Going through the same procedure as Lu Peng, I was able to reactivate the door of the examination room, and as I stepped in, I felt as though I'd been teleported to a different world entirely.
About me was a garden with lots of peculiar flowers with a brushing smell of vitality from it.
Looking around me, I realised that there were no houses or buildings whatsoever. The only thing that stood was a grand wall designed with all types of carvings. My eyes lit up, immediately.
"So this is the Wall of Puzzlement!"
It had a nourishing aura coming from it that made one engulfed in a feeling of warmth. I was able to quickly put aside all the previous activities that replayed in my mind.
Stepping forward, I observed the wall, and read out the first line of words on it.
"In a world of distrust, who is your closest kin?"
I shook my head in disbelief. Just what kind of stupid question was that. If even the first question was that absurd, how'd I be able to cover the others up.
"It seems like complaining wouldn't help a thing, I'd just have to find a way to answer it. After all, if even Lu Peng was able to clear the first stage without much of a problem, why would I lose out to her?" I muttered under my breath.
I pondered for a moment before slapping my forehead.
"Jeez, how could I be so dumb! This is an examination in the way of beast taming, the answer is obviously one's savage beast!"
After contemplating a few other answers, I finally resolved to drop that down.
Immediately I wrote my answer, I heard a 'weng!' sound from above, like a coin had struck a metal gong. The question cleared before another showed up.
"Oh, this is easy. To gain the complete trust of a savage beast, one has to connect to it with one's heart and mind. One should not only prove to be kind and merciful by words, convincing deeds would best suffice!"
'Weng!'
"The essence of beast taming is to convert an ordinary, wild, or mild, savage beast into one's own tamed pet. This is to prove that a cultivator is unbounded by the fate of the world unlike normal humans. Efficient beast tamers are even able to make the most nefarious of all savage beasts no different from a loyal dog..."
'Weng!'
"Beast taming is like cultivation. Through the gradual process of refining one's strength and cultivation, one is able to achieve the most unthinkable of feats! If a savage beast has a high regard in its master, it would also rise its trust level to an astronomical amount, thus making the former even willing to die for the latter, if need be!"
The more the questions came in, the more my newfound knowledge surfaced in my mind. And without wasting a single breath, or pausing to confirm my answers, I kept on writing. To any other person, that might have been an impossible feat, but the fact would always remain the fact; I'm no longer an ordinary person. I'm a full-blown Gifted.
After absorbing all the knowledge in the Book Collection Vault, it was a little surprising for me to be able to answer all these complex questions. The more I answered the questions, the more I tempered my mind, making the knowledge in my head more refined and inbuilt. This way, I was sure that even in my sleep, I could be able to answer any question in beast taming as though I was asked to recite a popular nursery rhyme.
'Weng, weng, weng!'
The sounds of the questions being answered continued to roar in my ears. Then...
'Vwoosh!'
The questions finally came to a halt and another door appeared not too far from the wall. I don't know why, but I knew deep inside me that I'd never noticed that door prior to the moment. Nevertheless, I made to reach for it.
Before I could move my feet, a voice sounded in my ears.
"Congratulations, you've successfully completed stage one. You shall now proceed into the next stage."
Nothing more, nothing less. I nodded my head and advanced.
Immediately I stepped in, I was warped in and moved to another dimension. Here there was a large room filled with lots of paintings of savage beasts.
I looked around but couldn't find anyone. My peripheral vision was able to catch sight of a golden book, so I quickly reached for it and scanned it through. It was the information of what I was meant to do here. It said that I would need to write the correct names of each savage beasts in the paintings.
Turning my gave over, I saw a brush. Picking it up, I quickly began to write the names of each of those beasts. If it was a day before, I'd never have been able to identify even a single one. However, with my transformation in knowledge, it was just a walk in the park.
Five minutes after, I'd also cleared this stage. Altogether, I'd spent a total of twenty-five minutes.
Shaking my head in disappointment at the inferiority of the questions, one last time, I walked into the next door that led to the final stage.
In this stage, there was a man-like puppet just about an inch taller than me.
Looking at me, it said, "I must agree, you are indeed a talent. Being able to clear the first two challenges with ease under a short period of time, it's already clear that you've broken the last records over two hundred years that had been unbreakable."
Shaking its head, it stood up and placed its hands behind it, like an esteemed expert.
"However, if you want to go through me, it wouldn't be easy. Since you're so skilled in beast taming, theoretically, it'd be an easy-breezy if I gave you the test of knowledge impartation. Since that's the case, my test for you is to tame my beast."
The puppet pointed into the darkness of the room, and I noticed a pair of hostile eyes, and killing intent shrouding whatever lay in the darkness.
Seeing through my fear, it explained, "I see you just made a breakthrough to Unleashed-talent realm. The next stage after this stage, for all cultivators, is the Transient Mortal Realm. And that's the stage of that beast over there."
I nodded in comprehension. Just the way cultivating humans continually metamorphs, so does savage beasts.
With my present knowledge, I was able to understand that Roy had gone through the cultivation process of metamorphosis, thus making him achieve a breakthrough into the stage that the puppet pointed out to be Unleashed-talent realm! Currently, he's in the same realm as I.
While I was still dazing over that, the puppet's voice brought me back into the moment.
"If you can take that beast, be rest assured. Not only will you pass this stage, the beast would also belong to you. Only true talents like you are given this opportunity."
Feeling the excited agitation burning inside me, the puppet nodded. I quickly turned my attention to where the beast was, and using my Eye of Insight, I was able to see through the façades of the darkness as though I held a torchlight. It was a copper-fur wolf!
If it was making a beast become mine, that was the easiest examination in my life. Jeez, I literally owned every animal in my neighborhood, withstanding even sentient beasts like this one.
Extending my beast aura over, the beast was frightened out of its wit!
'How could someone possess such royal, animal aura?' it must have wondered.
"Come!" I ordered.
"Y-yes," it muttered, in the beast tongue.
"Become my tamed beast!"
"It'd be my pleasure," it replied, still in the beast tongue.
"That's for the best!" I said nonchalantly. It quickly sent its blood essence from its glabella into mine.
Then after the contract had been signed, it quickly remembered something and asked with disbelief.
"Do you understand me?"
I nodded. I found myself out through an exit with a door, with the beast trailing quickly behind me. The puppet waved at me, dumbfounded, and I smiled back at it, not caring less.
"Sh-she's out!"
"So soon?"
"Everyone look at her total points!"
"Th-this, how is it possible!"
"100 points?!"
As the crowd broke out into a discussion as I stepped out, Lu Peng stared at me with a frazzled gaze as she broke down into tears.