Chapter 18: New Student Assessment Begins

On the other side, Shrek Academy dormitory.

Gu Yue opened the door, entered the dormitory, and instantly collapsed on the ground.

Gu Yue was drenched in sweat, clutching his chest and gasping heavily, while strands of red light flickered from his chest.

Damn it, the injury from forcibly suppressing the Asura God is actually backlashing.

It seems I will have to return soon.

But what did Gu Yue think of? A pair of black pupils burst with purple light, and his black eyes turned into amethyst-like purple pupils.

Chen Qiye, even before I leave, I must make you remember me deeply; you can only be mine.

After saying that, Gu Yue licked his lips.

………

At this moment, Chen Qiye was walking back to the dormitory, the alarm clock still repeatedly recalling what Ma Xiaotao said: 'I like you, even if your heart belongs to another.'

Chen Qiye rubbed his face, 'What is going on?'

………

After a night passed, the next morning Zhou Yi came by, said a few words briefly and left; the match officially began in the afternoon.

In the first stage round-robin, each team must face ten challenges; after ten matches, the top sixty-four are selected by number of victories to enter the elimination round.

The assessment area of Shrek Academy lies in the middle-north of the Martial Soul Department, bordering the Battle Soul Area. Compared to the Battle Soul Area, the assessment area is much larger. For the outer court students of Shrek Academy, this place is a paradise where outstanding students can showcase themselves, but also a nightmare for those with lower cultivation. Every year many students are eliminated for failing the assessment, and most of those assessments take place in this assessment area.

The assessment area is oval-shaped, not like the Battle Soul Area which is an enclosed stadium, but an open plot. The perimeter is a low wall, and the interior is divided into sections by partitions that can be disassembled at any time to change the size of the areas.

In previous years, the freshman assessment was when the assessment area was divided into the most sections, not only because there were many freshmen, but also because freshmen's destructive power and attack range were limited, so a small area sufficed for them to display their abilities.

The entire assessment area covers about twenty thousand square meters; at present it has been divided into fifty sections, each about four hundred square meters, i. e., squares twenty meters on a side. For freshmen who generally have only one or two rings of cultivation, this is sufficient.

After the tense grouping in the morning, the assessment officially began in the afternoon. Since today is the first day of the assessment, to let the freshmen adapt first, each group only needs to undergo one match before leaving. The academy sent out fifty teachers to respectively handle assessment registration in the fifty sections. The opponents for today's assessment matches had already been determined by lottery at noon. Efforts are made to ensure that teams from the same class do not meet in the upcoming ten matches of the round-robin.

Except for Freshman Class One, which has only twenty-four groups, other classes generally have thirty or more groups; unless a student performed particularly poorly during the freshman period, the teachers of freshman classes generally do not eliminate students lightly before the freshman assessment, but always give them a chance to undergo the assessment.

In total, 310 groups of freshmen participated in the assessment, comprising 930 people; among these 310 groups, only 150 groups could remain, officially becoming first-year students to continue studying, while the rest would be eliminated.

Studying at Shrek Academy, competition is undoubtedly fierce and brutal, but precisely because of this, under the tense atmosphere students strive harder and their potential is stimulated, thus forming Shrek Academy's eternal undefeated winning pattern.

There are fifty sections in total for the freshman assessment, meaning each section is assigned six or seven teams of students to participate. Not only today, but tomorrow they will also continue to compete in the same section against the other teams assigned to that section, until everyone has faced each other, then re‑group, ultimately completing each team's ten matches.

Chen Qiye's assessment section is Area 49; as the Soul Tool broadcast sounded, all freshmen entered the field, and Chen Qiye also arrived at Area 49.

All freshmen, please pay attention: all freshmen, please pay attention, please immediately enter the assessment area to prepare for the freshman assessment. There are still ten minutes left to enter; being late will be treated as a forfeit of this assessment.

The loud broadcast echoed throughout the outer court, its sound reaching every corner. The freshmen's faces all turned solemn; their first assessment was coming, and to say they weren't nervous would be a lie.

A teacher about forty years old arrived at Section 33; he looked quite ordinary, lacking any intimidating aura, with a smiling, easygoing expression, completely different from Zhou Yi.

After counting the numbers, he smiled and nodded, saying, 'Very well, we have six groups of students here for the assessment, all present. Let me introduce myself—I am Wang Yan, and I will be your assessment instructor for the next two days.'

'Hello, Teacher Wang.' The students hurriedly bowed in salute.

Wang Yan chuckled, 'No need for so much formality; my teaching habit has always been to treat everyone as friends. From now until the assessment ends, you are all my little friends. Therefore, I do not want to see anyone get hurt.'

'Although the assessment will decide whether you can stay at Shrek Academy to continue studying, I must remind you that this is an assessment—under no circumstances may you cripple an opponent; otherwise I will have to regretfully ask them to leave and report it to the academy.'

He spoke gently and offhandedly, not even specifying the consequences of crippling an opponent, but anyone who can enter Shrek Academy is no fool; they naturally understood his meaning and nodded in agreement.

Wang Yan smiled, 'If that's the case, let's begin. Ending the match early lets you return sooner to sharpen your weapons before battle. For you young people, a sense of urgency is a good thing.'

While saying that, he opened a folder, glanced at it, frowned, then looked up and said, 'The first match of the first round: Freshman Class One—Chen Qiye; Freshman Class Three—Chen Junyi, Chen Tian, Zhao Chen.'

'You may enter the field, each take a corner. Only after I announce the start of the match may you release your martial souls. Enter.'

The match began.

Among the three, it was clear that Chen Junyi was the core; he was the sole Strength Attack System Soul Master, and his martial soul was a hammer.

It was a large, heavy hammer, its entire body bronze‑colored, with fine lines etched on both sides.

At the outset, he displayed two yellow soul rings; Chen Tian and Zhao Chen were the only Great Soul Masters among the three, both Control System Soul Masters, and their martial souls were chains and sand.

On Chen Qiye's side, he also released his martial soul. Chen Junyi's eyes narrowed, his first yellow soul ring flared, and Hammer Gang erupted.

A terrifying aura clung to both faces of the hammer; at that moment, swirling sand gathered into a yellow storm while countless chains surged forward together, all charging at Chen Qiye and his three companions.

On the platform, Wang Yan wondered why Chen Qiye had still not released his martial soul, but Chen Qiye soon gave him an answer.

'One breath, defeat.'

(End of Chapter)