"There are five tests. I'm sure you can finish them if you give it your all. The first test will be the test of knowledge. You'll be asked some questions about the Empire. Each person will be asked some questions that were in the historical books of the Empire! So if you read them, you should be able to answer," the Second Prince said.
"Mi Gu, you start the test," the Second Prince asked his subordinate to start the trial since he wasn't personally going to do it.
Even though the Second Prince kept a smile on his face, inside, he was frustrated.
' Was it really necessary for us to be here to waste time like this? Our subordinates could've easily handled it alone, but father just doesn't understand. Just for this sham, we were forced here,' he thought, upset.
Despite being so upset on the inside, he didn't let it show on his face. He needed to maintain the kind and generous image of the Royal Family.
His subordinate made sure that there was enough distance between each person before he gave a paper to every person that had come here, along with a pen.
The paper had some questions written in it. And the youngsters needed to write answers in them.
Long Chen looked at the question, smiling wryly. He didn't know much about the Western Empire. In fact, amongst the twenty questions that were written there, he didn't even know the answer of one.
'It reminds me of the time when I gave exams without satisfying a single thing. Time to use the Secret Art of Writing Nonsense!' he thought as he prepared to write, but he stopped.
A smile formed on his face as he thought of an idea. He was going to read the mind of other people.
Since they were from this Empire, they just knew the answers, he believed.
Just as he expected, he started getting the answers. In fact, he was even able to verify the answers as he read the mind of multiple people. He started writing the answers on his sheet.
After ten minutes, he finished.
The others also finished at almost the same time since the questions had only one word answers.
Mi Gu collected the papers from each of the youngsters and started checking them all.
"While your answers are being checked, time for your second test. The test of strength!" The Second Prince said.
"I know that most of you are pretty weak in cultivation. Since you had no resources and support, you're barely stronger than the little kids in our Prominent Clans. But that doesn't mean we won't test your strength. Let me see how far you managed to progress without any support," he added as he clapped his arms once.
On his commands, a drum like an object was brought here. The object was placed in front of the youngsters
"I'm sure you all know what this is. This will test the strength of your attack. So punch it with your full strength. As I said, give it your all," he added.
One after another, people kept going forward and punching the drum.
As for the strength of the attack, it was decided on the number of booms that came from the drum after it was hit.
An average attack made one booming noise. A stronger attack made two.
As for the strongest, it was nine booms. As for the youngsters that were sitting on the stage, even they had only managed to bring forth six booms at best. It was only Mimi who managed to bring forth seven booms.
As the young men kept hitting the drum one after another, it was becoming clear how hard this test was. Most of them couldn't even call forth one boom with their hit.
Only a rare few managed to call forth one boom.
Soon, almost all the youngsters had finished. Only Long Chen was left.
"Go ahead kid. Show them what you're capable of," Snake Monarch told Long Chen, motivating him.
Long Chen stopped in front of the drum as he clenched his fist. He took a subtle glance at the stage to see excited Mimi, who believed she was going to see Long Chen's miracle. She believed he had the potential to call eight booms, at least since he was as strong as their General.
Only her father could call nine booms with just his physical strength.
Long Chen punched the drum.
Boom!
Boomñ
...
After two booms, there was only silence. Even Mimi was stunned. Was the drum broken?
'Ah! It must be that! He is hiding his strength! He doesn't want to show how strong he is!' she thought, understanding everything.
"Two booms, not bad. Kid, you have potential," the Second Prince said, nodding in satisfaction.
Inside his heart, his thoughts were completely different.
'Now I need to praise even two boom trash! What has the world come to?' he thought.
Long Chen smiled at her thoughts. He was able to read all of them. He didn't comment as he walked back.
"Is two the max this drum can go?" Snake Monarch asked Long Chen. He also thought there would be more. But then again, he didn't know anything about the drum. So he also thought that maybe two was the limit of this drum.
"That's right. Two is the max it can go," Long Chen answered, smiling.
"As expected," Snake Monarch nodded. "You're going to be the topper of this event, it seems. But then again, why are we even taking part in it?"
"Because leaving this place after coming here would be wrong. The Prince will think we were insulting them. So it's better to just go along with it and act normal," Long Chen answered.
"In any case, it's not bad either. I think this can come in handy later," he added, smiling.
"Alright. The test results are also out. First is Hu Chen, with twenty marks from twenty. Number two is..."
Mi Gu started declaring the results. On the other hand, Snake Monarch was confused. He didn't hear Long Chen's name.
"Why isn't your name there? I thought you'd be the topper?" The Snake Monarch asked.
"Can you repeat the name of the topper?" Long Chen inquired.
"Some Hu Chen. Why?"
"Who do you think Hu Chen is?" Long Chen inquired. "That's my name."
"Huh? When did you change your name?" Snake Monarch asked, stunned.
"Idiot, have some common sense. I gave a fake name," Long Chen let out.
Even then, Snake Monarch didn't understand it; Mimi understood that Long Chen had given a fake name. She wondered why it was.