Fang Ruoxi glanced at Xu Miantu before ignoring him. She continued looking at Zhou Wen and said, "Zhou Wen, what school do you plan on attending?"
"I haven't thought about it yet," Zhou Wen said.
Fang Ruoxi nodded and said, "That's right. With how capable you are, you can attend any school you wish. There's no rush. That's good too. I'll try my best to complete this test. I hope my results aren't too far from yours."
With that said, Fang Ruoxi waved her hand at Zhou Wen, turned around and left. From beginning to end, she had ignored Xu Miantu.
Xu Miantu was displeased with this treatment, but it wasn't the right place to flare up. All he did was shoot a glance at Zhou Wen and said to Jiang Hao and Li Xuan, "People from small cities really have limited horizons. What a waste of her good looks, too bad she lacks brains and eyes."
Jiang Hao didn't say a word, but Li Xuan's interest in Zhou Wen was slightly piqued. He asked Zhou Wen, "I heard that you were once Guide High School's number one genius. From the looks of it, that's true. That chick seems to hold you in high regard."
"It's just encouragement between fellow students. She's excellent herself and no way weaker than me. Placed anywhere, she will be one of a handful of cultivation geniuses," Zhou Wen said.
Xu Miantu could naturally tell that Zhou Wen was rebutting him. He said in disdain, "If you were really excellent, why would you need us to carry you?"
Li Xuan hadn't informed Xu Miantu and company about Zhou Wen. All he had said was that he was helping a friend to take a student along with them for the participation of the combat test.
Zhou Wen didn't defend himself, finding an argument with Xu Miantu beneath him.
Li Xuan cut off Xu Miantu who still hadn't said his piece. "Enough, cut it out. It's about time we enter. All of you are to focus."
With Li Xuan saying so, all Xu Miantu could do was swallow the words he was about to say. He gave Zhou Wen a pissed look.
The examiners were already verifying the students' candidacies. With four people a team, they each brought their candidature passes to a verification machine. They gathered their fingerprints, scanned their passes, and checked the items on them. Only when they were confirmed to be the candidate in question and that they hadn't brought any item that aided in cheating, were they allowed entry into the ancient city.
Most of the students weren't nervous. Instead, it was the family who came with them who were almost fainting while standing beyond the warning line. They watched helplessly as the students entered the ancient city, some almost having a cardiac arrest.
Zhou Wen and his team lined up to go through the inspection, passing through a secured passage, before arriving in front of the ancient city.
The gates to the ancient city had already opened, but everything inside seemed to be a blurry mist. There was no way to discern the interior.
Guarding the ancient city's gates, the soldiers who were armed to the teeth urged, "Stop looking and enter quickly. There are plenty of people lining up behind you."
Zhou Wen followed Li Xuan and company to walk towards the ancient city's gates. With the trio walking into the ancient city, he followed closely behind them. However, when they passed through the gates, he realized he couldn't see them.
He hurriedly walked through the blurry gates and felt a strange giddiness overwhelm him as he got goosebumps all over him.
But with just one step, the scene before Zhou Wen's eyes opened up. The mist inside the ancient city was gone. He could clearly see the stone-paved streets and ancient buildings with blue tiles and red walls lining the streets. Li Xuan and the other two were right in front, just a few steps away from him.
Those scientists have theorized that the dimensional zones are equivalent to another spatial dimension. It does seem to make sense from the looks of it.
After most students had entered, they curiously sized up the ancient city just like Zhou Wen.
Although they had watched some of the footage inside Guide Ancient City from the school's video material, to truly step in here gave them a different feeling. The antiquity and feeling that seemed to span the entire gamut of human experiences were things that video footage couldn't capture.
The examiner gathered the batch of candidates and mentioned a few key things to take note of. When that was done, the combat test officially began.
All the students who participated in the test rushed for the ancient city's streets and alleys, hoping to kill the most number of Skeleton Soldiers to obtain a better result.
Of course, there were people who had the hope that a few dimensional crystals would drop during the test. That would make things even better.
The Earth Federation had made it clear that any dimensional crystals that dropped during the combat test were the property of the students themselves.
However, the examiner had also made it clear that the student was to be responsible for whatever happened during the test.
According to the Federation's laws, after reaching the age of sixteen, one could freely choose to take the combat test. The responsibility was theirs to undertake. Even if death was to occur, the Federation wouldn't provide a single cent of compensation.
Compared to the other subjects in the college entrance exams, only a few hundred students from the city actually participated in the combat test. Inside the transformed ancient city, they appeared inconspicuous.
Zhou Wen and Li Xuan headed deep into the ancient city. In the beginning, there were plenty of students, so the Skeleton Soldiers that appeared weren't enough for them to kill. Li Xuan and company didn't intend to snatch the mobs with the other students, so they circled around the battlefields and ventured deep into the ancient city.
Xu Miantu and Jiang Hao took point and every Skeleton Soldier they encountered was taken down with one strike. Mobs of Skeleton Soldiers were nothing worth mentioning due to the huge disparity in strength.
Amidst the skeleton of the Skeleton Soldiers, there was a bone the size of a rice grain. Each Skeleton Soldier only had one of those, and one's score in the combat test was determined by the number of bones that had been gathered.
However, the number of bones could only determine a team's ranking. The ranking within the team was determined by the number of dimensional crystals.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the direction the quartet was heading in happened to be the one Zhou Wen had attempted while in-game. As they stormed their way through the ancient city, all the scenery was identical to the one in-game.
It wasn't only the ancient buildings in the ancient city. Even the number of Skeleton Soldiers that appeared was identical to the game.
Does this mean that we will be meeting that fellow on the skeleton horse? However, Zhou Wen quickly had another idea. That area had exceeded the confines of the test, so it was unlikely Li Xuan and company would risk entering.
But things exceeded his expectations. Xu Miantu and company stormed their way through without stopping when they reached the boundary of the test. They went straight out of the test's boundaries.
"Li Xuan, we have already left the test boundaries. Should we be heading back?" Zhou Wen said to Li Xuan.
Before Li Xuan said a word, Xu Miantu said in contempt, "The area of the test is so tiny. The number of Skeleton Soldiers is extremely limited. Even if we could get all of them, how many can we get? If you're afraid, just wait here until we return. There's no need for you to follow us in."
Li Xuan also said with a smile. "Don't worry. We have the complete information of Guide Ancient City. All we will encounter for the next ten to fifteen kilometers are Skeleton Soldiers. There won't be any Legendary stage dimensional creatures appearing. The test's area is rather conservative because they do not wish for students to get into accidents. Just as Miantu said, with that small number of Skeleton Soldiers in the test area, it's not enough for us to get a high score. It's almost necessary that we continue forward."