Cheating

Karen had assumed they would be teleported into another massive cave, but once the white light faded, he found himself standing inside a towering structure. Above arched a colossal dome depicting a majestic figure—the very mural Alfred had longed to see. However, he was not the God of Order, but Tyrannus, one of the four great attendants serving at the God of Order's seat. In the mythological accounts of the Light of Order, Tyrannus was not the most prominent figure. Compared to the other three attendants and the Twelve Knights, almost all of whom had glorious deeds and thrilling tales of their own, Tyrannus appeared remarkably low-key. Yet his standing within the Church of Order was the highest, second only to the God of Order Himself. For it was he who, carrying out the will of the God of Order, founded the Church of Order. The God of Order was the church's totem, but Tyrannus was its true creator—he was the one who had compiled the first version of the Light of Order. "Tyrannus Hall?" Richard looked around. "I always knew it was somewhere in Wien, but I never knew which city or where exactly it was located." "Even your grandfather doesn't know?" "My grandfather probably knows, but he wouldn't tell me. Many places within the church can only be entered and used by specific branches." Karen could not help recalling the orbs of light he had gathered in the time-space last time. All the participants in the selection were youths, as there was an age limit. Naturally, most of them were visiting this place—or any place of this caliber—for the first time. Driven by youthful curiosity, everyone began looking around. Karen noticed Leon and Laure gathered in a small circle of over a dozen people, chatting together. Their families' elders likely shared good relations. There were many circles like that, accounting for half the candidates. The other half mostly stood alone or wandered about on their own, the unaligned individuals. In short, the divide was sharp: you either had family connections or a personal network, or you were an absolute lone wolf. Such a situation was common for this age group. It was just like a prestigious high school where the students were either top academic achievers or had powerful family ties. Of course, there was overlap between those with connections and those with top grades. Aside from Leon's group, two other circles caught Karen's attention. One had only about seven people standing quietly in a ring. None of them spoke; they simply waited calmly. Though they wore the clerical robes of Order, their posture was ramrod straight. Compared to them, even members of the Whip of Order looked somewhat amateurish. Either they were already members of the Knights, or their parents were. The other circle was composed entirely of females, and they were notably young—young even among this youthful crowd, averaging around fourteen years old. There were seven or eight of them, touring the area under the guidance of a slightly taller girl who led the way. Above Tyrannus Hall was the mural of Tyrannus, while the circular walls below recorded his life story. The girls looked as though they were on a sightseeing tour, with the taller girl acting as their guide. Following Karen's gaze, Richard said, "They seem to be from that system. My grandfather mentioned that there's a system dedicated to breeding monster beasts, divided into many branches. One of the higher-tier branches is almost entirely female, responsible for rearing top-tier monster beasts." "Like the falcons used by the Knights?" Karen asked. "Those probably aren't from their branch; that's below them. Their branch only breeds top-tier monster beasts. I heard it used to be an independent faith system before our church absorbed it." Karen nodded to show he understood. That explained why they were all girls. It was not a matter of gender discrimination, but rather because certain smaller faiths—such as the Church of Goddess Mills—had predominantly female followings. In contrast, deities like the Moon Goddess, or the Dark Moon Goddess who might have existed in the distant past, would not have had their followers limited by gender. "Their souls must be extraordinarily strong since they have to communicate with those top-tier beasts," Richard added. "Mm." Karen nodded. "Karen, I feel so much pressure," Richard murmured. "Relax," Karen reassured him. In truth, even Karen had not expected a single regional selection to gather so many outstanding peers. Apart from those conspicuous circles, there were lone individuals who immediately stood out as exceptional. There was the boy sitting on the floor playing with pebbles, the girl leaning sideways and dozing off, the young man playing rock-paper-scissors against himself... No one here was engaging in performative art just to draw attention; some of those seemingly odd behaviors actually held flowing ripples of energy. To be able to immerse oneself entirely in one's own world in front of a crowd at this age was already rare. More importantly, Karen believed there were certainly others in the crowd who appeared completely ordinary, just like him. This was the true depth and heritage of the Church of Order... Even though he had joined the Whip of Order and completed multiple missions, his understanding of this top-ranked orthodox church remained quite superficial. The organizers seemed to have deliberately given the youths time to tour the hall. After half an hour, a voice finally echoed from above: "Next is the pre-selection inspection. You will pass through security one by one and gather in the examination grounds outside. Please deposit any unauthorized items at the storage counter. Anyone caught with illicit cheating items during security will have their candidacy revoked immediately. "As for what qualifies as a cheating item—if we detect it, it is a cheating item. If we don't, then that is your own capability. Whether you wish to test your luck is up to you." Hearing this, Richard turned to Karen in astonishment. Karen had told him the exact same thing in the car. "Karen, it's just like you said." "That's normal. If you get caught, it means you're incompetent; if you don't, it means you're skilled." The four main gates of Tyrannus Hall swung open. In front of each stood a large desk with priests preparing to conduct the inspections. A group of priests also wheeled out enormous wire storage crates to take the candidates' belongings. "I'll go drop off our things. Karen, do you have anything in your bag to store?" "Take out my identification and give it to me; store everything else." Karen remembered Alfred had packed some potions for him, all of which had to be stored. "Oh, alright. You don't need to carry food or drink—I've got plenty. Grandmother made lots of delicious snacks for us." Karen brushed his fingertips over his ring and glanced down, ultimately choosing not to put it into storage. Richard walked over carrying two bags and returned with only one. Slinging the backpack across his chest, he pulled out two bottles of water and handed one to Karen. It was steeped with tangerine peel and sweetened with a bit of sugar, tasting faintly fragrant of citrus without any bitterness or sourness. "Let's go through security," Karen said. "Mm." Karen and Richard went to the South Gate. A small queue had formed, though it was not long, as a candidate had just been disqualified on the spot after the spectral silhouette of a tortoise manifested over him. Cheating items did not merely mean physical objects carried on one's person; anything hidden within the body was forbidden as well. This was primarily aimed at preventing "cheating arrangements" prepared by candidates' parents. Some parents held high positions and could orchestrate bizarre aids; having their child form a temporary contract with a spiritual entity to pass the exam was not even considered high-level here. As a result, quite a few candidates who had been waiting in line stepped back to re-examine what was on and inside their bodies. Richard was ahead of Karen in line. When his turn came, he handed his identification to the proctor, who verified it and handed him a card, presumably his candidate number. Next came the inspection of his belongings. Richard emptied a massive hoard of food and drink from his backpack, nearly covering half the large desk. The proctor frowned. "Are you here for a picnic?" Richard chuckled sheepishly. "Ah, my grandmother insisted I bring them. Nothing I could do." Once his belongings were checked, he stepped into a scanning formation. After clearing the formation, examiners conducted a manual pat-down, with male and female examiners assigned respectively. Richard instinctively headed toward the female examiner, but she paid him no heed, forcing him to veer toward the male examiner. Throughout the process, two priests stood on either side, their eyes unfocused as they scanned the candidates passing through security with spells. They were the ones responsible for awakening the spiritual entity inside that earlier candidate. After clearing everything, Richard retrieved his backpack at the far end. Then came Karen's turn. Karen handed over his documents. The proctor examined them, then looked up at Karen. "God's Servant?" Karen nodded. "You certainly keep the lowest profile." The proctor handed back the documents along with a card. Evidently, he knew that while most people immediately updated their credentials upon advancing a tier to receive higher stipends and status, a handful simply could not be bothered. He would not naively assume Karen was truly just a God's Servant... but he still felt Karen's laziness was rather absurd. Since Richard held all of Karen's belongings, Karen had nothing to lay on the desk. He walked through the scanning formation and approached the examiners. The female examiner edged out her male colleague and stepped forward herself to conduct Karen's pat-down. During the process, Karen felt two strands of divine sense sweeping back and forth across his body. The female examiner reached Karen's ring. A badge hung around her neck, giving off the magical fluctuation of a detection spell. "This silver ring is lovely." "My grandfather left it to me." "Alright, you may pass." "Thank you for your hard work." "You're welcome." Karen walked over to Richard, who sighed in defeat. "Honestly, being handsome is cheating too." "Then feel free to go suggest to the proctor that they drain all your blood." "Haha!" Richard laughed. "I'm number 189. What's yours?" "Number 13." "We're done for." "Don't let it affect your mindset." "Right, got it." The two stepped outside Tyrannus Hall into a sprawling plaza. In the center stood a colossal stone sculpture depicting one of the fierce beasts sealed by the Church of Order—the Phantom Demon Compasini. In the mythological accounts of the Light of Order, Compasini had once attempted to construct a fantasy realm of its own within a nation, only to be personally suppressed by the God of Order. The plaza was marked with circles corresponding to candidate numbers. With security still underway, Karen and Richard were in no hurry to enter their circles. Instead, they sat down on the steps. Richard took out the snacks his grandmother had prepared and offered them to Karen first, while keeping his own hands inside his backpack pretending to search for something, secretly manipulating his Rubik's cube. Holding a meat pastry in his right hand, Karen ate while casually resting his left hand on his knee beneath the wide sleeve of his clerical robe. As he chewed, the Rubik's cube in his left palm spun through rapid deductions. "A Himos Amplification Formation," Richard murmured. "It boosts illusions, with the formation eye located on the Compasini statue. The formation's effect will ramp from weak to strong, then subside from strong to weak. Because the amplification is quite intense, we only need to survive the peak phase in the middle. Just grit your teeth and hold out." Karen nodded. "There's an embedded formation beneath the Compasini statue, and someone will be manually controlling it during the test. So the pattern you described isn't guaranteed." "The amplification—I mean the amplification itself. The organizers might tolerate minor accidents, but they won't drive a bunch of people insane. The duration and magnitude are objectively fixed, so I'm not wrong. Trust me, Karen, I just ran the deductions with the Key to the Rubik's Cube. "Believe me, Karen. I'm a professional." Karen sighed. "Look at the statue's eyes." "Hm? What about them?" "They can move." "That..." "Did you think it would affect the whole field uniformly? No, its eyes can scan individual spots. You don't need the Key to the Rubik's Cube to recognize a Himos Formation; I'm sure many candidates here can tell. "So, when you reach what you think is the peak and expect the intensity to drop, it can sweep its gaze over your area repeatedly, shattering all your mental preparation and plunging you into self-doubt." "Damn!" Richard cursed. "They can pull that kind of trick?" "The rule of the exam is simply to leave the final five standing. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. Look over there—those three stone chests likely hold soul-type sacred relics, meant to introduce further variations and escalate intensity if things reach a stalemate." "Karen... there's something I need to tell you." "Mm?" "Even if you can sense me during the test and protect me, if you ever feel it's dragging you down or putting too much pressure on you, kick me away immediately. Don't hesitate, and don't feel bad about it. "Even if I fail the selection, the worst that happens is getting beaten by my dad again when I get home. But my surname is still Guman; I won't lack resources in the future. You need this to secure your standing and treatment. Give it your all." "I know. You're not worth throwing away my future for." "Damn it! I thought what I said was pretty touching, and your reply completely ruined the atmosphere I worked so hard to build!" "Just relax. It's no big deal." Although the scale of the examination and the caliber of the candidates had surprised Karen, it did not truly trouble him. On the level of the soul among his age group, he rightfully stood at the very apex of the pyramid. How crowded the middle tiers were had nothing to do with him. Just then, Karen saw a cardinal walking up from below. The proctors and candidates nearby all bowed respectfully. Bishop Bern? The father of Derius, the Holy Child of the Church of Pamires. Was he in charge of this York City Region selection? Karen and Richard stood up and bowed to Bishop Bern as well. Bishop Bern paused, lowering his gaze toward Karen. "I remember you." "Bishop." "Derius mentioned that you are an interesting person." "I am honored by the Holy Child's regard." "Perform well." "Thank you, Your Grace." Bishop Bern continued walking upward. Before long, a voice drifted from above: "Please enter your examination circles..." Then, the selection instructions began playing over the plaza. "Phew..." Richard took a deep breath, said goodbye to Karen, and headed to his spot. Karen walked over to the fountain at the edge of the plaza, washed his hands, and leisurely made his way to his circle—Number 13. Taking his position, Karen was surprised to find that Leon and Laure were standing side by side in the row ahead of him. In fact, their entire circle of acquaintances stood in nearly a single line. Inside connections at work! To Karen's left stood the tall girl who had been guiding her companions earlier. Noticing Karen looking her way, she turned and smiled. "I'm Aisli. And you?" "Karen." "Do your best, Karen!" Aisli raised a fist to cheer him on. "Thanks." Karen nodded to her. "You have to cheer for me too." "Oh, right." Karen mimicked her gesture, raising his fist. "Do your best, Aisli." "Mm-hm!" To Karen's right stood a young man around his own age. Cold-faced, he stood straight as if at attention, exuding an unmistakable military bearing. He was clearly from the Knights. However, he showed no interest in exchanging pleasantries with his neighbor. Karen glanced behind him. Diagonally to his rear, a boy sat playing with pebbles, while another girl leaned forward, actually snoring softly. Seeing her, Karen could not help thinking of Eunice. Was she also digesting her bloodline power? Directly behind him was the young man playing rock-paper-scissors with himself. Catching Karen's gaze, he smiled and asked, "Want to play with us?" Karen smiled back. "I won't disturb you two. Carry on." This person ought to be introduced to the Captain. At that moment, Bishop Bern's figure appeared atop the head of the Phantom Beast Compasini sculpture. He was indeed the chief examiner for this region. Clasping his hands before his chest, Bishop Bern intoned deeply, "Praise the God of Order!" Below, all the candidates answered in unison: "Praise the God of Order!" Bishop Bern declared, "I announce that the regional examination officially begins!" The moment his words fell, the massive eyes of the Phantom Beast Compasini beneath Bishop Bern's feet flared with red light. At the same time, the world went dark. Everything around dissolved into pitch-black void. One second you were in the examination ground; the next, you were cut off from the entire world. No, one spot was not entirely black. Someone was kneeling there—yes, kneeling, as if in prayer. The figure turned, looked over, and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Karen, you came to find me so quickly?" It was clearly because he had curled up like a frightened quail, causing his Arte bloodline to activate the moment the exam started and resonate with Karen. Karen gave a helpless wave. Richard immediately scrambled up and dashed toward Karen, waving his hands as he shouted, "Karen, here I come!" Reaching Karen's side, Richard glanced around the pitch-black void, looking puzzled. "Uh, why is it so quiet?" "Because it hasn't truly started yet. The Himos Amplification Formation hasn't finished booting up." "Oh. Uh, what do you need me to do in a bit?" "Sit." "And then?" "Don't move." "That's it?" "One more thing." "Yeah? What else do you need me to do?" "Shut up."