Chapter 23

The light outside gradually faded. In the still of the night, Xu Jintang slowly exhaled a stale breath and ended her cultivation.

Sensing the abundant mental power within her, Xu Jintang brightened. "Great! My mental power increased by at least half!"

But a moment later, she realized something. "Wait, didn't he say taking this flood dragon blood essence would raise me a whole tier? Why am I still at tier one?"

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "The one-tier increase he mentioned was for someone with a normal-sized mental sea."

Xu Jintang, who had been excited just a second ago, immediately deflated. "I thought I could go straight to tier two."

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "Another bottle of flood dragon blood essence like this, and you'll reach tier two."

The corner of Xu Jintang's mouth twitched. "At 380,000 a bottle, I couldn't afford it even if I sold myself."

After taking a moment, Xu Jintang gradually accepted her fate and calmed down.

She could feel that her mental power was considerably more condensed than before.

Simply put, her mental power had previously only been strong enough to snap a branch, but now it could destroy an entire tree.

If she had cultivated on her own, reaching this level would have taken at least six months or more.

The 380,000 hadn't been wasted.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

Song Duoduo's injuries had healed two months earlier. After returning to the academy, she seemed like a different person. She rarely asked about gossip anymore and spent every day training in the simulated battlefield.

Xu Jintang didn't disturb her either. She was busy cultivating her mental power and making inscription talismans every day, with little time or inclination for fun.

Amid this tense atmosphere of exam preparation, the notice for the All-Star-Region Joint Examination finally arrived.

The year director, Liu Hongfang, stood at the center of the auditorium stage and solemnly announced, "In three days, all students taking the All-Star-Region Joint Examination will board a large passenger craft together and head to the Federation Star Region. Once you arrive, the examination staff will explain the rules in greater detail."

"Starting today, you are military academy candidates. On behalf of all the teachers and students at Dawn Academy, I wish you success in the joint examination."

"Class monitor, if we don't get assigned to the same examination zone, let's meet up after the joint examination," Song Duoduo murmured in her ear.

Xu Jintang turned to glance at her. "Keep in touch anytime."

The All-Star-Region Joint Examination made no distinctions based on star region, identity, or gender. All candidates would be randomly assigned to different examination zones for assessment.

Even students from the same academy might never encounter one another during the joint examination.

From what she knew, the annual All-Star-Region Joint Examination took place in simulated battlefields, but those used for the examination were larger and could accommodate thousands of candidates at once.

Achieving this required more advanced simulation pods, which were only available in middle star regions and the Federation Star Region.

Three days later, the large passenger craft sent to collect the candidates arrived at the space transit hub in the FM795 Lower Star Region.

As the craft descended, its enormous shadow fell over half the sky.

Chapter 23

Standing outside the safety line at the transit hub, Xu Jintang silently looked up as the craft docked before her.

"This is as far as I can see you off. From here on, you'll have to walk your own paths." Jiang Lu accompanied the students all the way to the boarding entrance before stopping.

Smiling, he raised a hand and waved. "Go on."

Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo exchanged a glance. The other students also looked reluctant to part.

After this farewell, these classmates and friends who had spent three years together would rarely have a chance to gather again.

For a moment, the sadness of parting spread among them.

The guard stationed outside the craft's hatch reminded them coldly, "Boarding time is limited. Do not linger."

Only then did the students set aside their sadness and turn toward the cabin.

At the cabin entrance, the crowd was so large that Xu Jintang and Song Duoduo were soon separated.

"Class monitor, keep in touch through our communicators!" Swallowed by the crowd, Song Duoduo kept standing on tiptoe and waving.

Xu Jintang waved back. "Okay!"

Inside, the cabin had a high-tech metallic design. Like the cruise ships of her previous life, it was divided into three main sections: the residential suites, the ballroom and entertainment area, and the self-service dining area.

Each section occupied a different floor, and the interior was so vast that a full day wouldn't have been enough to explore it all.

After registering their identity information, Xu Jintang and several unfamiliar students were led to the residential suites.

The cabin staff began distributing room cards in boarding order.

"The journey to the Federation Star Region will take approximately one day and one night. During that time, you will eat and sleep aboard the craft. If you encounter any problems, you can use the assistance bell in your room to call a staff member for help."

"In addition, while traveling through the Milky Way, the craft may occasionally encounter strong air currents, which could cause slight turbulence. Your communicators may also temporarily stop working. These are all normal occurrences, so there is no need to panic."

After explaining a series of precautions, a staff member approached Xu Jintang and handed her a room card. "This is your room card. Keep it safe."

The room card was a small blue card. Once infused with mental power, it would automatically display the room number and the craft's current location in her mind. It also had an automatic alarm function for emergencies.

All this advanced technology left Xu Jintang feeling rather reflective:

No wonder so many people were unwilling to live in lower star regions. The outside world had already developed this far.

By the time Xu Jintang found her room, the craft had slowly risen into the air and begun flying toward its destination.

Xu Jintang swiped her card and entered.

The entire small suite was clean. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows stretched a brilliant, boundless galactic vista. A single bed stood in the center, with a sofa and coffee table in the opposite corner.

The surroundings were quite nice. Xu Jintang stretched, walked over to the sofa, and sat down. Propping her head on her hand, she leaned against the sofa and gazed at the deep-blue galaxy outside.

The craft sped through the Milky Way. The brilliant river of stars beyond the windows shimmered faintly, both romantic and tinged with mystery.

At the space transit hub's boarding platform, Jiang Lu and Liu Hongfang turned and left together after seeing the students off.

A meaningful smile appeared on Liu Hongfang's face. "They've come up with quite a few tricks for this year's joint examination. I wonder how the students will perform."

Jiang Lu smiled and shook his head. "They're probably still absorbed in all the high-tech facilities aboard the craft."

Five minutes earlier, the craft assigned to transport the candidates from the FM795 Lower Star Region had slowly risen high into the air, but it hadn't immediately set off for the Federation Star Region.

Instead, it had remained where it was.

Until a barely perceptible wave of energy slowly enveloped the entire craft.

No one knew that the joint examination had begun the moment the candidates boarded.

In just a few seconds, every candidate aboard the craft had been silently drawn into a simulated battlefield.

Inside the operations room for the advanced simulated battlefield.

The invigilators from the five great military academies sat together. Before them was an enormous surveillance

livestream

screen, displaying the interior surveillance feeds from the dozens of craft responsible for transporting the candidates.

Every year, the All-Star-Region Joint Examination had five chief invigilators, each a teacher representing one of the five great military academies.

These five had the authority to set the examination questions and the responsibility to oversee order during the assessments.

Zhuang Silin, the head examiner with the greatest authority, turned to survey the other teachers. "This year's additional assessment costs far more than those in previous years. I wonder whether we'll manage to select truly outstanding talent."

The teacher representing Clifford Military Academy smiled. "Testing the candidates when none of them know what's happening is the best way to assess their overall abilities. Don't worry, Ms. Zhuang. Our investment certainly won't go to waste."

The man who replied was Shi Lekang, the teacher sent to represent Clifford Military Academy. His academy had taken second place in the previous Military Academy League and currently stood second in the honor rankings of the five great military academies. His standing was second only to Zhuang Silin's.

The teachers from the other three military academies voiced their agreement:

"Today's additional assessment certainly is interesting. We'll have quite a show to watch."

"I just wonder whether any students will notice something is wrong ahead of time."

"We're using advanced simulation pods. Ability users below tier five can't see through this illusion at all, so none of the candidates should notice anything."

Zhuang Silin withdrew her gaze and continued watching the surveillance feeds.

Shi Lekang and the other military academy teachers also fell silent, turning their attention to the live footage.

Inside her cabin suite, Xu Jintang was still leaning against the sofa, admiring the scenery outside.

Gradually, drowsiness crept over her. She let out a long yawn, got up, and lay on the bed to take a short nap.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, a sudden jolt shook her. It was probably turbulence caused by the craft entering high-speed travel.

Awakened, Xu Jintang sat up, leaned against the headboard, and looked out the window.

After transmigrating to this world, she had ridden in a small passenger craft once. Perhaps because of her constitution, she became airsick whenever she traveled in one.

Fortunately, this era also had something similar to airsickness medicine.

Suddenly, Xu Jintang shot upright.

Oh no! I didn't bring any airsickness medicine!

The cabin staff had reminded them that the flight would last a full day and night. Without airsickness medicine, she could end up passing out in her room.

Xu Jintang hurried out of bed and raised her hand to press the assistance bell.

Just before she touched it, she paused, her brows furrowing slightly as she muttered to herself, "Wait, I've been aboard for a while now. Why haven't I felt airsick at all?"

After a moment's hesitation, Xu Jintang withdrew her hand and turned around twice where she stood. She still felt no airsickness whatsoever.

But judging by the constantly changing galactic scenery outside, the craft should already have been traveling at high speed.