"Xiao Bai, so many people... what on earth is going on?"
Lin Luoluo's voice trembled.
Bai Chen was just as bewildered. He said:
"Why are they looking at us like we're monsters? Am I really that scary-looking?
Wait, no. Aren't I in Slime form right now?"
Just then, Lin Luoluo spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Grandpa Town Chief?
Liu De stood at the front of the crowd, looking at her with excitement and relief.
The socially anxious girl hurriedly gave Liu De a discreet wave.
"Grandpa Town Chief!"
"What's going on? Why are so many people gathered here? Did... did something happen during the assessment?"
"Luoluo, don't be afraid."
Liu De's voice wavered with excitement, but he tried to calm himself.
He walked up to Lin Luoluo and explained the situation as quickly as he could to the girl, who was still in the dark:
"Luoluo, something happened during your assessment that none of us expected."
"The assessment system malfunctioned, and the difficulty was raised to an extremely high level. It was already far beyond the scope of a normal First Tier Contract Spirit Master assessment!"
There was no overt evidence that the Jiang Family was responsible, so Liu De did not dare say much about it openly.
Liu De took a deep breath and continued:
"Chu Feng and Hu Yue'er, who went in with the same batch as you, were emergency-teleported out less than ten minutes after the assessment began because their injuries were too severe.
"Especially Chu Feng. His Contract Spirit... died on the spot in the assessment space."
Lin Luoluo and Bai Chen were both shocked.
Chu Feng's Contract Spirit died?
Lin Luoluo's face was full of shock.
Bai Chen, however, snorted coldly, not surprised in the least. That was no accident; it was the inevitable result of Jiang Ruoxue's plan!
If she had targeted only the two of them, it would have been far too obvious, so Jiang Ruoxue had to drag a few others down with them.
To target him and Luoluo, she had no regard whatsoever for the lives of others!
"At the time, we turned on the assessment room's live feed in the hall. Everyone saw your Contract Spirit gravely wounded by that mutant Crystal Scorpion King's Life Skill. His body was pierced right through...
"At that moment, all of us thought you..."
Liu De did not finish, but his meaning was self-evident.
Everyone had thought she would end up like Chu Feng, or even worse.
He paused for a moment, the lingering fear on his face giving way to immense relief and excitement:
"But! Thank goodness you came out safely!
"Not only did you come out safely, you also got... got a final rating of 3S!"
"A 3S rating, Luoluo! Do you know what that means?!"
Liu De's voice rose considerably, and his face flushed red with excitement.
"I was especially worried about you too, but I almost forgot that you possess an S-Rank talent!
"Every S-Rank talent has the mighty power to turn the rotten into the miraculous!
"Although it's only one rank higher than A-Rank on paper, its actual strength is far more than a little greater. It seems you've completely mastered your talent and learned how to use it!"
At this point, Liu De cast a pointed glance at the deathly pale Jiang Ruoxue in the crowd. Anyone could hear the veiled mockery in his words.
After all, everyone knew Jiang Ruoxue had an A-Rank talent.
"Normally, someone who can get an S-Rank rating is already a genius found one in ten thousand.
"But a 3S rating, a legendary grade like that, is extremely rare even in the Upper City, where resources are countless! Luoluo, you've truly soared into the sky in a single bound this time!
"I reckon the news will spread throughout the entire Underground City in a matter of minutes. Before long, plenty of major powers and top Mining Teams will be breaking their heads to invite you! Luoluo, you can take your time choosing from them!"
After hearing Liu De's detailed explanation, Bai Chen and Lin Luoluo finally understood what the wall of people at the entrance was all about.
So they weren't looking at a monster, but at a... genius who had appeared out of nowhere?
"Xiao Luoluo, did you hear that? We actually got a 3S rating!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This time we really slapped Jiang Ruoxue's face to pieces!"
Bai Chen's voice was full of schadenfreude.
"Huh? I see Jiang Ruoxue, right there in the crowd!
"Hahahaha, look at her face! It's as black as the bottom of a pot. I'm dying laughing!"
"And that Chu Feng—his Contract Spirit died? Tsk, tsk, tsk, he really tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it.
"Who would have thought that poisonous woman Jiang Ruoxue would accidentally help us vent our anger!"
Bai Chen teased her in her mind, clicking his tongue in amazement and in an exceptionally good mood.
Lin Luoluo herself, meanwhile, was completely immersed in this sudden, dreamlike happiness. Her mind had gone blank.
Even now, she had not fully recovered her senses.
Her original plan had only been to scrape through the assessment and obtain certification as a Contract Spirit Master.
Then she would find a way to join some small, third-rate Mining Team. If she could earn enough each month to cover food and medical expenses for herself and her younger sister Chuchu, she would have been perfectly content.
But now...
Town Chief Liu said she had gotten a 3S rating.
And many, many powerful organizations would compete to recruit her!
This was a scene the old Lin Luoluo would never have dared imagine, even in her dreams.
As far as she was concerned, it was all thanks to Xiao Bai.
It was Xiao Bai who had given her a new life!
Just as her emotions were surging, Bai Chen's calm voice sounded in her mind once more.
"Xiao Luoluo, listen. This is the most important secret between us."
"If anyone asks later and wants to know how we got a 3S rating, give all the credit to your talent.
"Tell them I'm just a Slime that happened to undergo a beneficial mutation, and that I'm not strong on my own.
"If not for your S-Rank talent, I could never have unleashed that kind of power."
"Xiao Bai..." Lin Luoluo was taken aback.
She was not stupid. Of course she knew that was not how things were.
Although her talent, [Ten Thousand Arts Sovereign], was indeed powerful and ensured that any Life Skill she comprehended would be S-Rank, that was not the whole story.
Even among S-Rank Life Skills, there were differences as vast as heaven and earth. Their ultimate power was inextricably linked to the strength and potential of the Contract Spirit itself.
If she had truly contracted an ordinary C-Rank Slime as her Contract Spirit, then even with the boost from her talent, there was absolutely no way it could have dealt with that powerful Crystal Scorpion King so easily.
Not to mention the even more terrifying Cave Crystal Scorpion that came afterward, its body the size of a small mountain. Xiao Bai had transformed into his throne form and crushed it with ease as well.
Lin Luoluo had long since guessed that Xiao Bai's true race could not be something as simple as a Slime.
He had to be hiding some enormous secret.
But since Xiao Bai did not want to reveal his identity, she would do everything she could to cooperate with him and protect his secret.
It was the only thing she could do for him.
So Lin Luoluo nodded emphatically in her heart without the slightest hesitation.
At that moment, the onlookers who had finished listening to Town Chief Liu De's explanation erupted into an uproar once again.
"Heavens! So it wasn't a malfunctioning instrument!
"This young lady actually has an S-Rank talent!
"My God, when was the last time an S-Rank talent appeared in our Lower City? It must have been more than ten years ago!"
"No wonder!
"No wonder she was able to get a heaven-defying 3S rating with a Slime that's universally acknowledged as trash! Her talent must be among the very best even within S-Rank!"
"She's really ascended to heaven in a single step! I can't even begin to envy her, I really can't!
"Tell me, do you think those top major powers might have a way to heal her legs?
"If they can really heal her, this young lady's future will be limitless!"
"It's just a shame that this Slime limits her development too. I reckon she'll be confined to our Lower City at best.
"She wouldn't even need an S-Rank Contract Spirit. Even with just an A-Rank one, this girl could probably shine brilliantly in the Upper City!"
Wave after wave of amazed exclamations rose from the crowd.
Meanwhile, a commotion and a jumble of footsteps suddenly came from outside the assessment hall.
"Out of the way! Move!"
A brutish force shoved the crowd aside, and a group of burly men barged in. They wore matching dark red combat uniforms and carried a heavy stench of blood.
Their leader was a one-eyed man, and his remaining eye swept over the hall like a hawk's.
"Where's the genius who got the SSS rating? We're the Blood-colored Mining Team! We've come especially to invite her to join us!"