Douluo: A Fake God in Peerless

"Alright, next."

"..."

The remaining freshmen continued their tests.

Although Ran Ruobing was quite curious about the soul tool Su Luoheng had forged, she remained focused on the testing and did not let it affect the assessment of the subsequent students.

Just as mentioned before, the students who followed did not have much confidence.

If one lacked confidence in the item they had created, the actual quality of that soul tool could be easily imagined.

As expected.

The further down the line they went, the higher the probability of the freshmen's soul tools failing became; it was essentially the complete inverse of the success rate seen earlier.

After about half an hour, the testing for all freshmen concluded.

A total of thirty-three freshmen had participated in the second round of soul tool testing, and after the screening by the soul tool detector, another fifteen were eliminated.

Their final results were the same as the previous twelve freshmen.

Over forty people had participated in the assessment, and now only eighteen freshmen remained who had successfully crafted a qualified first-level soul tool. Such a terrifying failure rate was worthy of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy's reputation for having the second-most difficult freshman advancement assessment.

The assessment for ordinary first-year to second-year students was much simpler; they were given an extra hour just for the soul tool production phase alone.

By the way.

The assessment ranked number one at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, the most difficult of them all, was the Mingde Hall assessment.

According to the word-of-mouth accounts from seniors who had experienced it, the difficulty of the assessment within was no less than a sixth-level soul master advancement exam; it could completely be called a hell-level assessment! There had even been years where not a single participant survived the cut, with everyone being weeded out by Mingde Hall.

Those who could pass the Mingde Hall assessment were the elite of the elite.

The most outstanding soul masters in the entire Sun Moon Empire basically all hailed from Mingde Hall.

"..."

The soul tool testing came to an end.

The remaining eighteen freshmen looked at each other, their expressions filled with excitement, surprise, and relief. No one had expected that more than half of the forty-plus people would be eliminated. They were relieved to be among those who remained; although they didn't know their written exam scores, there was still hope for success.

"Alright, congratulations to everyone for passing the soul tool test."

As soon as these words fell, the successful freshmen revealed expressions of relief.

However, before they could be happy for long, Ran Ruobing's next sentence caused the expressions of many to change drastically.

"However..."

She paused, then pointed to the arena behind her.

"Your test has not officially ended yet."

"Huh?"

Blank and astonished expressions appeared on everyone's faces. What did this mean?

Su Luoheng, following the direction of her finger, had a guess: it likely had something to do with these arenas.

After all, such abrupt arenas had to serve some purpose.

The other freshmen were not fools either; they basically all realized this.

Soon, this guess was verified.

When Ran Ruobing looked at the reactions of the freshmen who had successfully crafted life-type soul tools, her gaze flickered, and her originally flat tone was laced with a hint of playfulness.

"The third item of the assessment: combat assessment."

The next moment, the freshmen were stunned, looking at one another in dismay.

Wasn't it said there were only a written exam and soul tool production? Where did combat come from?

Just how many assessment items were there?

Before the freshmen could recover, Ran Ruobing had already begun to explain the rules.

"The combat assessment will be one-on-one, with opponents drawn randomly. The rules for this assessment are the same as before: you are not allowed to carry your own soul tools, but you may use the soul tools you just crafted for the duel. At the same time, I will distribute a second-level defensive soul tool to each student later. The match ends when one side voluntarily concedes or triggers their defensive soul tool."

"Teacher, didn't you say before that there were only two assessment items?"

His question was everyone's question. All the freshmen looked at Ran Ruobing, waiting for an explanation.

The freshmen who had forged life-type soul tools were particularly concerned about this. If there really was a combat assessment, they would have one less soul tool than the others, putting them at a disadvantage before they even started.

"This assessment serves as an additional test; excellent performance can earn you bonus points."

"Are there any other questions?"

As she spoke, Ran Ruobing's indifferent gaze swept over the crowd.

The combat assessment was not something she had improvised on the spot; these were arranged by the academy's superiors for the second-year students. It was like this every year, though the content of the additional assessment changed annually, and this year it just happened to be combat.

"No... none."

The freshmen's responses became ragged and uneven.

Everyone was caught off guard by this practical supplementary assessment; some were brimming with confidence, while others wore faces of distress, their expressions varying wildly.

Among them, the most miserable were the freshmen who specialized in crafting life-support soul tools.

This supplementary assessment was nothing short of a bolt from the blue for them.

Just as they had feared, their soul tools were useless in combat. Since their soul power levels were roughly equal, the strength of their soul tools was enough to decide the outcome of the match.

Now that they were effectively down one soul tool compared to the others, how were they supposed to fight?

With faces twisted in misery, they began to regret their choices.

If they had known there would be a supplementary exam, they would have crafted combat soul tools; why were they in such a helpless position now?

Why hadn't they been told sooner?

Then again, if they had actually tried to make combat soul tools, they might not have succeeded anyway.

Regardless of everyone's mood, the supplementary assessment had to proceed.

There were ten arenas in the testing area, and with eighteen freshmen remaining, there were enough arenas for everyone to begin their matches simultaneously.

"Now, pair up. When I call your names, step onto the arena."

"Lan Wu, Qu Yu, first arena."

"Wu Xi, Quan Ou, second arena."

"..."

"Su Luoheng, Wen Qu, ninth arena."

Ran Ruobing had assigned opponents for all the freshmen: aside from Su Luoheng and his opponent, everyone else had indeed been paired randomly.

Her purpose in doing this was certainly not to target Su Luoheng.

She mainly wanted to see his practical combat ability, so she arranged for Wen Qu, whose strength was comparable, to be his opponent.

Wen Qu was eleven years old with level 17 soul power.

Su Luoheng actually had some impression of him.

Firstly, because he was near the front of the line, and secondly, because he was the first freshman to test a Heavy Sword soul tool.

This was an opponent carefully selected by Ran Ruobing.

He ranked third in soul power among this batch of freshmen and had also forged a sword-type melee soul tool, making him the most suitable choice to face Su Luoheng.

"..."

Soon, under Ran Ruobing's arrangements, the remaining freshmen were paired off and standing on the arenas.

Before stepping onto the platforms, they had each received a defensive soul tool; these were level 2 soul tools capable of easily blocking attacks from a Great Soul Master.

Su Luoheng's arena was the last one.

His opponent, Wen Qu, was half a head taller than him, lean and sturdy, with the standard skin tone of the Sun Moon Empire. Slightly bulging muscles could be seen on his arms, and from his appearance, he was clearly not the type to be trifled with.

At this moment, he had already raised the Heavy Sword soul tool he had crafted himself, his legs slightly bent in a lunge to gather power.

Seeing this, Su Luoheng also grew more serious.

One must not slack off during a battle and must maintain constant vigilance.

Come to think of it, this was his first time fighting a soul master of the same level. Su Luoheng couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement; he bent his legs slightly, gripped his longsword, and prepared to strike.

Wen Qu, opposite him, was the same; he also believed in his own strength.

Although his opponent was not weak, he believed they were stronger, and a fierce fighting spirit began to permeate the space between them.

"Su Luoheng."

"Wen Qu."

After exchanging names, the air suddenly grew tense.

"The match ends when one side concedes or the defensive soul tool is triggered. This sparring session is primarily for practice; malicious injury is prohibited. Violators will receive a major demerit."

"Do you understand?"

"Understood."

"..."

Ran Ruobing emphasized the rules once more and had everyone check that their defensive soul tools were functioning properly. These freshmen were the future of their Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, and any accident involving them would be a tremendous loss.

"Begin!"

Following Ran Ruobing's command, the matches officially commenced!

As soon as the words fell, battles broke out on all the arenas almost simultaneously.

Ran Ruobing retreated to the side; aside from her regular patrols, most of her attention was focused on the ninth arena, as she was very much looking forward to seeing Su Luoheng's performance in actual combat.

The two struck almost at the same time, their swords clashing violently!

Clang—

A thunderous roar shook the air as the two swords collided.

Sparks showered in every direction.

The Ice Rain Sword and the Heavy Sword clashed once more, neither gaining the upper hand in the brief stalemate before both retreated a step to create distance.

They now had a rough measure of each other's strength.

The next moment, Wen Qu gripped his Heavy Sword and charged at Su Luoheng again.

"Come!"

With a thunderous shout, his speed surged.

At the same time, his first soul ring emitted a dull yellow light. As soul power poured into the greatsword, it glowed with a dark, heavy luster, and a pale yellow halo enveloped the area within half a meter of the blade.

Whoosh!

The Heavy Sword whistled through the air with incredible speed!

In the blink of an eye, it was upon him.

Just as he prepared to retreat and avoid the brunt of the attack, Su Luoheng suddenly felt his body sink, as if an invisible force of gravity had been applied to him, severely restricting his speed.

This greatly hampered his agility, making it impossible to dodge the strike.

Facing Wen Qu's Heavy Sword, he had no choice but to meet it head-on.

Meanwhile.

Outside the arena, Ran Ruobing watched the scene unfold.

She shook her head to herself, a flicker of disappointment crossing her beautiful eyes.

The special ability of Wen Qu's Heavy Sword soul tool was a Gravity Field.