Inside the Star World Island Tunnel Hall, the eight or nine apprentices from Yang City First High, who were grouped together because of their similar answers, entered this empty hall and began to doubt the meaning of life.

Lin Qi! Lin Qi! Lin Qi!

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Ever since the list of mage apprentices was announced on TV that night, this name flashed across their eyes again, making them recall that they actually had this plague-like "death row criminal" student as their schoolmate.

Countless people called Lin Qi's cell phone at night, but no one picked up.

The words "Yang City First High" beside Lin Qi's name on the list told them that it was definitely not a case of same name, different person.

After entering the hall, these students from First High had been ranked in the middle and did not get the chance to meet him, but the name "Lin Qi" still kept crossing their minds.

"Nuannuan?" A slightly plump girl looked at her best friend from First High and said, "Isn't that the previous—"

"Xiaoyu," Zhang Nuannuan suddenly interrupted, "I've said before that we have nothing to do with each other."

However, even though the girl said so, the mage apprentices of First High still could not take their eyes off the red name.

The leader of the thousand-man team, the brave warrior who had first made his name, the first apprentice who had passed the pledge test, crushing the powerful person who held the previous record.

These four impressions were like a violent storm that was hidden deep in their hearts, shattering all their "earlier impressions" about Lin Qi.

Some people in the team were already looking doubtfully at Cheng Yuan, who represented the glory of First High.

They all believed in Cheng Yuan's calculations and ended up ranked in the center.

"Lin Qi probably just lucked out, but Cheng Yuan will definitely be able to catch up." A male classmate sensed everyone's doubts and patted Cheng Yuan's shoulder loudly to encourage him.

Cheng Yuan did not turn around at that praise. He just clenched his fists silently. The term "catch up" was really unfamiliar.

He turned his back to the crowd and sighed. "This time, I calculated wrongly. Next time, I will definitely bring everyone to the front."

"That's right. If Lin Qi can reach this level, Brother Cheng definitely can!"

"Yes, we'll go find the Yang City First High School alumni later. Brother Cheng had a good relationship with his seniors."

"Actually, being ranked in the middle section is also very good. We can attack and defend at the same time. We can analyze information based on the earlier data, and we won't get low marks just because we are ranked lower. There's no disadvantage if we enter later anyway."

A few male students said excitedly.

After all, Cheng Yuan was the one who pulled them to this middle ranking, not Lin Qi, who had disappeared and gone to jail before the college entrance examination.

The mage apprentices near the First High group looked over curiously. They were the schoolmates who was in the lead, "Lin Qi". Why were they in such a low position?

Suddenly, an ear-piercing horn sounded in the hall.

"The first half of the mage apprentices who passed the pledge test will be given the chance to enter the forest of magic pets. They can recruit magic pets."

A single stone caused a thousand ripples.

The expressions of the mage apprentices, who originally thought that being ranked at the back was fine, changed drastically. They kept looking around, hoping to find someone to lodge a protest.

Countless cries of "What the hell!" came one after another.

However, all that was just like a low tide surging in the dark. No one really dared to stand out and cause trouble. It might even be a test of fate.

Compared to those mage apprentices ranked at the back who had already lost all hope, the apprentices ranked in the middle were caught in an awkward situation. On one side, they were anxiously staring at their list which had not moved for a long time. At the same time, they could only look on enviously at the team of the apprentice who had broken the record.

52 people from Lin Qi's team had already entered, giving rise to a huge gap between them and the other teams where only 20 of their members had entered.

This represented more than twice the efficiency. According to the snowball effect, it was very likely that by the time half of the other teams had entered, all of Lin Qi's team would have already passed.

The students of Yang City First High School, who were originally in high spirits, instantly fell silent. They were not in Lin Qi's team.

The extra spots in the other team had been taken from them.

At this moment, when the mages in the hall on the second floor saw the shocked expressions of the mage apprentices below, they finally left in satisfaction having enjoyed a good show.

"But this year is too ruthless. The cut-off point was raised to 50%. I remember it was 60% last year."

"The forest of magic pets doesn't even have one-tenth of the beasts left. It doesn't matter. For my year, we were given a 40% cut-off. I just made the cut-off."

One of the new mages could not help but sigh. "This move by the academy is too vicious."

"Splitting up into ten teams to stir up competition, and limiting the first half to get additional rewards. Peer pressure forces the students in the arena to not dare to slack off. This is because they are on the same team. In this situation, the stress is truly terrifying."

As he spoke, he sighed deeply. "I wonder which mage designed this model back then."

At this moment, the black-robed mage, who was walking at the front and preparing to leave the meeting room, felt a little awkward.

"This was designed by one of our ancestors. Back then, he planned it such that the first half completed the magic pet test just as most of the second half completed the pledge test. Everyone can gather to meet up then."

"…"

-----

After Lin Qi bid farewell to Mo Feng, he silently walked into the foggy forest of magic pets.

The visibility of the entire forest was greatly obstructed to less than seven or eight meters. The mist that pervaded the air made it seem like one had ingested a magic potion that made one have more and more hallucinations as time passed, such that you would not dare to linger on for long.

At the same time, oak trees rose from the ground one by one, with huge tree crowns at the top, covering the entire sky.

When Lin Qi walked into the forest, Mo Feng secretly used a method similar to telepathic communication to tell him some inside information.

Magic pets were essentially the support combat power of mages!

Even if they died, they could be summoned again with rituals. Magic pets with higher strength could even travel through the spirit world, where they carried out important duties such as "messaging" and "delivering".

At this moment, there were specks of starlight floating in the thick fog in front of Lin Qi. These firefly-sized balls of light were the interface that connected to the "magic pets".

The trial-taker could expend the power of the pledge symbol to communicate with the "starlight" and summon the "magic pets" in the spirit world.

If the other party was satisfied with him, he could use the power of the pledge symbol to complete the ritual and bind the corresponding pet.

The size and brightness of the starlight represented the strength of the pet.

However, when mage apprentices reached this point, they usually did not have much pledge symbol power left in their minds, and the process of choosing was at random. This was a contest between greed and choice.

It was like each of them was holding a cup of water. The difference was that the amount of water they had was different. One had to consume the water in order to draw out a magic pet. The binding would also consume water.

The pledge symbol remaining in the mind of the mage after they entered could not withstand such consumption. They might get overwhelmed by the selection process and end up exhausting all their strength, only to return empty-handed.

Therefore, based on his own experience, Mo Feng advised Lin Qi to only choose up to three times.

However, instead of choosing the starlight that was pleasing to the eye, Lin Qi quietly pushed down the shelves in his memory palace, taking down the cross bars made from the mysterious material, and moulded them into copycat pledge symbols.

Compared to the first version he made, the second versions were much more crude.

Finally, hundreds of pledge symbols floated in the depths of Lin Qi's mind.

He took a deep breath and released his inner perception ability. Then, he connected to the power of the pledge symbols.

He could only open three blind boxes?

He was going to open all the blind boxes in the entire cabinet now!

In an instant, the starlights floating in the forest made contact with the power of his pledge symbols, triggering the binding effect.

Starlight shot out one after another, shining like shooting stars in the night sky.