43: The Sixth Academy and the Military Examination

Brother Chen, I think you should go to Sixth Academy.

Little Fan, what makes you say that?

When it came to information gathering, Lin Fan was quite authoritative.

He told Lin Chen all the information he knew about the Ten Supreme Academies, and Lin Chen naturally understood why he recommended Sixth Academy.

First Academy focuses on the council, mostly the descendants of council families. You wouldn't like that environment, the life of endless banquets and socializing isn't for us.

Second Academy focuses on civil governance and scientific research, and is the source of the Federation's technology.

Third Academy is a military academy; no need to say more, those who know, know.

Fourth Academy is a diplomatic academy, with many alien students and a slightly restless atmosphere.

Fifth Academy is the Destiny Academy, as the name suggests.

Sixth Academy is an all-rounder academy, proficient in everything, without a specific focus, emphasizing balance. The school atmosphere is good, suitable for lone wolves.

Seventh Academy is the Star Academy, focusing on the Way of Stars, mostly for Star-system inheritances.

Eighth Academy is the Ancient Capital Academy, the academy with the most old-fashioned people, advocating ancient paths. Descendants of ancient families love to enroll there, and intermarriage is prevalent.

Ninth Academy is the Bloodline Academy, as the name suggests.

Tenth Academy is the Talent and Profession Academy, as the name suggests, an academy where those with powerful talents and professions gather, mostly using talent and profession as their means, with martial arts as supplementary.

After listening to Lin Fan's introduction, Lin Chen understood the pros and cons of each academy.

For him, Sixth Academy was clearly the most suitable. Other academies, more or less, had specific focuses, which were not very suitable for him.

Lin Chen was also very clear about this information himself, it just wasn't as succinctly summarized as Lin Fan's.

It seems our team will have to disband after college. The Ten Supreme Academies are too far apart; each one guards a border.

Alas, separating is for a better reunion, Brother Chen, we two will still have to rely on you in the future.

You two have got it backward, I'll have to rely on you two more in the future.

The three of them engaged in a round of mutual flattery, leaving the surrounding classmates stunned, but they didn't spoil the atmosphere. Instead, they gathered around the three, not to curry favor, but to unite around them.

Classmate friendship is a very important bond.

In the future, when classmates from the class seek help from Lin Chen and his two friends, this classmate friendship will be the most important link, the bridge connecting them.

After the gathering, everyone went home.

Upon returning home, Lin Chen saw his grandparents, three uncles, and three aunts sitting in the living room, clearly indicating that something important had happened.

Chener, there's still over a month until the Wu exam. What are your plans? Have you decided on an academy?

Lin Yuan spoke first, asking Lin Chen for his thoughts on applying to an academy.

Grandpa, what do you recommend?

Lin Chen didn't answer, but asked a question back, wanting to hear his family's thoughts, as his family wouldn't harm him, and the advice given should be suitable for his situation.

Chener, we originate from the Suspended Mountain Lin Family. Ordinary family descendants naturally don't have the qualifications to consider the Ten Supreme Academies, but Chener, you are different.

If you are willing, you can apply to Eighth Academy. Eighth Academy recruits hundreds of Suspended Mountain Lin Family descendants from various places every year.

At that time, you can connect more with the main branch's prodigies. In the future, you will certainly go to Mount Xuankong ancestral land to take up a position. After graduation, who knows, you might even bring back a noble lady from an aristocratic family to be my granddaughter-in-law.

Lin Chen felt some resistance to these words.

Lin Yuan's thinking couldn't be said to be wrong; it was all path dependency, merely the experience of predecessors.

Grandpa, I have an academy in mind. After the Wu exam, I will apply to Sixth Academy.

Upon hearing Lin Chen's words, everyone understood that Lin Chen had his own ideas, so they didn't dwell on the topic and respected Lin Chen's decision.

The current Lin Chen was no longer the child who had lost his parents and had nothing.

Not to mention Lin Chen's background and potential, just his strength alone, a mid-sixth-tier cultivation, placed him fourth in the Feng City Lin Family. His true combat power was only slightly weaker than his grandfather, who was approaching the eighth-tier from the seventh-tier.

All of this proved that Lin Chen had the power to make his own decisions. His words held weight, and his ideas needed to be considered by others. They couldn't just ignore his thoughts because he was a junior.

Finally, it was a joyous family dinner, and no one mentioned Eighth Academy again.

While entering Eighth Academy was good for solidifying the connection between their small family and the larger family, with Lin Chen destined to become a powerful figure, the small family could also guide the development of the larger family.

Therefore, Lin Chen's wishes were the most important. No one would offend the future pillar of stability, nor would they put on airs as elders to lecture him.

Time flowed by unnoticed, and in a blink of an eye, it was the day of the Wu exam.

Lin Chen did not receive any special admission letters from the Ten Supreme Academies, nor did he receive any from other, lower-tier academies.

The Ten Supreme Academies rarely conducted special admissions. Candidates strong enough to get in didn't need special admission, while those not strong enough but still meeting admission criteria would receive special admission letters.

As for the lower-tier academies, after seeing Lin Chen's information, they determined that Lin Chen would not enter their academies, so they wouldn't bother sending out special admission letters.

If Lin Chen had signed their special admission letter, it would have been them misleading a talent.

The nationwide Wu exam certainly wouldn't be held in reality.

Every year at this time, the Virtual Divine Realm would be sealed off, and a vast space would be designated as the examination venue for Wu exam candidates.

This year, throughout the Federation, a total of 458 trillion candidates participated in the Wu exam, accounting for about 5% of the entire Federation's population. This is an enormous number.

For examination fairness, based on the cultivation of the enrolled candidates, separate examination venues were divided for tiers three to seven. Within these tier-specific venues, they were further divided into regional examination venues, with one million people per region.

All assignments were completely random; luck was also part of the assessment. Destiny truly existed and could be observed to a certain extent, so luck was also part of a candidate's strength.

The above was for the martial arts Wu exam. The liberal arts exam was located in another assessment space and did not interfere with each other.

Lin Chen was currently in the sixth-tier examination venue.

The entire sixth-tier examination venue didn't have many people, only 850,000, so only one regional examination venue was divided.

Third-tier candidates were the most numerous, with a staggering 300 trillion. Fourth-tier candidates were also not far behind, with a total of 83 trillion. The number of fifth-tier candidates sharply decreased, but still totaled 3 trillion.

However, the number of sixth and seventh-tier candidates sharply decreased, changing from units of trillions to units of tens of thousands.

It's normal to achieve fourth or fifth-tier martial artist status after six years of cultivation, but achieving sixth-tier martial artist status is very difficult. Aptitude is sometimes an insurmountable chasm.

Most people have resources but lack aptitude. As long as aptitude is not an issue and resources are sufficiently supplied, achieving top cultivation is very simple.

Before the Wu exam began, martial arts students also needed to take a cultural class exam. The score for this subject accounted for 20% of the total score, totaling 1000 points.

Inside Lin Chen's individual assessment room, he wrote furiously. The cultural exam for martial arts students was not difficult.

As long as one studied diligently, they could get at least 950 points out of 1000. The last 50 points were for critical thinking, testing scientific research comprehension, which not everyone possessed.

However, this was not difficult for Lin Chen; he easily secured all 1000 points.

This year's Wu exam questions had not yet been announced. For the 4000-point Wu exam, Lin Chen needed to score at least 3500 points to stand out among the crowd.

Waiting was the longest part.

While waiting, Lin Chen didn't feel restless; instead, he quietly cultivated, maintaining his optimal state, ready to face the Wu exam at any time.

Suddenly, the environment around Lin Chen changed.

He entered a spacecraft landing pod, and a corner of this landing pod had been shattered. Violent air currents surged into the cabin through the hole, and the landing pod was still descending rapidly towards the ground.

Private Lin Chen, please land safely on Mechanical Star, rendezvous with your teammates under the siege of countless Mechanical Clan, establish a human stronghold, and destroy Mechanical Star's core.

Inside the cabin, a crackling sound echoed.

Lin Chen immediately understood that the Wu exam had begun. This time, it was still a war-themed scenario, specifically a planetary landing battle.

The damaged landing pod was blown up by a laser blast. Before the landing pod exploded, Lin Chen enveloped himself in qi and used his flying dagger to rapidly descend towards the steel-colored surface of Mechanical Star.

Sixth-tier martial artists generally possess a certain degree of flight capability. Although not like seventh-tier martial artists who naturally break free from planetary gravity to achieve instinctive flight, in this situation, being able to fly is the best option.

At this moment, Lin Chen was still ten kilometers from the ground.

The gravity of this Mechanical Star was enormous, reaching 32 times normal gravity. Lin Chen was pulled by gravity, turning into a meteor smashing towards the surface of Mechanical Star.

However, such gravity could not harm Lin Chen. He usually cultivated under a hundred times gravity, so the 32 times gravity pulling him simply caused him to descend to the surface at a faster rate.

The Mechanical Clan on Mechanical Star were not pushovers. The planetary defense system continuously released laser attacks, destroying one landing pod after another and sniping candidates exposed in the sky.

Staying in the sky was a live target, and landing on the ground was an even bigger live target.

Due to gravity, many physical attacks could not fly into the sky, and even if they could, their effectiveness was poor. However, once candidates landed on the ground, many physical attacks could be used, and their strike effectiveness was even better.

This was war, a life-and-death war.

To eliminate the enemy, no means were too extreme.