Chapter 276
Chapter 276
«What?! Is the princess going to take the test with us? Why?!» … «Oh! It can’t be true! Is she here to provide expert advice and guidance? Or maybe to show what it means to be a perfect student? How noble of her! She is perfection! She is the kindest princess in the world, a symbol of love and care!» – The anxious applicants proceeded to the assembly hall through the opened gates of the school building.
{Vlada couldn’t have guessed that I was going to Cernos… Why on earth would she make her daughter take this lousy exam?} – Kyon started to analyze the situation and soon found the answer. It wasn’t a big deal, after all, as long as the bitch didn’t ruin his plan of collecting dark emotions from these sissies. Kara’s behaviour would make their blood boil at once. His goal was to gain a bad reputation, being a real pain in the ass.
More than three thousand applicants met the beautiful, proud princess in the assembly hall, and their hearts skipped a beat. She was dressed in the school uniform: shiny crimson shoes, a burgundy just above the knee skirt with a neatly tucked blouse that didn’t hide her bulging boobs. The girls in the crowd bit their lips with envy and whispered, admiring her, and the boys did their best not to stare. All of them greeted the princess with low bows befitting her status.
Kara gave the crowd a cold look. She nodded slightly and turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. The princess emitted a sullen, irritated aura as if she had been nursing a thousand babies. In fact, she felt humiliated! The punishment she got from her mother was too harsh. She had to resit the exam for her unauthorized visit to Juno and letting the goddess’s son go. This time she would have to do it without any secret agreements. The princess had spent almost a week sweating over textbooks about boring human history and sciences so that she wouldn’t fail. If she didn’t get at least 98 points, she would make a total fool of herself in school and the whole kingdom! Everyone would start wondering how she could get a hundred points in the first place. Did she suddenly go dumb? Her damned mother didn’t understand anything! She only controlled, humiliated, and restricted her! Anyway, Kara was afraid of her, feeling helpless anger and bitter resentment over and over again. She bottled them up and gradually felt hatred rising inside her.
The senior examiner came out on the platform in the middle of the hall and announced the four upcoming tests. The first and most important one was scored on the scale of 0 to 20 points, and the others to 10. Then he went over the details of the tests.
The test takers were divided into 30 groups of over 100 people. A lower-ranking examiner took charge of each group. Everyone was invited to a large open area with running tracks, arenas and lots of exercise machines.
The applicants formed thirty neat lines.
«Look, principal Nulan and the senior examiner are watching us from the balcony! The principal has never been interested in the entrance exam, but now he decided to take a look at us! Haha, he wants to watch the beautiful princess. It’s a no brainer! You’re so busted, principal Nulan…» – Sam chuckled, nudging his friend with an elbow. – «Alex, are you alright? Alex?»
Alex was ogling the beautiful blonde, standing in the next line with her husband, whom he gave a brief jealous glance. You’ve come to the wrong place, blond devil! Alex belonged to the kingdom’s elite, his family owned the school, where his brother held an honorable 3rd place! It would be a shame not to take advantage of his superior status. He plotted something evil against Franz when a more convenient opportunity should offer…
When Marina suddenly glanced back, Alex immediately looked away and cleared his throat. – «Ah, yes, so you were saying? Damn it! Why is the fat freak standing behind us?»
«Didn’t you see him?» – Sam rolled his eyes.
Meanwhile, Kara, who was in the first group, had passed the test on a priority basis, gaining 20 points. Everyone started oohing and aahing over her exceptional talent…
{She is at the ninth stage of the noble phase, and her stream is 440 points. Hmm… She is really talented.} – Kyon thought, watching the 16-year-old princess from the corner of his eye.
A few minutes later, the examiner of the 3rd group, who looked so old as if he had been there to see the world’s creation, looked closely at the next test taker over the thick lenses of his glasses. – «Show me your formation and say your name.»
«Alex Grand. Yeah, I am Arcadius Grand’s son.» – He said with arrogant self-assurance, graciously holding out his hand.
«I didn’t ask your father’s name.» – The examiner retorted sternly, checking the formation on the boy’s wrist. – «Take off your shirt.»
Alex made a wry grimace. The ancient half-dead old-timer didn’t care about his father’s authority? How unfortunate! He should have chosen another group. A younger examiner might have given him some additional points.
The examiner put a nephrite to the boy’s navel and saw a blinking number “320” (out of 900 possible) and “3.7” next to it, which indicated the 7th stage of the superior phase.
«Your flow is quite powerful, young man. As for your cultivation, it’s quite decent for your age. I’d say you’re above average. Congratulations.»
«Thank you, sir.» – Alex smiled smarmy at the examiner.
«Now show the elements that you can bend.»
When Alex Grand held out his hand, it glared orange.
«Hm, the flame of advanced grade.» – The old examiner commented.
Then a little hurricane swirled in the middle of his palm.
«And the advanced wind. A good combination.»
Alex removed his hand and pursed his lip in displeasure as the examiner was expecting more from him. Unfortunately, Alex Grand could bend only three elements. He felt awkward and uncomfortable.
«It’s a good result, young man. You don’t have to feel discouraged. However, only geniuses among geniuses will live on the fifth floor after the entrance exam. Add it to your goal list. If you do well on your end of year exam, you will definitely get a higher floor. I award you thirteen points. Next, please!»
Alex walked away, his hands balled into fists. Miserable 13 points out of 20? For him, the pure-blood descendant?! The damned old fool must have a death wish! Father would beat the shit out of him! Anyway, the boy had no access to the 5th floor this year. How humiliating! The senile dotard had ruined his bright hopes.
«I’ve got only eleven points.» – Sam complained.
«Shut up.» – Alex hissed in reply.
The applicants who had already passed the test sighed with envy. They all gained from 4 to 10 points. A significant difference! However, they didn’t complain while Alex Grand looked like he fucked up. He seemed to have been expecting more than that. Anyway, now everyone was convinced that Cernos had a crystal clear reputation.
«Tell me your name and family name. Show your formation.»
«Dick Baker.» – The fat guy next in line announced in falsetto.
Hundreds of blank stares focused on the ugly boy. Even depressed Alex turned around and raised his eyebrows. – «Dick… Baker? Ha… Ha ha… Ha ha ha!»
A second later, all the test takers of the 3rd group burst into loud laughter. The applicants from other groups looked puzzled at a hundred people laughing out loud.
Alex laughed the loudest, taunting the ugly boy. – «The parents must have loved him a lot for giving him such a suitable name! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Dick Baker, that’s funny!»
Sam added, holding his stomach. – «They were sick and tired of changing his bedding every morning and named him after who he is!»
«My grandfather used to say that your name reflects your personality. I didn’t believe him, but now I’m starting to understand the wisdom of his words!» – The recently disgraced Romanov added with a laugh.
Kara glanced indifferently at the annoying, noisy scum debris and noticed the object of ridicule. The princess found him so ugly that she felt sick to her stomach. His sidelong gaze, patchy mustache, and yellowish protruding teeth made it difficult to think clearly: {Mother, why did you send me here?} – She turned away with a convulsive shrug and closed her eyes never to see this pathetic thing again. If it were up to her, Kara would have him executed on the spot for the mere fact of his existence in the same place with her.
The taunts and laughter didn’t subside for a long time. However, the ugly guy acted as if everyone was laughing at someone else. He turned his head and squinted his little eyes, trying to find the laughing stock and have some fun for himself.
«You don’t get it, fool? We are talking about you!» – Alex yelled and broke into another fit of laughter.
The senior examiner, standing next to the principal on the balcony, threatened loudly to take their points for insubordination. The crowd fell silent at once. Everyone looked at Dick and wondered if he was really unaware that everyone was laughing at him?
The old examiner pushed back the glasses that had slipped down his nose. – «Take off your shirt, young man.»
When the fat guy took off his shirt, flashing his swollen belly, the girls booed at him and turned away, and the boys grunted with laughter, trying to hide it behind a sudden coughing fit.
The examiner put the nephrite to the examinee’s navel. Light poured out of it, forming flickering numbers “100” and “2.2” in the air.
Hundreds of observers stood dumbfounded, staring at the figures. A stream of 100 points? It was outrageous! Practitioners, whose streams didn’t exceed 200 points, were worthless. No one knew how they had managed to connect with their spirit. Their cultivation was doomed to get stuck in the first two phases. A stream of 150 points was as rare as dying stars in the sky. The cultivation of anyone with such a stream was at the level of those three stages weaker. However, the ugly guy was unique in his own way. He managed to go lower than rock bottom. There was no one like him in the whole world! Add to this his royal arrogance and you’ll get a genius of mediocrity and self-confidence, no less!
His cultivation was so absurd that other applicants didn’t even scoff any more. Who would laugh at a legless and armless cripple? How did he get here? Was he really hoping to apply to Cernos?
All of a sudden, the examiner’s glasses shattered. – «Oh! Too bad!» – He took them off and shook his head in dismay. – «What a fool I am! Why didn’t I take a backup pair? How can I go on if I am as blind as a bat?»
While the old man rubbed his watery, weak-sighted eyes, Dick’s burly bodyguard stepped forward with a straight face, pressed his navel to the nephrite and returned to duty. The number “100” changed to “350” and “2.2” to “4.10.”
The old examiner finally opened his eyes, squinted at the flashing numbers and exclaimed in shock:
«Gods!» – He clutched his head in his hands. – «Do my eyes deceive me? You’re a real genius, Dick Baker! You’re only fifteen and already a peak nobleman with a stream of three hundred and fifty points!»
«Wha-a-a-at?!» – Everyone around him gasped, including the applicants from the other groups.
The princess made a grimace of disgust at the terrible noise.
The senior examiner furiously ordered everyone to shut up. The damned kids had no decency! This new generation was really crazy…
«Thank you, sir. I owe my talent to my parents, who gave me the purest sacred blood of the Baker family. As you can see, I’ve inherited something more than good looks and love of pastry from my ancestors.» – Dick said proudly, puffing out his chest.