Dead silence!
Utter silence!
Nearly several thousand students stood at the edge of the city.
Among them were people from guilds, corporations, and various departments.
Everyone wore expressions of shock and disbelief.
The Grand Exam rankings could be said to represent Cloud Sea City's list of the most promising geniuses.
Naturally, they drew a great deal of attention.
And yet now...
Qin Zhixue was ranked first, an SS-Rank class. That was only to be expected.
But tell me, what was going on with the person in second place?
A C-Rank Shield Guard, level 3?
Whose C-Rank Class Changer could level up twice on the very first day?
Did that make any sense?
"Who's Chen Ming?"
"A C-Rank Shield Guard in second place? That's ridiculous."
"It's Qin Zhixue. I just saw Chen Ming return from outside the city with her."
"That's right. Their information even shows they're in the same party."
"Damn it! The thing I was most worried about really happened. Qin Zhixue actually helped Chen Ming level up."
Everyone chimed in with their own opinions.
In previous years, there had never been a C-Rank Class Changer in the top hundred.
This year, one had taken second place outright, behind only Qin Zhixue.
At this point, a few people stepped forward to say that Qin Zhixue hadn't partied up with Chen Ming to level.
They had seen with their own eyes that Chen Ming had gone to the Breeze Jungle.
Meanwhile, Qin Zhixue had headed to the Dawn Cliff area with another young woman.
But those voices were soon drowned out.
"Miss, how did he do it?"
Elsewhere, Qin Zhixue was just as surprised as she looked at the published rankings.
The young woman behind her stared at the list, stunned.
Other people might not know, but she did.
Chen Ming hadn't partied up with Qin Zhixue at all.
He had gone out to grind alone.
A C-Rank Shield Guard had gone solo in the wilderness and reached level 3 on the first day.
If word got out, no one would believe it.
"I don't know either," Qin Zhixue said softly.
Even with all her knowledge, she couldn't figure out how Chen Ming had done it.
On the way back, after she'd explained mental potential and the Grand Exam rankings to him, Chen Ming had still politely declined her offer.
She had been a little disappointed, thinking he was letting himself go.
After all, she'd meant well. She had wanted to give him a hand during the Grand Exam.
Now it seemed she'd worried for nothing.
Even without her help,
Chen Ming could still reach level 10 during the month-long Grand Exam.
"But at least I'm still in third place."
The young woman patted her chest and let out a relieved breath.
She was Lin Wei, the third-ranked competitor and an A-Rank Contractor!
Everyone was discussing how Chen Ming and Qin Zhixue had partied up, unaware that she was the one who had teamed up with Qin Zhixue to level.
Elsewhere.
"Holy crap, Brother Chen, you weren't lying?"
Sun Yang's eyes were wide as he checked the rankings again and again.
He'd already worked out how to convince Chen Ming to face reality and stop indulging in fantasies.
Then Chen Ming had appeared in second place right before his eyes!
Turns out, he was the one lost in a fantasy.
You really were still Brother Chen!
"I told you, but you didn't believe me. You thought I was messing with you."
Chen Ming retorted helplessly.
Then he looked at the panel, anticipation in his eyes.
Qin Zhixue had said the Grand Exam rewards might include rare mental-type resources.
[Ranking Rewards: 10 gold coins, 2 Tier 1 Rare Equipment (choose attributes and type), 2 Equipment Enchantment Books (choose type), Rare Resource (choose type)]
No wonder these were the highest-tier ranking rewards. He was getting 10 gold coins right off the bat.
Chen Ming's eyes lit up as he looked at the rewards.
"Two pieces of rare equipment, my choice. Perfect."
Without hesitation, Chen Ming chose a vitality item and an agility item.
Whoosh—
A flash of white light appeared before him.
Two pieces of equipment materialized in front of him.
[Shadowless Armor, vitality +750!]
[Feather Boots, agility +15!]
He didn't rush to equip them, instead turning his attention back to the reward list.
Equipment Enchantment Books were crafted by Enchanters, a special class.
Their purpose was self-evident: they granted equipment special abilities.
Armor Piercing, Accuracy, expanded elemental damage range, control effects, and so on.
These things were so rare they couldn't be bought even if you had the money. They were hard to find on the market.
Chen Ming began browsing the options.
[Tier 1 Armor-Piercing Enchantment Book: For Strength equipment. Passive ability. The wearer's attacks gain a 5% armor-piercing effect!]
[Tier 1 Accuracy Enchantment Book...]
[Tier 1 Fire Range Enchantment Book: For Strength equipment. Passive ability. The range of the wearer's fire attacks increases by 20!]
Chen Ming looked through the effects of the various enchantment books.
For a moment, he couldn't decide.
"Damn, I want them all."
Aside from the books tied to specific elements, all these abilities looked pretty useful.
"Forget it. I can get more tomorrow anyway."
Chen Ming stopped agonizing over the choice and picked the enchantment books for vitality and agility equipment.
They'd fit perfectly on his new gear.
He had originally wanted Armor Piercing.
But the long blade was only common equipment, so using an enchantment book on it would be a bit of a waste.
[Tier 1 Haste Enchantment Book: For Agility equipment. Active ability. The wearer's agility increases by 100% for one minute! Cooldown: one hour.]
[Tier 1 Stealth Enchantment Book: For Vitality equipment. Active ability. Conceals the wearer's whereabouts.]
Stealth paired with Haste.
A perfect way to launch a sneak attack!
After equipping the gear, Chen Ming checked his current attributes.
[Strength]: 35 [Vitality]: 1900/2550 (20%) [Recovery]: 169 (13%) [Agility]: 45 [Spirit]: 357 (19%)
"My vitality's reached 2,500."
His locked-HP limit had increased again!
Then he looked at the final reward.
The most important reward of all: the rare resource.
"Brother Chen, what kinds of rare resources are there? Are they all things with really impressive-sounding names?"
Sun Yang asked impatiently from beside him.
Rare resources were what every Class Changer valued most.
After all, they were tied to the most important thing a Class Changer had: their skills.
"Not bad, I guess."
As he spoke, Chen Ming examined the rare resources available to choose from.
[Earth Essence Stone: vitality-type material]
[Wood Spirit Ganoderma: recovery-type material]
[Emerald Cloud Fruit: strength-type material]
[...]
Chen Ming scanned through the items one by one.
Almost none of them had any descriptions, so it was impossible to judge their value.
Rare resources were essentially things containing attribute energy, so they were generally only distinguished by attribute type.
Apparently, the only way to judge their value was to see how well they suited the individual.
"Found it!"
Chen Ming's eyes lit up. At last, he saw the thing he wanted at the bottom of the list.
[Mind Crystal: mental-type material]
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