"Remember to change your clothes early."
Chen Ming and Qin Zhixue parted ways.
He was teased once more.
Chen Ming smiled silently, planning to go buy some Constitution gear in a bit.
But when everyone saw the scene, it caused quite a stir.
"Isn't that Chen Ming? Why did he come back with Qin Zhixue?"
"What he's wearing... is that a 'Feather Garment' that an Angel-type class gives to their teammates? Holy crap, are they on the same team?"
"Some people were saying this morning that Qin Zhixue was teaming up with Chen Ming. Could it actually be true?"
"Look at them laughing and chatting together. The rumor's probably true!"
"I thought Qin Zhixue would team up with Song Chuan. But she actually chose a C-rank?"
"I'm a C-rank Shield Guard too. Why not me? No, I'm going to put myself forward."
"Forget it. She probably wouldn't even give you the time of day."
"..."
Meanwhile.
Chen Ming arrived at the guild entrance and ran into Sun Yang as he came out.
"Brother Chen!"
The moment Sun Yang saw him, he ran over excitedly.
When he saw Chen Ming wearing a radiant Feather Garment, a look of surprise crossed his face.
"Whoa, what kind of gear is that? You look so cool!"
Sun Yang had just sold some beast cores at the guild and had no idea what had happened outside.
"Heh heh, Brother Chen, I made it to level 2 today. Pretty impressive, right?"
Sun Yang sounded quite pleased with himself.
As an assassin-class Shadow-Hiding Blade, he could level up fairly quickly in the early stages.
"Very impressive." Chen Ming nodded calmly.
"What level are you, Brother Chen?"
"Level 3."
Sun Yang's mouth twitched. His first reaction was that it couldn't be possible.
Even an S-rank class couldn't reach level 3 on the first day, let alone...
"You don't have to joke around with me, Brother Chen. You didn't really go out to fight monsters alone, did you?"
Sun Yang hesitated.
At first, he'd only suspected it. Now he genuinely wondered whether Chen Ming had been so shaken that he'd lost his senses.
Just then, the surrounding crowd erupted in a chorus of exclamations.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
"The first-day rankings are out!"
Chen Ming opened his personal panel and entered the Grand Exam dungeon interface.
[First-day Grand Exam results are being calculated!] [Range: Cloud Sea City!] [Number of people who reached level 2 on the first day: 191!] [Number of people who reached level 3 on the first day: 2!]
The few lines of text sent everyone present into a frenzy.
"Damn, are this year's Class Changers that strong? Nearly two hundred people leveled up on the first day. How are the rest of us, still at level 1, supposed to compete?"
"There are two people at level 3? What's going on? Last year there wasn't a single one."
"Weren't there supposed to be no SS-Rank Class-Changers at the other schools in Cloud Sea City? Which S-rank powerhouse managed to level up twice in one day?"
[The first-day level rankings and corresponding rewards will now be announced!] [Rewards are divided into five tiers: 'Top 100,' 'Top 50,' 'Top 10,' 'Top 5,' and 'Top 3'!] [Reminder: When levels are tied, the person who leveled up first will rank higher!]
"Here it comes!"
Every Class Changer who had made it to level 2 stared intently at their panels, hoping to see their names proudly listed.
Sun Yang was among them, naturally.
[Rank 51: Yu Fei (Lv. 2) - A-Rank Golden Knight] [...] [Rank 99: Sun Yang (Lv. 2) - B-Rank Shadow-Hiding Blade] [Rank 100: Chen Zhijian (Lv. 2) - B-Rank Berserker] [Ranking reward: Gold * 1, Tier-1 Common Gear * 1 (Attribute Rune +10, type of your choice)]
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"Hell yeah!"
Before Chen Ming could take a closer look, an excited monkey-like yell rang out beside him.
"I did it! Brother Chen, I made the rankings! Rank 99, by the skin of my teeth! Hahaha!"
Chen Ming rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Is it really worth getting this excited? You'd think you'd never made a ranking before."
Sun Yang couldn't contain his grin.
"Brother Chen, you wouldn't understand how this feels. You're a genius. Maybe making the rankings is already routine for you."
"But for an ordinary guy like me, making the rankings for the first time—and for the Grand Exam, no less—is something I can brag about for a whole year."
Chen Ming paused, not expecting Sun Yang to see it that way.
He clapped Sun Yang on the shoulder. "I'll take you up the dungeon rankings later. You'll get used to it."
"The dungeon rankings..."
Sun Yang choked on his words and didn't respond.
The dungeon rankings covered the whole of Jiangnan Province. It wasn't something you could just make.
He was already perfectly satisfied with making the level rankings.
[Rank 11: Jiang Yi (Lv. 2) - A-Rank Tide Mage] [...]
As the rankings were gradually announced, the crowd buzzed with discussion.
When Jiang Yi saw that she hadn't made the top ten, her face went pale.
"How could this happen..."
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
She'd expected to comfortably place in the top ten, and possibly even the top five.
After all, she'd leveled up alongside Song Chuan. She should have been faster than the other A-rank Class Changers.
"Don't be discouraged. There's not much difference between people on the first day. Unexpected things can happen."
Song Chuan offered an awkward word of comfort beside her.
He'd promised Jiang Yi he'd get her into the top ten.
He'd even accepted some benefits for it, but now she'd ended up in eleventh place.
But when Song Chuan turned back to the rankings, he froze on the spot.
[Rank 6: Song Chuan (Lv. 2) - S-Rank War Soul Vanguard] [...]
"This... this can't be!"
Song Chuan's face darkened in an instant.
How could he possibly be ranked sixth?
At that moment, quite a few people looked over at him with strange expressions.
"What's going on? Song Chuan is only sixth? Isn't he S-rank?"
"He didn't even make the top five. What kind of powerhouses are the five above him?"
The rewards varied enormously between tiers.
The top-five tier even offered rare resources!
Song Chuan was an S-rank Class Changer, yet he'd placed sixth. The result was completely beyond everyone's expectations.
The scene fell strangely quiet.
Everyone stared intently as the final two tiers of the rankings were announced, eager to see who had trampled S-rank Song Chuan underfoot.
[Rank 4: Wang Yan (Lv. 2) - S-Rank Abyss Mage - Abyss Squad] [Rank 5: Wu Qingyang (Lv. 2) - S-Rank Light Priest - Abyss Squad]
"They're the two S-rank Class Changers from Third High and Fifth High! They formed a team!"
Cloud Sea City had three S-rank Class Changers this year.
Besides Song Chuan, there were the two from the other schools.
A Mage and a Priest made an exceptionally powerful combination.
It made sense that they'd outpaced Song Chuan.
But then again...
Wasn't that even more bizarre?
How could such a powerful S-rank duo fail to claim second and third place?
Besides Qin Zhixue, were there two other experts?
Finally, under the watchful eyes of countless people, the final tier of rankings appeared.
[Rank 1: Qin Zhixue (Lv. 3) - SS-Rank Holy Radiance Angel - Morning Light Squad] [Rank 2: Chen Ming (Lv. 3) - C-Rank Shield Guard - Morning Light Squad] [Rank 3: Lin Wei (Lv. 2) - A-Rank Contractor]
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