After reaching the maximum level, my "soft rice system" finally arrived.

"Next, we need to adapt and make minor adjustments based on the planar rules of the Western Continent and the Astral Plane..." Xia Er walked out of the secondary plane and silently returned to the academy.

At this moment, a large crowd had gathered in the academy, making a great commotion.

Perhaps because the examiners were all powerful wizards, the scores for the written exam were officially announced within two hours of the candidates leaving the exam room.

Charles's gaze swept over the newly released list.

[First Place: Eisweda Brunstad | 119 points]

?

Charles frowned and continued reading.

His name was not among the two hundred rankings on the first list.

When he saw that he was not on the second list, Xia Er stopped looking at it and instead used his mental power to scan all the lists.

Then he saw his name on the fourth list.

[796th: Edmond Dantès | 31 points]

Edmond Dantès is a disguise that Charles created for himself in "Double Illusion".

There were a total of 800 candidates—801 including Xia Er who sneaked in, of whom 5 were absent.

In other words, he was the last in the written test.

"Edmund, how did you do on the exam? Seven hundred and ninety-sixth place, not bad, only one place lower than me." The man sitting next to Charles in front of him leaned in familiarly.

During their previous rambling conversation, Ciel learned that the other person's name was Empishi, that he was twenty-four years old, and that he was a student.

All I can say is that the name fits the other person's role perfectly.

“Edmund, why are you sweating profusely and shivering in this sweltering heat? Is your girlfriend cheating on you, or do you have a fever? I happen to have a ‘Cure Disease’ spell scroll here. Want me to sell it to you for a discount? If it's an affair, then I also have some connections with the Shadow Council…”

"I'm thinking about a question."

"what is the problem?"

"If I ranked last in the written exam, is it possible to improve my overall ranking to first place by focusing on the practical exam?"

“The written test only accounts for 20% of the total score, so theoretically it’s possible.” Empishi glanced at Charles. “But you can fool your buddy, just don’t fool yourself. It’s no big deal if you fool me, I can just laugh it off…”

"Hmm?" Enpishi's words suddenly paused: "Why are scenes from my past life suddenly flashing before my eyes like a revolving lantern? And why did my protective pendant suddenly shatter?"

"Illusion, illusion."

Chapter Eight: No one understands His Majesty Ciel better than me.

Charles realized he had been careless and hadn't dodged.

It turns out that exam-oriented education is the same in every world. Just think about the ridiculous reading comprehension section of your Chinese exam in your past life and you'll understand.

"Overall, everyone did quite well on the written test this time..." On the high platform in the hall, Dean Nicot looked down at the students in the hall and spoke eloquently.

"However, some students still made extremely basic mistakes during the exam." He shook his head regretfully: "Many of the test points could be answered in the reference books, but they wasted these easy points."

As he spoke, he waved his hand slightly and cast a projection spell to project an exam paper into the sky.

Unlike other students' densely filled answer sheets, this projected exam paper had only a few lines of answers for each major question, making the paper appear simple and sparse.

"Take this first conceptual question, for example: What is arcane magic?"

"Is arcane magic merely the underlying principle for constructing spell models? This is the most superficial and shallow answer. The revised edition of 'A Brief Analysis of Arcane Magic' provides a detailed explanation on page 327. This question is the simplest one, a free point; you only need to recite the original text to get full marks."

"Isn't the so-called arcane art a process of simplifying complexity and reducing to emptiness?" Charles couldn't help but ask, because the exam paper that was projected high in the sky and publicly executed was his work.

"There's a saying in the Black Tower: 'Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.' If it can be summarized in one sentence, why bother explaining it with a whole bunch of words?"

Dean Nicot's gaze swept over Charles: "That's because you're still young, and often you only know what happens but not why it happens."

"The only thing you can do right now is to memorize these points by rote and make sure you remember them well. We can talk about the rest later."

"Take this practical analysis question for example. You said that the strange light in the eyes of the dragon's corpse at the end was just a reflection of sunlight?" Dean Nicot pointed to the exam paper.

"As the saying goes, even a centipede with a hundred legs doesn't fall down when dead. Clearly, this frost dragon has been controlled by a necromancer. Even though it seems to have lost its life, it is actually disguising itself as a corpse and waiting for an opportunity. Once its opponent shows a weakness, it will launch a fierce and relentless attack!"

"If you really go to hunt monsters with that kind of mentality, I guarantee you won't live to see tomorrow's sun! Don't ever say you were my student after you graduate!"

[Charles. Never to See Tomorrow's Sun.Egut] forcibly swallowed the "6" that was about to slip out: "If that Frost Dragon corpse was really controlled by a necromancer as you say, the author could write about the subsequent battle in the book."

“This is His Highness Charles’s good intentions.” Dean Nicot’s words carried the implication that “the waters here are deep and you can’t handle them.” “Necromantic magic is powerful, but if one is not strong-willed, one can easily be seduced by its readily available power and ultimately lose oneself in the pleasure brought by power.”

"According to statistics, the Necromancer school has the highest rate of magic going out of control among all wizarding schools. Every few years, a powerful necromancer can be seen going berserk and becoming a wanted person across the entire continent."

"There was even a prince who was bewitched by the power of the undead, killed his own father, proclaimed himself the Lich King, turned the inhabitants of the kingdom into the dead, and established an undead empire!"

"His Majesty Charles deliberately concealed the details of this part to prevent the immature wizard apprentices from going astray, leaving only this suggestive ending to warn future generations!"

Charles's lips twitched: "I mean, is it possible that when you said His Majesty Charles wrote the book, he just wrote it casually and didn't really think much about it?"

“Absolutely impossible!” Dean Nicot replied decisively. “Legends are unpredictable! Every word in His Majesty Charles’s books must have a profound meaning.”

"As His Majesty Charles once wrote in the book, 'Reviewing the old and learning the new makes one a teacher.' Even for me, every time I read 'A Brief Introduction to Arcane Arts,' I gain new insights, which benefit me greatly."

Sharl really wanted to complain that this wasn't how you use the phrase "reviewing the old to learn the new," and that "A Brief Introduction to Arcane Arts" was clearly an introductory book for novice wizards who had just completed their arcane enlightenment. How could a sixth-circle wizard possibly understand anything from it?

"There's one last question. The requirement was to recite the spellbook of Fireball from memory, but you made a lot of mistakes in your recitation."

"This has nothing to do with talent; it's entirely due to a lack of effort on your part."

"The saying goes, 'Even a slow bird has to start flying early,' and 'Diligence can make up for lack of talent,' but without extraordinary talent and relentless hard work, I dare say you'll never reach the heights of the Fourth Ring in your lifetime." Dean Nicot looked at Charles with disappointment and frustration, his eyes revealing his anger at his lack of ambition.

Charles paused involuntarily. This was the first time since he became a wizard that someone had used the word "lacking talent" to describe him.

"This is a revised version of the original spellbook..."

Dean Nicot's voice was stern: "Absurd! The standard original text of the Fireball spell was personally verified by His Highness Vimersta and His Highness Charles. How dare you change it at will! Since it came from the hands of the two tower masters, it means that it must be the optimal solution."

"Even if the new model you're talking about seems to be an improvement on the surface, there must be huge undiscovered flaws inside, and it might go berserk and backfire on the caster at any time!"

"Even His Majesty Charles has his shortcomings, and he leaves room for improvement in the spellbook."

"No, His Majesty Charles cannot be wrong!" Dean Nicot's tone was exceptionally firm: "I had the honor of meeting His Majesty Charles in the Black Tower. He made me understand what arcane magic is, and what the path of a wizard is..."

"For the next five years, I studied His Majesty Charles's published books and biographical information every day. No one in the entire Western Continent knows His Majesty Charles better than me!"

After Dean Nicot finished speaking, seeing that there were no more objections from the audience, he nodded in satisfaction.

Offstage, Charles quickly added the "calm and composed" attribute to himself, mainly because he was worried that he might accidentally trigger the system's clause prohibiting cheating through force.

Charles felt that arguing with the other person about this was like talking to a brick wall.

Ciel himself came in second place in the "Ciel Imitation Contest," which is irresistible.

"It doesn't matter, the majority of the score comes from the practical assessment anyway." Xia Er analyzed rationally: "No matter what, I'm determined to get first place in this branch assessment."

As for Dean Nicol—Charles, being a legendary figure, would never do something like expelling someone simply for stepping into the academy with their left foot first.

Chapter Nine: The Groundhog Exclaimed, "So Soil!"

The practical test portion of the Imperial Capital Advanced Extraordinary Academy was held the day after the written test portion.

Unlike the written exam, which was held separately within the magic department and received little attention—

The practical assessment is the highlight of the Imperial Capital Advanced Extraordinary Academy's annual event.

Not only students from the magic department, but also freshmen from other departments such as knights and warriors will participate, since other departments do not have as much theoretical knowledge to assess.

Furthermore, due to the enrollment of the Duke's daughter, Esveda, this year's freshmen include many children of high-ranking nobles, thus the entrance exam for the Extraordinary Academy has received unprecedented attention.

Not only did many prominent nobles from the capital come to observe, but even the branches of the Dawn Church and the Black Tower in the capital of Aran sent representatives to attend the ceremony.

For this reason, a considerable number of new students, especially those from lower-class backgrounds, regard this assessment as a great opportunity.

If one could gain the favor of a powerful figure among them, their future after graduation would be secured.

"What were you doing last night? Why did no one answer when I knocked on your dorm room door?" Enpishi had somehow gotten close to Charles again.

Charles glanced at him: "I was tired yesterday, so I just went to sleep."

The Imperial Capital Advanced Extraordinary Academy provides accommodation for every candidate who participates in the exam.

However, for Sharl, who can enter and exit sub-dimensions at any time, it is naturally impossible to waste time staying in the student dormitory.

He spent most of last night mentally working out the arcane model, further refining the wide-area communication network model.

According to Charles's own estimate, he might be able to fully perfect it within one or two months and enter the stage of small-scale trial use.

“I understand.” Enpishi nodded: “A bad exam result needs sleep to soothe it, especially when you came in last place.”

"Your little mouth smells so good, you must have been beaten a lot when you were a child."

"That's true. I grew up in the slums of a border city, and I've encountered countless gangsters and thieves since I was a child..."

"That's really not easy."

……

The practical assessment took place in the center of the entire Extraordinary Academy, and was named the Royal Fourth Arena.

"So what exactly does the practical assessment test?"

Looking at the magnificent building before him, which bore a striking resemblance to the ancient Roman Colosseum of his past life, Charles wondered, "Could it be that the students are going to have one-on-one duels in the ring?"