My setting is above yours!

Chapter 25 Simulated Void
"Oh?"

The proctor, with a shaved head, wearing a short-sleeved uniform, and exuding a muscular physique and a hint of a powerful aura, raised an eyebrow:

"Trying to grab a fully immersive pod as soon as you walk in... Ha, I have no problem with that, but you'll have to ask them if they agree."

As he spoke, he pointed behind Ron—

More than twenty candidates who had entered the venue early were already eyeing Ron with predatory intent, and slowly stepped forward to surround him.

The reason why there was such a tense atmosphere in the training hall just now was because they were all confident in their abilities and wealth, and wanted to seize the right to use the fully immersive pod...

The bald proctor crossed his arms with great interest, leaned against the wall, and looked at the crowd, his voice a few decibels louder:

"You don't need to wait any longer... Look at the time now, you are probably the strongest group of candidates in this examination room."

The rest of you, those losers who can't even beat the ad-bots, can't change anything. There's enough of you to choose the strongest.

He casually pointed to the fully immersive pod and calmly said:
"I will not favor anyone. Whoever can defeat everyone else and stand in front of me in the end will be qualified to use the fully immersive pod."

Subdue everyone else?

Ron couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

This is truly a college entrance examination reform that has shifted towards a "fighting" direction.

They had only been in the exam room for a short time when the invigilator allowed the students to forcibly seize their exam supplies...

This year's college entrance examination was really brutal.

Just as Ron was reflecting on his feelings, he suddenly heard a somewhat arrogant voice, which drew the attention that should have been on him:

"Since the teacher has said so, let's not pretend to be friendly anymore, shall we?"
Continuing this stalemate will only waste time. Who knows what those who got the immersion capsules early are already doing in the simulated reality?

We need to finalize the ownership of the immersion pods as soon as possible... These are all people who can get into the exam room early; let's not waste time on these things and end up falling behind others in the actual exam.

Ron looked in the direction the sound came from and found that it was the obviously noble-looking young man he had seen before entering the examination room.

The boy curled his lip and sneered:
“I know you are not simple people... I don’t know which company’s junior executives’ children you are, or which school’s secret trainees you are.”

He said confidently, "But none of you have the ability to beat me."

I don't want to waste my time on you, nor do I want to hurt you... Who agrees with my use of this immersion pod? Who disagrees?

As soon as he finished speaking, a tidal wave of sarcastic remarks followed.

Those present were no ordinary people; how could they be intimidated by a few words from a noble young man?

Someone scoffed:
"Where did this guy come from? Does he really think he's some kind of young master from District A?"

"You talk so arrogantly, as if you really have the ability to overpower all of us... What level of ability do you even have?"

"Even if a Level 3 comes here and tries to crush all of us in one go, we can still take a piece of flesh from him!"

Hearing these people's clamor, the pampered young man couldn't help but laugh, his tone revealing a hint of mockery:
"Lv.3? Do you really know what it means to reach Lv.3 during the college entrance examination?"

They even bit off a piece of flesh… A bunch of idiots living in a daydream, I really shouldn’t have wasted my breath on you.”

He paused, took out a briefcase, opened it, and inside was a streamlined, silver-white, hollowed-out exoskeleton prosthetic hand.

He reached his hand into the briefcase, and the hollowed-out exoskeleton prosthetic arm seemed to come alive, opening up and crawling onto his arm like a spider.

Soon, the prosthetic body was fully installed, and the silver-white armor plates on it became active as if breathing, instantly filled with a bluish-green aura.

This is……?
Ron raised an eyebrow, and then heard the smug-sounding young man say:
"This is a cutting-edge product from EtherMachine, the latest model, a reality amplifier worth one million credits!"
Its amplification of my abilities is enough to further enhance the power of my already Lv.2 ability, far surpassing that of an ordinary Lv.2 ability user..."

As he spoke, he simply clenched his fist, and a greenish-blue stream of air swept out, swirling into a raging whirlwind on his arm.

Such effort...

If he were to unleash his full power without restraint, he might be able to punch right through the exam room wall.
In terms of output alone, while it's still far from [Vector Manipulation], it's certainly already far beyond a normal Lv.2...

Unexpectedly, the "Reality Amplifier," which cost a lot of money, could bring such a strong amplification.

It feels much better than the old magician's emerald ring, which was only used to perform magic...

Ron seemed to be deep in thought, and then he saw that the other candidates were clearly intimidated by the equipment that the noble young man had taken out.

Many people subconsciously took a few steps back, and some, quite indignant, said angrily:

"Teacher! I'm reporting him for using illegal cheating devices and disregarding the rules of the college entrance examination!"

But all he could see was the bald proctor leaning calmly against the wall, saying without a care in the world:
"Illegal assistive devices? Although the use of any self-enhancing devices is prohibited in the official exam, this isn't the official exam after all..."

You're just fighting over exam supplies.

In this off-exam process, the municipal government has not enacted any law prohibiting candidates from using their own personal belongings.

You know what, what they said actually makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, this is just a scramble for exam supplies before the exam, and it's not actually during the exam, so the proctors have no right to interfere!
On the contrary, if he forcibly prohibits students from using their personal belongings, he might even violate laws restricting personal freedom and receive a warning from the patrol bureau...

"...It's just a reality amplifier, don't think you're invincible!"

Many people gave up, but some were still unconvinced.

Suddenly, a candidate burst out from the blind spot of the elegant young man, bright sparks flying from his body.

The examinee quickly approached him and suddenly threw a punch at his prosthetic body before he could even turn around and see the attacker...

But the next moment, a surging cyan-green whirlwind erupted from the prosthetic body.

The intense wind pressure blew the examinee away, sending him crashing heavily to the floor.

"Just stop when you've hit someone, don't get hurt."

The bald proctor, who seemed to care nothing about the order of the examination room, suddenly flew into the air, caught the student who had been blown away by the attack, and gently placed him on the ground.

The guy who launched the sneak attack isn't Lv.2, but the proctor is probably barely Lv.3?

In other words, the strongest person in this exam room is only this Lv.2 with the "Reality Amplifier"...

Ron, who had been watching silently from the sidelines, seemed to understand that everything happening in front of him was nothing more than a battle of wits between weaklings.

As expected of District D... You really don't see many very strong students in District D.

Students like An Hui, who reach Lv.2 early and are clearly gifted, will be directly admitted to university six months before the college entrance examination.

Or they might be admitted early and taken to Zone A or Zone B early on to participate in the college entrance examination in Zone A or Zone B under the guidance of university professors...

Only someone like Ron, who only shows his potential close to the exam and hasn't contacted any universities beforehand, would appear in the D-section exam hall. Seeing the student who had ambushed him lying on the ground, groaning in pain and unable to get up, the arrogant young man couldn't help but laugh loudly:
"A sneak attack? Would a sneak attack even work?"
EtherMachine's cargo has always been equipped with automatic defense capabilities. No matter how you try to sneak up on me, you'll have to face my power burst head-on...

As he spoke, he proudly raised his head, scanned all the candidates, and said sarcastically:

"So, anyone else want to try?"

The candidates remained silent, secretly cursing the man for relying solely on his equipment, but outwardly no one dared to say anything more.

"Since none of you have any objections, then this fully immersive pod will be mine for the time being?"

He walked up to the immersion chamber with a grin, and just as he was about to open the door, he found a hand pressing on it, which he couldn't push open no matter how hard he tried.

He looked up and saw that the simply dressed, penniless guy who had been the first to shout that he wanted to register for the immersion pod was still standing there, looking at him with a questioning gaze...

The poor wretch spoke in a gentle tone:

“I said from the beginning that I wanted this immersion capsule, didn’t you hear me?”

did not hear?
A penniless guy dressed in cheap, off-brand clothes probably only has the ability to barely beat those two advertising robots...

This guy dares to stand in my way at a time like this?

Is he still not clear about the current situation?
The pampered young man was so angry he almost laughed:

"Only poor people like you who have to queue up to buy milk tea would have this concept of first come, first served!"
Haven't you figured out who actually forcibly took control of this immersion pod?

As he spoke, he clenched his fist without hesitation and threw a punch directly at Ron.

It seems that he didn't care about holding back at all, and really wanted to punch Ron with all his might to get him away from his immersion pod!
A fist was thrown, and a verdant whirlwind exploded—

But immediately, as if grabbed by an invisible hand, the wind field failed to unfold and was instead "squeezed" back.

The noble-looking young man stared in astonishment at his cybernetic body. An invisible force reversed the direction of the wind, and now a verdant whirlwind was surging and turbulent within the cybernetic body...

They forcibly twisted, tore, and cut the entire prosthetic body into pieces!
Just as he was about to take a step, an unimaginable weight suddenly fell on him, as if a huge boulder had been placed on his back out of thin air—

In an instant, he found it impossible to take another step!
"What's this……"

His face turned bright red, and he strained to utter the question, but he quickly lost his breath as he spoke, on the verge of collapsing under the sudden, inexplicable gravity...

At this moment, Ron slowly and deliberately said:

"Of course I know that this thing belongs to whoever has the stronger one..."

"Snapped!"

The noble young man in front of him could not withstand the sudden gravity and was forced to his knees with a "thud".

"You just don't know who's stronger."

Ron patted him gently on the shoulder, as if reassuring a close friend:

"Right now, it seems I am indeed a little bit better than you... You, try harder next time."

After he finished speaking, ignoring the stunned candidates, he turned to look at the bald proctor who was staring at him in astonishment, and calmly said:

"Teacher, you've been dragging your feet for so long... Can you help me register for this fully immersive capsule now?"

"What a terrifying ability... Of course."

The bald proctor looked at Ron with some astonishment, his tone full of shock:
"I never expected to encounter a candidate like you in the exam hall of Zone D..."

With such impressive abilities, even in exam rooms A and B, one would be considered among the best!

As he remarked, he stepped forward, took Ron's exam admission ticket, and used the brain-computer interface to register Ron's personal information.

After completing the registration, he returned the admission ticket to Ron, reminding him:

"Alright, at least for your 'first life,' this immersion pod belongs to you..."

First life?
What does it mean?
Ron asked in confusion, but the bald proctor in front of him explained:
"In this exam, every candidate could easily lose their 'life'..."

Each time you die, you have to wait a cooldown period before you can respawn and participate in the college entrance examination.

As he spoke, he patted Ron on the shoulder and encouraged him:

"If you want to get a higher score, you must not die during the exam..."

"To live is the only choice that can win everything in this world!"

...Is it really that dangerous in real life?

Is it a life-or-death arena battle, or a brutal, bloody free-for-all?

Although it's a simulation of reality, I never imagined that I'd be risking my life in it...

Ron was quite curious and, without hesitation, lay down directly into the fully immersive pod.

The hatch gradually closed, and a blast of cold air blew onto Ron's face. He immediately felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him and slowly closed his eyes.

The next moment, he heard the whooshing sound of the wind in his ears.

He opened his eyes and was shocked to find himself standing on a pile of ruins. A cold wind blew past him, bringing with it a pungent smell of sand and haze.

On the distant horizon, a huge virtual screen hangs, displaying familiar names, each followed by a score indicating its ranking.

Ron glanced over and spotted a familiar name in the first column of the leaderboard on the screen—

Euan Hansen.

It is currently ranked number one with the highest score of three million!

After countless candidates were omitted from the screen, only the last line of the viewer's name was displayed, and Ron saw his own name...

The number of digits in the rankings is impossible to count, and the points are simply "0".

Well, although I don't know what kind of ranking this is or how to get these points, it's only natural that Ron only got zero points when he first came to take the exam.

But... what exactly is the situation in this simulated place?
Ron gazed curiously at the endless city ruins, then at the gigantic void at the edge of the sky, which seemed to be burning and emanated a semi-transparent mist—

Is this what they call "emptiness"? Simulated by the city government in virtual reality?
Ron seemed lost in thought when he suddenly heard a notification from the manual:
[The "Occupation: Superpowered Individual" is being eroded by trace amounts of "mystical influence."]

[Performance impairment: 1%]

Ron's eyes immediately sharpened.

Trace amounts...of mystical influence?!
What's happening here!
(End of this chapter)