The thirty minutes passed in a blur. Students huddled in groups, strategizing and forming alliances for the later trials. Some meditated alone, preparing mentally. Others paced nervously, unable to sit still.

Aria spent most of the time with Mira and Torin, who were giving her rapid-fire advice about academy culture and what to expect.

"The comprehension test is usually the hardest," Mira explained. "Not because it requires power, but because it requires actual understanding. You can't brute-force your way through it."

"And they use ancient techniques that nobody's seen before," Torin added. "So you can't prepare by studying ahead of time. You just have to be smart."

"How long do we usually have?" Aria asked.

"Six hours," Mira said. "Most people barely make it to the passing threshold by the end. The really good students finish in three or four hours."

Before Aria could respond, a deep gong sound echoed across the platform. Every student fell silent immediately.

Vice Dean Yara materialized again, this time floating in the air above them so everyone could see her clearly.

"The first trial begins now," she announced. "Follow your designated proctor through the first gate. You will be guided to your examination station. Remember—this is an individual test. No communication with other students once you enter. No external aids. Only your own comprehension and intelligence matter here."

As she spoke, academy staff in white robes began moving through the crowd, organizing students into groups. Aria found herself in the first group—apparently high-level students went first—along with Kieran, Lyssa, Jin, and about fifty others.

"Good luck!" Mira called out as Aria was led away. "You've got this!"

Aria waved back, then followed her proctor through the shimmering gate.

The space beyond was vast and empty. A massive hall that seemed to stretch infinitely in all directions, with thousands of stone platforms arranged in perfect geometric patterns. Each platform had a single object on it—a tall stele made of material that looked ancient beyond measure.

Aria stared at the steles as they approached. They were giving off an aura that made her skin prickle. Not threatening, exactly, but powerful. Old. Like they'd existed since the beginning of time itself.

"Whoa," someone whispered behind her. "What are those made of?"

Even the material itself felt strange—not stone, not metal, but something else entirely. Something that predated normal matter. Just looking at it made Aria feel small and young, like she was in the presence of something that had witnessed the birth and death of countless realms almost similar to the presence of her father.

The proctor led them to their assigned platforms. Aria found herself near the center, with Kieran to her left and Lyssa to her right. Other students spread out across the hall until everyone had their own stele to examine.

Vice Dean Yara appeared in the center of the hall, her voice carrying to everyone equally despite the vast distances.

"These steles were created by the First Dean of our academy," she explained. "He was a cultivator who reached The Infinite—100% Infinity Law comprehension—and transcended our realm entirely. Before he left, he crafted these examination tools as a gift to future generations."

She gestured to the steles, and they began to glow faintly with inner light.

"Embedded within each stele is a technique. A cultivation method of extraordinary complexity and power, designed specifically for Masters and those below to study. The technique is the same in each stele—you are all being tested on the same material."

Some students shifted nervously. A technique designed by someone who reached The Infinite? That would be absurdly complex.

"Your task is simple," the Vice Dean continued. "Comprehend the technique. To pass this test, you must understand at least 50% of it. You have six hours."

She paused, then added, "As you study, the stele will react to your level of understanding. A light will emanate from you—a side effect of the technique itself. This light indicates your comprehension level:

White light: 0-29% understanding

Blue light: 30-49% understanding

Green light: 50-69% understanding

Orange light: 70-89% understanding

Purple light: 90-99% understanding Gold light: 100% understanding

The deeper and richer the color within its range, the higher your understanding. For example, pale green means you've just barely passed 50%, while deep green means you're approaching 69%."

She looked across the assembled students. "I should warn you—in the five hundred years I've overseen these trials, I have never seen anyone reach gold light. Most students achieve green or orange. Our most talented students have reached light purple to dark purple. Do not be discouraged if you struggle. This technique was designed to challenge even Masters."

Vice Dean Yara raised her hand. "You may begin. Sit before your stele and open your mind to its teachings. Good luck."

She vanished, and silence fell over the hall.

Aria sat cross-legged in front of her stele and took a deep breath. Around her, other students were doing the same, all of them staring at their steles with varying expressions of determination and nervousness.

She reached out with her divine sense, touching the stele's surface.

Immediately, information flooded into her mind.

The technique was called "Infinite Recursion Method."

At first glance, it seemed impossibly complex. Layers upon layers of principles, each one building on the last, creating feedback loops that spiraled into infinity. The technique used concepts from all five stages of Infinity Law simultaneously, weaving them together in patterns that made her head spin.

But then Aria took a breath and did what Father had taught her—broke it down into components.

Stage 1 Endless Path principles: creating potential that could grow forever. Stage 2 Multiplicity principles: making one technique become countably infinite variations. Stage 3 Continuum principles: connecting those variations into a seamless whole. Stage 4 Dimensional principles: spreading the technique across infinite dimensional hierarchies. Stage 5 Hierarchical principles: organizing everything into ordered infinity structures.

Each piece made sense individually. The genius was in how they connected.

White light began to glow around Aria. Pale at first, barely visible. 0% comprehension.

She dove deeper, analyzing the connections. How Stage 1 fed into Stage 2. How Stage 2 enabled Stage 3. The elegant mathematics underlying everything.

The white light brightened. 10%. 15%. 20%.

Around the hall, other students were starting to glow as well. Most showed pale white light. A few were reaching brighter white, approaching the 30% threshold.

Aria barely noticed. She was lost in the technique, seeing how the First Dean had crafted something that worked on multiple levels simultaneously. It was beautiful. Like a mathematical proof written in pure Law principles.

25%. 28%. 29%.

The light around her shifted, taking on a faint blue tinge. She'd crossed into the 30-49% range.

Kieran, meditating on his platform, opened one eye in surprise. Blue light already? It had only been twenty minutes. He'd just barely reached bright white himself.

Aria pushed deeper. The technique's core was revealing itself now. Not just how it worked, but why it worked. The fundamental principles that made infinity recursive, each loop strengthening the next.

35%. 40%. 45%.

The blue light around her deepened, growing richer. Other students were starting to notice. Whispers of divine sense rippled through the hall—who was that? How were they moving so fast?

Lyssa, to Aria's right, gritted her teeth and focused harder on her own stele. She was at 25%, proud of her progress, but this unknown girl was already at 45% and climbing. Unacceptable. She needed to push harder.

Aria reached the critical connection—the moment where all five stages unified into a single coherent whole. It was like watching five rivers merge into one ocean, each flow necessary for the whole.

48%. 49%. 50%.

Green light burst forth, washing over her platform. She'd passed.

Gasps echoed through the hall. Green light in under an hour? That was prodigy-level comprehension speed.

But Aria didn't stop. She was too absorbed in the technique's beauty to notice the commotion. There was more to understand, and she wanted to see it all.

The technique didn't just combine the five stages—it showed how they were all expressions of the same fundamental principle. Infinity wasn't five separate concepts. It was one concept viewed from five different perspectives.

55%. 60%. 65%.

The green light deepened, becoming rich and vibrant. Aria was blazing through the comprehension test at a speed that shouldn't be possible.

Vice Dean Yara, observing from a hidden vantage point, straightened in her seat. Deep green already? In an hour and a half? She checked her records. The last time someone had reached deep green this quickly was... three epochs ago. And that student had gone on to become a Sovereign.

70%.

The light shifted again, taking on an orange hue.

Now everyone was watching. Even students who should have been focused on their own comprehension couldn't help but stare. Orange light meant exceeding 70% understanding. Only genius-level cultivators reached orange.

Jin Silversky, the mysterious prodigy everyone whispered about, was at 35%. He considered himself exceptional. But this girl—whoever she was—had just lapped him twice over.

Aria felt the final layers of the technique revealing themselves. The subtle interactions she'd missed. The optimization patterns built into the foundation. The way the First Dean had designed it to be learnable, creating intentional "stepping stones" of understanding that guided students toward the truth.

75%. 80%. 85%.

The orange light blazed brighter, deeper, more intense.

In the observation area, Kaelen grabbed Elias's arm. "Is that—is that Aria?"

"Yes," Elias said, pride evident in his voice. "She's understanding it perfectly."

"She's going to reach purple, isn't she?" Sarah breathed. "Purple is genius territory. I've only seen it achieved once in my entire teaching career."

Aria was piecing together the last major concepts. The technique's ultimate purpose revealed itself—it wasn't just a cultivation method. It was a teaching tool. The First Dean had embedded lessons about infinity itself into every layer. By comprehending the technique, you naturally improved your Infinity Law understanding.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

90%.

Purple light erupted around her, shocking everyone in the hall into complete silence.

Vice Dean Yara stood up from her seat. Purple? After only two hours? That was—that was unprecedented. Even the most legendary students in academy history had taken four or five hours to reach purple.

Aria felt the technique's final secrets opening to her. The subtle refinements. The optimization tricks. The personal insights from the First Dean himself, embedded in the structure like hidden messages.

It all made sense now. Perfect, complete sense.

92%. 94%. 96%. 98%.

The purple light deepened to its darkest shade. Students weren't even pretending to work anymore—everyone was watching in absolute awe.

Kieran had given up on his own stele entirely. He was at 42%, respectable progress, but meaningless compared to what he was witnessing. This wasn't just talent. This was something else entirely.

99%.

Aria reached the final piece of understanding. The last subtle detail that completed the picture. The technique wasn't just teaching about infinity—it was demonstrating that understanding infinity was less about knowledge and more about perspective. Seeing the familiar from new angles. Accepting that complexity could be simple if you knew where to look.

100%.

Golden light exploded outward.

The entire hall filled with radiant gold illumination that made several students shield their eyes. It pulsed like a heartbeat, washing over every surface, announcing to everyone present that someone had achieved perfect understanding.

Aria opened her eyes, the golden light slowly fading as she withdrew from her meditation.

She looked around, confused by the absolute silence and hundreds of stares directed at her.

"Um," she said uncertainly. "Did I do something wrong?"

Nobody answered. They were too shocked to speak.

Vice Dean Yara materialized directly in front of Aria's platform, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You... you comprehended it completely?"

"Yes?" Aria wasn't sure why that was surprising. "Was I not supposed to?"

"Child, do you understand what you just did?" The Vice Dean's voice shook slightly. "Gold light has never been achieved. Not once in five hundred years of examinations. Not once in the countless years before I took this position. The records claim it happened three times in the academy's entire fifty-million-year history."

Aria blinked. "Oh. I didn't know that."

"How long did it take you?"

Aria checked her internal time sense. "About two hours and fifteen minutes?"

More shocked silence.

Kieran found his voice first. "Two hours? You achieved perfect comprehension in two hours?"

"Well, yes. The technique isn't that complex once you understand the underlying principles." Aria looked at her stele, then back at the stunned crowd. "The First Dean structured it really cleverly. He built in conceptual stepping stones that naturally guide your understanding. It's elegant. Like a well-written proof."

"Not that complex," someone repeated faintly.

"Simple," another student whispered.

Lyssa was staring at Aria like she'd grown a second head. "What's your name?"

"Aria Vance."

The name rippled through the crowd.

"Vance—as in the Sovereign?"

"His daughter?"

"That explains it."

"Explains nothing! I've been trained by Sovereigns my whole life and I'm only at 30%!"

Vice Dean Yara held up a hand for silence. She looked at Aria with an expression mixing awe, curiosity, and calculation.

"Aria Vance," she said slowly. "You have achieved something that legends failed to accomplish. The First Dean's technique, comprehended perfectly in just over two hours." She paused. "Tell me—what did you find simple about it?"

Aria considered how to explain. "The technique uses all five stages of Infinity Law, right? But they're not separate. They're different perspectives on the same fundamental principle. Once you see that, everything else just... follows naturally. The complexity becomes simplicity because you're not learning five different things—you're learning one thing from five angles."

She looked around at the shocked faces and felt suddenly self-conscious. "Is that not how everyone sees it?"

Dead silence.

Then, from somewhere in the back, a student started laughing. Not mocking laughter—the slightly hysterical laughter of someone who'd just realized how outclassed they were.

Others joined in. Soon the hall was filled with a mix of laughter, groans, and muttered disbelief.

"She calls it simple," Kieran said to Jin. "The most complex technique ever created for examination purposes, and she calls it simple."

Jin shook his head slowly. "I think we just met the next legend of this academy."

Mira and Torin, who'd been escorted to the hall with the second group and had witnessed the golden light display, were gaping at Aria.

"You said you were balanced," Mira managed weakly. "You didn't say you were a balanced monster genius who makes impossible things look easy!"

"I didn't know!" Aria protested.

Vice Dean Yara raised her hand again, and this time her voice carried undeniable authority. "Aria Vance has completed the comprehension test with perfect marks. She is the fourth person in our academy's fifty-million-year history to achieve gold light, and the fastest by a considerable margin."

She looked at the other students. "The rest of you have four hours remaining. I suggest you focus on your own comprehension rather than gawking at your competitor. Unless, of course, you wish to fail?"

That got everyone moving again. Students hurriedly returned their attention to their steles, though Aria noticed more than a few continued to glance her way when they thought she wasn't looking.

The Vice Dean turned back to Aria. "You may proceed to the waiting area for the second trial. Your performance here has earned you the right to rest while others complete their examination."

"Thank you, Vice Dean." Aria stood and bowed respectfully.

As she walked toward the exit, the golden light's afterglow still faintly visible around her, conversations erupted across the hall in hushed whispers.

In the observation area, Kaelen was crying happy tears. "That's my daughter. That's my baby girl."

"She exceeded expectations," Elias said, though his voice carried unusual warmth. "I'm proud of her."

"Exceeded expectations?" Sarah laughed. "Elias, she just made history. She didn't exceed expectations—she shattered them into infinite pieces and then comprehended the underlying principles of the pieces."

Down in the hall, Aria reached the exit and paused to look back. Hundreds of students, all talented prodigies in their own right, all struggling with a technique she'd found straightforward.

Father had trained her well.

Better than well.

As she stepped through the gate to the waiting area, one thought echoed in her mind:

If the comprehension test was supposed to be the hardest trial, and she'd found it simple, what did that mean for the other two tests?

She smiled.

This was going to be fun.

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