10: Marching into the Tier 3 region!

Class One of the Senior Year Martial Arts Stream.

The Old Class Teacher was on the podium explaining the contents of the National College Entrance Examination's martial arts component.

"The martial exam is divided into the Realm Assessment and the Combat Assessment."

"For the former, it goes without saying that as long as you reach the level of a First-Rank Martial Artist, you get a base score of 300 points, with an additional ten points for every minor stage higher."

"A First-Rank Peak is 380 points, but reaching the Second-Rank directly grants 400 points, and the Third-Rank is a full score of 500."

"Our entire class has become Martial Artists, so there's no need to worry about that."

"However, the combat scores are different. Defeating a computer AI of the same level as yourself earns you 400 points."

"Don't think this is easy. The computer AIs in the martial exam all possess top-tier strength for their rank; their Martial Skill proficiency and combat awareness are far superior to the average student!"

"In the same Realm, the AI's combat power is enough to crush most Martial Artists." As the Old Class Teacher spoke, he saw Xiao Lizi dozing off and shouted:

"Li Jing! Stand up and tell me how the minimum score and the 350-point mark for the Combat Assessment are evaluated!"

Gray Hair stood up with a start and said awkwardly:

"I think surrendering gives you 0 points. As long as you fight seriously, even if you lose, there's a base score of 300, with a maximum of up to 350."

The Old Class Teacher nodded with satisfaction. "Correct! For most students, the Combat Assessment isn't about getting 400 points; that's reserved for those with combat talent."

"The goal for most of you is to push your mechanics to the limit and get your System score as close to 350 as possible!"

"Last year, in the Yunxiao Prefecture, for xia country language, you just needed to pass; a martial exam score of 610 was enough to enter the lowest-tier Martial School."

"Even with such low requirements, a portion of Martial Artists were still filtered out because they were finished by the AI in just a few moves."

"Remember! Even if you spend the whole time dodging and don't engage the AI, dragging it out for 5 minutes will still get you 320 points!"

Jiang Hao watched the Old Class Teacher constantly reminding everyone of the precautions for the Combat Assessment. It was so similar to his previous life, where the homeroom teacher would repeatedly urge them to bring all their exam tools and arrive early... After a long time, he finished his lunch in the school cafeteria.

Jiang Hao returned home. With the National College Entrance Examination not far off, the principal had agreed that students in the martial arts class could prepare at home.

He saw a new message pop up on Feixin:

[Fish and Bears Paw: You there?]

[I Dont Eat Beef: If there's something, just say it. Don't ask if I'm here.]

[Fish and Bears Paw: Do you think the Weapon Combat Style is better, or the Spellcasting School?]

Weapon Combat refers to pure Martial Artists like Jiang Hao who use weapons, while the Spellcasting School is self-explanatory.

[I Dont Eat Beef: What's the use of asking me? I don't have talent for Arcane Arts. Go ask your teacher. That's all, I'm logging off.]

Jiang Hao was about to start smurfing!

Returning to the Third-Rank zone, to be safe, Jiang Hao decided to go through a wave of enhancements.

"system panel, add points!"

[Points: 3231 -> 3131]

The remaining points were kept to level up the Martial Skills the Martial Unification Bureau hadn't given him yet.

With 100 points deducted, Jiang Hao reached the Second-Rank Peak.

He clenched his fist, feeling he could easily deal with the 'Ashe' from last time, and entered the combat pod with full confidence.

"Virtual Combat, start!"

Jiang Hao chose 1v1 duel and entered the Third-Rank zone.

Matching in the Third-Rank zone was very fast, taking only about a dozen seconds.

It probably had something to do with the fact that most Martial School students were at the Third-Rank.

"Match successful. The battle will begin in thirty seconds. Please choose your weapon."

Jiang Hao still chose the long saber and carefully observed the figure opposite him.

Hmm, male, face blurred, no weapon.

Another from the Spellcasting School?

"Is the Spellcasting School overflowing these days?" Jiang Hao felt a bit salty.

"Battle start!"

Jiang Hao knew well that to deal with a mage, one had to get close for a one-hit kill. Otherwise, if he got kited, it wouldn't count as an instant kill. That would be a loss of 5 points!

When Jiang Hao unleashed his smooth combo of Nine Flashes of an Instant plus a Collapse Fist to the head, the opponent suddenly turned into a Shadow and dispersed.

???

What the hell? I'm reporting someone for using an invincibility hack!

With a dark face, Jiang Hao watched the figure reform over ten meters away.

"Give up, classmate. My talent is Shadow. Before the Seventh-Rank, a Weapon Combat Style practitioner can't beat me without special Martial Skills!" The voice sounded like a synthesized AI.

"Damn it, what did our Weapon Combat Style ever do to you!"

Jiang Hao refused to give up and chased after him with a punch. The wind from the punch completely tore the Shadow apart, but unfortunately, a figure still reformed not far away.

"How about it, classmate? This is the confidence the Spellcasting School gives me!" The young man continuously launched mental attacks from the side.

After another air-exploding strike, the Shadow reformed again:

"Useless. How many more times can your Essence support such Martial Skills? Your life is already a flickering candle in the wind!"

"That's not necessarily true!"

Jiang Hao took a stride, his Fourth-Rank physique almost pulling an afterimage through the air.

Another punch.

This punch exploded the Shadow and smashed into the ground. The Third-Rank arena in the virtual space was cracked with several ten-meter-long fissures that continued to expand.

Seeing that the Shadow's reforming speed was about a second slower than at the start, Jiang Hao laughed happily:

"I'll just use my fists to see if you have enough Essence. Don't worry, I can play with you all day."

The young man opposite him paused. "Those moves just now weren't Martial Skills?"

Jiang Hao picked up the long saber from the ground, threw it to finish the young man once more, and said, "Oh, those were just my basic attacks."

Then he casually tore apart the Shadow chains wrapping around his legs:

"Now, it's whack-a-mole time!"

About three minutes later, the young man's Essence was finally exhausted. He had been killed by Jiang Hao's punches an unknown number of times.

The young man looked at Jiang Hao and said helplessly, "Classmate, you win. It's my bad luck to run into a monster like you whose basic attacks are comparable to Martial Skills."

As soon as he finished speaking, he was sent out by one of Jiang Hao's punches.

Jiang Hao let out a long breath. "It seems I still can't underestimate the people of the world."

"The rewards promised by the Martial Unification Bureau seem to include several Martial Skills. Looks like I need to save up points to level them up!"

He clicked for the next match.

Thirty seconds later, seeing the opponent charging over with a saber and shield, Jiang Hao felt relieved.

His combo directly bypassed the shield and punched through the Essence shield, sending the opponent away with a single blow.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for an instant kill on a Third-Rank opponent, gaining 5 points!]

Last time he came to the Third-Rank zone, because he was a First-Rank Martial Artist entering the Third-Rank zone for the first time, he had to drop two major divisions, falling straight to Gold I.

This resulted in the opponents he met not being in the Third-Rank Late Stage, nor having any strange talents. It made Jiang Hao think the Third-Rank zone was nothing special.

But now, his Diamond I rank meant Jiang Hao could only guarantee a 100% win rate, but not that he could instant-kill the opponent every single time.

"If only I could be matched with Weapon Combat Style Martial Artists every time!" Thinking of the benefits of the Weapon Combat Style, his hands continued to the next match... An hour later, Jiang Hao emerged from the virtual combat pod, looking at the points he had earned today.

[Points: 3166]

That's right!

After instant-killing that brother with the saber and shield, Jiang Hao had six more matches where he killed the opponent in one hit.

There were also two matches where he encountered someone from the Support Stream; a punch actually reflected some damage, and the opponent was only sent flying instead of being instant-killed.

Like a turtle, Jiang Hao had to endure the opponent's scratch-like attacks and hammer them for a minute, sending them flying several times before winning.

There was also someone from the Spellcasting School who directly split into over a dozen Clones, and the main body could swap places with the Clones.

It took Jiang Hao more than a dozen extra punches to resolve that.

...After having dinner, Jiang Hao suddenly received two consecutive payment notifications from Blue Star Net.

He opened his smart bracelet to see an extra 13 million in his Blue Star Net account.

There was also a message from the Martial Unification Bureau about going tomorrow to collect martial resources and select Martial Skills.

In fact, discovering a 'Sacred Beast Society' stronghold wasn't worth this much in rewards.

After all, the strongest in the stronghold was only at the Fourth-Rank; it was more because Jiang Hao's talent was excellent and worth recruiting.

And also because he had stumbled upon and killed that extremely weakened Seventh-Rank Exotic Beast.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Hao sent a Feixin message to Captain Qin of the Martial Unification Bureau:

[I Dont Eat Beef: Captain Qin, can I convert all my rewards into one high-rank Martial Skill? If it's not enough, I can pay the difference.]

The other side replied instantly:

[Quitting Smoking: I'll go ask my colleagues at the Prefecture Headquarters to see if it can be exchanged. After all, our city doesn't have the authority to exchange for high-rank Martial Skills.]

[Quitting Smoking: But with your talent, Xiao Jiang, the Prefecture Headquarters will definitely agree, and there's no need to pay extra.]

[I Dont Eat Beef: Really? Thanks a lot, Brother Qin, and thanks to the country!]

[Quitting Smoking: Don't worry about any strings attached. This is the only way Yunxiao Prefecture can help you before you move on to a bigger stage.]

[Quitting Smoking: After all, our prefecture ranks third from the bottom among the nine prefectures of Xia Country (crying emoji).]

[I Dont Eat Beef: Don't worry, Brother Qin. When the time comes, I'll take the championship of the 'Global Martial Arts School Freshman League.' I'll make sure to praise Yunxiao Prefecture heavily during the interview.]

[Quitting Smoking: Having confidence is a good thing! But remember to add Yunlan City (handshake emoji).]

Jiang Hao closed the light screen with satisfaction. "I hope I can exchange for a long-range Martial Skill tomorrow!"