Why Did You Summon Me?

As the old man was narrating stories about the famous Hope — the stories that had been exaggerated by the Church — to the young lad, other candidates began to show up to the venue, one by one. A vast majority of them wore Masters-level badges. Almost all of them gazed at Baiyi, who stuck out like a sore thumb at one corner; some even bravely went up to him to say hello. Baiyi returned the favor by introducing himself as inconspicuously as possible, but the wave of discussions that came after that could not be avoided. It did not induce a very big commotion, however.

This was because not many had seen Baiyi physically, and the name “Hope” did not really ring any bells in their heads. The probability of the soul armature having a similar name with the famous Hope was pretty high, after all; thus they could not just go assuming that any Hope they saw was really the savior of the world. Baiyi was being extremely low-profile; he had even made sure not mention the flashy, gaudy title that his master, the Archmage, had coined him.

Even if he had mentioned the title, it probably would not have had an effect there…

As the number of candidates in the arena increased, the atmosphere gradually shifted from a jovial, happy atmosphere to a more serious one. Loud voices lowered to whispers, and soon, Baiyi’s surrounding was almost quiet; multiple conversations had ended. After the last candidate arrived, a person from the examination crew began to distribute forms. Baiyi took a look around and counted ten candidates, including himself.

‘What a busy scene!’ Baiyi thought as he surveyed his surroundings. In the earlier years, having ten candidates sitting for the examination, all at once, was an extremely rare situation, and only twelve to twenty Legendary-levels were produced each year. However, as society progressed, the education system improved, and more people were able to make contributions in the fields of academics; furthermore, the usage of natural resources increased greatly. As a result of this, the numbers of high-level ability users increased drastically; this was a sign of a progressing civilization.

The expressions on the faces of the candidates were expressions of unease and competitiveness. According to unreliable rumors, the Sorcerers’ Association planned to limit the number of successful candidates it accepted. They also planned to make the process of acknowledgment even more troublesome by increasing the passing rate to a high percentage.

Although the exact percentage was unknown, the possibility of being eliminated from the examination was very high, especially due to the large number of candidates present. If the total number of candidates was only two to three, it would be quite normal for everyone to pass. However, in an examination which contained ten candidates, even if all ten of them had Legendary-level abilities, half of the group would still be eliminated.

However, this passing rate was still considered reasonable, despite how unforgiving it was to those who participated. Due to the life expectancy of the world’s top fighters, every power level certificate — and the privileges and benefits that came with it — bestowed to a qualified sorcerer would remain active over a long time. They could only be retracted when the qualified sorcerer passes away. With that in mind, it was no wonder that they had to put some extra effort to limit the number of people who passed.

Baiyi still felt quite calm, despite understanding just how competitive the test was. A challenge was nothing to one who possessed true power and potential. He was the Fifth Voidwalker, so how could he not best commoners in this examination…

Soon, the challenges section of the Power Level Examination officially commenced. The candidates walked into the examination arena leisurely, familiarizing themselves with the scene before them. The arena was decorated somewhat like a school or a community hall; it had various challenges spread across the area, which had been sectioned into zones. There was an observing sorcerer stationed at each zone.

The itinerary for an advanced Power Level Examination like this was pretty cumbersome.

Besides submitting academic dissertations, Power Level Examinations contained a series of challenges related to mana, energy focus, chanting speed, and more. The key aspect of Power Level Examinations, however, was the menial task that preceded the dissertation submission and the challenges. Its objective was to prove that the candidate could carry themselves well beyond theoretical situations, helping the Association with its menial tasks while they were at it. Most believed that the latter was the real reason behind the tasks.

When candidates complete the entire process, they would be awarded the precious certificate of power acknowledgment. If there were no special arrangements made — which would leave the Sorcerer’s Association to do as it pleased — it was completely normal for the whole process — from submitting academic dissertations to finally receiving the certificate of acknowledgment — to take a full year. Eavesdropping on the conversations around him, Baiyi realized that most candidates had started their process almost half a year ago.

This was why many heavyweight fighters eschewed power ranking examinations altogether. Baiyi had gotten lucky this time, for his convenience had stemmed from a little external help.

The first event in the itinerary was a series of evaluations related to mana. In these evaluations, candidates were tested in certain criteria: the amount of mana they had, damage output, mana conversion rate, and their mana recuperation speed without the aid of assist items. The lad and the old man, who Baiyi had met earlier, passed without any issues; their abilities achieved the required standard, and their forms — the forms that each sorcerer was handed at the beginning of the evaluation — were stamped with a red seal of approval; this meant that they passed.

When it was Baiyi’s turn, however, the atmosphere quickly turned awkward.

The method used for these evaluations was still the same-old technique of placing one’s hand on a crystal ball. As soon as Baiyi’s palm came into contact with the crystal ball, it flushed a deep blue, and a foreign liquid appeared within it. The liquid gradually rose towards the top of the crystal, reaching a particular demarcation on the scale that had been carved on the crystal ball. When it reached this demarcation, it stopped and rose no further.

According to the scale, Baiyi’s mana capacity, at maximum, was only at the level of a Master’s. That meant even with the efforts of his two elects, Mia and Laeticia, his maximum mana capacity was only at a Master’s standard.

Although this had no effect in real combat, in an examination, it did not reflect well, at all. The examiner — a sorcerer who knew Baiyi on personal terms — proceeded to speak to Baiyi, with a face full of conflict.

“Ah, Sir Hope… do quit jesting. This is not the time to hide your true potential…”

He was probably one of the many who had placed their bets on Baiyi.

“This is indeed my maximum level; I am not hiding anything,” Baiyi seriously replied. “Mana capacity isn’t the only thing tested in a Power Level Examination, right?”

“In principle, yes; you are right, but…” The sorcerer stopped mid-sentence. No matter what it was, mana was the basic of the basics; without it, there was nothing to be discussed further.

“It doesn’t matter; I am still quite confident of my abilities in other aspects,” Baiyi said calmly, proceeding to the next challenge.

At that moment, the candidates behind Baiyi had not heard his words, but their eyes had also seen the stamp indicating a fail on his form. Low mumbles could be heard right after that.

“This can’t be it now, can it? Mana capacity is the simplest and most basic challenge of all! How would one even dare to step foot into this place if they can’t even meet the minimum requirements? Where did the courage come from?”

“This armor set — his name was Hope, wasn’t it?”

“The same Hope that was constantly applauded by the Church? The very same Hope who beat the Lord Thaas, the Great Lord of the Abyss? Don’t get me started on how much I doubt that story. Do you really think a hero commended so much by the Church would be the Masters-level product standing before us?”

“Mmm… so what you’re saying is — this fellow here just happened to have the same name as the real guy?”

“Most probably… if that’s not the case, why would he lack mana? Well, thinking about it, sharing the same name with such a hero does not exactly put one in the most comfortable situation at all. the pressure sure is immense. Perhaps that’s why he decided to take part in this Power Level Examination — to prove himself, aye? Too bad his mana did not even reach the basic requirements; I really do pity the fellow.”

The rumors and chattering did not escape Baiyi’s hearing, but he dismissed them without a second thought; he had no plans to react to rumors this petty. If he really wanted to show off, he could easily have used some of his smuggled energy to cause the crystal ball to explode, shattering into a million pieces. Doing that would not be a difficult task for him, but he would not stoop that low, just to prove himself.

The old man and the young lad from earlier, who were done discussing the stories of Baiyi spread by the Church, responded to the irritable whispering of the surrounding masses by approaching Baiyi.

“Ah… Sir Hope, are you really the Sir Hope frequently brought up by the Church?” The lad asked Baiyi.

“Yes,” Baiyi replied, with a simple nod.

“But, how could you…” The lad stared at the form in Baiyi’s grasp, clearly confused. Although it was flipped over onto its back, the piece of paper was pretty translucent, and the clear green print, which signified a fail, was extremely visible from the underside.

“I really only have this much mana,” Baiyi replied helplessly. ‘Geez, why are these people obsessed over mana capacity? A Sorcerer’s power is not even determined by how big their mana storage is; that is the function of batteries and hard disks, okay?’

“Very well. It seems that I was mistaken,” the lad responded, a hint of dismay evident in his tone. He had not really paid any mind to the news circulated by the Church before; instead, he always concentrated his attention on research and improving his technique. However, after listening to the old man today, the lad was extremely intrigued by the sorcerer who faced off against Lord Thaas just recently. He never imagined expected his expectations to be rewarded with a counterfeit product who proclaimed himself to be Hope, the savior of the world, instead.

At least, Baiyi performed quite well in the preceding tasks, which had nothing to do with mana capacity. He had an incomparable advantage in other special fields like mana concentration and recuperation speed, leaving the examiner no choice but to discard the red round stamp, which indicated a ‘pass’, and choose to place a purple triangular stamp on Baiyi’s form, which indicated ‘excellent’.

‘Don’t you know that these stamps mean dead meat on Earth?’ Baiyi mused, lowering his eyes to check out the form in his grasp. Due to his impressive performance in other tests, his overall result was even better than most of the candidates present.

Next, Baiyi strode into a test site that did not seem to have much in it and started to partake in one of the most important challenges of the entire examination — magic casting.

Since it was dubbed the most crucial part of the examination, this test could not be passed just by showing off two of one’s favorite spells. Three pieces of parchment inscribed with three different runes were placed in front of each candidate, and the candidates’ task was to cast the spell inscribed in the runes on the parchments. The panel of examiners would then evaluate the outcome based on the rate of spell completion, smoothness, and casting time.

This particular task was tailored specifically to those who sat for the Legendary-level examination, so it was definitely not some easy, doable task. In reality, the rune on the parchments were not even proper spells; it could be a small part of a spell, or a spell missing a key piece.

The answer to this puzzling conundrum was actually meant to be a lot easier than many higher-level spells. When the spells on the runes are cast by the candidates, they would only release some rays of light that had no useful functions, except to the supervising sorcerers. The spells on the runes were deliberately made this complicated just to throw the candidates off. It was a bit like making an equation as simple as 1+1 into an equation as complicated as 1+1-1-1+1+1. It was designed specially as an examination question.

These runes could never be cast without first thinking properly, so the sorcerers had to make use of their deductive reasoning and vast knowledge to restore the complete rune. This test was a little like using single terms to create complete, legible sentences, which is often done in elementary school, but there was a catch; a candidate could use parts of the incomplete spell on the inscribed rune to create another spell. This was because their completed rune had to be the same rune as the one that the examiners originally splintered for the test. Even if there were to be differences between a candidate’s spell and the original spell, the candidate’s spell could not stray too far from the original for this would heavily affect the resulting evaluation score. For example, creating a water-based spell when the original spell is an earth-based spell.

Hence, this was dubbed as the most crucial task in the entire examination, because it evaluated the Sorcerers’ abilities and knowledge of a variety of subjects, simultaneously. The sorcerers who reached this stage wore solemn expressions, looking as if they were facing off against their arch-nemesis.

It was the most important part of the examination, after all.

Baiyi looked very relaxed as he nonchalantly grabbed a piece of parchment, scanned the rune on it with seconds-worth of concentrated focus, pondered slightly, and realized that this spell on the rune was a part of a visual spell. He mapped out some possible solutions and gave each and every one of them some thought. Soon after, Baiyi used his mana to complete the two missing parts of his rune. Upon completing the rune, his body emitted a bright, green glow.

“That was pretty easy,” Baiyi said, as he scrutinized the rune on a second parchment.

At that moment, whispers arose from the panel of judges as they observed Baiyi, who was covered entirely in an emerald glow.

“Of course Sir Hope would be the first to solve this, and this is judging by the speed at which he completed other tasks. My bet is safe and stable. Ha!”

“That was even faster than those sitting for the Legendary-level exams. His rune… it wouldn’t happen to be a Masters-level one, would it? He completes his runes and cast the spell after giving his parchments only two glances? Wasn’t he a user of ancient Rohserlian magic in the rumors?”

“Being adept at the ancient Rohserlian magic in this time and age certainly makes it easier to complete runes, doesn’t it?”

“It seems that he’s the real deal, after all; but why is his mana capacity so low?”

“Perhaps this was a problem caused by his soul armature practitioner? Maybe it was the practitioner’s improper way of summoning him, or maybe something went wrong with the summoning process; these could have contributed to the mana issue. Soul armatures are very complicated and unreliable things to begin with.”

The two remaining questions did not pose as a huge obstacle for Baiyi, at all. He was not the first to embark on this test, but he was certainly the first to complete it. His entire being now was enveloped with a glow composed of a variety of colors, looking a tad bit comical. Then, he walked to the panel of judges to retrieve his form.

Although there were still a few tasks left to complete, he was sure that he would not have to worry about passing this Power Level Examination because he had passed this very important test. ‘Will my low mana capacity remain a topic of some heated debates, though?’ Baiyi mulled internally as he looked at the triangular-shaped purple stamp on the form in his grasp.

However, something caught Baiyi off guard. Before he arrived at the next test zone, the lad whom he had exchanged a few words with earlier walked up and stood behind him. The lad’s body was also glowing with an array of colors.

‘This lad! Are his abilities really this powerful?’ Baiyi exclaimed in his mind. Honestly speaking, the previous test had been a piece of cake for Baiyi, but it required a bit more effort and time for normal sorcerers. This lad before him, however… He may have started the test earlier than Baiyi and emerged much later, but it was still pretty impressive of the lad to quickly finish his task and arrive behind the Fifth Voidwalker, keeping up with the former’s momentum. This feat was an exceptionally hard one to accomplish.

Naturally, Baiyi’s interest in the lad grew a little more.