202: The society gained a reputation, and new students enthusiastically applied to join.

Xinghai University, School of Literature and Law district, outside the temporary activity room of the "Hundred Schools Society."

The morning light had not yet fully dispersed the night mist, but a long, winding dragon-like queue had already formed on the flagstone path. Figures flickered, and the hum of low conversations mixed with the faint ripples of rules unique to Divine Domain linking, making this usually quiet corner exceptionally lively.

The line started in front of the activity room's somewhat plain wooden door, curved along the corridor, and stretched all the way to the main college road twenty meters away. At a rough glance, there were no fewer than a hundred people! And the number was still increasing.

Most of these people were freshmen. Their faces bore expressions of curiosity, excitement, scrutiny, or a hint of defiance. Their clothing styles varied: some wore simple cultivation suits, others wore luxurious Family attire, and some even wore the official robes representing their respective colleges—the dark red trim of the Combat College, the blue and white ripples of the Elemental College, and even two wearing the deep purple robes of the Theology Research Institute.

In their hands, they either held the "Hundred Schools Society Recruitment Brochure" with wet ink, freshly plucked from the college bulletin board, or they gripped their personal terminals, with screens frozen on a brilliant moment from last night's battle video—especially the scene of trapping the beast with chains and slaying the god with concentrated fire.

"Stop pushing! Get in line!" a burly freshman with a booming voice roared back. He wore a Roaring Bear Head Badge on his chest, clearly following the path of beast-type followers.

"Who's pushing? This place was narrow to begin with!" A nimble girl beside him, with faint traces of wind swirls in her eyes, refused to back down. Her sleeves were embroidered with Flowing Cloud Patterns, suggesting a Divine Domain of flying or agility-type followers.

"Everyone be quiet! Don't disturb Society Head Lin's rest!" An excited voice came from near the front of the line. Everyone looked over to see a round-faced, slightly chubby boy with an average Divine Domain aura (faintly showing sludge fluctuations) turning around to maintain Order with a serious face. It was Liu An, one of the original three applicants whose Divine Domain featured the Slime. At this moment, his face shone with reflected glory, and it seemed as if his spine had straightened considerably overnight.

"Tsk, isn't that 'Slime Monster' Liu An? Yesterday the club only had three people, but today they're acting all high and mighty."

"He followed the right person! Did you not watch Society Head Lin Zhou's battle last night, or did you just not understand it? Even Wang Meng was humbled!" someone immediately retorted.

"Exactly! That tactical coordination, that use of mechanisms, that aura stacking... if my Gargoyle followers could learn even a bit of the essence of coordinated combat, their fighting power would increase by at least thirty percent!" A pale-faced boy with dark circles under his eyes, suspected of staying up all night studying the video, pushed up his glasses with a burning gaze.

"What I'm interested in is the 'thought'! Doesn't the brochure say the society will teach 'civilization concepts compatible with Divine Domain development'? My Forest Deer Spirit followers have been stuck at the Nature Affinity stage, lacking a higher level of 'Order' to guide them. Maybe..." a gentle-looking girl said softly, her eyes full of expectation.

"Oh please, I think it's just a gimmick. If it were really that amazing, why did no one know about it before? They even have a written test plus a practical assessment, making it harder to get into than the Student Union." There were also skeptics mixed in the crowd, but their voices were noticeably smaller; after all, the long queue in front was the most powerful rebuttal.

Inside the activity room, it was a different scene entirely.

The small room was now divided into three areas.

On the left against the wall, Zhao Hao sat broadly and boldly behind a temporary alloy square table, which was piled high with various "Society Application Forms." His brow was furrowed as he used a thick rune pen to quickly mark checks or crosses on the forms, occasionally looking up to roar: "Next! Name! Core Divine Domain followers! Specialty!" His voice was booming, carrying a dragon-like pressure that made the freshmen coming to submit their forms feel involuntarily nervous.

At his feet were two large cardboard boxes filled with discarded forms—those were from the initial screening. The criteria were simple: those with severely malformed Divine Domain development (such as having only one type of resource follower with no combat ability), those with terrible reputations (a history of fraud or malicious competition), or those whose application forms were written sloppily like a joke were immediately rejected. Even so, the forms that passed his first hurdle and were placed next to Li Mo still formed a thick stack.

In the middle area, Li Mo occupied a long laboratory table. Besides the pile of application forms, several draft papers covered in complex lines and data were spread out, and a miniature Preliminary Evaluation Device driven by gears and clockwork was buzzing. He pushed up his thick crystal glasses, the lenses reflecting the glow of data streams, as his fingers moved rapidly between the application forms and the evaluation device, muttering under his breath:

"Zhang Wei, Rock Golem Divine Domain... Hmm, Strength growth B, Defense A, Mobility E, Elemental Resistance (Earth) S, (Water) D... Compatibility Assessment: Mohist Mechanical Arts (Defense-oriented) Medium, School of Military (Positional Warfare) Medium, School of Legalism (Discipline) Low... Suggestion: Can attempt to study Mohist Basic Structural Studies to improve golem joint flexibility... Preliminary Score: 72, Pending."

"Wang Lily, Flower Fairy Divine Domain... Specializing in Support, Healing, and Nature Communication... Strength E, Agility C, Spiritual Growth A+... Compatibility: School of Medicine (High), School of Daoism (High), School of Agriculture (Medium), School of Confucianism (Education-oriented: Medium)... Hmm, rare support type, good potential. Suggest focused observation. Preliminary Score: 85, Highly Recommended."

What he was conducting was a data-based preliminary compatibility analysis and potential assessment. Although not perfectly accurate, combined with Li Mo's own digitized understanding of the Mechanical Goblins Divine Domain and his preliminary grasp of Lin Zhou's Hundred Schools concepts, it could filter out those who clearly did not fit the society's development path or had too little potential.

And at the very back of the room, by the window, Lin Zhou sat alone behind a desk.

The morning light spilled through the window, plating him in a layer of pale gold. Before him was no mountain of forms, only a clean sheet of draft paper, an ordinary pen, and a cup of clear tea curling with steam—it was the "Heart-Calming Spirit-Concentrating Tea" Su Yueyao had sent someone to deliver this morning, produced from a unique spiritual plant in her Moon Divine Domain.

Lin Zhou's eyes were as calm as a deep pool, looking at the crowd queuing outside, yet appearing to see through them, thinking about something deeper.

Defeating Wang Meng was within his expectations. However, the resulting sensation slightly exceeded his predictions. Overnight, going from being deserted to bustling like a marketplace, this contrast certainly brought prestige and potential talent resources, but it also brought new challenges.

More people is not always better. Especially in the early stages of the society, when the core concepts have not yet taken root in people's hearts and the organizational structure and teaching models are still being explored. Blindly absorbing members would only lead to a mix of good and bad, conceptual conflicts, and eventually dilute the purity of the "Hundred Schools," turning it into an ordinary student interest club or even causing it to collapse due to internal issues.

Therefore, a threshold must be set. A high threshold.

This threshold must not only filter out those with insufficient strength but also those with weak will, opportunists, and those who cannot understand or even reject the essence of the "power of thought."

"Written test plus practical combat..." Lin Zhou's fingertips lightly tapped the table as he refined the assessment details in his mind.

The written test was not about rote memorization of the classics of the Hundred Schools—that was meaningless. It tested understanding, application, and ways of thinking. The questions needed to be open-ended and profound, able to reveal the applicant's potential, Heart-Nature, and acceptance of "non-traditional power."

The practical combat was not a simple clash of followers either. It would simulate complex environments, set multiple objectives, and examine adaptability, command, and... whether they could preliminarily attempt to use "thought" to solve problems under pressure, even if only in the most rudimentary way.

"Society Head!" Zhao Hao's gruff voice interrupted Lin Zhou's thoughts. "The preliminary screening is done! Damn, we received two hundred and seventeen applications in total. I filtered out seventy-three messy ones, leaving one hundred and forty-four! Li Mo is doing the second round of evaluation."

Lin Zhou nodded slightly. Two hundred and seventeen people was more than he had expected. It seemed the impact of last night's battle had indeed fermented significantly.

Li Mo also looked up, rubbing his aching eyes. "Society Head, my preliminary data evaluation is almost finished. Based on compatibility scores and potential judgments, I suggest selecting about eighty to a hundred people from these one hundred and forty-four to take today's written test. The practical assessment will then filter from the written test results."

"Eighty people..." Lin Zhou pondered for a moment. "That works. Send out the notice: the written test will be held at 10:00 AM in Public Classroom 3 of the School of Literature and Law. The question will be announced on-site, with a one-hour time limit. Those who pass will undergo the practical assessment in the afternoon."

"Got it!" Zhao Hao rubbed his hands excitedly, then frowned. "Society Head, what's the written test question? Do you want to give a hint now so Old Zhao can learn a bit first?" Although he had joined the society after being impressed, he still found this "thought" stuff a bit of a headache.

Lin Zhou glanced at him, his lips curling slightly. "The question is very simple. There is only one essay question."

"Just one?" Both Zhao Hao and Li Mo were stunned.

"Yes." Lin Zhou picked up the pen and wrote a line of words that seemed to penetrate the paper on that blank draft sheet.

Zhao Hao and Li Mo leaned over to look, only to see written on the paper:

[Discuss three applications of 'The Benevolent Have No Enemies' in Divine Warfare.]

Zhao Hao: "...Huh?"

Li Mo's eyes behind his glasses suddenly lit up, and his fingers unconsciously began to deduce and calculate, muttering: "The Benevolent Have No Enemies... one of the core concepts of the School of Confucianism. It is usually explained as the benevolent having no opposition, or the benevolent being able to win people over without force. But in the context of Divine Warfare... applications? Three? This question... is brilliant! It tests both the basic understanding of Confucian thought and the divergent thinking and innovative ability to transform it into actual combat power! The Society Head's insight is profound!"

Zhao Hao listened, completely confused, and scratched his head. "This... this thing can actually be used in a fight? Benevolence? Talking about benevolence to an enemy, isn't that just stupid?"

Lin Zhou did not explain directly, only saying calmly, "When the written test results come out, perhaps you will understand. Go and announce it."

At 10:00 AM, in Public Classroom 3 of the School of Literature and Law.

The lecture hall, large enough to hold two hundred people, was now packed to capacity. Eighty freshmen who had passed the preliminary screening were gathered together, the air filled with tension, curiosity, and a faint sense of competition.

At the front of the classroom, Lin Zhou stood alone on the podium, with Zhao Hao and Li Mo standing on either side like Door Gods. Liu An was busy running back and forth, distributing special answer sheets attached with faint Anti-Peeking Runes.

"Silence." Lin Zhou's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, carrying a strange power that soothed the heart. The classroom instantly fell quiet.

"Welcome everyone to the first round of the Hundred Schools Society recruitment assessment: the written test." Lin Zhou's gaze calmly swept across the room. "The society aims to explore the way of combining civilization and Divine Domains. The power of thought is not something ethereal. This written test consists of only one question."

He turned and, with standard handwriting on the blackboard, wrote that line of words:

Discuss three applications of 'The Benevolent Have No Enemies' in Divine Warfare.

The handwriting was bold and vigorous, as if containing a unique charm.

A wave of suppressed gasps and whispers immediately erupted from below.

"What the hell? An essay question?"

"'The Benevolent Have No Enemies'? Isn't that just moral preaching? What does it have to do with Divine Warfare?"

"Three applications? How do we answer this? Do we just make it up?"

"As expected... just like the rumors, this society doesn't study conventional power..."

But there were also a few whose eyes shone with thought and excitement. The gentle girl who researched Forest Deer Spirits' eyes lit up, and she quickly lowered her head to write down several keywords on her draft paper: "Natural Affinity... Communication... Neutralizing Hostility?" The pale boy who had stayed up all night studying the video pushed up his glasses, his gaze sharp: "Invincible... Non-military level... Morale? Popular support? Rules?"

Lin Zhou took in everyone's reactions and continued: "Time limit is one hour. There is no absolute standard for the answer. As long as it makes sense, aligns with the spirit of 'Benevolence,' and can be logically linked to God War scenarios, it will suffice. Begin."

As his voice fell, the hourglass timer started.

The classroom fell into the sound of rustling writing and a deep atmosphere of contemplation. Some scratched their heads, unable to put pen to paper for a long time; some wrote furiously, seemingly bursting with inspiration; others frowned, struggling with the contradiction between "Benevolence" and "War."

Lin Zhou stepped down from the podium and slowly paced the aisles, occasionally stopping to glance at an examinee's draft. He saw some imaginative but hollow ideas, as well as some slightly immature but novel perspectives.

On the draft paper of that gentle girl (later known as Ye Wan), it was written: "Application 1: Use benevolence and virtue to appeal to neutral or weak races, gaining intelligence and support, turning enemies into friends, and weakening enemy forces (a benevolent version of Vertical and Horizontal Alliances). Application 2: Implement benevolent policies toward prisoners of war or civilians in occupied areas to dismantle the enemy's will to resist or even incite defection (attacking the heart is best). Application 3: Use the belief in 'Benevolence' to unite one's own God-kin, enhancing morale, loyalty, and combat resilience (spiritual defense line)."

The pale boy (named Zhou Ming) wrote: "Application 1: Define a 'Benevolent One' Domain; within this Domain, all 'un-benevolent' acts of the enemy (such as massacring civilians or using forbidden dark arts) will suffer from rule-based backlash or weakening (similar to a variant of the Law Domain). Application 2: Use the concept of 'Benevolence' for strategic propaganda to strike at the reputation of enemy deities, causing their believers to waver and their Power Of Faith to decline. Application 3: Cultivate diplomatic or spy-type hero units with 'Benevolent' traits, making them easier to infiltrate, gain trust, and create internal conflicts."

There were also more pragmatic ones: "Application 1: Healing divine arts carry a 'Benevolent Heart' effect, accelerating the recovery of wounded soldiers and increasing their favorability toward the caster. Application 2: Defensive buildings or barriers incorporate the concept of 'Benevolence,' providing extra resistance against attackers with evil intent or from the chaotic alignment. Application 3: Develop mass-inspiration divine arts based on 'Benevolence' to temporarily boost the attributes of the God-kin."

Of course, there was no shortage of those who were far off-topic or perfunctory: "The benevolent are invincible just means they are powerful; the three applications are charging, defending, and using a big move." "I think the benevolent being invincible is fake; God Wars are only about strength and weakness, so this question has no solution."

An hour passed quickly.

Papers were collected and sealed.

Lin Zhou, Zhao Hao, and Li Mo did not leave; they began the intense grading process in a small lounge next to the classroom.

"What kind of rubbish is this! It makes no sense!" Zhao Hao cursed as he read, his red pen moving swiftly.

"This one is quite interesting... explaining the commonality between 'Benevolence' and 'Order Divine Power' from the perspective of energy resonance, proposing the idea of building a 'Benevolence Resonance Network' to enhance Divine Domain defenses... Although crude, the thinking is unique." Li Mo said in amazement, holding Zhou Ming's answer sheet.

Lin Zhou browsed through them one by one quickly. His evaluation criteria were more comprehensive: whether they understood the core of "Benevolence" (not just simple kindness, but a multifaceted connotation including justice, Order, enlightenment, and popular support); whether they possessed the thinking ability to transform abstract concepts into actual tactics or Divine Domain development; whether the logic was self-consistent; and whether they had potential and a unique perspective.

Out of eighty exam papers, half were screened out—those who completely failed to understand the question, were perfunctory, or whose views were seriously contrary to the core concepts of the "Hundred Schools" (Order, Development, Wisdom).

Of the remaining forty, Lin Zhou reviewed them carefully once more. Combining them with Li Mo's preliminary evaluation data, he finally selected thirty-two people to enter the practical assessment in the afternoon.

This screening ratio could be called cruel. From the original 217 people to the current 32, the elimination rate exceeded 85%!

After the news was announced, some left dejectedly, some were indignant, but others became even more determined to stay—the stricter it was, the more it showed that this society was not simple!

Afternoon, Simulated Divine Domain training area, D-07 Medium Combat Platform.

The thirty-two Examinees were randomly divided into eight groups of four. They needed to enter a preset, moderately complex Simulated Divine Domain scenario [Abandoned Mine Defense Line] together, facing waves of increasing intensity of "Underground Mutant Creatures" simulated by the System.

There were three assessment goals:

Hold the defense line for at least four waves of attacks.

Protect the "Neutral Miner Camp" (containing NPC units that can provide temporary buffs) as much as possible.

Evaluate individual contribution within the group, command and coordination abilities, and adaptability to unexpected situations.

Lin Zhou, Zhao Hao, Li Mo, and Wang Meng—who was temporarily invited by Lin Zhou to serve as an observer and source of "stress testing"—were located on the observation platform, watching the eight split-screen displays through a panoramic light screen.

"Heh, let me see what these little rookies are made of." Wang Meng rubbed his hands together. His Behemoth Legion had finished Rebirth, and he was itching for a fight. Seeing others battle made his hands itch even more. Lin Zhou told him he could "guest star" as a "Hostile Deity Reconnaissance Team" that would unexpectedly appear in the fifth wave to give the Examinees a little surprise (fright).

The practical assessment was not just about the strength of the God-kin, but also about whether the Examinees would subconsciously apply some of the ideas mentioned in the written test under pressure, or demonstrate traits that aligned with the "Hundred Schools" philosophy.

The battle soon began.

Underground mutant creatures swarmed from the depths of the mine, mostly LV15-LV25 Rock-type and Dark-type monsters, thick-skinned and numerous.

The eight groups performed differently.

Some groups fought individually, only caring for their own defense zones, and were soon broken through by monsters at a single point, leading to a total collapse of the line.

Some groups were too eager for success and took the initiative to attack, only to fall into an encirclement and suffer heavy losses.

Other groups tried to communicate and cooperate, but the command was chaotic and efficiency was low.

But two of the groups caught Lin Zhou's special attention.

The first group included Zhou Ming (Gargoyle Divine Domain), Ye Wan (Forest Deer Spirit Divine Domain), a defense-oriented "Iron Wall Tortoise" Divine Domain examinee, and an attack-oriented "Blazing Dog" Divine Domain examinee. Zhou Ming took the initiative to act as the temporary commander. He did not simply let the Gargoyles tank the damage; instead, he used their flight advantage for reconnaissance and harassment, while coordinating Ye Wan's Deer Spirits to apply natural blessings and healing to the Iron Wall Tortoise and Blazing Dog. He also skillfully used the mine's terrain to set up simple obstacles to divert the monsters. When a wave of elite monsters with "burrowing" abilities appeared, he decisively abandoned part of the outer defense line, retracted his forces, and concentrated fire to quickly eliminate the burrowing monsters before clearing the ordinary ones. Although he gave up the perfect goal of "defending everything," he preserved the core defense line and the neutral camp. During the process, he repeatedly emphasized that "protecting the camp miners (Benevolence)" could yield extra aid, and "concentrating power to eliminate the greatest threat (similar to the School of Legalism's No Exemption from Punishment)," showing a certain level of tactical thinking and the embryo of integrating philosophy into command.

In the second group, an unexpected situation occurred. A examinee in the group with a "Shadow Leopard" Divine Domain and a proud personality, dissatisfied with a teammate's "weakness" (a support-oriented "Light Healing Slime" Divine Domain), left the team without permission to go deep into the mine, attempting to "decapitate" the monster leader. As a result, he triggered a trap, attracting a wave of monsters far beyond the group's capacity, leading to the group's near collapse. At the critical moment, that Light Healing Slime examinee (named Sun Xiaorou) did not give up on her teammate. Instead, she commanded her seemingly non-combative Slime followers to desperately release healing auras and create Slime obstacles to buy time for her teammates to reorganize the defense line, even using her Slime King as bait to temporarily trap an elite monster. Her persistence and spirit of sacrifice inspired the other two teammates who were initially flustered, and the three of them finally managed to hold the last line of defense with difficulty. Although their record was the worst among the eight groups, the "Righteousness" they showed by not abandoning their companion and the resilience of a support class in adversity made Lin Zhou take a few more looks.

When the "reconnaissance team" consisting of three LV28 Berserk Hyenas and one LV30 Hyena Leader, "guest-starred" by Wang Meng, unexpectedly appeared from the flank, it further tested each group's adaptability. Some groups were in a panic, while others tried to fight head-on and suffered heavy losses. Zhou Ming's group, however, had set up early warning mechanisms, and Ye Wan's Deer Spirits sensed the malice in advance. They chose to avoid the brunt of the attack, using the terrain to maneuver, and sought help from the "Miner Camp," ultimately repelling the reconnaissance team with the help of the camp guards with minimal losses.

The practical assessment ended.

Combining the written test scores, practical performance, Li Mo's potential evaluation data, and Lin Zhou's comprehensive judgment, the final list was determined.

A total of fifty people passed the assessment and officially became the first batch of members of the Hundred Schools Society.

This number was slightly more than originally expected, but Lin Zhou believed that these fifty people, whether in terms of potential, Heart-Nature, or initial identification with the "Hundred Schools" philosophy, met the requirements of the society's early stages.

Evening, the sun was setting in the west.

In the activity room, the fifty freshmen who had passed the assessment stood solemnly, their faces filled with excitement, pride, and a hint of nervousness. They came from different colleges and possessed different Divine Domains, but at this moment, they shared a common identity—members of the Hundred Schools Society.

Lin Zhou stood before them, his gaze slowly scanning every face. Zhou Ming, Ye Wan, Sun Xiaorou... and forty-seven other young people who had shown flashes of brilliance in today's assessment.

"Congratulations to all of you for passing the assessment and becoming a member of the Hundred Schools Society." Lin Zhou's voice was calm and powerful. "But this is only the beginning. The society is not a place for play, nor is it a simple place for power exchange. Here, we will together explore the infinite possibilities of the Way of Civilization, transform thoughts into power, and use wisdom to master rules."

"The society will have systematic courses, regular seminars, practical tasks, and resource support. But at the same time, there are strict disciplines and contribution requirements. I hope you will keep the society's purpose in mind: To draw from the strengths of the Hundred Schools and forge the divine foundation of civilization."

"Next, we will proceed with grouping and learning the basic regulations. Vice President Zhao Hao and Research Head Li Mo, I'll leave the rest to you."

Zhao Hao stepped forward, his voice like a great bell: "Those whose names are called next will be assigned to the 'Combat Readiness Group,' focusing mainly on practical tactics and power application research: Zhou Ming, Wang Tieshan (Iron Wall Tortoise)..."

Li Mo also pushed up his glasses: "The following students are assigned to the 'Research Group,' focusing on theory, technology, and auxiliary development research: Ye Wan, Sun Xiaorou, Liu An..."

The injection of fresh blood filled the small activity room with vigorous vitality. The Hundred Schools Society, an "ideological club" that was once mocked, had finally gained its first batch of truly significant backbone members after a shocking actual battle and a strict screening, taking a solid first step.

And Lin Zhou knew that this was just a starting point. The society's fame brought attention, but it would also inevitably bring more challenges and scrutiny. For example, that Disciplinary Minister Qin Qing, who was exceptionally sensitive to "Chaos"—her gaze had probably already turned toward this place.