Sterl waded through the crowd and approached the hall's front desk, where he used a self-service machine to sign up for the pioneer player assessment.
Then, the machine spat out a slip of paper.
"Testing room, third room, number one hundred and ten."
Sterl pocketed the slip and, following the hall's signs, made his way to room three.
Along the way, he overheard quite a few players discussing among themselves.
"William, how many times have you taken the assessment?"
"Must be the fourth time, I guess. The previous pioneering missions were just outrageous, fighting bosses, delving into dungeons—who would dare to take those on?"
"Same here. After passing the basic test last time, I didn't dare to accept the mission."
"We live the good life here at the base. Whether or not we become pioneer players doesn't really matter. Why risk so much for it?"
"I don't know why, but the pioneering missions issued by the bases are getting harder and harder. Only the greenhorns coming here for the first time would dare to take them."
"Right, that guy over there seems pretty confident. Do you think he'll take on the pioneering mission this time?"
…
Sterl, maintaining a calm demeanor, continued through the hall, somewhat surprised to find that people were talking about him.
The confident newcomer the veteran players were talking about was indeed Sterl.
However, he didn't care about their discussions.
Sterl felt a slight unease, knowing from the information he had gathered at the base that the death rate for the pioneer player assessment was incredibly high.
The pass rate for players was about 5% to 6%, but the death rate was a staggering 40% to 50%.
Yet, according to what these veteran players were saying, after every basic test, if the pioneering mission was too difficult, the veterans would immediately give up, leaving only the rookies who were taking the assessment for the first time to accept the missions.
In such cases, a 40% death rate seemed low, considering that the surviving 60% included those veterans who had given up.
The survival rate for the true newcomers... was probably far below sixty percent.
The difficulty of the pioneering missions was much higher than Sterl had initially imagined.
With these thoughts quickly running through his mind, he soon arrived at testing room three.
About a hundred players were quietly waiting there.
In front of them was a piece of high-tech equipment developed by the human forces of Earth: the Virtual Imaging Device.
[Virtual Imaging Device]+
[Effect: Can create beings of level 20 or below, including normal and elite units.]
"This can evolve?" Sterl raised an eyebrow.
However, he naturally wouldn't waste his evolution points on such a public good. He simply took a seat quietly in the waiting stands of the examination room.
Soon, it seemed to be the turn of a player holding a number one sign. The room echoed with the beautiful female voice Sterl had heard before: "The assessment officially begins. Basic test objective, defeat a level 10 elite: Genetically Modified Werewolf."
Instantly, a pale blue light cascaded down, slowly coalescing into a figure with white fur, blood-red eyes, and terrifyingly ferocious fangs—a werewolf howling at the sky:
"Aoooooo!!"
Even from a distance, Sterl could still sense the beast's stench, seeing the bloodstains and rotting flesh between its teeth, incredibly realistic.
Meanwhile, the advancing player was dumbfounded: "Wait, why is the basic test using an elite monster this time? Isn't it usually just normal ones?"
However, the sweet and tranquil voice over the PA system responded:
"Dear tester, greetings."
"The difficulty of the basic test for the pioneer player assessment is directly related to the difficulty of the upcoming pioneering mission."
"The purpose of this basic test is to minimize casualties in the subsequent pioneering tasks."
Following this announcement, the expressions of many players who were prepared to take the assessment changed, and both new and veteran players seemed to reconsider their participation.
While the new players tended to be more reckless, they were also aware of the high dangers associated with pioneering tasks. According to the hint from the testing room's voice, this time's pioneering task would be even more terrifying... Who would dare to take part?
However, people didn't immediately decide to quit the test, as they were unsure how much stronger this elite monster was compared to the normal monsters usually featured in the basic tests. They opted to wait and see.
But soon, the players' reluctance to continue solidified.
The werewolf, covered in white fur, let out a howl and suddenly pounced forward!
It moved so fast that the player facing it couldn't react in time!!
Slash!
In a swing of its claws, the unfortunate tester was gashed open across the chest and abdomen, then slapped against the wall by the werewolf, collapsing onto the ground like a lump of mud, a sight too gruesome to behold.
A single encounter resulted in severe injury!
Seeing this, the players present lost all hope of luck. The elite monster was not just a little stronger than the normal monsters, but significantly so. Did the difficulty of this pioneering task even need to be mentioned?
Participating was akin to courting death!
"I'm out!"
"I apply to give up this basic test."
"Let's go, we'll come back next time."
"Why is the difficulty of the pioneer player assessment increasing each time?"
Suddenly, room three was abuzz with discussions and noise, a scene that was almost simultaneously replicated in the other testing rooms.
Sterl was dumbfounded to discover that, originally ranked over a hundred, the number of players who had quit in just a few minutes was nearly a hundred!
Before Sterl, there were a few stubborn players who didn't believe in the impossible and attempted to face the elite werewolf, all of them met with a terrible defeat!
Among them, according to the discussions among the surrounding players, the strongest player seemed to have reached level 18 but only managed to struggle against the elite monster for a while before being bitten in the major artery by the werewolf, nearly dying on the spot.
Now, even more players decided to flee.
Thus, Sterl had to wait less than 10 minutes before it was his turn to take the test.
"Tester number 110, please come to the stage to take the test."
"Please..."
The room's announcement echoed.
Sterl, with a composed expression, stepped forward to face the elite werewolf.
The attributes of the monster appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Genetically Modified Werewolf]
[Category: Elite Monster]
[Level: 10]
[Physique: 20]
[Strength: 25]
[Agility: 25]
[Spirit: 15]
[Bloodlust: Automatically collects blood when attacking an opponent, healing its own wounds.]
[Frenzy: Increases attack speed by 100%, and each attack randomly increases the attack speed by an additional 50% to 200%.]
"Truly an elite."
Sterl was facing this kind of enemy for the first time. Although it was only level 10, its attributes suggested that only players close to level 20 could match it.
Moreover, it had a healing skill along with a passive ability that significantly boosted its attack speed. The defeat of the level 18 player earlier wasn't unjust; it seemed that only those professionals who had undergone job advancement could reliably take down this werewolf.
By the time Sterl took to the stage, some of the stubborn players still willing to take the test, as well as some who had declared their intention to quit but remained to watch, brightened up at the sight of him.
This player was clearly a greenhorn!
On one hand, Sterl had a youthful appearance, looking much like those who had just turned 18, undergoing talent awakening and skill testing to qualify as a player.
On the other hand, Sterl's every move did not resemble someone who had survived in the wild for long. It was more akin to a post-war PTSD state, always slightly tense, which also suggested that Sterl had only recently become a player, likely within this or last year's batch.
For such a player to participate in the pioneer player assessment, facing a genetically modified werewolf that had already displayed terrifying combat power, and still daring to step forward, there were two possibilities—
One was sheer foolishness, the naivety of a newborn calf not fearing a tiger, but this seemed unlikely because getting severely injured in the test would cost money to heal.
The second possibility was that this newcomer had some fortuitous encounters and exceptional talent, confident enough to step forward! That would make him a genius in the base!
The upcoming battle promised to be interesting!
Sterl, with a calm demeanor, felt that killing this level 10 elite werewolf wouldn't be difficult. However, he didn't plan to use Flamestorm but intended to activate Divine Descent, holding back a bit and relying on his physical strength to complete this test.
He wanted to keep his trump card hidden, but constantly hiding it would only slow down his development. Participating in this pioneer player assessment, it was better to show a bit of his edge, letting others see his potential!