Chapter 290: Two Years? Two Months!
Xu Zhi displayed astonishing results in the very first test. The Director of Academic Affairs simply stopped pretending to leave and followed beside her to observe the next physical fitness assessment.
“Although the school doctor said you’ve mostly recovered, don’t push yourself too hard,” she reminded her in a distinctly double-standard tone.
If it were anyone else, she would likely be telling them to give it their all.
The physical fitness test was straightforward. Upon entering the field, gravity would increase and obstacles would appear. Under intensified gravity, the student had to dodge obstacles coming from all directions while accurately stepping on illuminated markers.
It tested agility, endurance, and reaction speed, as well as strength and explosive power—since some markers couldn’t be reached by simple evasion. Obstacles had to be smashed or rapidly moved aside.
“The test lasts ten minutes. Go in.”
Ten minutes of high-intensity operation also served as an endurance test.
After Xu Zhi entered, a countdown sounded in the room. The moment it reached zero, eight times gravity descended instantly.
She felt her shoulders sink—but this level of pressure wasn’t even an “obstacle” to her now.
Of course, that was because her physical condition far exceeded that of ordinary extraordinaires. Even though she hadn’t fully recovered, she was still on a completely different level.
For extraordinaires her age, eightfold gravity was already enough to make their steps heavy and strained. After all, this was a test, not an attempt to injure them. Eight times was the optimal threshold.
The next second, a sharp slicing sound cut through the air from the left. Xu Zhi instinctively sidestepped, easily dodging the wind blade.
Then a solid stone, roughly the size of her head, fell from above. She avoided it just as easily. The stone slammed into the ground with a loud thud. Xu Zhi’s eyelid twitched slightly.
Ten minutes—this was definitely just the warm-up.
If something that size hit directly, even an extraordinary’s head would probably be ringing.
Was this a test or an execution attempt?
Lasers followed. Flames suddenly burst from one side of the room. Ice spikes shot out. Attacks came chaotically and without pattern from every direction—some even curved mid-flight.
The speed increased from single strikes to multiple simultaneous assaults. Their frequency and velocity rose steadily with time.
Meanwhile, green markers would abruptly appear somewhere in the room. Xu Zhi had to step precisely on them. As time passed, even she had to fully focus.
The test chamber seemed to contain a circuit suppressing the use of extraordinary abilities. Fortunately, Xu Zhi didn’t need them. As time went on, some markers were blocked by fallen stones, or positioned such that stepping on them required facing incoming ice spikes head-on. She could tank them—but taking hits would deduct points.
So she had to expend some effort breaking the obstacles.
Thankfully, this stage purely tested physical capability. There were no additional extraordinary interferences. Even in the final two minutes, Xu Zhi remained relatively composed, unlike most students who would already be scrambling in panic.
When the test ended, the Director looked at the girl standing in the center of the room—breathing lightly, a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. Her eyes were filled with unconcealed admiration and shock.
She truly hadn’t expected that beyond her level, Xu Zhi’s physical fitness would also be this astonishing.
Good. That meant she wouldn’t die in the Lost Lands due to frailty.
Still… her post-recovery physical stats were almost excessively strong.
Lowering her gaze to the data, the Director saw that Xu Zhi ranked first in endurance and resilience.
Her reaction speed, agility, strength, and explosive power weren’t first—but they were all within the top three.
Unbelievable.
Her overall composite ranking for this test was second—just slightly behind Chu Xiaoyue.
A freshman. Ranked second overall in physical fitness in the Inner Academy. Second only to the Student Council President?
What in the world was happening? Hadn’t she only enrolled recently?
Their original training plan for Xu Zhi had been… what was it again? To raise her into the top five within two years?
Two years?
Two months.
Chu Xiaoyue, as a fifth-year, securing the presidency early and dominating as number one was already considered extraordinary.
Yet now, the Director found herself wondering if Xu Zhi would surpass Chu Xiaoyue sooner than expected.
What she didn’t know was that this wasn’t even Xu Zhi’s full strength. She was still technically “injured.” If she were fully recovered, in terms of physical capability alone, she might even contend directly with the Director herself.
For other students, these test results might remain valid for a long time.
For Xu Zhi, however, with sufficient resources, these numbers would become obsolete the very next day.
As long as she secured a Lost Lands quota and gained benefits inside, her physical attributes would soar again as her injuries healed.
“All right. Move on to the next test.”
When the Director said this, Xu Zhi hesitated briefly before asking, “Does my pet need to be tested as well?”
She pointed to her wrist. Xiao Yi sensed something and poked its head out from her sleeve.
The Director nodded. “No rush. Extraordinary creatures have a separate assessment. After you finish, I’ll take you there.”
She was well aware that Xu Zhi’s extraordinary ability involved a summoned creature. The Inner Academy had dedicated testing grounds for such beings.
In the League, creatures or constructs born from one’s extraordinary abilities could be brought into matches—but contracted pets could not.
Since this snake was part of Xu Zhi’s ability, it had to be evaluated as part of her “strength.”
Next, Xu Zhi completed several more assessments in succession.
During the extraordinary ability test, she boldly declared that [Eye of Secret] was one of her [Lamp]-attribute abilities—and participated in testing it.
Upon reaching the Longevity stage, an extraordinary typically possessed three actively usable abilities. She definitely couldn’t reveal [Spirit Body]. But [Eye of Secret] was extremely useful, so she decided to try muddying the waters.
As for [Authority]—that absolutely had to remain hidden.
This was also an opportunity to probe just how powerful [Authority] truly was—whether it could be detected at all.
Extraordinary abilities differed vastly in rank. To put it simply, the difference was like that between an R card and an SSR card.
As for [Authority]—based on prior experience, it likely ranked even above SSR.
The test results left Xu Zhi highly satisfied.
As expected of an ability capable of influencing even [Rules]—there wasn’t the slightest anomaly during detection.
Her [Eye of Secret] was genuinely classified as a [Lamp]-attribute ability.
What did that mean?
My authority stands far above yours.
