On the last Sunday of the month, colorful red silk banners fluttered above ten thousand examination stadiums across all forty-five planets of the Dry-Well Star Kingdom:
[ STUDY HARD, EAT WELL, CULTIVATE PRACTICAL SKILLS — THE FIRST 45-PLANET VOCATIONAL & CULTIVATION EXAM! ]
Unlike the arrogant Immortal Sects of the old days—which only tested whether a ten-year-old child was born with a rare “Heavenly Spirit Root” and kicked out ninety-nine percent of ordinary people like trash—Pei Xuan’s Dry-Well Public Exam had zero age limits, zero bloodline requirements, and tested skills that actually made people’s lives better!
At the Central Exam Stadium on Planet 30, Pei Xuan sat in the main judging booth alongside Old Wei, Tie Zhan, Ye Guhan, Abacus Su, Hong Ling, Old Guo, and Boom-Pot Sun.
Giant wormhole projection screens floated in the sky above the stadium, broadcasting live feeds from World 16 (The Mega-Farm Zone), World 15 (The Heavy Forge Zone), and World 40 (The New Citizen Testing Grounds).
“My Lord, over eighty billion citizens registered for today’s Written Literacy & Practical Cultivation Exam!” Abacus Su reported excitedly, tapping his golden abacus. “To make sure the exam goes smoothly and every student who passes gets their Official Technician Badge and Breakthrough Pill on the spot, we have prepared fifty thousand automated grading arrays—we just need a unified exam bell to link all forty-five planets!”
