Don't mess with that necromancer; his summoned creatures level up on their own!

The interior space of the first floor of the Trial Tower is more spacious than it appears from the outside.

The enclosed hall is over 100 square meters, with a ceiling so high that the top is not visible.

In the very center of the hall was a flat battle area, the floor paved with unidentified grayish-white stone slabs.

Each stone slab is engraved with anti-slip runes.

A loudspeaker boomed from all directions: "Attention test takers! The first layer of monsters will arrive on the battlefield via a teleportation array in sixty seconds! Please adjust your combat stance!"

A basic supply box is located on the right side of the hall, containing basic mana potions and health potions. Take as needed! Countdown begins—fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven…”

Lu Zhixing glanced at the glowing teleportation array in the distance.

It seems to be a simple test of damage output. Monsters on each floor will be teleported through a magic circle. You can enter the next floor by killing them all within the specified time.

Nothing new, but not difficult either—for the little zombies, these low-level monsters aren't even a warm-up.

He glanced at the supply crate but didn't go over. He didn't need it.

The little zombies couldn't contain themselves any longer.

[Little Zombie: Hehehe... I've waited far too long for this moment! I will make this tower tremble in my rage—]

Lu Zhixing interrupted it: "Hey little zombie, can we not act like a villainous boss?"

The little zombie scoffed disdainfully: "Tch, boring humans. In this world, violence is truth, and destruction is eternal! Hehehe—"

Lu Zhixing sighed: "Okay, okay, but could you please stop laughing like that all the time?"

[Little Zombie: What do you know! Only in this way can I show off my superiority.]

The little vampire's voice lazily cut in.

[Little Vampire: You woke me up.]

[Little Zombie: What are you sleeping for! It's exam time! Get up and get to work!]

[Little Vampire: You deal with the low-level monsters yourself. I'm going to sleep a little longer.]

Lu Zhixing's lips twitched.

The countdown continues: ten, nine, eight, seven...

"Buzz—"

The moment the countdown reached zero, the teleportation array at the end of the hall suddenly burst forth with a blinding blue light.

The air in the center of the magic circle trembled violently, and several short, ugly figures slowly emerged from the distortion.

—Dark green skin, pointed ears, a sunken nose, holding a rusty iron bar in his hand, and making a "crunching" sound from his mouth.

Five goblins burst out of the magic circle, their level displayed as Lv.5.

This configuration is a free point for any test taker.

Lu Zhixing glanced expressionlessly at the five goblins that were howling: "Little zombie, send them on their way."

The little zombie let out a roar, preparing to punch the five goblins into a bloody mist.

"Boom—!!!"

The ground in front of Lu Zhixing suddenly trembled.

Gravel and dirt flew to both sides, and blood elements frantically condensed in the air.

An incredibly thick wall of blood rose up two meters in front of Lu Zhixing.

The little zombie, launched into the air, slammed headfirst into the wall.

"Bang!"

The five goblins stopped in their tracks, their faces showing confusion.

What is that bluish-gray thing doing?

It charged at us so aggressively, why did it suddenly crash into the wall?

Where did that red wall come from?

Have human tactics become so abstract now?

The little zombie bounced up from the ground.

[Little Zombie: ???]

[Little Zombie: Are you sick in the head?! Are you fucking insane?! How dare you slack off your teammates like this?! Don't you want your two family members anymore?!]

[Little Zombie: I just finished showing off and you pull this on me? Don't I have any dignity?! This is something I can solve with one punch!]

You put a wall in front of me! Are you afraid I can't beat them? Or are you afraid they'll hurt me?

The little vampire's voice floated out from the skill bar.

[Little Vampire: It's not that you weren't watching where you were going, it's my fault! Besides, I was just worried they might hurt my master. My master is a fragile necromancer; if a goblin hits him, it'll hurt.]

The blue light on the little zombie icon brightened even more.

[The little zombie roars: Just those few pieces of trash? Level 5 goblins? Are you questioning my strength?!]

[The little vampire whispers: You couldn't even blow through my wall, which means my wall is really powerful.]

"Enough! Can you all shut up? This is an exam, broadcast live throughout the city! Can't you give me some face?"

The little zombie and the little vampire both fell silent.

The five goblins weren't very bright and didn't understand why the human was standing there motionless.

"Gah gah!" The lead goblin raised its rusty iron club, let out a sharp howl, and charged towards Lu Zhixing.

Four goblins followed behind it.

Lu Zhixing's eyes turned cold.

A thought flashed through his mind. The two-meter-high wall of blood in front of him instantly merged into the ground, and the moment the blood wall disappeared, his vision suddenly cleared.

The lead goblin had already rushed to within three meters of Lu Zhixing.

[The little zombie sneered: Laugh? Just wait and see how you cry. Die!]

The little zombie threw a punch.

The speed was too fast for the naked eye to follow. With the first punch, the goblin's head exploded like a watermelon.

With the second punch, the second goblin's body was pierced through.

The third punch, the fourth punch, the fifth punch—Lu Zhixing didn't even see how the little zombie threw the last three punches. He only saw five dark green figures simultaneously suspended in mid-air.

Then, they exploded.

[Defeat 5 goblins, gain 100 points! Current floor: Floor 1, cleared!]

The announcement came on again: "First floor cleared! Time taken: six seconds. Teleporting to the second floor..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The professional examination monitoring and command center, VIP room.

On another screen, Su Youran's scene in the Trial Tower was being played in real time.

The teleportation circle lit up, and five goblins rushed out from it—

Wind blades flew out, simultaneously slicing towards the throats of the five goblins from different angles.

The speed and precision were impeccable; every wind blade struck the target with perfect accuracy, without the slightest deviation.

Five goblins fell to the ground at the same time.

Su Yangwei slapped his thigh and pointed at the screen: "Old Yu! Did you see that? My You Ran beat the game in five seconds! Five seconds!"

Five goblins, five wind blades, killed simultaneously! Such micro-management, such talent—"

"Old Yu, this is absolutely the best candidate we've seen this year in Dachang City!"

He anticipated Yu Xiaogang's praise. He expected Yu Xiaogang to nod in approval, to show an appreciative expression, and to say something like, "Truly worthy of being an S-class Nine Heavens Phoenix." However, the expected praise from Elder Xu did not materialize. A few seconds of silence filled the VIP room.

Su Yangwei turned his head and called out in confusion, "Old Yu?"

Yu Xiaogang didn't look at him.

His gaze was fixed on another screen, his brow slightly furrowed.

Then he suddenly spoke.

"Shut up."

The air in the VIP room seemed to freeze.

Su Yangwei's smile froze on his face, and his hand holding the teacup stopped in mid-air.

Lu Zaoxie glanced at Yu Xiaogang, then followed his gaze to the screen. Shen Jing put down her black tea.

All the staff in the VIP room stopped what they were doing.

Yu Xiaogang ignored everyone's gaze.

He stared at the screen, his voice a few decibels deeper than before.

"Rewind the footage of candidate Lu Zhixing for ten seconds. Slow it down tenfold."

The technician paused for a moment, then quickly did as instructed.

Fingers flew across the console, the main screen instantly switched, and time began to reverse.

Blood mist rose from the ground, gathering into the corpses of five goblins. The corpses flew up from the ground and pieced together.

The little zombie retreated from in front of them to the wall, then crashed into the suddenly vanished wall of blood, falling flat on its back.

The reverse playback is over.

The video begins to slow down.

Su Yangwei's mind raced at that moment.

He had been focusing all his attention on his daughter, Su Youran, and hadn't noticed what was happening with Lu Zhixing.

Seeing Yu Xiaogang's appearance at this moment, I keenly sensed that something was wrong.

Yu Xiaogang is the chief admissions officer of the Azure Dragon Class at Azure Dragon Academy. He has seen countless geniuses and experienced all kinds of situations.

What could make him suddenly yell "Shut up" and give such a serious order to the technicians was definitely not a trivial matter.

Could it be that Lu Zhixing's cheating was discovered?

Su Yangwei's lips curled up slightly.

That's great! Cheating in the exam room can result in anything from having your score canceled to being banned from taking the exam for three years.

If Lu Zhixing is found to have cheated, not only will he be finished, but Lu Zaoxie, the chief examiner, will also be implicated—the son cheats, and the father proctors the exam.

What kind of question is this? Su Yangwei leaned back on the sofa, a glint of expectation in his eyes.

The video begins to play in slow motion.

In slow motion, every detail is magnified, and every frame is so clear it's like it's been frozen in time.

The little zombie was launched from the ground and flew through the air in a precisely calculated arc, not a straight line.

The location, distance, and height of the three goblins were all accurately predicted by the little zombie's projectile trajectory and were eliminated in one fell swoop.

He punched through the first goblin's skull.

The moment it was pierced, the little zombie did not land. It used the recoil to accelerate, and its speed went from accelerating to accelerating again without any pause in between.

Before the second goblin could even turn its head, its fist had already landed on its skull.

The third, the fourth, the fifth—each movement was exactly the same, hitting the head with pinpoint accuracy.

They maneuvered and darted through the air without wasting a single second; their precision was simply off the charts.

Su Yangwei suddenly jumped up from the sofa.

He sprang up so fast that his knee hit the bottom of the coffee table, knocking over the teacups and spilling tea all over the table.

But his entire attention was on the screen, on that bluish-gray figure, on that incredible change of direction and ballistic correction in mid-air.

"This kind of micro-management... how is that even possible?!"

Yu Xiaogang remained silent.

He leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and looked away from the screen.

He waited all morning and finally got to see what he wanted to see.

Lu Zaoxie leaned back on the sofa, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

An eerie silence fell over the VIP room.

A brief silence fell over the VIP room.

Yu Xiaogang leaned back on the sofa, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the armrest, his gaze still fixed on the grayish-blue figure on the screen.

His mind was in turmoil.

As the admissions officer for the Azure Dragon Class at Azure Dragon Academy, what kind of geniuses hasn't he seen?

SSS-level elemental affinity? I've seen that. Innate dual-elemental affinity? I've seen that too.

Awakening means immediately gaining advanced skills? I've seen that before. I've even seen those monstrous beings who awaken with divine beasts.

He had seen more than one of those rare individuals who were born at the finish line of others.

However, for a necromancer who had only been a new class for three days and had no elemental affinity to be able to perform such precise micro-management—this had already touched upon his blind spots in knowledge.

What does it mean to have no elemental affinity?

This means that there is a thick wall between him and the elements; while others communicate face-to-face, he listens to sounds through the wall.

In this situation, his control over summoned creatures should be significantly reduced.

But the scene he just saw overturned all his understanding.

In-flight maneuvering, trajectory correction, force control, and angle calculation—every step was executed flawlessly, unlike that of a novice.

That kind of precision in micro-management cannot be explained by talent; it is muscle memory that can only be formed through countless hours of practice.

But Lu Zhixing had only been in the new job for three days. Even if he didn't eat, drink, or sleep, he wouldn't have enough time to hone his skills.

How did he do that?

Shen Jing nudged Lu Zaoxie's waist with her elbow without making a sound: "Old Lu, look at Su Yangwei's face, it's as green as a goblin."

Lu Zaoxie picked up his teacup, using the act of drinking tea to conceal the slight upturn of his lips.

"Honey, did you hear that? He was just bragging about how his daughter is the pinnacle of Dachang City. What is our son then? The atmosphere?"

Shen Jing glared at him reproachfully and gently pinched his thigh.

"Keep it down, don't laugh out loud."

Lu Zaoxie bared his teeth, forcing back his smile.

Su Yangwei came to his senses.

He suddenly turned to Lu Zaoxie, his voice so loud that the glass in the entire VIP room trembled slightly.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Cheating—this is definitely cheating!"

Su Yangwei pointed at Lu Zaoxie, his finger trembling slightly.

"Lu Zaoxie, have you no shame? You actually prepared skill scrolls for your son so he could get into the Azure Dragon Class?"

Was it a top-tier summoner remotely controlling the character? Or was a special scroll used?

Lu Zaoxie slowly put down his teacup and glanced at Su Yangwei.

"Su Yangwei, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. Do you have any evidence?"

Su Yangwei sneered: "Evidence? Hmph, you just wait."

He turned around and called out to the staff at the door.

"Go, bring me the staff member in charge of Lu Zhixing's entry security check. I want to interrogate him personally."

The staff member standing at the VIP room door trembled in fright and hurriedly replied, "Yes...yes! Commander Su!"

Yu Xiaogang snapped out of his daze and looked at Lu Zaoxie with deep eyes.

"Old Lu, it seems your kid is quite something..."

Yu Xiaogang's words were measured and neutral, neither affirming nor denying.

He also wanted to know whether Lu Zhixing was truly a genius or had cheated.

If it's true, then his trip to Dachang City was worthwhile.

If it's fake... then there's no loss, since he was tricked into coming here by Lu Zaoxie anyway.

Lu Zaoxie's lips curled up: "That's right. Lao Yu, I told you long ago, would I need to lie to you?"

Su Yangwei sneered from the side, arms crossed: "Hmph, keep pretending. Let's see how you handle this when the security personnel arrive."