Early the next morning, Max was startled awake by the alarm he had set.
After putting on his academy uniform, he met up with Seraphina, who was waiting at the door, and they walked together toward Silveridge City First Middle School.
As an academy assessment established by the city’s largest middle school, its scale and the level of importance placed on it by the higher-ups were evident…
Even before Max and Seraphina arrived at the academy, the school was already surrounded by a sea of students and parents.
Most people were there as companions, while only a small portion were actually participating in the upcoming academy assessment.
“I didn’t expect the academy assessment to start so soon! Thinking back to when I took this assessment, it seems like it was only a few years ago…”
“Taking the academy assessment a few years ago!? Uncle, let me just ask you one thing: exactly how many years were you held back!?”
“I’m so nervous! I didn’t expect the proficiency test to happen so soon. Although I just want to graduate smoothly, the sheer scale of this is quite terrifying.”
“Don’t worry. For the sake of fairness, the academy allows support… lifestyle, and other classes currently lacking combat power to pass as long as they can successfully finish with a team. You don’t need to worry about having to fight personally.”
“That’s true, but you still have to demonstrate some class-specific abilities and help the team achieve victory. Otherwise, how could they let you pass smoothly!?”
“…”
Half an hour later, Max and Seraphina arrived.
Witnessing this somewhat shocking scene, Max couldn’t help but fantasize about the upcoming College Entrance Examination.
Compared to his previous life, where one crossed several social classes based on grades, the College Entrance Examination results in this world would directly determine a person’s entire life…
As long as one could enter a prestigious school, the academy and the state would personally provide a large amount of cultivation resources, and there would even be specialized teachers responsible for helping students level up!
Naturally, Max yearned for this in his heart.
This yearning wasn’t just about being able to gather all the materials for the Six Paths of Pain templates in a short time, but more importantly…
the anticipation for the journey of the College Entrance Examination itself.
If, when the time came, he could summon Deva Path Pain in the examination hall…
how much shock would that cause?
With the arrival of Max…
or more accurately, Seraphina, the surrounding crowd suddenly became restless.
It was clear that having a beautiful face would make one very popular no matter where they were.
Furthermore…
Seraphina had also awakened the extremely powerful Holy Light Goddess template among hidden classes.
As long as she didn’t die in the future, she was destined to become a Seventh-Order Venerable…
And this was undoubtedly a bonus point that would attract a large number of suitors.
Max saw this and took it to heart.
After all, although she was his younger sister in name, she would eventually get married…
Thinking of this, he actually felt a very uncomfortable sensation.
But this was, after all, just Max’s personal thought; her own wishes would be what truly needed to be respected in the future.
Just as Max was blending into the crowd, trying his best to avoid being seen…
someone suddenly slapped his back.
Turning around, a smiling young man with a buzz cut appeared before him.
Max was not unfamiliar with this person’s identity; in fact, they were very close…
It was his best friend from his three years of high school, Leo Vance.
Not long ago, he had awakened the common Berserker template.
Although he might not necessarily get into a prestigious school, having a combat class meant becoming part of the middle class in the future was already a certainty.
His future prospects were quite bright, and coupled with his good personality and appearance…
There were quite a few people pursuing him lately.
“How’ve you been lately, Brother Leo!”
“I originally planned to team up with you for this academy assessment, but I found that I couldn’t get in touch with you at all during those few days.”
“In the end, I had to scramble to find someone else.”
Leo Vance looked at Max with a bit of a complaint.
For this academy assessment, he had been worried that Max, as a Puppet Master, wouldn’t find a team and would end up failing the school assessment. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
So, he specifically rejected invitations from other teams to wait for him.
As a result…
just as he had figured out how to extend the invitation, the other party went completely missing, leaving him somewhat helpless.
“…I’ve been a bit busy lately and forgot to reply to you.”
“…”
Hearing what Leo Vance said, Max suddenly felt very embarrassed.
It seemed that since he awakened the system, he hadn’t logged into social media for a long time.
On one hand, he really didn’t have time to reply, and on the other, he was indeed too excited.
Who could resist the temptation to start crafting after successfully being able to create the Six Paths of Pain!?
So, it wasn’t until recently that he remembered there was such a thing as an academy assessment.
Fortunately, Seraphina told him at the time, otherwise, things would have definitely been delayed.
“No need to apologize for such a small thing, we’re brothers!”
“I didn’t expect you to actually persuade Seraphina to team up with you… the academy assessment is a sure thing now!”
“After the assessment, let’s go out for a meal, my treat.”
Leo Vance didn’t take it to heart at all.
Upon learning that Max was now teamed up with Seraphina, he was immediately relieved, and the two began to converse enthusiastically.
They completely neglected their respective teammates.
It was at this moment that a louder commotion suddenly came from outside the gate.
Three people looking like students, wearing high-quality equipment and carrying arrogant expressions, strode in.
The reaction they drew from the crowd was no less than that of Seraphina earlier.
As soon as the group entered the school gate, they surrounded Max, Seraphina, Leo Vance, and the others.
One of the young men holding a staff spoke indifferently.
“Some people are just selfish… in order to pass the academy assessment themselves, they don’t hesitate to ruin their sister’s future.”
“Logically speaking, the Puppet Master template has no combat capability at all. Even if you pass the academy assessment and get a professional certificate, so what!? Won’t you just end up doing clerical work in the rear for the state!?”
The speaker was named Gideon Thorne.
His academic grades had always been mediocre, but he had pulled an upset during the awakening ceremony, actually obtaining one of the strongest class templates:
Thunder Mage.
Even at this stage, he could unleash terrifying lightning skills, making it difficult for anyone of the same rank to be his match.
And now, he was acting like a petty man who had come into power, going around using this matter to make a scene.
“Gideon Thorne, watch what you say, be careful not to trip over your own tongue!”
“…”
Leo Vance could hear that the other party was secretly mocking Max, saying he was just someone who relied on his sister…
hearing this, he almost attacked and fought Gideon Thorne directly.
But he was stopped in time by Max.
This finally prevented the matter from escalating further.
“This doesn’t seem to be any of your business, Gideon Thorne.”
Seraphina, hearing the situation here, also hurried over, stood in front of Max, and said with a cold face.
“Heh… Seraphina, don’t think that just because you awakened a better class template than me, you can be arrogant now!”
“The teams we are participating in the academy assessment with this time are all among the top in the school… we will definitely break the previous academy records and be admitted early by prestigious schools. When the time comes, the top college resources will be invested in me.”
“My future achievements will definitely be several heads higher than yours!”
Seeing Seraphina come out to stand up for Max, Gideon Thorne’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t lose face to the other party.
Seeing this, Max was no longer prepared to indulge the other party and spoke directly.
“Sorry, but the first place in this academy assessment belongs to us.”
“And you are nothing but a clown.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding onlookers suddenly burst into an uproar, staring at Max and laughing.
After all, everyone knew he had awakened the most useless Puppet Master template during the ceremony.
Relying solely on such a…
template, let alone becoming the first in this academy assessment, even passing the proficiency test smoothly would be an issue.
At the moment, they only took what Max just said as words spoken in anger; no one took them seriously.
And right after saying this, Max led Seraphina and Leo Vance away.
He wasn’t going to deliberately argue with everyone present now, as only the results would prove everything.
As long as he could pass the upcoming academy assessment smoothly and achieve the best results, he would definitely slap the faces of everyone present!
He would make them all shut up completely!
“Hehehe… getting anxious already!?”
Gideon Thorne was also startled by what Max had just said, but immediately after, a thick look of disdain appeared on his face.
It seemed he didn’t believe at all that the other party could surpass him just by relying on Seraphina alone.
Right now, he really wanted to see the expression on the other party’s face when the assessment ended.
On the other side, having moved away from the crowd and toward the academy assessment location, Max also stopped his pace.
He was now just waiting for the academy assessment to begin.
When the time came, he would certainly give everyone a big surprise.
“Max, if you ask me, just ignore that bastard Gideon Thorne this time.”
“He’s just a petty man who came into power; he’ll definitely suffer a big loss in the future.”
Leo Vance walked up and began to comfort Max.
He knew that what Gideon Thorne did this time was simply poking at a sore spot in public.
He didn’t show even a bit of classmate camaraderie.
But strangely…
he found that Max wasn’t angry.
Instead, his expression was very calm, as if he had already expected this.
“Are you okay, Brother Leo? Why does it feel like your eyes want to kill someone right now?”
“…What could be wrong with me!?”
“The academy assessment is about to start. My sister and I will head over first; I’ll chat with you when we come out.”
Seeing Leo Vance’s expression as if he were looking at a fool, Max wished he could give him two punches right now, but considering his sister was nearby…
the influence might not be good.
So, after leaving those words, he walked toward the assessment location.
He left Leo Vance standing alone.
Although the other party was very puzzled, he still attributed Max’s calmness to the calm before the storm…
After all, he had just set a flag with Gideon Thorne.
If he didn’t reach first place in the academy assessment, he would become quite a laughingstock.
Although as a brother he wanted to believe in him, the Puppet Master template was simply too special…
“Sigh…”
In the end, Leo Vance had no choice but to turn and leave.
The academy assessment was about to start, and staying here was not an option.