Book 3, Chapter 5: Assessment

While he had a multitude of questions, Chen Chuan did not let his mind be occupied with too many unnecessary things while he fought. He immediately expelled all the distracting thoughts and got into the correct mindset to fight.

The All-Encompassing Force he practiced might not have had any strengths and special characteristics in the beginning, but as his foundation got stronger, the benefits brought by having mutated tissue in every part of his body started showing.

He could use more mutated tissue to generate and transfer refined force, improve his bodily functions, and generate energy. When these benefits were stacked together, he didn’t just get an increase in strength; his power increased by a whole other level.

Even without using his second self, he was confident he could defeat his former university peers.

After Chen Chuan parried the attack, Hongfu quickly delivered the second one. This time, her speed was a little faster than before. She also arrived at the mountain where Chen Chuan was. Once he blocked the second slash as well, she delivered a fearsome third slash. It was even faster than before.

Chen Chuan could also tell that Hongfu wasn’t just faster. She was also adjusting the power of her slashes continuously based on his performance.

This forced Chen Chuan to only be able to parry her attacks instead of using any of the counterattacks he had already come up with.

After more than a dozen slashes, Chen Chuan could feel that he had been pushed to his limits. Hongfu, too, sensed this, and she kept her strength and speed at this level before launching into a flurry of saber attacks, each different from the last.

If Hongfu had been testing his physical abilities earlier, now, she was testing his saber technique.

Technique had always been Chen Chuan’s weakness. Since their physical abilities were almost the same, there was no way he could win against the biosentient entity.

If nothing went wrong, he was going to lose in a few more moves, and the exam would end.

But he didn’t give up just because of it.

Perhaps his saber technique was lackluster, but whenever he fought against other people or met powerful enemies, he always found a way to win.

Right then, he found a “weakness” he could exploit.

Out of the necessity to gauge his abilities, Hongfu never moved faster or struck harder than Chen Chuan did. Only if he became stronger would she adjust her strength and speed accordingly. That adjustment took her a few moments.

Chen Chuan could use that.

Suddenly, he stomped down and jumped to another mountain. Even though he knew that he was just stomping on the training room’s floor, since Hongfu had gone through the trouble of generating an illusion of clouds and mountains, he was willing to play along.

Before he even planted his feet firmly on the “ground,” refined force surged up from his feet to his arms. With a turn of his wrists, he swung his saber.

Just as he expected, Hongfu was right on his tail. When he swung his saber, she spun in midair, with her sleeves fluttering around her. Not only did she manage to dodge his attack, but she also swung her goose-quill saber at the Frost King Saber.

If their weapons clashed, she could choose to use the momentum generated to either jump up or lunge at him.

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. His mutated tissue condensed and spasmed. His strength increased once more, and he put it all into his slash. Halfway through, he changed the direction of his attack and moved his saber to the side. Because of it, Hongfu was unable to strike his saber and generate momentum for further movement. Her saber only ended up grazing the afterimage of his saber.

The next moment, Hongfu’s strength and speed increased once more because of Chen Chuan’s adjustment. She swung her arm, and her saber came at Chen Chuan again.

However, Chen Chuan had exploited the rules to gain this advantage. He wasn’t going to let her turn the tables so easily. He swung the Frost King Saber again. This time, he unleashed the intense emotions within him, as if he had let go of all inhibitions. All his mutated tissue stirred awake, alive with excitement. His speed and strength increased in an instant as he swung his saber back, easily cutting through the swirling red afterimages of her saber, and headed straight for Hongfu’s head.

Clang!

Hongfu managed to parry it within a hair’s breadth, and Chen Chuan could sense that her strength had increased by several degrees. Though she gained a bit of leverage, it wasn’t enough to reach the mountain peak, and she was knocked back instead.

Chen Chuan didn’t end his attack there. He delivered two quick slashes, both of which Hongfu parried, and pushed her further away from him.

Hongfu was airborne now and had nothing to push off from. Chen Chuan had also restrained a bit of his strength at the second slash, making it impossible for her to use the force from the parry to return to her original mountain.

Hongfu stared at him after parrying his last slash before plunging into the sea of clouds.

Chen Chuan held his saber with one hand while standing on the mountain. The sun shone on one side of his body.

After those attacks, Hongfu should have gained a better understanding of his potential and made an even more comprehensive record of his data, but that was fine.

He had fought her and won solely through his own strength, not by overlapping with his second self. This made him feel great.

Even though he couldn’t time himself right now, he had a feeling that he had become even closer to reaching his goal of overlapping with his second self for twenty-four hours.

The clouds around him suddenly disappeared, and the golden light faded away. Chen Chuan found himself standing in his training room. Hongfu appeared once more before him, and the mechanical voice she used through the Realm Pass entered his ears.

“Strength: Above average; Speed: Average; Technique: Poor; Battle Response: Good; Battle Tactics: Outstanding.

“Overall Score: 72.

“Potential: Outstanding.

“Based on your performance, I will recommend relevant courses and syllabi for you. You can search for the corresponding lectures and lecturers based on the relevant information. You can also give the university authorization to recommend a lecturer for you.

“You can take your second evaluation in ten days. While you’re a student here, you can be tested three times. Please make use of the chances wisely.”

Chen Chuan gave Hongfu a fist-and-palm salute while holding onto his saber.

She stared at him before raising her hands up and returning the salute. Then, with a spin, she disappeared with a flutter of her red robes.

When she vanished, Chen Chuan wondered whether Hongfu had really just been an illusion.

He brought his saber up. The clashes he felt had felt real. How did Hongfu manage to do it?

As he pondered over this, he remembered the information about biosentient entities. Perhaps Hongfu had been able to blur reality and illusion because she used the power of the biofields.

As the main campus’ biosentient entity, Hongfu was in charge of testing the students and, perhaps, even the lecturers. She might be able to increase her strength and speed to far greater heights than what Chen Chuan expected. Hence, under normal circumstances, it was practically impossible to defeat her. Chen Chuan had only managed to do it because he pulled one over her.

Of course, the major contributing factor behind why Chen Chuan won was Hongfu being willing to obey the rules she set for herself, or rather, because she was bound by her own rules. Hence, using rules to his advantage was really useful.

He then asked, “Hongfu, will the university assign me classes based on my scores?”

“Yes. The university will recommend relevant classes and training plans based on your performance and scores,” Hongfu said.

“So, everyone attends different classes?”

“Yes.”

Chen Chuan nodded. He could understand that. This way, everyone could get different, more professional guidance. The main campus’ standards were indeed higher.

“I’d like to see what the university recommends for me,” he requested.

“According to your performance, the university recommends the following lectures and training plans.

“First: Lectures on weapons techniques. You can improve upon your techniques through these lectures. You may choose the lecturer yourself or allow the platform to recommend one for you.

“Please note that since you scored a ‘Poor’ in this area, this course is compulsory for you and has been added to your next assessment.

“Second: Strengthening training. You are suggested to pick a more efficient breathing technique and refined force corresponding to it in order to improve upon the efficiency of your strength output and use. This course is not mandatory. Enrollment is at your discretion.

“Third: Based on a comprehensive assessment of various factors, the chances of you reaching the Third Limit is at 35%. The university thereby offers these suggestions:

“Light-assisted training. This training will effectively strengthen the mutated tissue in your bones and fascia. At the same time, you can take medicine to maintain the strength of your muscles.

“Note One: If you are using implants that can strengthen bones, modify your muscles, make your nervous system stronger, or modify your endocrine system, you can ignore this suggestion.

“Note Two: If you have a targeted training plan, you can perform self-directed training for every other area aside from your mandatory course.”

Chen Chuan listened and found the suggestions useful. Even though Hongfu had come up with this conclusion without seeing his second self, if he could strengthen his real body, his second self would also get stronger, so her suggestions were still useful.

He paid special attention to his mandatory course. Technique had always been his weakness, but there was no way to help it. It had been a little over a year since he started learning martial arts, so he was unlike the others, who had started learning at a young age.

Chen Chuan had mainly used his speed and strength to overwhelm his opponents while avoiding using any techniques, but now that he was here, it seemed like it was time for him to make up for it. Hongfu had even set it up as a compulsory subject, which meant that Chen Chuan was going to have to put some attention in this area.

He started looking into lecturers who taught this course, and more than ten names appeared on the portal. Each of them had a teaching score under their names.

Chen Chuan had to pay for all the lectures, and the more outstanding a lecturer was, the more expensive his lectures were.

There were also two types of lectures—general lectures and advanced lectures. In general lectures, lecturers taught multiple students at once, while during advanced lectures they would give detailed one-to-one instruction, just like the mentors in Yangzhi City Martial Valor University. The lecturers here all had their teaching abilities scored, so Chen Chuan didn’t need to worry about getting deceived.

Some of the lecturers with higher scores already had their schedules entirely filled, so clearly, they were popular.

Currently, the lecturers were still on break, so Chen Chuan didn’t make his decision immediately. He wanted to examine his options more closely later.

As for the university suggesting him to use an even more effective breathing technique and a corresponding refined force to increase the efficiency of his energy output and use? He already had it—the Furnace Breathing Technique. He simply didn’t use it in the fight.

He Xiaoxing had told him that it belonged to the purity faction and was a secret technique used to fight against other factions.

This meant that the Furnace Breathing Technique’s value was much higher than Chen Chuan expected.

Since he already had a more effective breathing technique, and the second suggestion wasn’t mandatory, he was going to set it aside.

As for whether there was a corresponding refined force for the Furnace Breathing Technique? He could just send a telegram and ask about it.