Chapter 77: High, Middle, and Low Tiers (2)
Outside, Old Xie nodded with a smile. He could sense Su Yu using willpower earlier. Strictly speaking, that could be considered cheating, but since willpower was something he had cultivated himself, Old Xie did not say anything about it.
But Su Yu stopped using his willpower after the first ball. Old Xie was pleased to see that. He loved this type of student. Of course, a student was free to use whatever ability they had. Even so, that didn't mean he wouldn't look down on them for using that ability.
For example, the previous student, Wu Lan, was one such student. Old Xie did not really like her that much even though she had obtained full marks for the test. This was a war academy examination meant to test a student's cultivation level. What was the point of using her willpower here?
So what if her willpower was strong? If she was going to use her willpower, she should just go take the cultural research academy examination. For war academies, they placed more emphasis on one's physical cultivation, not willpower.
Two minutes later, Su Yu left the room while gasping for breath.
Old Xie smiled and said, "Not bad. You got the full 80 marks. You look somewhat sorry, but you have obtained the maximum marks you can get from this test. Despite your rapid growth, it's clear you have not neglected your foundation since you can get full marks here. Looks like you have not wasted your five years in secondary school."
Old Xie had a big smile on his face, showing an entirely different reaction to Su Yu who had gotten full marks just like Wu Lan. Not far away, Wu Lan's face fell. Old Xie had not said anything about her even though she had gotten full marks as well. He only announced her score and moved on.
She was a prideful person. Thus, she couldn't help but to say, "Teacher, getting 80 marks is the bare minimum at the capital..."
Old Xie indifferently said, "Yeah, but this is not the capital. Furthermore, a certain someone wouldn’t have been able to get 80 marks relying on physical cultivation alone."
He then muttered to himself, "What is this little girl doing here? She's not trying to enter a war academy but she's here to waste our resources."
Wu Lan was rendered speechless. Old Xie knew very well that there was still a chance Su Yu might join a war academy while that was impossible for this little girl. She would most likely end up in a cultural research academy. Since there was no hope, he couldn't even be bothered to try recruiting her.
After all, she was the younger sister of a genius instructor at the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. That information could be seen on her profile. Old Xie did not care enough about them to give the girl a differential treatment. It didn't matter how proud this girl was. Not everyone cared about her background.
Old Xie himself was a Skysoar expert. There was no need for him to fear this little girl's elder sister. Of course, this was merely an examination and there was no need for him to offend them here. But there also wasn't a need for him to curry favors with them. He only needed to do his job.
Would Wu Qi really make trouble for him because of something minor like this? Did they really think that the Martial Dragon Guards were pushovers? Old Xie did not care about the little girl and her elder sister.
Su Yu could feel the gazes on him and he did not know whether to laugh or cry. This Old Xie was quite a realistic person. He was trying to recruit Su Yu so he did not mind praising Su Yu in front of all the students. But wasn't that the same as inviting the ire of other students on him?
Of course, Su Yu didn't really mind their ire. Good results and a teacher's praise were the things he had earned with his own ability. There was no need to pay too much attention to what others thought of him.
After a while, Old Xie checked the time and said, "This is the end of the tests for the first seven stages of the Source Opening Realm. Including the 100 marks awarded by the language test, a total of 270 marks have been offered so far.
"There are still 100 to grab for the tests involving the eighth and ninth stages. The riding and archery tests will also offer 100 marks as well. Including your merit points, you can get over 600 marks in this exam."
Old Xie then looked at Su Yu and smiled, "Su Yu, only those with 600 marks and above will be evaluated as high-tier students in the war academies. In fact, high-tier students are very rare. You're only an eighth-stage Source Opening cultivator. Even if you have a lot of merit points, you might not be able to become a high-tier student."
One only needed 200 marks to pass the examination. However, those below 300 marks would all be considered low-tier students. Those between 300 to 600 marks would be considered middle-tier students. Only those above 600 marks would be evaluated as high-tier students.
After making a short calculation, Su Yu felt somewhat disheartened. It did seem like he might not be able to become a high-tier student. He had not been able to get full marks for the language test. Even if he had gotten all the questions he answered right and proceeded to get full marks in all the subsequent tests, he would still have only 250 marks so far.
The 10 merit points he had earned outside of those he earned from certified languages would also grant him an additional 100 marks, giving him a total of 350 marks so far.
"I need to get full marks in all the following tests to even reach 600 marks."
That was the conclusion Su Yu reached. And even with that, he would still be at the bottom of the high-tier students with an evaluation of high-low.
Curious, Su Yu asked, "Teacher, how about the high-high students? How many marks do one need to get to receive that evaluation?"
"We'll talk while we walk. We're going to the next exam venue. The students of all five floors will be gathered there as well."
While walking, Old Xie said, "You grew up in Nanyuan and you know too little. Your teachers have not been telling you much because they were afraid that you would lose confidence after learning about the world. In former years, even the best Nanyuan student couldn't get an evaluation higher than the middle-tier. As far as your teachers are concerned, there is no need for you to know too much.
"You can answer your own question with a simple calculation. To get a high-high evaluation, you will need at least 800 marks."
Su Yu frowned, "But even a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator with full marks in all tests can't get 800 marks."
"Exactly. Therefore, only Great Strength cultivators can get the high-high evaluation."
"..."
Su Yu was speechless.
Old Xie smiled, "It's just the Great Strength Realm. You guys can reach it soon too. Those fellows with high-high evaluation are all people with high cultivation level and plentiful merit points. That is why they can get such a high score in the exam.
"Don't worry about it too much. Those fellows are all freaks. Of course, some of them are fake geniuses," Old Xie spoke bluntly. "Some of them use source qi liquid like plain water, exhausting valuable resources for limited gains. These people will be worthless even with a high-high evaluation. The academy will not give too much help to a useless person regardless of that person's evaluation.
"At the academy, some experts would rather accept a seventh-stage Source Opening student from a small city as a personal disciple than a Great Strength cultivator from a big clan. Sure, they can gain additional benefits from the big clans, but these experts are strong enough that they don't really care about the benefits those clans could offer. Thus, these fake geniuses won't really have it easy after entering an academy."
Old Xie was extremely blunt. If this was the capital instead, he would probably be subjected to a great pressure just for the words he had just spoken earlier.
Behind them, Wu Lan was feeling somewhat unhappy. She said, "Teacher, not all students from big clans are like that..."
Old Xie indifferently said, "Did I say that all of them are like that? I'm only trying to give the regular students some confidence. For example, for the cultural research academy exam, some exam takers would have formed a Divine Character already. With that Divine Character alone, they can probably gain hundreds of bonus marks. Will that be fair for the other students?
"People from small cities don't know much about Divine Characters while those from the capital can start studying willpower texts as young as seven years old. How are those from the smaller cities supposed to compete against those from the capital?
"Those from the capital are only better thanks to their parents and elders. Of course, I won't deny their hard work. For example, I will give my children the best as well. However, only childish and incompetent cultivators will constantly compare themselves against those from the smaller cities at such an early stage of cultivation.
"What's the point of competing this early? Wait five years or ten years before competing. At that point, you will all be on an equal playing field. If someone from a regular family spends over ten years cultivating with nothing to show from it, that can only mean that this person's talent is mediocre as well.
"What's the point of victory if you're only competing against those with a different starting point when all of you have barely left the starting point in the first place? Are you proud? Proud of yourself for having a strong father and mother? Only weaklings and cowards will think like that.
"True geniuses will not compete against those who are weaker. They are all busy aiming for a higher height."
Old Xie's tone changed slightly as he continued, "For example, Wu Qi from the cultural research academy. She is definitely not competing against Liu Hong. Instead, she is competing against Xia Yuwen of the Xia Clan. The bigger your heart is, the bigger your worldview would be, and the further you can go.
"If you really want to compete, compete against true geniuses. Su Yu, are you going to compete against your friend Chen Hao if you want to prove yourself?"
Old Xie smiled, "Of course, you're still too young to understand all this. It doesn't matter. One day you'll understand.
"This examination is only a competition between those who are just starting out on the path of cultivation. This is the time when you're showcasing more of your parents' ability than your own ability. But at the Skysoar, Cloudbreach, or the Mountainsea Realms...what can your parents do to help you even if they are invincible experts?
"More resources? More pointers? At that level of cultivation, everyone walks their own path. Resources and pointers no longer mean that much. If you're really capable, you won't lack any of that. You can only rely on yourself, not your parents."
All the students sank into silence.
Wu Lan also sank into a long silence. After a while, she softly said, "Thank you for the guidance, teacher."
"I'm not guiding you." Old Xie denied. He nonchalantly said, "It's not my place to guide you either. I only want to say that you must stay true to yourself and don't let yourself be distracted by all that nonsense. As a willpower cultivator, if you can't even take some harsh words, you might as well stop cultivating. You will never be able to reach the Skysoar Realm that way.
"If Liu Wenyan was such a weak-minded person, would he be able to last until he was 70 before he eventually advanced? He would have killed himself decades ago."
At that point, they had arrived at the next examination venue. Old Xie gave them a last piece of advice, "Both cultural research and war academies exist for the human race. Competition is necessary, but do not let your life be filled with envy and hatred. Five years later when you're already a Skysoar cultivator while your rival is still stuck at a lower cultivation level, you will notice that all those negative feelings you harbor before are nothing but a joke."
Finally, Old Xie stopped walking. Su Yu and the other students could no longer focus on what Old Xie was saying. All of them were dumbfounded by what they were looking at.
Ahead of them were 10 massive demon beasts. These beasts were actually alive. None of them had expected to see such beasts in Nanyuan.
"What are you doing standing there like a fool? These are among the weakest beasts in existence, the cloudrush horse. For the riding test, you naturally need to ride a beast. Did you really think that we'll have you ride your family's donkey or something like that? For the test, get on a beast and ride it around the field. If you can make a full circle, you will receive full marks."
"This is too easy. I stopped riding these little beasts decades ago."
Old Xie looked proud when he made that statement. These were among the weakest demon beasts in existence. Most people wouldn't even bother using them as mounts.
"If you fall from your mount or fail to make a complete circle, you will receive less marks. Even if you have never seen or rode a beast before, don't worry. Just remember to grab onto their fur tightly. It's also easy to control them. Just do what you were taught with regular horses."
Su Yu remained silent. At school, they rode actual horses, not beasts. There were riding and archery lessons in each secondary school, but students from the smaller cities had less chance of actually using what they learned.
Even though Su Yu had attended those lessons before, he wasn't exactly proficient with riding. Things were looking even worse since he had to ride one of these gigantic beasts instead.
"Fifty marks for making a complete circle on one of these beasts. Go on, stop wasting time. There are a lot of you here. Those who were here first will go first. Each of you has a time limit of three minutes. We only have 10 fields while there are 2,000 of you here. We don't have much time left so those who are late will receive zero marks. Get going already. Stop wasting time."
Ten fields were more than enough as even now, a lot of the students were still stuck at the second test. There were also some who were still stuck at the third test. The proctors had reminded the students multiple times that they needed to manage their time and energy properly. Those who failed to do so deserve to fail the examination.
Su Yu and the others did not dare to waste any time. Some students were already on the fields attempting the test. Not long after arriving, Su Yu saw a student being thrown off a mount. A proctor caught him before he fell to the ground and casually tossed him aside, "Five marks. Next."
From the look of things, it did not seem like the students would need three minutes. On average, each student would only last around thirty seconds.
Su Yu wanted to wait and see but Old Xie pointed at him and said, "Su Yu, it's your turn. You need to fight for everything. If you're unwilling to fight, how are you supposed to surpass others? I have high expectations for you. Get a high-tier evaluation and prove to everyone that even a small city can produce geniuses."
At that, many other proctors looked in their direction. High-tier evaluation? Could Nanyuan really produce a high-tier student? Was Old Xie drunk or something?