2: High-level military civilization

Students were not allowed to use the Martial Arts Room on weekends without permission.

However, an exception was made for today's martial arts assessment. Chen Du successfully opened the tightly locked metallic door using his smart wristband.

The interior covered approximately a thousand square meters and was equipped with various testing instruments.

These instruments could quantify your various metrics such as strength, Speed, and explosive power.

At that moment, there were already five people inside, who seemed to have arrived not long ago.

Two of them were already suited up in protective gear, ready for practical combat, while the other three were testing their data on different machines.

This was a High Martial Civilization where technology and physical bodies continuously evolved.

Relying solely on physical strength was insufficient for survival in this era; technology was indispensable.

The martial arts assessment would not begin until 1 PM. As one of the top grinders in his class, Chen Du naturally wouldn't waste a single second.

He walked straight over and quietly began his basic training.

Unconsciously, two hours passed, and the time reached twelve o'clock.

At Little Bear's call, Chen Du ended his training and squeezed a packet of qi and blood milk into his mouth.

qi and blood milk contained a small amount of qi and blood. Besides satiating hunger, it also provided substantial nutrition.

Two packets of qi and blood milk per day was Chen Du's allocation.

Don't be fooled by the small packet; this stuff wasn't cheap. One packet cost 100 yuan, requiring a monthly expenditure of 6,000 yuan.

The combined monthly income of Chen Du's parents was thirteen thousand yuan. After deducting the 6,000 yuan for qi and blood milk, only 7,000 yuan remained each month.

The family also had a younger brother in his third year of junior high, plus a monthly mortgage of 3,000 yuan. There were almost no savings.

Fortunately, both brothers were determined and had been admitted to key high schools and junior high schools respectively.

"Hehehe!"

A laugh brimming with chuunibyou energy suddenly came from above.

A brawny man, nearly two meters tall, with two strikingly prominent blue eyes on his face,

well-developed pectoral muscles straining against his tank top, and a full beard, now stood ramrod straight in front of Chen Du.

Chen Du, sitting on the ground resting, didn't even look up: "How did the cultural subjects exam go? Tuo Lei."

Tuo Lei was Chen Du's classmate. "Hehehe" was his catchphrase, claiming it was the standard laugh of the strongest.

Due to his ancestors being from the Chou Country, his eyes were blue.

However, that was nationality classification from the old era. Now, everyone belonged to the people of Blue Star.

Tuo Lei scratched the back of his head and sighed:

"Ah, don't mention it. Just thinking about it is unlucky."

"This mock exam followed the National Higher Education Entrance Examination rules. My cultural score was 380, which converts to 114."

High schools would conduct class divisions in the second semester of the first year, separating into Martial Arts Classes and Liberal Arts Classes.

Martial Arts Class students could apply to any university, while Liberal Arts Class students could only apply to cultural universities.

Regardless of the choice, both cultural exams and martial arts assessments were required. Both sides had a total score of 750 points, differing only in the weight of the scores.

For Martial Arts examinees, the martial arts assessment score accounted for 70%, and the cultural exam score for 30%. For Liberal Arts examinees, it was the opposite.

Chen Du nodded: "Mine isn't high either, just 30 points more than yours."

"410? That's pretty good, almost top ten in our class."

Tuo Lei said nonchalantly, then thought of something and laughed, "Chen Du, you've regressed!"

"I remember your cultural score last semester was 430, exactly tenth place."

Chen Du looked at Tuo Lei quietly, smiling slightly, an aura of pretentiousness overflowing.

Tuo Lei quickly realized something and exclaimed in surprise:

"Wait... you don't mean you got 30 points more than me *after* conversion, do you? 144?"

"Correct." Chen Du raised an eyebrow, giving Tuo Lei a look of despair.

"Holy dam! Then you must have scored 480, a whole 100 points higher than me!"

Tuo Lei showed a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

"Although you've been climbing up the ranks since the first year of high school, this improvement is too big."

"You bastard, you must be grinding practice questions at home every day! You need to think about the score weights for both sides!"

For Martial Arts Class students, cultural scores were mostly fixed by the third year.

Improving by 50 points was an extremely exaggerated feat.

Most of their time was spent on training, leaving much less time for studying.

That's precisely why Tuo Lei suspected Chen Du was grinding practice questions at home every day.

A score of 480 was indeed considered high within the Martial Arts Class.

But it would be at the bottom in the Liberal Arts Class, so Chen Du didn't think he was particularly impressive.

Especially in the subjects of Advanced Mathematics and Spatial Physics.

It truly fit the saying: A person pushed to desperation can do anything, except math!

Many problems within those subjects, even after reading the explanations, he didn't understand, losing many points. He only scored 480 by pure rote memorization.

Afterwards, the two chatted intermittently while recovering their stamina.

At 12:40, the two got up and went to another Martial Arts Room.

Liangcheng No. 1 High School had two Martial Arts Rooms in total.

One was where Chen Du and the others had just trained, called the Large Martial Arts Room. The other was the Martial Arts Room dedicated specifically for martial arts assessments.

Its area was only half that of the Large Martial Arts Room, but the instruments and equipment were more precise and advanced.

Except for martial arts assessments, it was only allowed for teacher use, also called the Small Martial Arts Room.

Students could only use the Large Martial Arts Room for training, so when talking about it, everyone would subconsciously omit the prefix.

...

At that moment, hundreds of students had gathered in front of the Small Martial Arts Room, neatly lined up according to their class numbers.

At exactly 1 PM, the doors of the Small Martial Arts Room slid apart, and a bald man wearing loose black martial arts attire walked out.

The bald man swept his gaze lightly, his eagle-sharp eyes making many students' hairs stand on end.

Ling Yun.

Most of the students present knew this man, and Chen Du was no exception.

This person was the homeroom teacher of the third year, Class 1, and also the chief examiner for this afternoon's martial arts assessment.

As the martial arts teacher for the Hongzhi Class of the key high school, Ling Yun's teaching level and personal strength were quite impressive.

Besides being a teacher, Ling Yun was also a member of the 'Martial Artist Alliance - City Defense Force'.

To enter the Martial Artist Alliance - City Defense Force, a minimum of Level 15 Life Strength was required.

"Do you know why the Hongzhi Class is admitting another student this time?"

Ling Yun's opening line, devoid of any preamble, made many students tense up.

The crowd was also surprised upon hearing this.

Right! The Hongzhi Class had always only accepted 30 students. Why the sudden expansion this time?

They didn't know the reason. The school had notified them a week ago that the Hongzhi Class would admit one more person, hence today's exam.

"Xia Yang from the Hongzhi Class is dead, killed by the Hunter Civilization."

Seeing no one answer, Ling Yun said with a heavy expression.

Xia Yang!

People might not have all seen him, but in every year's ranking, this name was almost consistently in the top ten.

He was a handsome guy with blond hair, promising for the Eight Famous Schools.

And such an elite student had died so quietly?

Killed by the Hunter Civilization!

Modern society no longer had the concept of countries from the old era; it was now called civilizations.

The Hunter Civilization originated from Venus. Unlike humans' flesh and blood bodies, they were a type of rock lifeform.

Their physical pain sensitivity was only one-tenth of humans', and they excelled at lurking and ambushing.

High Martial Civilization was what humans called themselves, and also what other Alien Civilizations called humans.

"Although I haven't taught you, I still want to say a few words as someone who's been through it."

Ling Yun suddenly raised his volume at this point.

"Martial Artist! It's a high-risk, high-reward profession!"

"The average mortality rate for each Martial Artist is around 30%, the highest among all professions!"

"This is also why Martial Arts students can apply to any university."

"You still have the chance to give up until the last month when filling out your preferred schools!"

"But similarly, our High Martial Civilization also needs Martial Artists!"

He paused, "I'm a very rational person. I won't pour cold water on you, nor will I deliberately flatter you."

"If you're not cut out for this, I suggest you choose a Liberal Arts school when filling out your preferred schools in the last month!"

"Don't throw your life away just to show off. Surviving and reproducing is also a contribution!"

Ling Yun said earnestly.

Chen Du agreed with most of what Ling Yun said.

But he didn't believe that not pursuing the Martial Artist profession meant safety.

They say Martial Artists have a high mortality rate, but are non-Martial Artists truly safe?

This Xia Yang was a lesson from the past!

The war between civilizations had been ongoing for hundreds of years. There was no such thing as absolute safety.

Just within the Seventh Ecological Circle, over a hundred cities had fallen, with casualties exceeding a hundred million.

Chen Du was a relatively pessimistic person; he often thought ahead and prepared for the worst.

If such disasters occurred in Liang City, who could protect him and his family?

Plus, his younger brother would enter high school next year, so necessary expenses would naturally be unavoidable.

After Chen Du entered university, he couldn't become a Martial Artist immediately and would also need certain expenditures.

His parents simply didn't have the ability to support two children simultaneously.

Therefore, no matter what, he had to become a Martial Artist. Only a Martial Artist could both earn money and protect his family.

This was also the core motivation behind his relentless grinding.

"Alright, I won't say more. I believe you will make a correct judgment about yourselves."

"Now, proceed with the martial arts assessment!"

"Starting from Class 2, groups of ten. First, the strength test. Those whose names are called, come in."

"Chen Bo, Zhao Xie, Yang Wei..."

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