The Lazy Examiner

The Lazy Examiner

It was admissions season, and the entrance exams for the major Explorer Academies were generating plenty of buzz. The forums had quite a few related threads.

Aside from Ningdong Academy, Puhua Mountain Academy was also holding its exams. Puhua Mountain had begun a day earlier, and today, it had already completed its third test.

Puhua Mountain's third test required candidates to venture deep into mountains and forests inhabited by exotic beasts and find hidden treasures.

Those exotic beasts were raised by Puhua Mountain. Although their ferocity had been greatly reduced, they were still highly dangerous. Depending on their realm, the treasures candidates needed to find were buried in different locations. The deeper they went, the stronger the exotic beasts became.

In this test, seeded candidate Zhuge Zi ventured all the way into the central area and seized the treasure while under attack from several exotic beasts, earning the highest score.

There was even a short surveillance clip attached. In the center of the footage, a young girl with shoulder-length hair stood in the jungle. Facing the monsters' attacks, her figure flickered repeatedly, appearing somewhere different each time. With her extraordinary agility, she evaded the monsters.

"This isn't just movement technique anymore, is it..." Luo Jun replayed it. "There's no movement trajectory at all. Could it be teleportation?"

The Foundation Establishment Realm clearly did not possess such an ability. That meant Zhuge Zi had already reached the Heart Refining Realm and possessed her own unique power.

"Comparisons really are infuriating. We're both candidates, so why is the gap this huge..."

As he continued scrolling, Luo Jun's eyes suddenly lit up.

"New talent appears at Ningdong Academy—White Wristband candidate challenges an Advanced Mechanical Puppet!"

He clicked in and found a short video beneath the simple post. It was footage of his battle against the puppet!

The video was only a little over thirty seconds long. The poster had probably started recording halfway through. For the first twenty-odd seconds, it was just Luo Jun running away, while the final ten seconds showed him pushing the Mechanical Puppet out of bounds.

The post was not particularly popular, but there were still a few scattered replies beneath it.

Yunzhou Ni Song Ge: What's so impressive about that? He just kept running!

I Can Change Lightbulbs: Didn't you finish watching it? The kid pushed the Advanced Mechanical Puppet away at the end.

Yunzhou Ni Song Ge: I saw it. What's so impressive about a first-tier Advanced Mechanical Puppet? Anyone can deal with that kind of clumsy thing!

Laughing at Life: It isn't easy for a White Wristband to do that. I think the kid has potential.

Yunzhou Ni Song Ge: Potential my ass. You can tell from his movements that his physique and spiritual aptitude are both mediocre. Even if he has a little cleverness, he'll still be useless in the future. I'd guess he might not even pass the next two tests.

Three Pounds for Ten Bucks: @Yunzhou Ni Song Ge. Big words. Which academy's top student are you?

Yunzhou Ni Song Ge: Academies are for bookworms like you. Real experts temper themselves in actual combat!

Overall, people thought fairly well of him. Only this Yunzhou Ni Song Ge kept singing a different tune, but trolls like that existed everywhere online, so Luo Jun did not care much.

That said, the troll was not entirely wrong. In a world of Vital Energy Cultivation, physique, spiritual aptitude, and amplification were the foremost talents. The talent Luo Jun displayed was quite ordinary, so the post did not attract much interest. Its view count was low, and after a few refreshes, it sank out of sight.

Luo Jun did not mind either. As long as he cultivated diligently, he would have plenty of chances to make a name for himself in the future.

Better sleep early. He still had an exam to take tomorrow morning!

Early the next morning, Luo Jun happily dug into his food in the cafeteria.

It had to be said that the food here was genuinely excellent. From everyday congee, buns, and tofu pudding to Western bread, ham, and small cakes; from affordable Jianbing Guazi and hot dry noodles to more upscale roast duck, steak, and caviar. Basically, anything you could think of for breakfast could be found here.

Luo Jun piled two large trays full of assorted dishes. Just as he was wolfing them down, someone sat across from him.

"Eat a few more bites." An annoying voice reached Luo Jun's ears. Han Yuri wore a cold smile as he snorted, "This might be your last meal!"

Luo Jun frowned and looked up at Han Yuri. "Want to fight? I'm ready anytime! We'll decide both victory and death!"

"I'm not some orphan like you who doesn't know the rules!" Han Yuri gave a cold snort. "You probably don't know this, but it's customary every year for the difficulty to rise sharply starting with the third test. Candidates may even face mortal danger."

"Danger? Same goes for you!" Luo Jun did not like being called an orphan, but his plate had been picked too clean. He instinctively turned his head, looking for a dish that smelled strong, was hot, and would be hard to wash off... That pepper soup over there looked pretty good.

"Same goes for me?" Han Yuri seemed not to notice Luo Jun's intentions. He smiled faintly. "I'm different from you. I came prepared."

"Hm? Ling Xin!" Before Luo Jun could get up to fetch the pepper soup, Han Yuri had already risen and chased after a graceful figure passing not far away.

Luo Jun turned to look, only to see this guy stop Ling Xin while she was getting food. The way he carried himself made him look like a peacock spreading its tail.

"You got away fast!" Luo Jun snorted. Then he suddenly noticed Ling Xin glance his way, sigh softly, and reveal a hint of... disappointment in her eyes?

Was she looking at me? Luo Jun looked around and confirmed there was no one beside him. When he looked back at Ling Xin, she had already shaken off Han Yuri's pestering, and her gaze had shifted elsewhere.

"Was that just my imagination?" Luo Jun scratched his head. "No, there was clearly some disappointment in her eyes. I advanced, so what was there to be disappointed about?"

Ling Xin's look left him baffled enough that he even forgot to look for the class monitor who had slipped into the crowd.

At exactly eight o'clock, all candidates who had passed the first two tests gathered in the open space outside the cafeteria.

Luo Jun gave them a rough look-over. There were around six hundred people who had made it this far.

More than twelve hundred people had taken the exam this year. In other words, the first two tests had eliminated half the candidates.

Those who could obtain an Admission Ticket had already passed an initial round of selection and were considered elites. Yet even so, half of them had been eliminated, which showed just how difficult the exams were.

Based on experience from previous years, the final pass rate was only around twenty percent. That came to just over two hundred people. In other words, more than half of the candidates present would still be eliminated in the next two tests.

Under the organizers' direction, the candidates formed up into square formations. Several young staff members recorded everyone's Admission Ticket information, and once everything was confirmed, a lazy-looking female stood before the group.

She looked quite young, probably under thirty. She was slim and pretty, but her long hair was a mess. Her top looked as though it had been washed countless times, with some fuzz and fading. Its hem and collar hung loose, unintentionally revealing half a shoulder. She wore a pair of faded jeans that were equally loose and misshapen. If not for a somewhat cracked leather belt, they would probably have fallen off. Combined with slippers and sleepy eyes, her sloppy appearance made it difficult to associate her with an academy teacher.

"Ah~" The lazy woman yawned, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and pulled a note from her pocket. In a listless voice, she read, "Hello, everyone. Congratulations on passing the second test, but don't be proud. What awaits you next is the real challenge. I am the examiner for your third test, Yu..."

At that point, she froze, flipped the page in her hand, and continued reading, "Qiudi..."

Hey, even if you were reading from a script, did you really need to read your own name off it too?

The candidates were speechless, and the words "unreliable" seemed to appear behind the examiner's back.

"I am a theory instructor of the Creation Faction. If any of you choose the Creation Faction path after enrollment, you may consult me... Though it would be best if you didn't."

That last line definitely was not in the script!

"Alright... Next, the rules for the third test..."

Yu Qiudi flipped another page, glanced at the densely packed words on the script, and frowned slightly. Then she beckoned a staff member over and stuffed the script into his hands. "You explain it..."

Hey, she was passing the responsibility to a student because it was too much trouble!

The staff member was also a student who had been dragged in as free labor. He did not dare disobey the teacher's orders, so he took the script and began explaining the rules...