['Finally, we are on the way there. The journey has just begun.'] Alex closed his eyes as he thought.
Sitting in the same carriage with him was Camron and Sara. He sat down in the opposite direction, facing Camron and his sister. Alex had his eyes closed, basking in the comfortable silence until Sara spoke up.
"Would you like to know how the entrance exams are?" She asked Alex. He sat up straight and opened his eyes. "Sure, please do tell."
She giggled. "You look like you are nervous."
"Well, new people are admitted into the academy in different ways. The first thing that always gets checked, is if the individual has a bloodline class."
Alex cocked his head a bit and thought; 'Well that might ruin everything for me.' Like she knew what he was thinking of, she added;
"Don't worry they don't force people to do that. It is usually announced that, if you have no bloodline class you can skip it. The screening is just for those that possess a bloodline class. Usually, people with bloodlines will love to show off, but in your case it is different."
Alex sighed in relief. "That's good." He said.
"After that, you will have your cultivation realm probed. There are a lot of people that always think they can bypass that part of the exam. Some even go ahead and get their selves trinkets that can falsify their cultivation realm. But the academy has its ways of dealing with such, so that is a no go." Sara continued.
"They must be desperate. For them to do that, is there any reason for them to do that?" Alex said.
"Well yeah, who doesn't want to earn ECs every month? In the academy, every month the minimum amount of ECs a student is given is 10 LD-ECS (LD is for low density.) the only condition is that you have enough merits."
"Merits, what are those?" Alex asked.
"Depending on the achievements and efforts of a student, they would be allocated merit points. With merit points, you can exchange for martial skills and energy crystals." Sara explained.
"That sounds fair, please go on." He placed his right leg above his left, crossing them. He looked very attentive at the moment.
"After your cultivation realm has been checked, they will also check your affinity with elements. This part is not compulsory but it is recommended. Learning the element that you resonate with the most will help you in choosing suitable martial skills that can assist in making you grow stronger quickly."
['That's a plus for me. I have an affinity with fire, space and lightning.'] Alex exclaimed.
['Yes, maybe we can find a guide there that would be able to give you pointers on how to properly use your spatial ability.'] Lex stated.
['True.'] He smiled.
"How exactly do they find out the elements that you have the most affinity with?" He asked.
"Well, there are objects there inscribed with runes representing different elements. Whichever rune shines the brightest – that is the element you have the most affinity with." Sara answered.
"Is that all there is to the screening?"
"No there is more, but I don't think you would want to know about it. The ones I haven't mentioned are the screening process for runemasters and nonpareils. Do you want to know those too?" She asked with a smile, knowing what his answer would be.
"No there's no need," Alex said. "I thought so." Her smile got wider.
"The screening doesn't look like much."
"Yeah the screening doesn't look like much, but the main exam is the main thing. After passing the screening process, the lucky candidates can now take part in the main exam. This is how the main exam is; the students will have to run through a long-big and dark cave."
"That's all? We just have to run. Doesn't that sound too easy, if they wanted everyone to pass it then there's no need to take that exam? Unless there is a catch." He voiced out his thoughts.
"Bingo," Sara exclaimed.
"There is a catch. Or should I say several of them? The whole cave is 35km long, and you are expected to cover that distance and reach the finish line in at most 2 hours 30 minutes."
"That sounds fair I guess." Alex wasn't sure if he would be able to that. He hasn't tested his limits yet.
"That's not all." Sara pointed out.
"This exam is the same for everyone, regardless of their realm. Only those with bloodline class and runemasters are excluded from this. Origin realm, nascent realm, and disaster realm cultivators will all run through the same cave at the same time.
Of course, those with higher cultivation realms are expected to reach the finish line before the time limit. You are also allowed to attack others during the sprint, but you are not to kill them. If anyone breaks that rule they will have to face the punishment of the school. Well, I don't think that the school can punish you if you did that." Sara finished with a smirk on her face.
['She fell hard for the royalty thing. Do you think we should take advantage of this?'] Al asked.
['Yeah they all fell hard for the royalty thing. Don't know why but I feel bad about it. Just an unsettling feeling that this lie is going to put me in some kind of trouble.'] Alex said.
['Who cares about that!? That wasn't what I asked, my question was if we should take advantage of it? I mean Sara is a beauty, and she seems to be flashing some green light at us.'] Al brushed of Alex worry.
['I don't know why I keep on thinking I can have a normal conversation with you Al.'] Alex felt the urge to facepalm himself, but he had to hold it back because he didn't want his audience wondering.
['We told a lie to cover up your mistake. If it brings any kind of trouble then we would deal with it together. Don't think about it too much Alex.'] Xander consoled.
['Mmm. That's true, even if you don't trust us that much and don't want to rely on us, we would still help you because essentially we are one and the same. Any problem of yours is also a problem of ours.'] Lex backed Xander.
['Count me out. Your problems are your problems rabbit, not mine.'] Al said nonchalantly.
['I hope that you didn't think for a minute that you were included in that 'we'?'] Alex replied. Al didn't have anything to say in response to that, Alex had shut him up.
"Good," Alex said with a mischievous smile on his face.
"That's good? Don't tell me that you plan on killing innocent people." Camron who had been silent the whole time spoke up. He recalled the gruesome scene he saw after they had battled the bandits, he could see innocent students being mutilated the same way. It irked and scared him.
['Sh*t, I thought out loud.']
"No I don't plan on killing anyone unless they make the first attempt, then I wouldn't forgive them. They would pay for their insolence with their miserly lives."
['Spoken like true royalty. Hahaha.'] Al mocked.
"Don't worry, unless the person has a fetish for punishments they wouldn't attempt to go for the kill. The most they can do is to engage with you so they could slow you down."
Alex looked outside the window, watching as they passed by trees. He spoke up after a minute had passed. "Trying to do that, wouldn't be a wise choice too." He relaxed his back and head on the chair. He closed his eyes and fell back into his thoughts…
********
4 hours later, they arrived at an open space. There were a lot of people here, not far away from where they were there was a huge mountain. Sara knocked on the side of the carriage and it came to a stop.
"This is where you get off your highness, little brother. As I am already a student here we have our entrance" She said. Alex opened his eyes and stared into hers. "Please don't call me that." Sara chuckled in reply. "I was just playing, I wouldn't dare to go against your orders." She bobbed her head a bit.
Camron opened the door and stepped out of the carriage, Alex followed behind him. He looked around and saw several carriages using a particular road, not too far from where they were.
"I hope to see you both at the academy. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this year's session." She closed the door and the carriage moved further away from them, heading the same way other carriages were.
"Come on Alex, let's join the crowd." Camron ushered. Whilst walking, Alex was checking out his surroundings, measuring his fellow participants. Some of them were calm, some were nervous, some were already acting mischievous, and checking the female participants out.
Some of them stared back at him, they caught him sizing them up. Those were nascent realm cultivators and disaster realm cultivators. The few people that stood out of the crowd.
['Those guys all look strong. The weakest amongst them must be at least a rank-nine nascent realm cultivator.'] Al said.
['Yeah, the seven of them noticed me looking at them the moment my gaze lingered for more than it should.']
"Over there, Alex. It's about to begin. Come one let's hurry so we can get this over with quickly." Camron held his hand and dragged him against his will.
['This flipping twit of a retard.'] Alex complained. They came to a stop in front of a huge podium. There was a man with a round face and little mustache above his lips standing on the podium. He looked like he was in his mid-40s and 5'9 of height. Dressed as a Chinese scholar, the outer garment of his robe is colored white and the inner cloth – blue.
Behind him were several people that were dressed like military personnel. Their uniforms were red. They stood erect and straight on the podium like real soldiers.
['Is this a school or a military academy?'] Al questioned in doubt. He wasn't expecting to see this here.
['Late stage disaster realm cultivators. Red badge.'] Xander pointed out after he recalled what Camron had told them about how the students are ranked here.
"Welcome everyone, we are honored and proud to see all of you young talents here. I am Argus Germaine, a lecturer here in the severance academy. These amiable gentlemen behind me are from the school's disciplinary committee. They are here to help me regulate and oversee the screening."
The man dressed as a scholar said calmly, but his voice was loud enough to reach everyone's ears; like he was standing right in front of them.
"Now let me give a brief explanation of how this is going to go about. First, we are going to separate those with a bloodline class from the rest. So if you've got a bloodline class please come up to the podium and stand behind me. Note, if you do not have a bloodline class, do not attempt to come up here. If after checking and we confirm that you do not have a class, you will face the consequences of wasting my time." Argus said sternly, placing fear into the hearts of those that planned on doing that.
Camron turned and looked at Alex. "Intense right." He chuckled. "Yeah, pretty intense," Alex replied.