Soul Land IV (Douluo Dalu) : Ultimate Fighting

872 – Graduation Exam

TL: BluVerse

Xuanyu couldn’t help but say, “He didn’t explain the situation clearly, and just left like that! Isn’t this like killing the donkey after grinding the mill?”

Muttering to himself, he took a step forward and leaped into the Sea God’s Lake.

In the cool lake water, the abundant vitality gathered around him like a confluence of rivers. Xuanyu breathed a sigh of relief, and the vague pain in his internal organs finally eased. He planned to have a good sleep here for recovery.

The incident of the Spirit Pagoda being attacked by the information flow became a major news. Instead of covering it up, the Spirit Pagoda allowed it to be reported in the news. They strongly condemned the attackers whose origins couldn’t be traced. The federation also expressed its intention to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring the attackers to justice.

In response, Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect naturally remained silent. Even though the Spirit Pagoda could guess that they were involved to some extent, without any evidence, there was little they could do. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Three days later, Shrek Academy finally received accurate information.

The Spirit Pagoda temporarily closed the Advanced Spirit Ascension Platform, and it was an indefinite closure. Information from internal sources revealed a major problem inside the Advanced Spirit Ascension Platform. In an unprecedented explosion, over one-third of the Advanced Spirit Ascension Platforms were destroyed.

This loss was extremely severe for the Spirit Pagoda.

During that period, everyone who entered the Advanced Spirit Ascension Platform was thoroughly investigated. Xuanyu was no exception, but since all his information was forged by the Tang Sect, there was no way to find any results.

After three days, Xuanyu had also mostly recovered.

The explosion this time had an impact on his spiritual sea. If it weren’t for his extremely strong recovery ability, it could have been fatal for an ordinary person.

The only problem was that, no matter how he called, the Treasure Seeking Beast didn’t respond. Xuanyu even wondered if he survived the explosion but accidentally got the little guy killed.

The harvest this time wasn’t as great as imagined, but it brought valuable insights into the Spirit Ascension Platform. Xuanyu pondered that he must find an opportunity to visit the Elementary and Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platforms. If there was a chance to find fragments of the divine realm, that would be even better.

Although the Treasure Seeking Beast never responded to his calls, after his recovery, Xuanyu could faintly sense its presence in his spiritual sea. This proved that it was still alive.

The Spirit Pagoda never found any evidence regarding who was behind the sabotage. So, the outcome of that matter was eventually left unresolved.

For Xuanyu and his friends, the most important thing now was to prepare for the final exams.

Everyone seized every available moment to enhance their individual strength and overall abilities.

It was well understood that it was unrealistic for the entire class to enter the Inner Court. However, the academy and the Tang Sect had already provided a solution. Those who didn’t make it to the Inner Court but passed the personality test could directly join the Tang Sect’s Battle Hall, as key members.

This was essentially equivalent to being recommended. Under normal circumstances, joining the Battle Hall wasn’t an easy task!

Therefore, despite the intense efforts of the Star Wars Experimental Class, the atmosphere remained excellent. If they couldn’t enter the Inner Court, entering the Tang Sect’s Battle Hall was still a good option! The Battle Hall was the most important department within the Tang Sect, primarily focused on combat. While the Tang Sect might not be comparable to Shrek Academy’s Inner Court in terms of teaching, it was undoubtedly among the best in weapons, equipment, and cutting-edge technology in the federation. As disciples of the Battle Hall, they would undoubtedly receive priority equipment. This path was even better than joining the War Gods Temple.

Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect had long discussed that none of the students from the Star Wars Experimental Class would be sent out. These were a rare group of talents. Leaving aside other factors, the unity of their entire class was unmatched by any previous group of students.

In the last two months, Xuanyu felt that time passed exceptionally quickly, and he was genuinely a bit nervous. For him and his companions, it wasn’t just about entering the Inner Court but also participating in the competition to become future members of the Shrek Seven Devils. He didn’t hope that only their group of seven would enter the Inner Court; there were many outstanding students in their class. Students like Bing Tianliang and Ding Zhuohan could be considered pillars among their peers.

Of course, the more people who could enter the Inner Court, the better.

The sword hanging over their heads finally fell one week before the graduation exam.

The graduation exam format for the Star Wars Experimental Class was announced. In addition to meeting the basic requirement of having a Two-Word Battle Armor, there were three assessments in total.

The first assessment was Star Wars, conducted in a simulated cabin, simulating a real battle. The difficulty level was unspecified.

The second assessment was the character assessment. Candidates for the Shrek Seven Monsters, led by Xuanyu, coule undergo individual assessments, while other students underwent a unified assessment. Relatively speaking, the character assessment was simpler; as long as one conducted oneself properly, passing it wouldn’t be difficult. Particularly, when the students were admitted that year, character was a significant criterion, and few selected students had issues in this regard.

The final assessment was a Sky Fighter Mission, requiring them to collectively complete a Level 5 Sky Fighter mission.

Each assessment carried points, but the results wouldn’t be disclosed publicly. Upon accumulating a certain number of points, they could enter the Inner Court.

When Xuanyu saw this last item, he was already speechless. This was clearly the academy’s concern about too many of them entering the Inner Court, leaving no room for retreat. If everyone in their class scored very high, the academy would raise the cutoff score. If everyone didn’t score high enough, they would lower it. The outcome was still at the discretion of the academy!

Undoubtedly, this was somewhat unfair. However, the academy also provided some special arrangements, such as additional slots. If they exceeded the completion difficulty of the Sky Fighter Mission, raising one difficulty level would add five Inner Court slots. Raising two difficulty levels would allow the entire class to enter the Inner Court.

In other words, if they completed the Level 5 Sky Fighter Mission, and, due to increased difficulty, it became a Level 6 mission, they would still receive an additional five slots on top of their scores. This was equivalent to guaranteeing them twelve slots to enter the Inner Court.

As for raising the difficulty by two levels, it was more of a gimmick, leaving them with a slim chance that approached zero.

Xuanyu and his peers were no longer the novices who had no understanding of the Sky Fighter Mission at the beginning. They had completed numerous Sky Fighter Missions, and Level 5 missions could potentially involve encounters with god-level powerhouses, especially in team tasks. A Level 6 Sky Fighter Mission would likely require confronting god-level powerhouses head-on or engaging in difficult tasks against powerful cosmic forces.

As for a Level 7 Sky Fighter Mission, that was an existence they couldn’t even see, and they had no idea how difficult it might be.

So, upgrading from a Level 5 mission to a Level 7 mission was almost impossible. It wasn’t as simple as when they upgraded from a Level 3 mission to a Level 4 mission. The higher the difficulty of the Sky Fighter Mission, the greater the difference in difficulty between each level.

The exact words Tang Zhenhua told Xuanyu were that he had never heard of any Level 5 Sky Fighter Mission being upgraded to Level 7 difficulty, whether in individual tasks or team tasks.

As soon as the graduation exam format was announced, Xuanyu understood the academy’s final decision. The academy had given the Star Wars Experimental Class significant preferential treatment, at least much better than previous graduating classes. They could receive up to twelve slots to enter the Inner Court, exceeding one-third of their entire class size, which was extremely rare for the Outer Court of Shrek Academy.