Time flew by, and the next three months passed quietly amidst fulfilling and regular Cultivation and learning.
Furina's Soul Power successfully achieved a Breakthrough to Rank 52, and she obtained her fifth spirit ring—a black spirit ring with an age as high as 50,000 years.
The resulting fifth Spirit Ability is named Nut Cake, and its effect is quite impressive: the consumer gains a sturdy shield capable of absorbing damage, with the shield's absorption limit being positively correlated with the consumer's own Soul Power Rank; at the same time, this Spirit Ability can grant the consumer a 100% increase in defense.
The shield effect lasts for three minutes, while the defense increase can be maintained for a full hour.
Similar to the golden doughnut vanilla cake, there is also a daily limit on the number of Nut Cake that can be produced, which is only fifteen, and the consumption of Soul Power is immense, making it no easier to produce than the former.
Wang Dong's Soul Power steadily increased to Rank 28, Xiao Xiao reached Rank 29, and Huo Yuhao's progress was the most significant, with his Soul Power having climbed to Rank 34.
On this day, the atmosphere inside the Class One classroom was a bit more solemn and expectant than usual.
Zhou Yi stood on the podium, her gaze sweeping over the students below who had shed much of their youthful immaturity and gained a bit more composure, and she said loudly: "From the start of school until now, three months have passed. You are about to welcome your first formal assessment at Shrek Academy. Only by passing this assessment can you become true first-year students and rightfully become members of Shrek Academy."
She paused, then continued: "Barring any accidents, as long as you pass the assessment, at least until you graduate from the first year, you can all continue to stay here and Cultivate in peace. The assessment will officially begin tomorrow; today, I will first explain the key points and rules of the assessment to you in detail."
"After the New Student Assessment, the academy will conduct 'individualized instruction' based on your performance and characteristics. Future Cultivation directions..."
Zhou Yi stopped here, suddenly pausing, a trace of unnaturalness flashing across her face, before she waved her hand, "...Oh, regarding this, it seems you have already submitted your self-plans before? Last time when student Furina temporarily hosted the class... then there is no need to repeat it; at that time, I will summarize and conclude based on the assessment results and your actual situations."
She quickly brought the topic back on track: "Now, let's focus on the specific regulations of the New Student Assessment. This assessment will be conducted in the form of team battles. Considering your cooperation abilities at this age, the team size is set at three people per team; this is the standard configuration that can better reflect coordination abilities at present. Regarding team composition, it is required that each team can have at most one attack system Spirit Master, while the professional configuration of the other two team members is relatively free."
"The principle for grouping is to first consider students in the same dormitory forming teams naturally. The remaining students who failed to form teams on their own will have their placement decided by drawing lots. Later, I will give you a relatively reasonable preliminary grouping suggestion."
"The New Student Assessment will be conducted uniformly across the entire grade. In recent years, the scale of the academy has expanded, and the number of new students is not small. The teams participating in this assessment are expected to be close to three hundred. But in the end, only the teams ranked in the top one hundred and fifty can stay, with an elimination rate of about half. The ranking is based on the points you obtain in the round-robin tournament."
"The matches will use a lottery system to determine opponents. Each team must conduct at least ten battles. Finally, the overall ranking will be based on the points from winning matches. The teams ranked in the top sixty-four in points will enter the knockout stage. The top four in the knockout stage will receive rewards issued by the academy, and the rewards for the champion team will be particularly precious."
Subsequently, Zhou Yi began to announce the groupings.
A thin and small student named Song Qinghan was directly assigned by her to the development direction of the Soul Tool Department, and the other party also readily accepted it, obviously having planned for this long ago.
Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao were logically assigned to the same group.
However, Furina's position was somewhat special.
Originally, Zhou Yi had considered inserting Furina into Huo Yuhao's group, but replacing anyone seemed unreasonable and would break the existing tacit understanding.
In the end, it was Furina who privately discussed with Zhou Yi and took the initiative to propose forming a team by herself.
The reason was very sufficient: although she was a support system Spirit Master, she possessed a powerful Second Martial Soul, as well as various weapon methods outside of spirit tools.
Although the New Student Assessment explicitly prohibits the use of spirit tools, it does not stipulate that other non-spirit tool weapons cannot be used.
Moreover, her current Soul Power has reached Rank 52, far exceeding other new students; even as a support system, such a huge Rank difference is enough to form a crushing advantage.
If she were to form a team with others, it would almost certainly be a situation of "carrying two" or even "carrying to victory," severely damaging the balance of the assessment.
Furina herself did not have much obsession with the competition itself.
In her view, if she were to use the Divine Artifact radiance of the flowing still water or summon the three members of the Salon Solitaire, the battle would likely end quickly.
Even back when her Soul Power was lower and she had not yet obtained a spirit ring, she could display considerable combat power, and it is even more so now.
After Zhou Yi finished announcing the groupings, she looked at the students below with varied expressions and finally added: "Although I know it is a bit difficult to ask all teams to advance, I still hope that all groups in our class can successfully pass the assessment and advance in full."
"After all, in the past three months, thanks to the extra guidance from a certain attentive student and your own efforts, what you have learned and exercised is perhaps more solid and comprehensive than students in other classes, and you have also mastered some special techniques. If you still lose under these circumstances, then it is not just my face that will be lost."
Except for Furina, who still maintained her iconic indifferent smile, the other students answered loudly in almost unison: "Yes!"
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/DaoistRoeoNQ
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"