"So it's actually a maze run?"

After listening to the introduction, Li Pu once again sized up his surroundings.

The white walls formed a sealed passage, and where he currently stood there were only two directions: forward and back.

Honestly, he felt this stage was actually pretty hard.

Forget everything else, there wasn't even the slightest clue where the exit was.

[Grass!]

Scarecrow: Summoner, are we gonna be trapped and die in here?!

[Eat eat eat!]

Bu Bu: Good thing there's food, tummy won't go hungry-hungry.

[Ho-bo, ho-bo ho-bo!]

Ugly Little Wolf: This dump is way too plain, don't even feel like peeing.

"Can we break it?"

Li Pu let them bicker while he reached out and felt the wall.

Playing a maze honestly was really not his style, it was tiring and annoying.

Since there was no shortcut, might as well try making his own.

So he activated [Hardening] on his left leg, and the three strands of power, [Willpower], fired up instantly.

Bang!

He kicked the wall.

The result was a bit unexpected. The wall didn't even twitch, and the recoil instead sent him rolling backwards.

Thud! Thud!

If it weren't for Scarecrow + Ugly Little Wolf cushioning him, without Hardening on his back he might've gotten hurt.

"What the hell, this thing is way too hard, right?"

He was a bit dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, in the prefab room, the two teachers were also chatting.

"All that aside, Director Nan's techniques really are unique."

"I tried to break the walls and look for shortcuts, only to find out the maze walls he made were ridiculously hard."

Xiao Hua recalled what it'd been like when he'd just entered Stage 5.

"That's for sure, Director Nan's virtual environments are famous."

"You only brought a single 4th-Advancement max-level summoned beast in there, so yeah, it'd be hard to do any real damage to his stuff."

The middle‑aged teacher nodded.

Back in the maze, after getting smacked down, Li Pu could only change tactics.

"Come on, come on, this is your time to shine."

He patted the Scarecrow's shoulder.

If he couldn't break the wall himself, then just get help.

For pure burst damage, the strongest hit still had to be from Scarecrow.

[Grass!]

Scarecrow: Finally it's Ben Cao's turn on stage!

Scarecrow threw its hands up and cheered, ready to let Li Pu know who the real main character of this monthly exam was.

So Li Pu took Ugly Little Wolf and Bu Bu and retreated a good distance to avoid friendly fire.

[Mmm mmm mmm… grass!]

After holding in its power, Scarecrow's body began to change.

In no time, Lala Grass made its grand return.

A massive upper‑body phantom appeared behind Scarecrow.

Because the maze passage was too narrow, they could only see the phantom's pale green, semi‑transparent waist.

But that didn't affect Scarecrow's operations; turning the phantom solid was all just a thought away.

Judging from his own kick just now, it was obvious that even a normal punch from [Godzilla's Power], even if it worked, would be limited at best.

So Li Pu directly had Scarecrow use [Snail Grass].

[Tssss~~~ao~~~~~]

Scarecrow slowly swung its fist, and the phantom behind it moved just as slowly.

Right as the phantom grass fist was about to touch the wall, it turned the fist solid.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

"..."

Even though he knew this skill was like that, Li Pu still felt his patience being drained.

[Eat eat eat eat!]

[Bo your damn bo!]

Bu Bu and Ugly Little Wolf stared wide‑eyed, looking all anxious and worked up.

Couldn't help it, this punch was just way too slow.

Finally, under everyone's expectant gazes, Scarecrow's Godzilla phantom fist landed on the wall. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Rumble!!!!

A violent shockwave instantly erupted.

"Did it work?"

Li Pu could see obvious cracks appear in the white wall, though they weren't that big.

But what made him feel he'd miscalculated was that he'd ignored how huge a shockwave [Godzilla Snail Grass] would cause in this environment.

It was like standing inside a giant bell and having someone smash it hard; then multiply that feeling by dozens of times—that was his current sensory experience.

Which meant the hardness of the maze walls was completely beyond imagination.

[Grass!]

Thud!

Scarecrow, which had been closest to the shock center, went straight down headfirst, dizzy from the blast.

"Got careless."

Li Pu had pretty much lost his hearing, and Bu Bu and Ugly Little Wolf looked even worse—blue liquid was seeping from all seven orifices, pained yet a bit dazed.

Judging by this scene, once they recovered, if Scarecrow dared throw another punch, they might rush it first.

His physique was stronger than Bu Bu and Ugly Little Wolf's, so his reaction was slightly weaker and slower.

After the ringing and deafness, he finally felt his head spin and his stomach churn like crazy.

His feet moved back involuntarily, taking a few shaky steps.

That last step felt off, like the floor sank under him.

"Hm?"

Before he could react to what was happening, that section of passage suddenly began to shift sideways at high speed...

"There's another extremely annoying thing about the maze Director Nan made."

"You can trigger mechanisms at any time and get sent somewhere else."

"One time I even got separated from my summoned beast because of that."

Xiao Hua took the cigarette from his colleague, lit it, and drew in deeply.

Just like he said, once Li Pu found his footing again, he discovered that there was now a wall between him and Scarecrow.

Only Bu Bu and Ugly Little Wolf were still by his side.

"What is even going on."

That left him a bit confused, and also made him more cautious.

Before triggering that mechanism just now, he hadn't noticed anything strange at all.

"You go through and take a look."

Li Pu could clearly sense where Scarecrow was, and wanted Ugly Little Wolf to use its Spiritual Essence Piercing Ability to phase through and check on it.

He pointed at the crack in the wall Scarecrow had hammered out earlier.

[Bo‑le ho‑bo!]

Ugly Little Wolf: Summoner, so you have times when you need Lord Wolf too!

It stuck out its tongue and wagged its tail, pretending to be all obedient and well‑behaved.

Then it charged at the wall and activated [Spiritual Essence].

Smack!

The next second, it splatted flat against the wall.

"It actually can't phase through?"

Li Pu was slightly shocked.

What kind of wall was this, that even Ugly Little Wolf couldn't penetrate it?

"Then what about blinking? Can it flash through?"

He immediately thought of flash‑type skills, which also had barrier‑bypassing properties.

"Give me—no, give it a cast."

Li Pu looked at Bu Bu and pointed at Ugly Little Wolf, still plastered to the wall.

[Eat and eat again!]

Bu Bu blinked its big eyes and made an OK sign.

Then its little short hands took out a [Ghost Step] light orb from its pouch and smashed it onto Ugly Little Wolf.

Smack!

Ugly Little Wolf splatted against the wall again.

[Bo‑le ho‑ho!]

It howled, both in pain and fury.

"Now this is weird."

Li Pu frowned and walked up to the crack.

The crack was only about half a finger wide, but through the broken surface of the wall he could see strange Talisman patterns inside.

"Xiao Xiao, are you saying that even [Blink] can't phase through the maze walls?"

The middle‑aged teacher lit himself a cigarette as well, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right, Director Nan's instance virtual environments are already at the level of godlike craftsmanship."

"You can't punch through the walls, and [Blink] can't blink through either."

Speaking of this, Xiao Hua still felt his cheeks sting a little.

"The essence of those walls should be a barrier."

"Director Nan is very skilled at making barriers."

"Plenty of schools have invited him to help build barriers."

"Putting together a mere monthly exam dungeon is nothing for him."

The middle‑aged teacher took a drag.

"That should be about right."

"Which means trying to cheese your way out of the maze is impossible."

"The only way is to honestly search for the path."

"So all things considered, I don't think this student has any chance of finishing with a total time under 30 minutes."

Xiao Hua smiled, expression confident.

...

...