"Was this kid hiding his strength all along?"
Fang Shi speculated, feeling somewhat helpless.
This kind of thing wasn't exactly common, but every year the school had one or two students like this.
Poisoned by novels, there were always students who hid their abilities, thinking the school would harm them because of their talent.
But it didn't quite add up.
Students like that basically never participated in mock exams.
First, second, even third preliminary tests—they'd make excuses not to participate, avoiding exposing their true level.
Only during the actual college entrance exam would they reveal their real strength.
But Lin Chen had participated in the first preliminary test. His first test results wouldn't be fake.
"Probably just had some lucky encounters recently."
Fang Shi didn't overthink it.
This level increase wasn't that huge—a bit over one level in just a few days.
It was just somewhat shocking placed in Exam Hall 14.
"Not bad. Keep it up."
When Lin Chen came out of the testing pod, Fang Shi smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.
"What kind of magic pill did you eat in that other world?"
Back in the queue, Natsuki Subaru still couldn't quite believe it as he questioned Lin Chen.
"Read fewer isekai novels."
Lin Chen felt helpless. "It's all just the culmination of my hard work and sweat."
Obviously, Subaru wasn't listening.
He looked somewhat dazed.
Lin Chen, his buddy who'd always been at his level, suddenly getting this much stronger—it hit him hard.
Just like before when he'd lived in his father's shadow.
Lin Chen looked at Natsuki Subaru and sighed quietly.
Subaru was fundamentally kind-hearted, but his personality was really twisted.
Comfort wouldn't help much. His issues stemmed from his family.
Only transmigration could cure him. In the original work, after going through a series of events and his mental willpower growing—
In the Sanctuary, that twisted part of his heart from his family was finally healed.
But right now, Lin Chen wasn't some miracle doctor. A few words couldn't cure a heart sickness.
The assessment continued.
After the mental and physical assessment finished, came the combat assessment.
Martial arts assessments were just that simple. Mental and physical levels showed your natural talent.
And your ability to obtain resources.
Whether through family, earning them yourself from school, or other places—if you could raise your body and mental levels, that counted as having ability.
Combat, though, that was purely about talent.
"Next is the combat assessment."
Fang Shi had people bring out a batch of helmets.
"These are trial helmets. Put them on, then once you enter the trial world, just fight with everything you've got."
"You went through this assessment last time. This is the same."
"Just fight hard to defeat stronger opponents and work to improve your combat level."
Fang Shi called out loudly.
Combat assessment tested actual combat level.
Some people had high body levels but weren't good at fighting—only able to use eight parts of their ten parts of strength. That was meaningless.
College entrance exams only looked at two aspects. One was body and mental level—whichever was higher.
The other was actual combat level.
Combat level divided by the higher value between body and mental level gave you the combat amplification multiplier.
Of course, for cross-tier battles, calculating the amplification multiplier introduced new formulas.
In reality, combat level was equivalent to the total score on college entrance exams in his previous life.
It was what martial arts universities prioritized when admitting students.
With equal combat levels, they'd prioritize admitting those with higher amplification multipliers.
Some people who forcibly boosted their body level but had extremely low combat amplification multipliers would even be filtered out directly by universities.
Just to avoid recruiting deadweight.
Of course, it also seemed to prevent wealthy students from mindlessly using various random resources to desperately push their body levels.
"Link start."
Putting on the virtual helmet, Lin Chen's vision went dark. When he opened his eyes again, he appeared on a grassland.
A breeze blew, sending ripples across the grass.
The sensation of wind on his face, the scent of earth and grass in the air.
If he didn't know he was in a world connected by a virtual helmet—
Lin Chen would've thought he'd transmigrated again.
The high-martial world's black technology was a bit ridiculous.
But that helmet's appearance, and the sound when connecting—why did it feel so familiar?
Lin Chen searched his memory for that inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Just like when he'd transmigrated to the Demon Slayer world, that strange déjà vu.
When this happened, it definitely meant he'd seen that helmet in some anime work before.
"Don't tell me it's Kirito's grandpa."
Lin Chen's mouth twitched.
"Examinee Lin Chen, are preparations complete?"
A figure in a cloak appeared in the sky, answering in a mechanical voice.
Lin Chen jumped in place a few times, kicked his legs.
Almost exactly the same as his body in the real world.
"It's that testing pod."
The testing pod had scanned their extremely detailed body data, then input it into this virtual world.
That's how it could create an almost identical game body.
And it wasn't just the body that was identical.
Lin Chen looked at the Martial Arts Panel before him. His cheat was really reliable—it appeared directly in the virtual world.
"Preparations complete."
Lin Chen spoke.
The next moment, a system panel appeared before him.
This time it wasn't his Martial Arts Panel, but the virtual world's system panel.
He could choose bare-handed or weapons.
Lin Chen chose a blade. No special effects—the college entrance exam's whole point was fairness.
At least during the exam process, it was as fair as possible.
After confirming his choice—
The assessment officially began.
A pure white humanoid creature appeared before Lin Chen, then roared and charged at him.
Inhale.
Large amounts of air entered Lin Chen's body, fully activating it.
Total Concentration: Sun Breathing—First Form: Dance
A curved flame blade flash appeared, killing the white monster in one strike.
This white monster's body level was the same as Lin Chen's—both 3.3.
After defeating it, the combat level in the sky also became3.3. Combat amplification: one.
Total Concentration Breathing could massively amplify physical qualities in a short time.
Combined with LV3 Sun Breathing swordsmanship—
Dealing with this kind of monster that only had body level but no technique was way too easy for Lin Chen.
After defeating the same-level monster—
Within a few breaths, Lin Chen's condition had already recovered to its peak.
This was the trial space's effect.
Of course, if someone specifically learned burst techniques that drained stamina in one hit or even sacrificed life force, trying to exploit the trial space's stamina recovery—
That was just overthinking it.
Never mind that it was banned in college entrance exams—the amplification score algorithm had already considered this situation.
If that really happened, the amplification score would be extremely low.
In his predecessor's memories, Old Class Pompeii had emphasized this situation multiple times.
"Continue." Lin Chen grinned.
After learning Sun Breathing, this was his first time being able to fight so freely like this.
This was extremely rare combat experience. He treasured this opportunity.
In the high-martial world, there'd definitely be no shortage of battles in the future.
The next opponent appeared. Body level increased to6.6—already twice Lin Chen's current level.
Still a white monster. The white monster appeared, moving considerably faster than the previous one.
Sun Breathing—Fourth Form: Fake Rainbow
Lin Chen's body spun and twisted at high speed. In an instant, two identical afterimages seemed to appear in place.
While the white monster was drawn to the afterimages, Lin Chen slashed from the side.
The white head hit the ground.
Still a one-hit kill.