Upgrade Assessment

After Xiao Xiao left, the dormitory fell silent once more.

Chen Yuan turned to look at the two men on Xu Sanshi's bed and spoke helplessly.

"Stop playing dead. This isn't Deep Meditation. Get up and prepare for today's promotion exam."

"Ahem, weren't we just afraid of disturbing you?"

"You talked that poor junior girl into a daze, Chen Yuan. What a grave sin you've committed."

Bei Bei looked somewhat embarrassed. Being caught eavesdropping by the person involved—any normal person would be ashamed.

Unfortunately, Xu Sanshi was not a normal person. Not only did he feel no shame, he was even in the mood to joke with Chen Yuan.

"With the way things are between you two, aren't you basically going to be bound together?"

"Who can say? It still depends on how the two of us get along in the future."

Most opposite-sex pairs with a Martial Soul Fusion Skill did indeed become spouses, but there were exceptions. Feelings influenced by external factors were not stable.

If Xiao Xiao and Chen Yuan truly came to like each other, then the Martial Soul Fusion Skill would merely be icing on the cake.

Otherwise, it would be awkward enough to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with their toes.

"Chen Yuan, who are you planning to ask about the issue between you and that junior girl?"

"The old man downstairs who likes sunbathing. He was probably the one who reminded Xiao Xiao and me to maintain our Soul Power fusion last night."

Bei Bei's expression became extremely complicated. He had not expected his Mystic Ancestor to be involved in this, though Mu En truly was the most suitable person to ask.

When Xu Sanshi heard that the old man downstairs was a reclusive expert, he immediately became somewhat timid. He had acted wildly quite a few times before—what if he had left a bad impression on the academy's higher-ups?

Chen Yuan said that even if Xu Sanshi's ruin of a building collapsed further, it could not get much worse.

"Enough. Let's hurry up, or we'll really be late."

Only then did the two of them hurriedly start washing up.

At Shrek's Outer Court, freshmen underwent the Freshman Assessment, which eliminated nearly half the students.

Starting from the promotion from First Grade to Second Grade, Shrek held an Upgrade Assessment at the beginning of every school year.

Besides challenging Soul Beasts of a certain level in the Beast Fighting Arena, students also had to meet the required cultivation standard.

Advancing from First Grade to Second Grade required two rings, advancing from Third Grade to Fourth Grade required three rings, and advancing from fifth grade to Sixth Grade required four rings.

To graduate from the Outer Court, one needed at least four rings of cultivation. To take the Inner Court examination, one needed to reach Level 45 or above before Sixth Grade to even have a chance to be assessed.

In the current era, not to mention graduates of Shrek's Inner Court, even Outer Court graduates were talents eagerly sought by the major empires.

Chen Yuan had no intention of serving any of those empires. His reason for growing stronger was simple: to protect everyone in Small Lake Village amid the coming tide of events.

And to do everything he could to protect more ordinary people.

They had been exploited by the nobles of the Three Great Empires for ten thousand years. If no one spoke up for them, that would truly be too tragic.

So, at the very least, he had to become a Title Douluo!

Even if a Title Douluo's cultivation would not play a decisive role in the wars to come, it would still be enough to protect a small village.

If others did not offend him, he would not offend them.

As long as the Sun Moon Empire did not provoke Chen Yuan, he had no objection whatsoever to its unification of the continent.

Of course, that was assuming the Evil Soul Masters were gone.

At Chen Yuan's current cultivation speed, becoming a high-level Soul Emperor before the age of twenty would not be a problem. Once he reached Level 70, Ultimate Fire would come into play, allowing him to rapidly become a Title Douluo.

Once they had finished getting ready, the three of them dashed out of the dormitory building in a flash.

Mu En, lying at the entrance, smiled upon seeing the sight, his wrinkled face softening.

Without time for breakfast, the three headed straight for the classroom.

Advancing from Third Grade to Fourth Grade was an important threshold. Not only did it require every student to possess at least three rings of cultivation.

There was also an important choice to make: Soul Tools.

After completing the Upgrade Assessment for the transition from Third Grade to Fourth Grade, students could choose whether to remain in the Martial Soul Department or transfer to the Soul Tool Department.

Many Third Grade students who had only barely reached the cultivation of a Soul Elder chose to enter the Soul Tool Department, allowing them to remain at Shrek.

Everyone had their own choice.

Because the Soul Tool Department could not recruit many high-quality students, it had been firmly suppressed by the Martial Soul Department all these years.

Soul Tools seemed like the ultimate answer of this era, but in reality, they were a massive trap.

There was no age restriction on learning to become a Soul Engineer. If one truly wanted to learn, one could simply wait until one's cultivation was higher.

Soul Masters were different. Once they missed their golden age of cultivation, unless they encountered a great opportunity, their upper limit would be locked in place for life.

Chen Yuan did not possess a spiritual-attribute martial soul, nor did he have much talent for Soul Tools. As long as he knew how to use them, that was enough.

"Xu Sanshi, why aren't you going back to your own class? What are you doing here with us?"

Xu Sanshi was one year older than Bei Bei and Chen Yuan. Wearing the purple Fourth Grade uniform, he was exceptionally conspicuous here, yet he stubbornly refused to leave.

Under normal circumstances, shouldn't he have been pestering Jiang Nannan at this time?

"Chen Yuan, Bei Bei, help me think this through."

"After advancing to Fourth Grade, there aren't many students and there aren't many classes. The four divisions—assault, control, defense, and agility—are all put into one class."

"Do you think I can repeat a year and be in the same class as you two and Nannan?"

Bei Bei was speechless. He truly had not expected Xu Sanshi to have such an idea. If he really did it, even as one of the Pre-selected Seven Monsters, he would still get severely reprimanded.

It seemed that in the original story, Xu Sanshi had mentioned at the Treasure Appreciation Fair that he had repeated a year and ended up in the same class as Bei Bei.

Chen Yuan had originally wondered how the four divisions could be placed in one class. Previously, assault and control had shared a class, but it turned out the classes had been merged because there were too few students.

"Do whatever you want. Just be prepared to get reprimanded by the teachers."

"Then I'll repeat a year this time!"

"Since I'm going to get scolded anyway, I might as well repeat early. That way, I can be classmates with Nannan for another year."

Quietly moving away from Xu Sanshi, who had already turned into a hopeless creep, Chen Yuan truly did not want to admit that he knew this guy.

Bei Bei and Chen Yuan moved away from Xu Sanshi and discussed their own Upgrade Assessment.

Calling it a discussion was really just chatting. The Upgrade Assessment posed no difficulty whatsoever for them.

Once everyone in the classroom had arrived, the bell outside rang right on schedule. A middle-aged man entered the classroom and led the students toward the Beast Fighting Arena.

"I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Upgrade Assessment. You'll still be fighting Soul Beasts in the Beast Fighting Arena."

"You are all at least three-ringed Soul Elders, so there are some additional requirements this time. The Soul Beast you choose cannot be less than a thousand years old."

"You are not required to defeat the Soul Beast. As long as you demonstrate your strengths, you can receive a good score."

Along the way, the teacher explained how this Upgrade Assessment differed from the previous ones.

The students from Class Two had already arrived at the Beast Fighting Arena, and someone was even preparing to begin the assessment in the arena.

According to the rules, once that Class Two student finished, it would be Class One's turn to send someone up. After that, the two classes would take turns sending students into the arena.

As for the Support System, they had their own assessment.

They could not possibly make Support System Soul Masters fight Soul Beasts alone, could they?

Even though Soul Tools could now make up for the Support System's lack of offensive power, they still could not compare to Soul Beasts.

One had to know that, besides lacking offensive Soul Skills, Support System Tool Soul Masters also had a vast gap in physical fitness compared to Battle Soul Masters.

If a Battle Soul Master gained one point in physical attributes with every level, then a Support System Soul Master gained only 0.1.

There was simply no comparison.