over two months.

He didn't know when the notice would arrive or what it would look like.

But he thought he had to at least live until the day he could open it with his own hands.