svetikya Chapter 69: The Final Exam That Can't Be Escaped Even After Arriving in Another World
Chapter 69: The Final Exam That Can't Be Escaped Even After Arriving in Another World
Time silently settled amidst the interplay of sweat and spiritual energy. Life in Class Zero seemed to be fast-forwarded.
The daily grind of intense theoretical classes, physical training, and combat drills, along with the unwavering weekly life-or-death trials at the Ascension Platform, constitutes the entirety of their lives.
The exclusive training ground on the back mountain of the academy recorded countless figures collapsing from exhaustion, clashes of swords, and Wu Changkong's ever-calm and icy guidance.
As the sycamore trees beside the teaching building turn from lush green to a brilliant golden yellow, and the fallen leaves begin to rustle on the morning exercise path, a familiar yet unfamiliar atmosphere begins to quietly permeate Donghai College—an atmosphere belonging to the end of the semester, a mixture of tension, anticipation, and a touch of restlessness.
Students in regular classes hurried about, carrying thick books on soul beast illustrations and soul guidance theory, discussing the scope of the theoretical exam and the scoring criteria for practical combat training.
It was on such an ordinary day after class that, when Wu Changkong announced the specific arrangements for the next week's final exam, Tang Wulin looked at the completely different atmosphere of preparation around him and suddenly realized the changing of the seasons and the academic year.
With a hint of uncertainty, still somewhat caught up in the intense training rhythm, he asked, "Teacher Wu, do we... also need to take final exams?"
This is not arrogance.
Since the establishment of Class Zero, although only three months have passed, all six of them have deeply felt the transformative changes they have undergone.
With their current abilities, it would be tantamount to a dimensional reduction attack to deal with the assessment of ordinary first-year students, which would be meaningless.
The others also showed similar surprise on their faces.
Yu Chen was somewhat dazed; the word was already a bit unfamiliar to him—the last time he was overwhelmed by "final exams" was a thing of the past.
Now he can naturally face any assessment with ease, but when he thinks of Wu Changkong's pure "Shrek background", he has a plan in mind. This final exam is not so simple.
After all, Shrek Academy has its own "ancient teachings," which state that trainees must endure hardship during "trials," euphemistically called "only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above others."
Shrek Academy excels at "forging" its students in all sorts of unexpected ways, and Wu Changkong, the icy teacher who has the Shrek style ingrained in his very being, has certainly perfectly inherited this "fine tradition."
Are you expecting him to arrange a mundane written test or a regular match?
Impossible.
Moreover, the strength of Class Zero is now vastly different from what it used to be:
Gu Yue's soul power has reached the peak of level nineteen, and she is only one step away from breaking through to level twenty as a Great Soul Master.
Tang Wulin also reached the peak of level 15, having jumped from level 11 to this level in just half a year, a truly astonishing speed.
Although Xie Xie had also steadily improved to level twenty-two, he couldn't help but lament in private whenever he saw Yu Chen's soul power level, which had already reached level twenty-five:
"Brother Chen! Confess honestly, did you secretly take some ancient divine medicine?!"
Yu Chen always responded with a mysterious smile, then glanced at Gu Yue, making Xie Xie even more anxious.
Of course, the most crucial thing is the leap in their combat capabilities.
The baptism of blood and fire at the Ascension Platform was by no means in vain. Under such near-real life-or-death pressure, everyone's combat awareness, soul skill application, and on-the-spot adaptability were qualitatively improved.
As they all crossed the threshold of ten years old, they had already developed a composure and ruthlessness far beyond their years.
Especially Yu Chen.
During battle, his suddenly lit, dazzling golden eyes, coupled with the simple yet imposing naginata in his hand, always made him seem like a god of war descending upon the world.
Of course, all of this is inseparable from Dean Yu Zhen's investment in Class Zero at all costs - the top-notch teaching facilities, plus the precious spots on the Spirit Ascension Platform once a week, which gave birth to this group of "little monsters" that attracted the attention of outsiders.
Wu Changkong, his expression indifferent, swept his gaze over the six young faces that were already showing promise, and finally announced the content of the final exam:
"Final exams, two subjects. The first subject, Ascension Platform." He paused deliberately, looking at Yu Chen, "This time, you'll be working with them."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the group varied.
In the past three months, they have entered the Ascension Platform eleven times.
From the second time onwards, Wu Changkong separated Yu Chen from the other five people for training, citing the reason that "Yu Chen's strength is too great, which may cause others to become dependent on him and lose their sense of crisis."
As it turned out, Wu Changkong's judgment was absolutely accurate.
After separating, the remaining five did experience a brief period of confusion and frustration in the early stages of losing their strongest support, but they were also forced to grow up quickly and learn true cooperation and independent survival.
Nowadays, unless they are extremely unlucky and encounter an insurmountable enemy, they can always last for more than an hour in the perilous Spirit Ascension Platform, and their combat ability has improved by leaps and bounds.
In contrast, Yu Chen's journey to the Ascension Platform can be described as "legendary".
Whether it was luck or some kind of "capital scheme" orchestrated by fate, he encountered one "accident" after another:
Sometimes, all the spirit beasts within a radius of several miles would disappear, as if all living beings had sensed the danger in advance and fled far away;
Sometimes, upon entering, one finds oneself in perilous territory—either the lair of the cave spider leads directly to an underground labyrinth, or the edge of a sheer cliff. The most outrageous time, they didn't even bother with the act; they simply threw him into a turbulent river, instantly surrounding him with countless giant leeches wriggling with suckers.
That time, the extreme trypophobia caused Yu Chen's rationality to snap—"Dragon Transformation" covered his brain, "Bloodlust" took over his thinking, and "Monarch Flame" burned everything!
The raging flames nearly evaporated that section of the river, the water level plummeted, and the air was thick with the smell of burning.
After this battle, Yu Chen became completely convinced that his situation was not simply a matter of "bad luck".
Each time you enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, either the soul beasts have vanished, leaving the place like a wasteland, or you are immediately placed in a perilous and deadly place. This kind of "precise" anomaly cannot be explained by the word probability.
He fought hard, but the spiritual energy he absorbed was always pitifully little. It was as if he was being held back by an invisible hand from raising his first soul ring to a thousand years old. He was always just one step away from achieving that goal, and his slow progress made him extremely frustrated.
After being teleported out of the poisonous swamp once again, and only gaining a few meager spiritual energies, Yu Chen finally lost his patience.
He went directly to the staff on duty at the Spirit Pagoda and described in detail the abnormal situations he had repeatedly encountered—abnormal spawn points, abnormal distribution of spirit beasts, and abnormally low efficiency in acquiring spiritual power.
The middle-aged staff member initially listened patiently, with a perfunctory smile on his face.
But as Yu Chen's descriptions became increasingly outrageous, his expression gradually became subtle, his smile revealing a hint of obvious suspicion and perfunctoriness.
"This student,"
The staff member cleared his throat, his tone becoming somewhat businesslike.
"The Ascension Platform is a complex system based on data simulation of the ancient Soul Beast Forest. Its internal environment itself has a certain degree of randomness and challenge."
The initial position of all entrants is randomly assigned by the system, and the distribution and behavior of soul beasts are also influenced by various complex algorithms... The situation you described may simply be due to a series of low-probability events. Our Spirit Pagoda system is absolutely fair and impartial.
Seeing Yu Chen's furrowed brows, clearly indicating his rejection of this explanation, the staff member softened their tone and added:
"Of course, we have recorded your feedback. I will report it to the technical department to check if any unusual system fluctuations have affected your experience. Please rest assured, we value the feelings of every Soul Master very much."
However, the so-called "reports" and "inspections" seem to have disappeared without a trace.
On subsequent attempts, Yu Chen's "luck" did not improve at all. When he inquired again, he was given either "the technical department found no abnormalities after verification" or "it may be that your own soul power characteristics or martial soul aura caused unknown interference to the simulation environment," which were even more evasive explanations.
After several attempts, Yu Chen realized that he had indeed been set up.
However, the staff's gentle yet firm perfunctory attitude blocked his possibility of resolving the issue through formal channels.