8 hours, down to the minute. That was exactly the amount of sleep Yan Guang had gotten.
Every bodily action he did felt like it was more in his control than ever. He could even begin to influence things like his heartbeat at will. Naturally, sleep was included in this.
Yan Guang no longer needed someone to knock at his door. He was an all-natural alarm!
After changing into his light armor, Yan Guang let out a deep breath before stepping out of his room.
Today was the day.
Today was the day that hundreds of young martial artists were waiting for.
Yan Guang used to be unaware of the significance that such an entrance exam held. He simply disregarded it as a formality.
After all, in his original world, school acceptance wasn't nearly as difficult. One could transfer schools as long as their academic record was decent.
Martial schools were entirely different.
Although they shared one word, schools simply created workers. Martial schools created warriors.
Which youth hadn't dreamed of riding on horseback and defeating a thousand-man army alone?
Who hadn't wished to be a hero?
That was what a martial school promised.
With such immense things at stake, it was only natural that the entrance was much more difficult than Yan Guang had imagined.
Out of the hundreds of martial artists of various grades, only a couple dozen would be selected to become students, and that was in an especially talented batch!
Some unlucky batches had only a dozen students accepted in total.
However, it was not totally hopeless for those who failed.
Every applicant was allowed unlimited trials before they turned 18.
This was why so many martial artists showed up. Even if they were too weak to succeed, they could still gain experience for their next attempt.
One had to keep in mind that this was only the exam of a small town in the wilderness!
By looking at his map, Yan Guang had garnered much knowledge about his surroundings and the most important locations in the Huang Kingdom.
Guming Town was simply a fringe town that existed in the boundless forests.
There were only a couple towns and a single city that existed nearby.
Yan Guang could only imagine how grand the exams would be in the cities.
Would there be thousands of martial artists?
"I guess we're all a dime-a-dozen, huh...", Yan Guang sighed.
After a brief jog, he had already arrived at the venue.
The crowd of martial artists that had already gathered was gargantuan; Yan Guang could barely see the end.
Blending into the crowd, Yan Guang began to slowly inch towards the front of it.
Subtly implementing the principle of Swimming Fish, he managed to weave his way through the crowd quickly.
Crowds, when this dense, behaved like a fluid. Swimming Fish excelled at finding the most efficient ways to move through fluids, so getting to the front of crowds faster was simply an added benefit.
Common people often thought that martial arts were only for combat, but that wasn't necessarily true. While they were most useful for fighting, they had much utility in other areas as well.
Upon reaching the front, Yan Guang was rewarded with a view of a massive open field. If he had to estimate its size, Yan Guang would say it was probably comparable to the size of his old school. Yet, it was just a singular training ground.
Groups wearing traditional gis stood side by side, each with a banner in their hands.
Each banner was advertising a different school. The most flashy banner was in the hands of the largest group of people, and it had the name of the Starry Kendo Academy on it.
The second biggest banner held the name of the White Tiger School, and the third biggest banner was by the Elegant Crane School.
Apart from the big three, there were of course other competing martial schools.
Some lesser-known martial disciplines had also come to the event, such as the Flame Saber School or Iron Palm School.
Such schools were typically considered slightly worse but were still comparable to the big three.
Then, there were the even smaller schools like the Black Claw School or Forest Archer School. While not considered bad schools, they specialized in more unorthodox martial techniques and were hence less popular.
Yan Guang's goal was to get into one of the big three schools: the White Tiger School.
Although the Starry Kendo Academy was the strongest, it didn't suit him well. For Yan Guang who already trained in two techniques with the word 'tiger' in them, the White Tiger School was naturally the best fit.
Suddenly, he felt a push from behind.
Looking at who had done it, he was surprised to find a familiar face. It was Lin Yuan.
"Hey, bro! I knew you would be here! So which school are you trying to go for? Me personally, I want to enter the Starry Kendo Academy!", Lin Yuan enthusiastically yelled.
Yan Guang was a bit speechless. They surely wouldn't have gotten this far if the Starry Kendo Academy had such low standards. He didn't want to discourage the only person even resembling a friend he had, however, so he kept his mouth shut.
"It's good to have big ambitions. I'm aiming for White Tiger School.", Yan Guang replied.
Lin Yuan seemed even more enthused and confidently stated, "How great would it be if we both got in! My sword against your close combat, we'll see which style is stronger."
Was this guy actually a swordsman? Yan Guang had no idea.
Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by the loudest voice he had heard in his life.
Yan Guang was surprised. Had this world already invented loudspeakers?
After regaining his senses and carefully observing, he found the source of the voice.
It was a spokesperson of the Starry Kendo Academy.
Yan Guang was mildly intrigued by the mysterious ability of this person to amplify their voice without technology. Was it some sort of voice-based martial art? The chances were quite high.
Using his Qi sense to observe, Yan Guang noticed that the concentration of Qi was much higher near the mouth of the speaker. He had definitely used some sort of secret technique.
For Yan Guang, every tiny investigation he did was simply a matter of being bored. Plus, he wanted to see how far each of his abilities could go.
He was enthralled by the versatility of his Qi sense again and again. It could sense where things were, aid him in the absorption of Qi, and now he could even see the aftermath of the use of a special technique.
Qi sense truly unlocked an entirely new dimension that he had been blind to.
Turning off his Qi sense, Yan Guang began to listen to what the martial artist had to say.
"ALL MARTIAL SCHOOL ASPIRANTS, PLEASE FINISH ANY FINAL PREPARATIONS. THE MARTIAL SCHOOL EXAMINATION'S FIRST ROUND WILL NOW BE BEGINNING WITH NO FURTHER DELAY!", the man shouted.
His face looked strange as he had veins popping out of his forehead. Yan Guang was reminded of old drill instructors from movies he watched. They looked and sounded just like this guy.
Yan Guang could feel a tangible feeling of tenseness. The atmosphere was suffocating.
A second man stepped forward before beginning to talk.
"Potential aspirants, we, the martial school disciples, are here to welcome you to the 128th official martial school examination. Today's first round will be a battle royale.", said the man.
Although he was still loud, his voice was quite gentle, unlike the previous man.
A White Tiger School disciple then stepped forward, continuing the speech from where the Starry Kendo disciple left off, "The rules are as follows, please listen carefully. Firstly, each examinee will be given a token. You are all to keep this token with you at all times. Secondly, examinees will be allowed to steal tokens from others and keep them, with examinees that have no tokens automatically failing. Thirdly, final rankings will be created per the number of tokens an examinee possesses. Lastly, the use of unregistered weapons or intentionally seriously injuring an opponent is forbidden. If the final rule is broken, the aspirant will be immediately disqualified from all current and future martial school examinations."
Many martial artists tensed up even further when they heard the last clause. Being banned from all future examinations was too cruel, practically cutting off the future of a martial artist.
Finally, an Elegant Crane disciple stepped forward, finishing off the introduction, "All examinees, step forward and orderly enter the stage!"
A steady stream of entrants gradually flowed, slowly filling up the arena.
Yan Guang found himself at the western edge of the arena, cautiously figuring out his opponents nearby.
Most of them were pretty ordinary-looking, wearing some kind of light armor and having no weapons.
After all, most weapons were taken away by the examiners, although some were allowed.
For example, sword practitioners were allowed to take practice blades made out of weaker materials.
Otherwise, the exam would simply be unfairly biased toward unarmed fighters.
The rough loud voice from earlier once again filled the arena, shouting, "3, 2, 1, START!"