Lanci didn't rush towards the house in front, instead he took a moment to analyze the situation.
Since his current identity was that of a nobleman in this inexplicable country, subject to strict constraints, some simple and crude strategies of passing would certainly not work.
For example, he couldn't directly rob the other families' resources to help this one.
Unless he had the confidence to defeat the frightening executioner.
Trying might well lead to death.
As for taking this family to squeeze into the village chief's home, they might survive tonight, but not an entire winter.
Clearly, this would not meet the mission objective either.
If he forcibly ordered any family to take in this family for an entire winter.
This abuse of power to displace others would probably also be illegal.
"As expected, general tricks won't work in this Shadow World, all shortcuts have been blocked."
Lanci muttered to himself in the snowstorm.
In just a short while, his cheeks were frozen red, and a thin layer of frost formed.
When he prepared to move again, he felt his joints stiffening in the cold, making moving more difficult.
Even wearing heavy noble winter clothing couldn't block this chilling cold.
Suddenly, Lanci realized that based on a candidate's physical fitness, the actual time to move around in an outdoor snow field was extremely limited.
An aimless search would definitely bury him in the snowstorm.
"I should investigate this family for clues first."
He quickly quickened his steps, heading towards the wooden house in front.
...
In a spacious and bright conference room of the Main Building of the Sage Academy, chairs and tables were arranged in a round table configuration with several large round tables surrounding the central projection screen.
Each table was occupied by five or six teachers from different groups, either attentively watching the magic screen or actively communicating with others.
Compared to a meeting, this seemed more like a seminar or review.
They were seriously recording the highlights and details of each candidate in the exam, occasionally exchanging opinions with other teachers.
On the screen, the situation of the candidates after entering the Artificial Shadow World was clearly displayed.
All candidates, without exception, progressed slowly.
After reaching the house, they learned from the couple about the strange noise outside the window on the night of the theft, then the door of the house seemed to have been blown open by a windstorm, and the temperature inside the house began to drop sharply.
When the couple fearfully came out of their bedroom, they found that the Magic Furnace had disappeared and there were some footprints left outside the house, probably belonging to a tall adult man, but they were quickly covered by the snow.
As for the little girl in the house, their adopted niece, she seemed to know something, but no matter how they chatted with her, she refused to speak.
Hence, some candidates chose to investigate clues at other villagers' houses, while others tried to deal with the abnormality observed in the little girl.
Of course, there were also candidates who misread the question and cleverly lost their lives under the executioner's sword -
He promised benefits to the village chief to shelter this family for the entire winter.
But considering the current state of the territory, the Lord could not guarantee to provide money, which constituted fraud. The well-informed executioner immediately saw through the Lord's lie and executed him.
"Candidates who are overly confident about their cleverness often overlook logical errors and tend to die the fastest in the Shadow World."
As the name of the dismissed candidate was crossed out, Vice Dean Ron sighed,
"This is the lack of wisdom."
The correct approach should actually pay attention to the basic clue of "anomaly in the little girl", and collect some key information from other villagers, solve the mystery, uncover the truth, and restrain the criminal. Then the problem could be easily resolved.
"The Shadow World requires a combination of wisdom and talent, and sometimes it also requires noble character to gain the goodwill of the characters inside the world to solve the clues."
Just as they were discussing,
Another teacher noticed a promising mage who used wind magic to chop down trees and quickly dry firewood with magic.
Some even tried to make a fire-attribute magic tool that could replace the Magic Furnace.
They were really showing off their Divine Skills.
However.
These seemingly smart operations did not win much favor from the teachers.
"Sometimes, the Shadow World can indeed make shortcuts through its own characteristics, but sometimes it can also lead one into a trap... "
"The original First-order Shadow World, as far as I remember, was extremely disgusting, because the final investigation would reveal that this wicked couple deliberately hid the Magic Furnace in order to freeze the little girl to death in the snowstorm, thereby defrauding the high funeral subsidy in the laws of the Northern Border Territory."
"Even ifthey are given firewood or a Magic Furnace, they can't save the little girl, because what's really cold is the twisted hearts of people."
"Sometimes being overly arrogant and trying to bypass the mechanics of the Shadow World may lead to unexpected failures. This is a lack of prudent and steady character."
The teachers sighed and began discussing the core of this entrance exam.
For most candidates who were at the Second-order or Third-order level, this First-order Shadow World did not have any elements of combat that required the demonstration of force.
It was simply the most basic and rudimentary model of the Shadow World.
But it could fundamentally test whether candidates are suited to challenge the Shadow World.
"Hey, what's the deal with this guy?!"