Chapter 283: Academy Interview Over

Chapter 283 – Academy Interview Over

After another half an hour went by, the written test finally ended.

The professors promptly collected the test papers and moved to a nearby location to begin rapidly grading the papers.

The way to advance was simple. Those who scored a passing mark would get to participate in the following interview, while those who didn’t would get eliminated on the spot.

After the professors finished their rapid grading, 1,107 out of the 1,764 examinees were eliminated. The disqualification rate was simply astonishing.

Subsequently, the losers boarded the helicopters with sad expressions on their faces and left one after another.

Meanwhile, the winners sharpened their expressions as they boarded the giant squid and traversed through the Black Lake. They then entered the castle complex to participate in the even more brutal interview.

Twenty minutes later, the qualifying candidates walked through a wide corridor and arrived inside the auditorium. Under the professors’ command, they found a random seat and sat down.

None of the candidates conversed with each other.

After reaching this point, everyone was a rival.

“Students.” Standing on the podium, Professor Li looked down at the students and said, “Please concentrate on the following part. In a moment, I will be calling you based on your assigned numbers. Those named, please enter the interview booth behind me. I will only repeat each number three times. Those who fail to respond will be deemed as having forfeited their participation rights.

“Numbers 0021, 0045, and 0047!”

“Me!”

“Me!”

Three candidates responded instantly while raising their hands. They then desperately rushed out of their seats and toward Professor Li.

“Mhm. Go on in. Make sure to be polite.”

“Thank you, teacher.” x3

After briefly exchanging looks with each other, the three candidates pushed open the wooden door and entered the small booth. They then stood side by side each other.

There were five examiners inside the booth, and sitting in the center was none other than Chen Yu.

“We have a lot of candidates, so let’s dispense with the good manners and begin the interview directly.” Resting his chin on his hands, Chen Yu visually inspected the three candidates. He then pointed at the candidate to his left and asked, “How many elements are there in the periodic table of elements?”

The left candidate couldn’t help but be taken aback by the unexpectedly simple question. However, he still quickly blurted out the answer. “One hundred and eighteen.”

“Excellent.” Chen Yu nodded. He then looked to the second person and asked, “How many periods are there? And how many elements do each period contain?”

After pondering for a moment, the middle candidate answered, “The first period has two elements, the second and third periods have eight elements, the fourth and fifth periods have eighteen elements, and the sixth and seventh periods have 32 elements.”

“Excellent.” Chen Yu gave the middle candidate a thumbs up before looking at the third candidate.

Assuming that Chen Yu would ask him to name all the elements in the periodic table, the third candidate puffed up his chest proudly and awaited Chen Yu’s question.

“What is the relative atomic mass of each element?”

The third candidate: “???”

“Hmm.” Seeing the third candidate’s stunned reaction, Chen Yu shook his head and picked up his pen. He then randomly made a few strokes on the paper before him. “It seems there is a problem with your knowledge reserve.”

Placing down his pen, Chen Yu looked toward the candidate on his left once more. “Second round. How many major language families are there in the world?”

After briefly glancing at the third candidate and secretly gloating over his misfortune, the first candidate blurted out, “There are seven major language families.”

“Very good. What are their names?”

After hesitating slightly, the second candidate answered, “They are the Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Altaic, Semitic, Dravidian, Caucasian, and Ural languages.”

“Excellent. It’s your turn now.” Looking at the third candidate, Chen Yu smiled and asked, “Please speak the representative languages of these seven major language families.”

The third candidate: “…”

“Student, there is indeed a problem with your knowledge.” Chen Yu made a few strokes with his pen once more. He then began the third round of questions and asked the first candidate, “Since when did humans begin paying attention to astronomical phenomena?”

Nearly jumping in excitement, the first candidate answered, “The Neolithic! Roughly 2500 BC!”

“Second question: How did humans observe astronomy in 2500 BC?”

Frowning, the second candidate pondered for a moment before answering, “They place boulders in specific positions to symbolize the movement of the moon and the sun, as well as the time of the winter and summer solstices within a year. The other characteristics of Neolithic astronomy have yet to be solved by modern humans.”

“Wonderful! Excellent!” Chen Yu applauded.

Clap, clap, clap.

The four other examiners in the background also applauded.

After the applause stopped, Chen Yu looked toward the third candidate.

The third candidate: “…”

“What was the name of the leader who established the Stonehenge at that time?”

The third candidate: “…”

“Why don’t you know anything?”

“Mr. H-Headmaster…” the third candidate muttered with a grim expression.

“What is it?”

“N-Nothing…” However, the third candidate eventually held himself back from speaking up.

“In that case, that’s it for the interview. You guys can leave now,” Chen Yu said, waving his hand.”

“YES!” Unable to hold in his joy and excitement any longer, the first candidate bowed to Chen Yu before striding out of the interview booth.

“Thank you, examiners.” The second candidate bowed before silently leaving.

As for the third candidate, his face flushed red with anger. Although he looked as if he wanted to speak up, he didn’t say anything in the end and left in a fit of rage.

“What do you think?” After waiting for the three candidates to leave, Chen Yu looked at the examiners on his left and right and asked, “Which do you think deserves to stay?”

In response, the professors “politely” smiled and said, “You have the final say, you have the final say…”

“Alright, then.” Chen Yu nodded. He then suddenly began speaking in a serious tone, “We’ll accept only the second candidate, then. He remained unfazed by his surroundings for most of the interview. He focused all of his attention on his own questions. He also only answered after thinking twice. He is an excellent candidate.

“The first candidate has too many emotional fluctuations. His self-control is flawed, and he is prone to grow complacent. He might crumble after he suffers a major setback. Also, throughout the interview, he has never looked at any other examiner apart from myself. He has high self-esteem and is not suitable for joining the Academy.

“The third candidate has a problem with his patience. When mistreated, he is incapable of remaining calm and refuting with questions. He has only shown himself to be angry and has shown no excellent qualities. He also lacks courage, so he will be susceptible to greater powers and might deviate from his goals. He is similarly not suited to join the Academy.”

This was the selection method Chen Yu had decided on.

The 657 candidates participating in the interview were undoubtedly top-tier when it came to academic knowledge. Hence, there was no point in testing their knowledge any further. Instead, the interview’s main purpose was to test the candidates’ character.

As for which personalities were considered good or bad, Chen Yu naturally had the final say.

By 2 PM, all 657 candidates had gone through their interview.

Of them, 577 were disqualified, leaving behind only 80 candidates.

“Headmaster, this is the name list for the 80 students. Should we announce the result now?”

Three minutes after the final interview ended, Professor Li brought a printed copy of the name list for the qualified candidates. He then placed the document on Chen Yu’s desk.

“Wait a moment. Let me see if there’s anything wrong.”

Picking up the document, Chen Yu scanned through it quickly. After thinking for a moment, he added eight candidates’ names to the bottom of the list. “I added eight more candidates. Eighty-eight. That’s an auspicious number. Here, take it and go announce the results.”

After accepting the name list, Professor Li looked at the eight additional names and asked quizzically, “Haven’t these eight candidates been eliminated already, Headmaster?”

“Yes.” Chen Yu nodded. “Although they were eliminated during the interview, in my opinion, they are all excellent students. They possess a talent that has shocked me. We cannot let them get away.”

“Really?” Surprised, Professor Li asked, “What talent?”

“Every one of them is beautiful.”

“…”