Knowledge Guild

The region of Starnat suddenly welcomed a phenomenon that erased the sound and colors from the 'world'. One moment everything was fine, the next it turned deathly, then finally there was nothing. All presences in the Shattered Realm turned their heads towards the Starnat region at the same time, or well, what used to be the Starnat region, because it was no more. An entire region was erased from the realm, seemingly without reason.

Space in the entire realm became fragile instantly. The barrier protecting the realm trembling, tears appearing in space everywhere. Countless people and buildings swallowed by them, only to never be seen again. Some more lucky ones would only experience severe discomfort and end up in a place far away from their home.

"Fuck! How was I supposed to know space was so fragile? The energy beam was powerful, yet it should not be powerful to the extent of rattling the very core of the Shattered Realm, right? Well, oops. But does it really matter? I achieved my revenge and annihilated an entire evil organization; I feel good baby. Wooooh! Let's go! Now it's time for me to go back and cultivate for as long as my lifespan permits, before dying of old age because I need 30,000,000 years to break through one mere level. I must solve the effect of the calendar, it's my only hope for not succumbing to suicide."

With his mood unable to be ruined by his ridiculous cultivation speed, Samuel decided to find a place to settle down and cultivate in for a large period of time. He was of the opinion that his lifespan was that of a normal person, however this could not be further from the truth. What he failed to realize was the fact that his body had technically existed for 300,000 years already. A person at the Mortal Evolution stage will gain 100 extra years of lifespan per level they advance, yet he has lived for 300,000 years already. Living for 30,000,000 years is not unlikely considering this, but it would be the most excruciating existence imaginable. Stuck for that long, being unable to advance, unable to find joy, unable to find interest. Death would be preferable, at least with his current mindset.

"I need a place that is fully safe. A place where I can stay in the time sphere for a long period of time if necessary. A place that, if the calendar works the way I think it does, will allow me to stay safe for long periods of time. It can't be any random cavern or cave, nor some random building as you never know what can happen. It needs to be protected. Joining a sect or organization is the most preferable in my situation, granted it needs to be so powerful that no one can threaten it. In that case, it needs to be one of the large guilds, the Enlightenment sects or the Overlord Sect. The Runemaster Guild is out of the question, that leaves me with the Mercenary, Merchant, Beast Taming, Smithing and Knowledge Guilds."

"The Merchant, Mercenary and Smithing Guilds need active participation from all their members. They don't allow you to go into retreat however you please, unless it is in the best interest of the guild. The Beast Taming guild does allow you to behave however you want at the higher levels, but I would need contribution and to tame some worthy beasts to achieve that level of authority, making this redundant as well. That leaves only the Knowledge Guild. The threshold of joining is very high, with only the best of the best academics and inventors being allowed to join. Their 20-part entrance exam is known to all as a terrible nightmare. However, upon joining, you are free to act as you please, if you continue the pursuit of knowledge. You are also given access to the largest archive of knowledge in the entire Shattered Realm, surpassing even that of the Overlord Sect. It's my only real choice, as I don't want to be part of a sect and carry their responsibilities on my shoulders. Knowledge Guild it is. If I remember correctly, they only have one 'base' and it's located on the bottom of the Currati Ocean, inside a semi-Transcendent level formation, being incredibly secure. Those old chess playing geezers would be happy to know I am attempting to join the guild."

The only reason why Samuel has so much information regarding the different guilds, and especially the Knowledge Guild, is because of the people he played chess with in Stargate Port before being captured. They implored him to join because of his chess ability. Saying he had a mind capable of greatness. Although he was technically cheating by using the time sphere, it was his talent after all. It was part of him, and he could use it to cheat the entrance exam, so it's not wrong of them to say. Samuel proceeded to expand his spatial sense to cover a large area that was constantly growing.

"Hmm, seems the current instability in space is allowing me to sense further. Great! I need to get to my location before it stabilizes, as it would greatly increase my traveling time."

Three hours later

"Finally here. Man, that was exhausting. Why couldn't they have some branches spread across the realm and place some teleportation formations in them. God damn! Having to travel across more than half the realm is way too tiring. If it wasn't for the instability in space, it would have taken me more than a week to cross this distance. 5,000,000 million kilometers is too exaggerated."

Samuel was currently standing in front of a large bubble located at the bottom of the ocean. Instead of being surrounded by sea life as one would imagine, however, he was surrounded by other humans. Thousands upon thousands all 'lined' up in front of the entrance to the bubble. Most seemed nervous, with some even reading books to make sure they got the information correct, others were confident. 'Perfect! I made it in time for the monthly entrance exam.'

The Knowledge Guild had one entrance exam every month, where whoever wanted could attempt it. There was no cost, no limitation on the number of participants, no bullshit really. The guild respected knowledge, and if you made the effort to participate in the exam, even if you don't succeed, you are still acknowledged as an intellectual of the Shattered Realm.

"If I remember correctly 19 of the tests are in the written format, concerning knowledge and deduction abilities, while the last is for those who passed the previous tests, and is in the form of an interview. The deduction tests will be a piece of cake, but I am severely lacking in the aspect of information. This might be difficult, but in the worst-case scenario I'll fail, go loan a few books from some library or something, memorize them and then retake the exam. There is no chance I won't be able to enter."

"Everyone, you can now proceed to the examination hall."

An old voice resounded from the inside of the bubble and caused all the people talking to quiet down and walk in an orderly manner into the examination building. What happened next is self-explanatory. Tests, tests, tests. A lot of tests. Very boring ones at that. No one cares about them, as only the result matters. And the results were staggering. Samuel passed all the written ones, leaving only the interview. You might be asking yourself 'how this could be possible, how can someone who knew basically nothing of the Shattered Realm pass the most prestigious exam in its existence?'. And the answer is definitely not because he cheated. That is beyond preposterous. How could such an intelligent and honorable character cheat on an entrance test? He just suddenly received the answers to the questions he didn't know. It was out of his hands!

"That was so easy. They should really invest in some secrecy formation to avoid people like me who can sense space from perceiving the participants' movements. There were only twelve others out of 14,328 participants who passed. They really weren't messing around with the failure rate of this thing."

"Participant 1215, Samuel, please proceed to the final test."