My Cell Prison - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Chapter 51 – Name List

In one hour’s time, all the Trainee Knights who had selected ‘Mysticism’ were all assembled (The few who failed the test were not present).

Han Dong glanced over his fellow Trainee Knights.

Aside from Han Dong, there were only two participants who had managed to go through the Department of Mysticism’s test without any visible injury.

One of them appeared to be from Arabia, a youth of about 19 years old with a faded yellow skin tone, wearing the iconic Arabic headscarf. While waiting for the time to pass, he had been seated cross-legged, meditating.

The young man had opened his eyes and flashed a courteous smile when he felt Han Dong’s eyes on him.

The other participant was fairly eye-catching.

She was a woman wearing half a wooden mask, having short black hair that was tucked behind her ears. Her oval face complemented her western features of a high nose bridge and thick lips. A pair of jet black eyes gave her an air of mystery.

What made her notable was the leather satchel on her waist which hung various potion vials, and her backpack had various instruments that were related to the study of Herbalism.

This woman took out a mortar and pestle before everyone, and after matching the appropriate herbs that she brought in her bag, she added the special formula she had prepared by her waist and started milling them together.

She created a green grass ointment which was an effective disinfectant, staunched blood, that also accelerated the mending of wounds to a certain extent.

With that, she gave a genial smile and handed out the ointment to the various Trainee Knights that had been injured, winning plenty of their trust as a result.

“The leadership type? If the class is made up similarly like how it is in a university, this woman would most likely become the class representative from here onward.”

Before too long, the short haired woman walked past Han Dong, and when she saw that he did not seem to suffer any injury, she simply offered a slight nod as well as a respectful smile.

As someone who had taught in a university, Han Dong had seen countless young women in his time but never had he seen someone as exceptional as this woman, bearing such a deadly compliment of good looks, temperament, and strength.

The short haired woman seemed to have sensed that Han Dong was somewhat different from the rest, and turned her head to regard Han Dong several times.

There were a total of 37 Trainee Knights gathered in the council chambers. They were all Trainee Knights who had devoted their Fate point toward ‘Mysticism’ and had managed to make it through the various harrowing assessments this year.

Even though they were given the green grass ointment, several of these trainees were still complaining about the test.

“I heard that the Trainee Knights that are taking the Department of Crusaders’ standardized test would be assessed with specialized equipment and judged accordingly, without needing to experience any bit of danger, both fair and just… Why must the Department of Mysticism come up with such a perilous test for the already fewer freshmen they have?”

“Perhaps that is the reason why so few end up choosing Mysticism…”

…

…

“The entrance test for the Department of Mysticism is based on the ‘Mysticism Project’ that Mr. Black and White has written. It is a test method that was derived after undergoing 3 generations of revision.”

All of a sudden, a powerful voice boomed across the chambers, overwhelming everyone’s discussion.

“This test assesses a person’s strength, mental judgment, and acts as an IQ evaluation as well… After all, you have all been through the Novice Destiny Scenario, something completed with the premise of forming teams with fellow participants. You may very well have lucked your way into passing the scenario through loopholes or the death of others, so there’s a need for us to conduct an overall assessment of your individual strength. Mystic Disciples need to have the ability to fight by themselves, otherwise when you would be the first to die the moment you head out beyond the city walls and do battle due to the specialized role of a Mystic Disciple fills when you join a Knights’ Regiment. Any Trainee Knight who is dissatisfied with the test in any way may leave your opinions in writing and hand it over to Mr. Black and White… You would even be rewarded if you offer a suggestion that has value in being adopted.”

After hearing this voice speak, the entire council chamber instantly became dead silent.

At the same time, the tutors all arrived together.

Wreathed in an air of poisonous plague, lashing vines or flashing in celestial glow…

Each and every one of the tutors appeared in supernatural ways as they sat on the suspended seats on the second level.

An invisible pressure swept through everyone present.

While each and every one of the tutors had completely different abilities, equipment, and accessories, all of them shared one commonality.

They were all wearing an emblematic beak mask on their faces, with their protective goggles sewn into the mask itself.

The design of these strange beak masks originated from the largest plague that hit medieval Europe – The Black Death.

A group of self-styled ‘plague doctors’ had appeared, and wore this sort of beak mask. The beaks were filled with herbs and spices that were used to filter the so-called sickness, and they were considered to be the earliest iteration of a gas mask.

But it was simply impossible for them to cure the Black Death plague with the medical technology of that time.

While this group of ‘plague doctors’ looked very professional in terms of their attire, they actually had no understanding of the principle of the disease, only using folk remedies and other such methods to treat people. For example:

They believed that the disease originated from the stench in the air, which was why they used frankincense to dispel the ‘sickness’.

They thought that people got sick because their blood got tainted, so there was widespread use of the simple and crude method of ‘bloodletting’ as treatment.

These methods were not only useless in treating the disease, it even ended up causing some patients to result in an early death during the process of treatment.

Since they could not be saved, all they could do was deal with the corpse.

A majority of these plague doctors thus took the corpses of the sick and dead patients back to the hospital for further autopsy.

Their arrival was akin to the coming of death to the general public; whoever who had a visitation from these doctors would soon see an early grave.

Over time, the eccentric outfit wearing plague doctors became nicknamed as ‘death messengers’, and the beak mask became an ominous sign.

“The test evaluation has been completed. Your test results would be divided into three grades. The right to choose your tutor would differ in accordance with the grades you received. First, we shall announce the name list of those who passed. These Trainee Knights who have qualified would not have any right to choose their tutors independently. Instead, it would be the tutors who would pose academic questions to you, and those with satisfactory answers would become the tutor’s apprentice.”

“What if your answer isn’t satisfactory?” Someone immediately asked.

“If none of the tutors are willing to take you in, you shall become the rudimental apprentice in our Department of Mysticism, unable to obtain resources from the tutors, and left to fend for yourself… If you are unable to take it, please choose to drop out.”

This answer left several of the Trainee Knights pale.

Soon after, a female tutor was in charge of calling out the names of the people who passed. Each and every one of these Trainee Knights had a glum expression when they got named, getting the sense that they had all been labeled as slaves.

They needed to do their best to gain favor with the tutors so that they would accept them as their apprentice… Otherwise, they would have no future to speak of.

Out of the 37 trainees present, a total of 25 names had been called out this round.

“Next are the names of trainees that had been evaluated as ‘intermediates’. They would at least be able to choose from the tutors that are professionally known as ‘instructors’ here in the Department of Mysticism. If your talent and the academic answer you give are acceptable, you could very well be favored by an associate professor… A few might even be favored by a professor.”

There were only 9 Trainee Knights who were graded as intermediates, and Han Dong was not among the names. That also meant there were only 3 left that were above the intermediary grade.

“Next, I will be announcing the names that obtained an ‘outstanding’ grade. Trainee Knights who have been evaluated as outstanding are given the right to get double the choice! They are able to choose two tutors and are allowed to abandon one after half a year, choosing to specialize in a particular direction according to their own preferences.”

“The Trainee Knights who have gotten an outstanding evaluation are as follows: Numan, with an overall rating of 90 points.”

The Arab youth smiled, still seated cross-legged on his stone bench.

“Mia Seminovic, with an overall rating of 93 points.”

When the short haired woman who had handed out the ointment to everyone heard her name get called out, she flicked her hair and beamed, barely hiding her joy.

Seconds turned into minutes, yet the name ‘Nicholas’ had not been called out like he was someone redundant.