Of course, there were people whose superbrain endorphin intoxication resulted in their mental strength index going overboard. Their courage and urge to kill increased by leaps and bounds.
These people usually started howling when they saw monsters and eagerly engaged them in fights.
Their mental strength indices could instantly reach 120%, 150%, or even higher.
The increase in their mental strength index was definitely better than their mental strength index reaching zero, but there was a limit. A person’s mental strength index was not allowed to go over 200%.
If it stayed over the limit for too long, the brain cells would be completely immersed in the raging superbrain endorphins. The person would then turn into a bloodthirsty monster. They would not even be able to distinguish friend from foe and would just kill indiscriminately until they died from fatigue.
It was a form of art to maintain one’s mental strength index at 180% or 190% for a long period of time but never have it go over 200%. It allowed people to gain an extra boost of power from their brain, but they would not become overly excited and turn into killing machines.
The problem of mental strength accompanied superhumans for life. The higher their realms were, the more superbrain endorphins the brains secreted, and the harder it became to stabilize their minds.
There were plenty of old veterans in Dragon City who began killing monsters right after the transmigration. They once contributed greatly to the city and were loyal, but they could not withstand the impact and turned into old monsters of different forms.
As the cultivation system was perfected daily, the mental strength index test naturally became incredibly important for students who were taking the national college examination.
“Examinee No. 5510336 Zhao Yiqun from Small River High School has a mental strength index that is lower than the warning line for more than sixty seconds. He has been judged to have failed his mental strength test. He will be removed from the virtual reality exam room.”
“Examinee No. 5534113 Fan Changsheng from Diligence High School’s mental strength index dropped drastically to 30% in 1 second. His mind is weak, and he is not suited for cultivation. He has been judged to have failed his mental strength test. He will be removed from the virtual reality exam room.”
“Examinee No. 5524213 Li Xiaojuan from the Affiliated High School of Engineering University’s mental strength index fluctuates drastically. She has not shown signs of stability after three minutes. She has been judged to have failed her mental strength test. She will be removed from the virtual reality exam room.”
As the machine’s cold voice rose, the examinees from normal high schools were removed from the virtual reality examination room.
Their faces were all stark pale. Many of them had tears in their eyes, and blood trickled out of their noses. Every strand of their muscles trembled nonstop.
Their minds were still immersed in the terrifying nightmare, and they did not have the time nor energy to feel disappointed over their failure.
Some of them started feeling around their bodies. When they found that their legs and hips were still around, they released a long breath of relief before they covered their faces and wept.
The road to supernatural powers was terrifying. It would be better if they just went to a higher vocational college.
Very soon, most of the examinees from normal high schools failed.
As more deformed monsters were sent into the exam room, some of the people from the key high schools in the region or the city were also unable to bear with the fear.
“Urgh!”
An examinee from Ninth High School who was rather strong and courageous when in school had ran around madly in the virtual reality battlefield for more than ten minutes, but in the end, he was surrounded by eight large, toad-like monsters.
They spat out foul-smelling acid and melted him bit by bit.
The pain was living hell, and what he saw was a pure nightmare. In the end, his mental strength index fell drastically, and he was judged to have failed.
“The mental strength test this year is a little hard.” Some of the teachers from the key high schools in the region and the city shook their heads with solemn expressions.
“If they can’t even endure such a simple situation, how can they conquer the Other World?” The teacher leading the team from Construction High, which was the high school that ruled over Tiger Forest Region, snorted coldly.
He was right. Even though plenty of examinees froze up or fled, there were also those who had strong hearts. They stepped forward, brought out their weapons, and fought.
The examinees from the key high schools in the region and the city usually shouted while they rushed forward. They might seem bold, but they did not have order in their attacks. They were just using the courage they gained from their vigor to hide their panic.
When they were “killed” two or three times and experienced the feeling of their bodies disappearing into the mouths of the monsters inch by inch and saw how the monsters smiled at them, they were struck with fear, and they could not progress forward.
Their mental strength index would start to behave like a broken boat in a raging ship. It fluctuated madly.
But the examinees from Construction High were mostly calm. They searched for weapons hidden in the ruins and used all sorts of strategies to fight the monsters.
Even if they were killed, they endured the pain, and before they died, they launched counterattacks to drag the monsters to hell with them.
Once they were “revived” in the virtual reality battlefield, they forgot the pain they endured a moment ago and continued to kill without batting an eyelid.
Their mental strength index only experienced small fluctuations and remained between 80% to 120%. They seldom went beyond or below the safety zone. And when they did go past the safety zone, they used their breathing exercises and meditation to quickly regulate their state of mind.
“As expected of one of the three super high schools. All the students there are children blessed by God. Their families and the schools provide them with superbrains and virtual reality training systems. They have also been practicing mental strength techniques since young, so they can somewhat control the secretion of the superbrain endorphin.
“They’ve managed to train their minds until they’re as hard as steel. No matter how terrifying or strange the situation they run into, they can handle it calmly and in a composed fashion.”
The teachers from the other schools might not like the arrogance of the teachers and students from Construction High, but they had to admit that no one could shake their position as the lords of Tiger Forest Region.
At that moment, one of the teachers who led Small River High School suddenly gasped. He cast a surprised look at Demon Yan. “Mr. Yan, Meng Chao’s figures are a little strange, don’t you think?”
The teachers from the other high schools were stunned for a moment. They tapped at the monitor to look at the numbers from Ninth High School.
Meng Chao’s figures had only experienced small fluctuations from 95% to 105%. There was even a long period of time where his mental index remained at 100%. It seemed to be fixed there.
His figures surpassed most of those from the students of Construction High.
His index was almost the same as that of the blessed children who were born in families filled with cultivators and had seven powerful people in Heaven Realm.
“These figures…”
The chief invigilator thought about it before he put Meng Chao’s test footage on the screen.
The sight on the monitor shocked all the teachers.
“That’s it?”
Meng Chao was a little dumbfounded when he saw the deformed monsters that popped up in the depths of the bloody fog in the virtual world.
“Didn’t they say that the mental strength test is incredibly terrifying and a lot of disgusting monsters will appear? Isn’t it supposed to scare examinees so much that they will pee their pants?
“These are all average looking. In fact, they’re rather pleasant to the eye. Can these monsters really scare someone?”
Meng Chao thought about it for a moment and realized that he was thinking differently from the others.
During the later stage of the Monster War, the monsters evolved and mutated as if they had gone through the Big Bang. In just a few years, countless deformed, mutated monsters popped up.
Among the memory fragments of his previous life, there were many monsters that were uglier. They were hideous and disgusting.
When he activated his Basic Harvesting Kill and Basic Gun Technique, he killed and dissected countless such monsters.
Fear came from the unknown. Since he had once put even more disgusting monsters on the dissection table and harvested them carefully, he knew the use of each of their organs as well as the reason behind their mutated appearance.
Why should he be afraid of such monsters?
“Since I’m already here, I might as well practice.”
Meng Chao scratched his head. While the mutated monsters glared at him, he searched through the area calmly. Soon, he found a saber and submachine gun.
“I knew it. This is just a small test, and it’s the same as computer games. We’re definitely able to find items around and use them.
“Come, no matter how hideous you look, you’re just food on the chopping board. I discussed the saber technique with Demon Yan a few days ago, and I already figured out ways to change and improve some of the One Hundred Saber Techniques moves. I’ll use you to practice my saber technique!”
Meng Chao held the gun in his left hand and the saber in his right hand. He hummed, smiled, and pounced on the monsters.
He killed them. Regardless if they were the large praying mantises, mutated toads, lizards and jackal amalgamations, or mutts mixed with spider and crocodiles, he killed them all. It didn’t mate if they could spit acid or had exploding organs, they were all just moving luncheon meat.
He shot one with his left hand, and with his right, he swung his saber. Due to his ingenious mastery of monster structures, all his moves struck fatal spots. Very soon, a pile of carcasses appeared, and he became the king on a carcass throne.
The first wave of monsters was soon cleared out.
The test had to be fair. The number of monsters each examinee faced was the same, and so was the time at which they respawned. Hence, while the other examinees were struggling while surrounded by monsters, Meng Chao had nothing to do.
“How boring. I can’t declare that I’ve finished my test early either. What should I do now?”
He squatted down in the pile of monster carcasses and yawned. His gaze landed accidentally on the wounds on the monsters; they were left by his saber.
He suddenly noticed that the monsters’ muscles, blood vessels, shells, organs, and the other stuff were all very realistic.
‘Ah, that’s right, I heard that the Monster Research Centre has already started scanning monsters layer-by-layer on a molecular level. They do hundreds of thousands of scans to gather the most detailed data.
‘The mental strength test must have used the data from the monster research center. The internal structure of these virtual monsters is the same as that of real monsters.”
After this realization, Meng Chao’s fingers grew hot. As he stared at the monster carcasses, his gaze turned incredibly profound.
He searched through the ruins and found a few blades as well as a broken knife.
He removed sharp bone spikes from monsters and attached shell fragments from others to create a set of simple harvesting tools.
After that, he separated the monster carcasses and started cutting open their stomachs to practice his Basic Harvesting Skill and the Seven Dissection Methods Performed in Reverse.
‘Very soon, the war will grow in intensity. Humans will face even more unidentified monsters, which contain treasures that could allow humans to evolve limitlessly,’ Meng Chao thought. ‘Harvesting is definitely the golden support profession. I have to push my Basic Harvesting Skill to Perfect Level before I get into university!’
As he thought about this, he became even more immersed in harvesting. His hands moved quickly, and he separated all the mutated monsters into materials. They were even organized neatly.