Lu A'niu

Teacher Ren: "There's dinner. Oh, right, I heard you got full marks in your virtual combat subject too?"

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

This was the Awakened's recovery ability. After the body was datafied, as long as the health points were restored to the upper limit, it meant that the body had recovered to complete health.

Teacher Ren frowned and said, "Then you have to be careful. When the Spirit Realm Will performs a collective teleportation, it will divide the candidates into different batches and assign them to various Mirror Image Planes.

"According to the Spirit Realm Will's consistent approach of pursuing balance, it will divide candidates with similar virtual combat scores into the same batch, the strong against the strong, the weak against the weak! In order to observe your growth potential."

Bai Pu nodded and said, "Sister Ling told me about it."

Although he knew this convention, Bai Pu did not deliberately control his score to fall into the batch of the weak.

It wasn't that Bai Pu liked to challenge the strong, but he felt that in the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject, he was the strongest.

Whether facing a group of strong people or a group of weak people, it would not affect his score in the end.

It should be others who see him and go around, not him who actively controls his score and goes around.

June 9th, early morning.

The official announcement of the opening time of the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject, that is, the time of the Spirit Realm collective teleportation: West Capital time, 12:00 noon.

Also announced was the Spirit Realm Will's method of evaluating candidates' scores.

Until the candidates leave the Mirror Image Plane, the candidate's status, world renown, Merit Points... will be converted into scores according to different proportions! In the Mirror Image Plane, candidates can normally obtain all benefits, which is no different from the exploration of the real Spirit Realm.

These benefits also mean the score of the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject.

For example, if Bai Pu kills an aboriginal elite and draws a blue equipment from the loot box, in addition to being able to use this equipment, he can also get the corresponding score (the score is related to the estimated value of the equipment).

Therefore, the college entrance examination's Spirit Realm Exploration Subject is actually giving all eligible Awakened candidates a chance to freely explore the Spirit Realm plane!

All the spoils obtained by the candidates in the Mirror Image Plane can be normally brought back to the real world. This alone is already very rare.

There is only one difference: the status, world renown, and relationship with Spirit Realm characters, etc., obtained by the candidates in the Mirror Image Plane will be reset to zero after the exam.

This is also normal, after all, it is a Mirror Image Plane, not the original plane world. The entire Mirror Image Plane, including the natives inside, are copies created by the Spirit Realm Will. The grievances and entanglements with the copies will not extend to the main body.

Jiangnan District, Xu Family Manor.

"Youzhen, this is what I found. The list of candidates who got full marks in the virtual combat subject in the seven major districts of the country, a total of 79 people. If there are no accidents, these 79 full marks of yours should appear in the same Mirror Image Plane." A bespectacled OL woman in a small suit handed over a stack of documents.

The dark-skinned bald teenager named "Xu Youzhen" took the list and scanned it down.

He is the Heroic Profession with the code name "Mad Zen" – Azure Dragon Battle Monk! A direct descendant of the Xu Family in Jiangnan District.

"Basically, they are all intermediate Awakened, level 4 or above."

Mad Zen saw below, and suddenly gave a light exclamation, "Why is there a level 2 mixed in? Only level 2, with such a serious level suppression, he can still defeat the Combat Robot of the core ring?"

The bespectacled OL woman reminded, "This person has just awakened, and has not yet made a name for himself, nor does he have a code name. His real name is Bai Pu, the one who was accused of theft by the Superpower Corporation some time ago, which caused a lot of noise."

"It's him?"

Mad Zen said with a chuckle, "I have an impression. This guy is very interesting, and maybe he can be used by me."

"You want to win him over? Should I send him an invitation?"

Mad Zen shook his head, "The college entrance exam is the priority. No need to contact him yet. Let me get the top score in the exam first!"

East Sea District, Wu Family.

A red shadow darted back and forth between the trees. All that could be heard was a "thud, thud" as the dummies hidden among the trees fell to the ground.

Each dummy had been struck in vital areas such as the throat and heart, with deep holes pierced into them.

"Whew..."

The red shadow stopped, revealing a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl in red. She wore a red short outfit, the buttons on her chest stretched tightly, seemingly ready to burst open at any moment. Her figure was completed with tight-fitting capri pants, perfectly outlining the curves of her slender waist and full hips.

"Qingyun, 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 instance dungeon to practice my combat expertise for another two hours."

"Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory," the voice continued to persuade from beyond the trees.

"A bunch of Level 4 Awakened ones? They can threaten me?" Wu Qingyun said indifferently. "With my current Level 6 strength, at least a two-level advantage, I'm determined to get the top score in this college entrance exam. My only opponent is myself!"

Many others also received the information on the candidates who had achieved full marks in the virtual combat subject in advance, and most of them were curious about Bai Pu, the Level 2 candidate who had achieved full marks.

After all, a Level 2 mixed in with a group of intermediate Awakened ones was like a husky mixed in with a pack of wolves.

Of course, some people dismissed him with disdain.

In the West Capital District, the young genius from the Zhou Family, codenamed "Overlord," laughed and waved his hand after hearing about Bai Pu's qualifications. "Forget it, I don't know how desperately he fought to get a full score in virtual combat, but that's his downfall! Forcibly entering a level that doesn't belong to you comes at a price!"

West Capital time, 12:00 noon.

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

The candidates cautiously and warily sized each other up.

Bai Pu took a few deep breaths, suppressing his restless mood, and closed his eyes to rest.

I must get the top score in this year's college entrance exam. I've already made a good start in the cultural studies and virtual combat subjects. Next is the Spirit Realm Exploration Subject, which I'm best at... I can definitely get it!

Bai Pu thought silently.

The top score in the college entrance exam came with a huge boost in fame, which would greatly increase the cost for the Superpower Corporation to assassinate Bai Pu.

Moreover, the top scorer in the college entrance exam would also receive a generous reward from the Spirit Realm Will!

According to previous interviews with top scorers, the reward was at least a powerful title, as well as an extremely rare chance to draw from a Dark Gold Roulette! If you were lucky, it was not impossible to draw a Dark Gold equipment (Lord-level equipment).

Even if you didn't draw equipment, drawing other categories would give you a reward equivalent to the value of a Dark Gold equipment.

Last year's top scorer, Wan Zhen, drew a personal attribute enhancement, which gave him a full twenty free attribute points! The light of the group teleportation flashed, and the white light slowly surrounded the 30 people in the examination hall. The 30 figures gradually faded and disappeared.

A familiar sense of weightlessness came, and in front of Bai Pu, a prompt message from the Spirit Realm Will appeared.

[Welcome to the plane scene: Red Cliffs.]

[This plane is a Mirror Image Plane created by extracting a segment of the Three Kingdoms plane world.]

[In this Mirror Image Plane, you can normally obtain all loot (excluding items unique to the world), but your relationships with the native characters of this Mirror Image Plane cannot be inherited into the real Three Kingdoms world.]

[In this Mirror Image Plane, main quests and side quests will not be generated. You can freely explore this Mirror Image Plane for ten days.]

[Based on your Virtual Combat Subject score, your entry order into the Mirror Image Plane is: First.]

[Your level is detected to be only Level 2, which is significantly weaker than the average level of this batch of candidates. You have received preferential treatment and can freely choose a +1 level affix.]

[A. Prominent Family: Your initial background in this Mirror Image Plane is raised by 1 level (including but not limited to family background, caste bloodline)]

[B. Prominent Position: Your initial status in this Mirror Image Plane is raised by 1 level (including but not limited to official position, military position)]

[C. Friend: You have the friendship of an elite native in this Mirror Image Plane.]

[D. Challenge: You have obtained a clue to a side quest in this Mirror Image Plane.]

These four affixes are related to Bai Pu's identity, social relationships, plot discovery, and other aspects after entering, which can be considered a good bonus.

Bai Pu first eliminated options C and D. He believes that these two items are not difficult to unearth.

Option A, Prominent Family, and option B, Prominent Position, seem a bit similar, but Bai Pu carefully tasted them and still distinguished the difference between the two.

Prominent Family is bloodline background, and Prominent Position is official position and status.

For example, Liu Bei, a member of the imperial family, with noble blood, has a very high bloodline; but his initial status was very low—a weaver and sandal seller.

Bai Pu decisively chose option A: Prominent Family. At the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, bloodline background was still very important. Having a higher bloodline background would give him a greater chance to gain the favor of the native high-level officials after making contributions!

As for option B: Prominent Position, it can be obtained by making contributions in the Mirror Image Plane world.

[You have selected the affix: Prominent Family.]

[Please select your faction. Current options: Cao Army / Sun Quan Army / Liu Bei Army.]

Bai Pu chose the Sun Quan Army without hesitation.

[Faction confirmed, initial identity is being generated...]

[Your initial identity is: Lu A'niu, a distant relative of the Wu County Lu Clan; currently a soldier of the Sun Quan Army, Jiangdong Navy.]