The testing ground was set within the teaching complex of the campus. Yang Ying and Xiao Wuli, assigned to different groups, parted ways at the entrance. Following the guidance of an arrow, Yang Ying joined the stream of people heading to the third floor. Along the snow-white corridor, two rows of pitch-black doors were neatly aligned. Each person proceeded toward a different door according to their respective directional sign.

Yang Ying checked his arrow and proceeded to the seventh door on the right side of the corridor, then stepped inside.

The moment he crossed the threshold, Yang Ying felt as if he had passed through a membrane. A subtle difference existed between the space inside and outside the door, as if the two were constructed under slightly different physical laws. This discrepancy was so minute that, had he not possessed the spiritual power of a Third Level Peak, he might not have detected it at all.

Yang Ying surveyed the room, and understanding dawned upon him.

Inside was an immensely vast laboratory, boasting over a hundred workstations and covering several thousand square meters. At the very front stood a solitary lectern, yet no one presided behind it.

The sheer scale of the laboratory was somewhat beyond imagination; it was impossible to discern from the outside. Judging by the spacing between the doors in the hallway, one would estimate the lab was perhaps only one-thirtieth of its actual size.

Here, Yang Ying fully grasped that this was a virtual world where spatial concepts from the real world could be easily warped. Even fitting a public square inside a small tent would be a trivial matter.

Upon entering the laboratory, the arrow displayed on the admission notice had vanished without a trace. Yang Ying looked around and saw a sentence floating on the left wall: "Find your workstation."

This sentence hovered in the air as if composed of countless fireflies the size of rice grains, emitting a faint silver-white light with a tinge of green, creating a beautiful spectacle.

Yang Ying also noticed that on every empty workstation in the room floated characters of the same color, displaying the names of the examinees. Workstations already occupied bore no names.

Yang Ying immediately spotted Workstation Fifty-Two, floating with the name "Igor." He walked over, and just as he stood before it, the floating name dissolved.

Examinees were still entering, making the laboratory slightly noisy, though the volume remained subdued. Some participants at adjacent stations exchanged hushed words about what they would do if they failed this test. One suggested retaking it next year, while another mentioned planning to register at a different advanced academy.

Due to factors like the policies of various schools and the rotational cycle of the planet, the enrollment periods for advanced academies across the Empire were staggered. Nearly every standard month saw the opening of admissions for renowned institutions on par with the Ice River Central Academy. Thus, even if an examinee failed today's test, they could quickly find another comparable academy to apply to.

However, under the Empire’s education policy, each student was only permitted to apply to five academies within one standard year, meaning their choices could not be too careless.

Not long after, the bell signaling the start of the examination rang, and the entire laboratory fell instantly silent.

A middle-aged man with a severe, almost harsh expression walked in. He was tall and thin, with a pale complexion, looking as though he hadn't seen the sun in a decade. Yet, his eyes were piercingly bright, projecting an air of inherent authority without needing anger.

He moved to the lectern at the front of the laboratory, scanned the room, and announced, "Some of you have likely noticed. That’s right, this laboratory is a simulation environment. That is why the arrow on your notices dissipated the moment you entered. The notices you hold now are merely ordinary pieces of paper."

All the examinees listened silently to the man's address; the room was still enough to hear a pin drop.

The middle-aged man continued, "In this laboratory, all rules approximate those of the real world. You will complete your entrance examination here. You are all aiming to become apothecaries, so this test is divided into two parts: theory and experiment. The theoretical exam is required by the Ice River Central Academy, while the experimental portion is mandated by the Apothecary Branch of the School of Medicine. You must pass both sections to be admitted. Do you understand?"

"We understand!" the students replied in unison.

"Good. I am Tis'ar, your proctor. I now declare the theoretical examination commenced. In the first drawer to the left of your workstation, you will find a pair of glasses. Take them out and put them on!"

The examinees immediately complied. Yang Ying took the glasses out of the drawer, inspected them briefly, and then placed them on.

The lenses of the glasses revealed one hundred test questions, all related to pharmaceutics. They were selected from the thirty-three required courses and were designed to be highly nuanced. Some spanned multiple subjects, while others were convoluted, demanding that the student apply their knowledge flexibly, extrapolating from known facts to solve the problems.

"To answer, you only need to state the answer silently in your mind," Tis'ar reminded them loudly from the lectern. "Anyone caught speaking the answer aloud will be immediately expelled from the examination hall, and their eligibility to apply to any institution for the remainder of this year will be revoked!"

Although these questions were intricate, they presented no issue for Yang Ying. His Second Level Peak spirit power significantly accelerated his thought process. A problem that took others ten seconds to contemplate, he could resolve in just one.

"The time limit for the theoretical exam is one standard hour. Do not lose track of time while answering. Do not be late—even half a second late, and the glasses will automatically submit your paper!" Tis'ar continued to caution.

Yang Ying calculated inwardly. Given the difficulty and volume of this exam, the number of people who could complete it entirely in this simulated environment was, frankly, quite small.

The Ice River Central Academy likely intended this test to serve as a show of force, tempering the examinees' arrogance and making them realize this was no simple place.

However, for truly capable students, the difficulty of these questions was negligible.

Take Yang Ying, for instance. He finished all the questions in just half an hour. But to avoid drawing undue attention, he waited without submitting until fifteen minutes later, when others in the lab began turning in their papers. He couldn't conceal himself too effectively anyway; his Third Level Peak status was already betrayed by the ornate headwear he wore. If he hid his true capability too thoroughly only to later display his full strength, the stark contrast would ironically draw more notice.

The first to submit before Yang Ying was another Third Level expert, who appeared slightly older than him. Generally, someone of this caliber should have been admitted to an advanced academy several years prior, but for some unknown reason, he was only taking the test today.

Submitting answers was also done purely through silent mental acknowledgment, invisible to outsiders. Yet, Tis'ar seemed to have a means of knowing who had submitted, as he directed his gaze toward both the first student to finish and Yang Ying immediately after Yang Ying submitted.

It made little difference, however. Yang Ying promptly removed his glasses afterward.

"Time is up!"

One hour later, Tis'ar boomed, and simultaneously, all students removed their glasses. Only a small minority managed to submit early, like Yang Ying and the first student. Many others, even if they finished before the deadline, would meticulously review their work until the examination time elapsed before submitting.

In the end, only five students submitted early, and these five, including Yang Ying, were all Third Level experts.

The remaining students, after taking off their glasses, showed varied expressions—some pleased, others disheartened. A few even walked straight out of the examination hall, clearly abandoning the experimental portion of the test.

There were originally one hundred and four examinees in the laboratory; after the theoretical exam, ninety-two remained.

Tis'ar’s expression remained neutral: "Good. Those remaining, prepare for the experimental examination. Activate the control panel on the right side of your workstation and select Level Seven, Category Four Potion Mode."

Everyone followed the instruction. As soon as Yang Ying completed the settings and pressed the confirmation key, the entire workbench began to emit creaking sounds, like gears turning and bearings grinding. Dozens of fissures suddenly appeared across the surface of the table, separating it into numerous modules that then reconfigured themselves into an entirely new structure.

Much like a Transformer transforming, the workstation took about ten seconds to morph into the designated Level Seven, Category Four Potion Mode.

On the new workbench before Yang Ying, several machines appeared, looking exceedingly complex. They were covered in various buttons, tubes, and gauges. Yang Ying reached out to touch them; he had studied these machines in his public courses and had even used them to complete exams at the Examination Institute, so he was relatively familiar with them.

"All the machines now before you will be necessary shortly. The objective of this practical exam is to manufacture a specific potion using these devices," Tis'ar stated.

"Excuse me, Examiner, what potion is it?" a student asked, raising his hand. Yang Ying recalled this student was also one of the five who submitted early, having been the fourth to finish.

"Ask only after I finish speaking," Tis'ar replied sternly. "Don't think that asking questions frequently will earn you bonus points!"

The student who inquired immediately lowered his head, not daring to retort.

"I will now demonstrate the preparation of a specific potion and explain the key techniques involved in its creation. This potion is something you have not learned on the public platforms, yet I expect you to reproduce it immediately after listening to my demonstration, and you will be graded based on the outcome," Tis'ar announced.

Many students gasped. In the Empire, potions were strictly classified by levels. A Level One potion was akin to glucose solution or saline, which even an ordinary person could prepare without instruction. However, reaching Level Seven meant delving into profound knowledge encompassing vast amounts of material, comparable to Level Seven Chemistry or Level Seven Biology.

Although Level Seven Pharmaceutics was available on the public platforms, since Tis'ar specified that this potion was unavailable there, it naturally implied that it would incorporate knowledge absent from the public curriculum—perhaps even including elements of Level Eight theory. Being required to synthesize such a potion on the spot clearly presented a formidable challenge.

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