As the first ray of dawn split the sky, gentle sunlight once again shone upon the earth, bringing with it a brand-new day.
Xina slowly opened her eyes. With a light flick of her finger toward the curtains, two icy-blue hooks appeared out of thin air and slowly pulled them apart.
Outside the window, birds hopped up and down among the branches, chirping noisily.
Xina sat up in bed. After taking a moment to shake off her grogginess, she got up and walked to the window.
The moment she opened it, the fresh air unique to the morning rushed against her face,
"I'll spare your lives." Xina raised her right hand at those sound machines that disturbed people's dreams. After holding it out in midair for a while, she silently lowered it again.
Knock, knock, knock...
"Xina, are you up?"
At the sound of knocking, Xina turned and opened the door. The first thing she saw was Mei, wearing an apron. "It's Mei! You're up so early..."
"Early to bed and early to rise is good for your health!" Mei smiled. "How did you rest last night?"
Other than that unscrupulous boss constantly urging her to get to work faster, everything had been great.
Xina scratched her head, on the verge of tears, and gave an awkward laugh. "Thanks for asking. I rested very well last night... I slept soundly."
Mei smiled faintly. "That's good. After breakfast, Teacher Himeko will take you for the Entrance Exam. Make sure you do your best!"
"Okay, got it. Thanks."
Thinking about the test where she had to hold back without looking pathetic, stay low-key while still looking impressive, Xina quietly put on a long face and probed indirectly, "By the way, Mei, you must have taken that test too, right? Could you tell me what it involves?"
"The test content..." Mei apparently had not expected Xina to ask her so directly for advice. She seriously thought back on all the situations she had encountered during her own assessment, intending to summarize them for Xina.
"Tests like these are generally conducted at dedicated Testing Grounds. The Testing Ground is located within a special barrier space constructed from Honkai energy. While testing inside, no matter how serious your injuries are, once you leave, your body will recover to the condition it was in before entering the Testing Ground."
"Most importantly, the Testing Ground can construct Honkai Beasts and Death Stalkers that have appeared in reality. Although they're only virtual modules, they're simulated using combat data from those Honkai Beasts that have appeared before, so their strength isn't too far from the real individuals."
"My opponent during my assessment was a simulated Honkai Beast. But... I remember you don't have any foundation, Xina, right? If that's the case, I'd suggest starting by challenging Death Stalkers!"
Fighting simulated Honkai Beasts and Death Stalkers?
That didn't sound too difficult. As long as she held back well enough, she could definitely muddle through!
At that thought, a barely perceptible flicker of delight crossed Xina's face. She nodded to Mei and smiled. "This helps me a lot. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome. I'll go wake Kiana and Bronya first. If those two still aren't up at this hour, they must have stayed up gaming together again... Once you're done washing up, you can head downstairs for breakfast first."
By the time Xina finished getting ready and left her room, Himeko and Fu Hua were already seated at the dining table eating. Seeing Xina come downstairs, Himeko raised a hand and waved at her. "Dig in, new student! After breakfast, we're heading to the Entrance Exam!"
"Okay." Xina naturally sat beside Himeko and buried herself in her meal for the sake of her future figure.
After everyone finished breakfast, Kiana and Bronya, who had nearly pulled an all-nighter, finally stumbled downstairs under Mei's prodding, their eyes still bleary with sleep.
Honestly, seeing how neither of them could even open their eyes, Xina was worried they might misstep and tumble down the stairs.
Since they were not headed in the same direction, Himeko and Xina set off first for the Testing Ground, known as the nightmare of poor students.
On the way, Xina looked at her empty hands and realized a very serious problem: she couldn't exactly point her fingers like little pistols and go pew-pew-pew at her targets during the test, could she?
It wasn't impossible, but... she really shouldn't.
"Teacher Himeko, do we have to take the test empty-handed?" Xina asked tentatively in a low voice.
"No. If you need one, you can use a weapon during the test... Forget it, there's still plenty of time. I'll take you to the standard weapons armory first and pick something that suits your hand. Once you pass higher-level assessments later, it won't be too late to switch to a better weapon."
After considering it for a moment, Himeko led Xina in another direction.
Himeko took Xina through a research and development area bustling with researchers, eventually arriving before a plain silver-gray metal door.
Xina reached out and touched the door, immediately forming a basic judgment of the security level here:
The clearance level for this area was not high. Even the door was just an ordinary anti-theft door.
Beep—
"Fingerprint identity confirmed. Authorization verified. Welcome, Major Himeko."
Accompanied by the friendly electronic voice, the tightly shut metal door slowly opened before them.
Himeko pressed the light switch beside the door and led Xina inside.
As the lights came on, Xina was greeted by weapons faintly glinting beneath the illumination.
Katanas, greatswords, gauntlets, scythes, pistols...
There were several of every kind of weapon, laid horizontally on racks, leaving Xina dazzled.
There was also an upright placard in front of every weapon, seemingly containing its description.
"These are standard weapons that can be used for adaptation training. Pick whichever one you like and give it a try!"
After getting blasted into the sky by Anti-Entropy missiles in North America because of her terrible physical condition, Xina had a pretty clear idea of her own limits.
She was certain that lighter weapons suited her better. Those greatswords and scythes leaning against the wall clearly did not suit her at all.
As for the small-caliber cannons and gauntlets, after a brief hesitation, Xina crossed them off along with the greatswords and scythes.
That left her with surprisingly few suitable weapons.
Xina looked at the remaining katanas and pistols, and neither looked right to her. But since she was already here, she couldn't exactly go back empty-handed.
"Sigh... I'll take this one." Xina let out a soft sigh, then turned toward the weapon cabinet holding several kinds of pistols.
She casually picked a pistol with a suitable weight, intending to make do with it. But as she turned, something hanging in the corner of the wall caught the corner of her eye.
It was a pitch-black whip. The two rows of blade-like barbs covering it made it easy to imagine how cruel it would be when used to beat organic lifeforms.
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