Early morning, before the sun had risen, Xu Nan was woken up by the noise in the building.
Many people were spreading news amongst themselves, and there were a lot of curses around.
"What happened?" the arrogant person from last night asked.
Before the others had gotten over the shock, someone came banging on the door. Xu Nan was the closest, and he went to answer it.
A fatty stood there in his underpants. He was Xu Nan's classmate.
"The news is out. The government has released news that they'll be setting up a new department. The first test procedure within the country will be starting.
"It'll be starting today. For our school, it'll be in the afternoon!
"Check out the notification in the group chat. The counselor and teachers have all ascertained this repeatedly. The location is at the theater!"
After the fatty reported the news, he then ran to the next room to notify the people of the news, panting heavily.
Everyone appeared stunned.
It took them a while before one of them turned on their phone, looked at it for a very long time, and let out a cold gasp.
"The world is changing."
...
It was true that the world was changing.
People with superpowers had been creating a fuss on the internet and attracted the public's curiosity.
The various countries seemed to be okay about this, as if they had agreed between themselves to acknowledge the Puluo World's existence, as well as the birth of job-holders.
The concrete time was about 6 a.m.
Some people discovered the Thousand Awn Agency's website when they were browsing through their Weibo. When they tapped in, they immediately discovered a whole new world.
The Thousand Awn Agency's website was independent by itself, and its homepage was still quite new, with only some simple description on it, as well as a basic introduction of the Puluo World.
According to rumors, the government had specially set up a [Emergency Response Team to matters of Puluo World], which was composed mainly of members from the upper-echelons of the Thousand Awn Agency.
At 7 p.m., the news broadcast officially announced the news. Thereafter, there might be a news conference held for this.
Xu Nan browsed all the related information. The only useful information online was from the Thousand Awn Agency's website. Although no official news had been released, since the Thousand Awn Agency's website had appeared, it meant that it wouldn't be long before an official stand was made.
As for foreign news, countries like the United States and England had also set up organizations that were meant to specially deal with job-holders. It was just that the western countries' government kept a relatively low-profile. Even if the official spokesperson were to be chased down by reporters, they remained silent and allowed rumors to develop on the internet.
Some random people from the internet had made all sorts of claims, not caring if the news were true or not. This further attracted more attention.
Xu Nan went through the information and realized that the one that stood out the most was still the launching of the first nation-wide job-holder registration.
No matter how many people liked to watch the commotion, they still cared about their own interests the most.
The term 'job-holder' had already spread out on the internet. With a new world coming, who wouldn't wish to possess extraordinary powers?
According to the official website's statement, the first nation-wide job-holder registration would be taking place on a wide-scale basis. It would start from major cities and then progressively toward the regions around them. They wanted to reach out to all awakened job-holders.
Of course, people who hadn't awoken as job-holders but had the potential to do so were also targeted in this exercise. Many people were very eager, feeling both excited and nervous as they waited for the tests.
The Commerce University that Xu Nan was in, for example, had received notification that every faculty must ensure that all students were present, and they would go through the job-holder registration procedure in turns.
Xu Nan's faculty was scheduled to enter at 4 p.m.
The arrangements were similar for middle and elementary school. As for the kindergarten students... they weren't included as a target group for the Thousand Awn Agency's tests this time around.
After all, the targeted group for this exercise was for 7 years and above.
"The name wasn't changed after all. I knew it. The name Dragon Group is probably just a tasteless idea from the higher-ups back then."
Xu Nan's attention was on different things than others. He browsed for a while, found it uninteresting, and then turned off his phone, planning to continue to go back to sleep.
However, the other people in his dorm didn't go along with his wishes. All three of them weren't job-holders, and everyone was enthusiastically discussing this news in their class's and faculty's group chats.
"Is there really a fantasy world that is connected with Earth? Am I dreaming?" This was from someone who only understood the situation at a slower pace.
"Why do they all have such western names? Mages? Thieves? Priests? Why aren't there any sword immortal? That's so annoying! I can't accept this." This was from someone who was trying to look for troubles.
"Everyone, what is the job that you want to awaken to the most? There are over 20 types of jobs listed on the official website..." This was undoubtedly from someone familiar with the flow of things.
The moment this question popped up, everyone's comments started to flood the screen.
The dorm leader came down, looked at the mirror, then asked the others, "Judging by my muscular figure and high intelligence that allowed me to score 720 points on my college entrance examinations, it won't be considered overboard for me to be a warlock, right?"
His roommate that was in the bunk above stared at the phone for a while before saying gloomily, "Brother Xiang, according to the website, a warlock's charm requirement is a little high..."
The room sank into a mysterious silence.
Brother Xiang stroked his hairline and said angrily, "Are you doubting my personal charm?"
"Xu Nan, what do you think?"
Xu Nan gave it some thought before saying it in a roundabout manner.
"I feel that mages seem more amazing."
Brother Xiang accepted Xu Nan's answer that allowed him to get out of this awkward situation. "I also think that mages are good. It's a good fit for my disposition as a top student.
"Do you guys have any objections?"
The other two started to fawn up to him, having no objections at all.
The three of them discussed this matter excitedly. In the end, they all assigned themselves with the jobs mage, archer, and tank respectively. They would be able to form a team for 3v3 battles.
In that instant, Xu Nan seemed to have seen their delusion. They really thought that they possessed the potential to become job-holders.
It was a pity that people with the potential to become job-holders were rare even in the Puluo World. Since Earth had just integrated a part of the Puluo World's powers and regulations, the chances of people awakening as job-holders might be even lower!
Xu Nan and the others were exceptions. Lu Junyi's hospital was a bug. Until now, they were still fighting it out with Wenxin. He had no idea if they would be able to get back some benefits for themselves.
In the afternoon, everyone was eagerly queuing up at the theater.
After discussing this matter for the entire morning, everyone's heart felt a little cold.
There were seven to eight faculties in Commerce University, with over 10,000 people having taken the test. However, less than 60 people awakened as job-holders. There were slightly more people who showed potential, with about two to three thousand people "possibly" able to be guided to become job-holders.
However, Xu Nan had heard from Zhang Yingluo that as of now, the Thousand Awn Agency still hadn't found out the actual method to guide people to become job-holders. They could only provide some rough guiding techniques.
When it was the turn for Xu Nan's accounting faculty, the discussions were a lot more reserved as there were many female students.
"I definitely won't be able to make it..."
(This young lady with shiny eyes, since you feel that you won't be able to make it, then why are your fists clenched so tightly?)
"Yaya, you're so pretty. You'll definitely have the potential to become a warlock or something... Look at what's written on the pamphlet. Warlocks seemed to be the ones who are responsible for looking good..." This was definitely a fake friendship. Although the other person appeared very friendly, her words were hinting that the other person was just a useless vase and that she shouldn't be too hopeful.
"Xiao Bai, don't be scared. Your grades are so good, it'll be easy for you to become a mage." The lady who said this was clearly the top scorer for the school entrance examinations.
Heh. Women.
The guys were a lot more straightforward, clearly stating their interests in certain jobs. Some had more unique thoughts, expressing that they wanted to become a lich!
Why? The person was a die-hard fan of the princessified neko lich king [1]!
Xu Nan watched coldly and noticed a young lady who didn't seem to get along well with the others.
The young lady didn't look bad. She was dressed simply in black and white, emitting a cold aura. She was just short of writing the words "strangers keep away" on her face.
She leaned against a wall, crossing her arms. No one went up to talk to her either.
"Who is that girl?" Xu Nan asked softly.
As he didn't often stay in school, he was a little slow about the news in the faculty.
The arrogant guy took a glance and said softly, "A senior from year 2. I heard that she was quite lively and outgoing in the past, but later on, she had gotten an abortion for her boyfriend and took leave for a year. She then ended up in our class."
"She was this seclusive when I first saw her. She ignored everyone. It's probably because she had gotten hurt really bad."
Xu Nan felt a little angry. "Then what about her boyfriend?"
"He died." The arrogant guy explained, "The official explanation is that her boyfriend suffered from depression and committed suicide by taking medicine. There's a scarier version amongst the rumors, saying that after this senior finished her abortion, she took a brick and went to look for him. Two of them had a quarrel at the Little Poplar Plaza, and her boyfriend was beaten by her and had his head injured, bleeding profusely. Later on, he went back to his hostel and took medicine to commit suicide.
"The seniors from the previous batch all said that she had killed her boyfriend... Anyway, she has a black widow disposition and no one dared to get too close to her."
The dorm leader suddenly appeared and reprimanded sternly, "You think it's alright to freely spread rumors? Have you seen anyone who can still hold a brick and bash someone up after going through an abortion surgery?"
At the next second, he suddenly lowered his voice. "The version I heard is that back then, she was holding onto a baseball bat...
"Anyway, she beat up her boyfriend's head until it was bleeding. The guy probably gave it more thought after returning to the hostel. Feeling aggrieved that he had lost in a fight against a girl, thus...
"Why? Xu Nan, do you fancy her? Congratulations on adding a new member to your harem."
Xu Nan couldn't help but roll his eyes. These guys made the stories sound so real even though they were such exaggerations. They made it seem as if they had witnessed what had taken place.
While waiting, most of the girls had queued up and entered the theater. Very soon, some of them came out in succession, wearing grim countenances!
Some news had leaked out.
So far, there wasn't a single job-holder in Xu Nan's faculty. There were several people who showed potential, but in these times, no one cared about potential. What was important was the actual capabilities.
The students from the foreign language faculty, which also had more female students, started to ridicule them. After all, both faculties had been having intense competitions in recent activities. Although they appeared as if they got along well together, they bared their fangs at each other in secret.
After all, the foreign language faculty only had less than 800 students, yet 7 of them were job-holders, so they were being arrogant now.
Everyone was watching with anticipation to see how many job-holders could emerge from their own faculty. As for the guys, heh, there were only a handful of guys from the accounting faculty, and they were treated more like livestock most of the time. In times like these, no one placed their hopes on them at all!
It was a pity that things didn't turn out as they expected.
As the queue for the female students kept on getting shorter, there was still no announcement of the first job-holder.
But then, someone reported in the faculty's group chat.
"Newsflash!"
"Jiang Yuanci has become our faculty's first registered job-holder! Moreover, she's a powerful spellcaster!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, feeling that the name 'Jiang Yuanci' sounded a little unfamiliar.
After a short moment, the arrogant guy reacted. "It's that cold senior, the one who will bring bad luck to her husband and children!"
That senior happened to come out at this moment and threw a glance at the arrogant guy.
What an awkward situation.
Senior Jiang snapped her fingers, and a firework suddenly rose above the theater, blooming with a bang!
Everyone saw this scene.
[I have neither a boyfriend nor a child. I only took a year of leave from school, but why would you care what I went to do? I curse all the families of the gossipers to die!!!]
The pink firework bloomed for an hour above the theater under the reinforcement of magic.
Everyone realized—
The era of magic had come.
...
[1] A pricessified version of a character in World of Warlock. https://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Arthas_Menethil#:~:text=Arthas%20Menethil%2C%20Crown%20Prince%20of,Knights%20of%20the%20Silver%20Hand.