Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Jiang Cheng Feels Relieved
 

After obtaining his fourth full score, Jiang Cheng revealed a satisfied smile.

His performance in the freshman assessment had met his expectations and did not betray the extensive preparations he had made over the summer of his senior year.

The experience of the freshman assessment at Lotus University had also made Jiang Cheng deeply understand two things.

The first thing was that before making an effort, one must find the right direction for their efforts. This was thanks to Jiang’s Fundamental Logic Analysis Method; with the right direction, one could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

The second thing was that once the direction was correct, the harder one worked, the more rewards one would reap. He had developed so many talismans and made so many contingency plans, securing several full scores was like taking candy from a baby.

With four full scores, even if Jiang Cheng’s college entrance exam results were not ideal, and without a recommendation letter from a Lotus University alumnus, his admission to Lotus University was a sure thing.

As a test-taker in the second group of the morning, Jiang Cheng had finished the exam early.

After the scores were released, he did not choose to linger in school but hurried back home to cultivate.

Both the production of Fishing Talismans and today’s freshman assessment had made Jiang Cheng realize the importance of cultivation level.

For a Talisman Master, cultivation level is the foundation for drawing and using talismans.

It determines the rank of the talismans one can draw and the number of times one can use them.

Although Jiang Cheng aimed for an efficient one-hit kill, sometimes, reality would not be reasonable. Jiang Cheng had to consider what to do in extreme situations when faced with a multitude of foes and his one-hit kills were not enough?

Jiang Cheng thought carefully again and realized that the only solution was not to improve his cultivation level, but to constantly self-reflect and take care not to stand against the public.

He should not go against the trend of the times and the current of history.

He should become a noble Talisman Master, one detached from low-level tastes.

Jiang Cheng casually bought lunch from a roadside restaurant and carried it back to his house in Jade Lake Ming’an.

Upon opening the door, what greeted him was a small foyer, a corridor-style kitchen, a spacious living room, the sunlit balcony, and Liu Qing, who was sleeping on the balcony.

Upon hearing the door open, Liu Qing lazily rose from the balcony sun lounger, walked over to Jiang Cheng, took the lunch from his hand, placed it on the dining table, and then lazily lay back on the sun lounger.

She lived like an utterly dreamless salted fish, idly waiting for each day to pass.

Jiang Cheng thought she seemed bored. Maybe it was time to find something for Snake to do?

Jiang Cheng pondered.

But with He being away from the task hall of the Tongtian Sect, he wondered if he would still be able to take on suitable tasks.

Jiang Cheng returned to his room to start his cultivation but was still thinking about taking on tasks.

He had always been good at learning and summarizing experiences, and both the Muscle Relaxation Talisman and the Animal Encouragement Talisman had significant commercial prospects. However, due to various odd reasons, they had been nipped in the bud prematurely.

It was such a pity.

Initially, Jiang Cheng thought it was an issue of users misusing talismans.

So, he focused on improving the protective measures for the Animal Encouragement Talisman.

But later on, Jiang Cheng realized that even with the protection, it was useless, as users had their interpretations of how to use the talismans and were even willing to waive warranties and take responsibility.

Jiang Cheng respected the users’ choices, but it also made it easy for his talismans to spiral out of control once they were used.

How to effectively manage talismans and reduce risks was a primary challenge for Jiang Cheng in the commercialization of his talismans in the future.

But for now, Jiang Cheng decided to put this matter aside temporarily.

He would at least wait until after the “decryption” exam in the afternoon to think about it.

Since the freshman assessment involved many scenarios, magical treasures, and prop coordination, before each exam, the teachers from the admissions office would ask the people who set up the assessment scenes to conduct multiple rounds of testing on the exam content.

For example, during the combat assessment, they would test the sturdiness of the arena and whether the Plain Long Robes could properly display colors after being attacked, and so on.

Ensure that once the examinees arrive at the examination hall and the official examination begins, the test can proceed smoothly.

Otherwise, making a batch of one hundred examinees wait idly would be indefensible for the admissions office.

Moreover, if the problem with the examination scene is not solved, it will not only affect the first batch of students but all subsequent examinees attending this test.

This could further impact the fairness and authority of Lotus University’s admissions assessments, and then its external image, eventually leading to a decline in the university’s influence and its attractiveness to candidates, and ultimately to its overall decline.

Facing the thriving Capital University, supported by the imperial court, institutions like Lotus University and Ling University of the Tongtian Sect were already overstretched and struggling to cope.

If there were problems with the admissions assessment, it would undoubtedly become an excellent point of ridicule for Capital University against Lotus University. After all, what confidence could anyone have in the teaching quality of a university that can’t even organize an exam properly?

Every speck of dust produced by the strife within the Immortal Sects felt like a mountain on the shoulders of the admissions office director.

Li Youyuan could not afford the consequences of problems arising in the admissions assessment, so he had to give his all.

At the scene of the “Leap Over the Cliff” assessment, Li Youyuan kept a close eye on several students who were prone to causing trouble.

Although the greatest challenge (Jiang Cheng) had been overcome, among the examinees in the subsequent batches, there were also those capable of causing a stir.

He could not relax just yet.

While Li Youyuan was presiding over the first batch of examinees’ test scene, a teacher responsible for checking the “Decryption” assessment in the afternoon sent him a communication talisman.

“Director Li, there’s a bit of an issue with the Array for the Decryption test. Do you want to come and take a look?”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.”

Li Youyuan instructed his subordinates to keep a tight watch on a few troublemaking thorns and then hastened to the “Decryption” assessment scene without delay.

This year’s “Decryption” examination topic for Lotus University was “Hidden Demonic Tao.”

The content of the exam was simple; candidates had to enter an illusion created by a magical treasure and become a character in the storyline.

The examinees needed to play their storyline characters well and follow the advancing plot of the illusion to complete their tasks.

“Hidden Demonic Tao” told the story of a peaceful town which a serial killer had breached. A group of children, several families, arrest officers, constables, and schoolteachers all got wrapped up in the act of capturing the murderer.

A demon of the Demonic Tao, cunning and elusive, was hidden among the storyline characters.

He could be the murderer or anyone in the town.

“What’s the problem? What happened?”

The admissions office director Li Youyuan reached the site of the “Decryption” assessment.

This place contained not only the magical treasure that created the illusion but also an auxiliary formation to expand the number of magical treasure connections, a projection array to project the consciousness of the grading teachers, and a Shadow Capture Array to extract images from within the illusion realm, among others.

Because time flows differently within the illusion compared to the real world, the grading teachers would also enter the illusion to mark the papers, ensuring that an entire batch of candidates could be examined in less than half an hour.

“Director, there’s a slight issue with our Array. You see here, the Array was supposed to create a special space for grading teachers within the illusion. But this space Array is now rather unstable, with a one in three probability of losing connection, and we can’t find the reason for the moment.”

Li Youyuan frowned, “Who made this array? Call him to research it himself. He can’t possibly be unable to identify the problem.”

The admissions office teacher said awkwardly, “Director, we’ve contacted him, but he was reassigned back to the headquarters two years ago. It’s probably too late to ask him to come now.”

“What about other Array Masters?”

“There are other Array Masters, but it’s uncertain if they can fix the array before the afternoon.”

Li Youyuan, experienced in admissions and no stranger to issues with formations, pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s not have a separate space then. Project the grading teachers directly into the storyline, and let them play the roles during the day and discuss the grading in a meeting at night.”

Taking teachers into the storyline wasn’t without precedent; the relevant Array had been used before, so there was an existing one to use.

“All right, I’ll start preparing now.”