Admission Examination

  Du Fan arrived at the church entrance when it was the most lively time of the day.

  Although the sun was shining brightly and making people's scalps itch, it clearly couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.

  On the street in front of the church gate, luxurious and old-fashioned carriages are everywhere, people of all colors are shuttling back and forth in the crowd.

  However, these people were divided into several distinct groups. The first group was naturally the nobles from all over the Gavin Empire who dared to come, each with their children chatting on the side. As for the high-ranking nobles in the imperial capital, due to their long-term presence in the imperial capital, they more or less had some connection with the Holy See, and their children did not need to wait outside on the street, presumably already inside the church drinking strong red tea.

  The second part consists of some ordinary-looking civilians, mostly young men and women, as well as a small number of people wearing armor or carrying huge swords. This type of person should be the so-called mercenaries, whose qualifications are naturally much better than those of ordinary civilians.

  These people may not have any advantages compared to the children of noble families, but they are far superior to ordinary civilians who know nothing. As a result, in almost every Roland Academy entrance examination, more than half of the civilian student quotas are taken by these mercenaries.

  At the entrance of the church, a group of Knights Templar with clear banners were guarding the gate, blocking anyone who wanted to enter the church. From this point of view, today's recruitment exam seems not to have started yet.

  Du Fan squeezed through the crowd to the entrance of the church, gave a casual greeting to the knights guarding the door, and walked in.

  But just a few steps later, one of the knights blocked Du Fan's path with his long spear and said in a low voice: "White-robed priest sir, can you please take off your hood to let us check? After all, we were told not to allow any outsiders to enter."

  Du Fan nodded understandingly, made a "shh" gesture with his hand, and slowly pulled down the hood of his robe, smiling: "Sir Knight, I suppose you wouldn't not recognize me?"

  The man blocking Du Fan's path was slightly stunned, but he quickly recognized Du Fan. He was also a clever person and naturally understood why Du Fan would wear a hood while walking. With a faint smile, he said: "So it's Lord Du Fan. It's been three months since we last met, and your demeanor remains the same."

  Du Fan smiled and said: "What elegance do I have? I'm afraid that for the past three months, things about me have been spread around in the Imperial City to the point where I don't dare show my face!"

  The knight didn't dare respond and could only awkwardly smile before retreating to one side.

  Du Fan didn't mind, he just waved his hand and quickly walked into the gate.

  Inside the church gate, the situation was different. On the originally empty square, more than a dozen martial arts platforms had been set up at some point, with several Temple Knights guarding each platform. Priests in various colored robes were shuttling between the platforms, but it was unclear what they were trying to do.

  Du Fan stood there for a moment, but couldn't figure out what was going on. Three years ago, he hadn't been interested in watching the entrance exam of Roland Academy, so now he felt a bit at a loss.

  He looked for a moment longer and then hailed a passing priest, saying: "Sir, I'd like to ask you, what's going on here?"

  That ordinary cleric, although unfamiliar with Du Fan, recognized the clerical robe on Du Fan's body. He hastily made a praying gesture and said: "Respected White Robe Cleric, you can just call me Niero. You must be seeing this scene for the first time, right?"

  Du Fan nodded.

  "That's right," said Niu continued, "Your Excellency, please take a look."

  As he spoke, he pointed to the eighteen arenas, "These eighteen arenas are set up every time Roland Academy recruits students. In order to prevent those taking the exam from damaging the square during martial arts competitions, some priests who can use sacred light magic are now arranging magic arrays to ensure that no matter what happens, our church will not be affected."

  "Oh," Du Fan nodded, "so that means anyone who wants to take the exam has to go up on stage and fight a match?"

  Niao shook his head and said, "It's not like that. These arenas are only for recruiting ordinary students, even if you pass the exam here, at most, you can only enter the Qi Division of Roland Academy. The real excitement is not here, but inside the Holy Temple."

  "Oh, the Sanctum," Dufan took a deep breath, "Is that place specifically for magical exams?"

  Niao looked towards the direction of the temple, with a face full of envy: "Yes, even if I passed the Dou Qi Division's exam, I don't think it's anything special. After all, on this continent, there are many people who can use Dou Qi. On the other hand, the magic exam is really exciting! Don't even mention the content and specific plot, just thinking about it, being able to become a magician, what achievements and blessings will I have in the future? It's already enviable."

  Looking at Neo's expression, Du Fan smiled faintly and said, "Alright, you can go back to work now. I roughly understand what's going on. I'll just take a walk around myself."

  Niao nodded and quickly retreated, but he looked back at the expression of the temple every step he took, making Du Fan laugh in his heart.

  He took a look around and it seemed that the exam of Dou Qi Fen Yuan had not started yet, so Du Fan walked towards the direction of Sheng Tai. Since most of the Sheng Dian Qi Shi knights guarding the temple recognized Du Fan, no one stopped him.

  After entering the gate of the church, it was found that the hall which was originally filled with chairs had been cleared at some point. In the middle of the hall stood a wooden frame, on top of which something seemed to be placed, but it was covered with a layer of white cloth, making it impossible to see what it was.

  Around the wooden frame stood over a hundred young nobles, most of whom Du Fan recognized as children of noble families in the imperial capital. Although they were different from those he had met at the previous banquet, a casual glance was enough for Du Fan to discern that several of them possessed high levels of Dou Qi or magical abilities. In short, these people were the future elite of the Gavin Empire, and not one of them was ordinary.

  Apart from this, in the corner of the hall, a group of young people can be seen standing quietly together. The expressions on their faces are different, but it's not hard to see that they all have a faint aura of keeping people at arm's length.

  But the figure on the holy platform, however, caused Du Fan to furrow his brow. He saw that the red-robed Archbishop Anthony was standing there with an indifferent expression alongside a middle-aged man in his thirties who looked rather shabby.

  This middle-aged man looks ordinary, but he exudes an astonishing aura that makes it impossible for people to ignore him no matter what.

  It seemed as if they had sensed that someone was sizing them up, and Anthony and the other person looked at Du Fan together.

  A look of surprise flashed across Anthony's face, but he quickly covered up his expression and instead beckoned to Du Fan.

  Du Fan sighed, and under the astonished gaze of the surrounding nobles, he walked over obediently, bowed his head and said: "Revered Red Robe Archbishop Anthony, may the God of Light bless you."

  Anthony chuckled and said, "Du Fan, I remember you're supposed to be resting at home now? How did you end up in the church again? Although I know you have a kind heart and are worried about those followers, you can't overexert yourself."

  Sly old fox, isn't it obvious that I'm now appearing in the church to "influence" the reputation of the Holy See? However, you shouldn't think too much of yourself either. If I didn't need to fight for my own cultivation time, why would I let such a thing happen?

  In his heart, he was secretly resentful, but Du Fan still spoke with a smile: "Lord Anthony, originally, I should have continued to reflect at home and think about why such things happened. However, today I heard that the Roland Academy's entrance exam is being held in our church, so I couldn't help but come take a look. I thought, sir, you wouldn't blame me for this, would you?"

  "No, no," Anthony chuckled with a smile, pointing to the middle-aged man beside him, "Come, Du Fan, let me introduce you. This is Professor Bruce from Roland Academy, a great martial artist and also the mentor of that genius Aldras from our Imperial City."

  Du Fan's heart slightly skipped a beat, but his facial expression remained unchanged. He chuckled and said: "So it's Professor Bruce from Roland Academy. Although I'm ignorant and haven't heard of your great name, someone who can cultivate a genius like Oridas must not be a simple person, right?"

  "It's too much praise," Bruce said lightly, "But isn't Duke Fan the famous figure in the Imperial City? Although it's my first time coming to the Imperial City, I've heard many rumors about Duke Fan in just a few days. Today, seeing you in person is truly 'hearing your name is not as good as meeting you'!"

  Du Fan was choked by him, almost laughing out loud. This Bruce obviously knew what had happened between Du Fan and Emily, and should also know that the Bellinger family had suffered a loss under Du Fan's hands. Otherwise, he wouldn't have opened his mouth to say this thing, and it's likely that he was ready to help his good student regain face this time.

  However, Du Fan was not afraid of him at all with this look that he wanted to find trouble. Since the other party came openly and honestly, even if Du Fan couldn't deal with it himself, it wouldn't be difficult to pull Anthony out as a shield. Moreover, Du Fan was confident that in this holy temple, when it comes to playing tricks, there really wasn't anyone who could be his opponent.