"When I call your name, you shall come forth. Shed a droplet of your blood into the chalice and you'll get the result of your test."
The other kids shivered after they heard Li Bingbing's explanation.
From their pompous, plumpy cheeks, everybody could tell that they never had seen blood. Let alone to shed a droplet by their own hand.
"Papa! I don't want to! It's going to hurt!" a boy, wearing a fancy, oversized robe cried aloud.
Soonly after, the other children followed along, filling the hall with deafening, high pitched cries.
The parents tried to encourage their children from behind, promising them to buy them a gift if they complete the test.
Li Bingbing couldn't help but to shake her head.
She said to herself; "When exactly did the younger generation become like this?"
"Please calm down, it's just a peck of a needle. It won't hurt, I promise."
The children kept crying aloud, Li Bingbing's vein was palpable on her cheek. we
"Stop Crying!" Li Bingbing shouted aloud, silencing those crybabies instantly. "For the record, the Royal Academy is not a place for weaklings! If a mere slit on your skin softens your heart and courage, what can not?"
Ling, however, as the war veteran that had been through all kinds of hell, smirked when he recalled his past life where he had to hunt by himself in the wilderness when he was very young.
The cries stopped, now the situation was much more conductive than before.
"Good!" Li Bingbing flicked her finger, a book list appeared on her hand out of nowhere.
"Let's see… He Jiang from He Family, come forth!"
The young boy in his ten, climbed the stage. His knees shiver as he steps up the staircase.
"Greetings, Saintess Li Bingbing." said the boy, when he stood in front of her.
"I commend your courage, young one. You shall be a good example for your peers." said Li Bingbing, then she drew a small needle from her sleeve.
"Now, open your palm. Take a deep breath to relax your mind." The boy complied, and did what the lady told him.
With just a s mymall peck of the needle, she guided his palm and let the blood flow into the chalice.
His mother clasped her hands together, hoping for the best result for her sole son.
As if the chalice heard her pray, it glows in brilliant light. The ten crystals that embedded on the side shone bright and then dimmed down.
Only four crystals stay lit.
"Level 4 Soul Aptitude! Congratulations, He Jiang. You have a promising future awaiting you and you are accepted to enroll yourself in the Royal Academy!"
After that, the remaining children took their turns one after another. Some of them failed and had to go back to their home at that moment.
Until finally, Ling's name was called upon.
"Ling Zhao, from Zhao Sect. Please come forth!"
Everybody in the hall fixed their sight to the youngest participant of the test.
"Huh! Zhao Sect must be delusional!"
"Sending a kid who can't even walk properly to the Royal Academy? Cao Zhao must have gone insane after losing his wife."
"True indeed. I heard that his son is a genius. But he just looks like an ordinary boy, even my three year old baby girl can slap his face!"
"You're right! He's not even here to pay a visit."
"If he come, then he must prepare his butt to place his face in!"
"Hahaha!"
Ling looked back towards them, gazing into their eyes with such animosity.
The atmosphere tensed up when one of those adults felt insulted by Ling's audacity.
Ling clenched his fist tightly, somehow, his body reacted when his second father was being ridiculed.
'Humph! These snobbish people! I shall remember each of your faces and slap every one of you later!'
However, before the situation escalated, Cai Zhao suddenly made his appearance. He barged into the hall. Still wearing his steel-plate armor, bloodied and in a mess.
"Just ignore them, my son! Even if you don't have any Soul Aptitude, you will always be my proud son!"
Xiao Wu and Mei Lin rushed to his side, wiping out the blood stain and sweat from his face.
"Master Cao Zhao, you shouldn't have come. Let me and Mei Lin take care of Young Master while you're on the mission." said Xiao Wu.
Mei Lin's face turned pale, when she found out the grievous wound in his abdomen.
"Master Cao Zhao, your body is-"
"Meh, don't worry about my business. Besides, this is a pivotal moment for my son."
Xiao Wu quickly gave the wound a first aid by channeling her Yin Qi to stop the bleeding.
Cao Zhao didn't even flinch and stood firmly despite having an open wound.
On the other hand, Cao Zhao's arrival boosted Ling's confidence.
Li Bingbing soon acknowledged his potential even from a glimpse of an eye.
'This kid has the eyes that could kill even a magical beast from a sheer gaze.'
"You may open your hand." she said, reaching her hand towards him.
"I can do it myself."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I am." Ling slough off the upper part of his robe. Revealing his well built body despite being a five year old boy.
He thought that it would be so much hassle if his robe was stained by specks of blood.
"From what I have learned. This chalice absorbs the very life-essence from our blood, correct?"
"Yes, you are correct, little one."
"I see…"
Everybody in the room was caught in surprise when Ling pierced his own wrist, letting out the blood to flow from his blood vessel.
"Hmm… I think that's enough."
Ling pulled out the needle and stopped the bleeding by simply applying pressure on it.
What happened next was something that even Li Bingbing herself never had seen before.
The chalice shone so bright, illuminating the hall with golden light and even turned the sun to dim itself.
The brilliant light dimmed down a few minutes later, everybody was agape after witnessing the human's child who will become a literal god.
The saintess was stuttering, she couldn't even believe what just happened.
"Lady Li Bingbing, are you alright? What is my result?" Ling asked her with a playful, mischievous tone.
"Y-you have Level 10 Soul Aptitude! You are accepted to enroll yourself in the Royal Academy!"