Li Yang stopped overthinking.
After a simple wash-up, she threw on her school uniform and headed to the exam with Yu Hongyuan.
The freshman class at Zhongdu Military Academy had two to three thousand students.
Everyone followed the announcement from the campus app to find their designated classrooms for the Realm Evaluation.
For Star Wielders below the Third Realm, their star apertures alone were not enough to accurately determine their ranking from stage one to ten.
For example, the First Realm only had four star apertures, corresponding to the low, middle, high, and peak stages.
The Second Realm was similar—five apertures meant low stage, six meant middle stage, and so on up to peak stage.
However, once one reached the Third Realm, the subdivisions became much clearer.
Since advancing from the Third Realm to the Fourth Realm required opening twenty star apertures, it was easy to distinguish.
This was precisely why the Star Pavilion had a rule:
Only those who reached the Third Realm could enter the Star Domain.
The First and Second Realms were just the beginning—only at the Third Realm would a cultivator’s strength truly undergo a qualitative leap.
Among this batch of freshmen, more than half had yet to draw a star into their body.
Even those who succeeded had barely opened one or two star apertures.
Thus, mere star aperture count wasn’t enough to rank them.
A more detailed assessment was required.
The evaluation criteria were as follows:
Realm ranking (highest priority)
Number of opened star apertures
Physical strength value
As for mental strength value, only students from the Mental Domain Department needed to test it.
For other departments, mental strength wasn’t a major factor.
Plus, the Administration Office wasn’t willing to invest in expensive equipment just for that—it was costly, after all!
Students from the Mental Domain Department had to test it separately since their cultivation path relied heavily on mental strength.
If they weren’t evaluated separately, it would be unfair, as their focus on mental training often hindered their physical development.
Li Yang and Yu Hongyuan were placed in the Mental Domain classroom.
Classrooms were divided by department, and the six major departments had fairly equal numbers.
However, the Agriculture Department… had only two students.
Rather than assigning them an entirely separate classroom, they were simply placed in Mental Domain’s First Classroom.
The students in the Mental Domain Department were surprisingly friendly.
The moment they saw Li Yang, they cheerfully called out:
“The Tree Tower Plunderer is here!”
Li Yang: “…”
Yu Hongyuan, ever the loyal underling, stepped forward and corrected them, “The Tree Tower has returned to the Agriculture Department! My senior is now its guardian!”
“Huh? I thought ‘Tree Tower Plunderer’ meant she slaughtered the mutant plants inside the Tree Tower?”
“No way, I thought it meant she stole the tower from the Star Law Department?”
“That’s nonsense! The Tree Tower rightfully belongs to the Agriculture Department! How can reclaiming your own property be called plundering?”
Since the Mental Domain Department and Star Law Department were rivals, the students were very supportive of Li Yang and quickly struck up a conversation with her.
Li Yang actually liked them too. Back when she reclaimed the Tree Tower, the students from the Mental Domain Department had flooded the forums with verbal support.
***
The Monthly exam begins
The instructor arrived, and the room fell silent.
Despite the lively chatter earlier, everyone was on edge.
Though the aristocratic students held some advantage, they were a minority.
Most of the students were from ordinary backgrounds, and the academy’s tuition fees were terrifying.
Especially for students who ranked below 1500—they would be forcibly expelled!
For those in the danger zone, 800 merit points per rank was a hefty price.
Some students who hadn’t even
Li Yang stopped overthinking.
After a quick wash-up, she threw on her uniform and headed to the exam hall with Yu Hongyuan.
The freshman class at Zhongdu Military Academy had two to three thousand students.
At this moment, they were all following the notifications from the academy’s internal app, finding their designated classrooms for the Realm Evaluation.
For Star Wielders below the Third Realm, determining precise rankings between stage one to ten just by looking at star apertures was difficult.
For example, the First Realm had only four star apertures, corresponding to low, middle, high, and peak stages.
The Second Realm was similar—five apertures meant low stage, six meant middle, and so on until peak stage.
However, once one reached the Third Realm, the subdivisions became much clearer.
Advancing from the Third to the Fourth Realm required opening a full twenty star apertures—making it easy to assess.
This was why the Star Pavilion had a strict rule:
Only those who reached the Third Realm were allowed to enter the Star Domain.
The First and Second Realms were just the entry-level stages.
Only upon reaching the Third Realm would a Star Wielder’s combat power undergo a true qualitative leap.
Among this batch of freshmen, more than half had yet to draw a star into their bodies.
Even those who had succeeded had barely opened one or two star apertures.
Thus, merely counting star apertures wasn’t enough to rank them—a more detailed assessment was necessary.
The evaluation criteria were as follows:
Realm Ranking (highest priority)
Number of Star Apertures Opened
Physical Strength Value
As for Mental Strength Value, it was only tested for Mental Domain students.
For most students, mental strength wasn’t a major concern, and the Academic Affairs Office wasn’t about to waste money on expensive testing equipment.
Since Mental Domain cultivators focused their training on mental strength, they often lagged behind in physical development.
If they weren’t evaluated separately, the rankings would be unfair.
Li Yang and Yu Hongyuan were assigned to the Mental Domain classroom.
Classrooms were divided by departments, and the six major departments had roughly equal numbers.
However… the Agriculture Department?
It had only two students.
Rather than assigning them an entire classroom, the Academic Affairs Office simply slotted them into Mental Domain’s First Classroom.
The students in the Mental Domain Department were surprisingly friendly.
The moment they saw Li Yang, they cheerfully called out—
“The Tree Tower Plunderer is here!”
Li Yang: “…”
Yu Hongyuan, ever the loyal follower, stepped forward to clarify, “The Tree Tower has already returned to the Agriculture Department! My senior is now its rightful guardian!”
“Huh? I thought ‘Tree Tower Plunderer’ meant she slaughtered the mutant plants inside the tower?”
“No way, I thought it meant she stole the tower from the Star Law Department?”
“Impossible! The Tree Tower rightfully belonged to the Agriculture Department from the start! This wasn’t plundering—this was reclaiming rightful ownership!”
Since the Mental Domain Department and Star Law Department were rivals, the students were very supportive of Li Yang and quickly struck up a conversation with her.
Li Yang actually liked them too. Back when she reclaimed the Tree Tower, the Mental Domain students had been fiercely backing her up on the forums.
The instructor arrived, and the room fell silent.
Despite the earlier chatter, everyone was on edge.
While aristocratic students had an advantage, they were a minority.
Most of the students came from ordinary backgrounds, and the academy’s tuition fees were terrifying.
For those ranked below 1500, failure meant forced expulsion.
Those in the danger zone were particularly tense—each rank placement below 1000 cost 800 merit points.
Some students, who hadn’t even drawn a star into their bodies, weren’t worried at all.
“Worst case, I’ll just transfer to another military academy…”
Zhongdu and Zhanxing Academy were the top military academies in Huaxia.
However, each province had several first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier military academies.
If they couldn’t stay at Zhongdu First Military Academy, they could still transfer to another school and become a big fish in a small pond.
Ironically, the most anxious students weren’t those who were certain to fail, but rather those hovering around the cutoff line.
For them, one rank could mean a loss of 800 merit points—that was enough to make anyone nervous.
Yu Hongyuan leaned in and whispered, “Senior, do you think I can make it into the top 1000?”
His mother, Madam Yu, had already called him.
She was willing to cover up to one million in tuition fees—anything beyond that, he would either have to earn the merit points himself or transfer to an ordinary military academy.
Yu Hongyuan fiercely argued with his mother, “If I transfer to an ordinary school, how am I supposed to be Li Yang’s follower?!”
Madam Yu coldly retorted, “With your pathetic skills, even if you stick by her side, you wouldn’t be worthy to be her follower.”
Yu Hongyuan: “!!!”
Tears welled up in his eyes.
Li Yang patted him on the shoulder.
“It won’t be a problem.”
“Really?”
“I meant, as long as you stay above 1500, you should be fine.”
Yu Hongyuan: “…”
He clenched his fists and made up his mind.
“1500 is fine too! I still have some pocket money—I can afford this year’s tuition!”
Li Yang: “…Eighteen years old. Pocket money. One million.”
She had seen big spenders before (Lin family, Zhong family), so she remained unfazed.
***