Chapter 3

At the sight of that figure, the supervisor and school administrators, who had spent so long forcing out apologetic smiles, suddenly volunteered an introduction. "This is the top student in this year's cohort, Wen Jing."

"Top student?"

Sure enough, not only the teenagers but even the chief examiner, Tainuo, stopped in his tracks with interest.

The first part of the martial arts exam was the basic assessment.

Wen Jing stood before the strength-testing machine, bouncing lightly on her feet and loosening her shoulders and neck. The next instant, her core tightened like a drawn bowstring.

Thud! Thud!

One punch, one kick.

With two dull impacts, the upper and lower targets shook violently. Green figures then appeared on the wall.

Strength-upper limbs: 544 (≥520) kg

Strength-lower limbs: 883 (≥850) kg

Whoosh! She pivoted onto the track beside her. With a rush of air, her figure reached the end of the moving track in the blink of an eye.

Speed: 13.6 (≥12) m/s

The final part of the basic assessment was the reaction test. After a beep, rubber bullets suddenly shot out of the exam room's walls in an irregular pattern.

If a bullet struck any part of her body, the sensors would record it.

One wall, two walls... until all four walls were firing rubber bullets. The bullets also increased in speed three times, from twenty meters per second to fifty.

After the hail of bullets continued for a full thirty seconds, the test ended-hits taken: 0 (≤3).

Martial arts-basic assessment score: 100

When the group above the exam room turned their attention her way, Wen Jing was comfortably securing full marks on the basic assessment and starting the next section.

"Exam subject: unarmed combat."

Ten blobs of silvery-white liquid metal dripped from the enclosed exam room's ceiling in front of Wen Jing, rapidly forming identical, standard humanoid robots on the floor, with numbers from 01 to 10 displayed on their chests.

As the exam began, she shot toward the nearest robot, 03, like a cannonball.

These liquid robots were linked to the Federation's central computer. Their performance was stable, and there was no startup lag whatsoever.

03 reacted instantly, throwing a straight punch at Wen Jing head-on-the first standard form of basic fist techniques.

Their combat techniques also came from the standardized compulsory high school textbooks. The difference was that their choice of moves and timing came entirely from the central computer's immense processing power, and their algorithms were updated every year using data from the previous cohort's standardized exam.

The exam facing each new cohort was therefore bound to be harder than the last.

Wen Jing shifted half a step sideways, caught 03's elbow joint with her left hand, and drove her right hand upward into its face.

The robot, which simulated normal human weaknesses, immediately lost its balance and staggered. She followed up with a kick to its neck.

The neck was one of the zones designated as fatal. Once the force of the blow reached the threshold, 03 glowed green and turned back into a blob of liquid.

Everything happened extremely quickly. Almost simultaneously, three other robots closed in on her in a triangular formation.

07, at the front, reached in with Cross Lock, the second basic grappling form. Wen Jing suddenly sprang up, clamped her legs around its neck, and twisted in midair with the strength of her core, using Python Choke, the third grappling form, on it.

Two thudding impacts rang out. The instant 07 collapsed into liquid, she had already used it as leverage to kick 05's jaw with her right leg, while her left arm blocked 10's knee strike before her hand reversed direction and chopped into its inner thigh.

Robots felt no pain, but a blow to that spot would undoubtedly leave a human unable to fight.

With the standardized exam this cutthroat, martial honor had long since gone out the window.

But likewise... the examinees were not the only ones without martial honor. The robots also used dirty tricks like groin kicks and hair-pulling!

Five robots coordinated their attack on Wen Jing. Just as she dealt with them, a sixth suddenly slipped through a gap into the encirclement, aiming straight for her "obstructive" ponytail.

Up above, He Fei immediately laughed. "Now we're in for a show!"

He had suffered from that before, but naturally would not tell his companions.

Yet just as all the spectators thought Wen Jing was about to be yanked off her feet, she spun sharply as though she had eyes in the back of her head. Under precise, deft control, her glossy black ponytail lashed out, cutting through the air and striking three robots in their carotid artery zones in succession.

This was not even a haphazard swing, but the Basic Whip Technique, an elective in the weapons application course!

The unsmiling Tainuo's eyelids lifted, while the group of financial conglomerates' children were left dumbfounded by just how hard the School District Planet's students pushed themselves-what kind of steel scalp was that?! What kind of metal hair?!

So she kept her hair long because she had trained it into a weapon!

Even after Wen Jing finished off the remaining robots, her ponytail had not come loose.

In direct contrast to "getting stronger but going bald," maxing out the somewhat troublesome [Species Attributes] had another notable effect: her hair had never fallen out again, not a single strand, and it seemed to possess a very faint sense of perception.

The wall displayed her combat completion time: 3 minutes 30 seconds (≤5 minutes).

Martial arts-unarmed combat score: 400

"He Fei, how long did you take earlier?" someone asked at the sight of that perfect score.

He Fei, who had been boasting not long ago, stiffened and pretended not to hear.

Just then, a streak of golden light flashed across the exam room's wall: "Martial arts-unarmed combat score: 405 (+5 chief examiner bonus points)."

Besides overseeing the exam, the chief examiner had another privilege: awarding bonus points to outstanding students.

The criteria were fairly subjective, but the general principle remained the same. Fight beautifully and show your flair-it was the same idea as presenting a neat written exam paper.

"The noncommissioned officer actually gave her bonus points. Was it because she used her hair?"

"It must be. But doesn't that count as cheating? Using a 'weapon' in unarmed combat..."

The teenagers had barely begun muttering when Tainuo interrupted them. "In that fight, she used every fist technique, leg technique, and grappling move in the Basic Combat Technique, while keeping each form to no more than three uses."

"Huh??"

They exchanged looks. Even the aloof blond boy surrounded at their very center, whose status was clearly different, could not help the change in his gaze.

Actual combat was not a demonstration of forms. Not only did one have to counter an opponent's moves, but different levels of mastery over different combat techniques also created preferences. Put plainly, those good at fist techniques used their fists more, and those good at leg techniques used their legs more. It was all subconscious.

Controlling how frequently she used each move under those circumstances could only mean that Wen Jing had thoroughly integrated every move in the Basic Combat Technique. Her talent was astounding.

Despite their simple names, the Basic Combat Technique and Basic Movement Technique had been continually refined and improved over generations as teaching materials. They had the highest ceiling among beginner physical combat arts, classic examples of techniques that were easy to learn but difficult to master. Even their advanced private tutors required them to learn them.

At this, the supervisor and principals, especially the principal of First High School, positively glowed. After all, the last time a student on the School District Planet had received bonus points from a chief examiner was seven years ago.

But alongside their newfound pride, they were also somewhat worried.

For some people, knowing that the chief examiner was watching them during an exam was not necessarily a good thing. Their nerves might cause them to underperform.

Yet when Wen Jing saw the golden light, rather than feeling pressured, she raised an eyebrow.

There are examiner bonus points? Then it's time to get serious!

"Exam subject: weapons combat."

A section of wall opened, pushing out a weapons rack. The compulsory short weapons, long weapons, and firearms were all laid out on it, along with elective weapons such as throwing darts and long whips.

Another ten liquid robots dripped down. This time, besides the numbers marked on their chests, they held different weapons.

When an examinee picked up a particular weapon, the corresponding robot would engage them. It could only be defeated by attacks using the same weapon.

Clatter!

Wen Jing first reached for the spear on the weapons rack, but instead of drawing it out, she heaved upward, flinging the entire rack into the air.

"What?!"

Not only Tainuo's group but even the school administrators were startled by the sight-this would count as drawing every weapon at once, and all the robots would swarm her!

Inside the exam room, the other weapons flew high into the air. Without even looking at them, Wen Jing moved her feet in time with the spear in her hands.

A glint of cold steel struck the spear-wielding robot like lightning, piercing straight into its neck. She then swung the spearhead sideways, sweeping the shaft into the other robots closing in from her right. Her left hand rose just in time to catch a falling saber's hilt in a reverse grip, slashing downward.

Two robots turned straight into liquid in a single exchange.

She discarded the long staff and saber, catching a sword and a long whip... As she dodged and shifted, she used a dizzying array of weapons, defeating each opponent in a single move.

Finally, she slid along the floor and picked up the handgun that had been flung farthest away. Almost as soon as she raised her hand, she had finished aiming and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet struck the firearm-wielding robot squarely between the brows.

52 seconds (≤8 minutes)

Martial arts-weapons combat score: 400

Less than a minute-a straight speedrun!

This was Wen Jing's true strength. Whether in strength, speed, or reactions, she far surpassed her performance in the previous round. They were on completely different levels.

Everything settled.

She stood up and swept her gaze across the ceiling. Her eyes seemed to pierce the one-way glass, meeting those of the people above for an instant.

Chapter 3

The examiners' group fell briefly silent.

In the previous round of unarmed combat, Wen Jing had still been within the bounds of an ordinary genius. When she unleashed her true strength and deliberately showed what she could do, even the School District Planet's principals, who had always regarded her as this cohort's ace, were stunned.

The School District Planet had never lacked geniuses, but ordinary geniuses usually excelled in one particular area. A hexagonal warrior like Wen Jing, with no discernible weaknesses, had to be called a peerless genius. To find the last one, they would have to look through historical records.

"She truly is a genius."

After a long while, Tainuo let out a breath and spoke slowly.