Chapter 457: Beyond Expectations
Chapter 457: Beyond Expectations
"H-He finished already?"
"How? It hasn’t even been an hour yet!"
"Is this guy playing with me?"
.
.
.
Several candidates across the hall looked at Yi Chen with questioning gazes, unable to understand how the hell he was able to finish the entire paper in less than an hour’s time.
"In only 45 minutes..." Elder Tao muttered while glancing at the hourglass placed on top of the table.
He couldn’t help but be a little taken aback by this unexpected scenario as his gaze went back to Yi Chen, who had been looking at him with a confident smile on his face.
Just then, one of the candidates’ whispered mutterings reached his ears.
"Tch... he must have left most of it blank,"
’Ah, yes... he must have gotten overwhelmed by the questions and ended up giving up in the end...’ Elder Tao thought in realisation the moment he heard those words, as he soon recovered his bearing and gestured to one of the invigilators to collect the booklet.
"Leave the hall now that you’ve submitted your booklet," Elder Tao said as he gestured to Yi Chen to leave.
"Yes." Yi Chen nodded and, after giving him a polite bow, left the hall under the gazes of many candidates.
Looking at Yi Chen’s attitude as he left the hall, Elder Tao couldn’t help but think to himself in an amused manner, ’His confident attitude even made me question for a second whether he had truly finished the entire booklet in 45 minutes or not...how funny.’
Elder Tao inwardly chuckled at his habit of judging people by their outward behaviours as he went back to observing all the candidates who had all gone back to writing the answers after Yi Chen had left.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
A few minutes passed by with Elder Tao sitting on his chair while being immersed in his thoughts as his forefinger kept tapping on the table in front of him.
’But still... that young disciple... he exuded too much confidence for someone who had given up the test. Was he deliberately putting up a brave front?’
He thought as the likelihood of a young man not trying to show his weakness in front of others sounded like a more plausible reason to him.
’...but what if that’s not the case?’
The moment Elder Tao reached this conclusion, his finger that had been incessantly tapping on the table stopped completely.
Raising his eyes a little, his gaze fell on the invigilator who was taking rounds while holding a booklet in his hand.
Looking directly at that booklet, Elder Tao contemplated for a few moments before finally giving in to his curiosity.
"That booklet... pass it to me." He gestured the moment the invigilator passed by his table.
"Yes, Elder." The invigilator nodded respectfully and, after handing the booklet to Elder Tao, continued his rounds.
It was only now that he had the booklet in his hand that he realised just how foolish he had been acting.
’Even for a talented Pill Apprentice, it will take at least an hour’s time to finish the paper completely, so why did I even bother thinking that someone who’s just an unranked refiner will be able to do it in just 45 minutes...’
He let out a bitter smile while glancing at the booklet’s front page where Yi Chen’s name was neatly written.
’Well, whatever. Since I’ve already asked for it, I might as well glance through it...’ Elder Tao thought as he opened the booklet, expecting to find a bunch of blank pages, numerous cuttings, or poorly written, superficial answers.
However, to his surprise, that wasn’t the case at all.
"This!" he exclaimed the moment his eyes scanned the neatly written answer that was neither too short nor too long, covering just enough to fully answer the question that was asked and justify his choices.
’Such precise use of words...’
Elder Tao thought with widened eyes as he instantly flipped the page towards the second question.
’It’s the same here as well...’
’And here...’
Finally going through the fifth question, which was also the one Elder Tao had invested a considerable amount of time in framing, he couldn’t help but be speechless.
’All these answers... are they really written by someone who’s just an unranked pill refiner?’ Elder Tao thought in amazement as the way Yi Chen had answered each question with such in-depth detail and the time period in which he had finished everything was something Elder Tao only expected from a high-grade Pill Apprentice.
However, little did he know that it wasn’t 45 minutes but 30 minutes. Yi Chen had already completed the booklet in thirty minutes and had been revising the paper for the next 15 minutes in an attempt to find the questions he had forgotten to answer.
With an expression of anticipation evident on his face, Elder Tao looked forward to seeing Yi Chen’s performance in the second test.
Meanwhile, Yi Chen, who had no idea how greatly his booklet had impressed Elder Tao, had already left the guild and was looking for a suitable restaurant to satisfy his hunger.
’Even after having a heavy breakfast, I’m still hungry, even though it isn’t even one in the afternoon yet... Written exams really suck everything out of you...’
Yi Chen thought with a bitter smile as he finally seemed to find a restaurant that didn’t look as rushed as others and went straight in.
Once he was done with lunch, he leisurely strolled the streets to not only aid his digestion but also kill some time.
When the time for the result declaration was nearing, he finally returned to the building, waiting along with the rest at the entrance hall, with anticipation evident on his face.
Just when the one-hour lunch break period was finished, one of the invigilators pulled open the door from the inside and went out.
Looking at all two hundred of them gathered there, the invigilator let out a subtle breath and said, "Out of the 200 of you, only 66 were able to make it to the next stage this time..."
He paused to let his words sink in before continuing, "The candidates whose names I’ll be calling out are supposed to step forward and stand separately on my left."
With that said, he started calling out the names of the 66 candidates one after the other.