Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 145 Ranking List: Challenging Lin Yi!

During the afternoon training session, Lin Yi, seeing the lingering frustration on many faces from their struggles with tofu, announced directly: "Monotonous repetitive training has limited effectiveness; it needs to be supplemented with other stimuli. So, I'll get you something more interesting."

"The school has acquired a new batch of equipment, virtual reality headsets."

As soon as he finished speaking, a low murmur arose among the trainees.

"You will be divided into groups of fifty and take turns using virtual reality headsets for combat training."

Lin Yi continued, "I have set up special combat courses in the system. If you can complete all seven basic level challenges, it will prove that your source energy control has reached a critical point and you have the foundation to try to break through to the Stardust level."

He glanced at everyone: "Now, the first group, come with me to the virtual teaching room. The rest of you, continue with the source energy control practice."

The first group of fifty trainees who were called upon immediately showed expressions of anticipation and curiosity.

Most of them are outstanding individuals like Chen Yu, Zhou Yuxuan, Zhao Gang, Sun Miao, and Adams, who are eager for any new methods that can improve their skills.

Those students who hadn't had their turn yet could only watch longingly, their hearts itching as if being scratched by a cat, wishing they could experience the legendary virtual reality headset as soon as possible.

Chen Yu followed in the group, his heart pounding slightly faster.

As a former game enthusiast, he has a natural affinity for "virtual reality".

The group arrived at the newly renovated virtual teaching room.

The room contained fifty neatly arranged chairs, with helmets laid out in front of them. A dedicated manager briefly explained the precautions and basic operating procedures.

"Put on your helmet and press the start button on the side. The tutorial will assist you." After saying this, the manager signaled that everyone could begin.

Following the instructions, Chen Yu sat down in an empty seat, took a deep breath, put on the cold metal helmet, and then touched the button on the side and pressed it gently.

The next moment, he found himself standing in a boundless, pure white space, with a small sprite emitting a soft white light floating in front of him.

"Welcome to the Illusionary Martial Arts System. User, please enter your student code and name."

"Wow, this immersive experience is amazing!"

As Chen Yu recited his student code and name, he couldn't help but marvel inwardly. Although the scene was simple, the feeling of his consciousness being completely connected to another space was truly amazing.

"What functions can I use now?"

Chen Yu tried asking.

The sprite's aura flickered, and it replied: "Checking student permissions, your currently available functions are as follows:"
Real-time battle
Challenge Mirror
Challenge Training Levels
Challenge Endless Mode
View the leaderboard

"Oh?"

Chen Yu's eyes lit up. As a seasoned gamer, he immediately sensed a familiar feeling from the concise list.

This is just PVP, PVE, and the classic tower climbing, and it even has a leaderboard.

"Amazing!" he couldn't help but exclaim, eagerly adding, "Check out the leaderboard!"

With a wave of its little hand, the sprite displayed a semi-transparent virtual screen in front of Chen Yu.

The screen displays three lists:
Head-to-head win rate rankings (blank)

Challenge leaderboard (blank)

Endless Mode Time Ranking (Blank)

"As expected, no one is on the list yet; everyone is experiencing it for the first time."

Chen Yu was eager and excited. In the past, when he played games, he always made sure to climb the leaderboard.

Next, he tried the second feature: "Turn on real-time battles."

The screen content changed, displaying a vertical list with names clearly shown: Zhao Gang, Sun Miao, Zhou Yuxuan, and Adams were the first group of students who entered this virtual space with him. Each name was followed by a value: (0 wins, win rate ?%).

"Sure, this really allows for PVP!" Chen Yu was eager to try it out, but after thinking about it, he held back for now.

After all, as mentioned before, the focus is on the training levels, so let's quickly take a look at the other features and then start training.

Next, his gaze fell on the third feature: "Challenge Mirror".

The list changed again, and this time, only one lonely name remained.

Lin Yi (Number of challenges: 3)

"Huh? Lin Yi's mirror image? Someone's already challenged it? Three of them?"

Chen Yu's curiosity was instantly piqued to its peak.

Although President Lin Yilin clearly emphasized the need to focus on training hurdles, ...
"Just go in and take a look, just one look, to experience Brother Yi's strength. It shouldn't be a problem, right? Anyway, with my strength, challenging him, even if it's just a mirror image, wouldn't take long," Chen Yu gave himself a reason.

"I want to challenge Lin Yi's mirror image!" Chen Yu said excitedly.

"Command confirmed. The Mirror Challenge is about to begin. Good luck." With that, the sprite vanished.

The pure white space instantly faded and reformed like ink painting.

Chen Yu found himself standing in the center of a huge, ancient blue stone arena, surrounded by a blurry background that seemed like endless void.

About ten meters in front of him, a figure materialized slowly from the ethereal—it was Lin Yi, dressed in an ordinary dark gray training uniform with a calm expression.

Although it was a virtual image, its eyes and temperament were exactly the same as the real person's, and it even carried an invisible sense of oppression.

Chen Yu's heart pounded; he was both excited and nervous.

"Although I definitely can't beat him, being able to spar with Brother Yi, even for just a second, is still awesome! Haha, from now on I'm someone who has sparred with the principal."

He even imagined himself bragging to people about it in the future.

Then, Chen Yu took a deep breath, assumed a defensive stance, and secretly circulated his source energy throughout his body, staring intently at "Lin Yi" opposite him, preparing to face a storm of attacks.

A huge, semi-transparent digital countdown appeared directly above the arena:
3
2
1
The instant the number "1" disappeared—

Chen Yu suddenly felt everything go black!
He didn't even have time to react, didn't see Lin Yi's mirror image make any movement, didn't feel any energy fluctuations, and didn't hear any sound.

Only a cold, impersonal system notification sound:
"Challenge failed."

Then, the darkness faded, and pure white once again filled the field of vision.

He returned to the initial space and guided the sprite to reappear before him.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that one might doubt whether the brief darkness was an illusion.

Chen Yu stood there stunned, and it took him several seconds to react.

"No, this...this is over?"

Chen Yu subconsciously touched his body; he was completely unharmed.

He quickly brought up the "Challenge Mirror" list again.

Lin Yi (Number of challenges: 18)

Chen Yu couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. "Goodness, in such a short time, the number of challenges has jumped from 3 to 18. It seems I'm not the only one courting death."

(End of this chapter)