What the Examination Entailed

On the other side, at Cloud City's docks, airships slowly arrived one after another. Once they had docked, the people aboard eagerly disembarked.

Cloud City was a place every Soul Master on the ground dreamed of reaching. Being able to come here meant they were already among the best of their peers in their respective regions. But once they arrived, that was no longer certain, because everyone who could come here was likewise among the finest of their generation. Only those who passed the examination and were selected could remain. If no one chose them, they might even be forcibly sent back to the ground.

For those from the ground, setting foot in Cloud City's harbor was only the first step. Whether they could establish themselves here would depend on their subsequent performance. Only by passing the examination could they truly enter Cloud City itself.

Led by their teachers, the students from the various academies had already gathered outside. A rough count showed that there were ten airships in total, carrying at least four hundred people from the ground. Before long, they would board shuttle cars and head to the selection site.

Most of those present were around the same age, at most two or three years apart. Even if they had not known one another before, under these circumstances, they got along quite well.

Soon, shuttle cars arrived at the Cloud City docks. Under the teachers' guidance, everyone boarded with interest. The interior was spacious enough to seat fifty people with room to spare.

Once inside, nearly everyone preparing for the examination, aside from the teachers and parents, immediately entered a meditative state. Through meditation, they could recover their strength and adjust their condition, ensuring they were at their best before the examination and could perform to their fullest.

The examination site was not far from the docks. They arrived after only around fifteen minutes.

After getting out, everyone found themselves before an enormous white domed building. Clearly, their examination would take place here.

Quite a few staff members were also present, guiding the students into the building. Obviously, parents and teachers were not allowed inside the examination site.

"Chenfeng, Hongling, the stage is yours now. Do your best to pass the examination in one go," Zhao Gaobo encouraged them.

"Mm, we will." After saying that, the two followed the staff into the building.

Watching the two enter the building, the three people outside fell into thought again.

"Old Gaobo, do you think these two children can pass the examination?" Ye Jiulong asked, his tone carrying a trace of nervousness.

Nervousness was only natural. Only those who had personally gone through the examination knew just how difficult its contents were.

Zhao Gaobo said, "I really couldn't say. After all, I didn't undergo the examination back then. You two should be the ones who experienced it, right?"

Ling Wei, standing nearby, said, "Believe in them. From what we learned afterward, Cloud City's examinations are almost all related to combat, but at their core, they still assess the participants' overall qualities. If it's these two children, they'll definitely be fine."

After hearing this, Ye Jiulong gave a helpless smile. "Yes. Let's believe in them."

Meanwhile, many people had already arrived inside the white building.

The building's interior was far larger than Tang Chenfeng and the others had imagined. There were no decorations or furnishings inside, only rows upon rows of spherical pods.

At the same time, a beautiful woman, followed by two men in black suits, walked toward the crowd ahead. The woman wore a red badge on her shoulder. She was the chief Examiner of this site. Though she had done nothing at all, no one knew why, but her mere arrival made countless people present feel an oppressive pressure. The venue instantly fell silent.

The white building was enormous, so its interior was naturally divided into many sections. Each section would hold a portion of the examinees taking their examinations.

The beautiful woman said sternly, "I am your Examiner. Next, I will explain the rules and precautions for the examination."

The Examiner said, "These pods you see before you are Simulation Pods. They will send you into a Virtual World called the Douluo World. Unlike the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Platform, this is virtual and therefore safer. Your examination site is within it. Shortly, each of you will be issued a small Soul Tool Terminal as your key to enter. You may also use the terminals to freely form teams, but no team may have more than three members."

"Next is the examination site itself. You will be transported into a maze containing a large number of Soul Beasts. Your task is to kill Soul Beasts and earn points. The older the Soul Beast, the higher the points. Killing other participants can also earn you extremely high scores. At the same time, this is a survival challenge. The longer you survive inside, the more your score will increase accordingly. If you are killed, you will immediately exit the Virtual World. If you wish to gain a foothold in Cloud City, then do your best to survive in there."

"Now, come forward in an orderly manner to receive your terminals for entering the Virtual World."

Very quickly, the forty people in the area formed an orderly line and stepped forward to collect their terminals.

After receiving the terminals, Tang Chenfeng and the others examined them carefully. They looked like enlarged white Soul Tool Communicators, slightly larger than their palms. By connecting the top of one's terminal to another person's terminal, a team could be formed.

Tang Chenfeng and Ye Hongling only had each other. They basically did not know, nor were they familiar with, any of the others present. So they decided that rather than team up with strangers, it would be better for the two of them to form a team by themselves. It was more familiar and safer.

Then, under the staff's guidance, Tang Chenfeng and Ye Hongling chose two adjacent Simulation Pods and entered them.

Unlike the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Platform, the interior of a Simulation Pod was large and spacious. It utilized magnetic levitation technology, special particle construction technology, and a neural transmission system. Within it, the examination site and the Soul Masters' conditions could be perfectly recreated. In other words, the Simulation Pod could simulate a real world.

There was only a control panel inside the spacious pod. A groove on the panel was just the right size to fit the terminal. After setting up the terminal according to the rules and inserting it into the groove, the inside of the Simulation Pod instantly lit up, transforming into a world of data and code. At the same time, virtual screens lit up around him, accompanied by an electronic prompt.

"The following is the participant's personal information. If there are no errors, please say 'confirm.'" Once the prompt ended, all of Tang Chenfeng's personal information appeared on the screen.

After roughly looking it over, Tang Chenfeng said, "Confirm."

The electronic prompt sounded again.

"Information confirmed. The Simulation World will now load."

Everything around him changed once more. Tang Chenfeng first felt darkness before his eyes, then the surroundings rapidly brightened again. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an utterly unfamiliar environment, with Ye Hongling standing beside him.

Looking around, they seemed to be in a passageway about five meters high and wide. Its floor, ceiling, and walls on both sides were all constructed from stone bricks. Wall lamps along both sides served as the maze's light source, while from far down the passageway came intermittent sounds that might have been the roars of Soul Beasts.