Chapter 49: Shocking em all!!

One of the preliminary testing halls inside the Ardent City Awakeners Association was already packed by the time Karl, Leon and Mira entered.

Hundreds of candidates had been divided among several halls, while Association staff continuously called names and directed students toward the large Assessment Bead positioned at the front.

The first stage was simple as each candidate only needed to place a hand on the Assessment Bead.

It would record their current Level and basic professional information before transmitting the results directly into the examination system.

The complete information was private, but the Level displayed by the bead itself could naturally be seen by everyone waiting inside the same hall.

Another name was called and a slightly nervous boy walked forward and placed his palm against the bead.

Light passed across its surface before a number appeared.

[Level: 58]

Several candidates nearby nodded.

For barely over a month after awakening, Level 58 was already a respectable result within Ardent City.

The next candidate performed somewhat better.

[Level: 67]

A few impressed whispers spread through the hall before he moved away and another name was called.

Testing continued normally for several minutes.

Levels in the fifties appeared frequently, while anyone reaching the upper sixties or seventies attracted considerably more attention.

Then one of the examiners called another name.

"Seraphina Vale."

The atmosphere changed almost immediately.

Far more candidates looked toward the front as Seraphina calmly walked out of the waiting area.

Her S-rank talent and fourteen-star profession were already famous throughout Ardent City, and everyone knew the Vale family had spent heavily on her development during the past month.

Seraphina placed her palm against the Assessment Bead.

Light gradually filled its surface and then the number appeared.

[Level: 86]

The hall immediately became noisy.

"Eighty-six?!"

"She almost reached Level 90 already?"

"It hasn’t even been two months since awakening!"

Even several of the Association examiners looked genuinely impressed.

Within Ardent City, reaching Level 86 before the National College Entrance Examination was more than enough to place Seraphina among the strongest candidates of the entire year.

Seraphina removed her hand from the bead with obvious satisfaction.

Her gaze naturally passed toward Karl, Leon and Mira before she returned to the waiting area.

Karl barely reacted, he had already seen her Level outside.

Testing continued until another name was called soon afterward.

"Adrian Holt."

Several heirs from the larger Ardent City families immediately became more attentive.

Rumours had already spread among them that an SSS-rank genius from one of the Primary Cities had arrived in Ardent City for the examination.

Adrian walked forward calmly and placed his hand against the Assessment Bead.

Several seconds passed before the result appeared.

[Level: 99]

The entire hall went silent and then the whispers erupted throughout.

"Level 99?!"

"He already reached the First Transition cap!"

"So that’s the SSS-rank genius from the Primary City..."

Even the examiners visibly straightened after seeing the result.

Level 99 candidates were not unheard of within the Capital and the strongest Primary Cities, but for an examination centre like Ardent City, seeing one was extremely rare.

Seraphina looked even more pleased than Adrian himself.

Her gaze shifted toward Karl and Leon with an almost provocative expression, as though Adrian reaching Level 99 had somehow settled something between them.

Leon noticed immediately noticed it and provoctively smirked.

"What’s so shocking about that?"

Seraphina’s expression stiffened but before she could respond, the examiner called the next name.

"Leon Wood."

Leon stretched his shoulders lazily.

"Finally."

He walked toward the Assessment Bead without the slightest nervousness and placed his palm against it a d the bead lit up.

[Level: 99]

A silence fell around Adrian’s result had shocked everyone but Leon’s left most of them confused.

Seraphina’s eyes widened while Adrian finally looked toward Leon with some genuine attention.

Even the examiner stared at the number for several seconds before confirming the reading.

Then the hall exploded again.

"Another Level 99?!"

"Leon Wood?"

"How did someone from Ardent City reach the cap already?"

Leon casually removed his hand and started walking back, As he passed Seraphina, he glanced toward her.

"See?"

Seraphina said nothing and just clenched her teeth next the examiner called the next name.

"Mira Vayne."

Mira walked forward without any of Leon’s theatrics and placed her hand against the Assessment Bead.

Several seconds later, another number appeared.

[Level: 99]

This time, the hall did not immediately erupt, instead people simply stared in confusion.

Two native Ardent City candidates had now displayed Level 99 one after another.

Several Association employees exchanged confused looks, while one of the examiners immediately checked the information transmitted by the Assessment Bead.

Nothing was wrong.

mira removed her hand and calmly returned to Karl and Leon.

Then the examiner looked at the next name.

"Karl Reed."

Almost everyone inside the hall turned toward him.

The F-rank Necromancer, the twenty-one-star compatibility.

The person whose awakening had produced an enormous celestial phenomenon before his talent evaluation had seemingly reduced everything to a joke.

And after that, Karl had disappeared from public sight for almost the entire month.

Karl released a quiet sigh and walked forward next he placed his palm against the Assessment Bead.

The surface brightened.

[Level: 99]

Several seconds passed in complete silence before someone finally shouted from the crowd.

"The bead is broken!"

That explanation spread almost instantly.

Three Ardent City candidates displaying Level 99 consecutively was simply too ridiculous for many of them to accept.

Seraphina’s frozen expression changed as though she had finally found an explanation herself.

"That’s it."

Her shoulders relaxed slightly.

"The Assessment Bead must be malfunctioning."

Her gaze moved toward Karl.

"There’s no way an F-rank Necromancer could reach Level 99."

Several candidates immediately agreed.

Even the examiners were no longer willing to trust the result without checking.

One stepped forward to inspect the bead itself, while another checked the formations beneath the platform and the information being transmitted into the examination network.

Nothing appeared wrong, then the first examiner looked around the waiting candidates before pointing toward one of them.

"You, come here."

A boy pointed toward himself.

"Me?"

"Yes."

He nervously approached and placed his hand against the bead.

The result appeared moments later.

[Level: 61]

The hall became quiet again.

The examiner checked the reading against the candidate’s registered information before stepping away.

"Assessment Bead is functioning normally."

People slowly turned back toward Karl, Leon and Mira.

Three Level 99 professionals, all three from Ardent City.

No native candidate in Ardent City’s recorded examination history had ever reached Level 99 before the National College Entrance Examination.

This year, there were three.

And one of them was the supposedly useless F-rank Necromancer half the city had mocked barely over a month ago.

Karl removed his hand from the bead.

Well... there goes whatever was left of staying low-key.

Not that there had been much left anyway.