At this moment, Yao found herself thinking of her parents and her close friends.
Having grown up in a comfortable and privileged environment, she had always encountered good people. For a bad person to turn good, all it takes is sacrificing a bit of self-interest to choose morality. But for a good person to turn bad, it's a painful process of sacrificing their very essence.
Yao felt a bit sad because she had no idea what she would become in the distant future, if she survived. What would she be like?
At that very moment, a voice echoed from the leaderboard in the examination room.
"Candidate No. 1423, Li Yu, has had all points reset. No further deductions can be made. According to the hidden rules of the exam, the candidate has chosen to withdraw, and the current points will be retained."
So, this person was called Li Yu. He was among the top ten in the theoretical exam. No one had expected that he would withdraw from the second round of the arcane test by clearing his points.
It was his own decision to quit, but he wasn't just quitting this exam—he was quitting the entire year's exams.
He was done for.
It wasn't that he couldn't kill; earlier, he'd chosen to use a wine bottle to knock someone out because it wouldn't kill. As for setting someone on fire—it was a process, and as long as the person chose to quit, there wouldn't be a big problem.
But what if he had decided to take the extreme option of sacrificing himself, exchanging his life for hers?
That was impossible.
Yao knew very well that this person had targeted her, bringing others to attack her from behind. Clearly, it had been planned all along.
Did she have many enemies?
Well, perhaps more people disliked her, but those who went to such lengths to ruin her were from the three families of Lan, Xie, and Teng. The Lan family, in particular. The reason was most likely because she had climbed the rankings by "killing ducks," which had clearly angered the Lan family. They were already suspicious of her, and now they must have arranged backup plans.
Yao didn't believe it was the work of Lan Bing. Lan Bing, the straightforward leader of the Lan family, didn't seem cunning enough for such schemes.
"This Li Yu is probably from a normal background, and he has been a subordinate of the Lan family for some time, in exchange for resources. He was assigned to keep an eye on me. Once I revealed something, I would be dealt with... So someone had already predicted this situation. Was it Lan Xuan Yu or someone else from the Lan family?"
Before the exam, especially after her meditation aptitude had been revealed, Yao had assumed that even Lan Bing thought she wouldn't amount to much. But Li Yu came at her so quickly.
This made Yao more alert, suspecting that there might be other hidden forces from the Lan family, either Lan Xuan Yu or another strategist lurking. She didn't feel secure, especially with her ranking sitting comfortably at 150, while those ahead of her had much higher meditation and arcane aptitudes.
She jumped down from the tree, about to leave swiftly when she suddenly felt a chill on her back. In the next instant, she performed a quick sideways roll to dodge, half-knelt on the ground, and extinguished her cigarette butt in the earth. A blast of frost from the sky slammed into the ground, sending a spray of ice shards flying, but Yao didn't look back. She dashed deep into the dense forest, hoping to lose them.
The others watching from outside saw a giant yellow duck, three meters wide, soaring through the air, launching an attack of frost toward Yao below. Its speed and power were extraordinary, and it had the ability to fly, making it more than a match for the average person.
"Seriously? A mini-BOSS?"
"Back in our day, the exams were straightforward. Theory was just answering questions. Meditation and operation tests were simple. There weren't all these odd twists. But this year…"
"It's bad."
The elemental concentration had been thinned, and with so many arcane limitations, individuals would struggle against something like a mini-BOSS.
"Clearly, we need to team up."
As they were discussing, the previously confident and sharp-looking Xie Er Shao was now fleeing, though even with the trees obscuring his path, the flying mini-BOSS kept its focus on Yao. It was relentless in its pursuit.
"Is she done for?"
"I guess this is where she stops, at rank 150. She's still holding on to some points though."
"Wait, ahead is a cliff!"
They watched, horrified, as Yao continued to flee, and then—she leapt into the air.
"What the hell?!"
Yao's heart raced as she jumped, and from the cliff's edge, the yellow duck turned sharply, following her down.
At that moment, a strange thing happened. When everyone looked again, Yao had disappeared from view, and the flying duck was left hovering, confused. There was no splash from the lake below, no ripple to indicate a fall.
They all realized in that moment that Yao had managed to disappear into one of the meditation monitoring devices embedded into the cliffside.
"The meditation monitors aren't just for testing—they double as safe spots for students to take cover."
"Right, the reason they are spaced out like this is so students can hide from threats like the flying ducks. It's like a built-in cheat."
Some of the others commented that it was impressive Yao had figured that out, noting how sharp she must have been to remember those device locations.
Then, they saw the yellow duck squawking, signaling that someone had locked onto it for an attack.
Turning their attention, they saw Zhang Xun and several others attacking with high-level spells, including lightning magic to paralyze the beast. It was a coordinated effort, and soon enough, the mini-BOSS was defeated.
They received a message:
"Mini-BOSS defeated: 1000 points awarded to each participant."
Meanwhile, Yao had already entered the hidden space beneath the cliff and was deep in thought.
"There are patterns to these star point coordinates. If I'm right, the final challenge is hidden in one of these coordinates…"
Yao was running the numbers in her head, solving complex spatial folding and dimension equations as she meticulously worked through her mental calculations.
After a short while, she realized that the remaining 100 spaces—the so-called "isolated space"—might hold the answer to the challenge.
Time passed quickly. Yao managed to identify one of the isolated spots and made her way toward it, avoiding detection. When she arrived, the space opened up, revealing the next part of the test: a chance to comprehend the "Essence" of magic.
"So this is what they meant by the higher-level skill comprehension. It's not just about memorizing spells. It's about grasping the essence, and then, you can create something entirely new."
This was Yao's real challenge.
When she emerged from the hidden space after completing the lesson, she found herself in an increasingly tense situation. Zhang Xun's group had made it into the top 50, and the pressure was rising. However, her true test was not against them—it was how to navigate the complex political game unfolding in the shadows, especially with forces like the Lan and Teng families closing in.
Yao had a moment to think before venturing into the next phase. Whatever lay ahead, she couldn't afford to make any mistakes. This was more than just an exam—it was a test of survival.