"Quite a crowd."
The next day at noon, Lin Qi and Wang Ruoling arrived at the ferry terminal on time and prepared to take the designated ferry to Star World Island, where the Central Magic Academy was located.
Even though they were mentally prepared, and considering that there were more than a dozen large terminals along Eternal Gathering River, they were still shocked by the large crowd of apprentices inside the large hall specially aside for this particular ferry ride. There were at least 1,000 people.
"After all, these are all the 18-year-olds eligible to become mage apprentices in the entire Planet Blue. Even with the talent test and the entrance examination as obstacles, the overall number of people is still terrifying." Wang Ruoling sighed.
Fatty Chen Shikun, who had checked into the Peninsula Hotel with them that day, followed the instructions on his notice and headed to another nearby ferry terminal.
Last night, after a round of discussion with Mo Feng, Lin Qi went to look for Wang Ruoling and went with her to pay their respects to her grandparents. No one knew about the episode he had experienced.
The ghost hiding in the Bone Robe had agreed to teach him necromancy spells after formal classes started.
Thinking back about his "encounter" right before he fell asleep, Lin Qi realized that the ghost's "performance" from beginning to end was intentional.
If the other party had put in a good word to express his compliance from the start and obediently handed over his "true name" to be controlled, the outcome might have been uncertain.
If he submitted right from the start, there would definitely be a huge difference between their statuses.
If he was determined to report it to the higher-ups, the other party would only end up with nothing.
However, the other party used a "combination blow" right from the start. Proving to be a threat before revealing his submission due to Lin Qi's "potential". He made use of Lin Qi's kind character and the Stockholm syndrome response deep in human nature.
Even with this show of switching from threat to deference, Lin Qi accepted the other party's existence with a sense of relief.
This feeling of having survived a calamity made him suspect that he was a child of destiny. He felt like the character Naruto, bragging about how he conquered his enemies.
Naturally, his malice and suspicion vanished.
Indeed, humans were a little cheap.
"Wuwuwu." Suddenly, a whistle sounded in the distance. A ferry painted with the emblem of the Central Magic Academy was approaching. The emblem of the academy consisted of two intersecting squares with the symbols of the eight factions each occupying a corner.
An uproar erupted in the crowd of mage apprentices waiting in the hall, who were already noisily chatting among themselves. Many people stood up and looked into the distance, their eyes full of anticipation.
In essence, no special high school would be so pathetic as to only have one or two students accepted by the academy.
It was not strange for a few top classmates from the top high schools to report to the academy together.
As the largest capital city, and with countless mage families setting the foundation over many years, the annual admission rate for Magic Capital was the best on Planet Blue. Small cliques had already formed in the halls.
Lin Qi had just been released from jail, and as an idol, Wang Ruoling spent very little time in school. She was all alone, so Mo Feng arranged for the two of them to report together and accompany each other.
Suddenly, a whistle sounded from the corner of the wall.
"As there are too many people at the scene, we need to arrange a last minute numbering system. Everyone will board the ship according to their number and can pick their seats first."
"The numbering rules are based on the results of the following questions. The higher your number of correct answers and the closer your answers are, the more priority you will get. If the answer is the same, the fastest person to submit will have priority."
"The questions are as follows: Please calculate how many possibilities there are in the pattern passcode of the cell phone (Android). Submit your answer via the QR code of your acceptance letter. The time limit is three minutes. Those who have not submitted by then will be the last to board."
As soon as he said that, the future mage apprentices in the arena were in an uproar. They clearly did not expect this.
The escorts outside the waiting hall also looked nervous. They only relaxed when they heard that those who did not answer in time would just be the last to board.
Many busybodies started whistling on the spot. The competition between this year's batch of apprentices actually started even before they boarded the ferry.
The mage apprentices in the arena were silently calculating in their minds.
The mage apprentices who were able to defeat countless peers in the Mysterious Magic Unified College Entrance Examination were the best in the school.
During their six years of high school, they had been revered by ordinary students. How could they not have some degree of arrogance? Naturally, none of them wanted to lag behind the others.
Wang Ruoling was also nervous as she muttered to herself.
"A pattern passcode has to be between four and nine digits long. It can't be repeated. In essence, it's a problem of arrangement and combination, from four to nine digit-long numbers."
Countless mage apprentices in the arena also silently raised their heads and calculated the sum of A (4,4 )+A (5,5 )+A (6,6 )+A (7,7 )+A (8,8 )+A (9,9 )+A in their minds.
"985824, 980,000," Lin Qi said as he looked at Wang Ruoling, who was doing her best to calculate.
Wang Ruoling was shocked. She did not realize that Lin Qi could calculate it so quickly, but she immediately smacked her own head.
This was not the examination venue. She could use the calculator function on the phone to help with the calculations.
She nodded happily and said, "Lin Qi, you're really fast with your calculator."
Wang Ruoling had already opened the interface and was about to enter the numbers like the countless apprentices present who had calculated this number.
However, her fingers froze when she entered the fourth digit. She turned and looked at Lin Qi with a pale face.
"For a three-by-three lattice pattern passcode, we cannot skip the four intermediate points of two, four, six, and eight. The patterns for 12369 and 1369 are the same, so the figure of 980,000 must contain repetitions."
This meant that in the final answer, those repetitions had to be removed.
Lin Qi was relieved.
Even if one was provided with a Casio calculator for such a question in a high school exam, just the number of times one would have to press the calculator was enough to kill many people. It could not be solved within half an hour.
"We won't be able to complete it in three minutes. The other party just wants us to estimate a relatively close number." Wang Ruoling immediately analyzed.
"That's right." Lin Qi nodded.
He directly raised his phone towards Wang Ruoling.
There was a line of numbers on it—
"Input answer: 389,112. Correct answer. Line-up sequence: 1."
Wang Ruoling's mouth gradually widened until one could stuff a salted duck egg into it.
As an idol singer, she had seen many so-called geniuses during her tours, but she had never expected this to happen.
Even if he had calculated it before, he would not be able to accurately input this number within a few seconds, right?
Especially the red 'correct' comment at the end. This showed that his value had not been made up!
"Don't just stand there. Hurry up and input it." Lin Qi looked at Wang Ruoling, who had been crying like a baby last night as she paid her respects to her grandparents, but had regained her arrogant demeanor today. At this moment, she looked extremely shocked and Lin Qi felt rather satisfied at that look on her face.
"How did you do it?" Wang Ruoling sighed as she entered the password.
"Luck."
Wang Ruoling rolled her eyes. "You're really 'modest'."
Lin Qi laughed and rubbed his head.
Because of his enrollment and the ghost's test, he had specially looked through all sorts of strange questions in his mind last night. Who would have thought that he would really encounter one of them today?
It was so coincidental that he was a little wary.
If not for the fact that they were in public right now, he would have summoned the ghost in his robe to confirm.
No matter how he looked at it, this pattern passcode had nothing to do with the principle of the spell model, right?
"This…" Wang Ruoling hesitated.
Lin Qi peeked over his shoulder and saw her phone's interface.
"Input answer: 389,112. Correct answer, queue sequence: 37."
According to the rules, one with the correct answer could not have his queue cut by those behind.
This could only mean that other than Lin Qi, there were 35 other mage apprentices who gave the correct answer of 389,112.
The two of them looked at each other and smiled.
They now had a deeper understanding of the entire Magic Academy.
In the end, the three-minute deadline arrived. Most of the mage apprentices who knew about the trick guessed a number based on their experience and intuition.
"Woo—" The ferry had just arrived at the terminal. There were many mysterious runes carved on the ship, but the staff still used the most traditional method of tying hemp ropes around the pillars to act as anchors.
"Dong! Number 1-10, please line up. Lin Qi, You Sirui, Liu Jianqi…"
Lin Qi immediately stood up.
"Swoosh!" Instantly, everyone's gaze fell on the victors.
The people watching from outside the hall couldn't help but raise their cameras and prepare to take photos. However, due to the special protection law of mages, unless Lin Qi allowed it, they could only post it after pixelating his face. Otherwise, the platform would block it.
All the apprentices were thinking about this future classmate.
Who was this formidable guy?