The candidate's eyes dimmed, and he shook his head, knowing that he had failed the exam again.
By this time, it was already dark outside.
Five hours had passed.
Xu Jintang had been waiting for a long time, had already fallen asleep on the table.
Sun Yuantian glanced at Xu Jintang, who was already asleep. "Ahem, the last student at the last table, wake up."
The girl at the next table quickly stood up and patted Xu Jintang's arm, "Sister, the exam is over."
Xu Jintang sat up abruptly, his mind instantly clearing.
She quickly adjusted her posture and sat up straight.
Sun Yuantian surveyed the entire room and announced, "Three Inscription Masters have passed this round of assessments. Due to time constraints, the third round of assessments will be held tomorrow morning. Those who did not pass are encouraged to continue their efforts and are welcome to apply again next time."
Xu Jintang was stunned on the spot.
Today has almost worn me out; will I have to stay up all morning again tomorrow?!
She rubbed her temples, looking exasperated, stood up, sighed, put away the inscription pen on the table, and turned to leave the examination room.
Sun Yuantian and Xue Zhongqi exchanged a glance.
Xue Zhongqi walked over and said, "Teacher, this Miss Qian was clearly hiding her true abilities during today's assessment. Why do you think she did that?"
Sun Yuantian slapped his forehead helplessly, "Do you think everyone is as flamboyant as you? But..." He changed the subject, "If this candidate passes tomorrow's assessment smoothly, I plan to invite her to participate in the competition with you in five months. What do you think?"
Xue Zhongqi was taken aback. "She definitely has the ability. If we can have her join us, our association's chances of winning will naturally be much higher."
"Okay." Sun Yuantian walked out of the assessment area with his hands behind his back. "Then it's settled for now."
Chapter 38
The next morning, Xu Jintang arrived at the Inscriptionist Association on time to participate in the final assessment: Inscription Attribute Addition.
There were only three people in the exam room today.
Xu Jintang sat in the middle. Since her strength had already been exposed yesterday, she completed the assessment of additional attributes at a normal speed after the assessment began.
[Examinee: Qian Duoduo ]
[The third assessment, inscription attribute application, has been completed in 43 minutes and 20 seconds.]
When the light screen popped up indicating the completion of the assessment, the two inscription master candidates nearby were stunned. The inscriptions they were creating were ruined in that moment of distraction.
Sun Yuantian reminded the other candidates, "Please concentrate and continue the assessment."
After saying that, he went to Xu Jintang's exam seat, bent down and picked up the Inscription Talisman with added attributes that was placed on the table.
He held it up to the light, examined it carefully, and then nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. Congratulations on successfully passing the three tests for an Inscription Master and officially becoming a member of our association."
"Also, Miss Qian, could I possibly take two minutes of your time?" Sun Yuantian asked with a smile.
Xu Jintang looked up, her gaze questioning. "Did the president want to see me about something?"
Sun Yuantian shook his head and smiled. "I can't possibly be called the president; I'm just an acting president at best. Miss Qian, this way please, let's go inside and talk."
Xu Jintang pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Okay."
She had heard the staff mention President Sun's name a few times when she came to the association yesterday.
It is said that President Sun was originally only the vice chairman. Later, the chairman of the association encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation and had to temporarily go into seclusion to seek a breakthrough. So before going into seclusion, the former chairman handed over the task of managing the association to Sun Yuantian.
This acting chairmanship lasted for nearly five years. Over time, almost no one in the association mentioned the title of acting chairman anymore; everyone just called him President Sun.
Xu Jintang followed him into the VIP lounge. As soon as they entered, they saw Xue Zhongqi sitting in the room, waving a folding fan and looking cool.
She turned to Sun Yuantian, " President Sun, please feel free to speak your mind."
Sun Yuantian's expression turned serious. " Zhongqi, this matter also concerns you. Listen to this as well."
Xue Zhongqi quickly stood up, closed his folding fan, bowed, and said, "Yes."
" Miss Qian, the reason I invited you here today is to ask if you would be willing to represent our association in the All-Interstellar Inscription Master Competition five months from now."
Sun Yuantian said sincerely.
Xu Jintang hesitated for a moment, "Is this competition entirely for Inscription Masters?"
Xue Zhongqi added from the side, "That's right, it's similar to the All-Interstellar Ability User Competition, except that the Inscription Master competition tests inscription speed, inscription success rate, and inscription accuracy, etc."
"In the world of inscriptionists, this competition is considered a grand event. Inscriptionist Association from various star systems send their best members to participate, all to showcase their association's strength and capabilities to the entire intergalactic world."
"However, there is an age limit for this competition; participants must be under twenty years old. Currently, within our association, only you and I meet the age requirement and have a very good engraving skill level."
Sun Yuantian nodded, "I believe in Miss Qian's abilities, which go beyond what she's shown on the surface. Since she has such strength, why not go to the competition and compete with other outstanding peers?"
"This..." Xu Jintang hesitated.
Xue Zhongqi glanced over and dropped a bombshell. "The champion of the Inscription Master Competition will receive a whopping one million star coins."
How much? One million!
Xu Jintang's eyes lit up. " President Sun, this competition sounds very interesting. But I've never participated in one before, so I'm afraid there are many things I don't understand."
Sun Yuantian smiled. "Since Miss Qian is willing, that makes things easy. Zhongqi has already participated in one such competition before. When the Inscription Master Competition opens, he will go with you. If you have any questions or concerns, just ask him."
Xue Zhongqi nodded in agreement, "With me here, you can rest assured."
Xu Jintang nodded, "Okay, then I'm willing to participate."
"That's great. Don't worry, Miss Qian, no matter what your final ranking is, the association will not treat you unfairly," Sun Yuantian immediately promised.
Xu Jintang cleared his throat. "President, I heard that the association has some advanced inscription tutorials, as well as some kind of Star Attribute Spiritual Power cultivation technique?"
This was her ultimate purpose in coming to participate in the membership assessment, even at the cost of revealing her identity.
Sun Yuantian was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood Xu Jintang's intention.
He nodded with a smile, "Indeed, as the headquarters, our Federation Association naturally possesses the most diverse and highest-quality advanced inscription tutorials and specialized cultivation techniques."
Xue Zhongqi shook his folding fan and looked Xu Jintang up and down with a smile, "But Miss Qian, what you just mentioned needs to be exchanged for contribution points. For example, the Star Attribute Spiritual Power cultivation technique you mentioned requires at least 100,000 contribution points."
"How do I get contribution points?" Xu Jintang asked.
Sun Yuantian explained, "Our association not only has cultivation techniques, but also precious materials that can be used to create Inscription Talisman. However, the association doesn't provide these materials free of charge. Inscription masters need to complete certain tasks or submit enough Inscription Talisman to exchange for contribution points of corresponding value. Then, they can use these contribution points to exchange for these resources."
At this point, Sun Yuantian's face revealed a hint of pride, "This exclusive cultivation technique for stellar attribute spiritual power is indeed extremely beneficial to those with stellar attribute abilities. Currently, only our Federation Association possesses it, but precisely because of this, this technique is extremely precious and can only be obtained by those who have made exceptionally high contributions to the Association."
Xu Jintang understood this.
If just anyone could get their hands on this technique, then it wouldn't be worth anything.
Xu Jintang pondered for a moment, "If I can win the championship for our association at the Inscription Master Tournament, could I borrow this technique?"
Sun Yuantian's eyes lit up. "Of course! If Miss Qian can really win the championship, she can choose any of the cultivation techniques and rare treasures stored in the association."
"This Inscription Master Competition isn't as simple as you think. I participated last year and only got ninth place," Xue Zhongqi quietly reminded him from the side.
Xu Jintang turned his head hesitantly, "Weren't you the most talented person in the last ten years or so? You only got ninth place?"
Xue Zhongqi's lips twitched. "The best talent doesn't necessarily mean the strongest ability. I'm only sixteen this year, but the age limit for this competition is twenty and under. Many nineteen- or twenty-year-old participants have been learning inscription for longer than me, so their abilities are naturally stronger."
Xu Jintang stroked his chin.
So, for Xue Zhongqi to achieve ninth place at the age of sixteen is quite a good result.
"President, let's discuss this matter again, let's discuss it again," Xu Jintang replied with a dry laugh.
Sun Yuantian didn't make things difficult for her, explaining with a smile, "If you want to exchange for a cultivation technique, you can do it if you accumulate 100,000 contribution points. You can pay more attention to the association's announcements and tasks; some tasks offer quite a few contribution points."
"Okay, thank you."
After learning about the procedures for joining the association, Xu Jintang left.
Watching Xu Jintang leave, Sun Yuantian withdrew his gaze. " Zhongqi, in my opinion, this Miss Qian's engraving skills are in no way inferior to yours. Moreover, she is much more low-key than you; you should learn from her in the future."
Xue Zhongqi replied with a smile, "Indeed, I will have to work hard to learn from Miss Qian in the future."
Sun Yuantian nodded in satisfaction.
He could tell that Qian Duoduo was deliberately hiding her true abilities in the assessment.
Therefore, this girl's true strength may be even more astonishing than it appears.
That's when the idea of inviting someone to participate came about.
The Federation Inscriptionist Association headquarters has achieved its current status thanks to the outstanding performances of its students in competitions time and time again. And this year, it has even discovered two genius inscription masters in succession.
In any case, the association made a profit.
After returning to the military academy, Xu Jintang went straight to his dormitory and logged into the Inscriptionist Association's intranet with his newly registered account.
Upon successful login, a task panel pops up in front of me: