Chapter 72 - Day of the National College Examination
Meng Chao exited the website and sat down with his legs crossed in the Treasure Tower Stance. He imagined himself as a towering tower on a lone island standing in the midst of raging waves.
His chaotic thoughts were like raging waves, but his heart gradually calmed down despite them. His eyes started shining like a light at the top of a tall tower. Golden light shone from them and cut through the waves.
‘The seniors are shining brilliantly, but the future has to be built by us, the younger generation!’
Meng Chao opened his eyes. They shone brilliantly.
Before, he did not intend to activate any skills.
But the quest to heal Ning Shewo had helped him gather more than two thousand contribution points.
Besides, he had been practicing Thunder Rapier for a long time now, so the price to awaken this basic skill had become much lower.
Meng Chao thought about it for a moment before he chose to activate it. Then, he pushed it to Specialist Level in one go.
Because of it, he now had three great force execution techniques, two great fighting skills, nine great stances, and also Dragon Hibernation Stance.
There were also the relative breathing techniques and meditation methods, along with his Perfect Level Basic Gun Technique.
He had already perfectly mastered all the skills that he could learn in high school. His Skillfulness with them was almost maxed out.
However, he could still awaken some advanced skills.
He could push one of his existing skills from Specialist Level to Master Level or even Perfect Level with the remaining five thousand contribution points.
But he did not need to do that for the time being. After all, he should only use his best materials at crucial moments.
Meng Chao’s gaze focused, and he stood up. He hooked up a saber with a thick back, making it shine, and brought out a draft paper.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The saber released raging silver slashes in the chaotic small room.
In an instant, Meng Chao delivered dozens of slashes, but he did not touch the table, the chair, the bed, or any of the things on the shelf.
Even the thin draft paper dancing at the tip of the saber was not torn.
Meng Chao’s precise control over the One Hundred Saber Techniques had already reached a level where even the teachers from First High School, Second High School, and Construction High would clap their hands and praise him if they saw it.
But this was not enough.
He bent his knees a little, and his muscles contracted. Thud, thud, thud! He jumped on the wall and started moving about the room in three hundred and sixty degrees. It was an unbelievable sight.
He had already practiced his stances to the point that he had mastered them. With the help from Ripple Force, he felt as if there was a strange suction force coming out of his legs that helped him stick to the walls or even the ceiling.
His slashes changed from fierce to somber. They started to sound like thunderclaps.
With a heavy saber, he managed to bring out the essence of Thunder Rapier.
In a flash, it was as if thunder had started roaring in the room. A storm began brewing.
“Whew…”
The bed, table, and chairs started creaking, as if they could not withstand the air flow. Meng Chao then stopped brandishing the saber. He exhaled, releasing a white puff of air. It accurately struck the draft paper dancing in the air.
Multiple tears had been left behind on the draft paper by the slashes just now. When he blew on it, it fell apart and turned into a pentadecagon.
Meng Chao smiled. “With such a saber technique, sword technique, and my Perfect Level Basic Gun Technique, I’ll definitely be able to succeed in my national college examination tomorrow!”
A fiery red dawn welcomed the final day of the national college examination.
Meng Chao leapt out of bed feeling refreshed. Every cell in his body was eager and restless.
Bai Suxin knocked on his door and gave him a pair of red underwear and red socks so that he would have good luck and get good results.
Meng Chao wanted to laugh, but he did not want to deny his mother’s goodwill, so he took them obediently.
But when his father brought over red pants and a red belt, he rejected the offer sternly.
The dining table was covered with various breakfast dishes. His parents had practically bought all of the available breakfast food from all the stalls in the area.
Bai Jiacao woke up because of the fragrance. She extended her grubby hands sleepily, only to have her hand slapped away by her mother.
The parents were more nervous than anyone else in the house, but they pretended to be nonchalant while they comforted Meng Chao.
“It’ll be fine. You just have to relax and take the test. As long as you show all you can do, it’s fine no matter how many marks you get.”
“Even if you can’t get into the universities, getting into postsecondary specialized colleges is good too. When you enter society, you can continue learning. You might have a chance to become a superhuman yet.”
“Bah, don’t curse our son. If you don’t know how to speak, shut up! With our son’s current strength, he’s even stronger than the kids in the key high schools!”
“I’m just trying to get him to relax! Don’t be so nervous! If you’re nervous, you’re going to make him nervous too!”
When Meng Chao saw that his parents were about to start arguing, he quickly grabbed a fried bread bannock and a steamed bun so that he could leave. “Dad, Mom, I’m leaving. Don’t worry, it’s just the national college exam! It’ll be like a game!”
His footsteps were firm as he walked out of Blessed Heavenly Garden.
Usually, there were not many cars on the streets, but it was exceptionally empty on that day. Only the public buses specifically assigned to carry the examinees moved in between the residential areas and the exam area.
But there were a large number of armored airships and superhumans in the air. They were all ready to fight.
The anti-aircraft guns and guided missile launchers on the skyscrapers also showed their ferocious faces.
The Red Dragon Army and armored machines were stationed on the important roads and strategic high grounds.
Dragon City was ready to fight and was filled with a murderous aura.
Since it was the day of national college examination, it was the day that the youths decided their fate. The city could not allow the monsters to invade their territory.
A long time ago, the intelligent superbeasts had understood one truth: during the cycle of the four seasons, there were two days on which they were absolutely not to invade Dragon City.
One of them was New Year’s eve.
The other was the day of the national college exam.
Once, twenty years ago, when Dragon City had just restored the national college examination system from the chaos, an Apocalyptic Beast led a large group of superbeasts and high-grade monsters into Dragon City in an aggressive wave.
Superbeasts were divided into nine ranks. Those at the bottom three ranks were known as Nightmarish Beasts, while those in the three ranks in the middle were known as Hell Beasts, and the most brutal, most cruel, and most destructive were ranked among the first three ranks. They were Apocalyptic Beasts.
The Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon was an incredibly difficult and ruthless creature among the Apocalyptic Beasts.
It possessed nine heads with extremely good self-healing properties. Even if three or five of its heads were cut off, they could regenerate.
The creature’s scales also had the properties of crystals. Not only were they incredibly tough, they could control light at will so they could hide their bodies or release lasers.
The Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon possessed offense and defense, and it was an incredibly aggressive creature.
The monster hoard it led also contained a large number of Nightmarish Beasts and Hell Beasts.
This terrifying army had reigned supreme in Monster Mountain Range for a long time.
But because they invaded Dragon City on the day of the national college examination, they stirred up the full-fledged fury of the Dragon Citizens.
All Earthlings—from the foot soldiers of the Red Dragon Army to six-star superhumans and those ranked above who had reached Deity Realm and possessed great abilities—fell into a frenzy. They swiftly made it call a retreat from its conceited attack.
But that was not the end.
“Those who trample on our national college examination must be eliminated, no matter how far away they are!”
The Survival Committee, the Supernatural Tower, and the officers of the Red Dragon Army worked together to release the greatest declaration from Earthlings.
Ten Deity Realm superhumans led the elites of Dragon City outside. They launched the fiercest offense Dragon City had ever seen since they transmigrated. Their weapons reached the depths of the fog, straight into the nest of the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon.
It has to be known that superhumans are also divided into nine star ranks. Those with one to three stars are at Earth Realm, those with four to six stars are at Heaven Realm, and those with seven to nine stars are at Deity Realm.
Those at the peak of Heaven Realm are six-star superhumans. They have already broken a wall that everyone acknowledges is incredibly difficult to break, and it is the goal that many powerful people dream of achieving in their lives. It is the peak that they can reach step by step after Dragon City managed to compose a scientific cultivation method.
That was because if they wanted to break through Heaven Realm to Deity Realm, they could not just rely on science. They also needed unique epiphanies, a bit of luck, and some help from Mysticism.
Each Deity Realm elite was like a strategic weapon at the level of an atomic bomb. They usually did not carry out tasks that required them to target specific targets.
They were supposed to explore the foremost areas of life sciences, excavate the ancient ruins buried under the Supernatural Tower, plan the direction of Dragon City’s strategic development, refine martial arts, figure out the essence of technology, and develop more superhumans in Earth Realm and Heaven Realm.
But at that time, due to the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon attacking on day of the national college examination, ten Deity Realm elites and the Red Dragon Army worked together to execute the law. They went into the depths of the fog and chased the creature for more than three months while using everything at their disposal. In the end, they stormed the enemy’s nest and killed the Crystalline Nine-headed Dragon.
Dragon City paid a devastating price for it. Two of its Deity Realm elites were injured badly, and one prompt strike force from the Red Dragon Army was completely destroyed.
But everyone thought that the sacrifice was worth it.
“Ruin my national college examination, and I’ll destroy your home!”
This was the message humans sent to the monsters.
When superbeasts reached the level of Hell Beasts or Apocalyptic Beasts, most of them obtained intelligence equal to that of humans and understood the threat they posed. From then on, they no longer dared to cause trouble on the day of the national college examination.
Meng Chao smoothly arrived at the exam area. It was located at a high school in Nine Sand Region.
The examinees were randomly allocated to different exam areas, and Meng Chao found a few of his schoolmates among the examinees, such as Class 6’s Fatty Jr., Wang Tao.
It was not the time for them to enter the exam area yet, so the students from Ninth High School gathered together under the shade of a purple tree and chatted with each other.
One person said that he did not manage to sleep well last night and had a stomach bug in the morning. He vomited whatever he ate.
Another person mentioned that he was worried that he would have a stomachache, and whatever should he do if he had to go to the toilet later?
A third person decided to do last-minute preparations with a pale face. He started mumbling under his breath and begging all the gods on Earth to protect him while he flipped through his biology textbook to memorize a few more monsters’ organs.
When Meng Chao came over, everyone shut up in tacit agreement and turned their heads around.
Meng Chao was stunned. “Am I that unpopular?”
“Ace Student Chao, could you not come over to deal a blow to us?” Wang Tao said with a gloomy face. “We know your tricks by now. If we pay any attention to you and ask you how much you’ve prepared, you’ll definitely humbly say that your preparations were so-so and that you’re not in a good condition. You’ll even say that you don’t know the answer to a lot of questions.
“Then, when the results come out, ha, you’ll easily reach the admission score for Dragon City University, and you’ll keep a low profile by saying, ‘Ah, I haven’t reached the standards for Dragon City University’s martial arts course. I knew it, I flunked.’ We know your style, so there’s no need for us to make us feel gloomy.”
“Am I that sort of person in your eyes?” Meng Chao asked.
Fatty Jr. nodded. “Be more confident. Turn that question into a statement. You’re that sort of person.”
“Alright, since you said that, then there’s no need for me to be humble.” Meng Chao thought about it and said faintly, “Honestly, I’ve made ample preparations, and I shouldn’t have a problem getting into Dragon City University’s martial arts course.”
The students looked at each other before they covered their ears. “I’m not listening! Nope! Go away, you stupid ace student! Move away from us bad students!”
Ring!
It was time to enter the exam area.