ROOM 1313

8

Liam froze.

Just like that?

The assessment had already begun.

"An abandoned space planet..." Liam muttered.

He had read about places like this back in his hometown.

His gaze shifted toward Karl and Lily.

Without saying a word, Lily turned around and walked away.

Karl didn't waste a second either and soon disappeared into the distance.

Lucas, on the other hand, simply sighed before walking toward a massive boulder beneath a nearby tree.

He clenched his fist and punched at it.

Boom!

The boulder shattered into countless pieces with a single punch.

Liam immediately felt cold sweat trickle down his back.

That...

That was Silver-level strength.

After countless improvements had been cultivated during the early years, the ancestors of the Six Races established a universal cultivation system consisting of ten major ranks:

Bronze, silver ….God stage.

At the age of fifteen, every member of the Six Races awakened a racial core that represented their bloodline. These cores absorbed mana from the surroundings, gradually strengthening their hosts.

However, cultivation wasn't as simple as advancing from Bronze to Silver.

Each major rank was divided into five smaller stages:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite, and Peak.

Liam himself was only an Advanced Bronze, having advanced just three minor stages over the past three years.

From what he could sense, both Karl and Lily were at the Peak Bronze stage, only one step away from breaking into Silver.

Lucas, however, was already in the Silver rank.

As for how far he had progressed within Silver...

Liam had no idea.

Lucas bent down and picked up an orange scroll hidden beneath the shattered boulder.

Without the slightest hesitation, he crushed it. His figure disappeared instantly.

Liam stood there speechless.

Lucas was dangerously experienced.

To Liam, Lucas was like a dormant bomb that could explode at any moment. He looked calm now, but if he ever decided to become the monster he once was again...

The demon who had slaughtered infants at the age of seventeen would kill again without caring about rules.

At least, that was what Liam believed.

Shaking his head, Liam forced those thoughts aside.

He needed to grow stronger, and fast.

Otherwise, one day he might be devoured by his own roommates during a life-and-death mission or competition.

His gaze returned to the shattered boulder.

Lucas had overcome the world's challenge through nothing but overwhelming strength.

Now that Liam knew the method to leave this space, he also knew he couldn't copy it. He wasn't nearly strong enough to leave so much as a scratch on the boulder, let alone shatter it with a single punch.

But...

If this was truly an Intelligence Assessment, then there had to be another solution—one that didn't rely on brute force like Lucas's.

He simply had to figure it out.

"An abandoned space planet..."

Liam fell into deep thought before his eyes suddenly lit up.

He recalled something he had once read in an old newspaper.

Abandoned space planets were usually abandoned for a reason, yet the situation here felt different from what he had learned.

Over the centuries, the continent had continued to shrink because of terrifying creatures known as Abominations. They had existed since the birth of mana itself, growing far stronger than any of the Six Great Races had ever imagined.

They were the very reason the Six Great Races had eventually chosen peace over mutual destruction.

During the Great War, while the races were busy fighting one another, the Abominations had been left unchecked, giving them enough time to evolve into an overwhelming threat. By the time the Six Great Races realized the danger, it was already too late.

Since then, countless battles had been fought against the Abominations, and in the process, many planets had been lost and abandoned to their control.

If this truly was an abandoned space planet, then it should actually be called a reclaimed planet.

Liam remembered hearing that, from time to time, Blackthorn Academy reclaimed planets that had once fallen into the hands of the Abominations.

If that was the case, then in order for students to train on them, the academy would have to connect those planets to the school through stable spatial channels...

As Liam continued thinking, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He quickly glanced at the timer on his watch.

Almost twenty minutes had already passed.

Liam smiled wryly.

This always happened whenever he entered a state of deep concentration. Whenever he was completely immersed in analyzing something, time seemed to pass ten times faster than normal.

Looking around, his gaze soon settled on a tree that stood slightly taller than the others. Its leaves also carried a noticeably deeper yellow hue.

"There it is." A smile spread across Liam's face.

He tapped the side of his custom-made academy watch, and with a soft click, a small dagger extended from its side.

After adjusting his glasses, he sprinted toward the tree.

Once he arrived, he lightly knocked on its trunk.

Knock.

Instead of producing the solid sound a healthy tree should make, it gave off a hollow echo.

It sounded as though there was empty space inside.

Liam smiled and without hesitation, he swung the dagger.

The blade sliced through the trunk as though it were paper.

The moment the tree split apart, a brilliant white light burst out and completely engulfed him.

The next instant...He disappeared.

"Wonderful!" Professor Eleanor couldn't help shouting in surprise.

She, along with several other professors, had been observing every student through a massive projection array. Although she had been monitoring everyone, most of her attention had remained on the students of Room 1313.

Lucas's performance had already impressed her.

He had simply shattered the boulder and retrieved the orange scroll hidden inside. It was the most common method Blackthorn Academy expected students to discover when escaping these reclaimed planets.

But Liam...

Liam had genuinely shocked her.

After all, she had personally helped create this assessment.

As one of the academy's Space Witches, she had designed the escape mechanisms herself.

There were three different ways to leave the planet.

Each had been placed for a specific purpose.

The hidden tree, however, wasn't meant to be discovered.

It had only been included as an emergency escape route, positioned before the other two methods as a failsafe rather than an actual solution for students.

The boulder was intended to be the primary method.

Its incredible durability was deliberate. The academy wanted students from different races to cooperate, combining their strength to break it apart and retrieve the hidden scroll together.

Yet Liam had ignored the obvious solution altogether.

Instead, he had thought completely outside the box and discovered the hidden tree.

A moment later, Liam appeared back inside the grand assembly hall.

Several students were already there, proving that he wasn't the first to finish.

Liam let out a quiet sigh.

There were truly many intelligent people in this academy.

As time passed, more students continued to appear.

At the forty-eight-minute mark, Lily emerged alongside five other vampires.

By the fifty-five-minute mark, Karl also returned, accompanied by several werewolves.

When the full sixty minutes expired, all the remaining students who had failed to escape were suddenly teleported into the hall.

Liam guessed they had never managed to find a way out.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The sound of applause echoed across the hall.

Liam looked up.

Principal Alaric floated high above them.

No one knew when he had appeared... or how long he had been watching.

"Congratulations to everyone who passed the Intelligence Assessment," he said.

"As for those who didn't, there's no need to worry. There are still other assessments ahead."

"These assessments are not designed to expel or disqualify you."

"They exist to evaluate your abilities and help us understand where your strengths lie."

"Now then..."

"In the next few seconds, your Intelligence Assessment results will be sent directly to your academy watches."

Three seconds later, every academy watch emitted a soft beep.

Liam looked down as his screen lit up and his score made his eye twitch in shock.

Liam Carter

Intelligence: 100

Rank: SSS