Lin Qi leaped into the boundless darkness and fell into the void.
Thankfully, he had experienced something similar in his previous dream invasion. So he managed to complete it while fully conscious.
Just like in his previous life, people who did the "High Bridge" challenge on TikTok had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. With a safety cord, they jumped off simulating suicide, zombies, eyes closed, runnning leaps and backwards.
Before the case when the safety cord accidentally came undone, the creativity of humans seeking death had been displayed to the maximum.
Lin Qi knew that he wouldn't die, so he quickly steadied his heart and calmed his breathing. In an instant, a halo lit up under the bottomless abyss, blossoming with hope.
There were many mage apprentices in a hall outside the arena. Some of them were still complaining that their poor performance had caused them to fall behind, and now their fate depended on others. But most of them had their heads tilted up to stare at the unchanging names on the LCD panel.
Instantly, three or four names flashed brightly, and the comments behind the names changed from "Planet Blue" to "Star World Island".
"It's that Lin Qi, he lit up first!" A sharp-eyed apprentice said.
"But why did the location at the back change? Are you saying that they have only just entered Star World Island?"
These mage apprentices who were at the top of their peers on Planet Blue, quickly noticed that those first students had jumped into the pit at more or less the same time. But the time differences between when one's name flashed before the next were more than 10 seconds.
Some apprentices started to try and analyze whether there was a positive correlation based on time and position.
Behind a curtain wall on the second floor of the hall were the 20+ mages who had just escorted them. They were sitting in the meeting room, watching the actions of the mage apprentices.
"That kid called Lin Qi has pretty good mental fortitude. He actually recovered from the panic of jumping off a high point so quickly." A black-robed mage sighed.
He took out 20 arcane gold coins from his pocket and handed them to the two mages on the ferry that Lin Qi was on.
The other 10+ people followed suit. Some even jokingly put up a sore loser act.
To spice up their boring lives, they agreed to bet on how the apprentices would perform. The mage escorts of the same ferry as the winning apprentice would win.
"Haha, I still remember that you were so scared in the Star World Tunnel that you didn't dare to open your eyes. You were lost for almost a minute," another mage teased.
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After Lin Qi's entire body passed through the white light, all sorts of multi-colored light spread across his line of vision.
He realized that he was floating under the clouds. Glancing up, he saw that they had all gathered to form rain clouds. As the saying went, when the clouds were as thick as milk, a storm was coming.
Looking down, a look of disbelief flashed across his face.
A magnificent and fantastical island that was like an oil painting of an immortal paradise stood at the bottom. The hills and grass were verdant with vitality. In the distance was a towering and mysterious castle with multiple overlapping walls.
The outer boundaries of the island were shrouded in a thick, pitch-black fog.
A few other mage apprentices also fell from the sky, enjoying the 1G acceleration.
The ground, which was covered in dense green grass and wild undergrowth, slowly enlarged in his vision until the stone monument below was clearly visible. In the last five seconds before smashing onto the ground, Lin Qi suddenly felt a powerful "support" force across his entire body.
It was as though a massive invisible parachute had opened up behind him, easily negating the effects of gravity.
In the end, they were like paratroopers who had descended from the sky.
The mage apprentices from the different teams looked at each other. At the same time, more and more apprentices appeared in the sky one after another, as if the pit they had just jumped into was above the clouds.
"We had just experienced a first-level feather drop spell." An apprentice muttered to himself.
Lin Qi focused his eyes and noticed an old mage who looked like a decayed piece of wood with barely-opened eyes standing under a five-meter tall, square stone tablet. His face was full of wrinkles, and his body radiated with a death energy.
"Welcome to Star World Island."
The four of them were shocked because the voice came from within their minds!
"Please forgive me. I am a mute so I have to communicate with you through telepathy."
"Instead of viewing this as a hurdle, think of this as more like the beginning of your mage career."
"Remember, from this moment onwards, you are on the path of learning magic."
With that said, the old mage pointed at the stone monument beside him. It seemed to record all the bygone years and was filled with scratches. The bottom of the circle was white as if it was covered in paste.
"Use your method of sensing the secret energy particles in the air to sense the solidified secret energy particles in this stone tablet."
"It contains the pledge, which will be the first time you come into contact with the Sisma language."
"The Sisma language is the only one in this mysterious world, where one will be able to understand it and accurately pronounce it the moment one looks at it. The system will be taught later on during the language course."
"The only thing you need to do now is to sense the pledge and then recite it out loud. Then, you will pass the test, and two new apprentices will be able to come in."
At this moment, more and more mage apprentices had landed on the grassland with the feather drop spell.
It was obvious that the old man's "telepathic message" was like a tape playing on loop in their minds, so that they would not miss any of his words.
Immediately, a skinny mage apprentice asked, "Will reciting the pledge mean that we have completed the contract?"
The old mage nodded indifferently. "That's right. The stone tablet was infused with a spell by a high-level mage. You'll know after you feel it. Reciting the pledge is equivalent to swearing an oath to never reveal anything about Star World Island."
Lin Qi finally understood!
No wonder there wasn't any detailed information about Star World Island in the outside world. It wasn't because the mage apprentices who came in and out every year were exceptionally good at keeping secrets.
They were completely restricted by this pledge!
Therefore, this was the first lesson of their school term. They could only come into contact with everything after they completed the pledge.
This was the magic power brought about by the mysterious Sisma and the secret energy particles.
One of the girls raised a trembling hand. "What if I can't comprehend it?"
The old mage's cloudy eyes lit up. "You all saw your own names on the LCD board just now, right? If your name doesn't move, you will incur the rage of the rest of the anxious apprentices waiting behind you in line."
"Under such pressure, if you are unable to comprehend after four hours, your memories will be erased and you will return to Planet Blue to be ordinary people."
Lin Qi could not help but widen his eyes and look at the magic robe on his body.
This was the reason why Mo Feng did not reveal it to them.
If one did not have the ability to sense the Sisma language, then they were indeed not qualified to be mage apprentices.
On the other hand, it was because of the restrictions of the oath!On the other hand, he was also being restricted by the pledge!
"Let's begin." The elderly mage said with anticipation, "The fastest record last year was 2 minutes and 57 seconds. I'm looking forward to someone breaking this record in your batch."
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In the conference room on the second floor of the Star World Tunnel, dozens of mages were already leisurely discussing the new bet.
"Betting for this round has opened. It will be divided into less than three minutes, three to five minutes and more than five minutes. However, it will be a small-sum bet. The upper limit is 100 arcane gold coins."
The black-robed mage slapped the table and shouted.
Although the mage apprentices had just entered Star World Island, everyone was worried that if they dragged on for too long, betting for this round would soon be closed. After some thought, they started to speak.
"I'll bet—"
Suddenly, a tremendous outcry could be heard.
The mages in the meeting room all turned to look out the full-length window.
Countless mage apprentices raised their heads like roosters, staring at the LCD panel.
The two words "Lin Qi" were bright red, indicating that he had passed!
Behind the name was another bright number: 59 seconds.