Chapter 320: Became a Genius

Amidst the continuous clamor of the square, two magic users wearing Sea Hai Shao Bing uniforms walked out of the inner room.

As soon as they appeared, the noisy crowd in the small square quieted down, though complete silence was still unlikely.

These two Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users, one male and one female, a very classic combination.

The male is tall and burly, his whole body exuding a steady and firm aura.

The female is also tall, with distinct facial features and a face full of heroic spirit.

Both of their skin colors are on the wheatish side.

They look to be in their early twenties, but both are high-spirited.

From the faint sounds coming from the surroundings, Gao De knew that these two Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users were two very famous people in this generation of Sea Sentinels.

The two of them joined the Sea Sentinels only last year, and the merits they have established within a short year are enough for them to be promoted from apprentice magic user soldiers to sergeant-level magic users.

"Everyone, welcome to sign up for our Sea Sentinels' selection. Although those who can finally pass the assessment and enter our Sea Sentinels are a minority, regardless of the result, I hope you will not be discouraged. There are thousands of paths in the world, and there will always be a stage for you to shine in the future."

Just at this time, the male magic user stepped forward and spoke.

His voice was loud and full of breath, instantly suppressing the whispers in the square.

In the crowd next to Gao De, looking at these two high-spirited Sea Hai Shao Bing magic users, someone whispered, "As long as we pass the selection and join the Sea Sentinels, we can be just like them."

This sentence was heard by many people, and it was also the common voice of everyone.

As long as you join the Sea Sentinels, you will definitely be able to change your life and achieve class crossing.

Everyone's heart could not help but become a bit hotter at this moment.

"Next, please let the applicants with number plates one to ten come in first." Then, the female magic user shouted.

In the square, ten magic users soon stood out and, under the leadership of the female magic user, entered the inner room.

Not long after the ten magic users went in, they all came out again, but everyone had an unconcealable look of disappointment and frustration on their faces.

Needless to say, the result was obvious.

This was like a blow to the head, making the other applicants still waiting on the scene suddenly realize the high threshold of the Sea Sentinels and start to become nervous.

"The pass rate of the Sea Sentinels' preliminary test is less than half a percent..." A "know-it-all" next to him sighed at the right time.

Next, people were called in one after another. Every time ten numbers were called, it usually took about ten minutes before the next batch of numbers was called.

Those magic users who went in for the assessment were mostly dejected when they came out.

This made the others still waiting feel increasingly uneasy.

Waiting is very agonizing; Gao De could notice that many people started to stand restlessly, and some even started pacing to relieve their nervous emotions.

After about an hour, as the previous batch of applicants walked out, the female magic user shouted again: "Please let the applicants from seventy-one to eighty come in..."

Gao De looked at his number plate, "Seventy-seven."

It was finally his turn.

He straightened his spine slightly, took a deep breath, stood out from the crowd that had become a bit sparse with the other nine applicants, and walked into the inner room together under the burning gazes of the applicants on the square.

When the ten people walked side by side, Gao De could clearly hear the slightly heavy breathing of the other nine people.

The "exam room" is a room similar to a hall, with excellent indoor lighting, and several bright beams of light pouring down from the high-hanging skylights.

Inside were two heavy wooden tables, and behind each table were two carved back chairs, on each of which sat a magic user wearing a Sea Hai Shao Bing uniform.

Gao De's eyes swept quickly over the armbands on their uniforms, and he was shocked. These four people were actually all lieutenant-level magic users; they should be the "examiners" for this preliminary selection.

On the table were the information sheets that Gao De and the others filled out when they registered just now. The four lieutenant-level magic users were flipping through them and occasionally whispering to each other.

And in the middle of the hall, there were ten round platforms.

The round platforms were cast from a dark metal, with many fine and complex runes engraved on the surface. Those runes faintly circulated with a subtle magical luster under the reflection of the light.

Behind the four examiners, there were several staff members.

"Don't delay time, there are many people waiting behind, get on the magic platform in the order of the number plates."

Seeing the ten applicants enter, one of the oldest examiners put down the information sheet in his hand and spoke lightly.

His voice was neither fast nor slow, but carried an unquestionable majesty.

Those ten round platforms were the so-called magic platforms, which were alchemical machines used by the Sea Sentinels to screen applicants in the preliminary test.

"Put all your personal belongings over there. After getting on the magic platform, everything can only rely on yourself. You are not allowed to use extra supernatural items or equipment, and you are not allowed to take potions in advance. If there is any violation, the qualification will be directly canceled, and you will never be allowed to participate in the Sea Sentinels' selection again. Do you understand?" Another examiner pointed to the table covered with a long cloth on the side and said loudly.

His eyes were as sharp as a falcon, full of deterrence.

"Understood!" Everyone responded in unison, the sound echoing in the empty hall, carrying a trace of nervous tremor.

Afterward, Gao De walked to the side, took off his North Wind, placed it on the long table, then calmed his breathing, and under the guidance of the staff, walked toward the fourth platform from the right.

The other nine applicants were the same.

Walking in such an empty and quiet venue, and being stared at by the sharp and scrutinizing eyes of the four examiners, it was visible that the others became increasingly nervous, their bodies tense and their steps heavy.

Gao De was still able to remain calm, raising his head slightly, his expression composed.

After all, when he was in the northern realm, he had experienced even bigger scenes: tens of thousands of Ice-born magic users kneeling on one knee, shouting and supporting him as king, among whom there was no shortage of third-circle and fourth-circle magic users.

So the current scene, in his view, was just a small witch meeting a big witch, nothing strange.

Gao De's relaxed posture attracted some attention from the examiners.

They had read the information sheets of the ten applicants on the scene and had some understanding of Gao De's basic situation—this was a magic user from another country who was a wandering beggar.

In the cognition of ordinary people, magic users of this origin generally haven't seen much of the world, let alone being able to maintain a calm state in a high-pressure occasion like Gao De.

Just when the examiners' thoughts were wandering, Gao De and the others had already entered the magic platforms respectively.

"Activate the magic platforms."

Following the order of the chief examiner, the staff standing by the wall immediately pressed the button to start the ten alchemical machines.

The next moment, magical fluctuations appeared on the surface of the magic platforms, and a dreamy, hazy dark blue halo rippled out, covering the ten applicants standing on the magic platforms.

Then the runes engraved on the surface of the magic platforms began to flicker with light, intertwining and gathering, illuminating the magic platforms brightly.

At this moment, in Gao De's feeling, it was as if several invisible, cold, and slippery ripples, carrying wisps of magical currents, were continuously sweeping back and forth on his body.

Every time it swept over, his skin felt a subtle tingling sensation, as if countless ants were lightly biting, strange and making people a bit nervous.

The whole process lasted about two or three minutes.

But this was not over yet. Although the ripples disappeared, stronger magical fluctuations surged from the magic platforms.

Subsequently, Gao De felt a powerful pressure sweeping toward him, accompanied by slight sonic vibrations, making his head buzz a bit, as if thousands of flies were dancing wildly in his skull.

Gao De instantly understood that this was testing his mental strength.

He hurriedly restrained his mind, closed his eyes tightly, and focused on resisting this powerful pressure.

Just when the ten applicants were undergoing the preliminary assessment, the four examiners had already started chatting about the applicants' performance.

"This batch is also no good." The examiner on the far left shook his head first, his eyes sweeping over the magic platforms, making an evaluation first.

"Indeed, there isn't even one mid-first-circle, and there is even a magic user apprentice. I don't know where the courage came from to sign up for the selection." The examiner beside him echoed, his tone revealing some helplessness and ridicule.

"Maybe it's because they are still young, so they want to come and try."

"A fourteen-year-old magic user apprentice, what kind of youth is this..." The examiner curled his lips, looking disapproving. "Just here to try their luck, purely wasting money, and also wasting our time."

"Among the second batch of applicants, there is a mid-first-circle magic user, but they are already twenty-five or twenty-six years old. They are too old. At this age, not to mention that the potential is visible to the naked eye, the plasticity is also greatly reduced..."

The chief examiner revealed a bit of indicator weight. "When our Sea Sentinels recruit people, we still value plasticity. The younger, the better."

"Sigh, look at this Gao De, a wandering beggar origin, and he actually has 24 drops of liquid magic power. I look at his age, he is clearly only 15. Combined with his origin, perhaps he has great potential?"

Another examiner seemed to have discovered something interesting and mentioned it casually, while pushing Gao De's information sheet forward.

15 years old, 24 drops of liquid magic power. This magic user rank and age, although good, are far from reaching the level that makes them shine.

But as the Holder Town staff member Lide said, the origin of a "wandering beggar" can add a lot of points to Gao De.

Everyone knows that such an origin means that the strength Gao De is currently showing is likely just the tip of the iceberg of his potential. Once he gets sufficient resources, there is a probability of soaring into the sky.

"There is this possibility." The older Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user picked up Gao De's information sheet, looked at it carefully, raised his eyebrows slightly, and sighed, "But it just so happens that he is not a local citizen of our country, but a naturalized citizen of another country, and he even just entered the registry the day before yesterday..."

As soon as this sentence was finished, the examiner who had just proposed "great potential" suddenly had no voice.

A magic user from another country who just entered the registry the day before yesterday is almost equivalent to a blank sheet of paper for the Sea Sentinels.

Past experiences are hard to verify, and character, background, and true magic user cultivation lineage are all blurred.

Moreover, no one can be sure if he is hiding any unspeakable secrets, or if he can truly integrate into the dynasty and faithfully fulfill the duties of the Sea Sentinels.

Under these circumstances, if he is easily recruited into the Sea Sentinels, it will undoubtedly be a great risk.

In case he is a spy with ulterior motives, or has a strange personality that is difficult to control, then the subsequent trouble will be immeasurable.

Therefore, unless the other party is so excellent that they cannot deny it, otherwise, even if it is in the fluctuation range of whether to accept or not, out of stability considerations, their choice will likely be to keep him out.

"It's a pity. If he had entered the registry a few years earlier, it would be easy to talk about..." The older Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user shook his head, said in a tone of regret, and put the information sheet back on the table.

In a few words, Gao De's ending seemed to have been finalized, and failure became inevitable.

"Look quickly!" Suddenly, the examiner sitting on the far right, who was also the youngest and had not spoken, spoke with slight surprise.

The other three who were chatting casually immediately looked up and found that the one who caused the young examiner's surprise was the protagonist of their topic just now, Gao De, who was of wandering beggar origin.

At this very moment, the runes on the other magic platforms had dimmed because the test had ended.

Only the magic platform where Gao De was located still had runes flickering continuously, and magical fluctuations continued to appear.

"This is...?" The chief examiner's pupils widened slightly.

"24 drops of liquid magic power, which is early first-circle. For this magic user rank, the mental strength value is generally just over 100. There are some outstanding ones who will be higher, but it is impossible to exceed the threshold of 133. But his mental strength has already crossed this value, and it has not yet reached the limit!" The young examiner directly stated Gao De's extraordinary nature, his tone mixed with some surprise.

It was not just the examiners who noticed this scene; the other nine applicants who had finished the test one after another also discovered Gao De, who was the only one who hadn't finished the test, and their eyes subconsciously cast over.

Gao De, who closed his eyes tightly and focused on dealing with the assessment, naturally did not know that he had attracted the attention of everyone in the "exam room."

He just did his best to support for as long as possible.

The pressure kept increasing, and the buzzing sound in his skull became more and more intense.

Finally, after reaching a certain limit, Gao De could no longer support it, and the defense line was defeated.

But just at the moment he couldn't support it, the pressure instantly disappeared, and the runes on the magic platform dimmed accordingly.

Gao De exhaled slightly and then opened his eyes.

What he saw again were dozens of burning gazes concentrated on him alone.

"Early first-circle, but mental strength is as high as 186, even surpassing many late-first-circle magic users!" The older Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user sitting in the middle of the long table read out the final mental strength data of Gao De displayed on the magic platform, his tone much higher.

"Gifted, truly gifted! Although the magic power is only 24 drops of liquid magic power, it is very obvious that it is definitely because the resources were insufficient and the potential was delayed!"

"Good seedling! Such a genius should not be kept out just because he is not a local citizen of our country."

The older Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user had already made a decision. He took out Gao De's information sheet, checked it neatly, and signed his name.

"You have passed the preliminary test. Prepare well for the next re-examination."

"With your mental strength talent, combined with your origin and current magic user rank, your magic user talent can basically be confirmed to be top-tier. As long as your performance in the re-examination is not really too bad, you should be able to join our Sea Sentinels." He said to Gao De, faintly carrying some encouragement and affirmation.

"Ah?! Top-tier magic user talent..." Gao De couldn't help but look at this Sea Hai Shao Bing magic user when he heard this sentence, feeling very surprised in his heart, pointing to his face with his index finger:

"Me?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 321 =====