Chapter 252: That’s It?
“The third test measures a student’s comprehension, as well as their adaptability to and ability to dismantle the occult.”
“In this room, there is an extraordinary circuit. You must inject extraordinary energy to activate it, endure the changes that occur once it is activated, analyze its function, locate its core, and destroy it.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhi thought to herself: I’m very familiar with this.
She had done similar things several times before.
Of course, at the time she hadn’t known anything about circuits, and she had relied on the Eye of Secrets to cheat.
“To prevent cheating, the circuit’s attribute will not match that of the participating student. Additionally, each circuit is personally crafted by a teacher of the Light Academy. Every year, each teacher produces at least one such test circuit and places it into the question bank for random selection.”
“This reduces the possibility of cheating.”
After the guide finished speaking, Xu Zhi asked, “What if a student were to collect all the circuits in the question bank in advance and memorize them?”
The guide smiled. “You may not know this, but extraordinary circuits are not so easily memorized. If a freshman truly managed to memorize every circuit in the question bank, they wouldn’t need to take the test at all.”
A freshman with such exaggerated talent would be treated like a treasure.
Xu Zhi recalled the peculiar sensation she experienced when observing the circuit within her own body. Combined with the guide’s explanation, she roughly understood that extraordinary circuits were likely considered “difficult to comprehend” by other extraordinary individuals. Completely memorizing them probably required considerable mental strength.
But she remembered them very clearly.
The circuits she had seen before—including even a fleeting glimpse of the [Cup] circuit—remained vivid in her mind. Otherwise, she would never have been able to construct a new [Lamp] attribute circuit.
Perhaps this was another difference between her and other extraordinary individuals.
Suppressing her surprise, Xu Zhi feigned sudden realization. “I see. Then there’s no need to worry about cheating.”
“Yes. Once you’re ready, please enter the room. This test is ranked by time. If you fail to solve it within three hours, the test will be declared a failure, and your score for this section will be zero.”
“Oh, right,” the guide added as if remembering something. “Different attributes will have different impacts in this test. Lamp and Initiation attributes are expected to perform better.”
It wasn’t hard to understand. [Initiation] had an absolute advantage in dismantling. While [Lamp] didn’t specialize in dismantling, anything related to “knowledge” naturally granted it a slight edge over other attributes.
Attributes with advantages were expected to perform correspondingly better. If two students of different attributes solved it at the same time, the one with the advantageous attribute would receive the lower evaluation.
“Let’s begin.”
Xu Zhi herself wasn’t sure whether, without the Eye of Secrets, she could still be considered a “genius” when facing extraordinary circuits. After all, she had always been cheating before. Now was a good opportunity to test herself.
The moment she entered the room, she saw a wooden table and chair. The guide removed the chair, pushed her to the table, and said, “After I leave, place your hand on the circuit diagram on the tabletop and inject extraordinary energy to activate it. The timer will begin.”
With that, the guide exited and closed the door.
Xu Zhi lowered her head to look at the extraordinary circuit engraved on what appeared to be a stone slab of unknown material.
Her first reaction was: So simple.
Yes—she felt this circuit was almost too simple.
Compared to the dazzling, intricate circuits she had seen before, this one was undeniably rudimentary. At first glance, she even wondered: what kind of threat could something like this possibly pose?
Were all the test circuits this basic?
Slightly puzzled, Xu Zhi placed her right hand on the slab and injected extraordinary energy.
The moment she did so, the room’s timer activated. The slab lit up as if a switch had been flipped—but the color was not the pale gold of [Lamp].
Instead—
It was the same gray as Xu Zhi’s pupils.
This was a [Moth] attribute circuit.
Of course. The test would not use the same attribute. Since [Lamp] had an advantage, they chose [Moth] to disrupt it.
It was, in theory, an excellent idea.
However—
Almost the instant the [Moth] attribute extraordinary energy entered Xu Zhi’s body, she felt a long-lost familiarity.
No one could have predicted that the very attribute meant to disturb her thoughts would have absolutely no effect. After all, she had once harbored Moth-attribute energy within her body in quantities thousands of times greater than this. The amount entering her now might trouble an ordinary fourth-level Comprehender—but to Xu Zhi—
That’s it?
It wasn’t even enough for her to properly savor the sensation of [Moth] again.
Disruption?
Not even a little.
Xu Zhi sighed inwardly. She was already used to coincidences like this. Her luck was often absurdly good. That the test happened to select the attribute she was currently without—but undoubtedly most familiar with—didn’t surprise her in the slightest.
Shaking her head with mild regret, she finally turned her attention to the circuit itself.
So, this circuit’s function was to disrupt an extraordinary individual’s thoughts. The examinee needed to resist that disruption while locating the circuit’s core and destroying it.
There was no extraordinary energy in the room. To resist the disruption required continuous expenditure of one’s own energy. Destroying it required the same. Moreover, unless the core was damaged, the circuit would not break; it would continuously repair itself.
Thus, opportunities for trial and error were limited.
Undoubtedly, under normal circumstances, this was a difficult test. Most freshmen only possessed basic theoretical knowledge of circuits. Even those who performed well academically were merely beginners in the subject.
To dismantle a circuit under such conditions tested mental strength, comprehension, resistance, and analytical ability all at once.
Moreover, before testing Xu Zhi, the academy had not provided her with any foundational instruction. She had been sent directly into the examination room, making her challenge even harsher.
For ordinary freshmen, simply studying the circuit carefully and attempting analysis would already cause headaches. Analyzing and dismantling circuits required considerable mental strength—the more complex the circuit, the more so.
Yet in Xu Zhi’s eyes, this circuit—which countless freshmen found troublesome—appeared unusually… refreshing.
She didn’t understand formal circuit theory, but she had seen many exquisite and complex circuits. She had destroyed some. She had even personally constructed an extremely complex one within her own body. When it came to identifying a “core,” she was quite experienced.
So she didn’t analyze it seriously at all.
She merely compared this simple circuit to those she had seen before, then relied on something like intuition—perhaps experience, perhaps pure instinct born of talent—to identify a point she believed to be the “core.”
Casually, she gathered [Lamp]-attribute extraordinary energy and poured a sufficient amount into that spot.
It was an offhand, almost careless strike.
Yet it was as though she had hit the most fragile corner of glass.
With a sharp crack, the “stone slab” engraved with the extraordinary circuit shattered.
The words “Test Concluded” echoed in the room.
Xu Zhi blinked, then looked innocently at the timer.
The displayed time was not even one minute.
“…So the entrance test is this easy?”
