23: Chapter 23 Virtual Humans

As the hands of the clock precisely pointed to nine o'clock in the morning.

A clear System prompt echoed over the sports field of Qingshi No. 3 Middle School: “The Senior Year-End Martial Skill Assessment officially begins!”

In an instant, the enormous suspended screen in the center of the plaza seemed to come alive. In the hundreds of segmented frames, the first batch of students who had entered the virtual world simultaneously made their moves.

They either eagerly or steadily walked from the initial waiting area to the weapon racks, quickly selecting their chosen weapons—blades, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hammers, whips... light flickered, and their forms varied.

Immediately after, their figures surged towards the massive arena, fifty meters long and wide, suspended in the Void Realm.

Their movements were diverse. Some soared like eagles, leaping onto the high platform with a light shout, their clothes fluttering, revealing extraordinary skill.

Others walked steadily, step by step, ascending invisible stairs with solemn expressions.

“Look! Xue Jun is on the close-up shot!” In the crowd of Class 21, an excited voice suddenly rang out, instantly drawing all attention to that area of the class.

Without much prompting, everyone's gaze, including Li Wen, who had appeared to be meditating but was actually restless, instinctively turned to the specially enlarged image on the screen.

The image clarity was extremely high, even the confident gleam in the opponent's eyes was clearly visible.

Xue Jun, the outstanding student who had consistently held the top position in Class 21's Martial Skill for nearly three years, was undoubtedly the pride and topic of conversation for the class.

At this moment, he stood in the center of the arena, his posture as tall and straight as a pine, holding a silver-white long spear nearly three meters long.

The spear tip pointed diagonally at the ground, its cold light restrained.

Below his sword-like eyebrows, his eyes shone like stars, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned. That composure and certainty were qualities refined through countless training sessions and victories.

“Wow... so handsome!” A barely suppressed female voice drifted out, tinged with admiration.

Unlike the girls' focus, the boys' conversation quickly centered on strength and rankings.

“How high can Big Brother Xue Rank in the grade this time? He was 23rd last midterm, and that was when he had just gotten started with Top Tier Spear Technique.”

Yue Ruijie, who ranked third in the class, was clearly close to Xue Jun and quite knowledgeable about the situation.

“He said he made significant progress this semester. I think... a top fifteen finish should be secure!” another boy boldly predicted.

“Heh, our class's Martial Skill scores are probably going to soar this time. Xue Jun alone isn't enough, don't forget Li Wen, this dark horse, has suddenly emerged!” The topic of conversation suddenly shifted to Li Wen, who was sitting in the back row.

“Old Wang must be ecstatic. Lately, he's been walking with a spring in his step.”

“Hahaha, absolutely!”

“It's starting! Look!” A hurried whisper interrupted their chatter.

Everyone's gaze instantly converged.

In every screen, an identical Virtual Human refreshed simultaneously at the other end of the arena—a middle-aged man in simple black robes with a blurred face, holding nothing but an ordinary staff-length wooden stick.

At this moment, all examinees, along with this Virtual Human, were forcibly set by the System to the exact same Physical Body Rank baseline.

This assessment was solely for the Realm of skill!

Conditions impossible to achieve in the real world were perfectly presented in the virtual space.

This was also why the Third Middle School spared no expense or effort to conduct virtual assessments—to eliminate Physical Body differences and only assess your understanding, control, and application of Martial Skills!

Li Wen sat on the stool, his back straight, no longer in his previous daze.

He looked up, his sharp gaze fixed on Xue Jun's screen, like a high-speed recording and analysis instrument.

Unlike the cultural exam's question order, the virtual opponents refreshed in the Martial Skill assessment were arranged sequentially from lowest to highest strength.

And the most intuitive identifier distinguishing their strength was the color of their robes!

Li Wen's mind clearly recalled the relevant common knowledge: the lowest-grade black robes corresponded to the skill Realm of—Advanced Technique Entry.

Following this were:

White Robe: Advanced Technique Minor Achievement

Red Robe: Advanced Technique Major Achievement

Orange Robe: Advanced Technique Perfection

Yellow Robe: Top Tier Technique Entry

Green Robe: Top Tier Technique Minor Achievement

Azure Robe: Top Tier Technique Major Achievement

Blue Robe: Top Tier Technique Perfection

The final Purple Robe: the legendary Unity Realm!

A full nine colors, representing the chasm from mediocrity to excellence.

In Li Wen's previous school life, he had never even seen a Blue Robe, let alone the Peak Realm representing the unity of man and skill—a Purple Robe person?

That was a term that only existed in the legends of upperclassmen. As his thoughts raced, the first battles had already begun in full swing.

On Xue Jun's arena.

As soon as the black-robed Virtual Human solidified, it had no time to make any superfluous movements.

A silver line suddenly tore through space! “Puchi—” A faint shattering sound rang out.

The black-robed figure in the screen, as Xue Jun's spear tip casually thrust out, seemed like a punctured bubble, turning into scattered specks of light and silently dissipating in the center of the arena.

He hadn't even moved a single step!

On the other side, not all screens showed overwhelming victories.

Some students who clearly leaned towards the academic path found it extremely difficult to fight even the weakest black-robed Virtual Human, with protracted offense and defense, and dangerous situations constantly arising.

One such student, accidentally caught by a close-up shot, was in such a predicament.

While victories and defeats had been decided in other frames, and the winners awaited their next opponents, he was still struggling to parry under a wooden stick, drenched in sweat.

Perhaps finding this scene not “Martial Dao” enough, the close-up shot quickly switched to another student who was easily defeating his opponent.

And on Xue Jun's arena, where the black-robed figure had vanished, a white light shone—the second virtual opponent, the white-robed human, appeared!

This represented a skill Realm that had reached Advanced Technique Minor Achievement.

This was the threshold Li Wen had painstakingly Cultivated to before his Awakening and acquiring the “Scholar” path.

In the midterm assessment, he had barely managed to defeat the white-robed human with all his strength, only to fall before the subsequent Virtual Human representing Advanced Major Achievement.

But for Xue Jun, this white-robed human was no different in essence from the previous black-robed one.

Another spear thrust! Silent, yet so fast that the onlookers couldn't even fully capture the trajectory of the spear shaft!

The white shadow in the screen melted instantly into an even more dazzling white light, like thin snow encountering intense sunlight.

Xue Jun remained rooted, his long spear seemingly never having been raised.

Next was the red-robed Virtual Human—Advanced Technique Major Achievement. This time, Xue Jun's movements finally changed.

Although still quick, his spear moves clearly contained more refined variations and power application.

Not everyone was so smooth.

From the moment the white-robed Virtual Human appeared, it was as if aElimination valve (elimination valve) had been opened.

“Ah!”

“Bang!”

“Puff—”

Simulated impact sounds and cries of defeat occasionally came from the screens, and one by one, the images dimmed, and the displayed names turned gray.

The number of real-time screens remaining on the large display sharply decreased.