From Prisoner to Si Chen

"Hey! Man! What are you doing?!"

Suddenly, the two nearby female guards saw Jilan's behavior, their expressions changed slightly, they quickly drew out their daggers from their waists and rushed over.

However, Jilan turned a blind eye to this and kept walking very fast. He rushed to the center of the square in a flash.

There were already queues of young men and women standing here, forming a large square formation, and it looked like there were nearly a hundred people.

However, judging from their clothing alone, 70% to 80% of the nearly 100 people were descendants of nobles, and only a small number were civilians.

The two sides were clearly divided and stood on opposite sides.

It is very simple to distinguish the identities of nobles and commoners, because in this era, ordinary people can only afford linen sweaters and woolen sweaters, and there are many traces of sewing and mending. Thirty or forty patches are common.

Only the nobility wore new silks and furs, as well as colorful tights and pointed cowhide boots.

Gillan's sudden intrusion attracted the attention of this group of people.

Among the people who came to take the apprenticeship assessment, there were only a very small number of men, less than ten. Therefore, such a "reckless" civilian man came running in front of everyone, making the nobles present show contempt and disgust.

"Get this guy out of here quickly!"

A young female noble sneered.

The other nobles around her also kept urging the female guard to come, and the hooting became louder for a while.

As soon as Gilan approached the crowd, the civilians quickly moved away, as if they did not want to have anything to do with him to avoid being implicated.

But just as the group of female guards surrounded Jilan, a female voice with an indifferent tone and dignity sounded:

"quiet!"

Everyone calmed down and looked at the sound.

I saw a tall woman wearing a silver-white silk robe and blond hair shawl walking slowly.

Beside him, there is a female minister wearing a crown and long robe. It was this person who spoke just now.

"What happened?"

The female minister, who looked to be in her forties or fifties, was unsmiling and asked coldly.

"Minister Herald, this civilian has trespassed into the assessment area and we are about to expel him."

The guard quickly lowered his head and said.

The female minister glanced at Ji Lan and said calmly:

"Then what are you waiting for? Act quickly."

"Yes, Minister."

The female guards swarmed up, surrounded Gilan, and were about to drag him out.

Ji Lan, however, looked calm and said to the silver-robed woman:

"I'm here to take the apprenticeship examination, madam."

"Assessment?" The female minister sneered. "There is no need to waste Master McCalla's time. A third-class civilian and a man must not even be able to pass the first test."

"How will you know if you don't try?" Ji Lan said.

"Take it away!" The female minister seemed not to waste her words and ordered the guards to rise.

However, the lady in silver robe raised her hand to signal.

"Forget it, let him stay here. The assessment will be over soon."

McCalla's voice was soft and comfortable to the ears.

Hearing this, the female minister was helpless, but due to the master's status, she could only acquiesce expressionlessly.

"Then, let's start the assessment now."

The female minister spoke loudly to everyone.

"No whispering is allowed, keep quiet throughout the process, and anyone who violates the rules will be kicked out of Queen's Square immediately!"

As she spoke, she made a gesture.

Several waitresses ran behind him and handed out pieces of parchment to each assessor. It also comes with a charcoal pencil.

Gilan took a pen and paper, looked down, and saw a poem written in ancient Roman characters:

"Siren Statue"

This is a siren statue,

The sculptor is highly skilled.

The bronze statue is cleverly equipped with mechanisms:

There are water pipes hidden in the hands, mouth, and fork tips.

The water pipe in the hand fills the pool in three days;

Fork tip water pipe, only takes a day;

spitting water from the mouth will be faster,

Nine hours and thirty-six minutes will do.

If water is released in three places at the same time,

When will the pool be full?

‘Hmm…is there a mathematical problem hidden in the poem? Also, mathematics can be regarded as the basis of alchemy. If you can't even solve this simple linear equation of one variable, you are not qualified to be an apprentice at all. ’

Ji Lan secretly thought.

'In addition, this question also hides a potential filtering condition, which is literacy... If you can't understand the question, you won't be able to solve it. ’

He calmly raised his eyes and noticed that the civilians were all scratching their heads and scratching their heads, their faces full of mourning and despair, and they were obviously illiterate.

Even among the nobles, there were a few who looked embarrassed.

Gillan shook his head and wrote the answer on the parchment with charcoal: 6 hours, 15 minutes and 36 seconds.

His writing movements were quite conspicuous among the examiners, and immediately attracted the attention of the female minister and Mrs. McCarra.

"Huh?" The female minister frowned. "Why so fast? Are you really really good at it or just pretending..."

"Hmph! Come over and take a look!"

She raised her finger and dispatched an escort.

The female guard who took the order quickly stepped forward, approached the blond young man, glanced at him, and then quickly returned.

"Report to the minister, the man wrote down the answer, which is 6 hours, 15 minutes and 36 seconds."

The guard lowered his head and said.

The female minister couldn't help but be stunned.

Mrs. McCullagh on the side nodded and said softly:

"He got it right."

The female minister showed displeasure, but she just snorted coldly.

Fifteen minutes later.

The guards, working with the maids, took back the parchment in the examiner's hand amid exclamations and wails.

After review and screening, the first round actually eliminated 80% to 90% of the people, leaving only a dozen people.

Among the civilians, only Jilan and another young man were left.

Jilan noticed that the young man looked nervous, sweating on his forehead, and seemed to be timid and introverted.

He quickly retracted his gaze because the second round of assessment began again. This time, each person was given a piece of parchment.

After Jilan got it, he read it again.

Soon, his eyebrows raised.

There was another poem on the parchment, but it was full of unfamiliar ancient Roman characters and even symbols.

If he hadn't spent mysterious points to study this language, he might not have been able to understand it.

The difficulty of identification is no less than Han Yu's "Luhun Mountain Fire and Huangfu Xi's Rhyme", which is comparable to the following passage:

"The three lights are fading and no longer shine, tigers, bears, elks, pigs, monkeys and apes are caught. Water dragons, crocodiles, turtles, fish and turtles, crows, owls, eagles, pheasants, swans and falcons. Who is flying and running in the fire? Zhurong bids farewell to the humble and the noble, and the Qi roses are arranged in a garden, and the lotus is spread out in the wild and the freshness is flourishing."

"Thousands of bells and drums are noisy. The chirping and boiling of chi and xun, the red flags, the crimson banners and the purple banners. The hot officials are in the red crowns and pants, and the skin is painted on their thighs and buttocks. The chest is drooping and the belly is lifted by the cart, and the face is drooping and the thighs are leopards."

Even a Chinese dare not say that he knows every word of this poem.

You can imagine how difficult it is for the examiner to read the poem on parchment.

However, this did not pose a problem for Gillan.

He picked up the pen again and marked the pronunciation of each word with ancient Roman vowel symbols.

But there was one person who was even faster than him.

"Madam, I have finished marking."

Not far ahead, a young woman in luxurious clothes raised her hand to signal with a confident smile on her face.

The female minister immediately sent someone to take back the parchment in her hand and handed it to Mrs. McCara beside her.

The silver-robed lady nodded after reading it and said gently:

"Yes, all correct."

"Madam, that is the daughter of Count Nicolas, named Flamel, nineteen years old this year, smart and knowledgeable, and will definitely become your outstanding disciple."

The female minister smiled aside.

McCara just hummed and said:

"No hurry, there is one last test, let's see."

Another fifteen minutes passed.

The maids took back all the parchments and handed them over for review.

This time, most of them were screened out again, leaving only eight people. Gillan found that the civilian youth still stayed.

After the eliminated candidates were escorted out of the square by the guards, the female minister took two steps forward and said in a deep voice:

"Next is the last round of assessment."

She looked around, ignored the two civilian men, smiled and nodded at the nobles, and especially cast an admiring look at the girl named Flamel.

"As long as you pass this round of assessment, you will be qualified to become Master McCara's apprentice."

Hearing this, the remaining examinees showed anticipation and excitement. Only Jilan remained calm and glanced at the silver-robed lady without leaving a trace.

'Mrs. McCara is the apostle of the "Ms. Snow" in the future, so how strong is she now? '

Jilan thought to himself.

He didn't dare to open his spiritual vision to explore rashly, because this would definitely attract the other party's attention.

Soon, the third round of assessment began.

This time, it was no longer parchment that was distributed, but Ms. McCara personally stepped forward and took out three strange items, placed them in her palms, and let everyone identify them.

They were pink corals the size of a finger, with small and dense green bulges on the surface.

An irregular black pebble and a green leaf with jagged teeth and red veins on the surface.

"Three materials, as long as you can recognize one of them, you will pass the test."

McKara said softly.

She walked to the first noble woman and raised her hand to signal.

However, the noble woman frowned, her face changed several times, and she couldn't say anything.

Mrs. McCara shook her head and walked directly to the next person without waiting for the other party to answer.

"Coral, obsidian, and... fern."

The noble woman gritted her teeth and answered.

"All wrong."

McCara said gently.

She took another step and showed it to the next person.

But five people in a row, all answered wrong, and none of them passed the test.

The female minister's face became more and more ugly, and she even doubted in her heart whether Master McCara did it on purpose and never thought of recruiting apprentices.

All this was just the other party perfunctory to the royal family.

Soon, a crisp and lively female voice sounded:

"This should be 'Yingshan'! The other two are 'Dead Charcoal' and 'Moon Blood Grass'!"

The speaker was the noble girl who passed the test the fastest in the second round. She had short purple-black hair and a good-looking face.

"Your name is Flamel Nicola, right?"

Mrs. McCara smiled at the girl.

"My lady, yes."

The noble girl said respectfully.

McCara nodded, quite pleased.

"Yes, you got two right... The last one is not 'Moon Blood Grass', but 'Fern'."

"So that's it." Flamel was a little frustrated. "Yes, 'Moon Blood Grass' will have silver spots, I forgot this."

"It's already very good." Mrs. McCara smiled. "You go to the side and wait."

"Yes, ma'am." Flamel smiled, walked away obediently.

Then he turned his eyes to the last two civilian youths, quite curious.

McKara took away the three materials on hand, replaced them with three more, and showed them to the young man beside Gillan.

The man was sweating and his face was pale. He stammered three nouns.

However, what was unexpected was that one of them was correct and he successfully passed the test.

"What's your name?"

Mrs. McCara asked in a gentle voice.

The civilian young man stammered and said:

"My name is Garken Sosa, my wife."

"Very good, Mr. Garken, you should also wait for Flame."

McCara said softly.

The civilian young man named Garken let out a long breath, wiped his sweat, and walked to Flame with his head down in the unfriendly eyes of the nobles.

Finally, Mrs. McCara replaced another wave of materials, handed her hand to the blond young man, and smiled gently:

"What are these three?"

Gillan lowered his eyes, and a colorful light flashed in his eyes.

The colorful entries suddenly emerged.