The mental power test was the simplest among the competitions.
Lin Hao, seeing the long line of people ahead, still found himself thinking about yesterday's events.
Truly, an embarrassing experience wasn't something you could just forget.
He tilted his head up at a 45-degree angle, lost in thought.
"Mental power ss, mid-to-upper quality. Next."
An older voice broke Lin Hao's melancholy. He lowered his head and observed the situation ahead.
After this test, they should be able to get a rough ranking.
Yesterday, he had taken a closer look at the competition rules and noticed some fine print.
The top several thousand participants could directly enter the next stage of group combat.
Those who were eliminated based on a false assessment had one chance to challenge. If they won, they would replace the challenged person. If the challenger lost, they would be barred from the Feng Lan School's exams for three years.
The three rounds of competition he had seen yesterday only applied to mecha and combat matches.
What determined whether you could participate in the final two events was now the strength of your mental power.
This...
If he hadn't reread the competition regulations yesterday, he wouldn't have known about all these supplementary clauses.
"Next, Hu Tu."
The old voice sounded again.
All the surrounding noise instantly fell silent at the mention of this name.
Lin Hao's gaze, like everyone else's, followed the red-haired youth towards the testing platform.
He watched as Hu Tu stepped into the equipment that resembled a game pod. The attendant then closed the pod door and moved to operate the equipment.
The entire venue was silent, everyone waiting for Hu Tu's test results.
Although many people already knew he was a high-level mental power user, they still wanted to see for themselves if the rumors over the years were true.
Less than five minutes passed.
The game pod's door opened.
At this point, the operator glanced at the testing screen and couldn't suppress the excitement overflowing from his eyes.
He then announced loudly, "Mental power sss+, top-tier quality. Next!"
After this announcement, everyone nearby began to whisper amongst themselves. As for Hu Tu, he walked out of the pod and headed towards the exit.
As he passed Lin Hao, he glanced at him, said nothing, and continued walking away.
Well.
This kid certainly had a temper. He just hadn't helped him mock Qin Mohan yesterday, had he?
And now he was angry.
If he had joined in mocking Qin Mohan, what would happen to his "best friend plan"?
Besides, wasn't his performance yesterday quite impressive? Qin Mohan hadn't even had time to bother with him, so shouldn't he be happy?
He really couldn't understand what was going on in a child's mind these days.
"Next, Lin Hao."
Upon hearing his name called, Lin Hao walked towards the testing equipment.
Because his academic performance in literature yesterday had been particularly abysmal, the eyes of others seemed to convey that anyone who had ever attended school should know the answers to these questions.
As he walked towards the testing platform, he endured a barrage of disdainful glances.
Lin Hao paid no mind to these; they were just children, incapable of defeating him physically, resorting only to underhanded tactics.
He reached the testing platform, nodded to the testing teacher, and then stepped into the testing pod.
He didn't know how long he had closed his eyes before a ray of light awoke Lin Hao.
As he emerged from the testing pod, he heard the testing teacher announce his results.
"Mental power sss+, mid-to-lower quality. A bit of a shame."
The testing teacher looked at Lin Hao with a hint of regret.
As Lin Hao stepped out of the testing pod and saw the teacher looking at him that way, he showed no emotion; he wasn't unfamiliar with such expressions.
However, he could sense that he had passed the test.
Next, he would have to prepare for combat.
Speaking of mecha battles, the mention of mecha always brought Ye Xue to mind. The empire had recently held a funeral for Ye Xue.
He had planned to take a spaceship to send her off from afar, but due to this examination, he ultimately decided against it.
Ye Xue had often told him one thing: "Make the right decisions at the right time. Don't let a small matter disrupt your plans."
-------- A Week Passed --------
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the combat simulation. As expected, the school sent him a notification text message: "Assessment Passed."
Lin Hao joined the large contingent heading to the combat simulation venue.
However, this year, he hadn't heard anyone who had been eliminated challenging others.
It seemed they were preparing to try again next year.
The entrance examination for this school was truly strict. Couldn't combat and martial ability be tested together?
That way, even if one achieved good results in one aspect, if the other was at the bottom, and an average was taken, it would be unfair to everyone.
As Lin Hao was grumbling, a person appeared on the large screen on the stage and addressed them, standing in orderly lines below. "Due to the urgent situation this year, our combat simulation and martial ability tests will be combined. Furthermore, the rules for the competition will change accordingly. Therefore, everyone has one hour to quickly familiarize yourselves with the new rules."
After saying this, a new set of competition regulations was sent to everyone's star net.
Because individuals with higher mental power tended to have poorer physical constitutions, the leaders decided to separate those with high mental power for separate testing.
At this moment, Lin Hao also received such a message.
'Due to your excessively high mental power level, for the safety of your body, will you participate in the upcoming combat training, or take another literary examination?'
Below were two options: 1. Combat Simulation, 2. Literary Examination.
Lin Hao turned his head to look at the people around him. A significant portion of them had chosen option 2. However, Lin Hao certainly wouldn't choose 2.
He then clicked on option 1.
He wondered what on earth had happened for the policies to change so quickly this year. This new policy seemed as if it had been written just yesterday.
This school seemed to show a slight tendency towards expanding its enrollment.
Was this change an indication that some war was about to occur?
Which was why they were recruiting so many people.
Due to the diversion of participants, the number of people for the combat simulation instantly dropped to a few hundred, so the grouping immediately moved to the second stage.
From one hundred down to ten.
Many people had chosen the literary examination, but how could this school, or even this country, possibly need so many literary scholars?
These children still didn't grasp the ulterior motives of those people at all.
What they wanted was a blade, a blade that belonged only to them, not to nurture a person with thoughts, especially one who could betray them at any moment.
"Yo, son, I've been wanting to spar with you for a long time. Don't get eliminated in the first round, alright?"
"You too, don't get eliminated either," Lin Hao turned around and said with a smile to Hu Tu, who looked impatient but still spoke to him.
Hu Tu, your best friend is coming, are you ready?
Mini-theater:
Why was the new regulation suddenly implemented?
1. War is about to break out, hence the expansion of recruitment.
2. Qin Mohan's suggestion, because his wife didn't want to take two tests.
3. The author didn't want to write so many words, so they changed the new regulations daily.
4. None of the above, I want to share my own thoughts.
My dear readers, what are your opinions?