Cultivation Online

"Hey, analyst, is the second test harder or easier than usual?" one of the participants asked at the end.

The analyst, who had been anxiously biting his nails, stopped to respond, "Harder. Much harder. Just like the first test, this is the first time it’s this difficult! Just what in heaven’s name is happening today?!"

"Maybe they decided to modify the difficulty, so this will be the new norm."

"That’s outrageous! It was already hard enough to pass the exam! There’s no reason to make it even harder!"

"Actually, I think I know why this exam is harder than usual..." someone suddenly said before turning to look at a certain individual among the participants.

The others followed his gaze to a handsome man with silky black hair tied neatly into a single ponytail.

"Who is that?" one of them asked in a puzzled voice.

"T-That’s Corporal Yuan, the Cleaning Maniac!"

"Cleaning Maniac? What kind of nickname is that? And why would they make the exam harder just because of him?"

"He’s called the Cleaning Maniac because he’s famous for willingly joining others’ cleanup missions ever since he joined the military, even insisting on doing all of the cleaning alone."

"That’s impressive in its own right, but that still doesn’t explain—"

"Let me finish!" The soldier who was explaining interrupted before continuing, "Not only was he handpicked by General Mei, he even broke all of the records during his recruitment! They’re calling him the upcoming Ironman who could rival the Ironwoman!"

Yuan raised an eyebrow as the soldier recounted his background to everyone while staring at him as though he were some rare treasure on display in a museum.

"I appreciate the introduction, but there’s no reason to increase the difficulty of the exam solely because of my presence. If anything, they should be lowering it, as I had only learned Void Control a few days ago."

"The hell? Why are you here if you’ve only learned Void Control a few days ago? Most of us here have trained for over a decade!"

"I guess most of you here have also broken records during your recruitment, huh?" Yuan responded in a sarcastic tone, which immediately ticked off the soldier.

However, the soldier realized he had nothing to argue against Yuan’s words, so he quickly fell silent, his face still slightly flushed.

A moment later, Yuan said, "I don’t know why they decided to increase the difficulty of this exam, but it has nothing to do with me."

"..."

Despite his words, Yuan couldn’t help but wonder whether General Gu had arranged it as another attempt to make things difficult for him.

After more than fifty soldiers had attempted and failed the exam, someone finally advanced to the final test, where the precision of their Void Control would be assessed.

On the participant’s testing ground, two red circles materialized a mile apart, each barely large enough to fit a pair of feet.

"For the final test, you must use Void Control to teleport between the two circles one hundred consecutive times, with no more than a quarter of a second between each teleport. To pass, you must achieve an accuracy rate of at least ninety percent."

Although the test appeared easy at first glance, the participant was already exhausted from constantly using Void Control throughout the previous two tests. That fatigue greatly diminished both their precision and consistency, making the final test far more difficult than it seemed.

"N-Ninty percent?! That’s the requirement for the Purple Zone!" The analyst cried out loud in disbelief. "It’s always been eighty percent for Red Zones!"

"It’s doomed. Nobody will pass this month’s exam."

"We might as well just leave now..." someone muttered out loud. "We can always retake the test at a later date, anyway."

And surprisingly, a few soldiers actually took that advice and left, quitting the test without even attempting it.

The examiners did not stop these soldiers, merely shaking their heads in disappointment.

As for the officers in the private spectator’s room, they couldn’t care less about the other soldiers, as they were solely there to watch Yuan. Moreover, they knew that this month’s exam was cranked up to an unprecedented degree.

"Should we really let them continue the exam at this level of difficulty? To be honest, it seems excessive," one of the officers voiced their concern.

Mei Feng calmly responded, "As long as this doesn’t become the new standard, let it continue. It’s good to shake things up once in a while. This experience may even benefit them."

Some time later, the participant who reached the final test received his result.

<Accuracy: 80.13%>

"..."

The soldier fell to his knees in shock. Had the examiners not raised the passing threshold to ninety percent, he would have barely passed the exam.

"Failed. Please exit the testing grounds."

As if to rub salt into the wound, the examiner coldly announced his failure.

Unwilling to accept the result, the soldier turned toward the examiners and shouted angrily, "Why the hell did you suddenly raise the passing score to ninety percent when it has always been eighty percent?! And without any sort of announcement, either! This is unacceptable!"

As though they had anticipated such backlash, the examiners calmly replied, "The world is evolving, so we soldiers must evolve alongside it."

"What kind of explanation is that?! That’s complete nonsense!"

Sure enough, such an excuse was pure bullshit. However, the examiners refused to elaborate.

"Please leave the testing grounds. There are still soldiers who need to take the test. If you’re not satisfied with the results, you may take the examination again in the future... once you improve a little more."

"Fuck! This is bullshit!" The soldier cursed out loud as he stomped away.

However, before the soldier left the testing grounds, Yuan could feel the man’s gaze fixed on him, as though he blamed Yuan for everything that had happened.

Yuan pretended not to notice, as there was no way for him to prove his innocence.

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