Another S Appears!

"Keep quiet. The assessment is about to begin!" The examiner's commanding presence choked back the retort Mu Bai had on the tip of his tongue, leaving him unable to speak.

Mu Bai shot Mo Fan a vicious glare.

Let the brat have his moment—once he got publicly expelled by the school, we'd see how cocky he stayed!

Old grievances resurfaced as Mu Bai clenched his fists, silently vowing to humiliate Mo Fan.

Once the students settled down, the school officials droned on for a bit.

Only then did the year-end assessment officially commence.

Unlike the End-of-Term Test, this one skipped theory and only tested magical cultivation.

The assessment had two parts.

The first involved touching a Star Sensing Stone, with the brightness of its glow determining the score.

Each student had three attempts, and the brightest result counted as the final grade.

The second part tested spellcasting, which was voluntary.

The first to test from Class Eight was a girl named He Yu.

She kept muttering that she'd bomb it, that her score would be pitifully low, and many kindly comforted her.

But when her hand touched the Star Sensing Stone, the glow spread across its entire surface.

The three examiners instantly gave their scores.

"A!"

"A!"

"A!"

Final grade: A—enough to enter the elite class!

"What the hell?"

"Are you kidding me?!" The crowd was dumbfounded.

This was scoring low? This was bombing it?

They never expected sweet, innocent He Yu to pull that whole "pretending to be weak" act.

Jiang Yuan had seen this coming.

Heh, just the disguise of the strong.

The assessment continued. He Yu skipped the spellcasting portion.

Zhang Xiaohou scored an A+.

Most students got Bs, Cs, or Ds, but that was enough to avoid expulsion.

Soon it was Mu Bai's turn. The Star Sensing Stone's glow earned him an S rating.

For the spellcasting part, his Beginner-level spell Ice Vine scored a B.

"Ningxue, how is it?" Mu Zhuoyun had brought Mu Ningxue along specially, hoping to let Mu Bai shine in front of her.

But Mu Ningxue didn't answer. Her gaze searched the crowd for Mo Fan.

Mu Bai was seething. He'd scored so high—why couldn't the young lady still notice him!

She was looking at that Mo Fan again!

Mu Bai stepped aside, thick with resentment.

Next up was Mo Fan.

During his own test, Mu Bai had tampered with the Star Sensing Stone, waiting for Mo Fan to take his turn.

Jiang Yuan stopped him. "Mo Fan, that Star Sensing Stone is off. When you go up, test it twice more."

Mo Fan gave Jiang Yuan a puzzled look, then nodded.

As soon as Mo Fan reached the Star Sensing Stone, the examiner said, "Place your hand on the stone."

Mo Fan extended his hand. The stone emitted a faint glow, slowly brightening.

It stopped at B.

"No way, how is that possible?" Mu Bai's eyes went wide. He wondered if he'd even placed the dark stone under the Star Sensing Stone.

How could the score be B?

With that result, Mo Fan didn't need anyone to tell him something was wrong.

He shouted, "I want a retest! Swap out this Star Sensing Stone!"

The examiner shook his head. "A retest is fine, but there's no need to change the stone."

"Swap the stone. That glow is wrong." A gentle voice cut in.

Tang Yue stepped forward, speaking firmly. "That Star Sensing Stone's glow is abnormal. If there's any irregularity during the test, as the instructor, I have the right to inspect the equipment!"

The Jiang Yuan below watched the brewing storm in silence, saying nothing.

This kind of minor ripple wouldn't cause much impact. The most important thing was the disaster two years from now.

Jiang Yuan's gaze shifted to Mu He, who stood behind Mu Zhuoyun.

No one would ever guess that he was the mastermind behind Bocheng's catastrophe, a Blue-robed Deacon of the Black Vatican.

While carrying out missions for the City Demon Hunting Squad, Jiang Yuan had destroyed some of the underground tunnels dug by the Giant-eyed Stinky Rats.

But it was a drop in the bucket, barely making a difference.

Because most of the Giant-eyed Stinky Rats moved through the sewers, and he couldn't just destroy the entire sewer system right now.

If he did, the city administrators wouldn't be hunting Giant-eyed Stinky Rats—they'd be hunting him, Jiang Yuan.

So he planned to wreck the entire sewer network right when the Bocheng disaster was about to hit.

"How did Mo Fan get such a high score?"

"Wasn't he the one who couldn't even control a single Star Particle last semester?"

"This is insane. The last-place guy is about to take first!"

A wave of exclamations snapped Jiang Yuan back to reality.

Mo Fan had already finished his assessment and scored the highest so far.

Jiang Yuan watched as Mu Zhuoyun called Mo Fan over, trying to recruit him.

But Mo Fan shot him down on the spot. Furious, Mu Zhuoyun made his adopted son Yu Ang challenge Mo Fan to a magical duel when they turned eighteen.

After laying into Mu Zhuoyun, Mo Fan felt a wave of relief and couldn't wait to run over to Jiang Yuan, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "Jiang Yuan, how did you know the Star Sensing Stone was rigged? That's insane!"

Jiang Yuan smiled and changed the subject. "Just call it intuition. You scored that high—are you gunning for first place?"

"Of course," Mo Fan grinned. "First place gets first dibs on the Stardust Magic Tool, and the longest time with it too. How could I not give it my all?"

"Brother Fan, you're too awesome!" Zhang Xiaohou said, full of admiration.

Mo Fan was the type who couldn't handle praise. His tail was already wagging high, and if they kept it up, he'd probably sprout wings and fly to the sky.

He couldn't suppress the grin spreading across his face and winked at Jiang Yuan. "Don't worry, Jiang Yuan. I told you before—stick with me and you'll eat well. Zhang Xiaohou and I have your back. No one dares mess with you now!"

Jiang Yuan smiled. "That sounds pretty good."

In a little while, he was going to give Mo Fan a real magical shock.

Without the Azure Dragon Pendant, the Stardust Magic Tool was far too important to him.

"Brother Yuan, you're up next," Zhang Xiaohou reminded him.

Mo Fan encouraged him, "Don't be nervous, buddy. Just score whatever you can. With me around, no one dares look down on you."

Jiang Yuan nodded and stepped forward for his assessment.

He walked up to the Star Sensing Stone, placed his hand on it, and began channeling his Stardust Magic Energy.

The light surged at a visible rate, and everyone's pupils dilated along with it.

"S!"

"Another S appeared!"

The crowd gasped.

"Do you want to continue the assessment?" the examiner asked.

Jiang Yuan smiled. "Of course. Please, teacher."

The examiner cleared some space for him to cast his magic.

"Water Guard!"

Jiang Yuan called out softly. The process of connecting the Star Track was incredibly smooth—even Mo Fan hadn't completed it this fast.

In an instant, water currents formed in the air, and a vast mist of water vapor spread out, bringing a refreshing coolness to the sweltering heat.

Though it wasn't as dazzling or powerful as Fire Seed or Thunder Mark, any examiner could see that Jiang Yuan had reached an extremely high level of proficiency with Beginner level magic—even some Intermediate mages couldn't match this level of skill!

Soon, the three examiners gave their scores.

"S!"

"S!"

"S!"

Final result: S!