Chapter Ninety-Five: Breaking Through the Pass, Defeating Generals (Part Two)

Mind power was a most wondrous and eerie force, striking directly at the mind and soul. It was not magic, so most defensive spells could not ward it off.

Yet it was not true physical damage either.

This mind flayer’s abilities were bizarre, and it floated in the air, completely out of Chu Cheng’s reach.

If it had been another melee fighter, there would truly have been nothing to be done.

But regrettably for it, mind power could not bypass his innate talent either, and was still sent rebounding back.

Each overwhelming psychic blast struck like a giant hammer crashing into the brain, leaving Chu Cheng dizzy and reeling. Psychic lashings were like a string of firecrackers hanging over his head, battering his spirit without pause. Beyond that were psychic barrier, psychic pull, soul devour, and the like. There were not many tricks, but none of them could be defended against; he could only endure them head-on.

Fortunately, this mind flayer was not high-level, so its burst damage was limited.

By the time the psychic onslaught ended, Chu Cheng had lost only a little over three hundred health, while the mind flayer had already lost half its life.

It took only three rounds before it was literally reflected to death.

The moment the mind flayer died, a luminous panel appeared before Chu Cheng, displaying:

"The first round of the challenge has ended. Record: 10 wins, 0 losses. Continue to the second round?"

Chu Cheng confirmed without hesitation:

"Continue."

By past experience, only after completing the first round with at least nine victories, then the second round with at least seven victories, and the third round with at least five victories, would one qualify to apply to a first-rate academy.

That was the minimum application threshold.

Yes, the major academies did not require ten wins out of ten.

That was difficult to achieve, because different professions had their own strengths and weaknesses.

A tank class, for instance, would have a very hard time dealing with fast ranged opponents, not to mention mages and flying aerial units.

Most melee classes also could not handle a necromancer with over a hundred summoned units, nor could they easily deal with an elite mage.

So failing a few of the most difficult challenges did not matter much. A loss was just a loss; one only had to do their best.

But then again, if one could succeed in an area where one was at a disadvantage, that would count for a great deal.

When he confirmed the second round, a pillar of light descended from the heavens. While it rapidly restored all his condition and reset every skill cooldown, there was also a faint spatial ripple.

When the pillar vanished, he was already in another combat arena.

It was not very different from the first one, except that the space had expanded considerably, growing from the size of a soccer field to roughly three soccer fields.

After a one-minute countdown, a fully armored human greatsword fighter stepped out from the teleportation pillar.

Elite Warrior: A battle-hardened elite warrior, level 25, 3,000 HP.

The warrior saluted him in combat fashion, leveled his sword, and charged at Chu Cheng.

Clang!

Just like the first opponent of the previous round, Chu Cheng once again easily and forcibly blocked the charge.

On the fifth floor of the Mage Tower, there was a huge work hall partitioned into sections like an internet cafe, packed with workstations. Above each workstation floated mirror-like projection panels showing scenes from various battle spaces.

Most of the panels were white, and the battle scenes within them were all different, but they basically covered ten distinct types of combatants.

Many staff members patrolled before the rows of panels, occasionally stopping to observe a fight on one of them.

There were many panels and plenty of staff, yet the work hall was extremely quiet; even footsteps were very soft.

At one point, one of the panels suddenly flared bright, drawing the attention of a nearby staff member. He quickly walked over, saw that the border of the panel had changed from white to green, and remained calm. He simply checked the panel number, downloaded the full recording from the previous round, and sent it upward.

The sixth floor of the Mage Tower was also a huge work hall.

However, most of the workstations there were not active. Only a very small number were, and the panels that had been opened had green borders. The battle scenes displayed on them were all students who had already entered the second stage.

After Chu Cheng’s information was passed to the staff on the sixth floor and received, they briefly checked it, then opened a new workstation. The panel sprang open, displaying his battle scene.

At this moment, he was facing his third opponent, corresponding to the first round: a dexterity-and-strength type.

For Chu Cheng, there was little difference between the first and second rounds.

The enemies merely had more health, stronger attacks, and higher attributes. They were certainly stronger, but there was no qualitative difference; they were still in the stage where he could crush them with ease.

The fourth opponent was still a stalker, already hidden while still within the pillar of light.

The same tactic: stay put, wait for the attack, immediately mark the target, and then there was nothing after that.

The fifth opponent was a half-elf marksman.

This time, Chu Cheng did not stand and trade blows as he had last round. He charged up Thunderclap Strike for one second, turned into a bolt of lightning, leaped over, and smashed the half-elf marksman into a daze. Then he unleashed every skill he had, including his weapon skills, and finished him with a smooth, seamless combo.

The sixth opponent was a level 25 elite mage.

Having already dealt with a mage in the previous round, he used the same method to bait out the mage’s lifesaving spell. Before being frozen, he activated Blade Storm to endure a round of burst damage, and then went all-out to finish the job in an instant.

The seventh opponent was one whose vitality, strength, and agility were all maxed out: a drider.

The eighth opponent, which had been a fire elemental in the previous round, was now a level 25 elite ice elemental.

The ninth opponent, which had been a necromancer in the previous round, was now a summoner. Although the number of summons was not as great as a necromancer’s, their quality was superb. He had actually summoned a level 25 elite dire bear beast, along with eight ordinary beasts, each also level 25.

The tenth opponent, which had been a mind flayer in the previous round, was now a demon warlock, skilled in demon summoning and blasphemous hymns, utterly disgusting to deal with.

When Chu Cheng defeated the final opponent of the second round, his name appeared on the seventh floor of the Mage Tower.

This floor was not as large as the two below it, and there were fewer staff members around, but the office of the exam committee was here, along with its principal administrators.

A staff member came to the front row and opened a new workstation for him. The border of the panel was blue.

A label had also been specially affixed to it, bearing his name, school, record, and other basic information.

There were only five newly opened workstations of this kind on the entire seventh floor.

That meant that at this very moment, among the thousands of examinees in the entire Tianshui City testing grounds, only five had consecutively defeated all ten opponents of the second round and stepped into the third.

The staff did not seem particularly surprised, but when they had nothing to do, they still stood before these panels and pointed things out to one another.

At that moment, a middle-aged man walked over and instructed them:

"Make a note of it. Anyone with five or more wins in the third round, and anyone with seven or more wins, is to be recorded separately. There must be no mistakes."