Lu A'niu

Teacher Ren said, "There's dinner. Oh, right—I heard you also got full marks in the virtual combat subject?"

Bai Pu gave a grunt. The wound on his shoulder blade had basically healed, and the three claw marks over his right eye had scabbed over. After a night's sleep, the scars would disappear completely.

That was the recovery ability of an Awakened. After Body Datafication, as long as Health Points recovered to their maximum, it meant the body had returned to perfect health.

Teacher Ren frowned. "Then you need to be careful. When the Spirit Realm Will conducts a mass transmission, it divides examinees into different batches and assigns them to various Mirror Image Planes.

"Following the Spirit Realm Will's usual pursuit of balance, examinees with similar virtual combat scores will be placed in the same batch. The strong face the strong, and the weak face the weak! That way, it can observe your growth potential."

Bai Pu nodded. "Ling-jie told me about it."

Although he knew about this convention, Bai Pu had not deliberately lowered his score to end up among the weaker batch.

It was not because Bai Pu liked challenging strong opponents, but because he believed that in the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject, he was the strongest.

Whether he faced a group of strong people or a group of weak people, it would not affect his final score.

Others should be the ones avoiding him, not him deliberately lowering his score to avoid them.

June 9th, early morning.

The authorities announced the starting time for the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject—the time of the Spirit Realm's mass transmission: exactly noon, West Capital time.

They also announced the method by which the Spirit Realm Will would assess examinees' results.

Before examinees left the Mirror Image Plane, their status, world fame, Merit Points... would all be converted into scores according to different ratios! Within the Mirror Image Plane, examinees could obtain all normal gains, no different from exploring the real Spirit Realm.

Those gains also represented the scores for the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject.

For example, if Bai Pu killed a native elite and drew a piece of blue equipment from the loot chest, not only could he use that equipment, he would also receive the corresponding score. The score was related to the equipment's estimated value.

Therefore, the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject of the college entrance exam was essentially an opportunity for all Awakened examinees of eligible age to freely explore a Spirit Realm Plane!

All loot obtained by examinees within the Mirror Image Plane could be brought back to the real world normally. That alone was already extremely valuable.

There was only one difference: the status, world fame, relationships with Spirit Realm characters, and so on that examinees obtained in the Mirror Image Plane would all be reset after the exam ended.

That was normal. After all, it was a Mirror Image Plane, not the original Plane World. The entire Mirror Image Plane, including its native inhabitants, consisted of copies created by the Spirit Realm Will. Grudges, affections, and enmities with copies would not extend to the main body.

Jiangnan District, Xu Family Manor.

"Youzhen, this is the list I found of examinees who got full marks in the virtual combat subject across the nation's seven major districts. There are seventy-nine in total. If nothing unexpected happens, all seventy-nine perfect scorers should appear in the same Mirror Image Plane." A bespectacled office lady in a small business suit handed over a stack of documents.

The dark-skinned, bald youth named Xu Youzhen took the list and glanced down it.

He was the Heroic Profession known by the code name "Mad Zen"—the Azure Dragon Battle Monk! A direct descendant of the Xu Family in Jiangnan District.

"Most of them are intermediate Awakened, level four or above."

As Mad Zen looked farther down, he suddenly gave a surprised sound. "How did a level two sneak in here? He's only level two, and with such severe level suppression, he still managed to defeat the Combat Robot in the Core Ring?"

The bespectacled office lady reminded him, "This person only awakened recently. He hasn't made much of a name for himself yet, and he doesn't have a code name. His real name is Bai Pu. He's the one the Superpower Corporation accused of theft some time ago, causing such a huge uproar."

"Him?"

Mad Zen chuckled. "I remember him. That guy is quite interesting, and he might even be useful to me."

"You want to recruit him? Should I send him an invitation?"

Mad Zen shook his head. "The college entrance exam comes first. No need to contact him yet. We'll talk after I become the Top Scorer!"

East Sea District, Wu Family.

A red figure darted back and forth through the forest. Everywhere she passed, only repeated thudding sounds could be heard as the practice dummies hidden among the trees fell one after another.

Every dummy had been struck in vital locations such as the throat and heart, pierced by deep holes.

"Whew..."

The red figure came to a stop. She was a Red Cloak girl of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a short red outfit. The buttons over her chest were stretched taut, as though they might burst off at any moment. She wore tight cropped pants below, perfectly outlining the curves of her slender waist and full hips.

"Qing Yun, the list for the virtual combat subject is out. Do you want to take a look?" a voice called out.

Wu Qingyun shook her head. "I don't have time to look. I'm going to the family dungeon to train my Combat Expertise for another two hours."

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll never be defeated," the voice outside the woods continued to persuade her.

"Could a bunch of level-four Awakened possibly threaten me?" Wu Qingyun said calmly. "With my current level-six strength and at least two levels of suppression, I'm guaranteed to take this year's Top Scorer title. My only opponent is myself!"

Many others had likewise obtained the information on the examinees who received full marks in virtual combat ahead of time, and most of them were curious about Bai Pu, the level-two perfect scorer.

After all, a level two mixed into a group of intermediate Awakened was like a husky wandering into a pack of wolves.

Of course, some dismissed him entirely.

In West Capital District, the young genius of the Zhou Family known by the code name "Overlord" laughed and waved a hand after hearing about Bai Pu's qualifications. "Forget it. I don't know how desperately he must have fought to earn full marks in virtual combat, but that's precisely his mistake! Forcing his way into a level bracket that doesn't belong to him comes at a price!"

Exactly noon, West Capital time.

Bai Pu sat in the examination hall, surrounded by other Awakened examinees.

The examinees cautiously and warily observed one another.

Bai Pu took several deep breaths, suppressing his restless emotions as he closed his eyes to rest.

I have to become this year's Top Scorer. The academic subjects and virtual combat have already gotten me off to a good start. Next is Spirit Realm Exploration, what I'm best at... I can definitely win it!

Bai Pu silently thought to himself.

The Top Scorer title came with an enormous boost to fame, greatly increasing the cost for the Superpower Corporation to assassinate Bai Pu.

Moreover, the Top Scorer would receive generous rewards from the Spirit Realm Will!

According to information revealed in past interviews with top scorers, the rewards included at least one powerful title and an extremely rare chance to draw from a Dark Gold roulette wheel! With good luck, drawing Dark Gold Equipment, namely Lord-level equipment, was not impossible.

Even if he did not draw equipment, obtaining another category would still grant a reward equal in value to a piece of Dark Gold Equipment.

Last year's Top Scorer, Wan Zhen, had drawn personal attribute enhancement and gained a full twenty free attribute points! The light of mass transmission flickered as white radiance slowly enveloped the thirty people in the examination hall. Their figures gradually faded and disappeared.

The familiar sensation of weightlessness came over him. Before Bai Pu's eyes, a prompt from the Spirit Realm Will appeared.

Welcome to the Plane scenario: Red Cliffs.

This plane is a Mirror Image Plane created by extracting a segment from the Three Kingdoms World.

In this plane, you can obtain all loot normally, except items with World Uniqueness. However, your relationships with native inhabitants of this plane cannot be inherited by the true Three Kingdoms World.

In this plane, no Main Quest or Side Quest will be generated. You may freely explore this plane for ten days.

Based on your virtual combat subject score, your entry order into the Mirror Image Plane is: first.

It has been detected that you are only level two, clearly weaker than the average level of examinees in this batch. You have received preferential treatment and may freely choose one +1-level affix.

A. Noble Lineage: Your initial background in this plane is raised by one level, including but not limited to family status, caste, and bloodline.

B. Prominence: Your initial status in this plane is raised by one level, including but not limited to civil office and military rank.

C. Friend: You possess the friendship of an elite native inhabitant in this plane.

D. Challenge: You have obtained a clue to a Side Quest in this plane.

These four affixes affected Bai Pu's identity after entering, his social connections, plot discovery, and many other aspects. They were fairly decent bonuses.

Bai Pu first ruled out Options C and D. He believed those two would not be difficult to develop on his own.

Option A, Noble Lineage, and Option B, Prominence, seemed somewhat similar, but after considering them carefully, Bai Pu still distinguished the difference.

Noble Lineage referred to bloodline and background, while Prominence referred to office and status.

For example, Liu Bei possessed imperial blood and a royal lineage, so his bloodline was considered quite high. Yet his initial status was very low—a mere weaver of mats and seller of sandals.

Bai Pu decisively chose Option A: Noble Lineage. In the Late Han and Three Kingdoms era, bloodline and background were still highly valued. With a bloodline one tier higher, he would have a better chance of earning the favor of high-ranking natives after making achievements!

As for Option B, Prominence, he could obtain that through meritorious deeds in the Plane World.

You have chosen the affix: Noble Lineage.

Please select your faction. Currently available: Cao Army / Sun Quan Army / Liu Bei Army.

Bai Pu chose the Sun Quan Army without hesitation.

Faction confirmed. Generating initial identity...

Your initial identity is: Lu A'niu, a distant descendant of the Lu clan, a prominent family of Wu Commandery; currently a soldier in the Jiangdong Navy of the Sun Quan Army faction.