3 Chapter 3 - Entrance Exam Part 3

Everyone who had mocked Mi Young earlier for not being chosen by the Divining Cauldron wanted the ground to swallow them right that instant.

They couldn't believe what they were seeing right before them. There was no record of the four tables lighting up at the same time in any of their ancient and history books.

Some pinched themselves to ensure that they weren't dreaming. Others rubbed their eyes again and again to make sure that the sight before them is real. But no matter what they do to wake themselves up, the four tables in front of Mi Young are still emitting their glow.

The Examiner once again couldn't believe the miracles that just keep on happening in front of her. She doesn't even know if she's really lucky or if destiny is playing its part in her life. Everyone knows how important and lucky one Mage is if they get to see in person a happening that would go all down in their history books.

She didn't even plan on proctoring the examinees during this year's entrance exam but there was no available professor at that time and she was forced by the Great Sage to guide the incoming freshmen. So she gradually got up from her bed and with a sigh of defeat, went to take the entrance exam. She never saw it coming. All these miracles just kept on coming the moment this one young girl took their entrance exam. And if she managed to make another miracle, Oh Min Ree promised to the heavens that she would do her best to mentor this child and make her the greatest Mage in their generation.

Ignoring all the gasps and comments around her, Mi Young still couldn't believe that four of the elemental tables were lighting in front of her. This phenomenon only means one thing; she can control all elements. And then suddenly, everything just made sense to Mi Young. All of the "huge and tragic" accidents that happened before were due to her ability to control all elements.

The girl inside the cauldron took a huge and deep breath before bowing towards all the tables and went off the cauldron. Mi Young stepped forward and stood in front of the Examiner before asking what faction she should choose.

The Examiner was just about to open her mouth and say something but she stopped when the huge doors of the pavilion opened revealing a stern looking man. His face looks strict and he looks like someone just sent him a message in the middle of his sleep because he looks absolutely mad. The man marches towards the center of the stage and he was busy scanning the faces of all the examinees.

The Examiner steps forward to ask something, "Mr. Principal, can I ask what—"

"Silence." The man says. He continued looking at the faces of the confused examinees when his eyes finally met Mi Young's. "You."

Mi Young's eyes widen when she sees the principal eyeing him with distaste. She was about to ask if she did something wrong when the principal grabbed her hands all of a sudden, trying to make her step out of the stage. "You cheater! You are a shame in this academy. You better get your feet off of the stage now before I take you to the authorities!"

To say that everyone was beyond shocked was an understatement. They watched as the principal kept on pulling the poor young girl out of the stage, not caring if everyone saw what he was doing.

"M-Mr. Principal, what are you doing? Mi Young is an examinee!" The Examiner says as she stops the principal from practically dragging the poor girl.

"What are you doing?! Get out of my way! This child deserves to go to the dungeons for cheating during the exam!" The principal bellows as he starts dragging the panic-stricken Mi Young down the stage.

"Mr. Principal please! What are you saying?" The Examiner asks once more as she tries to reason out with the principal. Plus, his outrage is making all the students confused and scared.

"This girl does not deserve to go to this school! She is a liar and a cheater!" The principal says as he points his finger towards Mi Young.

"M-Me? Excuse me sir, but I never once cheated in my entire life. You are terribly mistaken!" Mi Young says with a dignified tone. She pulls her arms away from the principal's grasps as she casts him a glare.

"Audacious! How dare you talk back to me!"

"Mr. Principal, perhaps you have mistaken Mi Young for another person. There is no way that this young girl would have cheated—"

"Silence! I know what I'm saying and I know that this…" The principal once again points his forefinger towards Mi Young as he bellows angrily. "..this girl has cheated during the first exam!"

"I don't know what—"

"Don't even deny it, young lady!" The principal shouts, completely ignoring Mi Young's words. "Think of it, students! How come a low class girl like her from the North can pass a hard exam like that? Not even the children of the Four Great clans can score perfect points! Yet this girl from a no-name family managed to have it! I will not tolerate such an attitude and behavior inside my academy."

Hearing the principal's words, some students started having doubts towards Mi Young. For others, the principal's words made total sense since Mi Young is just a normal looking girl and that she is from a family that is not even known. For Mi Young to score the exam perfectly, she must have cheated because of desperation.

"This.." The Examiner starts to say something but Mi Young cuts her off.

"Please! You have to believe me! I didn't do such a thing. I just read the instructions of the exam and on the seventh sente—"

"Enough!" A loud voice echoes from the crowd. Everyone followed where the source of the voice came from and their eyes landed on the son of the Jeon clan. "I had enough of this!"

Seeing the composed and well-behaved young lord bursting because of anger, everyone felt a little anxious, even principal Choi. Jeon Shi Yun displayed a very strong intimidating aura despite being young, this is probably because he possessed the blood of one of the great Mages from the Big Four.

Shi Yun walks towards the center of the stage as he regards Mi Young. He sees the young girl looking at him confusingly, yet at the same time there was fear and sadness reflecting in her eyes.

"Principal Choi, I understand where you are coming from but I hope you know that it is highly inappropriate to just drag someone, especially someone with a lower rank than you, with so much force. And on top of that, I bet you know that one of the rules of this academy is that no one, even the school head or principal, is allowed to interfere with the entrance exam – which means that this outburst of yours is breaking the rules of the school." Jeon Shi Yun says in a very calm voice. Despite the heat and tension inside the pavilion, the young man displayed a very calm attitude which awed most of the audience.

However, despite the reasoning of the young man, the principal was still fuming with anger so he solemnly chose to ignore the latter's words. "No matter what you are saying, I strongly believe that this nameless girl has cheated! Not even the King scored a score like that, so how come she can?!"

"Are you saying that I have also cheated? I scored higher points than the King. Does that also mean that I cheated?" Shi Yun asks. His voice was still calm but you can also hear the challenging tone he was displaying.

The principal looks taken aback for a second. Jeon Shi Yun might be a mere student but he is the only son and heir of the Jeon clan. He is also bound to be the protector of the South once he grows up and he is a direct descendant of one of the Big Four. Not to mention that they have direct orders from the King himself – which means that despite his ranking and his level of cultivation, he still has more power than the principal.

"I…didn't mean it like tha—"

"You also said that 'not even the King scored a score like that', are you also saying that the King is stupid?" Jeon Shi Yung continues. "I would like you to remember that my family has direct contact with the King, would you like me to relay your message to him?"

This made the principal's face so pale that it looks like he has seen a ghost. He instantly shakes his head and says, "N-No! I didn't mean it like that! What I was trying to say is that—"

"—that this girl has cheated right?"

"Yes! Yes! T-That's what I was saying." The principal says in a desperate voice.

"Do you have proof for your allegations?"

Hearing this, the principal's face turned from white to a deep shade of red all of a sudden. "I…don't."

"Then you are saying that you accused someone of cheating just because you feel so?"

"N-No..I—"

"Then why are you saying such things?" Shi Yun says as he steps forward, separating Mi Young from the principal. "You are a school principal. You're supposed to know how to differentiate what is right and wrong."

With Jeon Shi Yun's constant pressure, the principal ultimately lost the will to speak. He was busy in his office minding his own business when one of his disciples burst into his room and reported the happenings inside the pavilion. When he heard that someone managed to score perfect points during the first part of the exam, he was ecstatic. He asked for the name of the examinee who managed to set the bars higher for their academy and was prepared to hear a name from one of the children of the Four Great clans. However, when he heard Kang Mi Young's name, he was confused. Then his confusion turned into rage when he looked at the girl's profile and saw that she was from a small town in the North and that her father is just an Intermediate Mage. Basically, the girl is a nobody which means that the only explanation why she was able to get a perfect score is because of cheating.

Because of his rage, he didn't even think about his actions and he immediately stormed off towards the pavilion to catch the cheating young girl. Now that he's here, he realized that his actions were indeed absurd. And while hearing the young Jeon's allegations, he can feel himself getting smaller and smaller because of embarrassment.

However, he is also a powerful man and he stands ground with his words. So with a dignified nod, he straightens his back and clears his throat before saying, "I may be wrong for dragging her. But we also don't have proof that she didn't cheat. For all we know, there was never a single Mage who managed to score perfectly during the exams."

"Principal…" The Examiner starts to reason with him again but the principal stops her once more.

"Because of this, I would personally host the third part of the exam. The third part is Mana Accumulation, and only Mages with great talent and skills can have great Mana within them. If this girl," Principal Choi stops once more before eyeing Mi Young with a stern gaze, "is indeed a formidable Mage, she will have to have a score of at least 1,000 during the third part since the written exam has a Mage Accumulation point of at least 1,000 in order to score 70 above. If she scores poorly, she will not be accepted in this school and I will even file a report to other schools not to accept her!"

The people around the pavilion started exchanging worried glances. Some students looked at Mi Young with pity seeing that scoring 1,000 points during Mana Accumulation is pretty hard, even senior students like them only have a score of below 900, what more can a fresh examinee have?

Jeon Shi Yun also looked at Mi Young worriedly. He may have not known the girl but he knows that she did not cheat. He is good with reading people and he has a strong feeling that the girl before him is completely innocent.

"Are you okay with this?" Jeon Shi Yun whispers towards Mi Young.

Mi Young looks taken aback at first before she sighs and gives the young man a small smile. "Thank you for helping me out but I think I'll have to handle this myself here."

Jeon Shi Yun was about to reason with her but Mi Young steps forward as she looks at the principal with a dignified look. "Fine then. But if I score 1,000 points then I want you to leave the academy."

Everyone gasps at Mi Young's challenge. All of the students, including the Examiner and the principal, looked at the young girl with astonishment. No one has ever dared to challenge a person much higher than their ranking or cultivation. Yet this young girl who is still rankless is already bursting off a new level of arrogance.

The challenge made the principal even angrier. 'How dare this girl think so lowly of me? Does she think that she could win against me? Not even the King managed to have Mana Accumulation points that high when he was taking the exam.'

Now that he knows that there is no way the young girl is able to score 1,000 mana points, the principal flips his robes as he accepts the challenge. "Fine. I will make you regret your words. Let's start the exam!"