Lu Ma: Who sent you here to die?

Ning Rongrong quickly arrived before the old man.

She extended her hand to let the old man test her aptitude.

"Eh?"

The old man suddenly looked up, his face filled with shock and suspicion.

"Um, may I ask if I have passed the preliminary test?"

Ning Rongrong felt a bit strange.

"Do your family members know you came here?"

The old man frowned as he spoke.

Oh, so he had recognized her identity; that was only natural, as it would be difficult for someone at level sixty not to know who she was.

Ning Rongrong smiled and changed the subject.

"That shouldn't matter, should it? I meet the academy's standards, so you have no reason not to accept me."

The old man hesitated for a moment before letting Ning Rongrong pass.

Ning Rongrong followed the directions to the second test site.

Along the way, she noticed that the blue-clad boy and pink-clad girl knew the blond man, and that a white-bearded "old man" on the road was actually a student of Shrek Academy. But none of this had anything to do with her; she arrived at the second test site, and it was soon her turn.

She saw the blond man say a few words to the senior examiner, who then allowed the blue and pink pair to proceed directly to the fourth test.

"Pulling strings?"

That was the first reason that came to Ning Rongrong's mind. That was until the teacher spoke up:

"Those with spirit power above level 25 are exempt from the second and third tests."

At this, Ning Rongrong grew confident. Looking at the blue and pink pair, whose spirit power was only level 29 after testing, she became even more confident, though there was a hint of guilt mixed in with that confidence.

This level thirty was not something she had achieved through her own training.

But that didn't matter.

"Teacher, I think I can also be exempt from the second and third tests."

Ning Rongrong walked up to Xiao Wu with a smile, took the crystal ball, and injected her spirit power.

Crack.

Cracks appeared on the crystal ball, and then it shattered all over the ground.

Eh?

Ning Rongrong's mouth twitched.

The examiner whipped his head around, his jaw hanging open.

"At least level thirty spirit power! These are true monsters; it looks like I'll be getting a raise this year."

"Level thirty?"

The black-clad girl behind her widened her eyes. The girl before her was only twelve, just like herself, yet she was already level thirty?

She was only level twenty-seven!

Dai Mubai, Tang San, and Xiao Wu were all stunned as well.

"Brother, is she even human?"

"Don't be afraid, Xiao Wu. It's just a difference in family background; we aren't any worse than her."

Tang San comforted Xiao Wu, his competitive spirit suddenly ignited.

He, Tang San, would definitely surpass her one day!

He, Tang San, was the one who was truly invincible among his peers!

The examiner saw the black-clad girl reach out her hand halfway, then took out another ball and gave it to her.

Level twenty-seven.

Having already seen three even greater monsters, the examiner's expression didn't change much.

"Good, good, good. There are four of them, and one of them is at least level thirty. Mubai, take them to the fourth test."

The four examinees were led by Dai Mubai toward the location of the fourth test.

Ning Rongrong was not familiar with the other three, and the black-clad girl beside her seemed the same, though the blue and pink pair were somewhat acquainted with Dai Mubai.

Ning Rongrong subconsciously moved half a fist's distance closer to the black-clad girl.

Just then, she heard a remark that annoyed her slightly.

"Some people are born into noble families, pampered and spoiled without a shred of actual combat experience. Our academy doesn't want people like that."

Ning Rongrong's smile turned into a frown.

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly felt the killing intent beside her increase, and she quickly shifted away by a fist's distance.

The four of them soon arrived at the location of the fourth test, and after some mumbling and conversation, Ning Rongrong finally understood.

The steel-muscled man before them was the target of their fourth examination.

At noon, Lu Ma had just woken up from his bed.

The first thing he did upon waking was to open Green Bubble on his phone to see if the Dolphin-head had provided any feedback.

He saw that the other party had sent over a file, accompanied by a few instructions.

The gist was that this file was a patch that resolved the issue of taking damage when hitting walls, enabled the save/load function, unlocked the character panel, and optimized the language system.

As for the other characters, they remained locked.

Regarding the save/load feature, the other party also added a thoughtful reminder:

[Mr. Lu, the load function will wipe all progress made after the corresponding save point, including main story quests, treasure chests, and teleportation points.]

As if you even have a main story to speak of, Lu Ma cursed inwardly.

Stretching, Lu Ma turned on his computer, installed the patch, and then launched the game.

Continuing...

Then, he saw his screen go dark without warning, followed by the appearance of a standard boss nameplate—

[Immovable Wisdom King, Zhao Wuji, Level 76 Soul Saint]

"Rongrong, watch out!"

An urgent female voice rang in his ears.

Lu Ma had never heard this voice before.

The soul skill in his hand was in the middle of being canceled.

Before him, Zhao Wuji's soul skill was already closing in.

"Where the hell did this put me?"

Lu Ma was puzzled and hurriedly pressed ESC to pause the game.

According to his memory, this was the content of the Shrek Academy entrance exam, and Zhao Wuji followed one basic principle—when encountering a team with a Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda spirit, prioritize taking out the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda soul master.

It was just that...

Lu Ma felt a slight itch on his head. He clearly remembered that before logging off, he had returned to his bed with the intention of having a good status for when he logged back in to explore the main story. Who would have thought that as soon as he logged in, the main story would already be underway?

But what about the process? There wasn't even a CG cutscene?

He pulled up the save interface and looked at the two lonely save files.

The first was the quick-save slot, frozen on the bed, which was the time he had logged off.

The second was from three days later in the game, when Ning Rongrong was preparing to leave the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

He didn't know why this save existed.

But he didn't care for now; he saved a third file.

He then opened the character panel.

[Ning Rongrong, 12 years old, Level 30, Soul Grand Master]

[Spirit: Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda (+1)]

[Physical Fitness: Level 12, Mental Power: Level 26]

[Soul Rings: Yellow, Yellow]

The character panel only had a few simple lines of text; it didn't even show basic life energy.

The status bar at the bottom of the game wasn't obscured, and Lu Ma clearly noticed that the two long red and blue bars were exactly the same as yesterday, except for the missing numerical values.

Fine, fine, so this is how you solve the issue of taking damage from hitting walls, is it?

"Hoo—let's try fighting first. It's rare to get into the main story; what if I can actually win?"

For a player like Lu Ma, challenging levels above his own was a daily routine. It wasn't like he hadn't triggered powerful bosses before by opening gates or touching trees.

Resuming the game, he immediately executed a perfect dodge and jumped up, not only avoiding the shockwave but also dodging his teammate's vines.

"Wait, my teammates can interfere with my movements?"

Lu Ma found it unbelievable.

Seeing that Ning Rongrong was fine, Tang San retracted his vines and focused on attacking Zhao Wuji.

Lu Ma controlled Ning Rongrong to release two more soul skills.

Under the assault of the three teammates, his role seemed to be nothing more than a buff-bot. There was basically nothing for him to do in the ensuing battle, so Lu Ma had plenty of time to observe Zhao Wuji's health bar.

Watching the three of them toss the enlarged Zhao Wuji into the air and pummel him looked impressive, but in reality, the incense hadn't even burned a third of the way down, and the health bar had only fluctuated slightly.

Not to mention, when Zhao Wuji began using his soul skills, a white bar suddenly appeared beneath the red health bar.

The damage dealt by his teammates was transferred to the white bar below, and that white bar was constantly regenerating.

Lu Ma reacted immediately.

This was a common shield bar in games, and the exact type he hated the most—

A regenerating shield bar.

This kind of shield bar was a test of DPS; as long as one failed to deal damage exceeding the shield's recovery rate within a given time, it was impossible to defeat the BOSS.

Shield bars like this were generally just used to force players to spend money...