Mercenary Assessment

Virtual Universe, Killing Field, Killing Space.

Bulieni hovered beside Luo Zhiyuan, waved his hand, and a Virtual Warrior appeared before them.

"Kid Luo, today we'll first test your soul defense techniques. Get ready; I will have the Virtual Warrior launch a Mental Shock at you, starting from a Star-level 1 Illusionist."

Luo Zhiyuan focused his guard, eyes locked onto the Virtual Warrior as he sat cross-legged.

"Begin!"

An invisible Mental Shock surged toward Luo Zhiyuan's sea of consciousness. He remained expressionless; the three great mountains within his sea of consciousness did not budge. He withstood the Mental Shock of the Star-level 1 Illusionist with almost no sensation at all.

Luo Zhiyuan glanced at Bulieni. "Again!"

With a wave of his hand, another Virtual Warrior appeared and unleashed an invisible Mental Shock at Luo Zhiyuan.

"Again, I'm still fine."

"Again, I can take it."

"Again! My Nine Mountains have only just had one mountain body shattered."

"A-again! All three mountain bodies are shattered, but I can still hold on!"

Luo Zhiyuan's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed hoarsely at Bulieni.

Ugh!

Supporting himself with his hands on the ground, his knuckles white, head hanging low, forehead drenched in sweat, and his entire body trembling, Luo Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and said, "A...gain! I... want... to... see... my... limit!"

Bulieni looked at the stubborn Luo Zhiyuan, nodded silently, and summoned another Virtual Warrior.

The invisible Mental Shock, like a giant wave crashing down, instantly submerged Luo Zhiyuan.

Luo Zhiyuan's seated body suddenly stiffened, stopped trembling, and stared blankly ahead. The Virtual Warrior had completed its mission and dissipated, and after it vanished, Luo Zhiyuan collapsed to the ground. A moment later, his figure disappeared as he exited the Killing Space.

Clutching his buzzing head, Luo Zhiyuan re-entered the Killing Space and sat down on the ground with a thud.

"Bulieni, what level of Illusionist was the last Virtual Warrior, and did I withstand his Mental Shock?"

Bulieni flew to the top of Luo Zhiyuan's head, sat down cross-legged, and leaned back on his hands. "Hmm, you did well, kid. The last one was a Universe-level 7 Illusionist. You withstood his Mental Shock, but that was your limit."

"After withstanding one attack, although you didn't suffer a mental collapse, you couldn't fully resist it and lost consciousness in the end. You definitely cannot withstand two consecutive Mental Shocks from him. Because a Universe-level 7 Illusionist, in terms of sheer mental power intensity, is 1,200 times stronger than you."

"With your Star-level 8 mental power, Universe-level 8 consciousness intensity, and 900 mental power amplitude, being able to withstand a full-power Mental Shock from a Universe-level 7 Illusionist while crossing ranks is something to be proud of."

"Next, let's continue testing how your other aspects have progressed over these ten years."

Nodding, Luo Zhiyuan shook Bulieni off his head, stood up, and prepared himself.

Time Flow, Shattered Space, Light Wings, Shadow Divine Weapon—although he hadn't spent time practicing the time laws because his main body lacked practical combat experience, these areas had all seen some progress. The most prominent growth was in the Divine Illusion Bead.

The first layer of the Divine Illusion Bead generally requires the consciousness intensity of a World Lord and a mental power amplitude of 70. Luo Zhiyuan, with his Universe-level 8 consciousness intensity and 900 mental power amplitude, had fully mastered the first layer, allowing him to double his consciousness intensity.

Using the Divine Illusion Bead, Luo Zhiyuan could use Mental Shock to shatter the mind of an ordinary Universe-level 6 martial artist. He could also perfectly defend against the attacks of a Universe-level 7 Illusionist, though he still could not resist a Universe-level 8 Illusionist.

After exiting the Virtual Universe, Luo Zhiyuan asked, "Bulieni, do we need to continue training in the Time Chamber?"

"Not for now. I originally wanted to take you to experience a cosmic secret realm, but I discovered that you must be a Universe Mercenary of the Universe Mercenary Alliance to enter."

"So, I've arranged for you to take the Universe Mercenary assessment. Once you become a trainee mercenary, we'll go out for a spin, hehe."

Luo Zhiyuan knew of the Universe Mercenary Alliance; it was one of the five giants of humanity. Nearly 99% of human powerhouses joined this loose alliance to embark on life-and-death adventures.

"No problem. I also want to see this mercenary assessment. It's said that trainee mercenary assessments are conducted in World Lord worlds. I wonder if there's anything interesting about the assessment site here."

Luo Zhiyuan took a team of personal guards on a C9-class spaceship to Qingyi City. He first went to the Universe First Bank branch, where he handled a transfer service.

Before replacing his identity, he had converted all his account deposits into bearer certificates, each exchangeable for ten million Hunyuan. This was a service only available to five-star accounts.

Having grown accustomed to the privileges of a five-star account, he wanted to upgrade his current identity to a five-star account, and a single bearer certificate was exactly the threshold for one.

Afterward, Luo Zhiyuan arrived at the Universe Mercenary Alliance branch. It was packed with people, but fortunately, having just upgraded to a five-star account, he didn't need to queue to process his adventurer registration and trainee mercenary assessment procedures.

Holding his so-called adventurer card, he walked out of the Universe Mercenary Alliance branch, boarded his spaceship, and headed straight for the destination of the trainee mercenary assessment: Red Bat Planet.

The journey took over seven days. During this time, he didn't train in the Time Chamber but instead practiced in the Virtual Universe Killing Field. He wanted to master the second level of the Shadow Divine Weapon as soon as possible, and it was perfect for having Bulieni set up suitable sparring opponents.

Upon arriving at Red Bat Planet, he brought his guards to the side of a desert cave. The Universe-level 9 guards scared away all the irrelevant people nearby, and after Luo Zhiyuan entered the cave, the guards stood by and waited.

They would wait here for three months, as this trainee mercenary assessment task required surviving in a World Lord world for three months. As long as one came out alive after three months, the trainee mercenary assessment task would be completed.

Luo Zhiyuan walked into the cave. Inside was a passage over 5 meters high and less than 100 meters long. Beyond the passage was a pair of double doors, guarded by a bald giant whose height was about the same as the passage.

Seeing Luo Zhiyuan approach, the giant took out a scanner, scanned him, and after confirming he was a trainee mercenary examinee, grinned and handed Luo Zhiyuan a round metal box before opening the door.

Inside the door was a glowing blue light cluster. The giant said with a tone of schadenfreude, "You're lucky to have come to this assessment point, little guy. There are 10 assessment points near Qingyu Planet, and this is the assessment world with the lowest pass rate—only 10%. The pass rate for other assessment worlds is basically around 30%."

"Hehe, it's been a while since I've seen anyone come out. This inside is the Illusion World. After you survive in there for three months, this box will activate and give you directions to leave. Once you come out alive, you'll be a trainee mercenary. I hope to see you again."

Luo Zhiyuan said nothing upon hearing this and walked straight into the light cluster inside the door.

As soon as he entered the Illusion World, Luo Zhiyuan was randomly teleported into a lush forest. The light was quite dim, almost entirely blocked by the tall trees.

He scanned his surroundings, flew to the top of a tree, and looked around. The outer edge of the forest was a void of black, and he could see nothing.

On the way to Red Bat Planet, Luo Zhiyuan had already reviewed the basic information about this place. This World Lord world was created by a World Lord who specialized in illusions, with the goal of training his own cosmic warriors. The defining characteristic of this place was the shifting blend of illusion and reality, with the surrounding environment changing randomly and without pattern.

Within this World Lord world, there also existed many Star-level monsters and a small number of Universe-level monsters capable of using soul secret techniques. As soon as they discovered outsiders, they would launch attacks using these soul techniques.

Many examinees had been ambushed by these monsters; some died without ever knowing why, while others were turned into puppets or slaves, losing their freedom and forced to wander this place endlessly alongside those monsters.

Still others were directly deceived by the illusions here, losing their sanity and falling into an eternal slumber within this world.

Luo Zhiyuan found that there were no monsters in this forest, so he sat cross-legged, hovering above the treetops, and began to space out in boredom.

"Bulieni, this World Lord world doesn't seem very interesting. Based on the data we obtained, this place might be lethal to those without soul defense techniques, but it doesn't seem to pose a threat to me, right?"

"That is generally the case. This is merely an assessment for trainee mercenaries; how much difficulty could it really have? My goal was never this place to begin with. We are just going through the motions to get the entry ticket, and that's that. The focus is on where we are going next!"

Pursing his lips in resignation, Luo Zhiyuan sighed and said, "Sigh, alright. It looks like I'll have to waste three months here. I can't even enter the World Ring to cultivate in the Time Chamber for fear of being discovered by the surveillance system here."

"Bulieni, let's enter the Killing Field. I think that if I cultivate in the Virtual Universe while staying here, my consciousness should still be able to maintain a certain level of vigilance. I want to continue cultivating the second level of the Shadow Divine Weapon and strive to fully master it within these three months."

Bulieni replied nonchalantly, "Fine, with your current level of consciousness, it won't be a problem at all. If you ask me, you should just stay in one place and not move at all. After all, regardless of whether you move or not, the environment around you could change at any moment."

Luo Zhiyuan smiled and replied to Bulieni, "That makes sense. Let's do that. Even if a Universe-level monster suddenly pops out, I have Xingxing to help me fend it off, right Xingxing?"

"That's right, that's right! Don't worry, Master. Xingxing is already at the ninth stage of the Universe-level; leaving it to me is no problem at all!"

For Xingxing, who grew up soaking in Secret Realm Spirit Marrow, its intelligence was now completely indistinguishable from a human's, so tasks like auxiliary vigilance were best left to it.

PS: Sweat, I discovered a bug from earlier. If I destroyed my identity, all that money would have gone down the drain. That was a lot of moolah, and I couldn't bear to lose it, so I brought it back. Hehe.

Additionally, I made a book cover. The ones generated by the system felt too childish, so I Photoshopped one myself. It's just a makeshift thing.