DESOLATE ERA 7

Carl looked around at the crowd of thousands of people milling around in the square in front of the large ornate gates that were flanked by a towering statue of a Lion and a Tiger. He was impressed that the statues were golem constructs that would attack any intruders. Very intimidating.

"Hey, Kankuro. Check out the golems next to the gates." Carl turned to the young man that still refused to get rid of his make-up, what he claimed was war paint. "When do you think you'll be able to make some constructs like that?"

Kankuro wandered closer so he could examine the golem constructs from every angle, getting weird looks from the other people in the crowds. Carl and his group simply hung around chatting, completely used to watching their friend geek out about anything related to puppetry and constructs. When Kankuro had read about the possibilities of what he could create by diving into the Dao of Constructs, he had been sold and there was no going back.

"Don't think you're going to get an answer anytime soon." Anko amusedly chuckled as she watched puppet-boy lose himself in studying the constructs.

"Yeah. He'll be lost in studying those until we drag him off for the assessment test." Carl continued to look around at all the hopeful cultivators and their families that were cheering for their success escorting them to the gates.

"There's a lot of people trying out." Hanako softly said with concern in her voice.

"It's nothing to worry about, Hanako." Karin wrapped an arm cheerfully around Hanako's shoulder, with Naruko joining her on the other side of the gentle and shy girl a moment later.

"Karin's right! It just means that there are a lot of people that will fail today!" Naruko cheerfully added on, causing those nearby to scowl angrily at their group and start muttering about them.

"What? Got a problem with what she said?" Kiba growled back at the mutterers while settling into a ready stance, with Akamaru growing larger in size behind him and staring down at them. "How many people get recruited to this school a year? And how many of you people are here? You think every one of you is going to be qualified? She's just talking realities here. If you don't like it then piss off and try harder in your assessment!"

"Kiba has hit the nail on the head, my most youthful friend! We must put one thousand percent effort into our assessments! Only then will our flames of youth explode! If I don't pass this test then I'll run around the city one thousand times on my hands! You must join me, my most youthful friends in exerting 110% - No! 150% of your effort! Only then will you also explode with the passion and power of Yooouth!"

Carl's mouth twitched in amusement as he saw the looks of disgust and almost fear on the faces of the people around them as they turned away from the display Lee was putting on; they seemed very wary of being caught up in Lee's enthusiasm and pace, like they were expecting some kind of trap. Especially because he was still sporting the tight green body tights that Gai introduced to him when he was just a teen for the first time. Every one of his muscles and "manly" features was on display for everyone to see. Their group had long gotten used to his and Gai's eccentricities. But the poor uninitiated around them were horrified at the sight.

Except for that one girl, she seemed to be drooling while staring at Lee. If this was an anime, Carl was convinced she would have hearts in her eyes. 'Good on you, Lee!' Carl inwardly laughed at all the reactions.

Naruko, Anko, Tenten and Karin had no such restraint and they openly started laughing at the sight of the people that had been angry just a moment ago desperate to get away before they got caught up in Lee's enthusiasm for the power of youth.

"Are we sure the Dao that Gai and Lee are studying is the Strong Fist, and not the Dao of Youth?" Tenten giggled while hanging off of Anko.

"I wouldn't be surprised if through extreme effort he and Gai managed to turn a method of motivating themselves into at least a minor Dao of Youth, if not maybe even a Major Dao in the future." Yakumo softly muttered, causing the group to burst into laughter at the idea of the Heavens acknowledging the two crazy combat enthusiast's efforts in that manner.

Carl continued scanning the crowds while he and his friends chatted about random things that caught their attentions. Among the crowd were people of all shapes and sizes, from young 14 year old looking boys and girls, to middle aged looking men and women. Some of them stood alone as they stared intently at the gates. Others were sitting cross legged on the ground in meditation to focus themselves. And others were mingling with their families on the edges of the large square as their families gave them some last advice and encouragement.

Everyone present knew the strictness of the Black-White College's assessments, so the family members wouldn't risk the chance of angering the assessors by mingling in front of the gates and slowing down the recruitment process, thus accidentally disqualifying their hopeful applicant before they even got a chance to attempt the tests. So the families were at the edges of the square, looking in from outside.

The enormous double gates suddenly opened up with a loud bang that got everyone's attention. Standing authoritatively in the opening was a group of people in the Wanxiang stage. The crowd seemed to be gripped by excitement that the assessment was about to start. One of the men took a step forward.

"Anyone who is an applicant to the college may enter to take the test. Family, friends, and any bound beasts will remain behind." The medium sized man said with an air of self-importance, his voice easily carrying to every part of the crowd.

Kiba and Akamaru stared at each other in dismay. They thought that they would be able to work together as a team. Unfortunately Akamaru hadn't yet gotten to the point that he could transform into a human form, despite being in the Zifu realm, so he seemed to be disqualified.

That it took him so long to transform was generally a good thing for beasts of this world they were in. The more powerful their lineage and blood was, the higher realm they had to be to transform into a human form. Many of the weaker beasts could do so at the Xiantian Lifeform level, others at the Zifu Palace level. But with Akamaru needing to at least get to the Wanxiang Adept level, it only said good things about how powerful his lineage was.

"Go on, boy. We both know you're better than any of these other people, but the assessors won't see it that way. Too bad you haven't gotten your human form yet to try out yourself."

After a bit more back and forth encouragement, Akamaru made his way to the edge of the square and sat down, determined to wait out the assessment to see how Kiba did.

After seeing that a number of people trickled out of the square, all the while sporting a look of annoyance on his face, the assessor for the Black-White College gave a harrumph and continued talking.

"Line up in an orderly manner as you file in. If you make a fuss you will be immediately kicked out. You will accept our judgment on whether or not you are qualified, or you will be forcefully ejected. Don't blame use for not going soft on you in that case."

The group of assessors jumped up on a suddenly appearing flying boat and sped away towards the inside of the college's property. The crowd of people didn't immediately rush forward in excitement, but instead filed in calmly. No one wanted to be eliminated right off the start.

Carl looked around at the moods of his friends to see that they were all enthusiastic to finally get the show on the road. They weren't nervous or doubting themselves at all. Nodding his head in approval, he joined everyone in the queue.

He was a little surprised at first that the group of Wanxiang adepts didn't take down the information of the people applying as they came in, before he realized that there was no point to it, since the vast majority of the crowd of thousands of candidates would be eliminated in the first assessment. It would have been a lot of work for no real purpose.

After all, just because they fail to enter one year, doesn't mean they can't try again later. They would just have to keep their cultivation in the sweet spot in order to qualify.

'Eh, come to think of it, that does heavily imply that most of them have only one chance while they are still in the early Zifu realm. Most of the people here, while talented, would have advanced their cultivation within a year or two. And not all of them are rich, so hanging out in the Capital, or traveling back and forth every year, would be expensive and dangerous. It would be better for most of them to go to another, less prestigious, school rather than halting their cultivation for a few years while they keep trying.'

After entering the gates, there was a large plaza with a lake on the far side. In the flying boat that was hovering over the middle of the lake was a new black haired man standing on the edge of the boat and looking sternly down on the candidates. Behind him was the man who had opened the gates and ushered in the group, along with the other Wanxiang Adepts.

The black haired man that was looking down sternly at the candidates pulled out a small bronze mirror and threw it up in the air. It hovered over the side of the boat and grew larger until it was about 8 feet in diameter.

"Come one at a time while I check your suitability." The black haired man called out in a voice that let the candidates know not to mess with him. Well, that and the palpable aura of a Primal Daoist that he emanated. The Zifu Disciple candidates that felt his radiating power knew not to mess about in his sight.

One by one the candidates made their way on the surface of the lake to stand beneath the hovering bronze mirror, nervously waiting for the judgment.

"Middle stage Zifu Ki refiner, unsuitable. Leave. Next!" The black haired man said to one of the mid 20s looking men before calling out for the next candidate.

Carl knew that the Black-White College didn't accept anyone above the early Zifu realm. It was unlikely that anyone in the Xiantian realm had enough power to pass their tests, but not impossible. Reaching the middle Zifu realm with a most likely lower-class technique that wasn't approved by the Black-White College would mean they had solidified their Zifu palace in the wrong method and it limited their future advancement, hence why they were rejected. At the early Zifu realm there was still the possibility to alter and shape their Zifu palace with the techniques the college had.

"Your meridian channels are weak. Begone. Next!"

Carl watched as candidate after Candidate was eliminated. Every once in a while one would be passed and directed to continue to the other side of the lake to wait for the next phase of testing.

"You've used a forbidden technique and have damaged your Zifu palace. Eliminated. Next!"

"That's unfair! I can repair my Zifu palace with time. Don't be so quick to dismiss me, I'm the son of-"

The white haired young hopeful's words were cut off as the black haired man on the boat flicked his finger and sent the arrogant young man flying backward and out the gate with a screech of alarm. He didn't even spare him a look before calling out for the next candidate.

"Next!"

"Your meridian channels are quite robust. Good. You pass, move along to the other side of the lake. Next!"

Hundreds of candidates passed the assessment and moved on to the other side of the lake, but most of the crowd was eliminated.

Eventually it was his turn, so Carl made his way across the lake to stand under the hovering bronze mirror. The only thing he was nervous about was whether the mirror would be able to see the presence of his ATG cultivation, bloodlines, Ki, and magic. He didn't want to give unusual reactions that would affect his assessment.

"Dual cultivation Ki refiner and Body refiner. Used the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens to cultivate your body. Both at early Zifu level. Acceptable. Next!"

Apparently the mirror was limited to seeing only the current world's cultivation, which was good.

"Senior." Carl gave a respectful salute like all the other candidates had done when they were told they passed and made his way across the lake in a quick run to get out of the way for the next candidate.

He arrived at a field with stone benches set up for the candidates to wait at. Sitting down at a bench by himself, Carl watched the candidates interacting with each other while waiting for his group to join him.

Carl saw one red haired young man seeming to hold court over the other candidates in the area, making bold statements and promises about what he would do when he became a member of the Black-White College. The less confident hopefuls were flocking around him with the idea of flattering him to create a backup plan for their advancement if they failed.

By forging a friendly connection now, they hoped to have the possibility of befriending a member of the Black-White college and make use of that connection to gain some advantages.

Carl internally shook his head in amusement at the group. Just because the young man passed the first assessment with a few words of praise from the assessor for his physical qualities didn't mean he would eventually qualify as a student in the College, despite his inflated ego because of it.

It seemed he was trying to rope in the candidates now, in order to hold sway over them later when they were members of the Black-White college. Or maybe he just liked to show off and wasn't being so sneaky? Carl could find out by scanning the young man's mind, but he didn't really care to.

But watching the scene was a bit amusing, like watching a bantam rooster strutting around among the chickens who were not confident in their prospects and were clucking around the rooster that stuck out.

'Well, I suppose being social might not be a completely useless endeavor,' Carl suddenly thought. 'When they all fail, they can band together once they join a different school and become a little gang, a power bloc to protect themselves, in a second or third rate school. Then they can congratulate themselves for being big fish in a small pond and harbor their resentment for the rest of their lives against the Black-White College for not recognizing their talent and genius.'

Carl knew he and his group had enough power and skill to pass the assessment, but he wasn't confident that the college would accept all 21 of them. It was five times more people than they had accepted in any one year, so he didn't know if they would stick to the small incoming number to preserve their college's reputation for being tough, or if the acceptance of so many genius' would be more important to them.

So because he and his friends were there to shine, Carl was already looking at the group of socializers like they were a big joke. And if there were some among them that would qualify, then they too would be under the uncertainty of being admitted because that would just add numbers to the "quota" that was already glutted with the ninja-cultivators.

Carl just sat by and chatted with his friends after they passed the first assessment and crossed the lake one by one, growing their groups numbers to the point it looked like a bigger gang than was gathered around the red haired young man.

Several hours passed before the last of the candidates to pass the first test arrived. Out of the thousands of hopefuls in the aptitude test, only a few hundred were passed to the second stage.

The black haired man that conducted the aptitude test shrunk the bronze mirror then put it and his floating ship away in storage treasures. He then flew over to the area Carl and the rest of the candidates were waiting at. He hovered above them to get a good look at the group of candidates.

"A total of 373 of you passed the preliminary selection process. But the assessment will only get harder from here on out, and only a few of you will be able to join my Black-White College. Thus you must be cautious and give your full effort." The black haired man gave his version of a pep talk before landing on the ground and walking further into the testing area. "Follow me."

Carl knew that the proctor wasn't claiming ownership of the school; instead he was talking as a proud alumni and professor about his alma mater. He followed along with everyone else as they hastened to follow the black haired man as they ran along the paths leading to some mountain cliffs.

The Black-White College was the number one school of Stillwater City and the Commandery, and it had a great deal of land assigned to it. The other schools and powers were either located outside the city, or they had their facilities inside a dimensional space treasure to give them the area they needed. The Black-White College was the only school that had so much land assigned to them, which further proved their dominance and number one status in the Stillwater Commandery.

Up high on the mountain cliff that was in front of them, Carl saw a single cave opening. The black haired man stopped a few kilometers from the bottom of the cliff and turned around to face the crowd. Everyone watched as parts of the cliff face moved aside, revealing thousands of cave openings in the cliff wall. A multitude of dragon heads poked out of each opening, and Carl saw that they were stylized constructs, not real dragons, no matter how realistic they looked.

"A grand construct formation!" One of the hopefuls shouted with awe in his voice.

"Whoa, a grand formation of thousands of constructs! It must be powerful!" Someone else stated unnecessarily. Everyone there could feel the power of those constructs, there was no cause to shout out the obvious, dude.

The candidates around Carl were continuing to mutter to themselves and each other about the scene in front of them. Carl had an idea of what the test consisted of, based on his memories of the book. But seeing it in person was much grander than reading about it. He was excited to test out the power of the grand construct formation in front of him.

"Listen up!" The black haired proctor bellowed. "The grand golem formation will launch attacks to any who approach. Your goal is to endure the attacks as you charge through the skies to arrive at the cave you see up there. You have as much time as it takes a stick of incense to finish burning. If you arrive at the cave, you succeed. If you don't, you fail. Even if it means the Black-White College accepts no one this year, there will be no exceptions made."

Carl mentally rolled his eyes at the time measurement used. Could he not be a bit more specific on just how many minutes that was? Depending on how the incense was made, and what it was made of, it could be as little as 20 minutes, or as long as days for the incense to burn.

The black haired man then flew straight up to the cave entrance while many of the candidates were shifting about on their feet, nervously. The cave was a few thousand feet up the cliff, and the cave mouth was only about 15 feet tall, it wasn't a huge target amidst all the constructs poking out of the cliff walls. The proctor hovered in front of the cave mouth, staring down at the test hopefuls with a stern expression on his face.

"Begin!" The test proctor lit a normal looking incense stick that was hovering next to him.

Immediately large bolts of lightning, molten metal, blasts of water, and other elemental attacks were being shot out of the dragon golem's mouths, targeting anyone who charged into the air immediately. Some of the less prepared candidates were bombarded by lightning unprepared, and fell from the sky with injuries, looking like chunks of charcoal as they landed with a bounce and rolled to a stop.

Others were trying to dodge, but couldn't avoid the fast moving elemental attacks, getting blasted with water, earth, molten metal, and fire, screaming as they ricocheted off to the side and had a hard time getting up when they finally stopped moving.

Carl exchanged glances and chuckles with his friends as they briefly watched the chaos unfolding. He then cheerily waved at them before charging forward into the air at a very fast pace for a Zifu Disciple level. With a shrug at each other the rest of his group followed behind him using whatever means they chose to fly through the air.

Carl himself was using the gravity control that the Tenseigan gave him to fly freely through the air. It almost felt like he was falling straight to the cavern that was his target, and with a shift of his perspective, he thought, 'The enemy gate is down.'

Huge blasts of various elements spewed out of the constructs and began raining down on him, and he smiled at the incoming attacks, not at all intimidating by the power evident.

With a small shift of gravitational forces, Carl nimbly fell to the side, dodging the blasts. For a bit of fun, he then created a spiral of gravitational forces that had him barrel rolling around and through the explosions.

He had progressed far enough in understanding the gravity laws, along with the help of his Tenseigan, that he had control of an invisible domain extended around him that let him sense the attacks incoming through their small gravitational distortions of the blasts.

Through the echoes of various elemental essences being utilized around him, he could feel his friends using the various daos they had been comprehending to make their own moves.

Back in the last world, Naruko had discovered that her most powerful affinity was wind. Both her and Temari had been quite adept at the use of wind jutsus. But when the two girls woke up in this world and did some research, they discovered that inside the Three Realms the Heavenly Dao of Wind was cut off from cultivators being able to study and progress very far in.

This had to do with the way that the Seamless Chaosworld and the Pangu Chaosworld crashed into each other, reforming into a single Three Realms Chaosworld.

The Endwar that was coming in about a thousand years was basically a fight to determine which side got ultimate control over the Chaosworld, and which would be relegated to extinction.

So as a result of Naruko and Temari's beloved Wind Dao not being available thanks to the actions of the Seamless Chaosworld faction, they began extensively studying their secondary elements. Water for Naruko, and Earth for Temari.

Neji, Hanabi, and Gaara were also users of Earth Daos. Gaara naturally used his control over sand to make his way through the attacks, while Hanabi and Neji armored themselves in Earth and used their Gentle Fists style to divert the attacks.

Karin and Hinata joined Naruko in using their Water Daos to be incredibly flexible and control or bypass the various attacks with control over the water elements.

Yakumo used her control over illusions to either appear in a certain place that the constructs targeted, thereby missing her, or used her illusions to solidify into reality to defend herself.

Anko had started on the path of various Daos of Fire, so she used explosive blasts to counter the incoming blasts to protect herself from attacks. She loved explosions.

Hanako was the only Ice user among them, and she used a variation of her ice mirrors. Instead of entering her mirrors, she used the mirrors to absorb the attacks and discharge them behind her.

Tenten had long since decided to study the Daos of Swords, so she was producing sword domains and sword intent to defend against the attacks.

Hayami had decided on the Dao of Metal, and she had a domain of floating metal balls rotating around her, controlled by her elemental power. The metal balls would simply intercept any attack, blocking the attacks from hitting her, shattering the metal in the process as they absorbed the attacks. But then her control over metal would allow her to reform the balls of metal and continue defending herself.

Rock Lee was charging straight into the attacks, and he was actually going out of his way to attack more of the blasts, all the while he was counting up the number of attacks he destroyed, as if it was a contest against everyone else to destroy the most attacks.

Shino naturally brought out his bugs. Carl really didn't know what exact Dao Shino was studying, but it naturally related to his bugs in some way. But Shino was able to fortify his colonies with his own essence so that they were much tougher than they were before, and he didn't have to sacrifice thousands of them in combat.

Kiba had turned into a whirling dervish that was flying through the air, using glancing and rebounding moves to slide past the attacks. He and Akuramu were still partners, and seemed to be practicing a dao of the wilds, or some such. It worked for them.

Shikamaru had actually used his shadows to catch a couple of the canon blasts and prevent them from exploding while using them as shields as he lazily moved through the air on his way to the cave mouth. Once one blast's power was used up, his shadows would stretch out to grab another.

With no one around to mess with their mind, Ino was falling back on the secondary skills she had learned of illusions. She was having a harder time than Yakumo was due to the smaller amount of time she had to study illusions and switch from using her mind hax powers, but she was getting by alright.

Choji had used his body expansion jutsu to grow to twenty feet tall. More attacks were able to target him like that, but his hand speed was not a joke and he was able to catch and throw back many of the blasts, even though he really shouldn't have been able to do so. At least the proctors of the tests were amazed that a little early Zifu Disciple was capable of doing so with just his physique, that's how powerful they had made the blasts. It could kill less skilled hopefuls, so the test was no joke.

Sakura was using her medical jutsu skills and forming chakra scalpels, slicing her way through with surgical precision. Like in the original storyline, she had went the path of a medical ninja and loved the healing discipline. She took great pride in her precision and ability to heal or hurt through her knowledge.

And Kankuro was letting himself be very distracted as he guided his puppet constructs to protect him as he tried to get a good look at the constructs firing on them. The maniac.

It wasn't until his sister Temari angrily yelled at him that he gave up on the idea of studying the constructs for the moment. Once he passed the tests he could come back later and study.

The closer to the target cave mouth they got, the faster the constructs fired, and the more of the constructs targeted them at once, making it that much more difficult.

But with how they had been training, Carl and his people were able to smoothly, albeit with some effort, fly into the cave and pass the assessment.

The proctor of the test gave them a very small smile of approval and passed them along to another waiting room. Looking at the incense stick that the proctor lit, and judging by how fast it was burning, Carl saw that he would have to wait about 45 minutes for the stick to finish burning.

After giving a respectful nod to the proctor and the other five Primal Daoists that had showed up to watch the test, Carl made his way through the cave to the next waiting area. Inside there were a number of stone benches around the room, and there were 10 doorways on the opposite wall of the side he arrived at.

Carl then settled down on a stone bench to wait, quietly chatting with his friends. A few other candidates trickled in, looking like they had been scorched here and there. Some of them gave Carl's group admiring glances for their ability to so quickly pass the test, others gave them unsatisfied frowns or glares because they were shown up in the test and were upset that they weren't top dog.

There were even a few men who glared at all the men in Carl's group for having such beautiful women chatting so care-freely with them. Carl just rolled his eyes at the jealous and impotent men who couldn't get a girlfriend on their own.

All together there were 31 of them that passed the lightning barrage, 6 males and 4 females, aside from Carl's group. Carl wasn't surprised to see that the redhead young man who seemed to focus more on social things than cultivation, and who was trying to network earlier, didn't pass.

The six Primal Daoists entered the room. The five other than the proctor were obviously discussing something through voice transmissions, though Carl had a slight idea of what it was about..

"You." The stern faced black haired proctor pointed to a youth dressed in elegant blue robes.

"This junior is Eastriver Rush." The youth nervously answered.

"Eastriver clan?" The proctor laughed derisively at the attempted name drop to influence him. "I don't care if you're a member of the Northmont clan of Stillwater or even of the Imperial clan of the Grand Xia. Even they must follow the rules of my Black-White College if they wish to join our Black-White College. You used a prohibited Dao seal, violating the rules. Begone."

Carl internally shook his head at the stupidity of that youth. There were a number of rules for the assessment that had been completely transparent and known, right from the first. A Dao seal was basically a one use item that could store a spell from a higher level cultivator. The higher level cultivator would instill their greater understanding of the Dao inside the seal with the spell, letting a junior like this Eastriver Rush use the spell at a time of need, when they faced something or someone beyond their capabilities.

The youth gritted his teeth in anger at being caught and turned away. But he knew better than to argue with a Primal Daoist that was so far above him. He turned and fled the cave.

"The thirty of you have passed the test. You have one more test to pass before you can become a member of our Black-White College. However, if you fail, I'll have to ask you all to leave."

Carl looked over at the 10 doorways leading away from the room, expecting that the next test would be through those doors.

"These 10 entrances are each guarded by a Zifu Disciple of our Black-White College." The proctor was gauging the reactions of each of the candidates as he spoke. "Ten of you at first will choose a passageway and enter. You will encounter one of these disciples."

Some of the candidates were fidgeting nervously. They were only at the early Zifu stage and they didn't have access to the various techniques, spells, and resources that the current students did. How was it a fair test to pit them against someone who had all that and were probably a higher cultivation level on top of it?

"Don't worry overly much. These Zifu Disciples on guard are only permitted to use a single type of technique, while all of you are permitted to go all out. In addition, there is no need to defeat the guardian disciple; you simply need to charge out of the cave after getting past the disciple. Afterwards, those who pass will meet at the peak of this mountain."

Carl and nine others were chosen to go first. He picked a random tunnel to the right of center and entered it when the proctor told them to.

The tunnel he entered was a good 20 feet tall and rough hewn. After speeding down the dark tunnel for five minutes at a moderately quick pace, Carl saw the disciple that would be trying to prevent him from passing. It was a beautiful young lady with a fiery demeanor and a whip in her hand.

Looking at the green colored whip that seemed to be made up of snake scales, Carl saw that it was a high Mortal weapon. Carl drew his two Blue Orchid swords and advanced cautiously. He knew he could defeat her, but he didn't want to show off just how advanced he was due to his perks and the alternate cultivation systems he practiced.

"Don't think you'll be getting by me just because you have a pretty face!" The red clothed female disciple exclaimed with a blush.

"What? You think I'm pretty?" Carl smiled a bit in amusement by the fiery natured young lady.

"Shut up!" She seemed to be angry at her unintentional verbal slip and immediately attacked with her whip. Flames were licking along the length of the whip and extended beyond, seeming eager to burn Carl. The movement of the whip were guided by her mind and cultivation power as she sought to wrap up Carl in the flames.

Carl decided to use some of the water techniques to counter her flame whip. He pulled some water out of the air and began guiding it with his mind, blocking off her flame attacks with water tentacles of his own. He then slashed with his sword, creating cutting edges with the water that aimed directly for the girl.

At first she tried to block the water cutters, but she soon saw that she couldn't and dove out of the way.

Carl had been following directly behind his two water cutters, so when the girl dived out of the way, Carl had immediately passed her by. She tried to use her whip to snag his legs to prevent him from leaving, but he adroitly blocked them with a sword while continuing on and slipped out of the cave mouth, effectively winning.

Before he ascended to the peak of the mountain, Carl turned back around and looked at the girl.

"My name is Riverbank Carl, and thank you for the complement of calling me pretty. I think you're quite pretty too." Carl smiled at the girl, who turned a violent red color.

"Jerk! Like I want to get to know you!" She then rushed past him and flew off without giving her name.

"Ah, well. That was fun." Carl then turned to the mountain and made his way along the paths to the peak, where he saw the five Primal Daoists from before waiting. The proctor was apparently still in the cave guiding the remaining four candidates.

"Take a seat, pretty faced Riverbank Carl." The woman in the group laughed, causing the group to laugh.

"Ah, greetings to the seniors." Carl gave a respectful salute as he chuckled at the fact the group had seen his encounter with the red clothed disciple from before. He then sat on the side as he waited for the proctor and any other candidates that might have passed.

After some time, his girlfriends and friends showed up, along with two more candidates that weren't part of his group. One of them was a young male in a white robe, except for three stylized blood drops sewn on the side of the vest he wore. The other was a sweet faced young woman in pink.

"Congratulations on passing." Carl greeted the other two. "I am Riverbank Carl, pleased to meet you."

"Congratulations as well, Carl. I am Silkthread Nan." The girl in pink greeted Carl back.

"Bloodrinker Bladask." The white clothed young man arrogantly grunted as he cradled his sword in his hands, then ignored Carl and Nan while the rest of his group introduced themselves as well.

Carl chuckled a bit inside because he recognized the name of the white clothed man that was fondling his sword. 17 or so years later, in the original story, he would be the disciple guarding the route that Ji Ning went through. He wouldn't able to stop the MC of the story from passing and becoming a disciple of the Black-White College, though he tried.

"Well, that's all that's going to join us." The short and pudgy looking man among the Primal Daoists called out just before the Proctor showed up on the peak. "Quite a showing, though! Our Black-White College has taken never taking in more than four disciples at once!"

"Today's only the first day of recruitment." The black haired proctor said as he settled down next to the other Primal Daoists. "We still have a few more days."

"Hmph. Everyone capable of joining our Black-White College is a genius. There's no way they would lack the confidence to come on the first day, unless they were delayed by outside forces."

The black haired proctor simply shrugged, since he didn't disagree with the short and pudgy Daoist. He then turned to Carl and the other new disciples.

"You twenty-three are now members of our Black-White College." Carl and the other new disciples straightened up in pride at being some of the few elite that made it.

Carl was happy that the proctors didn't try to craft harder tests to weed them down to a smaller number simply for traditions sake, and to protect the "reputation" of the Black-White College.

"The grand ceremony of formal apprenticeship will occur at the end of the week, after the recruitment period ends."

The proctor then waved his hand and twenty-three tokens appeared floating in the air in front of each new disciple. One half of the token was white, the other half was black.

"This is the insignia of our Black-White College's disciples. You can bind it now and in the future you will be able to freely enter many of the locations of the Black-White College without being attacked by the security formations inside."

Carl reached out and accepted the insignia and bound it to himself. He immediately felt the link it had with the grand formation of the college, and sensed the formation accepting him.

"Wu Xiu, we'll let you finish making arrangements. We're going back now." One of the middle aged looking Daoists with a beard called out to the proctor before the five of them departed.

"The Black-White College has many rules. Here is a rule book for each of you. Read and memorize it before you return at the end of the week after arranging your affairs. You will be held accountable for knowing the rules within, so don't neglect it." The proctor, whose name was Wu Xiu, waved his hand again and twenty-three books appeared in front of the disciples. "I'll see you then."

The proctor then took off through the air, leaving them standing on the peak.

With only a grunt and a curt nod at the group, Bladask pulled out his own flying boat and departed in the direction of the entrance they had come in from.

"It was good to meet you, Riverbank Carl and friends. I must give my family the good news, though. See you in a few days." Nan said with a bright and excited smile.

"Good to meet you too, Silkthread Nan. Have a good time with the family." Carl bid her farewell and brought out his own profound Ark that everyone jumped on.

Even though the Ark's outside dimensions were quite large when he first got it, he was able to control its size and shape. Upon seeing the looks of the flying boats in this world, he adjusted it to look the same as most of the others. If it was too distinctive then he would likely have robbers targeting him because they thought he had some nice treasure on him.

Which would absolutely be true. He did have a lot of nice treasures on him. But it likely wouldn't do them any good, since he was sure that the Jump Chain wouldn't just let its treasures fall into some random bandit's hands, even if they managed to kill him. Which was quite unlikely.

After flying to the entrance of the Black-White College, he once more stored his Ark away and they met up with Akamaru outside the gates. He could fly in the airspace of the Black-White College now that he was a disciple, but he still wasn't allowed to fly in the general air space of Stillwater City.

With everyone in a great mood, his large group departed in their hired carriage to go celebrate their acceptance to the Black-White College and send word back home.