Applied Immortality

The Ten School Joint Examination was an inter-Immortal Institutes test, an exam held to assess a freshman’s position among all Immortal Institutes’ students, as well as offer undeniable opportunities to excel.

Not all of the institutes’ disciples would be gathering in one place since it would be a total waste of time. It would usually be Immortal Institute A and B going to Immortal Institute C for their martial and written test. While Immortal Institute C’s disciples went to another along with Immortal Institute D. Next April, Immortal Institute A would go to another Immortal Institute, this time paired with one that wasn’t Immortal Institute B. The Immortal Alliance would then assess the ranking of each disciple based on their scores.

In the finals, the admission trial, the Immortal Alliance would gather similarly ranked freshmen to hold their exams.

The more candidates there were, the longer the exams lasted. Of the six days reserved for the tests, five were for the martial exams.

The written exam was drafted by other Immortal Institutes’ teachers to test the away Immortal Institute’s teachers and their level. Turning into ‘away’ teams was to offset the ‘home field advantage.’

Wang Qi recalled all the rules of the Ten School Joint Examination. “It’ll take half a day by spirit boat to reach the other Immortal Institute. Then there’s another half-a-day break upon arriving before the fights. With five days for combat and one for writing, there’s also the New Year’s Eve school break. All in all, it does seem that it’s just a few days away.”

The combat trial area staff beamed. “As long as Junior Brother understands.”

Wang Qi was stern. “I’m running out of time…”

“True, true…”

Wang Qi rushed into the arena.

The staff slapped himself. “Me and my big mouth. At this rate, there’ll be no demon left for the others.”

At the end of the day’s rampage, Wang Qi went back to the Immortal Institute. He rubbed the ring on his hand. “Old man, how did I do?”

Zhen Chanzi had been a ring shut-in for ten thousand years, a man out of his time, but the old guy had a rich fighting experience. No matter how bad the advice, it was at least useful as a reference.

Zhen Chanzi was depressed. “I don’t quite get why you’re glowing green whenever you do that annoying Heavenly Crystal Sword.”

“Romance, romance…”

Zhen Chanzi sighed. “If you can manage without showing off, beating a late Qi Refining cultivator won’t be an issue. The progress you made these last few days is particularly impressive.”

Wang Qi was smug. “Genius, I tell ya!”

“Even better if you stop flashing junk around.”

“Don’t sweat the details.”

Zhen Chanzi groaned. “The Thunder Art is getting better and better. Weren’t you going for the Myriad Arts Sect? Isn’t that why you paused cultivating Celestial Hymn Odyssey?”

“Fourier Expansion and White Marsh Expansion have great applications in the electromagnetic domain. Connecting the White Marsh True Array Divider and Thunder Resonance Blade Art allows me to employ the electrical forces with greater skill.”

Wang Qi questioned, “Old man, what part of my fighting skills is lacking in your eyes?”

“You have Grand Ripple Enigma for ranged attacks, Celestial Hymn Odyssey for a brief melee, and then there are the new blade arts.” Zhen Chanzi muttered. “If it’s the ingenuity of magical arts, Celestial Hymn Odyssey is more useful, and adequate as support despite being unable to harm your opponent. The way I see it, there’s no glaring flaw.”

Wang Qi pondered. “All I have as magic items is a blade. Won’t I get the short end?”

“You have nothing to worry about. Early and mid Qi Refining cultivators don’t have amazing magic items. Symbols can’t even take your attacks.”

“In other words, I should pay attention to other bookworms.”

Only a bookworm could understand another bookworm’s dominance.

Wang Qi was clear on his goal, meaning he had to work hard and strive to be the top student in a college admission of a large province with a ton of students for competition. His reliance was on all the knowledge he got back home, twenty years of learning over everyone else, as well as Earth’s math and science, a hint higher than Divine Province’s.

In short, it wasn’t enough to guarantee total victory. Earth’s universe had no superpower, yet it still gave birth to monsters like Neumann, capable of eight-digit multiplication at the tender age of six, learning calculus at eight, and studying function theory at ten. The appearance of such a strong competitor would trump his own advantages.

Clansmen trained and learned their arts and formulas from young. Their skills might very well be mastered to a high-weighted value. Take Wang Qi’s hypothetical rival, the Bernoulli family’s disciple. The clan with eleven Unfettered in its history had plenty of ingenious arts. The history was full of achievements bearing the name Bernoulli, the Bernoulli equation, Bernoulli’s law of large numbers, and many others.

Thinking it over, Wang Qi thought it best to consider the joint examination after all.

Checking the time, he found it was dinnertime and went to the mess hall. He looked around the place and noticed Mao Zimiao at the side.

She had a strict routine when it came to work and rest.

Wang Qi sat across from her. “Hey, Ah’Zimiao!”

The cat-eared girl jumped. “Nya?” She stared at the tray Wang Qi carried, wanting to know if his dinner was good. But she noticed he wasn’t carrying any. The girl covered her ears in reflex. “Little Qi, is there something you need, nya?”

A certain bookworm gave her a subtle look. “Why do I get the feeling you have a skewed image of me?”

Zhen Chanzi pointed out. “Get to the point.”

Ten years was enough to understand Wang Qi’s character. With his weird thinking, Zhen Chanzi felt the need to nudge Wang Qi back on track before he digressed too much.

The ex-Great Ascension cultivator was getting more and more used to his new status as a multi-functional electronic device.

Wang Qi finally got his thoughts together and asked Mao Zimiao about the Ten School Joint Examination.

Mao Zimiao perked her lips. “Little Qi, you don’t care about the monthly examination?”

The bookworm’s face fell. “I’ll just take the test when it comes anyway. Not like I need to prepare or anything.”

The cat-eared girl’s words got stuck in her throat.

She weakly said. “Actually, the teacher announced that we’ll be going to Jiongli Immortal Institute with Langde Immortal Institute.”