Chapter 66 | Paladin Class: Awakening the Strongest Demon System

"Ha, haha, of course, no problem."

The middle-aged teacher's cold sweat broke out instantly as he replied with a forced laugh.

From the subtext of the boy's words, he must be a scion of some great family whose elders told him to maintain a low profile while traveling, which was why he wore such ordinary clothes.

And yet, he had actually looked down on him because of those clothes.

How could he have been so foolish!

His earlier impatience and slight had been too obvious, clearly causing the student's dissatisfaction.

Swallowing hard, he spoke up, bracing himself.

"Ahem, dear student, you must be exhausted after your long journey. How about this? Come inside and have a seat, drink some tea, and we can discuss the enrollment process slowly."

He saw plenty of scions from great families on a regular basis—after all, the academy was full of them. However, these students were divided into direct lines and collateral branches, those who were favored and those who were not.

He wasn't sure what this student's situation was, but anyone who could get their family to seek out the Temple Master and the City Lord of Boulder City to write recommendation letters was certainly no mediocre member of their clan.

Thus, he didn't dare be negligent any longer. He planned to call over the Admissions Office Director, who had the authority to handle students from these influential families.

Jiang Lin didn't make things difficult for him either. He let the man lead the way to a VIP lounge furnished with leather sofas and a purple star wood desk.

"Haha, please wait here for a moment. I'll go call the teacher in charge."

The middle-aged teacher squeezed out a warm smile, gestured for Jiang Lin to sit, and brewed a pot of tea for him.

Little Black jumped down from Jiang Lin, adjusted itself into a comfortable position, and lay down.

Jiang Lin picked up a teacup, gently blew on the steam, and took a small sip with a relaxed posture, imitating the way the City Lord drank tea.

Seeing Jiang Lin's professional manner of drinking tea, the middle-aged teacher became even more certain that Jiang Lin had an extraordinary background.

He then stood up and quickly left the VIP lounge as if escaping, gently closing the door behind him.

The room fell silent, leaving only the faint sound of Jiang Lin slowly sipping tea and Little Black's rhythmic breathing.

Outside the window, sunlight poured through the tall panes, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air and highlighting the sophisticated decor of the room.

Jiang Lin appeared calm, but his mind was racing.

He had expected the two recommendation letters to be effective, but he hadn't expected them to be this powerful!

Before long, the door to the VIP lounge was pushed open again.

A middle-aged man in his fifties entered. He was slightly plump, his hair was combed meticulously, and he wore a deep blue mage robe.

A kind smile played on his face as he walked in.

Jiang Lin maintained his polite persona and stood up to greet the new teacher.

"Hello, student. I am the Admissions Office Director—Edwin Bernard."

Edwin's voice was gentle, yet it carried a trace of authority inherent to a leader.

His gaze swept over Jiang Lin and Little Black before finally landing on the three neatly arranged envelopes on the table, each bearing a different seal.

His brow twitched. Most scions of great families in Clearwater City only had their school principal or grade director write recommendation letters.

Only the most exceptionally talented geniuses or the direct offspring of a family head would have a letter written by the patriarch himself to ensure the school paid special attention.

Jiang Lin introduced himself.

"I am Jiang Lin, an ordinary student from the Radiant Junior Magic Academy in Boulder City. I've come to apply for early admission through your school's special assessment."

Hearing this, Edwin's smile grew warmer, but he grumbled inwardly.

'An ordinary student? What kind of ordinary student gets the dual endorsement of a city's Temple Master and City Lord?'

He completely ignored the recommendation letter from the principal of the Radiant Junior Magic Academy.

On his way here, he had already verified that both the City Lord and Temple Master of Boulder City were rank-7 powerhouses. Moreover, they weren't the type to write recommendation letters frequently, making these two letters highly valuable.

Furthermore, according to his subordinate, the boy seemed to be from some great family whose elders wanted him to keep his identity hidden, leading to his low-profile appearance.

"Please, sit, student Jiang Lin."

Edwin sat on the sofa opposite Jiang Lin.

"The previous teacher has already given me a brief report on your situation. Temple Master Cecilia, City Lord Dane, and your principal have all vouched for you, which is more than enough to prove your excellence."

Glancing at the three letters on the table, he continued.

"However, according to standard procedure, we still need to verify your identity. After all, Saint Brilliance Magic Academy is one of the top institutions in the southern part of the kingdom and has strict admission standards. Even with these three recommendation letters, you still need to pass our special assessment to officially enroll."

Jiang Lin nodded and handed over the identification documents he had obtained at the temple.

Director Edwin began to verify them one by one.

"Eh? You haven't broken through to rank-1 yet?"

Edwin let out a confused sound.

Normally, students who came for the special assessment had already reached rank-1 for some time, having improved their physical attributes and mental power before attempting the test.

Jiang Lin nodded. "Yes, is there a problem? I recall the requirements for special recruitment stated that one only needs to reach level 10."

Edwin's expression was hesitant. He suspected the boy was a young master from a hidden family that had been out of touch with the outside world for too long and thus didn't know the unwritten rules of the special assessment.

"There's no problem, but if you haven't reached rank-1, the difficulty of the subsequent assessment might be quite high."

Jiang Lin smiled confidently. "If I fail the assessment, I'll just break through immediately. However, I believe I won't fail."

Seeing Jiang Lin's confidence, Edwin figured the boy might have a trump card and stopped trying to persuade him.

"The special assessment is divided into two parts," Edwin explained.

"The first part is a basic attribute evaluation, including measurements of physical attributes, mental power, and reflexes. The second part is a combat potential assessment. You will be placed in a simulated combat environment to face demonic beast projections of increasing intensity. The longer you last, the higher your final score."

He looked up at Jiang Lin. "The assessment site is at the Tower of Trials within the academy. If you're ready, we can head there now. The entire process will be recorded by recording crystals to ensure fairness."

Jiang Lin stood up. "No preparation needed. We can start anytime."

Jiang Lin had never experienced this so-called 'basic attribute evaluation' and was curious how the school would measure it.

"Haha, quite the youthful spirit."

Edwin also stood up.

"Come, I'll take you to the basic evaluation area on the first floor of the Tower of Trials."

Jiang Lin picked up Little Black and followed Edwin.

Passing through the tree-lined campus, a massive, ancient stone tower appeared before them.

Entering the first floor, they found an extremely spacious hall. The hall was divided into different zones, filled with various machines shimmering with magical light.

At that moment, several staff members in uniform mage robes and four or five students were testing their physical attributes.

"I'll be observing your performance from the control room. Good luck, student Jiang Lin."

Edwin put on his signature warm smile, handed Jiang Lin over to a staff member, and whispered a few instructions to them.

"This way, student."

The staff member's originally dull expression was now replaced by a warm smile. However, his smile was not as natural as Director Edwin's, appearing somewhat stiff.

Jiang Lin didn't mind and followed him to a set of instruments consisting of large crystal pillars and complex metal bases.

"Please place your hand on this induction crystal, relax your mind, and do not resist the machine's probe. It will measure your mental power and physical attributes. The final score will be calculated based on the ratio of your base stats to your level."

Jiang Lin placed his hand on the warm, milky-white crystal as instructed.

The surface of the crystal immediately lit up with a soft glow, rippling like water and enveloping his entire palm.

A gentle probing energy flowed through his arm and into his body.

Almost the instant the probing energy touched him, the main crystal pillar connected to the induction crystal erupted with a blinding light!

Hum—!

A low hum sounded, and the entire crystal pillar seemed to turn into a massive glowing entity.

The soft white light rapidly became intense, and its color began to shift violently.

White → Green → Blue → Purple → Gold!

Finally, the dazzling golden light stabilized, illuminating almost every corner of the hall.

Even the other students testing their data nearby stared wide-eyed in this direction.

The color of this crystal didn't change based on the raw numerical value of the test subject.

Instead, it gave a rating based on how those values compared to others at the same level.

And gold was the highest possible rating!

Furthermore, the fact that the golden light was so brilliant indicated that even within the gold tier, he was at the absolute peak.

At the same time, the numerical values for mental power and physical attributes on the adjacent display panel jumped frantically before settling on terrifying numbers:

【mental power: 40,000】!

【physical attributes: 44,000】!!

The staff member, whose fake smile had already frozen when the golden light erupted, nearly dropped his jaw when he saw the numbers on the panel.

'This... is this a set of values a level 10 rank-0 adventurer who hasn't even broken through yet should have?!'

'What kind of monster is this?!'

In the control room, Director Edwin's professional smile froze when he saw the crystal flash gold.

A gold rating in the basic attribute evaluation was not common; at most, two or three people in each grade could achieve it.

However, their golden pillars were nowhere near as brilliant as Jiang Lin's.

Director Edwin was almost certain that if there were a rating above gold, Jiang Lin would have reached it.

In other words, when others reached the gold rating, it was because they were capable of gold; when Jiang Lin reached gold, it was because gold was the highest rating available.

Then, he saw Jiang Lin's values.

Instantly, his eyes widened.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He almost called the staff to see if the machine was broken.

'Both basic attributes over forty thousand?!'

'Are these really values a human who hasn't broken through can reach?'

He had just told the staff about Jiang Lin's situation, hinting that they should look after this youth with a mysterious background.

Although their admissions were strict, certain backdoors could be quietly opened when faced with recommendation letters from two major figures.

However, after seeing Jiang Lin's results, the room erupted into an uproar.

"Is... is the machine broken?"

"Or is he... hiding his true level?"

"That shouldn't be possible. This machine can accurately detect if someone has broken past their level limit. Is he really rank-0?"

"Are these values a rank-0 adventurer can achieve?"

Jiang Lin's data completely subverted their understanding of a 'rank-0 adventurer.'

Edwin took a deep breath. He now understood why the City Lord and Temple Master of Boulder City were willing to write recommendation letters for him.

Setting aside the mysterious family behind him, based purely on his personal ability, he was well worth the endorsement of two powerful figures.

It seemed his thoughts of opening a backdoor for the boy were rather foolish.

"What's next after this test?" Jiang Lin asked the staff member, who was standing there in a daze.

The man finally snapped out of it, but having received no instructions from his superiors and seeing the absurd data on the panel, he suspected the machine might be malfunctioning.

So, he said tentatively, "Uh... sometimes this machine isn't accurate, so we need to test three times and take the average."

Following that, Jiang Lin raised and lowered his hand repeatedly.

The entire testing hall turned into something resembling a disco, with white, green, blue, purple, and gold lights flashing frequently.

Jiang Lin's data remained remarkably stable, forcing the staff member who had worked there for years to believe it was the truth.

"Ahem, alright, student. Follow me. Next is the reflex test."

The staff member struggled to maintain a professional attitude as he led Jiang Lin into an adjacent cubicle.

From the outside, the cubicle looked transparent, but inside, it was pitch black. It was unclear what magical materials were used, save for the circular array in the center emitting a faint blue glow.

"The rules for this test are simple—dodge all activated light bullets and last for three minutes. The difficulty will gradually increase. Your rating will be based on a combination of hits taken and movement speed."

Jiang Lin nodded, curiously surveying the room.

"Just stand in the center of the array. Once the test starts, the room will randomly fire light bullets. Before the gold tier, the trajectories of the light bullets are all straight lines. They won't cause damage, so just focus on dodging."

After a pause, the man added, "Additionally, since this is a test of reflexes, you cannot use skills that enhance your reflexes or speed. A magic-sealing array has been inscribed here."

Jiang Lin tested it and found that he indeed couldn't activate Super-speed Perception, and many magic-based skills couldn't be condensed normally.

'This array is quite powerful.'

'I should learn this when I have the time,' Jiang Lin thought to himself.

Once the staff member finished explaining the precautions, he retreated to the control console outside and gently closed the door.

"The test is about to begin. Please be prepared..."

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

The next moment, runes appeared on the walls of the pitch-black room. These runes, glowing with a faint blue light, flickered and began to fire white orbs of light at Jiang Lin.

However, these orbs moved at what could only be described as a snail's pace in Jiang Lin's eyes. Even without activating Super-speed Perception or his Chronowalker's Evil Eye, he could see their trajectories with perfect clarity.

He didn't even move his feet, merely tilting his head, turning his body, or bending his knees to dodge all the orbs.

These white orbs only lasted for a short period before turning green, and their speed increased significantly. It seemed the white orbs were only there to familiarize him with the process.