The First to Pass

"You discovered a Mystic Sniper Weapon Modification. Your Mystic Cognition increased by 1 point, and your Mystery Points limit has risen to 108."

Upon seeing the new prompt, Wenren Sheng felt delighted, but also faintly regretful.

His Seed of Mystery still could not let him see others as clearly as he saw himself.

Every entry in his own mysterious composition had a corresponding Mystery Points limit.

For example, his current status panel read:

"Mystery Points: 107/108."

"Mysterious Composition: 1. Otherworlder's Memories, limit +50; 2. Extraordinary Power, limit +30; 3. Mystic Cognition, limit +28."

Other people, however, had no such specific numbers. So when he saw Number 8's mysterious composition, he still had to make his own estimate.

Those 47 points of limit had to be distributed among as many as five entries. How much each one accounted for depended on the mysterious knowledge he had mastered.

According to the materials he had accumulated over the past three years, a Mystery Points limit of 0 to 25 corresponded to an Entry Level rating. Between 30 and 70 was a Skilled Level rating, while anything above 80 could basically be confirmed as Expert Level.

His Deputy, Teacher Wu, was at 89, while Old Man Li Shi'an, involved in the "Death of the Expert" incident, was at 95.

If someone's Mystery Points limit happened to fall within ranges such as 25 to 30 or 70 to 80, he would be unable to judge it. Their rating could be either high or low.

Number 8, this Black Shirts member, had 47 points. By conventional standards, he was undoubtedly Skilled Level.

The Spirit Response Method he had just used brought their Alien Power auras into direct contact. Wenren Sheng could tell that the other man's Alien Power was quite formidable, fully up to the standard of a Skilled Level rating.

However, the man's mysterious composition told him that the truth was not so simple. In particular, the newly revealed "Mystic Sniper Weapon Modification" surely occupied quite a large portion of his Mystery Points limit.

Thinking to himself, he continued pouring dark-purple mist into the man's hand and repeatedly probed him.

The Spirit Response Method was limited in that it required the other party's cooperation. Since this was an assessment of himself, the man certainly would not cooperate obediently and would definitely resist.

Other experts would need to use additional methods to assist them, such as hypnosis to reduce the subject's resistance, or the Bloodline Method to draw blood for examination. Once blood left the body, it was completely separated from its host...

This resistance also had priorities. The subject would first conceal the type and essential information of their Alien Power, with the strength of that power coming second.

This Black Shirts member's Alien Power was indeed very strong, but after probing it several times, Wenren Sheng discovered that it was not pure enough, as if something had forcibly elevated it.

Other experts would very likely mistake this for unstable foundations caused by progressing too quickly in cultivation.

If they were patient and used several more methods for gradual identification, they could likewise uncover some suspicious details.

But Wenren Sheng could now easily conclude that this impurity was due to bodily modification. The man had some kind of Mystic Sniper Weapon lodged within him; Wenren Sheng simply did not yet know where it was hidden.

That required the Weapon Affinity Appraisal Method, which included procedures for determining an Otherworldly User's affinity with various mystic weapons.

If someone's affinity for a certain mystic weapon far exceeded the natural upper limit recorded in the appraisal method, it could immediately be understood that they had undergone mystical modification by that weapon.

That was how other experts did things, but Wenren Sheng did not need to go through so much trouble.

Others used evidence to find the culprit. He used the culprit to find the evidence.

With that thought, he began switching appraisal methods.

The dark-purple mist in his hand began changing shape before sinking deeper into the other man's palm.

He directly skipped over cold weapons such as daggers, blades, swords, and bows... the sorts of weapons Black Shirts members commonly used for infiltration and combat.

He did not conceal anything. He directly switched to the sniper weapon category, and a compact, exquisitely crafted sniper rifle appeared in the man's palm.

At that moment, he noticed that Liao Zheng and Cheng Ning, who had been observing him from the side, had initially looked calm. But the instant the sniper rifle appeared, their expressions changed. They seemed baffled, unable to understand why he was directly testing sniper weapons.

The other Black Shirts members remained expressionless, as though none of this had anything to do with them.

After merging the manifested sniper rifle into the man's palm as usual, he carefully observed the changes in him.

A moment later, the shadow of a gun suddenly appeared in the man's right pupil.

It was hidden in his eye? Of course, what was concealed could not be a physical sniper weapon, but rather a Weapon Spirit.

Having reached this point, Wenren Sheng stopped feeding dark-purple mist into him and sat back down on the sofa.

"Number 8's Alien Power was likely just re-implanted. His cultivation progress is only Entry Level—more precisely, probably between the middle and late stages of Entry Level. However, his body has been modified, and his affinity with sniper weapons is extremely high. It can greatly amplify his Alien Power, bringing his overall strength to somewhere between the early and middle stages of Skilled Level."

Cheng Ning had already recorded his entire assessment on her phone.

Liao Zheng suddenly began applauding. His demeanor completely changed from before, and he once again became friendly toward Wenren Sheng.

He exclaimed in amazement, "How did you think to test Number 8's weapon affinity immediately, and even directly pinpoint the specific type of weapon he was compatible with?"

"Actually, I had wanted to keep a lower profile," Wenren Sheng said, lowering his head to check the time. "But it's almost ten o'clock, and there are still fourteen people left to examine. There are less than five hours until two in the afternoon, so I put in a little more effort to save time. As you may know, unless something beyond my control happens, I always leave work on time and go home."

"As expected, this is the world of geniuses," Liao Zheng could only sigh.

Wenren Sheng said no more and immediately began appraising the other fourteen using the same procedure.

The appraisal went quickly, because every one of them had undergone the same combination of Alien Power implantation and modification.

All of their implanted Alien Powers were Seeds of Wrath, and their progress was only rated at Entry Level.

However, with the boost from their modifications, some of them could even approach the peak strength rating of Skilled Level.

Thus, aside from Number 8, who had raised his Mystic Cognition, none of the others gave him anything further.

But Wenren Sheng was not disappointed. The feast had only just opened, and the examinees a week from now contained endless possibilities.

He even had time to assess that if he truly fought these fifteen people, with his current strength, the best he could manage was mutual destruction. He might win miserably, but that was all.

The other side, however, had any number of groups of fifteen.

That was why illegal Otherworldly Users generally prioritized mobility, concealment, and breakout abilities. In a war of attrition, they were absolutely no match for the Patrol Division.

He had already seen through the Patrol Division's approach: weapons were permanent, while people came and went, just like Otherworldly Users.

The Weapon Spirits fused by these Black Shirts members would continuously grow stronger, retaining and inheriting most of their power.

In other words, Weapon Spirits were humanity's imitation and weakened version of Alien Powers.

This was not cruelty, but experience drawn from modern warfare. Modern warfare was total war: a contest of technology, resources, and foundations... Whoever could exploit their potential to the fullest and surpass their opponent would win a total war.

The remaining fourteen took him a total of three hours. When everything was finished, it was exactly one in the afternoon.

"Clap, clap, clap..." When Wenren Sheng finished appraising the last person, Liao Zheng and Cheng Ning began applauding at the same time.

"Congratulations, Mr. Wenren Sheng. Your overall results are outstanding. Whether in the Martial Exam or the Written Exam, none of your appraisals contained an error, and your speed was also the fastest. You are the first expert to be confirmed as having passed the judge selection in advance."

"Your personal judge certificate will be produced within two days and delivered to your residence in person."

As Liao Zheng congratulated him, he stood and extended his right hand.

Wenren Sheng warmly shook his hand, looking utterly calm and composed. "As expected. You two have worked hard, though."

He seemed to have completely forgotten the hardships of preparing for the examination earlier.

"Not at all, not at all. Being able to serve an expert with such rare potential as yours is our greatest honor," Liao Zheng said with a smile.

Cheng Ning came over to shake his hand as well and said softly, "This is the power of mystic weapons. And this is only the most ordinary version—there are even more advanced versions."

"No, I am a pure person. Compared to these external things, I prefer green, all-natural power." Wenren Sheng tilted his head at a forty-five-degree angle, gazing seriously at the green trees outside the window.

The two of them really wanted to complain: Power was power. Did it have distinctions like food, between green and natural versus artificially synthesized?

You put on such an act, yet why not take out your own Alien Power first and focus on training your eight-pack...

Still, they understood that persuading him themselves was useless. They should report it upward and let the appropriate department worry about it.

And so, the judge selection came to an end.

The Black Shirts withdrew, and the two examiners left as well. They issued Wenren Sheng a certificate confirming that he had completed the assessment, allowing him to leave early.

As for the other experts, the slowest ones in previous years had not left until four days later. That was precisely why the assessment was held in a hotel: they could eat and stay here directly, preventing all sorts of outside interference.

Of course, even the slowest could not take more than seven days. After all, seven days later, it would be the successful candidates' turn to assess others...