Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 290, Page 289: The Second Round of Exams
8 month 7 number.

Upon seeing the written test results released by the University of Tingen, Klein couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"The review was worthwhile, and staying up all night to do practice questions was the right thing to do."

Very good, half of the 50 gold pounds has been saved.

The scores for the written portion of the first round of exams will be released this morning, and the second round of exams will begin this afternoon.

Klein and Cohen confirmed their results, and as they were leaving, they saw Don, with a somewhat creepy smile, walk by on the side of the road.

That resentment looked enough to feed ten evil sword immortals.

"I feel a little cold, Klein, let's go back."

Cohen pulled Klein along, and Klein nodded in deep agreement.

"Yes, it looks like it's going to get chilly today. Let's go back and put on some more clothes."

"Yes, yes, that's right."

It's best not to go and join the fun at times like this.

Back at Blackthorn Security, Klein and Cohen talked about the afternoon exams, and then the two took a nap to maintain their mental state.

Even Cohen, who was a sleepless person, had to force himself to sleep for two hours, since no one knew which questions they would draw for the afternoon exam and whether they would have time to sleep.

If he were to draw an exam room filled with zombies, where he would have to start a battle royale as soon as he entered, Cohen Lee couldn't imagine how pathetic he would become.

"But I'd prefer the ones I've seen before..."

Cohen sighed, "If it's something completely unfamiliar, and it's also decryption-oriented, I can't imagine what will happen if I can't solve it."

Tang had warned them beforehand to be careful of monsters.

The monsters in the puzzle-solving exam hall are always characterized by high numerical values ​​and near-overwhelming attack power. If the puzzle cannot be solved, even in a level 3 exam hall, it is possible for a single basic attack from a monster to wipe out all the examinees.

At 1:30 p.m., Klein and Cohen arrived at the gate of the University of Tingen on time.

Pediglu, who had brought them there, glanced at the entrance of the University of Tingen before turning his gaze away and offering his sincerest blessings to the two candidates who were about to enter the examination hall.

Klein and Cohen walked with somewhat tense and heavy steps toward the gate of the University of Tingen not far away.

At this moment, there were already quite a few "people" at the entrance of the University of Tingen.

However, when Klein looked over, he found that those people had stiff, pale expressions, thin and long bodies, more than two meters tall, strange faces, blue faces with fangs, expressionless, with wide-open mouths, and light bodies. They didn't look like living people, but more like living paper figures.

There were also ordinary people walking around outside the University of Tingen. They were not extraordinary people, but just came here to eat some local snacks. These people completely ignored the terrifying phenomenon at the entrance of the University of Tingen.

Those who witnessed this strange phenomenon were all surrounded by paper figures and entered the University of Tingen.

"Please follow me, candidates 007121 and 001419."

Cohen looked at the paper figures floating in front of him, leading the way, and couldn't help but rub his arms.

"I remember the last time I took the exam, the guide was a living corpse with yellow talismans stuck to its head. The time before that, the guide was something that could laugh, had talismans growing on its feet, and could even change shape... Ah, they said it was something called a 'Changgui'."

"This is really creepy..." Klein thought to himself, listening to Cohen Li's rambling and seeing this kind of Chinese horror stuff.

Senior, please have some decency.

He now suspects that the transmigrator who lived long before the Great Emperor might also be a member of his Great Foodie Empire.

As the exam deadline approached, many people were gradually led into the University of Tingen by the paper figures. Klein soon parted ways with Cohen at an intersection, and they seemed to be in different exam rooms.

What intrigued Klein even more was whether the University of Tingen had enough space to accommodate so many exam rooms.
After all, the area occupied by places like Raccoon City, Ishimura, and Silent Hill is no smaller than the total area occupied by the entire University of Tingen.

"Hmm, perhaps there are abilities that can manipulate space through the apprenticeship path, such as spatial expansion or spatial folding?"

After all, this is a world where gods exist, a "supernatural" world, and many things cannot be measured from a scientific perspective.

Just like the virtual reality created by the one Klein had previously encountered, whose venerable name was "the embodiment of all error," an examination room doesn't necessarily have to occupy a real "space." Allowing all candidates to have a lucid dream can also serve as an examination room, and it would be even more efficient...

Tang followed the paper figure he was carrying to an ordinary school building.

As a graduate of the History and Languages ​​Departments at the University of Tingen, Klein glanced at the building in front of him and knew that it was the Chemistry Department's laboratory teaching building.

Normally, this teaching building is often the scene of students running out in a panic, only to have the building blown up – it's quite a spectacle. But now that it's summer vacation, the building is eerily quiet.

"Candidate No. 007121, please use your admission ticket to open the door."

The slender, paper figure, so light it seemed it might lift off the ground at any moment, pointed to a door at the far end of the first floor of the chemistry lab building. Klein nodded, thanked the paper figure earnestly, and then took out the admission ticket issued by the University of Michigan a few days earlier from his pocket.

To his astonishment, the originally square document had been transformed into a rusty key that perfectly matched the lock on the door.

He took the key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it.

With the sound of machinery turning, the door opened.

The room inside wasn't filled with the lab benches and equipment of the chemistry department. Klein saw that it was filled with a blinding white light, which engulfed him the moment the door opened, pulling him inside.

The door slowly closed, and the paper figure behind Klein grinned. It lightly touched the ground, and its already thin body twisted and floated towards the sky, as if an invisible thread was hanging it and pulling it towards the horizon.

"Candidate No. 007121 is entering the examination room."

"Examination room selection in progress... Completed."

"Level 3 Ritual Magic Level Test, Second Round, Black Vortex Town, Loading... Completed. Best of luck on your exam."

In Euclidean space, countless orbs of light, large and small, accompany countless brilliant stars, together forming a seemingly boundless reflection of the world.

At this moment, a huge ball of light extended a thin, strong, transparent line, which meandered and spiraled toward a certain place, seemingly passing through layers of time and space, pulling a person into its body and embracing them.

This scene continued unabated, with more and more people connecting with this region that seemed to reflect the entire world and entering it. Standing among countless orbs of light, Nikolai's body continuously expanded, and one after another, Time Worms crawled out of his body and burrowed into those orbs of light.

In Mr. "Mistake's" eyes, the light brown eyes that seemed to be full of smiles were no longer there, but a dazzling light that seemed to reflect the whole world.

He bowed slightly, and as the time in Rune arrived at two o'clock, all the orbs of light suddenly lit up with dazzling spots of light, radiating the most dazzling and radiant halos.

"The second round of the professional ritual magic level test has officially begun."

-

In a flash of white light, when Klein regained consciousness, he was already sitting in a steam train.

As the train sped through the fields, Klein subconsciously looked around at himself and his surroundings.

It's a very simple and normal environment, not the kind of exam room where you're surrounded by monsters as soon as you walk in.

Klein examined it closely and found that his own attire had not changed, except that he now had a semi-transparent bracelet with twelve links on his left wrist.

"Black Vortex Town?"

Klein frowned slightly, and then a piece of information suddenly rushed into his mind.

“Level 3 Ritual Magic Level Test, Second Round Examination Venue, Black Vortex Town, Examination Venue Information Brief.”

"You are a college student returning home. A few days ago, your mother contacted you by telegram to inform you of the unexpected death of your uncle. You rushed to catch the fastest steam train back to Black Vortex Town, but when you returned to the familiar town, you found that the town was becoming more and more strange..."

"Candidate 007121, your test question is: Explore at least five of the following places where there are obvious problems, make corresponding records, and escape from Black Vortex Town before disaster strikes."

Location 1: Uncle's funeral. 'Dad, Dad, why is the smoke from Uncle's funeral black?'

Location Two: The hospital. "It's said that pregnant women need to eat that kind of food to get nutrition."

Location 3: School, "People seem to be coming to school more and more slowly."

Location Four: Home. 'There's a coffin here. Would you like to lie down in it?'

Location Five: The Road to Home, 'It's a huge whirlpool that no one can escape.'

Location Six: Lake Swell, "Was there a typhoon today? But why has it disappeared?"

Location Seven: Underground, 'What exactly is here?' (Note: This question involves key information from the Level 2 Ritual Magic exam. Candidates are advised to think carefully and it is not recommended to choose this location for recording.)

"..."

"Please note that your mental and life values ​​have been quantified. When your mental and life values ​​fall below the corresponding defense line (20), the exam will end and you will be forcibly removed from the exam room. Please pay attention to your safety. Life comes first, exam comes second."

"The exam begins."

When Klein awoke once more from the deluge of information, the steam train had already begun to slow down, seemingly about to stop at a station.

As the steam train whistled, Klein saw a girl stand up in the direction diagonally opposite.

She was a woman who appeared to be a little over 1.6 meters tall, wearing a pale yellow long dress, with slightly wavy brown hair, and a somewhat languid demeanor. Even in such an environment, she exuded composure.

She also saw Klein looking her over, smiled at him, and then stepped off the steam train without hesitation.

"Also a test taker?"

Klein was slightly taken aback, but quickly understood.

After the first exam, Cohen explained the main details of the second exam to Klein, including that "the second exam is divided into two types: single-person exam and multi-person exam."

"As the name suggests, in a single-person exam room, everyone else in the room except you is like the NPCs that Emperor Roselle wrote about in his novels. They don't actually exist. You just need to pass the exam as soon as possible and don't worry about them. They generally can't help you anyway."

"Multi-person examination rooms are the most common examination method in ritual magic qualification examinations. After all, ritual magic is essentially auxiliary. What is most important to us is still the extraordinary abilities brought to us by our own sequence and potions... In a multi-person examination room, who cooperates with whom and how they cooperate are also important data for the examiners to consider when scoring you."

"In other words, to use game terminology, this is a multiplayer instance... Although the exam venue information wasn't mentioned, such a large exam venue should have more than just the two of us as candidates."

Klein stepped off the steam train thoughtfully, and then he saw the station's platform location, with the words "Black Vortex Town" written in ancient Hermes.

Klein glanced at the bus stop sign and thought there was nothing wrong with it, but his spiritual intuition suddenly pulled his thoughts back to the ancient Hermes on the sign.

Compared to normal Old Hermetic, those words were crooked and distorted.

"Like a whirlpool about to take shape, right?"

A woman's voice came from the side. Klein looked over and saw that the voice came from the woman who had stepped off the platform a step ahead of him.

"Fors Wall, you may have heard of me."

"It is a lady named Fors who says with a smile."

“Klein Moretti, I’ve heard of you, Ms. Fors Wall. My sister is a big reader of your novels.”

As a skilled diviner, Klein recalled seeing the name at home when he heard it; it belonged to the author of a novel called "Stormhill Manor," a book his sister Melissa seemed to enjoy reading.

Unexpectedly, she was also an extraordinary person, and was even assigned to the same examination room.

"is it?"

Fors seemed happy, but she quickly controlled her smile. "Then I hope we can cooperate a little in this exam room. After all, judging from the exam format in previous years, without cooperation, the probability of us passing in this kind of place is not high."

"Ms. Wall, this seems to be, well, an exploratory question?"

“Yes.” Fors sighed and muttered to herself, “I hate this kind of thing the most.”

After all, if you don't court death, you won't die.

(End of this chapter)