It seems that Leon’s results in the first stage of the exam would surely be at the very bottom.
After hearing Pisces director’s warning about "no random abstract painting," Amien glanced at the still-blank exam paper on Leon’s desk, slightly shook his head, then sat back up straight and gazed intently at the towering giant tree behind Pisces director.
Twisted, gnarled, rotten, foul.
Rather than branches and leaves, it was more like filthy fragments of animal and plant carcasses strung together by glass-like slender transparent rods, extending from the thick yellow and short helical tree body, swaying lightly in a melancholy yet indifferent manner.
Below the giant monstrous tree was pure white soil buried with a pair of eyeballs and ten fingers, and above it, replacing the sun, was a gigantic harp composed of seven bright stars and two nebulae, slanting and leaning in the deep night sky.
And a slightly ethereal, faceless slender blind girl was stretching out her bare palm that resembled a fleshy ball, pretending to play hollow notes that no one could hear on the harp...
Such a thing is indeed not easy to draw.
After staring at the giant tree behind Pisces director for a long time, still not knowing how to continue his drawing, Amien pondered for a moment, then added seventeen or eighteen thin branch lines sprouting from the originally short, braided lump-like tree.
Then, he drew a pair of circles dotted with ink as eyes under the tree, followed by ten small cylinders representing fingers. He then sketched a "几" character at the top of the exam paper, signifying a harp, and paired it with a stick figure of a woman without a face but clearly having breasts and a behind...
Hmm... Though it still wasn’t quite right, the essence seemed to have been captured.
After examining the maximally abstract "answers" on his exam paper, Amien couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction, put down his pen, and began to wait for Pisces director to "collect the papers."
However, at that moment, a melodious hymn suddenly resounded from a seat three rows away from her.
It was as if thousands of feather pillows had been simultaneously torn apart under the sun—countless pure white feathers with gentle light sprayed into the air from a Cleaner’s exam paper, accompanied by a soaring and crisp female voice chanting, snowflakes drifting down everywhere.
And then, caught off guard, the other Cleaners touched by the falling feathers relaxed their brows and eyes, their anxious expressions instantly turning calm and serene, showing faces of reverence and longing.
Yet, another part of them uncontrollably trembled violently, as if scalded by a red-hot iron, their skin marred by blackened scars from the feathers, their throats releasing uncontrolled cries of excruciating pain.
Was that The Purifier from the Scorpio Branch?
After glancing at the unmoved silhouette still focused on drawing amidst everything happening, Amien did not evade the feather already floating above her head. Instead, she curiously reached out to catch one.
Accompanied by a piercing sound like hot oil meeting water, Amien’s palm was instantly burnt black, a living feather-shaped burn mark appeared.
But at the same time, as if stimulated by something, the abstract monstrous tree on Amien’s exam paper wriggled twice, its helical roots actively pulling out from the soil, transforming into a thick yellow viscous murky stream, rudely sweeping around.
Almost simultaneously, at the other side of the testing room, a cold grey mist suddenly exploded, a large amount of thin, sharp, semi-transparent air currents cutting through with a threatening momentum, leaving Cleaners within the grey mist range covered in cuts. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⦿fire.net
"Damn it! What on earth is this!"
"Weren’t we supposed to be taking a drawing test? What are they doing?"
"Lord Pisces! Someone is cheating! Please wake up!"
Finally, someone completed the exam.
Retrieving one eyeball from above Leon, glancing at the chaos unfolding in the room, Pisces director, literally watching with one eye open and one eye closed, leisurely said:
"Don’t panic, this is all normal. No one is intentionally launching attacks; it’s just the more talented among you showing their abilities with my aid.
Additionally, you don’t need to worry about getting hurt. What is staying in this room isn’t your physical body, only your will. Under my protection, even if their abilities crush and squeeze you, you’d still immediately recover."
Upon hearing Pisces director’s explanation and observing the table and exam paper remain intact despite the sharp air currents, the Cleaners’ hearts gradually settled back down, and then...
In one step, jumped right back into their throats!
As Pisces director’s explanation ended, the intensity of the white feathers, murky stream, and grey mist instantly rose a level, and screams rang out one after another.
Cleaners within others’ "abilities" influence either got burnt black all over, were blooded from cuts, spawned seven hands and eight feet, or rotted from head to toe...
The unluckiest ones even experienced several simultaneously, "symptom" following "symptom," being revived in the enormous Dream Realm, only to face new rounds of torment.
Witnessing the miserable fate of several unlucky souls, who continuously cycled between life and death, most Cleaners present shivered collectively, eyes showing signs of Fear.
Indeed, you wouldn’t die, but no one said it wouldn’t hurt! The quicker you heal, the worse it hurts!
"No, no! This is unfair!"
"Stop, please stop! I quit! I quit the test!"
"Quitting is not an option. Once you entered this exam room, only when the exam is entirely over can you leave."
Raising their hand slightly to press down, forcing all the Cleaners who wanted to flee others’ "abilities" back to their original seats, observing the constantly screaming Cleaners, Pisces director couldn’t help but shake his head and said:
"Truly, every year has been worse than the last... Although your batch’s mental stability isn’t bad, your brains and resilience are the worst I’ve ever seen.
If you had paid more attention, you’d easily notice that in the exam I set up, only ’talent’ can counter ’talent’. Even if your ’talent’ is lacking, with some thinking, you could ward off damage from others’ ’talents’...
Sigh... I guess I must tell you directly!"
With a deep sigh of disappointment, Pisces director closed his eyes again and announced the correct way to pass the first stage of the exam with a visibly low enthusiasm.
"Those who want to continue the exam, quickly pick up your pens, finish drawing your papers, and let your talents show too.
Under the friction of others’ ’abilities,’ your ’talents’ can be honed better. With self-surpassing, you can even achieve the weak overcoming the strong. But if your talent is entirely lacking, even if fully drawn out, could not withstand others’ talent invasion...
Can’t you just hide if you can’t win? Get under the table, won’t you?