On the huge school plaza, complex runes flashed non-stop, and 370 students stood in four neat rows.
This was every senior high school candidate in Celestial City this year.
Of course, this was just for the Martial Exam. Other support Awakened, life-career Awakened, and the unawakened all had their own exam venues.
"Alright, even though your teachers may have already told you this, I have to go over the exam rules one more ti.
All students must bring their student ID cards—that’s your most vital tool for exam record grading and saving your own life.
Don’t think you can’t actually die in an exam. Every year, fatalities in the exam rooms start at four figures.
If you feel like you’re running out of juice, or anything seems off, make sure to use your student ID card to bail out of the dungeon ASAP. Everyone got it?"
"Got it!"
The chorus echoed loud and clear above Celestial City High School.
"Okay, grab your student IDs—the exam starts now!"
As Old Wang spoke, deep runes danced over the plaza, a pillar of golden light shot skyward, and then every student vanished in an instant.
When Su Mo opened his eyes again, he was staring into primal forest—at the sa ti, the details of this school exam popped up in his mind.
The college entrance exam is split into four stages: School Exam, District Exam, National Exam, and the Final Ranking Exam.
If you pass the School Exam, you can get into low-tier universities. Pass District, you make it to regular colleges. Get through Nationals, and most top universities open up for you.
The Ranking Exam, well, that’s where the truly elite unis pick their kids.
That said, making it to the Ranking Exam is just a pipe dream for average students.
Anyone who gets to that level is at least level 40 Silver rank to start with.
Random fresh Awakened students? Forget about it—Ranking Exam’s not even in the picture for them.
[College Entrance Task: Find your four teammates, join up and defeat the level 10 Boss Tree Demon. Ti limit: 8 hours.]
Looking at the task, Su Mo rolled his eyes. He’d soloed so many dungeons before, but he’d never tead up with anyone once.
And now, the college exam actually forced him to do a group run.
After getting a clear look at the task, Su Mo instantly took off through the prival forest at maximum speed.
With a Speed Attribute as high as 410, he was basically a human blur—couldn’t even see him with the naked eye.
Well, as long as Su Mo dodged the obstacles ahead—but with Absolute Defense, dodging just wasn’t his thing.
He bulldozed straight through everything—smashing down giant trees and rocks along the way with boom after boom.
Dust erupted around him like an army on a rampage.
Less than two minutes later, he was already staring at the final boss of this mission—the level 10 Tree Demon.
Then Su Mo stopped and started thinking.
So... should he just take out the boss straight away, or try to find his other four teammates?
Would this little School Exam score even matter if he wanted to be the national valedictorian anyway?
Su Mo paused for a second, then decided to go collect his teammates after all.
Even though their presence or absence didn’t make a damn bit of difference—and might actually hold him back.
Still, if he got points deducted, that would suck big ti.
With that in mind, Su Mo imdiately switched direction, charging off like before—trees shattered, stones split, dust flew everywhere.
Elsewhere, a girl also in the Celestial City High uniform was cautiously making her way forward.
Hearing the thundering booms up ahead, her face changed over and over, and she finally ducked into the bushes.
Su Mo barreled past her in a flash, the gale he blasted sending the grass flying.
And just like that, her whole shivering-in-fear self was exposed, crouched behind the (now missing) bushes.
Su Mo hit the brakes hard, skidding over 50 ters and snapping two trees before coming to a stop.
He turned around, walked up, and looked down at his teammate—or at least the huddled ostrich version: face on the ground, eyes shut tight, still trembling.
Without skipping a beat, Su Mo grabbed her like a sack and set off again to find his other teammates.
Maybe it was the sudden air-ti, but the tightly-shut, shivering girl finally opened her eyes.
Her first sight: a stone-faced dude in Celestial City High uniform—guessing this was her teammate, she managed to relax, just a bit.
She glanced down at her toes (now five or six centiters off the ground), and struggled to breathe a little. She finally managed to gasp:
"Hey, hey, big bro, could you please not carry by the collar? I can barely breathe!"
Su Mo glanced down at her but didn’t answer—instead, he kept charging ahead.
Just like before—barreling through the forest, not dodging a damn thing—the only difference was the mix of thunderous crashes and so absolutely blood-curdling screams.
"Ahhhhhh! I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, we’re gonna crash, I’m so dead, I’m so DEAD, put down, I don’t wanna do this anymore, screw the college exam, put down now~"
Might’ve been because his teammate was way too noisy, but right before hitting a tree, Su Mo thoughtfully swung her in front—then, peace and quiet.
Then, just like before, Su Mo road the forest at breakneck speed, grabbing each teammate one by one and knocking them out before dragging them along.
Five minutes later, he had all four teammates piled up like sacks. Then, grabbing two at a ti, he chucked them straight at the boss.
The level 10 Tree Demon, which hadn’t moved an inch, enraged in an instant.
Four massive vines burst from the earth, about to ensnare Su Mo’s teammates—but the next mont, Su Mo was already in the boss’s face.
He punched once. The 10-ter tall monster exploded into splinters, and the vines groping for his teammates flopped lifelessly to the ground.
[Task complete: Teammates assembled, boss defeated. Ti: 7 minutes 40 seconds. Calculating score...]
[Scoring in progress]
[Su Mo: Dungeon Exploration 70% 70 pts, Boss DPS 100% 100 pts, Teammate Gathering 40 pts, Cleared in One Hour 300 pts, TOTAL: 510 pts]
Result screen done—the next mont, a flash of white light, and Su Mo popped back on the plaza again.
This ti, the plaza was empty, and the five sudden arrivals were instant celebrities.
Swarms of reporters and caras mobbed Su Mo.
"Hello there! Can you tell us what you ran into in the dungeon? Why are all your teammates knocked out? Was this School Exam dungeon really that tough?"
"Excuse , you’re the very first student to quit the exam this year—how are you feeling about that?"
Su Mo just stood there, staring blankly at all the microphones basically shoved in his mouth.
When did I ever quit the exam?
A piercing shriek tore through the silence, snapping everyone’s attention away.
"Ahhh! Bro, bro, stop running, I seriously can’t take it anymore, I’m dropping out! Just let go—wait, we’re out?!"
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