The next day started with the same routine as the previous ones. Wu Guang was amongst the first to arrive at the square in front of the five towers located to the right from the gate which was notified them as the gathering point for the written tests.
There was a signboard with a brief explanation from which he found that numbers between 801 and 1000 will be tested in the 5th tower, registration was performed at the respective tower as well. Nearing the tower he encountered an outer disciple already sitting at a desk right in front of the entrance. After asking he was explained that the test will start at midday. Although registration before the start was mandatory it did not affect the queue to enter and every two hours 50 people going by the numbers on their plaques will be let in to take the test.
So judging from his number he would be in the second group to enter, so he had several hours to spend. Deciding against leaving, Wu Guang found a spot near the tower and after asking the disciple for permission sat there with his eyes closed.
For the moment that numbers 851 to 900 were called Wu Guang not only practiced the manuals several times, circulated his qi several times but also ate his packed meal and even reviewed everything he knew about the island and plane. Some of the applicants that either stayed in the tent near him or had exchanged some words with him before approached to greet him and he politely dismissed them quickly. He had no real interest in mingling with any of the teens and the only person he talked to for a bit was Duqi whose number was in the 900's. Judging from what they knew, the clansmen would take the same written tests as Wu Guang but a translation to their native language will be provided.
When an inner disciple with a small band indicating him as a member of the Wisdom Palace which was in charge of the written tests called for Wu Guang's group to enter, the latter had already moved towards the entrance.
The first floor of the tower was a reception room where every arrival has explained the rules and points of the tests. The written test will consist of three sheets containing nine normal questions and one bonus one. Every correct answer including the bonus one would give the applicant 5 points towards their total. Except except for the bonus question, they would substract one point if it was left empty or answered erroneously. The bonus questions were the hardest and by such had neither of these penalties, while if all the three were correct a mark would be given as a reward.
From the three sheets, one would be about general knowledge, one about basic cultivation knowledge and the last would contain only questions related to the Body realm.
The group was divided in half and ascended towards the 2nd and 3rd floor respectively and after reaching them ordered to sit down at one of the individual tables standing on the mostly empty floor. A young man dressed in white robes who introduced himself as a Palace disciple entrusted with supervising them gave them the last instructions before commanding them to start.
These last instructions were only relevant to their maximum time of one hour and a half to complete all the three sheets and the prohibition to leave or even stand up until the time finished.
Wu Guang scanned the general knowledge sheet and quickly answered the nine normal questions. They were mostly about cities, powers, or islands and only two about general history. The bonus question was a bit tricky as it asked about the location of the hill that Boundary Hill city was named for. The trick was that the entire hill range was commonly called the Boundary hills while the hill referred to in the question did not exist anymore, being destroyed to form the pass. Preparing for similar questions, Wu Guang had not only read all the books inside the training building library but also studied several maps so he answered them without problems.
Only a tenth of the alotted time had passed judging from the hourglass the Palace disciple had next to him but Wu Guang was already scanning the contents of the second sheet.
This one was about things that any cultivator should know and the normal questions could be answered by simply reading a book like 'The Path'. Wu Guang wrote down the answers without even taking time to think about them but stopped for a while on the bonus one. The question was simple, only asking about the highest level in cultivation. Wu Guang had stopped to carefully think about an answer acceptable to the knowledge of this realm. The answer he wrote down was that the highest known was the Warrior Lord one, but there may be higher levels. After all, judging from the first major realm there may be four minor realms in the second one as well.
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With this done he put the sheet apart and started scanning the third and last one.
All questions were indeed related to the Body realm and mostly either asked about how to successfully cultivate a level or details about one. The tenth question was indeed harder but it was something that Wu Guang not only knew from his memories but also was covered in 'The Path'. It asked about the exact benefits of each level towards the health and lifespan compared to a mortal.
After writing down the answer he scanned all the three sheets and noticing that less than a third of the allocated time had passed closed his eyes and started to wait for the test time to end.
When the last sand-grain dropped a bell was heard. The Palace disciple commanded everyone to stand up and approach one by one with their sheets in hand. When Wu Guang's turn came he approached the disciple and folding the sheets sealed them with his plaque as indicated.
With everyone done the disciple informed that the results would appear on their plaques during the next two hours. Then he indicated them to ascend to the 5th floor and wait to be called into one of the rooms for the verbal part.
It took only a quarter of an hour for Wu Guang to be called into one of the five rooms serving this purpose. The examinator was an Elder from the Wisdom Palace and after Wu Guang greeted him and placed his plaque on a rune plate the former explained the procedure. The elder will ask five questions from different areas and give an incense stick of time to answer. One can answer one or more during this time and points would be assigned depending on the answer contents.
The minimum correct answer would give 5 points while the more complete it was, the points would go up to 25 points. The elder would make a motion if the minimum threshold was reached and another motion if the maximum one was. The maximum allowed score was 50 points and if it was surpassed a single mark would be given as well.
After Wu Guang confirmed that he understood the rules, the elder pronounced his questions.
Actually calling them questions would be not correct as in fact, they were five matters that could require even an hour to answer completely.
Wu Guang decided to go after one about the alliances during the war first. When the incense stick was ignited he quickly recounted that there were several alliances and named all of them, including that the last one was an alliance between the seven island powers to fight the Cataclysm. Noting that the elder motioned him that this was enough for the maximum he followed towards the next one.
The second he had chosen to answer was about the senses a cultivator would start to train during the Spirit realm. Apart from the mortal five senses, the qi sense and a seventh sense were considered the basics. He briefly explained the seventh as a mix of intuition and understanding the messages that the Heavenly Dao sometimes could send by signs or as a qi feeling. With this last explanation, he also reached the maximum, seeing that there was about a 5th of the time remaining he quickly gave some basic info about components for the baths used for the 8th Body level cultivation.
The time finished after the minimum threshold was passed and the elder actually congratulated Wu Guang
"Young man, I am deeply impressed with how how on point you were while being so quick. Normally a single answer like the first two would take all the time, but you managed to skip over all the chaff and only say the exact parts that would make up a full answer. Congratulations on getting 50 points and the mark"
Thanking the elder Wu Guang took his plaque and left the room. He then left via the back entrance, following the instructions given.
He returned to the area he was using for sleeping and only after meditating until sunset he took out his plaque. Caressing the back of it he first saw the number 150 accompanied by a 'Star' character followed by the number 50 accompanied by the same. When the 2nd number dispersed his total appeared, reaching the perfect score of 250 points and four marks.