I Have Infinite Skill Points-Chapter 573: The Most Difficult Exam

After an hour’s rest in the afternoon, the scheduled battles proceeded. Soon, it was Wang Lan’s turn to fight.

Wang Lan walked slowly into the arena, but his opponent was nowhere to be seen. After waiting for a dozen or so seconds, a flash of lightning suddenly streaked in front of Wang Lan. Within that lightning, a blond-haired youth from White Eagle Country appeared before him.

"Hello, I’m Lightning Man. I was just having coffee in a city a hundred kilometers away, so I’m a bit late... Sorry to keep you waiting."

A twitch formed at the corner of Wang Lan’s mouth. That act was a bit stiff. If you were really a hundred kilometers away, you would’ve been disqualified already, right?

"Are both sides ready? If you’re ready, let’s start."

"People of Jade Country, don’t be too nervous. I’m very precise; it’ll only take half a second, half a second to end this fight." No sooner had the words fallen than Lightning Man transformed into a flash of lightning and vanished from sight.

BOOM—

Wang Lan’s body instantly dispersed, turning into fluttering butterflies. Meanwhile, Lightning Man reappeared at the spot where Wang Lan had stood. On his fist, a clump of substantialized lightning crackled with the sound of a thousand birds.

"What a strange Star Martial Skill..."

Wang Lan’s form appeared in one corner of the battle arena; another step back and he would be out of the fighting area. Seeing Wang Lan’s position, Lightning Man’s face showed a hint of confusion.

It wasn’t just him; everyone looked puzzled. Wang Lan’s position defied common sense, placing him at a severe disadvantage. A step backward or to the side would mean leaving the arena and being declared the loser.

But Lightning Man didn’t hesitate for long. As soon as Wang Lan stood firm, he suddenly turned into thunder and disappeared again.

Wang Lan took a deep breath, Star Power flickering around him. Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide and exhaled a fierce hurricane.

In an instant, the wind turned into visible pressure, spreading across the entire battlefield like an unfolding scroll. At that moment, Lightning Man had already closed to within ten meters of Wang Lan and was hit squarely by this blast of wind.

The lightning surrounding Lightning Man instantly dissipated under the wind pressure. The next moment, Lightning Man’s body went flying like a batted baseball, turning into a shooting star before vanishing from view.

"That’s insane—" a shrill cry cut through the sky. The scene looked utterly comical.

At this moment, the contestants on both sides finally understood why Wang Lan had chosen such a disadvantageous position: Wang Lan didn’t need any advantageous position at all.

A five-hundred-meter square arena was more than enough for a Star Sea Realm Star Martial Warrior to dominate. Who could have imagined that one of Wang Lan’s Star Martial Skills could completely cover a five-hundred-meter arena with such terrifying power?

While Wind Attribute Star Martial Skills could indeed counter Thunder Attribute ones, what kind of wind power would it take to completely dissipate a Thunder Attribute Star Martial Skill? And that was without Wang Lan even utilizing the sharp, cutting nature of the Wind Attribute.

If Wang Lan were to use that aspect, no one doubted that anything within the area covered by his Wind Attribute Star Martial Skill would be ground into mincemeat. The range and power of this Star Martial Skill were definitely beyond Super S-class.

Lightning Man and Wang Lan were simply not on the same level.

Everyone looked at Wang Lan with expressions of terror; even Yulia, whom Wang Lan had always considered a formidable opponent, couldn’t help but look surprised.

What kind of monster is this?

Lightning Man had claimed it would take half a second. Half a second is too boastful, Wang Lan thought. Let’s be modest and say three seconds.

Wang Lan left the arena, and the competition continued. Overall, the strength of both sides was fairly even, except for the cheat-level presences of Wang Lan and Yulia. Just as Wang Lan had guessed, Yulia used her Holy Light skill to eliminate her opponent in a single second.

And that Holy Light was truly formidable; even with Wang Lan’s Cultivation Level, he couldn’t discern her method of attack. She emitted a blinding light all over her body, and wherever the light touched, the target was frozen in mid-air, unable to move. When the light vanished, the target fell freely, already unconscious.

Wang Lan was also certain that Yulia was holding back. Otherwise, Holy Light could instantly kill an opponent.

Then came Jiang Xinyu’s battle. With her peak Star Sea Realm battle power, she was originally among the top of the second echelon. Besides Yulia and Wang Lan, she had a chance of winning against anyone. So, she smoothly defeated her opponent after five minutes.

The first day’s battles, twenty-four in total, concluded after Jiang Xinyu’s fight. At this rate, it seemed likely they would finish within four days.

In the evening, they rested in the camp dormitories. The next day, Xie Sisi was lucky. She faced an opponent who had been injured in the first round and hadn’t fully recovered. Originally, his strength was on par with Xie Sisi’s, but due to his injury, it was a completely one-sided match. After twelve minutes, her opponent surrendered.

Wang Lan thought Xie Sisi was already quite lucky, but Xu Xiangwen was even luckier. He encountered an individual capable of dispersing their Spiritual Power to form an invisible and undetectable clone.

Such an Innate Ability was very powerful, but it was disastrous when countered. Unfortunately for his opponent, the clone had nowhere to hide under Xu Xiangwen’s Heavenly Eye. It was ruthlessly pummeled by Xu Xiangwen’s Pure Yang Skill and made an honorable exit from the stage.

After four days of intense fighting, during which the battlefield had been wrecked over a dozen times, the second exam concluded perfectly. Although the rules of the exam were simple, the brutal fifty percent elimination rate exerted enormous pressure on all the victors.

The legendary final exam was also the cruelest of the three. Of the initial one thousand candidates, only one hundred remained; ninety percent had already been eliminated. And each time, the International Security Council’s selection examination only passed around twenty people.

Selecting twenty out of a thousand—just thinking about it sent shivers down one’s spine. These thousand candidates were originally the chosen talents from various academies worldwide. In other words, being eliminated didn’t necessarily mean you lacked strength; it could simply be due to bad luck.

The third exam would take place in a week, allowing the candidates time to heal. In the first exam, not many of the two hundred who passed were seriously injured—you could count them on one hand. But after the second exam, fifty percent were seriously injured, and ninety percent sustained some injury.

Perhaps the cruelty of the exam lay not just in the brutal elimination rate but also in the high injury rate. The examiners had specially dispatched over a dozen top medical Star Martial Warriors to be on standby to prevent any fatal accidents.

Fortunately, no life-threatening emergencies occurred during the four days of exams, and Wang Lan didn’t even have an opportunity to intervene.

The area around the camp was desolate, like a prisoner’s isolated island. There was no entertainment here. Consequently, these seven days were very difficult for most Star Martial Warriors.

However, Wang Lan and his group of three friends made four, so they could play Mahjong or poker, which made the time pass relatively quickly.

「Seven days passed quietly.」

On the night before the third exam, a continuous roar disturbed the entire camp all night as thirty armed helicopters landed one after another on the open ground.

After dawn, a sharp whistle blew, and one hundred fully recovered candidates stood in neat rows at the center of the camp.

"The third exam is about to begin," an instructor announced. "Those who have done their research should know that the third exam is a team assessment, with squads of four. You can form teams freely, or we can assign them for you. Those who want to form their own teams, please step to this side."

Among the crowd, most were observing. Nearly half of the candidates looked towards Wang Lan and Yulia. Unfortunately for them, their hopes were doomed to be dashed, as Wang Lan and Yulia were the first to step out of the line.

Jiang Xinyu, Xie Sisi, and Xu Xiangwen followed Wang Lan, standing to one side. All the candidates who had planned to ride their coattails to an easy victory looked at Xu Xiangwen and the others with envy. At that moment, Xu Xiangwen felt as if he had reached the pinnacle of his life.

"The rest of you will be randomly assigned to teams by us," the instructor continued. "Now, I will announce the content of the third exam. In a while, you will take helicopters and be dropped off in different locations.

"But rest assured, the exam location is exactly the same for everyone. You need to infiltrate St. State in New Blue Country. I believe many candidates here have heard of St. State; yes, it’s one of the world’s three most infamous cities of sin."

The instructor smiled with satisfaction at the candidates’ expressions. "A hundred years ago, New Blue Country, in an effort to improve its dire domestic security and taking into account St. State’s unique geographical environment, exiled many criminals there to fend for themselves. Subsequently, St. State gradually became a Holy Land for global fugitives escaping legal punishment.

"After becoming a city of sin, St. State, contrary to expectations, did not fall into ruin. Instead, it flourished even more. In St. State, there are two sets of survival rules: by day, the laws of New Blue Country prevail; by night, the laws of the dark forces hold sway.

"Now, New Blue Country wants to fully reclaim St. State, so they have commissioned the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping forces to help them eliminate the criminal elements. We have taken this mission as the basis for your third assessment. Hearing this, some of you might be starting to smile, are you?"

As the instructor finished speaking, a few candidates who had been secretly smiling quickly wiped the grins off their faces.

"You are all powerful Star Martial Warriors; dealing with some mafia organizations and criminal forces should be a piece of cake, right? Do you think the International Security Council’s recruitment exam would be this easy? You’re too naive.

"Firstly, the nocturnal dark forces in St. State are no longer the simple gangs and criminal outfits you might imagine. As I mentioned, St. State is a Holy Land for many fugitives attempting to evade legal justice. However, I never said these fugitives were merely ordinary criminals.

"In St. State, there are quite a few S-class traitor Star Martial Warriors from various countries. You should understand what ’S-class’ implies. At least some of them possess the strength of the Star Sea Realm.

"Some of you might be thinking that Star Sea Realm Star Martial Warriors are no big deal, considering you are all elites from your respective countries and will be operating in squads, so even Star Sea Realm opponents shouldn’t be feared. However, even with these factors, you must still adhere to our examination rules.

"Anyone who violates the rules will be immediately disqualified.

"Rule number one: You cannot enter St. State under any official capacity. You are not exam candidates, nor are you the favored prodigies of any nation. You represent only yourselves. You can be mercenaries, wanderers, or beggars, but the identity you adopt must be one you create for yourselves.

"Rule number two: Each squad will be responsible for a specific zone. This zone will be your designated area for enforcing justice and combating criminal activities.

"Rule number three: You are heroes fighting against criminals. While engaging criminals, you are not permitted to damage public property. Of course, some environmental damage is unavoidable during combat. Depending on the extent of damage to public property, we will deduct corresponding points. Similarly, successfully neutralizing criminals will earn you corresponding points.

"Finally, the scores will be calculated on a team basis. I only require the top five teams with the highest scores. Now, please choose a helicopter and proceed to your examination. Oh, and on the helicopter, you will receive an envelope. This contains hints on how to approach your mission. Good luck, children."