Chapter 19: The Mental Strength Examination
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Suddenly, there was another big explosion.
The mountain shook and the earth trembled.
Even the tea on the table spilled a little.
"I don't know if the exam will continue in the afternoon." Bai Ye gently used his finger to smear the spilled water and draw a circle on the table.
"It will definitely continue unless something major happens. If a large-scale examination of a base city is canceled due to some minor external factors, it will impact its image and reputation. The outside world will certainly doubt this base city's defense ability." Fang Luolin took a sip of water and set down the cup.
"How was the exam today?"
"It was okay. The questions were predictable. I performed as usual."
"Alright… Keep it up this afternoon, okay?"
"Okay." The corners of Bai Ye's mouth curled into a faint smile.
The afternoon examination would proceed as scheduled.
After watching Bai Ye enter the school, Fang Luolin saw the screen of her cell phone, which was on the table, light up suddenly.
She unlocked the phone and saw that she had received a message.
She picked up her cell phone and read the following message: The southern 36th Base City asks all gold-level or higher-level Beast Tamers to come forward and join the city government to cooperate in the fight against the beast tide.
Beast tide!
Fang Luolin's fingers trembled.
Two years ago, a beast tide had broken out in the western Base City and destroyed a city wall.
It had caused more than a million deaths among the population, becoming the most large-scale beast tide attack of the past decade.
35 years ago, a beast tide had even destroyed a satellite base city.
None of the tens of millions of people in the base city had survived.
There was no mention of a compulsory call-up in the message. It seemed that they had not lost control of the beast tide situation yet.
…
In the school, the last examination on the culture subjects ended in the afternoon.
Next, it was time for the assessment of the meditation performance.
Each student would be taken individually by the invigilator to a small black room to measure their meditation score. The score would be recorded by the device and then uploaded to a site as encrypted data.
In addition, a copy of the results would be kept by the Obsidian Federation Education Department.
At the same time, the transcript would be printed out on the spot.
Everyone's examination results would be announced in their respective school three days later.
On the field in the afternoon…
Several vehicles loaded with measuring devices had been parked on the field, and long queues of students had formed before the vehicles.
The students were discussing amongst themselves in low voices, whispering into one another's ears.
The examinations of the three culture subjects were already over. Therefore, the meditation examination was the only one remaining.
The meditation examination was largely dependent on each student's effort over a long period.
If one did not make an effort systematically, it would not help much if one crammed for the examination.
Although this was cruel, it was reality.
Therefore, everyone's meditation score was basically already cast in stone. Although everyone was nervous, they were aware of their own meditation standard deep in their hearts.
Thousands of people had gathered on the field.
"Brother, which school are you from?"
"Blackwater High School? Is it located on Guanyang Road?"
"Buddy, you're also from the No. 3 City High School. We're schoolmates. Which class are you in? Why haven't I seen you before?"
The students talked amongst themselves.
Bai Ye was not interested in any of this. Someone talked to him, but he nodded perfunctorily. When the surrounding students noticed his silence, they didn't interact with him and merely treated him as if he did not exist.
As he tucked both his hands in his pockets, Bai Ye saw a group of people in suits walking to the front.
The students in the first row had already entered the modified vehicle to take the test.
Bai Ye was at the front of the line. There were only slightly more than 100 people in front of him, so it would be his turn soon.
The line moved forward gradually.
This was an anxious time.
Even Bai Ye was affected by the tense atmosphere around him.
Some people were happy, and others were sad.
Some people walked out, holding their meditation transcript excitedly, whereas some people were frowning, looking unhappy with their results.
"Ha ha ha ha! Bronze four-star mental strength cultivation level! I actually broke through last night."
In the distance, a teenager was holding his transcript and laughing out loud, seemingly showing off.
His voice spread far, and many examination candidates heard it.
"Loud noises are strictly forbidden. Please do not affect other students after you get your results." The teacher beside him gave him a gentle tap.
"Bronze five-star mental strength cultivation level. I should be able to get an extra 240 points," a slightly plump young man in a yellow shirt said enviously.
"There are only two people in our class who have a better cultivation level than bronze," a bespectacled boy in the front said.
"Anyone with a bronze mental strength cultivation level is a genius. They will become a true Beast Tamer in the future. As for us, forget it. We can only make small contributions to society," the slightly plump young man in the yellow shirt said sourly.
"When the results are consolidated, those with a good meditation score will beat us by dozens or hundreds of points. How can we compete with them?" Some students felt indignant.
By listening to their conversations, Bai Ye got a deeper understanding of the situation.
More than half of the students in his class had already broken through to the bronze level of their mental strength cultivation.
Even Wang Qilin, the guy who did not seem to be on the ball, had already reached the bronze seven-star mental strength cultivation level.
It was no wonder they said that the junior high school of the No. 1 High School was the top school in the base city.
That did not seem to be a lie.
It was necessary for a Beast Tamer to have powerful mental strength. Mental strength was the embodiment of a powerful Beast Tamer and the most basic requirement in order to be one.
The speed of a high-level tamed beast exceeded what ordinary people could see. Without strong mental strength to control the five senses, the Beast Tamer's talking speed, eyesight, and hearing ability would be far inferior to his tamed beast's.
How could one command the beast and participate in a battle between a Beast Tamer and monsters then?
When the time came, the Beast Tamer would only become a burden to the tamed beast.
Although each breakthrough of the tamed beast's major level would in turn increase the powers of the Beast Tamer, this kind of increase was relatively weak and limited in comparison to the improvement of a tamed beast of the same level.
Therefore, while the development of the beast civilization flourished, mankind had also developed a matching ability—mental strength.
This was also the core reason mental strength was very important in both the college entrance examination and the middle school entrance examination.
"If you don't have high mental strength, how can you become a Beast Tamer? You'll just lead an honest, law-abiding life," a yellow-haired teenager in a No. 1 High School uniform beside him said.
"Don't stare at me. I'm telling the truth. If you don't have high mental strength, you will not even qualify to be an adventure-level Beast Tamer. How are you going to command the beast? Do you think that an expedition in the wild is a game of Playhouse? You'll be courting death by going to the wild if you don't have the necessary fighting ability. If the monsters launch a surprise attack on you, you won't even react fast enough to summon the tamed beast."
Although the yellow-haired teenager was telling the truth, this did not sit well with the others.
Someone argued with him.
The yellow-haired teenager did not feel cross.
He was just reasoning with the others, but his tone was snobbish.
"Hi, are you Bai Ye from Class 3?" the yellow-haired teenager suddenly asked Bai Ye.
Bai Ye glanced at him.
He was unfamiliar with the yellow-haired teenager and he did not like talking to strangers.
Therefore, he retracted his gaze after taking one glance at him.
"I know who you are. I didn't expect us to be in the same test center. If you have the time, shall we have a meal together right after the test?"
Although Bai Ye ignored him, the yellow-haired teenager did not stop bragging to the people around him.
"This is a real bigshot. Even our class teacher praised him for his high mental strength cultivation level."
Bai Ye was a little embarrassed by him.
The teacher finally turned to Bai Ye.
"Admission ticket."
He gave his admission ticket to the teacher.
Bai Ye then quickly fled into the vehicle.
The space inside was a little dim.
A man was sitting in the innermost corner of the vehicle.
On the inner side was a device with a thin, long vertical line in the middle. There were marking units on its left and right side.
Its bottom was iron one-star, and all the way at the top it was platinum ten-star.
In front of it was a one-meter-high platform with a dented area where a transparent piece of jade had been placed.
Bai Ye had seen the same device at school not long ago.
"You don't need to lean your head. Just put your hands here," the man said, pointing to the transparent jade.
Bai Ye put his hands on the jade and closed his eyes.
Deep in his soul, he felt a tremor.
It was as if a string had been hooked around it.
The planetary ring in his mind, condensed by mental strength, had been attracted by the external force. It then rotated on the spot.
The silver mercury in the device began to rise bit by bit.
Iron one-star, iron five-star, bronze one-star, bronze five-star, silver one-star…
It rose to the silver level smoothly.
Then, it continued to rise…
The teacher in charge of the examination had a look of surprise in his eyes and glanced at Bai Ye a few more times.
This was the first student who had exceeded the silver level during his testing shift.
It was very rare for students to possess silver-level or higher-level mental strength in the middle school entrance examination of a top-ranked satellite base city, let alone in the southern 36th Base City.
Silver two-star, silver three-star, silver four-star, silver five-star, silver six-star, silver seven-star, silver eight-star level…
When he was about to reach the silver nine-star level, the device stopped for a moment and finally shot up one more time.
It stopped at the silver nine-star level.
"Awesome," the teacher said with a gasp.
His comment was sincere.
He had been alive for more than 30 years but had only reached the golden one-star mental strength cultivation level.
This child was not even half his age but had almost caught up with him.
"I suspect that your mental strength is the best in our base city. I didn't expect the champion to appear that early. I remember that the highest mental strength in the 36th Base City in the middle school entrance examination last year was only the silver six-star level." The teacher's tone was kind as he spoke.
He then stamped the transcript and handed it to Bai Ye.
"Okay, you can leave. The results have been uploaded," the teacher in charge said with a caring tone. "Just get the next student to come in."
Bai Ye got up, bowed, and left the vehicle.
Right now, he was not pondering over the exam but something else.
The second tomb in his dream had been restless for some time.
As he thought about it, he realized it was waiting for his mental strength to break through to the gold level.
As long as his mental strength broke through to the gold level, he would be able to sign a contract with a second tamed beast.
The second monster that had been long sealed in the unknown large tomb.
-- Gift
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