“How many do you think will pass?”

At Wu Hwiryeong’s words, Jeongmuk’s gaze, which was looking beyond the barrier, sank strangely.

“I wonder.”

It wouldn’t be easy, at least at the prospective student level. The relevant instructors had stayed up for several nights to put effort into this formation.

“This year’s batch is all excellent. Even so, there won’t be many who pass.”

“Is that so. Then who do you think is the most capable?”

Jeongmuk fell silent at Wu Hwiryeong’s words.

In fact, there were quite a few likely candidates. Baek Cheong of the Mount Hua Sect, Peng Geun-u of the Hebei Peng family, and even a guy who stood out without belonging to any sect.

However, aside from such objective evaluations, if he were to pick a guy who particularly caught his eye, a strangely unexpected face came to mind.

‘Zhuge Cheonwu.’

The man who had shown an unbelievable cut with that faint sword qi in the previous exam.

He was quite surprised after he belatedly realized that Zhuge Cheonwu had the platinum plaque. Because it was rare for that picky old man to acknowledge someone.

Although it had only been a few days, his actions were peculiar.

He would cause a disciplinary committee to be held as a prospective student, and yet he would also show the eccentric behavior of always coming in last in the morning run.

‘Is he hiding his skills…’

“So who is it?”

As he was thinking, he let out a slight sigh at Wu Hwiryeong’s urging from the side and turned his head towards the examination hall.

“Let’s just watch. The exam has only just begun.”

Jeongmuk’s gaze stared intently at the scenery beyond the barrier.

“Chief Instructor!”

But just then, another instructor came running in a hurry and raised his voice.

“What is it?”

“Someone has passed the first exam, the large-scale formation!”

“What?”

Wu Hwiryeong, who was standing next to the dazed Jeongmuk at the unexpected situation, grinned and teased Jeongmuk.

“You said it had just begun?”

“……”

Feeling an unnecessary sense of embarrassment, Jeongmuk glared at the unfortunate reporter.

“Who is it? Baek Cheong? Peng Geun-u?”

But the answer that came from the other person’s mouth was completely different from his expectations.

“That is… Zhuge Cheonwu!”

“……!”

Zhuge Cheonwu.

At that word, Jeongmuk felt as if he had been hit right on the mark.

Wu Hwiryeong, who was listening from the side, poked Jeongmuk with an even deeper smile.

“Huhu, this~ Isn’t there a problem with the content of the exam?”

It was Jeongmuk who had supervised the formation exam. An exam must have a discerning power.

But for such an exam to be broken through so easily. And by a completely unexpected opponent at that.

‘Right. At least he’s still from the Zhuge family.’

Jeongmuk gritted his teeth at the report that he seemed to be playing with the formation.

“…No, the second one will be a little different.”

“Was that directed at me~?”

“…No, it wasn’t.”

It had to be.

* * *

“It’s wide.”

As soon as I entered the formation, I let out a cry of admiration.

At some point, a fog had settled, and countless stone tombs were scattered everywhere.

“A scale of this size would have taken at least a few days.”

I could feel it even more because I had recently studied formations. No wonder they let the prospective students in all at once.

‘So it was because the capacity was large in the first place.’

It was certainly different from a small-scale formation that could only trap one or two people.

“Good.”

I caught my breath, looking at the thick fog.

My current grades were not at a level that could be considered good.

My score had been deducted for always coming in with the last group during the morning training, and although I had shown a move in the exam with Namgung Dohyeok when entering the student building, that was it.

‘I have to definitely earn points here.’

To see the end of this world in the end, I had no choice but to get the best grades possible.

Because in this trash game overflowing with all sorts of crises, only the top students could get many opportunities.

‘Like the secret manual library.’

What I, who had nothing, needed was the rights of a top student, especially the authority of the top student.

For this, I first had to find the life gate of this formation. I slowly took a deep breath and sensed the surrounding qi.

Through the talent of [Absolute Magic], I could sense the energy of the area.

‘Is it over there.’

Among the swirling energies in the seemingly ordinary paths, stabilized points began to catch my eye.

I moved forward cautiously, one step at a time.

‘So you can set up a formation in this way.’

As I did, I carefully looked at the structure of the formation.

That side seemed to have strong fire energy, so if I stepped wrong, flames would rise, and that side, on the contrary, had strong cold energy, so ice shards would fly up at my ankles.

‘This is amazing.’

Each of their energies circulated harmoniously, forming traps and terrain. The space widening or the background changing were secondary elements that appeared in the process.

‘To amplify or cleverly twist the hidden energy in reality to distort reality.’

Feeling the charm of the formation anew, I moved my feet towards the life gate.

Just then, I felt the presence of someone moving quickly from up ahead.

Because I was walking on the most stabilized path of the formation, I could sense the opponent, but they couldn’t see me.

‘Is that guy in first place right now?’

As a figure who was traversing the formation at high speed gradually approached, I unknowingly narrowed my brow.

A fast and elegant energy. It seemed to be Baek Cheong.

‘This is dangerous.’

His innate senses, such as detecting and avoiding traps, were excellent, but the problem was his speed. It was no ordinary footwork.

“This won’t do.”

A check was needed. It wasn’t a good thing for me for a competitor to get ahead.

‘With my skills, I can’t catch him.’

If we were to fight with swords, that is.

I took out the water stones I had secretly picked up before from my bosom and scattered them in the area as if playing gonggi.

Then, the stones, imbued with mana, soon blended with the energy of the formation and began to react.

Wooooong-

Soon, a current of water began to rush over the figure who was traversing quickly. At the attack of the waves that covered up to his knees, the guy soon kicked off the ground and flew into the air.

“Oh.”

How many tens of meters did he jump at once?

Sensing the energy of the guy who had instantly escaped the area filled with water, I took out other stones from my bosom.

“This isn’t enough.”

As I raised my mana, I felt the flow of pure mana forming at my fingertips.

Soon, I controlled the pure mana that had risen outside my body, which was about to naturally differentiate into the energy of the five elements as if air was spreading everywhere, and extracted the fire energy from within it.

Fwoosh-

A basic elemental magic achieved just by sensing and extracting mana.

I was thinking of using the small miracle that the talent of [Absolute Magic] had achieved.

I imbued a granite stone with fire energy and threw it towards one of the pillars of the formation.

Although it looked like I had thrown it carelessly, it was placed after reading the flow of energy within the formation and adjusting the appropriate amount of mana and fire energy.

Fwoosh-

Then, this time, the flames amplified by the formation soared far away. I added a stone imbued with wind attribute mana to it and created a vortex of fire.

Four fire whirlwinds closing in on the enemy from all sides. Their heat and power were truly overwhelming.

“To think something like this is really possible.”

I let out a dry laugh without realizing it.

Of course, it was possible because the large-scale formation was already in place, but I never knew that such a vicious trap could be created with just a few of my adjustments.

“A world where the miracle of magic resides in all things…”

Looking at the guy who had eventually taken a different route, I contemplated the structure of this world.

In this world, instead of having scarce mana in the atmosphere, a considerable amount of energy was condensed in all things.

Normally, it was stabilized within matter, but when complex conditions were met, it revealed the power inherent within it. Just like gunpowder exploding.

“Then, with this, I’ve roughly eliminated the competitor. Shall we get going now?”

With this evasion, the guy would have to take a big detour to head to the life gate. No matter how fast he was, I was traversing the shortest distance, so I had the advantage.

“What?”

But just then, there was another person caught in my energy sense. A guy who was breaking through the traps of the formation based on a bold charge and finding his way with something close to instinct.

But surprisingly, his direction was correct.

This unique, domineering energy was probably Peng Geun-u.

“Let’s just go easily.”

I clicked my tongue as I took out another stone from my bosom.

* * *

“So persistent.”

I sighed as I sent Peng Geun-u away.

If I set a trap, it would be right to avoid it, but he was tricky because he tried to break through head-on instead.

‘I used that to my advantage to lure him into a death gate with a trap and then made his senses wander.’

As I was about to reach the life gate and escape to the outside, there was a presence that caught my energy sense from far away.

A strange change as if a part of the formation was being sucked into an individual for a moment.

I knew the culprit who had caused that peculiar phenomenon well.

‘Baek Hasin.’

The protagonist of ‘Murim Academy’ and the abandoned child of the prestigious Baek family.

He hadn’t revealed his true worth yet, but he was a martial talent who would one day solve the crisis that would befall the Central Plains with his unbelievable potential.

‘I’ll probably run into that guy someday. There’s no need to run into him now when he’s growing up well.’

I had only cleared it once too. If I stepped in rashly, I might just end up hindering Baek Hasin’s growth.

‘And most of all, I’m not in a position to care about anyone else right now.’

Thinking that, I passed through the life gate.

‘Easy.’

There would be no one who passed faster than me here.

I thought I might have come out too quickly, but it was something that would be resolved with my reputation anyway.

The Zhuge family was a family of those who had mastered formations. As a direct descendant, even if I showed such an unconventional appearance, others would not doubt it.

But the problem was from now on.

“Heh. I couldn’t believe it.”

My mouth fell open at the sight of the bamboo forest spread out before me. To think they had created another examination hall beyond the life gate.

‘In the original work, the background does change to bamboo, but I never thought it would be real.’

They had just modified a bamboo forest area to create a space. But thankfully, I knew the gist of this exam.

‘Mechanism formation.’

There were various traps in this area. The problem was that unlike formations, mechanisms were not my specialty.

“This is bad.”

A formation emits energy, so I can detect the traps with my energy sense, but it was difficult to notice a mechanical mechanism made simply by assembling things.

On the contrary, it was easier for martial artists with developed senses to detect it with sound or the minute reactions of their skin.

If I took a long time to observe my surroundings, I could prepare in advance, but the important thing was that I didn’t have much time.

‘I don’t know when Peng Geun-u and the other rising stars will catch up.’

In the end, I drew my sword. And just in case, I created a transparent shield made of compressed mana and floated it around me as I moved forward.

Pew!

As I moved forward one step at a time, an arrow was shot at some point.

Perhaps thanks to the reaction of [Limitless Martial Body], I could feel a chill at the moment of the attack, but I couldn’t react.

Because this body was damn slow.

Crash!

Soon, with the sound of the shield in the air breaking, an arrow with a distorted path grazed my shoulder. I could feel blood soaking through the torn cloth.

‘Damn it, they’re really shooting.’

My detection was already slow due to [Dulled Senses], and my physical strength was terrible, so it couldn’t be helped.

‘If only I knew where they were shooting from, it would be manageable.’

In the case of Namgung Dohyeok, I was able to overcome the disadvantage thanks to having grasped the attack path in advance, so what I needed now was information.

The problem is that there is no way to confirm where the mechanism is hidden in that dense bamboo forest.

“Wait.”

In a moment of crisis, I suddenly remembered one fact.

‘I’m a mage, not a martial artist.’

In the first place, detecting and breaking through traps with my body was not my specialty. Following the students ahead was a poor strategy.

‘I’ll break through with a method that I’m good at and that only I can do.’

With a resolve, I took out a stone from my bosom.

As if reacting to my appearance, I suddenly sensed a gaze from a distance, but I ignored it. It was probably the instructors.

They wouldn’t deduct points just for having a few stones, would they? I had even brought a sword, so the organizers who hadn’t searched me properly were also responsible.

‘In the first place, I’m from the Zhuge family.’

No one would say anything if I broke through the traps with my specialty. Besides, they would be scoring me based on my appearance now, so it seemed okay to show this much.

Soon, I threw a stone and created a simple formation. The first stealth formation. When I entered it, the mechanism did not activate.

‘Is this a manual method?’

Usually, mechanisms are either automatic or manual.

An automatic mechanism is shot as a signal when an intruder steps on the floor, and a manual mechanism is a primitive method that is activated in time with the intruder’s arrival.

If it were a closed room, they would have made more diverse types of mechanisms, but this was strictly outdoors. Naturally, the types of mechanisms are limited.

‘That means the solution is also simple.’

I threw a stone and created the next stealth formation. And then, when no one was looking, I created a wind with magic and pressed on the dirt floor.

Ping-!

At the same time, an arrow was shot. That’s an automatic mechanism.

A consumable item that has a reloading time after one shot. I quickly moved forward and then spread the stealth formation again.

In fact, this slowed down the progress. But since I had escaped the formation so quickly, I still had some time to spare.

And most of all, there was no way that this type of mechanism would be infinite.

‘It’s inefficient.’

Compared to manpower, mechanisms were expensive. No matter how much it was the final student exam, there was no reason for the academy to invest that much here.

As if my thoughts were correct, when I reached a certain point, the mechanism did not activate.

Instead, I felt a presence beyond the bamboo.

Cheaper, more certain, and stronger than a mechanism, it was an instructor.

“Damn it.”

As I hurriedly drew my sword from my waist, a fierce arrow rushed towards me.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep