Pre-Exam Sprint

Soldiers, when all was said and done, were executors of violence—the basic cells of war.

Strip away all the flattering, glorifying adjectives and prefixes, and professional soldiers were killing machines who carried out orders, the fundamental units that made up war.

"So, killing one of your own kind against your personal will, for some external objective, proves that you have the resolve to kill and the potential to become a tool of violence. That's the basic ritual of the God of War, Lover of Chess? Then what if you deliberately kill someone because of an emotion, like hatred or possessiveness?"

"Then that would be G.T's ritual. He's the God of Killing and Butchers, and his Tier 1 path is Butcher. Those two are mortal enemies too—well, Butcher Bro has a lot of enemies. Lady Lin, FON, and most of the gods of war all want nothing more than to kill him."

Neither the Soldier nor Butcher paths had been introduced in that "Five-Three" book.

Lover of Chess was one of the righteous gods, while Butcher Bro had not even been mentioned. He was probably an unrecognized evil god.

"Fine. Do kills in secret realms count? I'll go make a trip right now."

The answer, however, was even simpler than expected. The ritual did not require him to "kill on the spot." As long as he had "killed before," it counted.

Lu PingAn already met the requirements. All that remained was to recite the god name and complete the ritual.

At Big Cat's request, he wrote the god name "Lover of Chess" on paper and marked the sacred number 19 around it.

"Rituals that borrow divine power actually all follow a general process."

"The first step is to recite the god name and offer sacrifices at the same time. They can be physical objects or the 'act' itself, meant to draw the deity's attention."

Lu PingAn nodded. He knew that what Big Cat was telling him now was the precious "principle," not merely "how to do it."

". . . Slightly higher-end secret realms have what are called admission tickets. Those are the sacrifices that allow the ritual to continue. The beginner secret realm you entered had none only because its sacrifice was 'zero.'"

The host has obtained a trace amount of Forbidden Knowledge. Skill LV UP! Current general skill: Forbidden Knowledge LV3, 3/100

Huh? Just listening to an evil god's whispers could grant mental contamination?

Looking at the system prompt, Lu PingAn only wanted more. Forbidden Knowledge was the main core skill of the Scholar path!

"Lover of Chess, explorer of the art of war, I beseech your appraisal. Grant me a chance to become a War Chess Piece."

As he recited the simple, direct prayer, Lu PingAn felt something gaze down upon him from the unseen. His past was being examined.

Yet Big Cat's rambling continued.

"The second step is the ritual itself. You must display something that interests it and offer up the sacrifices it desires. Note that this is entirely different from the earlier sacrifice, and the required grade is much higher. That one was merely a gift for opening the door; this is the main course. If the ritual itself is a standardized ritual it established, then it's even simpler. It will often automatically enter a certain process. Relax. What is examining you isn't it itself, but merely its principle—the omnipresent principle."

At that moment, Lu PingAn's mind was filled with memories of all his killings, as though some unseen force had dug them out.

Lu PingAn grew uneasy. His previous killings had all felt like they were for himself. Would that be enough to pass? Then suddenly, the sensation of being watched disappeared. It had left.

He barely had time to feel regret before the result arrived.

Ding. Congratulations, host. Job Change Ceremony complete. Profession obtained: Soldier.

Soldier profession adjustments: physique slightly increased, reflexes minutely increased, spirit minutely increased.

General skills "Combat Fighting LV5" and "Gun Handling LV2" detected. Combined into Profession Skill "All Weapon Proficiency LV4."

Profession Skill obtained: "War Memory LV1."

The Soldier job change was subtly different from his previous ones.

The general skills Combat Fighting and Gun Handling had not been converted into Profession Skills. They still remained in the general skill column, while an additional combined All Weapon Proficiency had appeared.

And the moment it was born, it gave Lu PingAn a surprise.

All Weapon Proficiency LV UP! Current LV4, 1/100

Congratulations, host, on your breakthrough. Physique minutely increased, reflexes minutely increased.

A surge of heat abruptly appeared inside his body, but this time, it lasted for a long while.

For a full five minutes, Lu PingAn was unable to move. When he finally stood again, his body had undergone subtle changes.

"I feel strong all over. Did I get a little taller?"

Afterward, Lu PingAn measured himself. He had grown two centimeters taller and gained five kilograms. The muscles on his body had visibly increased, and his build had become more balanced and better suited for exerting force.

If those could still be dismissed as personal impressions, then the prompt on the System Panel was unmistakable.

Congratulations, host. Through diligent training, physique has broken through to Black Iron Low Rank!

Current status: Physique (Black Iron Low Rank), Reflexes (Mortal), Spirit (Black Iron Low Rank)

What? Diligent training? I seemed to have only gotten a bunch of minor boosts while lying down.

But it was not over yet.

"All Weapon Proficiency" has entered the branching stage. Please choose a specialization evolution direction.

A. Exotic Weapon Proficiency: increases the host's familiarity and skill with Exotic Weapons. Definition of Exotic Weapons: all weapons that do not receive bonuses from Cold Weapons or Firearms.

B. Cold Weapons Proficiency: increases the host's familiarity and skill with Cold Weapons.

C. Firearms Proficiency: increases the host's familiarity and skill with Firearms.

D. Unarmed Proficiency: increases the host's combat skills when fighting unarmed without weapons.

Well, All Weapon Proficiency truly was "all-encompassing" to the extreme.

If not for Big Cat's earlier advice, Lu PingAn would have hesitated. But after looking at the "Combat Fighting" and "Gun Handling" still listed in his general skill column, he knew what to choose.

"Choose A. I can use other side professions later to gain specialized bonuses for guns, swords, and the like. I'm different from other people—taking additional side professions isn't that difficult for me."

In an instant, a new Profession Skill appeared on Lu PingAn's panel: All Weapon Proficiency LV4 (Exotic Weapon direction).

From then on, both his panel and overall strength had changed dramatically.

Lu PingAn, 16 years old, male. Life Points: 4899 (-5000)

Status: Physique (Black Iron Low Rank), Reflexes (Mortal), Spirit (Black Iron Low Rank)

Professions: Tier 1 Gardener, Tier 1 Runner, Tier 0 Soldier

Profession abilities: Ground Shrinking (Black Iron Low Rank), Listening to Life (Black Iron Low Rank)

Profession Skills: Light Chasing Running Method LV4, Swift Flash Breathing Method LV4, Planting (Taboo) LV4, Grafting (Contamination) LV3, All Weapon Proficiency LV4, War Memory LV1

General skills: Combat Fighting LV5, Forbidden Knowledge LV3, Gun Handling LV2

At this point, Lu PingAn had accumulated enough chips to properly face this examination.

After making up for some of his weaknesses, however, he was still not satisfied. He looked toward his strengths instead.

"Right, there are also my demonic plants. They need more Life Essence. I'll spend a bit more of my reserves and see whether I can develop one or two new useful things."

After obtaining Listening to Life, Lu PingAn had learned how to use Life Essence from the plants' desires.

The Life Essence recovered from the deaths of Tier 1 demonic plants consisted of essence fragments with "no rank and no evaluation," or Tier 0.

Combining ten of them, or a sufficient amount, could produce a Tier 1, Black Iron Low Rank Life Essence module.

And if that module was something a Tier 1 demonic plant desired, investing it into the plant could, once successfully absorbed, yield a demonic plant roughly equivalent to Tier 2.

"Poison Ivy and Monkey Bread Tree have good compatibility. That was my luck. Wind Fairy Thunder rejected other modules and only consumed its own demonic plant to evolve again."

Of the three demonic plants in Lu PingAn's possession, two ultimately produced Evolved Species. That was already beginner's luck; all his later attempts failed.

The unexpected delight was that his Grafting skill, which ordinary Gardeners usually only began to improve at Tier 2, had shot all the way to LV3 in one go! This meant that the Gardener's hardest Profession Skill to improve did not even require him to wait for rank division.

Lu PingAn's first plan was to see whether he could create another one or two Tier 2 Fused Demonic Plants during the remaining time.

To prepare for the exam and secure a ranking, spending a few Life Points was worth it.

Obtaining the Hibernation Bag, meanwhile, basically did nothing to improve his personal strength, but it could provide excellent cover and free up his combat options.

Previously, Lu PingAn still had to put on an act. A spatial secret realm like the Courtyard could easily house and arrange demonic plants, but explaining how he took them out was a serious problem.

Now that he had this Hibernation Bag, Lu PingAn could use it as an outlet and casually pull out demonic plants whenever he wanted.

Whatever he claimed was inside the bag was what was inside it. Would anyone really inspect someone else's Taboo Item?

His second plan was to hire a sparring partner during the remaining three or four days and undergo a final intensive week of practical combat training.

Why three or four days? The college entrance examination did begin in two days, but the first test was the nationwide written exam. The practical test would probably be around the fifth day.

". . . Senior Brother Xue En, are you free? I'd like to ask you to help me with some intensive practical combat training. I've also taken the Tier 0 Soldier profession. Could we exchange pointers more often?"

The other side agreed readily and even refused payment. But to put his own mind at ease, Lu PingAn directly offered one thousand per day and included buffs as well.

"That should do it. With this, I should have a chance at the prize money, right?"

But while Lu PingAn was making his final preparations, he did not know that this year's special college entrance examination had undergone a reform that was both unexpected and perfectly reasonable.

"What? The ordinary classes are expanding twofold, and the Preparatory Classes tenfold? The total number of candidates has increased by more than five times?! Then why does the number of Logistics Team slots remain unchanged?! Isn't this bullying honest people?"