"408 ms!!"
"How is that possible? That's already up to the Intermediate Warrior standard, and he's only eighteen!"
The martial artists had originally wanted to see how good these green newcomers were, but even a few of the younger martial artists might not have been as fast as Zhang Junbao.
What was more, Zhang Junbao had yet to cultivate Genetic Origin Energy. Once he did, he would have another chance to make tremendous progress.
They no longer saw Zhang Junbao as a newcomer, but as a powerful fighter who might one day fight alongside them.
"Good lad! No wonder Jiang Nian recommended this genius so highly. He's actually reached an Intermediate Warrior's speed." Wu Tong nodded in satisfaction. On Jiang Nian's advice, he had recommended Zhang Junbao to his own captain, Luo Wenchong, and Zhang Junbao's ability had taken even Wu Tong by surprise.
Seeing the martial artists standing beside him, dumbstruck, made Wu Tong feel even better. Look at that. This is the genius who came out of my Yangzhou City. He shocked your jaws right off, didn't he?
"...Last one, Tong Guan!"
In the punch strength and speed tests, one unlucky fellow had been eliminated for his punch strength. After Zhang Junbao's stunning performance in the speed test, the people who followed him seemed as slow as crawling turtles.
Under the enormous psychological pressure, two more performed poorly and were eliminated, leaving only seven people.
"The third part is the neural reaction speed test. Follow me."
Wu Tong led the martial artists and the remaining examinees to the neural reaction testing room used for the official assessment.
The neural reaction testing room was a hundred square meters in size. A tall, expensive machine stood in one corner, with dozens of dark openings at the front, like those of a Gatling gun.
"First up, Tong Guan," Wu Tong ordered.
Tong Guan had passed the first two tests without trouble. He stepped onto the testing platform, and a hazy red light immediately shot upward from the edge of a circle 3.6 meters in diameter around him. For a moment, the person being tested seemed to be surrounded by a hazy red curtain.
"Remember, no matter what, you must not leave the circle. If you do, you'll fail. Touch the red light with your body, and points will be deducted." After speaking, Chief Instructor Wu Tong walked over to the Neural Reaction Tester and pressed several buttons, adjusting the intensity of the test.
"Begin!" The chief instructor pressed the red button.
"Beep, beep." The Neural Reaction Tester's enormous barrel began to spin. Dozens of muzzles within it fired streaks of red light almost instantaneously, some fast and some slow. Their trajectories were anything but parallel, flying in complete disarray as they rapidly entered the red circle.
The burly, bearded man stared fixedly ahead, his body constantly darting forward, backward, left and right as he slipped through gaps between the red bullets fired at him.
"Pfft! Pfft!" He was hit twice in quick succession.
But the "bullets" had rubber tips. They had little force behind them and weren't very fast, so they didn't hurt much when they hit.
Time passed, second by second.
The bearded Tong Guan dodged desperately inside the circle, and soon a minute was up.
"Whirr." After Chief Instructor Wu Tong pressed a button, the test machine's barrel quickly slowed and stopped spinning, while a large amount of data appeared on its central screen.
"In sixty seconds, hit fifty-seven times and touched the red light three times. Failed. Eliminated!" Chief Instructor Wu Tong announced, tossing the burly, bearded man his ID card.
"I was just a little short." Tong Guan gritted his teeth, shook his head and walked out of the red circle.
Now he no longer had the face to laugh at Yang Wu. Tong Guan glanced at Zhang Junbao and saw that Zhang Junbao hadn't even looked at him once from beginning to end, making him burn with shame. All his earlier behavior had been no more than the tiresome antics of a jumping clown in Zhang Junbao's eyes.
"Next, Zhang Junbao." Wu Tong smiled and called his name.
Judging by his earlier speed, his neural reaction speed certainly wouldn't be poor, so Chief Instructor Wu Tong naturally had nothing to worry about. Instead, he was looking forward to seeing what surprise Zhang Junbao would bring them.
Standing inside the red circle with the test machine's barrel pointed straight at him, Zhang Junbao adjusted his breathing.
His Roaming Dragon Startled Swan Steps were a footwork technique designed for maneuvering in tight spaces. His mental strength was also a notch above an ordinary person's, giving him faster reactions, so naturally he had no fear of the neural reaction speed test.
"Remember, whatever you do, don't leave the circle. Step outside and you fail immediately. Touch the red light with your body and you'll lose points." With that, Chief Instructor Wu Tong pressed the red button.
"Beep, beep."
The Neural Reaction Tester's barrel rapidly accelerated, soon spinning at a tremendous speed. Immediately afterward, dozens of muzzles within it fired streaks of red light almost simultaneously, and rubber bullets shot toward him one after another.
The moment the test began, a sharp light flashed in Zhang Junbao's eyes. They darted rapidly in their sockets like nimble fish, tracking the position of every rubber bullet.
As Zhang Junbao took the test, the martial artists watching from the side were drawn to his footwork.
"His movement technique seems to have a special rhythm. Every time, he steps precisely into the gaps. That neural reaction speed, combined with that movement technique-his strength is terrifying!"
"It's very good. His whole body seems to have merged with the space around him. Every step is calculated with extreme precision, and he never loses his balance. He's like a flood dragon swimming freely through water."
Wu Tong stared fixedly at Zhang Junbao's figure within the circle of light, having discovered that his eyes could barely keep up with the changes in Zhang Junbao's movements.
"How is that possible?! That movement technique has already touched the threshold of the Perfect Level!" A sharp light shone in Luo Wenchong's eyes. Zhang Junbao's performance had gone beyond surprising him; it had shocked him.
Others might not have been able to tell, thinking only that Zhang Junbao's movements were pleasing to watch and full of rhythm. But Luo Wenchong knew that this was a Perfect Level movement technique, surpassing the Minitia Level.
Evasive movement techniques were divided into four stages: the "Basic Level," the "Minitia Level," the "Perfect Level," and the strongest, the "Artistic Conception Level."
A movement technique at the Artistic Conception Level usually required a War God to master it, and even some War Gods had only reached the Perfect Level.
Luo Wenchong himself was an Advanced Warlord close to the War God Level, and the Perfect Level was precisely the realm he sought for his movement technique. As long as he reached it, he was confident he could become a War God Level existence, so naturally he was particularly sensitive to such a movement technique.
"I never expected we'd dig up such a great treasure! Wu Tong really did find me a true genius."
"Perfect Level? Captain, is that the Perfect Level movement technique you've been training in all this time? How is that possible? He hasn't even become a martial artist yet!"
"I can hardly believe it myself, but I'm certain that movement technique is at the Perfect Level. A genius-you could even call him a monstrous talent! Hahaha, Wu Tong, Jiang Nian, you two are going to strike it rich this time!"
Although sixty seconds wasn't long, everyone had the illusion that time had stretched on endlessly as they became entranced by Zhang Junbao's movements.
Martial artists of different strengths felt completely different things when they watched Zhang Junbao's movement technique. A powerful fighter like Luo Wenchong, who truly understood Perfect Level movement techniques, found it easier to follow the rhythm of his movements and lose himself in them.
Wu Tong and the others felt that his movements were elusive and unpredictable, while the other examinees could see nothing but a shadow darting about and couldn't grasp the essence of the technique.
"Whirr." The Neural Reaction Tester made a sound, slowly came to a stop and returned to its original state.
The sound also jolted everyone awake.
"Within sixty seconds, hit zero times, no contact with the red light! Excellent!"
Even Wu Tong found it somewhat hard to believe as he read out the result. A broad smile spread across his face, and he laughed aloud:
"Good, excellent! Zhang Junbao, congratulations on passing the Quasi-Warrior Assessment. I'll enter the relevant information into your citizen record as soon as possible. From now on, you're a Quasi-Martial Artist!"
Hearing Wu Tong's words, Zhang Junbao smiled. He had finally taken the first step on the path of the strong in this world.
But the other examinees were somewhat puzzled. Tong Guan, who had mocked Zhang Junbao at the start, looked especially shocked as he asked, "Doesn't passing the assessment normally require approval from higher-ups, with the result entered into a citizen's information seven days later before they become a Quasi-Martial Artist?"
Wu Tong glanced at him without getting angry and explained, "That's right. Normally, becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist requires an assessment by higher-ups, but as the head of the Yangzhou City main hall, I also have the authority to grant special approval to a Quasi-Martial Artist who has passed the assessment.
"I now declare that Zhang Junbao has passed the assessment and officially become a Quasi-Martial Artist!
"As long as he takes the Martial Artist Combat Assessment on the first of next month, goes outside the human Base City under an instructor's lead to hunt demon beasts alongside the other Quasi-Martial Artists, and passes the combat assessment, he can become a true martial artist!"
"Old Li, help me conduct the rest of the assessment!
"Zhang Junbao, Jiang Nian, come upstairs with me."
Wu Tong gave his orders, his face alight with barely suppressed excitement.
"Captain, sorry, but I have to report this to my superiors first!"
"Hahaha, I understand. Well done. Looks like another genius is about to emerge from our Yangzhou City.
"Junbao, I look forward to fighting alongside you someday!"