ASER - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Search
The young man was exhausted. Despite his 1.85-meter frame, he was like a fierce tiger shedding tears. "Teacher, am I done for?"
The teachers had been through internal testing and had seen all sorts of situations. They were particularly calm at the time. Wang Hai even said with a smile, "You're overthinking it. It's actually not bad. Look at the rankings above, you're first."
Everyone had already seen the list. The three value benchmarks A, B, and C were 35, 45, and 56 respectively.
The young man was delighted; he really was first. But he quickly realized: Damn, I'm the only one who has taken the test so far!
He wanted to say something more.
"Next, Rao Xueya." The stern-faced Jiang Chengze called the next name.
Rao Xueya was terribly nervous. Trembling, she asked, "Teacher, can I change my number?"
Jiang Chengze: "Didn't you go through the internal test? What are you panicking about?"
Rao Xueya: "It's precisely because I went through the internal test that I'm panicking."
Soon, A'Diao knew why she was panicking. Because this person took five minutes, then... her face flushed red, she shouted, "All things have spirits, descend upon the mortal world, come!"
This slogan was quite grand.
Then they saw... Buzz! A halo of light condensed, immediately becoming round and solid... Bang! A plump, round creature landed. Its hooves pawed the ground, it rolled over and got up. Then it darted across the ground, soil flying wildly as it burrowed underground, and with a whoosh, from outside... it darted out.
"Ah, a wild boar!!"
"Damn, get away, get away!"
"My butt!"
The wild boar's butt-goring was so ferocious.
A'Diao was also scared and hid behind a tree. Luckily, she wasn't the unlucky one this time. She saw a person being knocked over by the boar's goring. If not for a teacher raising a hand and shooting the boar with a gun—zap, zap, zap went the electric shock—that person's rear would have almost been pierced through.
The fallen boar left the examinees with lingering fear.
However, the wild boar also quickly dissipated. After all, it was summoned.
But Rao Xueya herself seemed very shocked. "No, the pig I summoned before wasn't like this."
Jiang Chengze: "I remember now. Was it the one that pooped on the spot and rubbed its butt everywhere?"
Rao Xueya: "..."
Please don't mention it, thank you.
But everyone outside heard it and was immediately surprised. No wonder Rao Xueya's ranking in the two tests was basically stable in the top fifty; she should have passed the internal selection easily. So it turned out she failed because of that. But why did it now become such a ferocious, aggressive wild boar?
Cheng Zhang crossed his arms, continuing to exude the charming aura of a scholar, and said lightly, "Obviously, back then she probably hadn't been exposed to Spiritual Energy for long. Her own aptitude wasn't sufficiently developed, and consequently, her talent cultivation was also insufficient. But the Jinling Academy internal selection should have been half a month ago. To grow so quickly in just half a month, it seems her C-category value benchmark is very high."
As soon as he finished speaking, the young man from before was ranked second, while the first-ranked Rao Xueya's A, B, and C benchmark scores were 65, 55, and 88 respectively.
Far higher than the previous person. And just as Cheng Zhang had said, indeed, her C-category benchmark, meaning her growth potential, was extremely high.
Everyone was increasingly convinced by Cheng Zhang. But Tian Zhongye couldn't help but ask curiously, "Is there an upper limit to this score? What's the maximum?"
"Yes, 100. But this doesn't mean that the human limit is 100. The testing equipment in Kyoto is more advanced, and the requirements are stricter. I've heard that some people have exceeded the 100 limit. Information about such individuals is classified as top secret by the imperial court and the military and is not publicly disclosed. This includes other countries as well."
"Then 88 points is already very high, right?"
"It is very high. Logically, with such high growth potential, you shouldn't have failed the internal selection. What happened?" Cheng Zhang asked Rao Xueya. The latter was in a relatively good mood at this time. Although her face was a bit pale, she glanced at Cheng Zhang and said, "The purpose of the internal selection is to crudely screen out the most talented group of people using the simplest method, to concentrate the most resources. Growth potential means it requires time, and the upper limit of growth potential also depends on basic aptitude. The pig I summoned back then, firstly, didn't have strong attack power, and secondly, it consumed too much of my Spiritual Energy. My A and B scores were too low; just having a high C score was useless. But the teachers also reminded me to work hard in this recruitment, and that my chances of being admitted are very high."
In other words, she was a backup candidate for Jinling Academy. Highly likely to be favored, but not the first-choice "true love." But from this, one could also see that most of the people in the previous internal selection were very strong. Of course, perceptive people like Cheng Zhang and A'Diao keenly noticed that when Rao Xueya spoke just now, the corners of her mouth drooped, and her eyes were somewhat evasive.
There were other reasons why she was eliminated—among those in Jinling Academy's internal selection, there must have been some who got in through connections. Their results might not have been bad, but they used other means to reach an agreement with Jinling Academy, to eliminate those like Rao Xueya who had some aptitude but weren't top-tier.
Perhaps Rao Xueya and others like her participating in this recruitment had already gone through some behind-the-scenes compromises.
Whether you say this kind of operation by Jinling Academy was shady, it's hard to say. A'Diao could see that people like Rao Xueya and Lin Yunmo didn't seem to harbor deep grudges or bitterness; it seemed they just avoided the topic and didn't want to talk about it.
Perhaps those families who used benefits to secure internal selection spots at Jinling Academy not only gave benefits to Jinling Academy but also gave benefits to people like Rao Xueya.
It was a mutually agreeable arrangement.
"If I could be sure I'd pass the recruitment, and also receive significant benefits for being eliminated from the internal selection, and furthermore, befriend certain influential powers, weighing the pros and cons, if it were me, I'd be willing too."
"Moreover, another benefit was during the aptitude test, the Spiritual Energy concentration in the Spirit Gathering Array was very strong, comparable to a marrow cleansing, which was a benefit not to be missed."
A'Diao thought to herself, this was indeed the optimal choice for ordinary people.
And indeed, it was so. People like Rao Xueya were definitely able to enter Jinling Academy.
Don't even talk about fairness or unfairness; there's no such thing as absolute fairness in this world.
While A'Diao was pondering, the third person went in. Their performance was mediocre, actually lower than the first person.
Never mind urinating, they only released a wisp of water vapor.
The A, B, and C scores of the fourth and fifth persons were unremarkable, basically all below an average of 30.
"My goodness, it's this difficult? It seems like the general aptitude is quite low." Tian Zhongxiang became a little worried. Looking at Rao Xueya again, everyone felt that this girl's C-category benchmark of 88 points was ridiculously high. No wonder those few teachers were quite amiable towards her and even chatted with her.
They probably already had a good idea in mind.
The first examinee who took the test clearly showed joy on his face. So his urine, er, no, his Yellow River water wasn't so bad after all.
"The Spiritual Energy absorbed in the early stages is all used for marrow cleansing and impurity removal. Spirit Power hasn't accumulated in the body yet. How powerful can you expect the manifested talent to be? Your urine is already considered quite good."
"But that Rao Xueya's wild boar is really strong. I wonder when she grows stronger in the future, will she summon a herd of wild boars, or will the wild boar turn into a pig demon."
Everyone was discussing animatedly, the topic centered on the wild boar, making Rao Xueya very depressed. However, she also looked forward to other people's results.
Yesterday's assessment didn't count for much, it could only be considered an appetizer. Today's was the real deal: aptitude + talent.
Her aptitude ranked 11th. She really wanted to know how the talents of the ten people ranked in the top ten for aptitude were, and whether they could surpass her. If not, her total score might allow her to move into the top ten. Then her treatment in the future would be different, possibly even better than passing the internal selection. Anyway, her uncle, who worked in a government office, had secretly reminded her: the internal selection looked impressive, and there were indeed some prodigies, but there was a lot of "padding" in the middle and lower tiers. It wasn't as solid as the recruitment, which had a higher intrinsic value.
She felt it made a lot of sense. At least she felt that people like Song Ling, Cheng Zhang, and Bai He were already monstrously talented, much stronger than others, apart from the few prodigies who passed the internal selection that day.
The pace of the subsequent assessments quickened. Because, as Cheng Zhang had said, for those with ordinary talents, the awakening time was very fast. All sorts of talents emerged, a wide variety—some turned into Chinese cabbages, others controlled wind... To be honest, none of them felt the wind, but the instrument detected it, said it was there, and even said it was cold wind, giving a not-so-low score.
This was truly incomprehensible.
"Dr. Cheng" was online again. He said pedantically, "If I'm not mistaken, it's because he can control that wisp of wind. We can't feel it, perhaps because it's still very weak, or perhaps because he controlled that wisp of wind to blow towards the instrument. By bringing it closer to the instrument, the detection is more profound, so the score is naturally high. But this also means his control is very strong, and the score is relatively reliable."
Even that works?
Xu Luo was very annoyed that his "knowledgeable genius" persona was being usurped by "Dr. Cheng." With a cold face, he said lightly, "Then if Rao Xueya had just controlled that wild boar to gore the instrument, wouldn't her score have been even higher?"
"Of course. It's a combat talent; being able to kill is best." Cui Yun suddenly replied airily, a hint of contempt in his eyes for these people.
Compared to himself, who had been out fighting for his family's power from an early age, these students were terribly green. They probably thought studying was just studying; they probably hadn't even killed a chicken.
Xu Luo was surprised, and the others were also stunned. Cheng Zhang's eyes flickered, but he said nothing, clearly tacitly agreeing.
The Tian siblings exchanged a glance, somewhat uneasy. A'Diao, who had actually killed someone, put on an air of someone who had never seen the world, her terror visible on her face. She touched her neck and said slowly, "Isn't it good for everyone to value peace? Why must there be fighting and killing? Fighting for toilet stalls and strangling people is one thing, but even exams have to involve bloodshed? It sounds terrifying. I'm a little scared."
She clutched Tian Zhongxiang's arm, her face pale, appearing delicate and unable to care for herself.
The Tian siblings actually felt quite sorry for her and comforted her, telling her not to be afraid. But others...
From Rao Xueya +899!
From Song Ling +199!
From Cui Yun +438!
A'Diao: "???"
No, Little Goddess Song, why are you suddenly sending me mental energy!
However, because she was "terrified," A'Diao ran under a tree to rest. While paying attention to the upcoming talent tests of others, she took out her phone to search for information.
What she didn't know was that due to the investigation into the case of her attack, in order to investigate that assassin mole, the signals within Jinling Academy were currently being monitored. Even this was possible?
Of course, it was possible. As Jinling's strongest educational department, Jinling Academy possessed significant administrative power. Especially after the resurgence of Spiritual Energy, the principal could even directly bypass the authority of the prefect to thoroughly investigate Jinling's entire intelligence system.
At this moment, the principal had given Zhou Jiang certain authority. The scope of the thorough investigation covered the mobile phone signals used by all personnel within Jinling Academy.
Therefore, at this moment, Zhou Jiang could clearly see many people's online information.
Especially some people related to A'Diao... and of course, that included herself.
What was this girl searching for?
Zhou Jiang's gaze was intense; he thought he could find some information related to the case. Then he saw these search queries.
—May I ask, is the principal of Jinling Academy awesome?
—May I ask, which awesome figures has the principal of Jinling Academy taken photos with? Does he stand in the C-spot for photos? If he doesn't stand in the C-spot, will there be drama?
—May I ask, is the principal of Jinling Academy imposing? Has he ever killed anyone?
—May I ask, if the principal of Jinling Academy killed someone, did he pay any price for it?
—May I ask, does the principal of Jinling Academy have a private super spaceship? A super flying car? An super-awesome ocean-view mansion? Does he accept gifts during festivals? How many wives has he married?
—If he's not poor, does he love money? If he doesn't love money, does he cherish students? Especially those poor students who look well-behaved, delicate, have great potential, and are particularly cute.
Zhou Jiang: "..."
I usually don't laugh, unless I can't help it.
Zhou Jiang really couldn't hold it in. He immediately forwarded this information to the principal. The latter was drinking coffee while handling complex administrative affairs. He had taken a sip and hadn't swallowed yet when he glanced at Zhou Jiang's message, thinking there were results from the investigation. But when he saw this information, right then...
Pfft!!!
The white-haired principal, with his immortal-like and dignified bearing, spat.
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