The square teemed with people like a surging tide.
Batch after batch of children of the proper age entered the various Detection Arrays in an orderly fashion under the instructors' guidance.
As the arrays activated, gentle rays of light rose from the ground and flowed over each child's body like running water.
The next moment, elemental pillars of different colors shot into the sky—red, blue, cyan, yellow... each different in color and height.
The taller the pillar, the stronger the elemental affinity it represented.
At the same time, on the other side of the square, a large number of Alchemy instruments began operating in tandem. Spiritual power intensity, soul Stability, elemental control precision, potential for law perception...
The data was recorded item by item, eventually compiled into a complete aptitude profile for every apprentice.
Benjamin stood at the edge of the square, watching the lively scene before him with a trace of emotion rising in his heart.
Several thousand years ago, when Noren Academy No. 147 had first been established, the entire Academy had contained only a few hundred apprentices.
Back then, on admissions day, the square had been practically empty. Only a sparse few dozen people stood in line before the Detection Arrays—not even enough to fill half a football field. But now...
Children from hundreds of affiliated planes had gathered here.
The long lines stretched from the Detection Arrays all the way to the outskirts of the square, then wound along the streets and looped back several times.
Elemental pillars kept rising, then fading away.
Crimson red, icy blue, emerald green, golden yellow...
All manner of colors intertwined, like a slowly flowing sea of light, bathing the entire square in incomparable splendor.
Whether in numbers or overall aptitude, they had long surpassed anything from those days.
Just then,