"What do you want, Varsor?" Shawn indifferently asked. Clearly, they didn't like each other that much.

"I wasn't talking to you. How come you are here, Andrew?" Sorin frowned before asking.

"Ah, I am here to get my membership." Andrew replied while looking strangely at the two.

[They don't seem to enjoy each other's presence that much. I wonder why...]

"Oh, if you wanted to join the association, you should have just said so. I can get you a membership in no time!" Sorin smiled as he threw a glance at Shawn.

[Ha, you might be very talented, but you still are not officially a member of the Council.]

"That's fine. I can take the test like everyone else. In fact, I really want to have my skills tested." Andrew replied determined.

[That's no good. If he takes the test everyone will see his potential.] Sorin was just about to argue but he stopped at the last moment as he looked at Andrew. [Sigh, it doesn't seem like he will be easily persuaded.]

"Alright, if you really want to take the test, follow me." Sorin replied dejectedly while thinking. [Just try not to do that well.]

"Follow you? First of all, I brought him here." Shawn mockingly said before asking Andrew. "Secondly, how do you even know this old man?"

"Ah? Well, he is my arrays teacher. He also took me in as an assistant today." Andrew replied hesitantly.

"Pff, is that how you work nowadays, old man? Fooling young, clueless people into following your steps and wasting their potential? You've stooped so low." Shawn mocked Sorin, a tinge of anger in his voice.

[Clueless? I might be clueless, but the System surely isn't. The quest clearly can be achieved.] Andrew smiled awkwardly.

[Clueless? That boy might not be that far away from reaching the Grandmaster realm. Strictly speaking about arrays, he is far from clueless...] Sorin thought with a weird expression. He truly didn't know what to reply to this.

"Hmph, let's go, Andrew. No need to waste time on this kind of people." Shawn said with a frown.

"Both of you can just lead the way together." Andrew said hesitantly. He truly didn't want to choose between the two of them. One represented an extraordinary reward while the other was a fellow disciple and possibly a good friend.

In the end, the three of them made their way towards the testing room. They passed through the grand hall and climbed a stairway. After a few minutes they reached a small office type room. A middle-aged man was looking through some files as the trio entered.

"Test?" the man didn't look away from the files as he mechanically asked.

"Yes. Master membership." Both Shawn and Sorin responded at the same time. The man then threw a small ball in the air which floated towards Andrew and a light quickly flashed on his body.

"Good, he's already registered with the Academy." the man said as he continued to concentrate on the papers before him.

"You can go in anytime you want." the man waved his hand and a door appeared on the wall on the left.

Andrew didn't say anything and just opened the door and vanished.

[Better to just quickly go in before these two start arguing again.] he though.

The man waved his hand again and a holographic screen showing Andrew appeared in the room. As Sorin was looking at the screen, he suddenly remembered something.

"Did you talk to him about the test?" he asked Shawn. Shawn took a moment to register the question before his eyes went wide.

"Ah shit." Shawn slapped his forehead.

"As if telling him about it would help him. There are clear instructions on each test. If he is good, he passes, if he is not, he fails. Now quiet down you two, I have work to do." the man revealed an annoyed expression as he berated the two.

[Tsk, acting all high and mighty just because you helped prove that formula. And now all you do is look through your proof again and again.] Sorin was a bit annoyed.

[Hmph, you are not even a Grandmaster. And yet, you speak to us like that.] Shawn shook his head as he watched the screen.

...

As Andrew opened the door, his vision blurred and he found himself in a dark space. There was absolutely no light in the room, he couldn't even see his hands. Suddenly, small shining dots of light started appearing in the room.

A few hundreds lights appeared around Andrew and a voice sounded in his head.

[Welcome to the first test, candidate. Each ball of light represents a question. Responding correctly to 20% of the questions indicates Adept proficiency, 45% indicates Veteran proficiency, 70% indicates Peak proficiency. Questions are intended for the Master realm. For higher realms there are other tests designed.]

[Alright. I got it. Now the question is, should I get a mediocre pass? Or should I just do my best?] Andrew thought for a bit before making his decision. [Well, clearly, I can get most benefits if I get a better result, right?]

Andrew extended his hand and touched one of the lights. As soon as his hand made contact with the light, another voice sounded in his head.

"Fundamental Octagonal Alpha-Combination Equation"

[That's easy. The equation starts with...] Andrew rapidly said the answer in his mind. As soon as he finished, the small dot of light flickered and disappeared.

Andrew then started quickly touching the balls of light and responding to questions. His speed was becoming faster and faster. Some of the lights didn't even properly vanish before others were already flickering.

...

[I really hope he won't make a big scene. Attracting too much attention would be very bad. I won't stand a chance against the others from the Council if they want him.] Sorin thought as he looked at the screen.

"Eh? He is answering the questions very fast. I didn't know he was this good?" Shawn was pleasantly surprised.

[Tsk, I might not know the extent of his knowledge, but I was expecting something like this. He has already went through almost half of the questions.] Sorin sighed in his mind. Suddenly, his eyes twitched fiercely. [Ah...so much for not attracting attention.]

Even the middle-aged man suddenly looked at the screen with a strange expression. He then snapped his fingers.

[Tsk, so the others will see it as well?] Sorin grunted in his mind.

Across several rooms in the association the same type of holographic screen suddenly appeared. On the highest floor of the association, there was a small simple room equipped with a bookshelf, a desk and a comfortable chair. There were also a few shelves with weird objects placed on it.

A holographic screen appeared in that room as well.

"Hm, I told that Veren to not bother me with every little guy who comes to take the test." an old woman who was playing with some runes, apparently calculating something, grumbled as she glanced at the screen. She looked for a few seconds before the runes around her disappeared.

"Oh...That's interesting."

...

[Hmm, this is pretty slow. I don't think there is a time limit, but being faster surely won't hurt.] Andrew thought for a bit before an idea struck him.

[System, can you control my mana to connect with all the remaining lights? Can you also list all the questions in order so that they don't overlap?] he asked in his mind.

[Affirmative, host.] The System replied as Andrew felt the mana in his body escape his control and split into tens, hundreds of thin tentacles which extended into the surroundings, each going for a light.

A huge list of questions then started being formed in his mind.

[That's way better.] He started quickly answering them to the best of his knowledge. The Intelligence stat showed its value at this point, as his thinking speed and memory allowed him to answer questions several times faster than a normal person. Tens of lights disappeared every few seconds. After a few minutes there were only two lights left.

[Hmm, I am not sure about these two... Trahan's Law Pattern and Granoi's Rune.] Andrew thought for a bit. [Trahan's Elemental Pattern is used on the runic lock so I am guessing this one is used for law runes, but what's the catalyzer? And that Granoi's Rune, that should be a combination of a law rune and an elemental rune...] he stood there for a few seconds before his eyes shined.

[Right! They are connected! Granoi's Rune is the catalyzer for the law pattern. Trahan must have used this type of rune to create a tangible interface between laws and the material elements. So in the end, the only addition is this specific rune.] as he thought about that, one of the shining spots flickered and disappeared.

[And if it can be connected to the elemental pattern then I can infer it's structure. The properties can be transcribed into mana circuits to create the rune and it should be something like this...] Andrew thought about the outline in his mind. In the end, the last light disappeared.

[Wisdom +1]

[Heh, that wasn't so hard.] Andrew smiled as he waited for the second test to start.

Andrew didn't know that his perfect score drew quite a lot of attention. Not to mention, the moment the last light disappeared, the multicolored ball of light above the Array Master Association started trembling fiercely before a loud ding echoed in the building and in it's surroundings.

...

The moment the sound was heard in the association, people stopped what they were doing before they started exclaiming.

"Who had a perfect score at one of the tests??"

"Who is taking a test right now?"

"Somebody got a perfect score at the knowledge test!"

"That test is specially made so that the older you are, the bigger the pool of questions you get would be. It doesn't matter how old you are, a perfect score is an amazing feat!"

"Hey, hey, what does that mean? There were only about a dozen people in the past who got a perfect score, and one of them is the current head! Does that mean someone else talented enough to become an Ascendant Master has appeared??"

As people were discussing excitedly, a big screen appeared in the grand hall. Everybody turned around and looked intently on the screen.

"It's that young man!"

"Heavens! Did he start studying arrays in the womb?"

"Don't be fooled, he might be way older than what he looks like."

"Yeah but do you see the information on the bottom right corner? 17 years old!"

"God, you are right! To cover most of the questions in the pool for that age you would have to perfectly memorize hundreds of books! Yes, a lot of the formulas can be inferred but there is a ridiculous amount of information which would have to be properly memorized!"

"We all know that our mental capabilities increase as we advance in rank, but he is not even a Core Formation cultivator!"

"A genius! A future Ascendant Master has appeared!"

"Quiet down!!" a powerful voice echoed in the whole building.

"That was Ascendant Master Rouie's voice..." Back in the small office, Sorin said through greeted teeth.

[No matter what benefits I give him, there is no way for me to best everyone here, not to mention the head...If she wants him, then there is nothing I can do.] he sighed.