The new abilities had been tested thoroughly, and it was time for him to return to the real world.
With a thought, Lin Ran withdrew from the spiritual consciousness space and returned to reality.
There was one more thing he needed to do.
Since Matt had made his intentions so clear, handing over the entire responsibility for the freshman challenge to them, Lin Ran certainly couldn't let him down.
This matter not only concerned the reputation and honor of Yan University, but it was also closely related to Lin Ran himself.
After all, as a top scorer in the college entrance examination, if he were to become weaker than others after months of training at a top-ranked university in Dragon Country, he would find it embarrassing.
Furthermore, after the battles in Black Dragon Abyss and Fulong Mountain Range, Lin Ran's reputation as a Dragon Country hero had become extremely prominent.
Lin Ran himself certainly did not want to tarnish this great title.
Since that was the case, he needed to start preparing immediately!
The competition would begin in about ten days.
If he waited until then to prepare, it would clearly be too late.
So, Lin Ran returned to the bedroom and, with a swift motion, pulled the quilt off Luo Qingyan, who was comfortably lounging in bed.
"Lazy bug! Get up!"
As he spoke, he also playfully slapped Luo Qingyan's cute backside, the sound both crisp and loud.
Luo Qingyan was almost infuriated by Lin Ran. Glancing at his smug expression, she ignored the revealing glimpse of her figure due to her disheveled state and leaped out of bed. Adopting a fierce tiger-pounce stance, she lunged straight at Lin Ran.
"You asked for it!"
Lin Ran chuckled, stomped his foot, and utilized the immense speed burst from his 'Shave' technique. In an instant, he pulled Luo Qingyan into his embrace.
Seeing how much faster Lin Ran had become, Luo Qingyan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You, you, you! How did you get so fast again?!"
"You weren't this fast when we practiced yesterday!"
"Secretly getting stronger again? You're going to wear yourself out!"
Lin Ran smiled without answering, looking at the beautiful woman in his arms.
After acquiring the Golden Dragon Martial Spirit, Lin Ran's muscle strength had undergone a qualitative leap, and his physical skills naturally improved accordingly.
Now, his burst speed could even overpower Luo Qingyan, who was known for her high-speed movement.
He felt that if Luo Qingyan wanted to keep up with him, she would at least need to activate her Holy Angel talent, max out her buffs, and spread her angelic wings, just to barely catch the tailwind of Lin Ran's speed.
However, Lin Ran had no intention of explaining this to Luo Qingyan. He simply sealed her lips with a kiss and tossed her back onto the bed.
"You ran into my arms yourself, so don't blame me..."
With that, he completely stripped Luo Qingyan.
...
Two hours later.
Luo Qingyan, while using holy magic to heal her aching body, playfully punched the satisfied-looking Lin Ran lying beside her.
For some reason, Lin Ran was incredibly vigorous today, as if he had taken drugs.
He kept turning and tossing, his strength fierce and intense, thoroughly exhausting her.
If Luo Qingyan hadn't had such excellent physical conditioning, she might have been completely overcome.
Lin Ran licked his lips with lingering delight.
He hadn't expected the Golden Dragon Martial Spirit to be so effective in this aspect as well.
Even though Luo Qingyan's combat power was nearing thirty thousand, just one step away from becoming a fourth-tier awakened one, she was still completely suppressed by his physical strength, unreasoningly and forcefully.
Moreover, with the dual enhancement of the Golden Dragon Martial Spirit and the Nature Spirit Body, Lin Ran's stamina recovery speed was also monstrously fast.
Looking at the blushing Luo Qingyan beside him, he gradually felt aroused again.
He felt like he could even go at it with Luo Qingyan all day without getting tired.
Luo Qingyan was immediately startled by Lin Ran's hot, intense, and unconcealed gaze.
Having been with Lin Ran for so long, she knew what such a look meant. She quickly rolled over and put on her clothes with all haste.
"No, no! Absolutely not!"
"If we do this a few more times, I'm going to be completely drained by you!"
"There are important matters to attend to! Important matters! Let's hurry and prepare for the exchange competition!"
Lin Ran pouted regretfully and also got dressed, rolling off the bed.
"Then let's go!"
"I played with you all morning, and now I'm hungry."
"It's exactly noon, let's grab something to eat, and in the afternoon, we'll pick out the team members."
"Although I feel that if you just give me all your buffs, I can single-handedly sweep the entire opposing team..."
"But that would be a bit too arrogant. Having some reserves won't hurt."
"At the very least, when we unleash our might, there will be people cheering us on, right?"
Luo Qingyan glanced at Lin Ran with a soft huff.
"Look at how arrogant you are..."
"I don't object to anything else, but when you say you played with me all morning, you're clearly spouting nonsense!"
"It was you who was incessantly thrusting like a terrier the whole time. I was passive from start to finish..."
"I didn't even get a chance to rest."
"And now that you've 'pulled up your pants,' you want to blame me?"
Lin Ran sighed regretfully.
"Actually, I didn't even want to pull up my pants..."
"Playing for a whole day, and then preparing for the freshman exchange competition tomorrow, was my original plan."
"Besides, you say you were passive, but your moans didn't really stop, did they?"
"Anyone hearing it would think you were the one initiating..."
Luo Qingyan's face turned as red as a blush.
"You, you, you, you! Shut up!"
"If you say any more of this nonsense to me, I'll start driving and throw you out of your seat!"
...
In the afternoon.
Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan quickly arrived at the conference room and obtained the latest information on this freshman exchange competition.
This freshman exchange competition was, as always, a grand event involving all the colleges.
The competition format was also the same as in previous years, consisting of individual matches, team matches, survival matches, and a mysterious grand competition that would be announced at the last minute each year.
Each event would carry a certain weight in terms of points, and the final college rankings for the freshman exchange competition would be determined by calculating these scores.
This year, each college was allowed to send only ten participants.
Generally, colleges would conduct internal competitions to select their participants, carefully considering all factors.
Of course, there were exceptions.
For instance, this year, Qingjing Yan Yun University had completely delegated the selection process to Lin Ran.
However, such an exception was unprecedented, not only in the history of Yan Yun University but also in the history of colleges across Dragon Country.