A hundred meters beneath the Embers Organization, at the central arena.
At this moment, Yun Meng had already arrived, preceding everyone else. Unlike the casual attire she wore at the training ground above, she was now clad in combat gear. Her black, form-fitting combat suit gleamed dully under the cool lights, her graceful figure subtly drawing the glances of many male trainees outside the arena. Seeing that these youngsters still hadn't felt the pressure of the final assessment, a hint of playfulness flickered in Yun Meng's eyes.
"Little ones, are you ready... to face true hell?"
Yun Meng clapped her hands. Around the central arena, huge transparent barriers suddenly rose, completely separating the inside from the outside. When the barriers fully closed, a gap slowly opened in the arena's floor.
Thump, thump, thump—
Accompanied by a series of dull, powerful footsteps, a massive creature, nearly twenty meters tall, slowly emerged from the arena's opening.
"You've got to be kidding me! The Star Energy fluctuation from that thing is close to three thousand!" Caroline's cat ears instantly puffed up like fur balls as she looked at the colossal beast in the arena. Her usual calmness vanished, replaced by obvious fear.
If Caroline, ranked fourth among the trainees, was like this, the other trainees were naturally no better. Yun Meng nodded with satisfaction, observing the trainees' terrified expressions. This was how they should look when facing the final assessment.
"Second-Tier Star Beast, Earth Dragon Lizard. That's right, this is the content of your final assessment today."
"And your assessment is not complicated: do everything you can to survive against this fellow for as long as possible, ideally three minutes."
"Of course, considering the vast disparity in strength between you and this big guy, and that some of you have non-combat type Star Cores, this final assessment will not be a solo mode but a team mode. Therefore, you can form a team of up to three people to challenge this big guy together."
"Alright, I've finished explaining the content of the final assessment."
"Now... go find suitable teammates."
With that, Yun Meng walked directly to the side of the Earth Dragon Lizard and affectionately patted its rock-armored head. This colossal creature, capable of easily tearing apart large armored vehicles, now seemed like a tamed little puppy in her hands, completely harmless.
But this was only true for Yun Meng, its master, a Second-Tier Star Emissary. Once the target shifted to Tendo and the other Children of the Stars, whose Star Energy levels were below First-Tier, this Second-Tier Earth Dragon Lizard would show them what true cruelty was. Even Tendo, the strongest among the trainees, was no exception.
However, since the organization dared to release this massive creature to serve as the assessment examiner, there must be a reason for it. Therefore, after a brief moment of shock, the trainees began to approach Tendo in the crowd. After all, since it was a team challenge, there was no one more suitable to be a teammate than Tendo, the number one trainee.
Many had this thought, including Chen Kong, the protagonist.
"Ti-Tendo-ge..."
Chen Kong looked at Tendo awkwardly, wanting to ask to team up but feeling too embarrassed to speak. Tendo smiled and patted his shoulder. "No choice, little Kong. This assessment is a bit troublesome. With you, I can't guarantee I can handle this guy."
"Besides..." Tendo turned his head to look at Chen Xing not far away. "There's clearly a more suitable partner for you over there, isn't there?"
Seeing Tendo look at Chen Xing, Chen Kong nervously lowered his head, clearly reluctant to approach Chen Xing for a team. Seeing this, Chen Xing, who constantly mocked Chen Kong but secretly cared for him, surprisingly walked over on her own.
"Trash, don't drag me down later."
"Oh, o-okay, sis..."
Watching Chen Kong being led away by his sister, Tendo suddenly teased Caroline, who was beside him, deep in thought. "Hey, Caroline, don't you think Chen Xing has some hidden attributes?"
"Otherwise, why does she clearly care about little Kong deep down, but every time they meet, they act like enemies, as if she wishes little Kong would disappear from this world on the spot?"
Caroline, who was using her cat tail to scroll through a tactical tablet, continuously analyzing the Earth Dragon Lizard's data, couldn't be bothered to respond to Tendo's irrelevant and boring question about the assessment. She simply ignored him.
Seeing Caroline give him the "cold shoulder," Tendo, feeling a bit bored, immediately turned his gaze towards a certain direction in the crowd. After all, Yun Meng had said that this assessment allowed teams of up to three people. And his team was still missing one person.
However, Tendo already had a choice for this last member. He ignored a group of classmates who wanted to latch onto him and walked directly to a girl who was lying on the ground, sleeping with a pillow. As unbelievable as it sounded, this person was actually asleep during the important final assessment. And by the looks of it, she seemed to be sleeping quite soundly.
Looking at Jing Liuli, who was practically sinking into her pillow, Tendo crouched down. With a mischievous glint, he picked up a strand of her scattered purple hair and used the tip to tickle her fair, baby-faced cheek, whispering, "Hey, student Liuli, the assessment is about to begin. Wake up quickly."
Feeling the tickle on her cheek, Liuli, in her sleep, immediately frowned, then forcefully pulled the pillow over the back of her head, revealing several large words embroidered on the pillow:
[Do Not Disturb During Combat]
Seeing Jing Liuli displaying her "battle in progress" sign, Tendo was instantly amused. Seriously, Caroline always says I'm unreliable, but she should look at these 36 Children of the Stars. Which one of them is reliable? They're all problem children!
Realizing that conventional methods wouldn't wake this person, Tendo immediately brought out his ultimate weapon.
"Student Liuli, the cafeteria's serving food!"
"Zzz... serving food... serving food?!"
Jing Liuli shot up from the ground, the jacket draped over her like a blanket sliding off to reveal a little bear pajama set underneath. She excitedly looked around, seemingly searching for where the "food" was. But no matter where she looked, there were only classmates scrambling to find teammates, and Tendo, with his mischievous grin. Realizing this, she immediately knew Tendo had tricked her.
She huffily pulled out a marker from her pocket, and then, under Tendo's bewildered gaze, she added several large words to the back of her pillow: [No Cheaters Tendo and Dogs Allowed Near]
After doing all that, Liuli fell back down with a thud and went back to sleep.
Seeing his first ultimate weapon fail, Tendo immediately pulled out his final trump card.
"Student Liuli, wake up quickly, it's time for the exam. Because if you don't get up now, I'll go tell Chen Xing that you stole and ate her hidden snacks."
Swish!
Liuli's eyes snapped open, then she quickly sat up. "Tendo, I'm awake! Quickly, tell me what the exam content is! I'm going to take this seriously now!"
Seeing Liuli's amusing fear of Chen Xing, a fear ingrained to her bones, Tendo couldn't help but laugh. Thinking about it, it made sense. As Jing Liuli, ranked third among the Children of the Stars, only behind Tendo and Chen Xing, there weren't many trainees in the entire base who could give her a headache. Tendo was one, and Chen Xing was another.
Among them, Jing Liuli feared Chen Xing the most. The reason was that Chen Xing, a highly competitive individual, would always go all out and strike ruthlessly every time she faced Liuli. This made Jing Liuli miserable, unable to happily slack off as she did when fighting Tendo. Over time, Liuli, who disliked pain, exhaustion, and hard work, gradually developed a fear of Chen Xing, considering her a nightmare. It was to the point that just hearing Chen Xing's name would instantly trigger a stress response, putting her on high alert. She was terrified of Chen Xing coming within five meters of her.
Therefore, once this point was grasped, waking the perpetually drowsy Jing Liuli was naturally no difficult task. And seeing that Jing Liuli had finally sobered up, Tendo knew that his last teammate for this final assessment had finally taken their place.