Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Su Luoheng enrolled. He had become familiar with most of the dormitory and teaching areas. As for the Testing Zone, he couldn't go there yet without a teacher to lead him.
Normally, two new students shared a dorm room.
But that wasn't an absolute rule.
Temporary arrangements were bound to have oversights, leaving a few dorm rooms empty, and Su Luoheng happened to be one of the lucky ones. Still, with no one disturbing his meditation, it suited him just fine.
Over the past three days, aside from cultivating, he had spent his free time wandering around campus.
The most immediate impression the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy gave him was just how enormous it was.
The teaching and dormitory areas alone covered roughly the same amount of land as Maple Leaf City, where he lived.
The teaching area was lined with towering buildings, and every year group had its own teaching building. Even the sixth-years, who were mostly taught by instructors, were no exception. Every corner was steeped in the atmosphere of Soul Guidance Technology. It was obvious at a glance that the Soul Tools here were highly advanced.
The dormitory area, meanwhile, was full of all sorts of curious little gadgets: Soul Tools for training agility, speed, strength, reaction time, and the like.
Su Luoheng had tried nearly all of them.
They were genuinely helpful, but they weren't cheap.
After trying them a few times for the novelty, he stopped.
He had brought five thousand-gold-coin notes with him when he left for school, which seemed like a lot. But that was also his living allowance for the coming academic year, and until he could earn money himself, he had to be careful with it. After all, he was studying to become a Soul Engineer, and rare metals had to be bought with money.
When he left home, his father had given him two porcelain bottles of pills. One contained a Mystic Water Pill, which Su Luoheng's father had gone to great expense to obtain. The other held a relatively easy-to-find Soul Ascension Pill.
Before he left, his father had specifically advised him on when to take them.
The Mystic Water Pill was meant to be taken when he was close to breaking through to level nineteen. Its gentle medicinal properties would cleanse his muscles and bones while helping him reach level twenty and become a Soul Grandmaster.
According to his father, it would also be best to wait until level twenty-nine before taking the Soul Ascension Pill.
His Soul Power had already reached level seventeen. At his current rate of progress, it wouldn't be long before he reached level nineteen. Then he could take the Mystic Water Pill and break through to Soul Grandmaster in one fell swoop.
At last, the three-day enrollment period came to an end, and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy finished accepting new students. Today was the official start of the school year, and the freshmen were about to face their most important examination.
The main purpose of this examination was to place the new students into classes according to their respective Soul Tool skills.
Students at the same level would be grouped together, making it easier for the teachers to instruct them.
The freshmen were to gather at the small field.
By the time Su Luoheng finished breakfast in the cafeteria and arrived, quite a few new students had already gathered on the field.
As usual, Director Lin Jiayi took the stage.
"Welcome, all 1,784 of you, to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy."
"..."
After delivering an impassioned speech, he wrapped up amid applause from the students and teachers. It also marked the imminent start of the freshmen's examination.
"Lan Yu, Qu Li, Wu Liqun, Wu Louqi... Su Luoheng, Chen Yu."
Just as everyone was wondering what form the examination would take, a female teacher who looked to be in her thirties stepped onto the platform. She wore a neat blue dress, and her slender figure, fair skin, and dignified bearing made an elegant impression. She picked up the roster and called out a string of names in a clear voice. There must have been thirty or forty in all, and Su Luoheng was among them.
"Those whose names I just called, step forward."
The teacher's cool, even voice rang across the field.
Chapter 28: The Exam Begins!
More than thirty students filed out and formed a line. Su Luoheng went with the crowd and took a place in the middle.
Soon, every student whose name had been called had stepped forward.
The female teacher swept her gaze over them, then turned her head. "Teacher Li, I have everyone assigned to me. I'll take them to the second-year examination now."
"Mm. Take the children along."
The female teacher nodded slightly and led the group toward the teaching building.
Unlike the other freshmen heading to the first-year teaching building for their examinations, they were going to the second-year building.
Since these students had already become Level 1 Soul Engineers in their entrance examinations, they would take this placement examination alongside the current second-years.
Soon, the group arrived at the examination room and took their seats.
The female teacher who had brought them there began explaining the examination rules.
"My name is Ran Ruobing, and I'm the teacher in charge of your freshmen's examination."
"The academy's year-level examinations consist of a written test and a practical test. The written test comes first, and you'll have one hour to complete it. To prevent cheating, all Soul Tools must be handed in before the test. If I catch anyone hiding a Soul Tool or cheating, they'll be disqualified immediately. A first offense means you can't take the advancement examination for a year; a second offense, two years. A third offense means expulsion."
Ran Ruobing paused, her sharp gaze passing over the students' faces.
"Does everyone understand?"
The students answered in unison.
It seemed her warning had intimidated them.
"Good."
Ran Ruobing nodded in satisfaction, her cool tone softening slightly. "You have five minutes now. Put anything unrelated to the examination on the podium."
As soon as she finished speaking, the students rushed to the front to hand in their Soul Tools.
Most of the freshmen checked themselves especially carefully, afraid that a moment's carelessness might affect the examination.
By comparison, Su Luoheng was much more relaxed.
After all, he had taken this sort of test nearly a thousand times in his previous life. He was already used to it, so naturally he wasn't as nervous as these first-timers.
He casually took off his Storage Soul Tool bracelet and Ice Crystal Bracer and placed them on the podium.
The Storage Soul Tool bracelet was a Level 3 Soul Tool, so it couldn't hold the Ice Crystal Bracer, which was one level higher.
Su Luoheng's unusual reaction caught the teacher's attention.
The five minutes passed quickly.
Ran Ruobing checked the time, her lovely brows knitting slightly. "You have half a minute left. Check yourselves carefully. If anyone is still carrying a Soul Tool, don't blame me for showing no leniency."
"..."
"Five, four, three, two, one."
The countdown ended, and not a single freshman left their seat.
A glint of icy light flashed through Ran Ruobing's beautiful eyes as she swept her sharp gaze over the students. A bone-chilling cold seemed to follow wherever she looked. At last, her gaze settled on a boy in the corner, and a beautiful yet icy smile curved her lips.
"Looks like someone didn't take my warning to heart..."
She walked straight over to him, raised a hand, and pointed toward the door. Her voice was cold. "Get out. You're disqualified."
"Teacher Ran, I... I don't understand what you mean."
The boy trembled slightly, his face pale and his lips quivering as he tried to explain himself.
Ran Ruobing saw no reason to spare him any more courtesy. She flicked a hand, and with a clatter, a bracelet-shaped Storage Soul Tool hit the floor.
The boy's legs shook uncontrollably, despair filling his eyes.
The evidence was conclusive. There was no way to talk his way out of it.
He was finished.
"Get out."
"Teacher, please give me another chance. The examination hasn't even started. I just lost my head for a moment. I promise it won't happen again—"
Ran Ruobing pointed at the door, her icy gaze fixed on him.
"Leave at once. I won't say it again."
The boy didn't dare say another word. He hurriedly picked up the bracelet and slunk out of the classroom, regretting his moment of folly.
But there was no medicine for regret.
Besides, she had already given him a chance.
Seeing the boy driven from the examination room in such a sorry state made the whole class grow more solemn.
Ran Ruobing gave a discreet nod of satisfaction, thinking, Senior Brother was right. These kids are slippery. I have to make an example of someone and give them a good warning before they'll listen.
Looks like it worked~
The little brat had just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
"The examination begins now."
As Ran Ruobing spoke, she raised her slender arm. In the next moment, sheets of paper seemed to be drawn through the air and landed neatly on the students' desks.
The freshmen quickly put what had just happened behind them and began answering the questions in earnest, their pens flying.
Su Luoheng did the same.
The questions tested basic Soul Engineer knowledge, along with the theory of Level 1 Core Arrays.
Since he had already mastered Level 1 Core Arrays, Su Luoheng found the test effortless. In less than half an hour, he had finished more than half the questions.
In the same amount of time, even the fastest students had completed only a quarter.
Su Luoheng's speed caught Ran Ruobing's attention again.
As she passed by him, she glanced at his test paper. When she saw the name "Su Luoheng," a flicker of realization crossed her beautiful eyes.
So that was who he was~
Time flew by, and the hour was over in the blink of an eye.
"The written test is over."
As soon as she spoke, every student stopped writing.
Ran Ruobing suddenly swept out her arms. The next moment, all the test papers seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and flew back into her hands in perfect order.
"You have two minutes to gather your belongings. Meet outside the teaching building in five minutes."
After collecting the test papers, Ran Ruobing left the examination room with those words.
"Finally, it's over~"
"Did you draw that Spirit Gathering Array?"
"What was the first formation in the diagram-filling question?"
"..."
As the test papers were collected and sorted, the students began discussing the examination.
Naturally, some were delighted, while others were dismayed.
Before long, Ran Ruobing reappeared. The freshmen immediately lined up in front of the teaching building, as though the shadow of the student who had been driven out of the examination room hadn't faded so easily.
She led them to the Testing Zone for the practical examination.
There were testing classrooms in the teaching building too, but with more than thirty students taking the examination at once, along with the Soul Tool tests, the Testing Zone was more convenient.
On the way, Ran Ruobing explained the key points of the examination.
As the name suggested, the practical test assessed everyone's ability to make Soul Tools.
Advancement examinations consisted of a written test and a practical test. The practical test accounted for seventy percent of the total score, making it the most important part of the examination.
Chapter 29: Soul Tool Examination
Knowledge gained from books was always shallow; only by putting it into practice could one truly understand it.
Before you continue