Since he doesn't want to be targeted by the other examinees, Kyrell definitely cannot take the beads. If he does that, he can already envision these four joining hands to attack him.
They are not fools. It was Kyrell's plan that enabled them to corner the clone. As such, he is a prime candidate that has a high chance of securing a bead and passing the second test.
If he were to secure a bead this early then there's a risk that his bead will be taken away if these four were to gang up at him.
Since that is the case, why should Kyrell take the bead this early?
As such, Kyrell decided to hurriedly retrieve a shuriken from his weapon pouch and skillfully threw it away. With Zero's guidance, the shuriken flew in the air and accurately hit the beads, altering its trajectory.
It coincidentally landed in front of the examinee that uses bare fists to attack and he desperately took one of the beads.
"What the... aren't you too shameless? Wouldn't most people, especially hotblooded youth do their best to secure and protect their bead in situations like this? Where is your bravery?" Serrod commented and the side of Kyrell's lips twitched.
This is strategy okay! Strategy!
What hotblooded youth? What bravery? Only a fool would act like this!
As a pragmatic person, Kyrell opted to the option that would give him the best results. No matter what, the goal is to secure the bead, right?
With a simple test like this, the end definitely could justify the means!
Kyrell watched three out of the four take the beads causing the face of the one that was not fast enough to turn ashen.
In desperation, the man wielding a sword launched a sword strike at one of the girls. This girl was the one that casts the fireball skill earlier.
She casts the skill twice and it considerably drained her mana. With such low mana capacity, the Cultivation Art she practiced must be of low quality. As such, she was targeted.
She hurriedly used her daggers to block but the force behind the sword strike was overwhelming and her daggers were thrown away and she was pushed back.
The sword wielder seized that chance and he snatched one of the beads. Seeing that, the girl paled, she knew that she was not a match for the sword wielder and she might not be able to take her bead back.
With that being the case, she wasted no time and desperately attacked another examinee she thinks is weaker than her.
Chaos appeared in the group of four and Kyrell also decided to join to fan the flames even more. If he think one side is weaker, he would use his flying weapons to help to help that person snatch the bead.
As such, the beads were constantly being taken by one person just to be stolen by another one. It was a scene of pure chaos!
When Kyrell decided that the time was enough, he skillfully snatched one of the beads before retreating.
The ten minutes time was almost up and Kyrell now had the confidence to secure his bead.
"Big brother, from your attire, you must be from an affluent family. Can you please be kind to this sister and give your bead to me? Unlike you, I don't have a powerful background and I really need to enter the academy"
One of the two women of this group approached Kyrell while acting pitiful, her eyes staring at him. She made sure to look as pitiable as possible.
"What the? Is she insane? Does she think that by acting pitiful she can—" just as Kyrell was trash talking the girl inside his head, Zero's metallic voice entered and echoed inside him
[Ding! Detecting a subtle mental influence trying to affect the host. Does the host want to mobilize the nanobots for an electric shock to remove the mental influence?]
[If there is no answer within 30 seconds from the host, the nanobots will automatically move]
As Zero's voice entered his mind, Kyrell could feel some sort of power entering his head and trying to affect him.
Maybe because he transmigrated but his mental defense is actually stronger than most people. The evil cultivator Elder of the Abyssal Serpent Sect was a different case.
That frightening woman is a Spirit Nourisher cultivator, how can Kyrell even begin to resist that kind of power?
However, this girl was different. Zero was able to detect the mental influence early but Kyrell could also do the same and free himself of the influence since the girl's abilities were somewhat lacking.
A Spirit Nourisher cultivator can easily affect Kyrell's mind but certainly not this girl!
Thinking of that frightening Elder, Kyrell's hand suddenly moved on its own as he chopped the girl's neck, causing her to lose consciousness before even being able to express shock.
Everyone around who saw his action had their jaws dropped on the ground.
So ruthless?!
Even if this was a test, how could he just suddenly chop a delicate girl's neck? He didn't even catch her and let her body fall into the ground in a rather unsightly manner.
Where is chivalry?!
Even Kyrell can't help but blush a bit. It wasn't intentional he swear!
His mind being controlled was an unpleasant experience for Kyrell. Now that another cultivator was casting an illusion at him, his body acted on its own and he attacked.
It could only be blamed on his PTSD! It wasn't an intentional nor a conscious action in his heart.
Besides, they are competitors! In the cultivation world, is there really such a distinction between men and women when even the most fragile-looking woman could turn out to be a terrifying cultivator and kill you?
"What? She's trying to cast an illusion at me and if I didn't do that, I'm afraid she would have controlled me" Kyrell justified his actions to the pair of eyes staring at him as if he was a scum.
Although he did that, it didn't change the way the other examinees looked at him. Fortunately, it didn't last long as the ten minutes were finally up.
"Move now. Those who secured a bead passed, and those who didn't fail. The second batch is coming. I want to finish my work early." As Serrod said that, he blew smoke that wrapped around Kyrell and the others.
They were not able to control their bodies and they were sent away and another batch of five people was also controlled by the smoke and appeared near Serrod.
"We have feet, can't he just let us walk on our own? Just how much he hates his job?" Kyrell can't help but complain in his head as he doesn't have a choice but to let his body be controlled.
——
With Kyrell being forced out of the battlefield, he waited on the side with the other candidates who passed the second examination though he could not help but feel like some people were looking at him in a weird way.
"Damn, these snitches!" He thought angrily. The other two people that passed in his batch must have casually informed their friends of what happened and these friends then told the story to their friends. This is how gossip works!
Even before entering the academy, Kyrell's reputation is already being tainted. He can't help but feel bitter.
Well, deep inside him, despite the fact that he mercilessly attacked the girl unconsciously, he also doesn't think that it was wrong.
His goal is to pass the entrance examination of the Royal Academy. Why does it matter if he attacks a man or a woman?
It was these people who were being narrowminded!
As such, Kyrell spent the next 30 minutes awkwardly. Fortunately, with only around 700 examinees that passed the first test and with Serrod utilizing 20 smoke clones, it only took four batches to test all of them
With that man's attitude of wanting to clock off work as soon as possible, as soon as ten minutes were up, he would throw the examinees away and forcefully gather the second batch.
As such, in as short as 40 minutes, the second test ended.
"Great! I'm finally done here!"
As Serrod said that, he immediately walked away, ignoring the examinees that don't know what to do next.
Fortunately, the other staff of the academy apologetically explained things to the examinees.
Those who passed the second test will have to return to the academy in three days for the third and last test. As for their ranking for the second test, it will be sent to their phones.
With that, things ended for the day and the students started to disperse.
"I wonder what the third test would be?" Kyrell wondered, taking the test seriously.
"It seems like I need to practice and learn the [Serpentification] before the third test starts to increase my passing chance"
Due to the fact that Kyrell just finished the conversion of the Spirit Serpent, he didn't have much time to train his core skill and was unable to use it yet.