### Chapter 5: The First Round Goes Big
At this very moment, the Martial Arts Hall of the Heavenly Sword Sect had undeniably become the center of attention for players.
This was yet another collective celebration for players after witnessing the epic storyline kick-off alongside the “Upgrade Maniac,” Tang Tong.
Though the Monster Race might have already begun to take action against the Cold Moon Witch, human players were at a loss since access to the Chaos Forest was nearly impossible, leaving them completely clueless about the current state of war between White Feather City and the Cold Moon Witch.
Some players had suggested live-streaming the Monster Race’s battle, but the officials responded that since it didn’t involve the Human Race, they wouldn’t support it.
In the absence of anything major happening in the human realm recently, players felt pretty bored, content to grind and tackle quests.
Thus, when the news broke that Master Sister Luo Ying of the Heavenly Sword Sect was holding a final test for her recruits, players naturally wouldn’t miss out on the chance to witness the spectacle.
The hall was packed with Inner Door Disciples, NPCs were their usual selves, but most players wore expressions of schadenfreude, clearly reveling in the anticipated embarrassment of the two.
Fatty, already a bundle of nerves, felt his heart race as he saw their smug faces.
“d*mn it, these bird brains get into the Inner Door and suddenly act all high and mighty, forgetting where they came from!”
Only by venting his frustrations could Fatty find a little bit of comfort.
“Look at these guys, not one of them is decent.”
Lin Nan just hummed in response, calmly sitting in place with a clear expression that showed no joy or sorrow.
Fatty couldn’t stay as composed.
After circling Lin Nan several times and still feeling restless, he muttered, “Maybe I should just browse the live streaming room, catch a glimpse of some cute female streamers to lighten the mood.”
But as soon as he opened the system interface, a massive notification popped up.
“Master Sister Luo Ying sets S-grade test; can these two lucky individuals succeed?”
Fatty’s head buzzed.
With trembling fingers, he clicked on the live stream page to find millions of viewers flooding the Martial Arts Hall, and the barrage of b*llet comments completely covered the screen in an instant.
Most of the comments speculated on how many rounds the two could get through.
Some guessed two rounds, others one. It seemed like the majority believed that these two could only manage to pass one test, which caused the odds of betting on “passing one round” to plummet to 1.05.
Fatty cursed under his breath, those bastards were definitely going to lose their shirts; they should be able to pass at least two rounds, right?
d*mn it, why not put in a little bet? Even if they end up losing, getting something back would be some consolation.
Before leaving the Eight Immortals Restaurant, the waiter had deducted losses for the failed dishes (no pun intended) and handed them each 150 Spirit Coins, so at least he had some capital.
However, right before placing his bet, Fatty hesitated.
What if they really only passed one round? That would mean throwing all that money to the dogs!
At that moment, Fatty completely forgot his nerves and instead fixated on whether to bet on one round or two.
Meanwhile, the arena in the Martial Arts Hall seemed ready to go.
The waiter stood in the center of the arena and waved at the duo, “Come on up.”
Fatty ignored him, fingers shaking back and forth between options, indecisive as ever.
Lin Nan said, “If I were you, I’d go for all six wins; the odds are over thirty.”
Fatty wiped his sweat, “Ha, don’t kid me, six wins? I don’t believe that for a second. Seriously, how confident are you?”
“Believe it or not, it’s up to you.”
“Wait, if I really bet, you better compensate me if I lose!”
Lin Nan paused, opened his system interface, and quickly placed all 150 Spirit Coins on the six-win option.
“See that?”
With that, Lin Nan hopped onto the arena.
Fatty was left dumbfounded.
He never thought Lin Nan would actually go all in on six wins. As cold sweat poured from his forehead like a waterfall, he exclaimed, “d*mn, let it ride! If I d*e, I d*e! I’m going in too!”
With the weight of what felt like the most important decision of his life, Fatty placed his bet, his back drenched in cold sweat.
To bystanders, his demeanor screamed “coward.”
“Look at that fatty, haha! The test hasn’t even started and he’s already soaked!”
“If you can’t handle the pressure, stop embarrassing yourself. Honestly, if it weren’t for the betting odds, the viewers wouldn’t be here at all; who wants to watch a couple of noobs floundering?”
“Exactly, let’s wrap up these two rounds already. Even if the bet wins, it’s just pocket change anyway. Boring!”
“Go Fatty! I bet you won’t win a single round, so don’t burn out your little universe! Go go, hit the ground!”
Good thing Fatty had shut the live stream down; if he saw those comments, he might explode from anger.
The waiter handed each of them a long sword. “I know this test is tough for newcomers, but since you’ve been practicing in the backyard for so long, I believe you should have what it takes to go a round.”
This might have been the longest statement the waiter had ever made to them.
Fatty felt both moved and amused.
Honestly, the waiter had treated them well; in about a month, they had received their due, and he even handed out their pay before they left.
Lin Nan, however, showed no expression or acknowledgment, instead pulling out the gleaming long sword and running his fingers along its blade.
What a cold-blooded creature! Fatty silently cursed.
The waiter jumped off the stage.
This meant the test was about to begin.
At that moment, not just the live audience, but the viewers in the streaming room held their breath, eager to see what made this so-called S-grade test so challenging.
Lin Nan and Fatty stood back-to-back in the center of the arena—this was the position the waiter had set for them, and certainly, they wouldn’t need to worry about anything else.
[Ding! Enemies will appear shortly; proceed with caution.]
A system alert popped up in both their minds.
Simultaneously, shadows appeared at the corners of the basketball-court-sized arena.
Once the shadows solidified, everyone collectively gasped.
Holy cow, the first round of the S-grade test features Puppet Warriors.
Strong Brother, who had researched the tests related to the Heavenly Sword Sect, was familiar with Puppet Warrior data.
“Puppet Warriors typically appear in the second round of A-grade tests. B-grade tests have a chance of spawning them in the second round. But we never expected them to show up in the first round of an S-grade test, and there are four of them!”
He continued, “They’ve been buried underground for so long, absorbing the land’s spirit energy that they’ve developed self-awareness. Their armor is so tough, it’s nearly impossible to break through. The real terrifying part is that once they engage, their attack power increases continuously over time; if opponents can’t defeat them quickly, they’ll soon be facing unbeatable attacking Puppet Warriors.”
“The only weakness of Puppet Warriors is that their movements are a bit slow, but as their attack strength and numbers increase, that weakness is utterly overshadowed. Let’s see how these two players respond!”
The viewers in the streaming room erupted in despair.
“Holy cr*p, if I had known, I wouldn’t have bet they’d fail even one round!”
“Seriously, so unfair! No one expected the S-grade test to kick off with such a massive challenge, it’s terrifying.”
“These two are probably clueless, completely at a loss.”
“Tell me about it! When we faced one Puppet Warrior as a duo, we barely scraped through. Now they have to tackle four? Haha, what can we say? The system’s rigged, setting up bets and scheming for Spirit Coins!”
“Yesss, I’m in the money! I bet they won’t make it through one round, oh yeah!”
“…”
The Puppet Warriors stood tall and imposing, each carrying a massive sword that seemed to glint ominously as they marched with military precision, making it impossible to find a weakness.
Fatty struggled to draw his sword and point it at them.
Lin Nan, pressed right against his back, could feel him trembling.
Lin Nan whispered to Fatty, “Don’t panic; think about what we’ve been practicing in the backyard these past few days.”
“Cutting carrots, that’s all we practiced, and these guys sure aren’t carrots; they won’t just let us chop off their heads!” Fatty was near tears.
It didn’t matter if he lost, but he was upset about those 150 Spirit Coins going to waste.
“Take a closer look at the structure of the Puppet Warriors.”
But as the Puppet Warriors drew nearer, Fatty’s cold sweat began pouring down again.
“d*mn it, let’s do this!”
Fatty raised his sword and charged at one of the Puppet Warriors, wildly swinging at it like a madman—a cacophony of clanging.
But the Puppet Warrior just stared blankly, and when Fatty finally ran out of breath, he was dismayed to see that not a single scratch had marked the surface of its armor.
“Holy cr*p, how tough are these things!”
Before he could finish his thoughts, the Puppet Warrior swung its massive sword toward him.
Luckily, its movements were somewhat sluggish, allowing Fatty to back away just in time to avoid the blade. But before he could steady himself, another Puppet Warrior lunged at him, its sword slicing through the air and smashing into the ground with a loud thud, creating a crater.
And things were just getting started.
The two Puppet Warriors fought as if they’d been trained as a duo since birth, their swords coming at Fatty one after the other, not giving him a moment to breathe.
If they hadn’t been somewhat stiff in their movements, he might already have been sliced in half and respawned at the starting point.
On the other side, Lin Nan was moving with far more agility than Fatty, gliding between the two Puppet Warriors’ swings as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.
However, he made no offensive moves, appearing powerless against the heavily armored foes.
Though Luo Ying wasn’t on-site, she was watching the Martial Arts Hall from her favorite pavilion, leaning against a rock while peering through her magical glasses.
The camera initially focused on the rolling Fatty. After watching for a while, she shook her head, clearly losing interest.
But when the camera swung toward Lin Nan, she let out a soft “oh.”
Ordinary players would struggle against just one Puppet Warrior, let alone Lin Nan holding his own between two for several minutes without taking a hit—got to say, the kid’s agility wasn’t so shabby.
But all of that would ultimately be futile.
Once the Puppet Warriors’ attack power reached a certain threshold, their gradual increase in strength would become a qualitative change, and at that point, no matter how nimble Lin Nan was, he wouldn’t escape their assault.
It felt like she could see the inevitable outcome, her interest waning as she lowered her magical glasses.
Even if she stumbled upon hidden quests, without sufficient strength to explore further, she wasn’t interested in starting from scratch to train them up again.
