Assessment

In the blink of an eye, nearly a year had passed since Yin Congyang entered the Elite Training Camp. He had spent the year extremely productively, devoting every day to studying, training, and fighting.

His physical fitness had reached Planetary Level Seven. After all kinds of brutal training, he had grown even stronger. At that moment, his physical fitness was dozens of times greater than that of an ordinary Planetary Level Seven fighter—enough to rival a Star Level Three or Four. This solid foundation had astonished the instructors.

The year of training had thoroughly strengthened Yin Congyang's foundations, inside and out, and his soul power had grown increasingly potent. Aside from the points he needed to spend, he had stopped exchanging them for other treasures that could accelerate his physical evolution. Instead, he had saved his points until he finally had enough last month to redeem the Illusion Technique manual Shake God, which he had long coveted, through the Training Camp Intelligent System.

Shake God was a manual for cultivating Illusion Techniques. Its main content covered illusion techniques for killing enemies and methods for defending the soul, which made up around 90 percent of the manual. The remaining 10 percent covered other types of illusion techniques.

The Shake God technique used secret methods to shape one's Spiritual Force and soul power into weapons of various forms, composed purely of those two forces. By concentrating their power on a single point, the weapons could kill or influence an enemy.

The key was to use the technique to cover the weapon in a layer of oscillation waves. These waves not only strengthened the Spiritual Force and soul power, but also infused them with the practitioner's understanding of their Domain and the laws. Their power was immense.

Once the oscillation waves entered an enemy's Consciousness Sea, they could counteract its suppression of foreign Spiritual Force. If the Domain and laws infused into the waves were powerful enough, they could even suppress the enemy's Consciousness Sea in turn.

With Yin Congyang's soul power, learning this technique had been as easy as a fish swimming in water. He made astonishingly quick progress and had reached minor mastery of the first level in just one month.

Even Purple-Robed Dragon Lady couldn't help marveling at his progress. She specialized in Illusion Techniques, and her teacher was a powerful illusionist who had passed down exceptionally advanced techniques. She had always considered herself a genius, but Yin Congyang made her realize that perhaps her talent wasn't quite so extraordinary after all. At the very least, when she had been at the Planetary Level, her soul power had been far inferior to his.

This gave Yin Congyang a tremendous advantage in their regular sparring and battles. Of the more than two hundred students in the Training Camp, only a handful could put pressure on him. The rest were no match for him at all.

From the very first weekly sparring session, Yin Congyang had never lost. That was why he had managed to save enough points to buy the manual so quickly.

Unfortunately, over the past year, he had polished his Three-Law Domain to perfection but still hadn't managed to comprehend the Fire Domain. The Three-Law Domain was like the three points of a triangle, making it extremely stable. Forcibly inserting a fourth point to turn the triangle into a quadrilateral was very difficult. Though he had gained some insight and had practiced it several times inside the Strange Light Point in his Dantian, he still hadn't formed the Fire Domain.

Yin Congyang wasn't in a hurry. He was making steady progress, so he simply continued training and fighting as planned.

Before long, the day of the assessment arrived.

The four instructors waited in the enormous training hall. Once all the students had arrived, Purple-Robed Dragon Lady explained the rules: "You've all trained at the camp for a year. Today, you'll take your first official assessment. All the Class D students will draw lots and fight each other. The winners will draw lots and fight two matches against Class C students. Those who win will then fight two matches against Class B students. The winners will face every Class A student one by one. The ten students with the most points will remain in Class A. Is that clear?"

"Understood." Many students were eager to get started. They felt they had made great progress over the past year and wanted to claim a spot in a higher class.

"Then let the intelligent system draw the lots." Purple-Robed Dragon Lady used the Optical Computer in her hand to start the match draw.

"The results are in." The matchups appeared on the screen shortly afterward. "First match: A78 versus A99. Instructor White Eagle will be the referee. Begin!"

A78 and A99 fought on the five-kilometer-long and five-kilometer-wide arena in the center of the training hall. A minute later, Instructor White Eagle's telekinetic weapon blocked a lethal attack aimed at A78. "A99 wins!"

The matches continued one after another, all moving quickly. Even the longest lasted no more than five minutes.

Soon, the Class B, C, and D matches were over. Twenty winners remained, including those who had received byes, alongside the ten Class A students. That made thirty in all, and each had to fight every one of the other twenty-nine students—a total of twenty-nine matches each.

Yin Congyang's first opponent was A13, a Class B student. With his dazzling axe techniques and Three-Law Domain, he ended the match in less than thirty seconds without even using the soul attack technique he had just mastered.

Purple-Robed Dragon Lady oversaw the event, while the other three instructors acted as referees. Three matches could take place at once, so the rounds progressed quickly. At Yin Congyang's current level, if he used his soul attack technique, practically no one could withstand a single blow. As expected, he took first place in the assessment.

"Good. The assessment is over. The ten students with the most points will remain in Class A, and students ranked eleventh through thirtieth will remain in Class B. Class D will be disbanded, and everyone else will be moved to Class C." Purple-Robed Dragon Lady hovered in midair, looking down at the students. "You may all take three days off after returning to your quarters."

The first annual assessment lasted only a day or two. The students returned to their lodgings and, after a few days of rest, resumed their training.

After returning to his quarters, Yin Congyang got in touch with Hong, Thunder God, Luo Feng, and the others. They had been taking the Apprentice Mercenary Assessment in the Thunder World for several months and were now exchanging treasures in the World within a World.

Virtual Universe, Black Dragon Mountain Island, Nine Star Bay.

Yin Congyang was having tea with the three of them. Thunder God smiled at him. "Congyang, you have no idea. The Thunder World was supposed to be an ordinary assessment world, but the World within a World opened up unexpectedly. Brother Hong, Luo Feng, and I have already dug up countless Universe Crystals in there. Guess how many?"

"Oh, a World within a World. That's an incredible opportunity." Yin Congyang raised an eyebrow, ignoring Thunder God's bragging. "Did every Star Level participant in the assessment go in?"

"Yeah," Luo Feng cut in. "There are people everywhere, and it's already a bloodbath. Countless Star Level fighters die every day..."

Hong smiled beside them. "But this kind of life-or-death trial really works. We've made more progress in the past few months than we did in all the years before."

Yin Congyang nodded in agreement. "That's normal. It proves that Ming Yu was right: risking your life is the fastest way to evolve. Speaking of Ming Yu, have you been in touch with him? With something as big as the World within a World, and so many treasures at stake, I'm sure a whole crowd of World Lords and Domain Lords are already waiting outside..."

At that, the three of them froze. It was true. They were free adventurers, but most Star Level adventurers belonged to organizations and would have to report what was happening. Even if the assessment world's rules barred Domain Lords and World Lords above the Star Level from entering, the adventurers still had to leave eventually. If the exit was blocked, it wouldn't matter how many treasures they had found. They would just be handing them over to someone else.

The three frowned. Luo Feng said with a troubled expression, "Everyone else has an organization, but we don't. Wait, no—that's not right. Aren't we external members of the Virtual Universe Company?"

Hong calmly said, "Congyang should contact Ming Yu and explain the situation honestly. If he can help us, we can find a treasure to exchange for and give it to him..."

"Sure." Yin Congyang nodded. "I'll contact him now."

He immediately sent Ming Yu a call request. The call connected shortly afterward.

"Yin Congyang. It's been a year since you entered the Training Camp, hasn't it?" Ming Yu seemed to be in a good mood. "You must have passed your first assessment by now. What made you think to contact me?"

Yin Congyang stood as he replied, "Yes, sir. I ranked first in this assessment, so I wanted to share the good news with you!"

"Hahaha!" Ming Yu burst into laughter. "I knew I was right about you... You must have something else to tell me, too, don't you?"

"You see right through me, sir." Yin Congyang offered a small compliment, then brought Hong and the other two over. "Do you remember my brothers, Ming Yu? They're taking the Apprentice Mercenary Assessment in the Thunder World..."

"Wait," Ming Yu interrupted urgently. "Are the three of you in the Thunder World right now? Inside the World within a World?"

The three exchanged glances. Hong answered, "Yes, sir."

"Hahaha! Looks like I'm in luck—and so are you. Do you know that more than two million Star Level fighters have gathered outside the Thunder World? They're about to enter the World within a World..."

"Two million?" They all held their breath.

"That's right. The two Holy Lands, including my Three Axe Mountain and the Hundred Tiger Tower, as well as the Four Great Organizations, all have World Lords and Domain Lords waiting outside. You can imagine what will happen to any adventurers who come out alive without an organization..."

The three looked shocked, but they didn't lose their composure. Ming Yu gave a slight nod. "You can use the name of my Three Axe Mountain and say you're under my command. But there's one condition: if you get a particular treasure after you come out, you'll sell it to me. Of course, I won't let you lose out. What do you say?"

The three quickly agreed. "No problem, sir. We'll do our best to get you a treasure."

For Ming Yu, this was just a favor that cost him little. He didn't necessarily expect much from the three, and he would also be sending Star Level fighters from his own organization into the World within a World. After settling the matter, he ended the call.

Yin Congyang told them, "Brother Hong, Brother Lei, Luo Feng, you still need to be careful. Among the two million Star Level fighters who've entered, quite a few are probably at the Star Level peak. Some might even be on the verge of a breakthrough. There's still plenty of time inside the World within a World. If someone breaks through to the Universe Level in there, even if they only reach Universe Level One, they'll basically be invincible."

Luo Feng and the others grew wary. It was certainly possible, and they would need to prepare.

After wishing each other well and agreeing on when to talk again, they went their separate ways.

After logging off, Yin Congyang didn't dwell on it. Now that they had contacted Ming Yu, the three should be able to get through the crisis safely. And this time, Luo Feng would probably earn his first fortune and become a Three-Star customer of the Universe Galaxy Bank. Then, at the Three-Star Auction, he would have a chance to buy the Yan Shen Armament and the skin of the Mo Sha Race, beginning the nurturing of his second clone.