Chapter 132: Enchanter a.s.sessment
After the deacon had left, Lu Xuan looked around at the great hall’s situation. This great hall was very large. There were close to a hundred desks, and in between each desk was a distance of a zhang, making it so that two people who were adjacent to each other couldn’t bother one another.
Those that had come to partic.i.p.ate in the a.s.sessment weren’t only enchanting apprentices. There was also a portion of primary level enchanters that wanted to improve to intermediate level enchanters. As for some intermediate level enchanters that wanted to rise to high level enchanters, they wouldn’t take their tests here and would use a specially prepared chamber arrangement, after all, a intermediate level enchanter’s ident.i.ty wasn’t considered as low.
Taking a quick sweeping glance, Lu Xuan saw quite a few disciples seemed to be excited and also a bit impatient. These disciples were all enchanting apprentices who wanted to take a shot at the enchanter a.s.sessment. Once one became an enchanter recognized by the Enchantment Hall, one would have boundless prospects. Even after staying for the full five years in the inner sect, they could also enter the Enchantment Hall and continue to practice enchantment skills and didn’t need to become a common deacon.
And there was also a portion of people that were not too excited. Currently they were all in deep concentration, trying to increase their state to its peak in order to take this upcoming test. These people were mostly already primary level enchanters. This time they had partic.i.p.ated in the a.s.sessment to try their hand at becoming middle level enchanters.
Just at this moment, Lu Xuan’s eyes moved onto a woman’s body and couldn’t help but take a second look. Who would have known the Enchantment Hall would have such a beautiful woman. Although she was a bit worse than Xia Chen Xi and Lin Xin Yi, she could still be considered to be as fair as a flower and beautiful as the moon.
(TN: She’s pretty.)
Currently this woman was also looking around, looking here and there. She had a bored expression, seeming as if she wasn’t too concerned about the a.s.sessment. Inadvertently, she looked towards Lu Xuan’s side and discovered Lu Xuan looking at her. Immediately she glared at him fiercely. It seemed she was a bit angry that Lu Xuan was looking at her so rudely.
Lu Xuan couldn’t help but a smile, rub his nose, and looked away. It seemed that he had been mistaken for a lecher, however, he hadn’t really had that intention. Compared to Lin Xin Yi, this woman was still a bit off. Also, according to what he had seen, the steamed buns on this woman’s chest was far from comparable to Lin Xin Yi’s. He didn’t have too much interest. He’d prefer to just look back at Xin Yi.
(TN: I don’t think it was a mistaken impression after reading his thoughts.)
(EN: I agree…)
Seeing that Lu Xuan had looked away, the angry look on that woman’s face disappeared, however, if she had known what Lu Xuan was thinking in his heart, then she probably would have been even angrier.
Time pa.s.sed by when finally, a side door of the great hall was suddenly opened. A people dressed as elders walked out. Among them was an old man dressed in green at the front. The disciples that had been waiting for the a.s.sessment shuffled a bit and began to talk to each other in low voices.
(TN: 青 I dislike it when I see this character because it could be green or blue. Hard to tell unless there’s more context.)
“I hadn’t thought that this time it would actually be Elder Fan as the head examiner. I’m afraid it’s going to be pretty tough this time.”
“Yeah. Everyone knows Elder Fan’s enchanting skills are the best, but he’s also the strictest. Sigh, I originally didn’t have enough self-confidence. It seems like there’s no hope this time, and I can only try my luck next month.”
…
As this person came out, a few of the disciples by Lu Xuan’s side actually began to shake their heads and sigh, directly making their preparations for failure. Obviously they recognized this person, and listening to them, it seemed this person was known for being strict.
Just at this moment, the green robed Elder Fan moved forward one step. His eyes majestically swept across the entire room and loudly said: “The time for the a.s.sessment has arrived. Close the great hall doors!”
“Wait a second, wait a second. Sorry I’m a bit late.” A disciple that had just rushed over urgently cried out.
Unexpectedly, this Elder Fan lifted his eyebrows and continued to say: “Close the door! If even basic punctuality cannot be observed, don’t even talk about becoming an enchanter.”
Hearing this, the deacons at the door didn’t dare to act slowly. They blocked the late arriving disciple out the door.
After finis.h.i.+ng looking over the disciples in the great hall, Elder Fan said: “Enchanting is a skill of precision. A small error can lead to complete collapse. Even the slightest mistake is not tolerated. Just like the tester that arrived late outside the door, he was only late by a bit, but I still won’t let him in because while enchanting, many times there will be something only a bit off. Today’s first lesson is that logic. To cover 90% of one’s destined distance brings the traveler no farther than the midway point. No matter the occasion, you cannot not miss that last bit. Either don’t do it or do it the best you can!”
(TN: The last part of an endeavor is the hardest to finish.)
As Elder Fan said this, the crowd of disciples were naturally obedient and didn’t dare to say a single word. However, many of them were disapproving on the inside, thinking that Elder Fan was really blowing up a small matter into a large one.
But Lu Xuan subconsciously nodded his head, agreeing with these words. Either don’t do it or do it the best you could. It was like when he was practicing Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Flash. He had pushed himself to his limits the entire time and only stopped when he couldn’t improve anymore.
Since he had practiced Rus.h.i.+ng Thunder Flash, then he would definitely use it in combat in the future, but if he hadn’t learned it well enough, then most likely it would not only would it not help his combat strength, instead it would lead to his death.
No matter what the crowd of disciples were thinking below the stage, the Elder Fan continued to speak: “Today is my turn to be the head examiner. You can only blame your luck as bad. If it was a different elder, perhaps their requirements would be more lenient and would only want the enchantment scrolls you draw to be good enough. But my requirements are the absolute strictest. No matter what you all draw for your enchantment scroll, even if it’s a success, as long as there are any defects, it will not pa.s.s. The Enchantment Hall’s materials are all frantically exchanged for from the inner sect disciples. They cannot be wasted by you all!”
“Alright, I won’t digress any more. In order to pa.s.s the a.s.sessment, take out the limits of your abilities. Right now the a.s.sessment has begun. The test ends in one hour. Begin.”
As soon as the words fell on their ears, the crowd of disciples in the great hall immediately began to frantically begin their preparations. Unfurling the blank scrolls, taking out the long since prepared ink, raising the brush specifically for enchanting, they began to draw.
One hour of time. They were extremely nervous because they couldn’t guarantee pa.s.sing with just one success. If they failed multiple times, one hour of time simply wasn’t going to be enough.
Lu Xuan also didn’t dare to laze about. Unfurling the ten blank scrolls, he pulled out the most bottom one. This blank scroll’s quality was obviously better than the other nines. It was the peak grade blank scroll that the deacon had specifically gotten for Lu Xuan. It had a slightly higher chance of success than a high grade blank scroll. He then opened the bottle with the ink in it and raise his brush.
For a large majority of enchanters, drawing enchantment scrolls needed to be done with a brush. Lu Xuan could use the Void Drawing Rune skill, but using it would be too astounding. He didn’t want to be too high profile, lest he attract the attention of others.
Lu Xuan had already practiced the Wild Explosion scroll’s rune countless times, and he had long since memorized to heart. Extending out the brush, he dabbed it in the specialty ink and began to draw on the blank scroll.
Although it had been a while since he had last used enchanting skills, a rune was immediately outlined by Lu Xuan, evidently very relaxedly. It should be known, last time Lu Xuan had used pure savage wolf blood and could successfully draw the savage wolf blood. And now he was using it with the ink making it much easier.
One rune after another was sketched by Lu Xuan and was quickly put onto the Wild Explosion scroll. Then after a little while, the numbers of runes became more and more, and the Wild Explosion scroll’s model could already be vaguely seen.
Lu Xuan’s performance here was very smooth, but the other disciples performance could be described as a struggling a bit. Every now and then a person could be seen with an upset expression, crumpling their scrolls and throwing them to the side, apparently sc.r.a.pping them. Hurriedly they would then start a new round of drawing.
Elder Fan also had the other elders watching over the room, keeping all of the disciples performances under their watch. Seeing these scenes, they shook their heads. If they let those people become enchanters, then there wouldn’t be enough materials for them to waste.
Fortunately, there were two people that attracted their attention. Since the start till now, including those that were already primary enchanters, only those two hadn’t had any failures and were focused drawing.
“That la.s.s Xiao Han is within my expectation, but who is that young man? He seems rather calm. Just from his att.i.tude alone I’d have to give him another two points.” Elder Fan asked the elders next to him.
(TN: The Xiao here is 小, which means little. Usually used as a nickname. It is actually a part of her name here though which I found out as I went ahead.)
“I also don’t recognize him. If there was this kind of seedling, I should have discovered it before. Could it be that it was a new person that just entered?” The elders shook their heads, indicating that they didn’t know Lu Xuan’s ident.i.ty.
Elder Fan lightly nodded his head then gently sighed: “I hope it’s a good seedling. If we don’t raise a few new spirit runemasters then my Enchantment Hall’s plight will become worse and worse.”
The other elders went along and also nodded their heads. Obviously this problem was also plaguing them too.
If Lu Xuan heard what Elder Fan and the others were saying, he might have been very interested because they had brought up a t.i.tle that he had never heard before, spirit runemaster.
However, at this time, he was already completely immersed in drawing the Wild Explosion scroll. His brush’s movements became faster and faster. A single turn of the brush would complete a rune which would then fall onto the blank scroll.
Right now his strength had already reached the peak of body refining fifth level. It was a completely different compared to last time when he had drawn the Wild Explosion scrolls. There simply wouldn’t be the matter of him lacking soul force. Moreover, currently, he was using the specialty ink. The conflict between the runes was extremely little. With a few key runes added in from the ancient enchantment technique, the foundation was very stable.
After the last rune had landed, the Wild Explosion rune on the blank scroll on the desk suddenly began to s.h.i.+ne light. The entire Wild Explosion Scroll had been finished!
First try success!
Exhaling a long breath, Lu Xuan put down the brush in his hand. He placed the rest of the blank scrolls and specialty ink into his storage ring. Glancing at his surroundings, he took his completed scroll and walked towards Elder Fan and turned it in early.
On the other side, the girl that had glared at Lu Xuan also exhaled a sigh of relief, putting down her brush. Content, she looked around the room, a.s.suming she was the first to succeed, in the lead amongst the others, quite pleased with herself. Suddenly, she discovered that Lu Xuan was actually already walking towards Elder Fan and the others!
Her eyes immediately enlarged. How could it be? That guy was actually faster than her?