"This feeling of extraordinary power, the similar aura of the bloodline, and the vicissitudes of the soul…"
Raylin glanced at Black Eye, then at Shavier. He could clearly spot a few similarities between the two, though without a hint, no one else would even think along those lines.
"A blood relative? An organization secretly oppressed by the Empire, and finally one has appeared…"
Raylin felt quite pleased, even as he watched Black Eye and Shavier converse with a cold eye, secretly making a few minor adjustments to Shavier.
"Interesting. Is it a frame-up or protection?" Raylin glanced at Black Eye, making the man directly take several steps back.
"Alright, everyone gather round! The field test begins!"
Under the watchful eyes of numerous guards, Raylin and the others were gathered in a square carved from white jade. At the center of the square was a bizarrely shaped hexagram array.
"The content of the field test is to assess your connection with the Mana Web, as well as your ability to correctly use mid-tier spells…"
An examiner with the iron-blooded air of a soldier stepped to the forefront, his voice echoing across the entire square.
"I'll state it once more… this assessment carries a certain level of danger. You may choose to withdraw! Step forward now, and we will not scorn you for it…"
Evidently, with success seemingly within easy reach, not a single candidate chose to withdraw.
"Very well! Then, the candidate whose name I call will step forward! Accept the assessment. First! Number WE23, Dili…"
A freckle-faced girl walked to the front, a look of obvious unease on her face.
"Stand on the hexagram array over there. There is a temporary authorization link to the Mana Web…"
The middle-aged officer commanded, his will brooking no argument. Once the candidate was in position, he nodded. He then issued a command to his wristband: "Open mid-tier Shadow Mana Web authorization!"
Bzzzz…
The hexagram array began to tremble, emitting a faint white light. The immense pressure nearly made the freckle-faced girl on it burst into tears.
"Intelligence Brain… extract the question!"
The examiner shouted towards the outside. Afterwards, on the large screen high above the square, numerous spell names scrolled and flickered into view, before stopping on one entry.
"Level 3 Spell — Wings of Shadow!"
The middle-aged examiner looked at the girl. "Connect to the magical network through the hexagram array. Cast this spell in its entirety, and our judges along with the Intelligence Brain will score you..."
"Oh no! Wings of Shadow is one of the most difficult level 3 spells to execute — her luck is really terrible..."
Shawei sighed from the side, not noticing that Lelin was watching him with an even more pitiful look.
His attention was entirely fixed inside the hexagram array now, watching the girl struggle to summon a pair of pitch-black wings.
Unfortunately, the wings looked like two wisps of mist, without any sense of solidity. The sizes on each side were also wildly disproportionate.
Finally, with a loud bang, the Wings of Shadow on the girl's back violently exploded, sending her flying out. Her back was left a bloody, mangled mess.
"Overall evaluation: 0.2! Failed!!!"
The middle-aged examiner's expression didn't change in the slightest. He waved his hand, and the medical team that had been standing by stepped forward immediately, carrying the girl out on a stretcher.
"So? Does anyone want to quit?" The examiner swept his gaze across the crowd, making the other candidates lower their heads.
But even so, no one chose to withdraw. The mentality of hoping to get lucky held sway over most of them.
"Good... Next one..." Seeing this, the middle-aged examiner let out a cold laugh. He said nothing more and ordered the exam to continue directly.
"Overall evaluation: 0.4! Failed!!!"
"Overall evaluation: 0.3! Failed!!!"
"Overall evaluation: 0.6! Hmm! Barely passed!"
...
Soon, candidates who went up to try were eliminated even faster. After more than fifty people had gone up, only one chubby candidate had passed. Unlucky candidates kept getting injured and carried away, making the atmosphere at the venue increasingly heavy.
If there wasn't still a glimmer of hope for success, some of them might have truly given up.
"Next! Number I098 — Dinal!"
The examiner called out a name.
"Sir!"
The one called Dinal was a tall, thin young man who appeared to be only around thirty years old. But the hair on both sides of his head had turned half-white, and his eyes spoke of a life weathered by hardship.
"Not bad! Go right ahead!" The examiner's eyes lit up the moment he saw him.
"Thank you!" Dinal stepped to the center of the hexagram formation. He took a deep breath!
"Begin! The mindcore selects your topic — you've drawn Shadow Fireball!" the examiner announced loudly.
"Wow… one of the easiest third-level spells to control! He's in luck…"
The examinees below immediately burst into chatter.
It was clear the young man was quite pleased with his own fortune. He gently closed his eyes, extended his invisible Spiritual Power, and connected through the hexagram formation to the Shadow
Before long, a dark-red fireball materialized in front of him, docile and compliant like a tamed beast.
"Excellent! Finally, another one!" Seward clenched his fist, his confidence reinforced once more.
But just as he was certain the young man would pass, disaster struck without warning!
The dark-red fireball suddenly convulsed, its edges distorting into violent, irregular shapes. Dinal's face changed drastically.
Boom!
The dark-red fireball detonated, charring his entire head to cinders.
Silence! The venue plunged into deathly stillness! It was not until someone let out a piercing shriek that voices erupted one after another.
"Quiet! Or you'll be disqualified from the exam!"
The threat was evidently effective — under the watchful eyes of the numerous guards, the crowd immediately fell silent.
"A real shame. A gap appeared in his Spiritual Power that should never have been there, causing the spell to backfire. This is one of the three textbook examples of self-destruction — take it as a warning, all of you!"
The instructor reprimanded them, then waved his hand. Several medical staff stepped forward to carry away the corpse, and began inspecting and repairing the hexagram formation.
"Mm! So that's what happened!"
Rin glanced at Shawell beside him, who seemed to have been scared witless, and at the examiner called Crow Eye, whose cold sneer was very well hidden, and nodded to himself.
"Even though the requirements of the Shadow Weave here are nowhere near as demanding as those for mages, ordinary people can still only handle low-tier spells — anything mid-tier or above requires examinations and screening, which is perfectly reasonable in principle... But the death rate! It's obviously abnormal!"
"Could it be that the person who holds authority over the Weave can't save even a small rookie? Unless they're doing it on purpose!"
"Then the only difference with that unlucky fellow called Dinar before... is the lingering traces of extraordinary power on his body!"
Rin's eyes suddenly lit up.
"This so-called examination isn't just for filtering — it's also a means of identification! To identify true mortals versus bloodline descendants of the extraordinary!"
"Those who carry extraordinary power in their bloodlines tend to be noticeably superior in learning and other abilities, so the chances of them showing up for the examination are very high. With just a little tampering, engineering a few 'accidents' or whatever, they can be legitimately eliminated, and the purge and slaughter can be covered up as mere mishaps..."
"No wonder the extraordinary individuals in the Shadow World have been declining so rapidly, even with Ectoplasm and the Weave — so this is another reason behind it..."
Rin nodded silently, feeling no particular objection to their methods.
It was said that whoever holds the weapon naturally develops killing intent. For any highly centralized regime that extends its control down to the grassroots level, individuals wielding extraordinary martial power would be deeply detested.
If it were something public like the Weave, that could still be understood, but power they couldn't control — Wizards, for instance — naturally, eliminating them was the more appropriate course of action for maintaining social stability.
And if it could be draped in the mantle of righteousness, all the better.
If Rin himself were in charge, he would probably make the same decision.
"So ordinary people who come to take the examination have only two possible outcomes: pass or fail, with injury at most. But if those bloodline descendants of the extraordinary show up..."
Rin glanced at the headless corpse being carried away — that was the perfect example.
After a few rounds like this, with technology experiencing a massive boom and extraordinary power fading into superstition and legend, it was only natural.
Then did that mean Crow Eye, who was seemingly setting traps for future generations, was actually trying to protect Shawell?
"Well? Does anyone else want to withdraw?"
Obviously, the death from before had frightened several of the candidates. Immediately, someone stepped forward willing to quit.
The examiner didn't make things difficult over this — he simply waved his hand and signaled for them to leave.
After all, if every candidate was forced to attempt it, the targeting would be too obvious.
This plan was long-term and resolute. As long as a large number of bloodline descendants were eliminated each year, the seeds of extraordinary power would soon vanish from the Shadow World!
"Next! Xia Weier!"
"That's me!" Xia Weier jolted, startled!
"Go on up! Do your best!" Lin Lei encouraged from the side, not at all surprised to see the worried look in Wu Yan's eyes.
"After such a long period of probing, the rebels must have found a way to counter this method by now, right?"
Unfortunately, Xia Weier was completely unaware of this at the moment as he nervously stepped onto the magical formation.
"Mind computer, draw the question—Shadow Fireball!"
"Hmm! The soul check is clean; not a bloodline descendant!" The examiner first glanced at the hidden report, then loudly announced the proposition.
"I've thought through this model countless times myself; I can definitely do it!" Although Dinar's miserable state from moments ago was still fresh in his mind, Xia Weier began his Spiritual Power probe without hesitation.
"Hm?"
But at this moment, he suddenly discovered something terrifying. The Spiritual Power that could normally be used to cast low-level spells was now like a stagnant pond, without the slightest ripple.
"Damn it! Move! Move for me!"
Xia Weier's face flushed red with strain as he felt that even mobilizing a single thread of Spiritual Power was as heavy as a thousand catties.
Pop... Finally, a tiny wisp of flame took shape before him, only to quickly dissolve into black smoke, forming a thin column of dark vapor.