Professor Thompson didn’t say much more; he was just making casual conversation. The teachers were quite clear about which students in their department were strong. For this competition, which offered the only spot for freshmen, Hugh Warren’s victory was basically a sure thing—Frank Young, no matter how hard he tried, was still a bit lacking in strength, unless Hugh Warren made a major mistake during the competition...

Henry Sutton? In his impression, Henry Sutton had a serious limp. Unless his Wood God Technique had made a miraculous leap in the past two months, there was only hope of healing that lame leg. But even if it was healed, his theoretical knowledge was still a notch or two below Hugh Warren and the others.

Still, the kid was so handsome, usually steady, hardworking, and loved to study. He really admired him and hoped he wouldn’t perform poorly on site due to extra pressure from Professor Warren’s dislike.

At this moment, Patrick Grant also chimed in with a smile, “I announce that the Lingmu Department’s only freshman spot competition officially begins! All contestants have two hours. The test is out of 100 points, and the big screen will update each contestant’s real-time score at any moment.”

“Let the battle begin, future rising stars!”

……

Chapter 012: The Question Bank Has Definitely Been Updated!

At the call to begin, Henry Sutton focused all his attention on the computer screen, and the previously blank screen now displayed the test questions.

“Question one: In which of the following spiritual materials does the element promethium rank 17th in content?”

“A: Lichun Soil, B: Wang Water, C: Tong Wood, D: Luming Aurora.”

Questions about elemental content mostly appear in various auxiliary spiritual materials. For example, when Henry Sutton crushed David Bolton before, he mentioned sunken ice, gray soil, and so on. These kinds of earth, wood, water, and even special aurora spiritual materials almost all contain large amounts of trace elements, which have powerful nurturing or weakening effects on spiritual plant growth.

Auxiliary Spirit Studies knowledge? Henry Sutton looked down on everyone—he was already at level 1 mastery. Even the top students in Auxiliary Spirit Studies at Tsinghua and Peking University might not be better than him.

A second later, Henry Sutton realized: all four options contain promethium. In Lichun Soil’s 39 trace elements, promethium ranks 16th; in Wang Water’s 41 trace elements, it ranks 17th. The trickiest is Tong Wood—three days ago, the promethium content was globally recognized as 17th, but three days ago, a top expert in the Lighthouse Empire proposed a new concept, suggesting that Tong Wood actually contains a newly discovered element not yet confirmed by humans, and its content surpasses promethium, so promethium should now be ranked 18th...

This was just published in a scientific journal in the Lighthouse Empire three days ago and has been confirmed by the Lighthouse Empire. The domestic Spirit Science Institute also publicly acknowledged this new element and is working on a new ranking.

If Henry Sutton hadn’t received this knowledge—delivered by the Super Scholar System, including the latest real-time updates—he would probably have been stumped between Wang Water and Tong Wood.

When it comes to exams, it’s all about how fast your mind works. In a flash, a huge amount of knowledge passed through his mind. In just a second, Henry Sutton decisively chose B.

On the huge public screen visible to everyone, the screens for the 19 contestants, each showing Henry Sutton’s number and name, displayed a score of 2 points—the first question was correct.

The remaining 18 people were still at 0 points, all yet to answer.

This kind of score change didn’t come with any notification sound; only the audience could see it clearly. The entire venue was instantly in an uproar.

“What the—how did Henry Sutton, that guy ranked outside the top 50 in the whole department, with a limp and a lopsided skill set, get the first points?”

“What’s so strange about that? Most of the early questions are multiple choice. Maybe he just happened to see this question before going on stage? Isn’t it normal to practice a few more sets of questions before the competition?”

“……”

……

The competition venue didn’t restrict audience discussion, and the judges or professors in charge would also provide commentary and evaluations at any time, all of which the contestants could hear.

The purpose was clear: to test a contestant’s psychological resilience!

This is one of the world’s most high-profile competitions, and also a grand event to select the future pillars of the Ming Dynasty. The requirements for theoretical knowledge, hands-on practical ability, psychological quality, adaptability, and so on are all extremely strict.

Is the Martial Arts Department, where fists meet flesh and men charge head-on, just about personal cultivation level for ranking? Whoever has the highest level wins? Don’t be silly. If your high level is built on pills, with no real combat experience, never having faced blood and life-or-death situations, you won’t last long in the All-Star Competition—you’ll be eliminated by someone with a lower level than you.

The martial arts prodigies and monsters fight in private arenas, black market brawls, and beast hunts... as casually as eating or drinking.

No matter what kind of exam or assessment, a contestant’s psychological quality is an extremely important factor—it greatly affects performance.

As the audience began to murmur, Henry Sutton heard it but remained unmoved, continuing to look at the second question.

“Question two: What is the greatest use of Shenwu Grass?”

“A: Making Shenwu Incense, B: Prolonging life, C: Cleansing spirit, D: Making Phantom God.”

This is Spiritual Botany, a comprehensive test of a Lingmu Department spiritual wood master’s memory of the characteristics of tens of thousands of spiritual plants on Earth.

Shenwu Grass, when made into Shenwu Incense and burned, allows an ordinary person to work or study continuously for up to 12 hours or 24 hours a day for over a month without feeling the slightest mental fatigue. When the effect wears off, you just need to sleep for four or five hours to fully recover, with no aftereffects.

Depending on the grade of the Shenwu Incense, it also has a good refreshing and mind-clearing effect for cultivators.