Chapter 21 - 17: Focused on Gaming, No Mood for Exams

Chapter 21: Chapter 17: Focused on Gaming, No Mood for Exams

Luocheng First High School. Secret Realm: Five Springs Mountain.

"Is this the Five Springs Mountain Secret Realm...?"

Lu Chen stood in a forest somewhere within Five Springs Mountain, carefully observing his surroundings.

Unlike the concrete jungle of high-rises in Luocheng, Five Springs Mountain was a special Secret Realm, resulting in incredibly lush vegetation. Ancient Giant Trees towered five stories high, shrubs grew as tall as a person, and tough vines scattered everywhere on the ground. This scene looked exactly like a pristine, primeval forest.

Faced with such a complex environment, even Practitioners had to tread carefully. After all, they were not the only ones in Five Springs Mountain; there was also a horde of vicious Demon Fiends.

"The assessment period for the first stage is ten days. I just need to acquire thirty points within ten days and safely reach the central area to pass the first stage," Lu Chen thought.

"Based on the exam rules, the battles in the first stage shouldn’t be too intense. After all, students aren’t allowed to attack each other. Therefore, everyone will likely be in a special relationship of mutual probing and cooperation during this phase, hunting the Demon Fiends of Five Springs Mountain together.

"Moving into the second stage, people with leadership skills will probably use their experiences from the first stage to form temporary teams with other students nearby. They’ll then challenge those few students who possess immense power and hold massive amounts of points.

"By that time, the pace of the entire exam will drastically accelerate.

"In less than three days, aside from a few exceptionally powerful individuals, everyone else will likely group up into teams.

"Looking at it this way, fighting alone really isn’t a good choice in this mock exam..."

However, what did any of that have to do with him? From the very beginning, he had never intended to get a particularly high score. He only needed to achieve a score that slightly exceeded his past performances. Therefore, he neither immediately advanced toward the central area of Five Springs Mountain nor rushed to hunt its Demon Fiends for points. Instead, he walked right up to a large tree and sat down cross-legged.

"A mock exam... how could it ever be as important as gaming?"

Lu Chen took out his phone and immediately began playing with intense focus.

Rather than competing with other students in the mock exam, he cared far more about his progress in True Cultivation. He was already at the Qi Cultivation Third Level, just one step away from the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level. One of the completion conditions for the second beginner quest was to reach the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level. If it hadn’t been for this mock exam, Lu Chen would have long since allocated his Experience Points to his Cultivation, then figured out a way to become an Outer Disciple of the Cyan Cloud Sect to finish the quest.

However, due to the mock exam, he had to focus his energy on the test first, delaying his progress in the game. After all, a game was a game, and reality was reality. You could idle in a game, but not in real life.

Right now, what he needed to do was figure out how to become an Outer Disciple of the Cyan Cloud Sect while his in-game avatar completed its daily Cultivation routine. That was right—becoming an Outer Disciple required more than just a high Cultivation. He also had to meet some other conditions.

In addition, his in-game character faced the exact same dilemma as he did in reality: how to explain the sudden change in his Spirit Root Talent to the people in the game. As a cautious person, Lu Chen wasn’t sure what would happen if the Cyan Cloud Sect discovered his altered Talent. Even though the Cyan Cloud Sect wasn’t a Demon Sect, he still didn’t want to expose himself so blatantly.

The Game World was different from a Dungeon. In a Dungeon, you could enjoy infinite resurrections, but the Game World was a different story. If he acted too high-profile in the game and attracted unwanted attention, a single misstep could easily lead to his complete demise.

"You have to learn to walk before you can run. Any rash action is just gambling with my future," Lu Chen thought.

"As long as I cultivate step by step, I’ll become stronger. There’s no need to take unnecessary risks.

"It’s best not to tell the Sect about my Spirit Root Talent. While exposing it would undoubtedly earn me their utmost attention, it might also bring unforeseen dangers.

"Besides, the situation in the Ancient Cultivator’s Tomb definitely served as a wake-up call. The Cyan Cloud Sect may be powerful now, but their future won’t end well.

"If I tie myself too deeply to the Cyan Cloud Sect, I’ll likely get dragged into unknown dangers later on. That would be detrimental to my development in the game.

"Although I’m not sure how much of a gap there is between the Sect’s timeline and the Dungeon’s timeline, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. I’ll need to pay closer attention to information about the Sect from now on..."

Gathering the requirements to enter the Outer Sect, hiding the changes to his Spiritual Root as much as possible, and investigating the current era’s background within the Game World. Right now, Lu Chen had far too many things to accomplish in the game. As for the mock exam? That could wait.

Naturally, his behavior of finding an empty spot to sit down and play games the moment he entered the Secret Realm caught the attention of some proctors outside.

"Which class is this student from? How dare he play games during the mock exam! If he doesn’t want to take the test, he shouldn’t have come. Isn’t this just blatant contempt for the school?!"

Hearing that a teacher had noticed Lu Chen’s little stunt, Chen Fugui instantly broke out in a cold sweat. He had actually noticed Lu Chen’s situation quite early on, but as his homeroom teacher, he didn’t dare point it out. For no other reason than it being utterly humiliating!

Unfortunately, Lu Chen couldn’t hear the roars in Chen Fugui’s heart. He was entirely engrossed in that damned game, playing under the tree for a whole hour. Even though he was a student in the Human Dao Class and rarely received attention from other teachers on normal days, someone was bound to notice him under these special circumstances. And look, he had been exposed!

"Oh, isn’t this Lu Chen from your class, Old Chen? What’s going on with him? To think he’s playing games in the middle of the mock exam. Is he planning to just give up?"

Li Youquan had sidled up to Chen Fugui at some point, speaking in a mocking tone.

Chen Fugui could only flash an awkward smile, not daring to say a single word in response. While Chen Fugui had high hopes for Lu Chen and wished for him and Mu Xiaoye to end up together, Li Youquan found Lu Chen to be a complete eyesore. He thought, "What kind of status do you have, thinking you can snatch away my beloved Champion Scholar disciple? Get lost!"

However, Li Youquan wasn’t an unreasonable brute. Although he disliked Lu Chen getting too close to Mu Xiaoye, he still cared very much about her feelings and wouldn’t purposely make things difficult for him. In fact, many times, Li Youquan could even be considered overly attentive to Lu Chen. He had no choice; he absolutely didn’t want to do anything that might affect Mu Xiaoye’s state of mind.

But in other settings, Li Youquan made no effort to hide his disapproval of Lu Chen, especially since the boy was Chen Fugui’s student. What kind of relationship did he have with Old Chen? If Li Youquan was the second most powerful man in all of Luocheng, then Chen Fugui was the second richest! Chen Fugui’s father... was the wealthiest man in Luocheng! He and Chen Fugui had been bickering since they were kids; it wasn’t an exaggeration to call them best friends. Whenever an opportunity to mock Chen Fugui presented itself, Li Youquan would undoubtedly be the first to charge in!

Looking at Lu Chen on the monitor, Chen Fugui couldn’t help but scream internally, "My dear lord, if you want to play games, couldn’t you wait until you get out?! You’re going to completely ruin my reputation!"

Just as Lu Chen was focused on his game, a dark silhouette silently approached him. This scene played out clearly before the eyes of the teachers outside the Secret Realm, yet Lu Chen seemed completely oblivious to it.

Seeing this, a stern-looking teacher with a square face said in a deep voice, "A Qi Cultivation Fourth Level Gale Scythe Weasel. It looks like this kid is going to be the first student to be eliminated.

"But this is a good thing. If he likes playing games so much, then he can come out here and play! He shouldn’t be making a fool of himself in there!"

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