Ranking

The next day at noon.

Ji Yun's number was even, so he wouldn't enter the Wilderness Zone to hunt monsters until the following day. Therefore, he planned to use his one chance today. After all, aside from the Gravity Room, there was nothing else in the Training Camp that could help him improve his strength.

On the ninth floor of the Nine-Fold Tower, a few foreign students were sparring.

"Huh? Are you Ji Yun?" one of the students asked. He had also been there to witness Shi Jiang and Christine's bet.

"Yes."

"Looks like you're going to use your chance today. Good luck," the young foreigner said amiably. After all, students who had entered through the external selection process were usually quite talented and strong, so they were clearly worth befriending.

Ji Yun nodded with a smile and headed for the Trial Room. It scanned him and confirmed his identity.

Ji Yun lay down on the sofa and picked up the Deep Blue Helmet beside him. Under the light, the "helmet" of the Consciousness Sensor refracted a dazzling deep blue glow.

"Let's get started. I want to see just how difficult this Trial Tower is."

The boundless silver land stretched beneath a sky filled with endless stars.

Name: Ji Yun

Gender: Male

Identity: Official student of the Elite Training Camp

Trial Tower Level: 1.6

Without another word, Ji Yun changed into his Combat Suit and walked straight into the black hole.

It was the same vast, desolate grassland.

"Ji Yun." The electronic voice echoed across the grassland. "You have completed the first layer's B-stage trial. Your next trial is stage C. Your objective is to kill 200 Reckless Bulls within 50 minutes. Of these 200 monsters, 190 are Elementary Beast General Level and 10 are Mid-Level Beast General. Good luck!"

Whoosh! In an instant, a massive herd of two hundred Reckless Bulls appeared on the grassland. Among them were several enormous bulls with fiery red horns.

"Moo!"

The roar of more than a hundred Reckless Bulls rolled in from afar. The earth trembled. Led by ten Mid-Level Beast General Reckless Bulls, the herd charged at Ji Yun like a roaring tide! With his Low-Level War General physique, a single direct hit would probably be enough to leave him unable to fight, and the stampeding herd would trample him into a pulp.

Ji Yun smiled faintly and charged against the tide, spear in hand. In an instant, he plunged into the herd.

******

Outside, several people who knew Ji Yun fairly well were watching for changes in his ranking.

Jiang Chuan, Jiang Fang, and Shi Jiang, who had once wished Ji Yun luck in his assessment, were among the first to wait for him on the ninth floor of the Nine-Fold Tower.

"Teacher Jiang Fang, how far do you think Ji Yun will get?" Shi Jiang asked. He was very curious about Ji Yun's strength.

"Yeah, Auntie. After you tested Ji Yun yesterday, I asked you about his strength, but you wouldn't tell me how strong he was." Jiang Chuan was clearly curious about Ji Yun's level too. After all, most newcomers only made breakthroughs after enjoying the Training Camp's cultivation facilities.

Jiang Fang smiled without answering. She simply said, "Just keep an eye on the rankings."

Seeing that Jiang Fang was keeping them in suspense, Jiang Chuan and Shi Jiang had nothing more to say. They each fixed their eyes on the changing rankings.

Clearly, Ji Yun was still in last place—No. 182.

In the virtual space.

Ji Yun stood amid a heap of Reckless Bull corpses, smiling.

"Time: 13 minutes and 18 seconds. You killed 190 Elementary Beast General Level Reckless Bulls and 10 Mid-Level Beast General Reckless Bulls. Stage C cleared. You have passed the first layer of the Trial Tower. Congratulations, student Ji Yun." The electronic voice rang out. A flash of light swept across the grassland, which vanished completely. The boundless world around him became a desert!

Sand dunes rose and fell across the desert. The terrain was entirely different.

Each layer of the Trial Tower had three stages: A, B, and C. For example, completing stage A of the second layer gave a rating of 2.3; completing stage B gave a rating of 2.6; and completing stage C gave a rating of 3.0.

"Ji Yun, congratulations on completing the first layer's trial. Next is stage A of the second layer. Your objective is to kill 50 Elementary Beast General Level Iron-Armored Scorpions within 10 minutes. Good luck." The electronic voice echoed over the desert.

"Iron-Armored Scorpions?" Ji Yun muttered.

"I've never encountered this kind of monster. I'll have to be careful. Scorpions are usually poisonous, so getting poisoned could be troublesome."

"Shuk, shuk."

Suddenly, dark red scorpions crawled up out of the endless desert. Clearly, they could burrow through the sand with ease. Each had a dark red shell and a long, pitch-black stinger. No one could doubt the deadly poison in their tails.

******

"It changed!"

Jiang Chuan suddenly cried out.

"What's it at now? Let me see too." Shi Jiang, who had been talking with Jiang Fang, was startled.

"He went from No. 182 to No. 104."

"So fast!" Shi Jiang checked the updated rankings too, and was astonished.

In his view, Ji Yun had the ability to break into the top one hundred in his very first month!

"For a newcomer to break into the top one hundred in their first month has only happened five times in the history of our Training Camp. Those five were all peerless geniuses. The earliest was twenty years ago. Four of them have already become High-Level War Gods. One even surpassed the War God level."

Jiang Fang searched through the records. She had high hopes for Ji Yun, and she felt he was capable of much more than No. 104. Given the level he had displayed, breaking into the top five wouldn't even be a problem.

Inside the Trial Tower.

Ji Yun had been nicked by an Iron-Armored Scorpion, leaving a small cut that stung.

"Phew."

"I really did fall for it." The back of Ji Yun's left hand had been opened by a small cut. Facing creatures like Iron-Armored Scorpions for the first time had proved tricky. The scorpions could all hide in the sand and launch surprise attacks. Although Ji Yun could block them, he wasn't familiar with their attack patterns, and they had caught him off guard.

"Time: 2 minutes and 15 seconds. All 50 Iron-Armored Scorpions have been killed. Stage A of the second layer cleared! Congratulations, student Ji Yun." The emotionless electronic voice echoed over the desert.

Immediately afterward, Ji Yun's body returned to normal, and the corpses around him disappeared.

"Ji Yun, congratulations on completing stage A of the second layer. Next is stage B. Your objective is to kill 90 Elementary Beast General Level Iron-Armored Scorpions and 10 Mid-Level Beast General Iron-Armored Scorpions within 50 minutes. Good luck." The electronic voice echoed over the desert.

Ji Yun soon plunged into the hunt again.

As he adapted to the Iron-Armored Scorpions' attacks, he quickly cleared stage B, and then stage C as well. He advanced straight to the third layer.

******

"Good heavens, he's shot up to No. 71!" Jiang Chuan cried out again.

"Teacher Jiang Fang, give us a hint. How high do you think Ji Yun can rank?" Shi Jiang asked with a rueful smile. Reaching No. 71 on his first day at the Training Camp—and possibly climbing even higher—was astonishing, even if Shi Jiang thought it unlikely that he could keep rising.

Jiang Fang smiled without a word and held up a number to Shi Jiang.

"The top fifty?" Shi Jiang exclaimed. Breaking into the top one hundred wasn't enough—she thought he could make the top fifty too!

"It changed again!"

On the Black Dragon Ranking, Ji Yun's name leaped to No. 43. The student immediately below him was a young man named Candice.

At a residence in the Elite Training Camp.

"Huh? Why have I been pushed below someone I don't even know?" Candice was puzzled. He looked up information on Ji Yun, but the moment he did, he shot to his feet in shock.

"How is this possible? He made it to No. 43 on his first day in the camp. That's the kind of level only an experienced War God could reach, but War Gods graduate long ago! No, that can't be right." Candice paced back and forth around his room.

Beneath the night sky, the names etched into the scales of the nearly twenty-story Black Dragon Sculpture were crystal clear.

Ever since Ji Yun's ranking jumped to No. 104, students and teachers had been coming to watch his rank and gather information about him.

Now, nearly a hundred students beneath the enormous Black Dragon Sculpture, along with several War God instructors, stared in shock at the name: "NO.43 Ji Yun (570218)." After looking up his information, they all knew Ji Yun was a newcomer. For a newcomer to reach No. 43 was almost unthinkable!

Half an hour later.

The crowd was so astonished they could barely close their mouths. Ji Yun's name had shot up to a position that left them dumbfounded.

"NO.1 Renatus & Bridge (530321)"

"NO.2 Ji Yun (570218)"

"Second? Second?" The students and War God instructors who heard the news were stunned. A newcomer who had just enrolled had climbed to second place—and he hadn't even hunted monsters to earn merit points! He had reached second place already!

"This is huge!"

Even the calmest people were shaken by this ranking. Second place alone was shocking, but reaching it on his very first day meant that his strength inside the Trial Tower already surpassed every student in the camp—and even most of the instructors!

Chu Qiang had held second place for a full month. The rankings had mostly been contested by the same few people in the top five. But now, a newcomer had climbed to second. That meant he was sure to hold first place in the future!

If he stayed there for nine consecutive months, Hong or Thor would take him as a disciple!

*****

Ji Yun walked out of the room and saw Jiang Chuan, Shi Jiang, and his instructor, Jiang Fang, waiting outside.

"Ji Yun, you really surprised us."

They had every reason to say that. No student had ever possessed Conception Level Spear Path and footwork while their physical fitness was still only at the Mid-Level War General level. Fighting monsters far stronger than himself so often, and even enduring the oceanic beast tide, had given Ji Yun a much deeper understanding of his Spear Path.

In fact, the moment Ji Yun charged into the oceanic beast horde, his Spear Path had already reached Unity of Heaven and Man.

It was fair to say that no student or instructor in the entire Training Camp had a stronger Spear Path than him. Ji Yun was even confident he could sit down and discuss the allure of the Spear Path with Chen Qingzhi, the Invincible War God and creator of Fierce Wind.

In the virtual space.

Inside a vast conference hall, the floor, walls, and enormous round table were all silver! Only the six chairs were pure black, as if they could swallow everything. At that moment, seated around the silver table...

Five of the chairs were occupied by people in white robes.

Of the five white-robed figures, three were Huaxians, one was white, and one was Black.

"Everyone, you've all heard of Ji Yun, the student who ranked second on his first day at the Training Camp, haven't you?"

"His Trial Tower level is 4.5, and his punch force level is 3.2. That means his Combat Power Amplitude is 14.4. He's truly a genius," said one of the white-robed Huaxians. A score from 1 to 2 was low, 2 to 4 was medium, and 4 to 8 was high. From 8 to 16 was exceptional.

"Inspector Knight, I remember you only made it through the fifth layer after surpassing the War God level, right? Besides, Ji Yun's punch force level doesn't seem to match his Trial Tower result at all. Who would have thought he could reach 4.5 with a force level of only 3.2?"

The white-robed Black man nodded. "He hasn't hunted a single monster. His Combat Power Amplitude is 14.4, which is already edging beyond the High-Level War God level. And he's only eighteen. His force level of 3.2 may not be especially high by comparison, but it's still very impressive."

An electronic voice suddenly rang out. "Everyone, the Dojo Master's instructions are to give him the best possible treatment in every respect. Also, Inspector Wang, please arrange for the Dojo Master to meet with student Ji Yun."