When Lin Chen arrived at the martial arts class, basically everyone had almost assembled.
Old Class Pompeii had rarely arrived early.
Once everyone from Class 2 had gathered, he stood on the podium and began speaking.
"This second preliminary test—everyone needs to take it seriously and give it your all."
"Don't go pulling that novel crap, hiding your strength and playing the pig to eat the tiger."
"We don't do that here. As long as you're not some evil god cultist or weird divine apostle, show off your talent as much as you want."
Pompeii's voice rose: "Here, if you've got the talent, the school will give you the resources to match."
"It's not just you wanting to get into a good university—we teachers need your grades to get raises too."
"The school needs your exam scores to get more funding from above."
"You're competing with other students, and we're competing with other schools."
"So the better you do, the happier we are."
"Students, teachers, administration—we're all on the same side when it comes to college entrance exams."
"So this time, we only one goal."
"Give it everything you've got. Fight with every ounce of strength you have."
"Oh, and by the way." Pompeii suddenly grinned, his vicious scar twitching.
"Do well this time, and there'll be rewards."
"From what I've heard, the higher-ups really bled for this one. These rewards might be the best we've seen in years."
Pompeii was indeed worthy of being a naval officer who had trained in the One Piece world.
This pre-battle encouragement was truly quite stirring.
Building rapport, explaining reasoning, raising morale, and finally presenting reward temptations.
It had to be said, even Lin Chen was moved somewhat by what he said.
After the pre-battle mobilization ended, Pompeii distributed the examination hall assignments to all the students.
The mock exam was an extremely important test.
The school basically tried its best to follow stricter standards.
Same principle as Lin Chen's past life exams being split into different exam halls.
Not letting you have the possibility of cheating in a familiar environment.
Of course, cheating in martial arts assessments was still quite difficult. This was just continuing previous habits.
Lin Chen opened his phone. He'd been assigned to Examination Hall 14.
Directly corresponding to his previous first preliminary test results.
Also in the same examination hall as Lin Chen was Natsuki Subaru.
His results were similar to his predecessor's. His previous first preliminary test results were also extremely close.
As for Xia Mi and Jotaro—
These two were naturally in Examination Hall 1.
After the examination hall assignment message was sent, Pompeii left the classroom.
Xia Mi skillfully came over. Originally, Lin Chen, Jotaro, and Natsuki Subaru were the classroom corner trio.
Now inexplicably there was an additional Xia Mi.
"We're heading out, Lin Chen."
Xia Mi's beautiful eyes fixed on Lin Chen as she smiled meaningfully. "Next mock test, hope we're in the same exam hall."
That comment made both Jotaro and Natsuki Subaru look up sharply.
Jotaro glanced thoughtfully between Xia Mi and Lin Chen but kept quiet.
"No way, Class Prez."
"However strong Lin Chen gets, how's he gonna end up in your exam hall? Haha."
Natsuki Subaru figured Xia Mi was joking or just being encouraging.
But as he laughed, he realized no one else was laughing with him.
Even his buddy Lin Chen looked dead serious.
Natsuki Subaru instantly panicked.
This feeling was like your good brother who'd always had similar grades to you, both struggling to pass—
Suddenly one day saying he wanted to get a perfect score, and moreover looking quite confident about it.
Xia Mi and Jotaro had already left.
Lin Chen also headed toward Examination Hall 14.
"Hey, Lin Chen, you're not serious, right? You really think you can break into the top 100?"
Natsuki Subaru chased after him.
Scared your bro's struggling, but also scared your bro's driving a Range Rover.
He was genuinely panicking now.
"You'll see when we get there."
Lin Chen smiled and clapped Subaru on the shoulder.
"Didn't Teacher Pompeii say it? Don't hide yourself."
"I can't keep hiding anymore."
"?" Natsuki Subaru froze in place, disheveled in the wind.
Examination Hall 14 was a huge body training classroom. The one responsible for proctoring was the homeroom teacher of Class 14.
A normally-dressed middle-aged man named Fang Shi.
The reason for saying "normal" was in comparison to Pompeii.
Fang Shi had a blade hanging at his waist that looked somewhat similar to a Nichirin blade.
Although Lin Chen wasn't clear on what his strength level was, from the feeling, he couldn't match Pompeii's oppressive force.
"First we'll measure your body and mental levels, record the scores."
"Then you enter full VR space for combat sims."
"Got it?"
Fang Shi's voice was clear and resonant.
He didn't slack off just because everyone here had average grades.
Then it was the same testing as the previous body training assessment—those whose names were called stepped forward.
However, this time the testing specifications were higher. It was no longer a simple AR lens.
That kind of testing only roughly detected data and wasn't very precise.
This time the body and mental testing device was a huge sealed pod. After lying inside, detailed body and mental data would be displayed.
"Natsuki Subaru."
Fang Shi was calling names according to grades.
Natsuki Subaru was ahead of Lin Chen.
"Body Level 1.9, Mental Level 1.4."
Lin Chen looked at Natsuki Subaru's body data. This data was somewhat better than his predecessor's.
But for Natsuki Subaru, it wasn't very ideal.
Because his family circumstances were considerably better than his predecessor's, plus his father's physical qualities were quite good, yet he hadn't inherited too much talent.
A few more people passed.
Very quickly it was Lin Chen's turn.
"Go ahead. Don't activate your breathing technique or any body-enhancing abilities."
Fang Shi reminded him.
Lin Chen nodded.
Compared to the AR lens, this machine went deeper—it could detect way more.
Drug use, sneaky breathing technique activation—all easily caught.
Lin Chen wasn't worried at all. Everything he had came from the Martial Arts Panel.
As long as the Panel stayed hidden, he was golden.
After lying in the cultivation pod, subtle light scanned Lin Chen from head to toe.
The numbers on the pod's surface began climbing. Finally, under the surrounding people's astonished gazes, the final result was given.
"Body Level 3.3, Mental Level 2.2?"
Even Fang Shi was somewhat surprised. He'd been a homeroom teacher for several years. It wasn't that he hadn't seen talented students.
There were plenty of even more exaggerated data than this.
What surprised him was Lin Chen's historical results.
In the first preliminary test, his body level hadn't even reached 1.5. A few days ago, his results were updated once—breathing technique breakthrough, body level also reached 2.
But in just these few short days, he'd jumped all at once to 3.3.
His mental level also had considerable improvement.
This was somewhat uncommon.