Chapter 36

Xu Jintang was shocked once again.

Half a year... and that made him the most talented student?

She finally realized that her inscription speed was completely different from a normal person's.

Seeing that the two had finished talking, the staff member beside them spoke up as a reminder. "President Sun, then this young lady..."

Only then did Sun Yuantian remember that someone else was present.

He put away his smile and looked at Xu Jintang. "Young lady, since you'd like to try taking the assessment, I'll have the staff arrange for you to take it the day after tomorrow. As for exactly how difficult it is, you'll know once you've tried it yourself."

Xu Jintang regained her composure. "All right, the day after tomorrow it is."

Once that was settled, the staff member immediately led Xu Jintang to the back to register her personal information.

Pen in hand, Xu Jintang hesitated over the name field for a while before filling in a new name: [Qian Duoduo].

The Inscriptionist Association was organized more like a hobby club. It neither rigorously investigated every inscriptionist's personal information nor required them to register under their real identities.

The staff member gave her information a quick glance and nodded. "Your assessment is scheduled for eight in the morning the day after tomorrow. Please don't be late."

"All right, thank you."

After registering, Xu Jintang left the Inscriptionist Association.

Just as she was about to leave, Xue Zhongqi's voice sounded behind her. "Miss, please wait."

Chapter 36

Xue Zhongqi caught up with Xu Jintang and took out his folding fan with a smile, waving it as he struck a suave, dashing pose. "Allow me to introduce myself first. I'm Xue Zhongqi. I officially joined the association half a year ago and became a level-one inscriptionist. Since you're also interested in joining, we may well see each other often in the future. Why don't we exchange contact numbers so we can stay in touch?"

Xu Jintang hesitated for a moment. "No, thank you. I don't like making friends."

With that, she turned, walked around Xue Zhongqi, and continued on her way.

Xue Zhongqi smiled, watching Xu Jintang's retreating figure gradually disappear into the distance.

She had never taken any of the association's classes, yet she had signed up for the assessment right away. Either she had absolute confidence in herself, or ignorance made her fearless, and she had no idea how difficult the inscriptionist assessment was.

Xue Zhongqi waved the folding fan in his hand.

Never mind. I'll come watch the assessment the day after tomorrow, and then I'll know how good she is.

After leaving the Inscriptionist Association, Xu Jintang walked a considerable distance before taking off her disguise mask.

She breathed a sigh of relief. While there were few people around, she quickly put the mask back into her bracelet's storage space, turned around, and headed toward the military academy.

When she returned to the military academy, she had the terrible luck of running into Xue Zhongqi again.

"Oh, if it isn't our little sister Jintang, who took first place in the joint exam?" Xue Zhongqi came over with a smile to greet her.

Xu Jintang immediately frowned. Why is this guy running around everywhere?

"Mm, I've got something to do. Talk later."

After greeting him, she quickly turned and left.

Having been given the cold shoulder once again, Xue Zhongqi began to wonder.

Do I look that frightening today?

Why does everyone run away the moment they see me?

Only after returning to her dorm did Xu Jintang fully relax. She probably hadn't been discovered.

She went into the cultivation room and took out the assessment handbook the Inscriptionist Association staff member had given her.

The handbook listed the specific contents of the assessment the day after tomorrow, allowing Xu Jintang to spend another two days reviewing them thoroughly.

First task: mental power thread linking.

Simply put, she had to condense the mental power inside her into individual threads, then channel them into an inscription pen so she could freely link them into patterns.

Xu Jintang pondered for a while. She had learned this on her very first day. There was no need to review it.

She flipped straight to the next page.

Second task: formation diagram inscription.

Use mental power threads to trace a formation diagram, linking and inscribing it.

Xu Jintang: "..."

She had learned that too.

Final task: inscription attribute imbuing.

Imbue a semifinished inscription stone with the attribute elements within a spiritual plant.

Xu Jintang closed the assessment handbook and said in all seriousness, "Brother Long, I think I'm a genius now."

The Ice Soul Dragon considered for a moment. "I think the reason you can be a genius has more to do with that Scales Ability."

Xu Jintang calmed down again.

That was true.

While inscribing inscriptions, she could feel that the process went exceptionally smoothly because her star-attribute mental power was both strong enough and plentiful enough.

She could even sense that those attribute elements were somewhat afraid of her mental power, so she had experienced practically no major mishaps when imbuing inscriptions with attributes.

That also made her even more curious about what exactly was going on with this second ability.

Over the next two days, Xu Jintang barely went out except to eat. She kept working hard at practicing how to slow down her inscription-making speed.

The day of the inscriptionists' internal assessment arrived.

Xu Jintang left the academy early in the morning. After putting on her disguise mask, she strode openly into the Inscriptionist Association headquarters.

There were more people in the association today than on her last visit. Many were chatting and laughing in the assessment area. From the looks of it, they were all inscriptionists here to take the assessment.

"I heard Brother Jiang learned mental power thread linking in just three months. Your speed of comprehension really puts me to shame."

The man being praised waved a hand. "No matter how fast I am, I can't beat Xue Zhongqi. He made his first inscription after studying for just half a year. I couldn't catch up to that talent even if I tried."

"Ah, in all these years, the Inscriptionist Association has only produced one genius like Xue Zhongqi. Let's not compare ourselves to him. We should compare ourselves to our past selves. Progress is what matters."

Xu Jintang stood unobtrusively to one side, listening and gathering all sorts of information.

Then Sun Yuantian entered the assessment area with a group of staff members. "All prospective inscriptionists, please take your seats and get ready. The inscriptionists' internal assessment will begin in half an hour."

Seeing President Sun arrive, the inscriptionists dispersed to find their seats.

Xu Jintang had been the last person added to the assessment, so she had been assigned the very last seat, in the most inconspicuous corner.

After sitting down, she quickly scanned the items on the desk.

Ten attributeless stones and ten stalks of Snow Spirit Grass. Apart from those, there was nothing else.

An inscription pen was essentially an inscriptionist's weapon, so naturally, the one they were accustomed to using was best.

As such, inscriptionists generally brought their own inscription pens to assessments, and the assessment venue did not provide extras.

"First, welcome, everyone, to our association's internal inscriptionist assessment. I am Sun Yuantian, and I am also this association's acting president. I will serve as chief examiner for this assessment and be responsible for maintaining examination discipline throughout."

"There are twenty-five minutes left until the assessment begins. You may use this time to review. Once the assessment starts, you will no longer be allowed to consult any materials."

The inscriptionists immediately straightened in their seats, took out their inscription pens, and placed them neatly on their desks, quietly awaiting the start of the assessment.

As inscription pens were the most important tools used to make inscriptions, most inscriptionists spent large sums to commission high-quality pens tailored specifically to their needs.

Watching everyone around her take out outrageously expensive inscription pens, Xu Jintang suddenly looked a little embarrassed.

The inscription pen held by the girl at the next desk was clearly custom-made. Something of that quality had to cost at least tens of thousands of star coins.

And the boy seated in front of her-even his inscription pen glowed!

Xu Jintang gave a light cough and silently took out her secondhand inscription pen, placing it on the desk.

Fortunately, her seat was in the farthest corner, and no one noticed.

At that moment, Xue Zhongqi finally arrived, walking into the assessment area while waving his folding fan.

"Teacher." He greeted Sun Yuantian with a smile.

"Mm, you're just in time. The assessment is about to begin. Stay and watch. See if there are any newcomers worth nurturing," Sun Yuantian told him.

Xue Zhongqi promptly nodded. "Understood."

Seeing this, the other candidates could not keep the envy from showing in their eyes.

Xue Zhongqi had the greatest talent for inscriptions in recent decades.

Judging by President Sun's attitude, he clearly intended to groom him as the association's future successor.

When Xu Jintang saw that it was him again, she hurriedly lowered her head, propped a hand against her temple, and pretended to be deep in thought.

"Miss, we meet again." Xue Zhongqi's voice reached her ears.

Knowing she could no longer avoid him, Xu Jintang could only force a smile, look up, and give him a nod in greeting.

Xue Zhongqi lowered his gaze, sweeping it over the secondhand inscription pen on Xu Jintang's desk. When he realized it was merely the most basic kind of inscription pen, he froze.

Practically no inscriptionist would bring such a basic inscription pen to an assessment.

Does this girl know absolutely nothing about inscriptions, or is she really that confident?

A hint of scrutiny entered Xue Zhongqi's gaze as he looked at Xu Jintang. Still, he said nothing. Acting as though he had seen nothing, he silently turned and went to inspect elsewhere.

Xu Jintang shifted in her seat, took a deep breath, and calmed herself, continuing to wait for the assessment to begin.

Another twenty minutes passed.

Sun Yuantian promptly announced, "The inscriptionists' internal assessment officially begins. The first timed task is mental power thread linking. Complete the linking of ten mental power threads within half an hour."

As his words rang out, all the inscriptionists present lowered their heads and picked up their inscription pens with solemn expressions, beginning their preparations for the assessment.

Xu Jintang hunched over, secretly observing the inscriptionists around her out of the corner of her eye.

The girl at the next desk had already channeled mental power into her inscription pen, but even after a long while, despite holding her breath and concentrating as though exerting all her strength, she still had not managed to condense a single mental power thread.

Xu Jintang silently shook her head, then turned her gaze toward the boy seated in front of her.

The boy held his inscription pen, his expression somewhat calmer.

By then, he had already linked a complete mental power thread at the tip of his pen.