Choosing Between One Profession

Today Arjun planned to redeem the secret arts that he earned for coming first in the dojo competition. 

Arjun planned to redeem a defensive secret art because he already had a sword art that came along with the Celestial Qi cultivation technique which can be used for defense. 

Arjun went to the Sect's secret arts pagoda, which had an elder sitting at the reception, and occasionally few disciples would come and go. 

Arjun went towards the elder and said "Disciple meets the elder. Sir, I have a secret arts redemption token, can I redeem it now" while clasping his fists. 

The elder looked at Arjun and said that "Boy, show me your redeem token". 

Arjun immediately took out the token and gave it to the elder. 

The elder took it and said "Boy, tell me what type of secret techniques do you want". 

Arjun said "Elder, I want to redeem for a defensive secret art". 

The elder then threw out a jade slip and said "Choose one from them". 

Arjun bowed towards the elder and after that went through the jade slip. 

There were around two thousand techniques, with around 400 of them being mid-grade, around 1400 high grade, and around 200 top grade techniques. 

Obviously, Arjun went to the top-grade secret arts. The effects of the techniques were almost the same, except that few required specific weapons or few required specific cultivation techniques to be practiced by the cultivator. 

Arjun went through all the top grade's techniques, and an hour later he went to the front desk and exchanged for a secret art. 

The secret art he chose was Solar Radiance Shield, this secret technique had the effect of forming a flickering light barrier around the body, and can withstand 3 attacks from a cultivator at the same realm as user. 

It is a normal secret art at the start but when the proficiency increases the field can extend up to 5m from user and can even absorb the sun light and fire-based attacks to sustain itself. 

If one were to buy this technique it would cost, 350 contribution points, but he got it for free. 

Arjun didn't stop anywhere but directly went back to his abode. 

Arjun then stared reading the technique, after two and half hours he remembered the technique and understood it a bit. 

Arjun then went some distance away from his abode and started to practice it. 

A small light shield, which was flickering can be observed on Arjun's body. 

The light shield consumed one fifth of Arjun's spiritual energy for every 2 minutes and it also did not cover Arjun's whole body, there were some parts which were left out. 

Arjun still didn't reach the usable level according to the secret arts. 

So, Arjun practiced for an hour and then left for classes. 

Today evening, Arjun didn't return back to the abode after formation classes, but went to the Dodo restaurant in yellow market. 

Today, Arjun and the others, were celebrating for successfully becoming cultivators. 

Arjun arrived there with Pavitra. Siri, Ahalya, Leela and Gopal were waiting for them. 

Arjun and the others, ordered food, and some fruit juice to celebrate. 

They all caught up with each other. 

Arjun learnt that Leela and Gopal, didn't waste their time and concentrated their free time on preparing for the scholarship exam. 

Finally, at around 8 'o' clock, after paying the bill of 4 low grade spirit stones and 3 blocks of Spirit stone dust, they returned back to the cave abode. 

Arjun paid 1 low grade spirit stone while the rest shared the remaining bill. Actually, Arjun wanted to pay for the whole bill, but they refused saying that they didn't want to burden him. 

Arjun's routine for the next two weeks was waking up, bathing, cultivating, eating breakfast, cultivating, practicing the Solar Radiance Shield, attending classes, returning back to the abode before sunset, cultivating, bathing, eating dinner, cultivating, preparing for exam, and then finally sleeping for the next two weeks except that sometimes, he would eat dinner along with the girls, with each of them bringing a dish. 

Finally, today was the day of exam. 

The Alchemy exam was in the morning, and the formation exam was in the evening. 

Arjun first went to the, Celestial peak's disciple management hall, and collected this month's sprit stones given by the sect. 

After that Arjun went to the alchemy peak along with Ahalya. 

He went to the front desk and asked "Junior brother Arjun greets senior sister Mukerjee Latha. Senior sister, when does the scholarship test start and can you give any details about the test". 

Arjun can be said to Acquaintance with this senior sister. 

The girl looked at him and said "Junior brother, the test will start in another half an hour, and last for one hour". 

"In this one hour, you should answer 100 questions given in the test paper". 

Arjun then asked "Senior siter, what are the usual marks that can make me qualify the sect examination". 

The girl then replied with a smile "Junior brother, normally answering 70 questions can qualify you for scholarship, but sometimes it may reach up to 85 questions, it depends on your fellow batchmates, the sect provides scholarship for only 3 members per batch". 

Arjun then bowed and said "thank you, senior sister". 

After that Arjun went to the same hall where he sat for the classes and sat in his usual place, with Ahalya beside him. 

After half an hour the test started as the senior sister said. 

Arjun looked at the question paper. The question paper was easy to him, because he had the understanding and memorizing capabilities of 20 years old, and even in his past life he got admission at IIT Madras, competing against 12 lakh people. 

But it is not same for the other children, if one could observe even Ahalya, who spent more than 5 hours every day to study had sweat on her forehead and frowning from time to time. 

All the children here are around 10 years of age, from 9 to 11 years. 

How many of these children would have the maturity of studying instead of playing. There were more than 90 students who still didn't become cultivators. 

This was the scenario, in a sect which recruited disciples, based on their comprehension levels, of course the test was just two-digit additions and subtractions. 

Arjun answered 93 questions, it is not that he couldn't get a perfect score, but getting a perfect score meant that he would highlighting himself too much. 

Getting 93 would put him as a genius, but getting a 100 meant that he was once in a hundred years genius according to the sect. 

After 40 minutes, Arjun completed answering but didn't submit the paper, but was instead cross checking and pretending as he was writing. 

When the time was completed, the papers flew towards the senior brother who was invigilating them. 

The senior brother then looked at them and said "Okay, you can all leave now. Your results would be available on the notice board tomorrow morning". 

After the test, both of them went back to Celestial mist peak. 

Ahalya was looking sad so Arjun asked "Ahalya, don't worry, you have studied hard and you will definitely pass the exam". 

Hearing to Arjun, although Ahalya didn't come out of the sad mood completely, she felt somewhat better and said "Thank you Arjun, but if only I had another five minutes, I would have definitely passed the exam". 

After returning to his abode, he took rest for an hour and again started with Pavitra to the formation peak. 

The exam was same like morning's one. 

But there was a slight problem for Arjun, the classes for alchemy and formations from day after tomorrow were adjusted to morning time, meaning that he can only choose one profession. 

By the end of the day, who was in Bad mood was Arjun.