Surprisingly, only a few seconds passed before so of the students decided to line up in front of the proctor. These were the students that wanted to prove their innocence first and just get the test over with. They had almost nothing to hide.
William chose to stand near the end of the line, simultaneously holding a strategy eting with the System in his mind.
"Oho, what's this?" the exam proctor snickered for a mont while a male student with black hair turned beet red from embarrassnt. Behind him, every student was flustered while William raised an eyebrow.
"Don't go too far, Sir. We're doing what you asked." the student's ears displayed the sa color while his fists clenched slightly.
The exam proctor removed his finger from the student's forehead and backed away with a glimr in his eye. He wasn't smiling, but one could tell with a glance that he was in a good mood.
"Don't worry kiddo, your secret's safe with as long as you keep your grades up." he said.
"..." the male student didn't know what to say at that mont. He could only lower his head and run away in sha while the others made guesses as to what the proctor saw.
"Next!" the exam proctor didn't waste any ti. He had to get through all two hundred students before the end of the day, and he was just one man.
Others could do his job, but not nearly as thoroughly. Only the Principal and Vice Principal had the consciousness strong enough to breach the minds of hundreds of students in a short ti, and they were also very busy n.
Over the course of the next eight hours, each student passed the exam proctor's inspection with flying colors. The line grew shorter and shorter until there were only ten individuals left, while the rest of the students were granted a small battle arena around the two-hour mark to ease their short attention spans.
The proctor didn't forget to soundproof the arena, needing to place extra focus on these last few students. The ones at the end of the line were always the most suspicious.
Every year the Riverveil Family tried sothing, but this was the first year he had to put his powerful consciousness to the test right away.
The tenth and ninth students were both passes. The eighth was a pass, then the seventh was a fail and the guards escorted him out. Next, the seventh and sixth students both failed, both females and were revealed to be over a hundred years of age.
William didn't know how old Ardin was, but he guessed that the boy was probably in the sa boat, considering his real Cultivation was well above the Ascension Realm and that was incredibly rare for soone in their twenties. The chances of a young talent being sent as a spy were low.
William was fifth in line, so he was next. He had begged the System to do sothing to help, but it explained that there was no way for it to do so. He was on his own.
Just before the exam proctor placed his finger on William's head, Will closed his eyes and entered his own Sea of Consciousness. His aura completely disappeared, causing the proctor to raise an eyebrow.
The sixth senses of the students triggered at the sa ti, the room becoming eerily silent while everyone turned their heads. Even those battling in the arena backed off, casting a long glance in William's direction before cutting their fight short.
William and the proctor stood perfectly still, surrounded by rippling waves that echoed against the walls. This special reverb was a unique sign that two Cultivators at the sa level were ntally clashing with equal strength.
Inside William's Sea of Consciousness, a confused proctor found himself in the middle of pitch darkness. There was no automatic battle between him and William's World, nor was there a pool of Soul Strength or Mana. Even William's ntal strength was absent, as if the boy's Sea of Consciousness had yet to fully form.
From the darkness, a calm incarnation of William walked out and stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Feel free to look around, but my Family can't afford to let you see our secrets." he said.
The proctor looked at the overconfident William with slightly narrowed eyes, "You've hidden your World from ?"
William nodded his head slowly, unwilling to give up any information besides a simple confirmation. The proctor looked around from left to right, then seed to understand sothing and smirked. Stay tuned for updates on empire
"As if you can hide anything from . Do you know who I am?" the proctor spread his arms out wide and enveloped William with thick strands of consciousness that bound him like chains.
William wasn't pretending or holding back his strength; if he wanted to move, he really couldn't do anything at this point. He was forced to sit back and wait while the proctor looked around William's empty consciousness carefully.
It hardly took a minute before the proctor unveiled Sunrise, William's smallest World. It was also the least concealed World of the three, and right next to it was William's layers of defense that protected his mind.
The proctor looked back at William with a confident smirk. "You're the first to try this in a long ti, but you have a long way to go before you can fool ."
William feigned shock and surprise as his World was unveiled, while the proctor delved deep into William's mind with only a little bit of resistance. His consciousness scanned through William's thoughts, emotions, and mories, revealing the past dozen years or so of his life in an instant.
The proctor had to admit that William was stronger ntally than the other students, but it still wasn't anything much. At most, William could be comparable to a peak Ascension Realm Cultivator that had a lot of practice.
The proctor didn't want to damage William's mind by pushing too far into his secrets, only focusing on conversations with other people and possible orders given throughout his travels. The proctor already knew that William was an Ascended Cultivator, but he was surprised to find out that William had a few odd innate Talents.
From slightly improved Mana Control to his own innate Forcefield, the proctor counted William's Talents on one hand. By the ti he retracted his consciousness, the proctor felt that he had a great understanding of why William was able to fight Cultivators above his level.
He looked back at William with a newfound glimr in his eyes. This was a diamond in the rough!
William stared back blankly for almost half an hour until the proctor fully confird William's loyalty, then returned to his normal self after the foreign consciousness left his mind.
Did it work, System? William asked.
-It seems he's learned about a few of your common Talents as expected, but nothing more. My existence is still a secret, and he's only aware of one World. All is well.
William ntally sighed in relief. He had separated his experiences with the System, using the Mind Talent to forcefully suppress a set of mories for half an hour instead of trying to rember them. The Mind Talent wasn't supposed to work in the dinsion normally, but there was no way to reverse the changes to his mind that had already taken place.
As long as it was mory-related, William still had most of the Mind Talent's abilities, but the bonus effects were unusable.
Even so, William's plan was a success! He effectively distracted the proctor and protected the System, showing a bit of promise while still looking low-profile. He wasn't sure if it was enough to rank in the top ten, but he wouldn't be too disappointed if he didn't make it.
All the students on the sidelines looked at William with incredulous gazes. The ripples around him and the proctor had dissipated, but everyone present could feel the level of ntal activity almost in real ti. Only the exam proctor himself seed oblivious.
"Excellent Cultivator William, pass." the proctor stated out loud, then covered his mouth with his hand. He had made a slip and forgotten what the Vice Principal said in the beginning.
"He's an Excellent Cultivator? Him?" sohow, eyebrows managed to raise even higher than normal. The n started sizing William up, comparing themselves to his aura, while the won looked at him with a slight glimr in their eyes.
The Physical Charm Talent didn't work within the dinsion, but William received quite a few notices at that mont.
-Earned affection from a complete stranger: 50 Potential Points
-Earned affection from a complete stranger: 50 Potential Points
-Earned affection from a complete stranger: 50 Potential Points
...
The successive fifty Points weren't much to care about, but William was happy to see that he wasn't limited to the abilities of his Talents. He felt uncomfortable under the gazes of all the students but decided to make the best of it and allow this mont to kick-start his school experience.
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