"Brother Sheng, how is your skill learning going? Confident in passing the assessment?"
Just then, Zhang Qisheng heard a deep male voice from behind. Turning around, it turned out to be Liu Bo. The two originally had no interaction, but after the last round ended, Liu Bo actively came to chat with him and exchange insights, so they got to know each other.
Zhang Qisheng smiled; there was nothing to hide, so he said directly, "According to my estimation, it needs another two hours to reach Entry Level skill. With more than an hour remaining, finding one evolution factor isn't too difficult."
Liu Bo looked at him with some envy. "As expected of you, Brother Sheng!"
Turning the conversation to himself. "My Beast is estimated to need another three hours to reach Entry Level. By then, only half an hour will remain for exploration. Can only pray my luck is good enough. Who would have thought the assessment content would undergo reform? I was originally full of confidence. If I had known earlier, I should have registered last time."
Zhang Qisheng first comforted Liu Bo, then said modestly, "My Beast had learned other simplified versions of factor exploration skills before, so it counts as understanding by analogy. That's why the cultivation speed is faster than yours. If we started from the same point, who knows who would be faster."
Among the candidates on site, not many chose Evolution as the exam topic, no more than ten. Seeing the two discussing, they all gathered around. If Liu Bo passing the assessment was an unknown, the rest were basically certain of failure.
"According to the instrument calculation, my Beast needs another 8 hours to reach Entry Level, hehe." "Mine 16 hours." "Haha, mine 20 hours."
After this group of people completely adopted a giving-up mentality, they actually started comparing the time needed for Entry Level.
"Say, if we bring this skill to Entry Level this time, will we have an advantage in the next assessment, able to skip the learning phase directly and use all time to explore factors?" Someone raised a question, and many nodded, looking expectant.
Zhang Qisheng threw a wet blanket. "Unfortunately, no. The skill Evolution Factor Exploration has undergone hundreds of years of research and improvement to become what it is now. It can be said to condense the life's work of countless ancestors. It contains countless variations, hard to exhaust. Randomly extracting less than 1% of the content inside becomes the skill we are learning now. Presumably, the question setters won't let us exploit loopholes. So even if the next assessment still requires learning this skill, the name is the same, but the content will be vastly different. I learned similar reduced versions of skills before. Can only say they have certain reference value, but not much."
Hearing this, everyone wailed even more. "Done for. Putting it that way, won't I never be able to enter the Research Institute in my life?"
Compared to candidates choosing Evolution as the topic, those choosing Nurturing had no mind to walk around at this moment, let alone chat with people. They were doing experiments in full swing, hoping to find a formula with a higher ratio.
Time passed quietly like this. In the process, many people chose to give up, starting to sit on chairs and rot like Yi Tian. The only thing that comforted them slightly was that they weren't the first to give up; Yi Tian was. When explaining to people later, they would save face. They had the script ready.
"The topic of this assessment was really too hard. Even the first place of the first round chose to give up. Speaking of which, I persisted longer than him."
Ring ring ring, the bell rang. Everyone and every Beast stopped their movements.
"Time's up."
Zhang Sheng stood at the very front. Next was the time to check results. Check the Nurturing topic first, then the Evolution topic.
Zhang Sheng said loudly, "Candidates who feel confident in passing, come to the very front."
Most people couldn't meet the passing requirements. To save time, not everyone was required to participate in the result verification. As his voice fell, the crowd immediately moved.
Zhou Qiong glanced at Yi Tian, smiled at him, and then walked forward. Yi Tian followed along.
The people behind looked at the backs of those in front, revealing envious expressions.
"What kind of monsters are these people?" "Can pass such a difficult assessment?" "One, two, three... five."
Someone extended fingers to count; a total of five people felt they could pass. Normally, fewer pass the Evolution assessment than the Nurturing assessment. So the two combined wouldn't exceed ten people, while the number of people registered for this assessment was several thousand. A pass rate of less than 1%, simply terrifying.
"Hmm?" Suddenly someone noticed something wrong. "Why did Yi Tian go too?"
As the first place of the first round, Yi Tian naturally received much attention. The problem was, everyone saw Yi Tian started doing nothing in less than an hour. How did he have the courage to stand in front and embarrass himself? Could it be, he really felt confident he could pass?
Zhang Sheng also stared at Yi Tian in confusion, then repeated his words. "I said, people who are confident in passing the assessment, stand at the very front."
Fearing Yi Tian didn't understand, he even explained the rules. "Passing the assessment has two requirements: one is skill reaching Entry Level, two is researching a formula boosting cultivation speed by more than 10%."
Several others also followed Zhang Sheng's gaze to look at Yi Tian. Except for Zhou Qiong, everyone had strange looks.
Seeing Yi Tian still unmoved, Zhang Sheng had no choice but to let him be.
The process of checking results was simple. The Beast Tamer only needed to let the Beast connect to the instrument and use the skill to judge proficiency. As for the formula, write it down and provide it to Zhang Sheng. He would use a Beast named Simulation Beast to test and get the result.
Total five people. Zhang Sheng randomly picked people for verification.
"Gao Xu, you first." "Okay."
Gao Xu was a gentle young man wearing glasses. His Beast was a completely pitch-black cat. The black cat connected to the instrument and used Bide Time under Gao Xu's command. Faintly visible, a wriggling but transparent thin layer immediately covered the area around the cat's body. Immediately after, a yellow light lit up on the instrument.
"Passed!" Gao Xu clenched his fist. As long as a yellow light appeared on the screen, it meant the skill had reached Entry Level.
Gao Xu handed over the formula he researched to Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng waved his hand, and a blue slime appeared in front of everyone. This was the Simulation Beast, a Beast specially bred for various experiments. A staff member mixed a tube of potion according to the formula provided by Gao Xu and fed it to the Simulation Beast. Then let it start cultivating Bide Time. Another instrument quickly displayed a number.
11%.
"Yes!!!" Gao Xu cheered.