The sound of a brush being placed on a desk was heard loudly in the classroom.

 

However, it was only heard for a split second before getting covered by the sounds of mumbling and papers being flipped and scribbled on.

 

Rui rubbed his glabella and sighed in relief. He had finally finished the test after seven hours.

 

Honestly speaking, the tests were too many; he easily passed a hundred, and he constantly had to go into deep thoughts, not paying attention to anything else. He had already reached a state of enlightenment through the Ansuz rune seven times, once for each hour. He finally understood why the Ansuz rune was so desired and why they were called sages.

 

He looked at his stats, and his intelligence and wisdom had gone up by three each. It was a great increase.

 

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a quest for the test, unlike the previous one. After reading through his answers once again, he nodded and started observing the surroundings.

 

Many noble students were already in deep thought, while people like Xiong Liliang, who were illiterate, were answering questions behind a sound-isolating barrier.

 

Honestly speaking, he had no idea when they set them up or how they worked since he was too focused on his own test.

 

Just as he was about to get up, he remembered the new ability he had gained.

 

He looked at the stone in his hand and whispered, “Identification”.

 

This was a test to see if it could only identify humans or if it could actually identify anything.

 

[Projection stone
Tier: Low grade
Recording: Myriad tests of the cultivation world.

Description:
A projection stone is a rare mineral that can be found naturally generated in the world, however it can also be created artificially. Its ability is to record and store information. Higher tier stones can even project video along with sound.]

 

Rui’s eyes sparkled with delight. This was an incredible ability. He had an ability that could help him navigate the world much easier now.

 

After calming down his excitement, he used identification on other objects, such as his brush and paper.

 

[Boar brush.

Description: A normal brush created by a small workshop in the Capital of the Illusive empire.]

 

[Parchment scroll.

Description: A relatively high quality paper created by a scholar.]

 

Looking at the descriptions he nodded in satisfaction, it even showed the description for such mundane things and it even gave useful information like the maker.

 

Finally, he had to test it on individuals. He started out with the person that left him with the deepest impression so far.

 

[Han Dong, Age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Calculative General
Luck: 15]

 

Glancing at the menu, he nodded in understanding. Indeed, as they were both recently awakened individuals, they had the same cultivation stage. On the other hand, his personality path was interesting; assuming that the personality path was something that had to do with someone’s innate personality, he found this personality quite interesting. Someone who is smart and calculative, especially with the prefix general, would surely have a sharp and righteous mind.

 

What amazed him the most was his luck. It was a full fifteen times higher than his. It probably had to do with his background, since being born into such a family also meant that he had a certain amount of luck.

 

After finishing his speculations, he scanned the next person.

 

[Huo Liang, Age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening Stage

Character personality path: Innocent and hot-blooded tiger.
Luck: 20]

 

Rui sucked in a deep breath.

 

‘This dude’s luck was higher than Han Dong’s! What the fuck is this bullshit? Isn’t my luck so laughable right now?’

 

He let out a big sigh as he lamented over the status window. He clearly saw how his character personality path was innocent and hot-blooded tiger. This phrase represented Huo Liang to the tee.

 

Deciding that there wouldn’t be a lot of differences in the statuses other than luck and personality path, he scanned multiple people at the same time.

After looking at them, he found the ones that were interesting and kept them.

 

[Ning Yinin, age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Ice cold maiden
Luck 20]

 

[Xiong Liliang, age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Unbreakable demon.
Luck: 6]

 

[Cong Mizaru, Age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Supreme tactician.
Luck: 10]

 

[Song Liwu, Age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Pure
Luck: 55]

 

[Hua Dao, age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Lone wolf
Luck: 8]

 

[Xiao Mofa, age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Malevolent dominatrix
Luck:8]

 

[Zhou Huajia, age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Proactive peace-lover
Luck 11]

 

Rui blinks his eyes twice before his face turns from disbelief to disgust to depression.

 

It was clear that all individuals in the S class had incredible luck; he was the only oddity. What shocked him the most, however, was Song Liwu’s luck. It was incredibly high; it was practically screaming that even if the heavens fell, he would survive by luck. On the other hand, Xiao Mofa’s character personality path gave him chills.

 

Truthfully Honestly speaking, he was glad he checked every individual in his class. Like this, he knew who to interact with and who not to.

 

After a while, a thought sparked in his brain; he had yet to use it on the teachers. Turning his head, he used identification on the head teacher.

 

[Huan Li■■ ■■, Age 18
Cultivation level: ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

Character personality path: ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■
Luck: ■■]

 

Rui’s pupils instantly shrank, a great shock filling his eyes. The teacher he had just used identification on clearly looked to be above the age of 50 with already wrinkling skin and white hair, while the window displayed a totally different image. Cold sweat ran down his back, and he decided not to probe any further but rather use identification on another teacher.

 

[Dang Ming, Age 42
Cultivation level: Rune forming stage

Character personality path: Poor Scholar
Luck: 4]

 

This looked like a more normal window. Rui wiped his sweat in relief. If all the teachers were hidden masters like the head teacher, then he didn’t know what to think. However, looking at the status of the teacher, it was clearly relatively poor. Although he had no idea what his cultivation level was at the rune-forming stage, it was clearly not high enough for him to not identify it. It was clear that this teacher was one of those individuals with low cultivating talent but high intelligence, so he was taken in by the academy. He was also the only individual he had seen with such low luck compared with his commoner family.

 

Making sure he had everything ready, he stood up, attracting the attention of the whole class. Unlike Rui, all the other students in the classroom still hadn’t finished, and usually, even if they finished, they would try to check everything until the last second.

 

Rui felt awkward as all the gazes fell on him. He couldn’t help but straighten his back and slowly walk to the teacher’s desk, placing the scroll and stone there.

 

The head teacher nodded and told him he could go out now and rest in his quarters.

 

After Rui went out, Han Dong got up and did the same thing. He was holding the scroll with a dignified smile, clearly satisfied with himself.

Going outside the classroom, Rui took a look around but found no students in the hallways, just a few teachers patrolling.

 

After noticing that Rui had come out of the class, a teacher walked over to him and escorted him outside.

 

Coming outside, Rui found that all the students that were done with the test were hanging around the courtyard, some conversing about the questions, some playing around, while others were heading towards the quarters.

 

Rui had his quarters and items set up by the academy due to him passing out. They had to send him over to his parents’ home and inform them; however, he would rarely be returning home from now on until the academy training was done.

 

As soon as Rui came to the courtyard, many people looked at him with an inspecting gaze. Most of the individuals that came out at a time like this were either smart or didn’t really know a lot of things. However, they doubted that an Ansuz user was the latter.

 

Just as they were pondering approaching him and asking, two people came out from behind him, directed by another teacher.

 

One was Han Dong, while the other was a youth of average height with short black hair and green eyes. The most noticeable thing about him were the dark circles under his eyes.

 

Han Dong had a smile on his face as he headed towards Rui, his eyes coming into a crescent shape. The young man next to him followed; however, he seemed indignant.

 

"Hello, fellow student; we meet again.”

 

Said Han Dong with a beaming smile.

 

“Ah, hello to you as well, fellow student.”

 

Rui clasped his hands as he slightly bowed his head. His show of respect truly wasn’t significant, especially to an individual of the imperial family; however, Rui came from a modern world, so he wasn’t used to such interactions. All he could do was greet him like people in the commoner world greeted others.

 

Han Dong’s smile widened, and he seemed to be pleased.

 

“This is the young genius Xiao Long; although his cultivation talent is not great, his intelligence is worthy enough.”

 

Xiao Long let out a bitter smile for a split second before greeting Rui with a neutral expression.

 

"Greetings, fellow student.”

 

Rui greeted him back.

 

This interaction was seen by most of the people inside the courtyard, Han Feng being one of them. He gnashed his teeth in hatred.

 

Unlike others, Han Feng hated studying and abused his power to get things. Although he had to go through basic education, it was just that. The tests at the academy were too hard for him, so he could only answer less than half of them. Since he entered the academy, the income his family gave him has decreased by a lot, as they wanted him to be competitive.

 

Thanks to this, he had tried robbing rune stones from all the commoners and even the noble young masters at the start of the academy. As they still hadn’t become a part of the academy back then, the rules of the academy couldn’t apply, so he used it as a loophole.

 

Of course, taking rune stones from commoners wasn’t really the best idea since they didn’t have a lot on them and, at most, they had a low-grade engraved rune. The reason he robbed them was to show his superiority, and he mostly used his underlings to do so, not taking the blame himself.

 

Despite that, a commoner kid actually dared to use an ability and make him fall down. He had asked around and found out what the ability was. It was called a bloodline suppression ability.

 

Apparently, individuals with a powerful bloodline could use it; however, it would become useless after the first stage of cultivation. It is only useful if the bloodline is incredibly pure or belongs to a legendary creature. Of course, bloodlines from other races other than humans had different effects as well. The ability can be easily countered by just using runic energy, so basically, it was a beginner’s method.

 

His eyes were full of spite as he looked at the conversation between the three gifted individuals. One was an individual that even he, as a person of the Han imperial family, couldn’t even touch, or he would regret it: Han Dong.

 

Han Dong is someone who inherited the rune of the empire’s emperor, the Rune of Illusions. As such, he has great expectations placed on him, and so far, he hasn’t betrayed them, possessing an S-grade talent, unlike Han Feng, who possessed a B-grade.

 

The second individual was Guang Rui. Despite being an individual with a poor background, he awakened with the Ansuz rune, instantly gaining the title of a sage candidate. Not only that, but he possessed an EX-grade talent, and it’s rumored in the royal court that the empire’s sage had plans to accept him as a disciple. Having the bloodline suppression ability also made him more suspicious of other things.

 

However, the person who made him feel the worst was the last, Xiao Long. The Xiao clan had multiple individuals with good talent these years, with Xiao Mofa possessing an S-grade talent. Despite that, the clan had been declining for years, and they were almost on the brink of collapse—before Xiao Long came onto the scene, that is.

 

After reaching the age of ten, he took charge of the entire fortune and companies of the clan, growing them to an incredible scale in just a measly four years. He possesses a wealth that rivals that of the imperial family and has become known as the youngest merchant king in the Illusive Empire.

 

Thankfully, he can’t display his genius in a place like the academy since he only has an E-grade talent for cultivation, but he would most likely be moved to the S-class just because of the written test. At least his rune was a rune that matched him—the Raido rune, the rune of travel and destiny.

 

---

 

Xiao Long had finished the test in the first two hours; however, he was recalculating things, doing his work for the business he ran, and thinking up plans until he finally decided he had enough and left.

 

As soon as he came out, however, he saw Han Dong, and his gaze became gloomy. He had known Han Dong for a few years now, and they were pretty good acquaintances; however, Han Dong had a really calculative personality.

 

Being with calculative people all the time was Xiao Long’s worst nightmare; thankfully, Han Dong just told him to follow.

 

After coming outside, he saw that Han Dong wanted him to meet a youth like them. After scanning him for a while and matching the information in his head, he nodded.

 

Han Dong truly was a calculating individual. Building a connection with Rui right now would be beneficial to him in the future.

 

However, Xiao Long wasn’t in the mood to have a conversation.

 

But the gears in his mind changed as he listened to what they had written in the tests. They were talking about the test questions and answers with great interest to see what the others had written.

 

Although the economic and mathematical tests were relatively easy, they found that each of them used a different formula and method. What surprised him the most was that Rui used methods that he had never heard of before and that were quite more efficient than what he had used.

 

Next, they move on to questions about cultivation and culture. As the questions included all sorts of matters, even Xiao Long didn’t think he was right in all of them since he was but a meager fly when it came to cultivators.

 

After Rui explained his understanding of the questions of cultivation, both Han Dong and Xiao Long were surprised and enlightened. truly an individual with the Ansuz rune.

 

After history and literary questions, they arrived at scientific questions.

 

Unlike what Rui thought, they weren’t really advanced in the field like he expected. After explaining human anatomy, microorganisms, and many other commonly known things on earth, both Han Dong and Xiao Long became dazed, not expecting so much information about the human body.

 

Xiao Long pondered if Guang Rui was a physician; however, he shook his head since he had already gathered all the information about him.

 

---

 

As the conversations progressed, time passed, and Han Dong’s expression became even livelier as the talks continued. He had never been so happy in his life.

 

As someone with a background like his, he didn’t really have friends and was always in a secretive environment. Thanks to his genius as a child, he was always split up from other children that he was learning with and placed into a special training program, be it decorum or literature, and he was always ahead of everyone.

 

However, now he had found two individuals who were at his level or even exceeded him. While Xiao Long was versed in matters of the world, such as history and economy, Rui was versed in cultivation and science.

 

Just as they were talking, a bulky and delicate figure came next to them. After noticing them, the three stopped talking and greeted the two individuals.

 

One was Huo Liang, and the other was Ning Yinin.

 

After asking how the test went, both of them shook their heads. Although they answered some things, they weren’t on the level of the three of them.

 

In truth, the reason they were behind was different, and both Xiao Long and Han Dong knew why.

 

It was said that Huo Liang and Ning Yining had been bedridden since they were children, and they survived by sheer luck. In fact, the pills and elixirs these two had ingested weren’t a small amount, just to survive.

 

Huo Liang had it a bit better than Ning Yining, since he would usually have bouts of sickness that lasted months or weeks. On the other hand, Ning Yining felt pain all over her body as soon as she moved, as if countless ice needles were constantly piercing her skin.

 

No physician, be it the royal physician or the great sages, didn’t know what was wrong with their bodies. The great dragon doctor Mu Lao had said to leave them be; if they survived, it would be their fortune; if they didn't, so be it. However, this pain resulted in the two of them being together a lot, as they found that when they were close to one another, they would feel less pain. This resulted in them being called the sickly death couple," and people were expecting them to die.

 

But that never happened. After the awakening, everything changed. Both of them became healthier than normal people, and their appearances changed drastically. Huo Liang gained incredible height and muscle, his skin becoming bronze-like, while Ning Yining became more beautiful but at the same time colder in appearance, her skin becoming white as snow.

 

---

 

Time passed…

 

Rui headed to his designated room after bidding farewell to the group. Each individual had already taken their personal belongings and given them to the staff, which then designated them a leaving quarter, where they would live for a year.

 

A prompt had already popped into his head a while ago, telling him that the daily quest had started. He accepted it and was ready to finish it. Exercise would get his head off of things right now, so he was glad to do it.

 

While running, he looked at Xiao Long's identification window.

 

[Xiao Long, Age 14
Cultivation level: Initial awakening stage

Character personality path: Merchant Warlord
Luck:25]

 

He sighed as he remembered his own meager luck. At least the low amount of luck didn’t cause small misfortunes like falling down on accident, he thought while suddenly stumbling on a rock and falling over.

 

Yet, what he felt wasn’t pain but a soft, warm thing. He got up and looked over to find an individual fallen over.

 

It was a girl; however, the moment he saw her, a chill ran down his spine. It was Xiao Mofa.

 

His luck was truly horrible!