Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 56, Round Two (Please continue reading)

Generally speaking, a normal Skeleton Warrior summoning method can only summon three to four Skeleton Warriors.

Moreover, formal wizards usually need to chant incantations to cast spells, but Professor Evan did it instantly, summoning ten skeleton warriors at once. This made Richard wonder if this was far from Professor Evan's limit, as a necromancer specializing in skeleton summoning.

Because ten skeleton warriors were summoned at once, the first round was very fast.

Ten students were divided into ten groups to fight against the skeleton warriors on ten separate arenas, while Professor Evan meditated with his eyes closed on the stage. Perhaps in his eyes, freshmen who did not even pass the first round were not worth his attention!

"Damn it! I was so close to defeating that skeleton warrior!" A freshman stepped off the stage and said angrily, his clenched fists filled with resentment.

"Haha, I won! I actually won! This is a skeleton warrior with the strength of a formal knight! I actually won!" A freshman, who had seemingly defeated the skeleton warrior in front of him with great difficulty, burst into tears of joy!

"Holy crap! William's still so strong! He killed the Skeleton Warrior in one hit!"

"Wow! Look at Davos's momentum, it seems he's been promoted to a full-fledged knight! Tsk tsk, three moves to kill the skeleton warrior, impressive!"

"Wow! One arrow kills him instantly, who is this person?" a freshman exclaimed in surprise.

"That's Richard. He easily defeated Davos in the duel when you weren't around!" a freshman next to him introduced.

"Was that a one-hit kill? Davos said it was Richard who ambushed him! And now that Davos has been promoted to a full knight, Richard is probably in trouble!" Another person seemed to be a die-hard fan of Davos.

"."

Although it was only the first round, nearly 30% of the new students were eliminated.

Seeing many dejected freshmen walk off the stage, Richard knew that they had lost the right to compete for the rewards of the subsequent ranking matches, and at the same time, they had also lost the priority right to choose a spouse among this year's freshmen of the Ignis School!

The latter is more damaging than the former!

As the last batch of new students stepped off the stage, the first round officially ended. A total of 98 people passed the first round of assessment, which was about what Richard had expected. The elimination rate was not high, only about 30%.

At this moment, a level three wizard apprentice stepped forward and announced loudly: "The second round will now begin. Defeat the combination of Skeleton Warrior, Skeleton Guardian, and Skeleton Archer within one minute. Whoever succeeds will receive an excellent rating in the semi-annual assessment and qualify for the ranking competition!"

Suddenly, Professor Ivan opened his eyes and said, "The Ignis School emphasizes practical combat. So, whether you have learned level zero magic or not, no matter how poor your wizarding aptitude is, none of that matters. What matters is that you can defeat the enemy before you!"

Only by defeating the enemy can we continue on our path!

Therefore, if you cannot defeat the combination of the three undead creatures—the Skeleton Warrior, the Skeleton Guardian, and the Skeleton Archer—you will not qualify for the next round to compete in the ranking tournament!

That means you will miss a valuable opportunity to obtain magic stones, potions, and even witchcraft items!

If you want to participate again, you'll have to wait six months!

Many of the participants who had passed the first round had already started to back down when they heard about the undead trio. Quite a few even wanted to give up, because they had struggled to even deal with a skeleton warrior in the first round.

Now, however, they have to deal with a combination of three undead creatures, one with ranged attacks and the other with melee combat. The difficulty has increased dramatically, and he immediately shook his head inwardly!

But after listening to Professor Evan's speech, the boys' passion was instantly reignited, and they were eager to try it out. They all felt that the professor was right; if they didn't even have the courage to try, how could they continue on the path of wizardry?

Professor Evan waved his hand, and the ten skeleton warriors vanished from the spot. Then, he silently chanted a spell, and instantly, an inverted pentagram magic circle, almost the same size as the last one, appeared in the center of the field, but its structure seemed to be different from the last one.

Instantly, three groups of undead creatures were summoned, each consisting of a skeleton warrior, a skeleton guardian wielding a sword and shield, and a skeleton archer holding a bow and arrow.

Like the Skeleton Warriors, the Skeleton Guardians and Skeleton Archers are also fully armored and equipped with excellent weapons!

Professor Ivan, dressed in black robes, took a list from the third-level wizard apprentice who had recorded the previous round of assessments. The list detailed everyone's information, and he slowly read aloud, "The second round of assessments begins. First up, Miguel Regan!"

It seems that the second round did pique Professor Ivan's interest; he stopped resting with his eyes closed and began to personally preside over the session!

At this moment, a thin young man stepped out from among the students. He bowed to Professor Ivan and then walked nervously onto the stage. He probably didn't expect to be the first to undergo the second round of testing.

The skinny boy, dressed in leather armor, with a sword at his waist and a crossbow and a shield in his hands, was most likely a commoner by his appearance!

Since most noble offspring would have several sets of equipment, such as the most sturdy plate armor, the compromise chainmail set, the heavy leather hunting armor, and the light hunting armor, they would definitely choose the plate armor set when facing the undead trio to minimize the attack of the skeleton archers.

The thin boy took a deep breath after stepping onto the stage, then raised his shield and crossbow, assuming a defensive stance.

The battle then began, and sure enough, with the support of the skeleton archers, the skinny boy's crossbow bolts missed the skeleton warrior's vital points twice in a row.

In less than five seconds, they were simultaneously approached by the Skeleton Warrior and Skeleton Guardian, and were immediately routed under the combined attack!

If Professor Ivan hadn't stopped immediately, he would probably have been killed on the spot in the next second!

Following Miguel Regan, four more students were defeated by the undead trio. At this point, many students in the crowd below the stage couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

"That Varden Cortez is quite strong; he even mastered the level zero sorcery Slow, yet he still failed. This difficulty is too high!" a fat student complained.

"Yeah, I guess I don't have a chance either! I can only be a spectator!" A freshman next to me echoed the sentiment.

"These qualifying tickets are so hard to get! By the way, do you think it's possible that only a few people will make it to the competition, and we won't even have ten people? Wouldn't that disappoint the academy? Haha!" A freshman said with a hint of schadenfreude, seemingly hoping that all the freshmen would be wiped out!

"Disappointed? Serves us right! Who made the second round so difficult! It's like having to beat three official knights, and we've only been here for half a year. This is just making things difficult for us!" Another freshman said with a hint of resentment.

"."

With seven or eight new students failing to advance to the second round, coupled with whispers from some of the students below, Professor Ivan, the black-robed wizard, gradually turned ashen-faced, his tone growing increasingly low and serious as he called out the name: "Next, Andrea Johnson!"

A familiar figure of Richard slowly emerged from the crowd and walked step by step onto the arena.

Thank you to readers Qianfengi and Songxjs for the monthly tickets!

Thank you to the following readers for their numerous recommendation votes: 空寞行, 真理我心, 缥缈精灵, 书友20200927115224840, 书友160809075008005, 愿者上钩_BE, 零元全订你不不想的吧, 琉璃柚夏, fyn1998, 银河188, 书山之境, -S, 阴天的人最悲悲, and others!

(End of this chapter)