Back in the Martial Arts Room.
"Gu Qiang, are you going to the combat assessment or not?" Li Yuan asked while drinking water.
"Ah, I must participate in the battle." Gǔ Qiánghàn sighed, "Yesterday my mom said to me if I don't pass the combat assessment, when I get back my dad will break my legs."
Gǔ Qiánghàn emphasized every day 'my dad wants to beat me up, my mom is not happy with me', but it was evident that his parents were very caring towards him.
Because, if parents truly don't care, a child would only keep it hidden inside.
"I'm going onto the virtual net first." Li Yuan said with a smile, "Sign the documents."
"Hmm, I'll sign also in a moment, come, let's have some watermelon today."
...Consciousness connected.
He directly entered Jiangbei Martial University's campus network.
"Death exemption agreement." Li Yuan browsed through the document, quickly scanning it.
There were many clauses, but they all boiled down to one sentence, "If you die during the combat assessment, Jiangbei Martial University will compensate with five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins."
"Five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins?" Li Yuan clicked agree first, then returned to his personal space on the virtual network to complete the electronic signature.
In his personal space.
"Combat assessment?" Li Yuan contemplated in silence, "I hope it doesn't disappoint me."
Li Yuan decided to participate.
Firstly, it was to meet the terms of the special training contract from Kunlun Martial Arts University.
Secondly, the reward of Blue Star Coins.
"During the skills assessment, the cage melee was divided into six rounds, so I didn't need to directly compete with Wu Dongdong, Tian Dazhuang, and the others. I took first place quite smoothly," Li Yuan thought to himself, "But the combat assessment? There's only one first place."
Winning the two million Blue Star Coins reward was very difficult.
Not to mention anything else.
"Wu Dongdong, her spear technique is more sophisticated than mine, and her physical quality reaches as high as 10.5," Li Yuan thought to himself, "Her overall strength is a great deal stronger than mine. The chances of winning against her are very low."
These past few days, Li Yuan had used the 'Divine Palace Inquiry' on many students.
As the number of inquiries increased, Li Yuan also realized that the weaker the opponent's strength, the less spiritual power was consumed in the inquiry.
Based on the results of these past few days' inquiries.
Li Yuan found that most of the thousands of elite students participating in the event had a physical quality between 8.0 and 8.5.
Students below 8.0 and those above 9.0 were very rare.
Physical quality above 10.0? Only Wu Dongdong and Lin Lanyue.
Next was Wang Yu, at 9.5.
Tian Dazhuang, perhaps because of his family reasons, had average cultivation resources and only a physical quality of 8.5.
In other words, Li Yuan's 8.9 physical quality already put him in the top 5% of all elite students.
Like Gu Qiang, during the Yuan month's assessment, his physical quality was close to Li Yuan's.
Now it had only reached 8.7, falling behind Li Yuan.
For the past year and a half, just in terms of the speed of improvement in physical quality, Li Yuan was already considered among the top of Jiangbei Province's million students.
"Striving for first place is difficult."
"But, I must strive to break into the top ten," Li Yuan thought to himself, feeling very hopeful about earning another five hundred thousand Blue Star Coins with effort.
Money was very important.
"The martial path cultivation costs for my younger brother and sister will be huge," Li Yuan silently contemplated, "If I want to give them the best conditions all the way to their senior year, several million Blue Star Coins will be far from enough."
The investment in martial path cultivation, the consumption of money, is never-ending.
The more, the better.
Lastly, and most importantly for Li Yuan—spiritual nutrients.
Li Yuan kept this matter in mind.
"According to what President Li said, all things have a spiritual nature, I shouldn't be an exception," Li Yuan mused, "So, the 'Spiritual Awakening Level' on my Divine Palace panel... does it refer to the 'high-grade spiritual nature' noted on my Divine Palace panel initially?"
Is the one I've awakened a high-grade spiritual nature? This was Li Yuan's guess.
"Last time, before I killed a Star Realm Creature, I first got a prompt, then after killing it, I received 0.6% of the spiritual nutrients."
"And when I inquired about human martial artists, I didn't get a prompt for obtaining spiritual nutrients," Li Yuan thought to himself, "Must it be the killing of Star Realm Creatures? It should be!"
"Does the target need to be Entry Rank life? It's not confirmed!"
Li Yuan hadn't seen any other Star Realm Creatures, lacking a control group.
"Is this Spiritual Nourishment peeled away and absorbed from the deceased by the Mind Spirit Divine Palace… or is it some kind of mysterious existence rewarding me for killing Star Realm Creatures?" a thought suddenly flashed through Li Yuan's mind.
His strength continued to grow step by step.
Occasionally, Li Yuan would ponder the origin of the Mind Spirit Divine Palace and the Divine Palace panel.
Was it a certain special talent of his own?
Or was it from some indescribable existence? Or the legendary immortals? Gods? Demons?
"Take it slow, once my strength is greater, I'll have the chance to understand," Li Yuan thought to himself, "This Combat Assessment is precisely a test."
Pushing aside these distracting thoughts.
Li Yuan directly opened another video file sent by Lin Lanyue.
A hum— the screen lit up, displaying a panoramic projection.
Standing in place, Li Yuan felt as though he were right there.
The dim sky featured a high-hanging red moon; dazzling red lights flashed across the sky from time to time, sweeping across the firmament, quite eerie.
"Is this Blue Star?" Li Yuan wondered.
As the viewpoint pulled back, mountain ranges rose and fell; wild winds howled, punctuated occasionally by the roar of beasts… At the horizon's end lay a colossal War Fortress.
As the camera zoomed out, this rather vast world was laid out before Li Yuan.
A voice started to explain, "First Level Star Realm 'Moon Demon Star Realm,' entrance located at Jiangbei Province's 'Jiangbei Martial Arts University,' a fully explored Star Realm bordering the Foreign Civilization 'Moon Demon Civilization'… The maximum diameter of the entire Star Realm is about 2341 kilometers… A forward base has been established, with a garrison controlling and covertly monitoring the entire Moon Demon Civilization."
"Star Realm purposes, one, secretly lure and capture lifeforms of the Moon Demon Civilization for experimentation."
"Two, serves as a scientific weapons testing base for the military in a 'high Origin Power environment'."
"Three, used as a practical Combat Assessment field for students of Jiangbei Martial Arts University."
Li Yuan watched the video, shocked.
He understood at once that this was definitely a confidential video.
The Moon Demon Star Realm? Located at Jiangbei Martial Arts University? As a native of Jiangbei Province, Li Yuan had never heard of it.
"In Jiangbei Province, there's only one First Level Star Realm 'Fish Spirit.'" Li Yuan couldn't help thinking, "The Fish Spirit Star Realm is located at the border of Shi Zhou and Yizhou, more than two thousand kilometers away from Jiang City."
The Fish Spirit Star Realm, as the name suggests, is the original homeland of the Fish Spirit Clan.
The entrance to the Fish Spirit Star Realm where it intersects with Blue Star is quite large, and small entrances keep appearing, so Xia Country has never been able to completely seal it off.
Fish Spirit Clan invasions occur frequently.
This is also why for decades, many cities along the banks of the Xiang River have been under constant attack from Star Realm Creatures.
The Fish Spirit Star Realm is only a 'First Level Star Realm', and the invaders are only First Rank creatures that can only launch small-scale attacks, not fatal to Jiangbei Province.
"So, there's another Star Realm here at Jiangbei Martial Arts University?" Li Yuan held his breath.
According to high school textbooks, Star Realms are spatial intersections between human civilization and Alien Civilizations.
Even though, according to the video's description, the Moon Demon Star Realm has been controlled by human civilization, extremely safe.
But who can guarantee that absolutely?
Any Star Realm is a potential super volcano waiting to erupt.
"No wonder Jiangbei Martial Arts University is a military base, no wonder they've built a War Fortress," all sorts of thoughts flashed through Li Yuan's mind: "Probably, it's to seal off the Star Realm entrance instantly in case of any accidents."
Many ideas flashed through Li Yuan's mind, and he had to admit.
Lin Lanyue's background was indeed impressive; she could get her hands on such a video.
Suppressing the thoughts in his mind, Li Yuan continued to watch.
"Today, we will focus on the third point, regarding the Combat Assessment field," the video's narration voice continued: "This is the latest detailed explanation of 2043."
"Below are introductions to the Combat Assessment terrain, the distribution of Alien Race creatures, body structures, and common combat methods…"
"Moon Demon lifeforms are mostly beast-like, with their adult bodies generally around Level 8, but they have relatively low intelligence, generally equivalent to that of a 6-year-old human… However, Sky-Flying Level Lifeforms have also been born, able to slowly absorb the Origin Power emitted by the 'Moon Demon'… Second Rank Moon Demon Warriors, with their intelligence elevated to that of a 12-year-old human…"
"The majority of Moon Demon lifeforms have body shapes close to 'wolves,' with skin primarily black and red, and scales growing on the waist and abdomen… Their bodily weak points are…"
"In the Combat Assessment field, the distribution of Moon Demon lifeforms is…"
PS: From April onwards, seeking base monthly tickets!