Free Web NovelChapter 320: Chapter 165: 10,000 Points in a Day, the Final Assessment
Her voice was cold, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly.
"I have to admit, you are truly the best of the younger generation."
"Most of you have already reached the Gang Condensation Realm. To minimize casualties, this assessment will be conducted using virtual equipment."
"This way, you can go all out without any reservations."
After a concise explanation, she wasted no time and got straight to the point.
"Today’s assessment is divided into two parts."
"First, hold your ground."
"You will face a continuous onslaught of the Celestial Abyss Race in a simulated Celestial Abyss environment. The system will determine your final score based on your combat performance and how long you last."
"Second, one-on-one duels."
"Just like the previous combat assessments, you’ll be randomly matched for one-on-one battles until a final winner is decided."
"The results of these two assessments, combined with your accumulated academic credits, will determine the overall top score. The person with the highest score will become this year’s Chief of the Ninghai Province Qiming General Star Training Camp!"
As Yin Liulan’s voice fell, a dozen or so instructors stepped forward and fitted each cadet with a special silver-and-black wristband.
The neural link was established, and the assessment officially began.
Lin Ye felt the scenery before him blur. The next moment, he found himself standing on a familiar black wasteland.
The air was filled with the smell of sulfur, and the sky in the distance was a dark red—exactly the same as what he had seen in the Nirvana Tower.
A cold, electronic voice sounded in his ear.
[Assessment Start]
[Assessment Objective: Hold your ground and eliminate all incoming enemies.]
[There will be a total of 20 waves of the Celestial Abyss Race. The number and strength of the race in each wave will continuously increase.]
[Please last as long as possible and kill as many of the race as you can to achieve a higher score.]
Meanwhile, inside the Martial Arts Hall.
Yin Liulan, Nie Cang, and Su Yunjin, along with a large number of instructors in charge of the assessment, stood before a massive light screen.
The light screen was divided into twenty-one equally sized displays.
Each display showed a live feed of a cadet’s battle within the Virtual Illusion Realm.
They were like spectators perched high in the clouds, looking down on everything below.
Time slowly passed. The first five, simplest waves of the Celestial Abyss Race’s attack were over in a flash.
Not one of the twenty-one cadets had been eliminated.
"The overall strength of this class of cadets is indeed much higher than previous years."
Su Yunjin couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as she watched the light screen.
"The quality of these recruits is excellent. I remember in previous years, the joint assault by the three members of the Celestial Abyss Race in just the fifth wave would have been enough to eliminate several people."
Nie Cang and Yin Liulan remained noncommittal. Their eyes swept back and forth between the displays of the top-ranked cadets and Lin Ye.
The waves were still too easy. For these top cadets, it was no different from a warm-up.
They could only wait patiently.
「Ten minutes later.」
[The ninth wave is about to begin!]
[This wave contains: 8 random common-grade members of the Celestial Abyss Race, 1 elite-grade member of the Celestial Abyss Race!]
Lin Ye heard the notification and even felt a little bored.
’At this rate of difficulty increase, even the twentieth wave will probably just be a few dozen common mobs mixed with five or six elites, right?’
What he didn’t know was that the assessment he found boring had already turned into a horror movie for the lower-ranked cadets.
When the ninth wave ended, some of the cadets’ displays on the light screen finally began to flash red, indicating they had been injured in battle.
As for the two cadets at the bottom of the rankings, they were unable to cope with the elite’s surprise attack. Their screens went dark, signaling their elimination.
A flicker of interest finally appeared in Yin Liulan’s eyes.
The part of the assessment that would truly separate them had begun.
...
「Another ten minutes passed.」
[The fifteenth wave has begun!]
Dozens of Celestial Abyss Race members of various shapes and sizes roared as they charged at Lin Ye from all directions.
From start to finish, he simply stood his ground and slowly drew the Star-Piercing Spear from his back.
Facing the surging tide of beasts, he just gave it a casual swing.
An incredibly terrifying golden Gang Sha shot out in a crescent-shaped slash!
That Slash drew a straight line through the air, cutting the countless Celestial Abyss Race members at the forefront in half at the waist!
The blade wind from the Horizontal Slash then killed even more of the creatures nearby.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
Every soft squelch of bursting flesh marked the end of a life.
In the blink of an eye, the entire fifteenth wave of the Celestial Abyss Race was annihilated.
At the same time, on Dongfang Zhen’s display.
He too stood his ground as thick bolts of purple lightning wove into a net before him.
Any member of the Celestial Abyss Race that tried to get close began to convulse the moment they entered the lightning net’s range, turning to ash in the blinding electric light.
Two faces, both looking bored and even frowning slightly, were clearly displayed before Yin Liulan, Nie Cang, and Su Yunjin.
"As expected. A test of this level is still too easy for them," Yin Liulan said with a light chuckle.
Just as she finished speaking, she saw Dongfang Zhen raise his hand on his display.
He was communicating with the system examiner responsible for recording combat performance.
The next moment, the content of his request appeared on the main central screen.
[Cadet Dongfang Zhen: Examiner, this difficulty is a waste of time. Can you give me something challenging?]
The smile in Yin Liulan’s eyes deepened.
"Approve his request."
"And while you’re at it, increase the assessment difficulty for Lin Ye, Wei Shuying, Ye Qi, and Zhang Daoxuan as well."
Soon, a new notification sounded in the ears of Lin Ye and the other four cadets.
[Attention: With the chief examiner’s approval, the difficulty of this assessment has been increased!]
[The next wave will jump directly from Wave 16 to the final wave, Wave 20!]
[Upon completing Wave 20, you will unlock 10 hidden Nightmare-difficulty challenge waves. Please prepare yourself!]
Hearing this notification, Nie Cang sighed softly to himself.
He, of course, knew what these ten hidden waves were.
In fact, if Yin Liulan hadn’t been parachuted in, he would have been the chief instructor for this training camp.
These so-called hidden waves were actually the normal assessment content from the training camp more than a decade ago.
But because the difficulty was too high, the vast majority of cadets couldn’t even survive the regular twenty waves, rendering the subsequent Nightmare waves a mere formality and making the results look bad.
Over time, Nie Cang felt there was no need for these ten waves to exist, so he simply cut them.
He never expected that one day, they would be reinstated.
Yin Liulan turned her head to look at Nie Cang and asked, "Back when the assessment had thirty waves, what was the highest wave the best performer reached?"
Nie Cang gently shook his head. "In the years I was chief instructor, I hardly saw anyone make it to the twenty-second wave."
He paused, then recalled, "However, according to the past records I’ve reviewed, the best class was Miao Yifeng’s."
"Miao Yifeng himself made it to the twenty-fourth wave."
"And that year’s Chief, he ultimately stopped at the twenty-seventh wave. What’s more, he didn’t kill all the creatures in that wave; he was judged as ’killed in action’ by the system midway through due to severe injuries."
A deep interest surfaced in Yin Liulan’s eyes. Her gaze fell upon Lin Ye and Dongfang Zhen below, who had already cleared the twentieth wave at light speed and were about to face the first wave of the Nightmare difficulty.
"I have a feeling..."
she said softly.
"Perhaps we’re about to witness the birth of a prodigy who can actually clear all thirty waves."
