All the participants entered through the main gate. After entering, they were led by the instructor into an open field. There were several training instruments set up here and there in the field. There was a huge signboard saying "Outer Training Field 1" at the end of the field. It seemed that this was the open training field for the Southern Academy students.
"Everyone!", called the instructor.
"As you can see, this is an outer training ground of the Southern Martial Academy. The first phase of the selection exams will take place here. You will be tested on physical capabilities here. There will be four categories in this phase. The first one is punching strength assessment, the second assessment will be on your movement speed, the third assessment will be checking your reflexes and the last one will be testing your endurance. But before all that, I will be taking a written exam to check if your understanding of martial arts is enough. The written exam also has a specialty that requires more than just knowledge. "
Everyone was handed out a black, thick piece of paper. The paper was strange. Right now, almost no participant had a pen with them but even if anyone had a pen, it would not be possible to write anything on this paper using an ordinary pen.
"The pieces of paper you see before you are special. They are called Spiritual Black Paper. One can not write on this paper with any pen. For this paper, whatever you write, the pen is your mind. After touching this paper and injecting a bit of physical essence inside this paper, this paper recognizes you as its owner. Then, whatever you think in your mind will be written on this paper using the power of your physical essence. The hard part of writing in this paper is, a human's thoughts are mostly uncontrolled, while you are thinking about one thing, many other thoughts will be roaming around your conscious and subconscious mind. If you can not focus all your thoughts on what you want to write, then all you will be able to write on this paper is meaningless scrambles of words. The main purpose of this test is to check your ability to focus your thoughts, as one needs to do while in meditation. This also tests your mental strength, as well as your ability to control and manipulate your physical essence. The papers here are all grade 1 spiritual black paper. Higher grade papers require a higher amount of physical essence and from grade 4 and higher, you need Qi to write on them." the instructor explained.
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"Now, do you have any questions?", the instructor asked.
One participant raised hand. It was Edward who raised hand.
"Ask", said the instructor.
"Instructor, may I ask if the spiritual black paper is only created for testing focus and control? If so, then why go through all the trouble of creating something like this just to test focus and control? And if the spiritual paper is used for writing, then why use them instead of pen and paper which are more available and easy to use?", Edward asked.
"Good question. Some of the participants coming from the big families may already know the answer, but I will still explain for the sake of everyone else. First, how long do you think ordinary papers can last? And isn't it too easy to damage ordinary paper? Rain, sunlight, and insects can destroy them, fire can burn them, and anyone can just tear them apart. Even if they are somehow protected from all these troubles, the contents that are written with ink may fade away with the passage of time. But if you write important things like historical events, bonds, contracts, cultivation methods, etc then they will be lost easily when written with ordinary pen and paper. But the spiritual black paper doesn't get wet, can't be burnt by normal means, and can not be torn apart. The contents that are written within will never fade. So, we, martial arts cultivators, use spiritual papers instead of ordinary ones. All the martial arts manuals you will see in the future will be written on spiritual papers. Do you understand?"
"Yes, now I understand.", said Edward.
'So that's why the manual given to me by Snow seemed weird to me. It was written on spiritual black papers.', he thought.
"Now that you don't have any more questions, let the written exams begin. there is only one question, and you will get only 2 hours. Two hours might be a long time for ordinary written tests, but writing the answer on spiritual black paper within this time limit will be very challenging. Now, begin!"
Just as the instructor commanded, everyone started focusing on the spiritual black paper. Edward also focused on the paper and sat in a meditative position. There was one question written on the paper. "Describe the realm of Physical Essence according to your own understanding". This was the question he needed to answer.
With that, the first challenge in Edward's martial path has truly began.