Profession exam I.

At the desk, there was a receptionist in the early stages of Qi Condensation.

I stood in front of him and smiled beautifully and gently, which made him blush a little.

"Good afternoon, sir. I just passed the academy entrance exam and would like to receive my schedule and enroll in the formation and alchemy classes."

"Ah... alright... may I have your name and see your enrollment form?"

"Of course, I'm Alex Alberian," I replied and handed over the form.

When he confirmed it, there was a slight sigh.

"You were the first student with perfect scores... well, all students are assigned to a professor... for you, it's..."

He spoke with surprise and a sparkle in his eyes at first, and as he searched the records, he stopped speaking, looking surprised, then looked at me for a moment and continued, but with a slightly surprised and strange tone.

"You've been assigned to Elder Yu. He will inform you of the specific class schedules as your advisor... Elder Yu has hardly any students with him, so it's best to talk to him directly."

He finished speaking and informed me of Elder Yu's location.

Then he took two papers from under the desk.

"Here are the enrollment papers. For these two types of classes, there is a small exam, but it's not very difficult as long as you have some talent. The alchemy exam is tomorrow and the formation exam is today, in about two hours."

"Okay, thank you!"

"You're welcome! By the way, this is the academy symbol. You should wear it on your clothing; it's important to have it within the academy."

He said and handed me what looked like a small brooch with a snowflake on it.

I pinned it to my shirt and headed to where the formation exam would take place.

…

The exam was conducted in what seemed like two rooms, and other students and I were waiting.

The teacher finally arrived; she had a relatively young appearance, like a middle-aged woman, and wore a beautiful Han robe in blue and white colors with long brown hair. Besides her, there were some assistants, and her strength seemed to be at least at the Golden Core level, but I couldn't measure it precisely to avoid alerting her, still within the so-called Mortal Realm.

She had a gentle but serious smile and spoke.

"Pleasure to meet you all, I am Professor Carolina, the formation class teacher."

"I imagine you all know, but to create formations, besides Qi, you need spirit stones and other resources like herbs, minerals, etc."

"And there are various types of formations, including trap formations, protection formations, illusion formations, attack formations, and utility formations. The strength of the formation will depend on the symbols, resources, the creator's cultivation strength, and of course, the specific matrix."

After giving a brief explanation, she paused for a few seconds and continued.

"To pass, you need a formation with the strength of at least someone in the 5th realm of Qi Condensation. And even then, it will depend on our evaluation, keeping in mind that protection and utility formations are generally the lowest scored, while illusion, attack, and trap formations receive higher scores. Of course, a composite formation can earn a higher score. But be careful, I don't recommend a composite formation. If it's less stable or poorly constructed, you may lose many points. Be mindful of the cultivator's pride; it's important, but blind confidence can lead you astray. Cultivators aiming to become formation masters should be more intelligent than arrogant."

After letting the information sink in, she spoke.

"We will start calling the names, and I will be the evaluator today."

She said with a smile, and I heard murmurs.

"The professor herself will evaluate?"

"Really? I heard she's kind but strict and very strong with a high cultivation realm."

"Yes... but she's also the head of this academy department and one of the school directors... so the pressure is higher; she'll probably be more demanding."

Regardless of the murmurs that intrigued me, I sat down to meditate.

The assistants called the students as time passed.

I couldn't see the results since the students didn't leave through this door, which prevented me from seeing if they passed or their expressions.

However, it wasn't long before it was finally my turn.

"Alex Alberian."

Hearing my name, I entered the room.

The room was quite spacious, probably prepared for creating formations.

On a bench in the room, there were energy stones from the Mortal Realm with different energy levels, useful up to the Foundation Establishment level.

There were also some materials of the same classification.

As I approached and observed, I heard a voice from the hall, specifically the professor's voice.

"Each student has 20 minutes to set up their formation, prepare and act."

Hearing her words, I didn't rush but carefully observed the materials while accessing the formation knowledge in my mind, choosing the formation I would create to help me pass and one that wouldn't be too surprising... as someone who had already reached the apprentice level, even if only the initial realm, it's still a realm of the profession that generally only Golden Core realm cultivators can enter. I only managed it due to the palace's resources and my stronger soul.

When I finally decided, I began to pick up the materials and analyze the terrain.