Those words immediately drew a chorus of disagreement.
Yesterday, Qin Zhixue had been leading the team. Today was different. How could he possibly have reached Level 5?
"Don't make me laugh. Chen Ming went to Breeze Jungle alone—we all saw it with our own eyes. You could barely find a single Level 3 exotic beast in that safe zone, and you expect him to reach Level 5?"
Everyone nodded again and again.
They decided to stop paying attention to Chen Ming.
Without Qin Zhixue, Chen Ming was just an ordinary person.
People's attention soon returned to the rankings.
[51st: Yu Fei (Lv. 2) - A-Rank Golden Knight] [...] [99th: Sun Yang (Lv. 2) - B-Rank Shadow-Hiding Blade] [100th: Chen Zhijian (Lv. 2) - B-Rank Berserker]
"Why hasn't anything changed?" someone asked in confusion.
Someone explained, "The rankings are determined by how long it takes to level up. Only fifteen people reached Level 3 today, so the rankings from 15th to 100th naturally haven't changed."
"Feels great—two days of rewards in a row."
"The top fifteen are the ones who should have changed."
Soon, the rankings were announced one after another.
[6th: Song Chuan (Lv. 4) - S-Rank War Soul Vanguard] [7th: Wang Teng (Lv. 4) - A-Rank Son of Earth] [...] [15th...]
"No way. Song Chuan's sixth again?"
"Holy crap, he's Level 4 and only ranked sixth!"
"Are they freaking serious?!"
In the Grand Exams of the previous two years, reaching Level 4 by the second day would have been enough to take first place!
But in this year's exam, he'd gone straight to sixth.
Were this year's participants all monsters?
Every one of them was a prodigy, leveling up this fast?
"As an S-Rank Class Changer, he should've gotten the best rewards. Instead, he's been stuck in sixth place for two days."
"That's rough. I wouldn't be able to accept it."
Quite a few people cast sympathetic looks toward Song Chuan, who had just walked out from the entrance of a group's compound.
At the same time, Song Chuan saw his own ranking.
His face fell.
He'd worked himself to the bone leveling up today, thinking that reaching Level 4 would secure him a spot in the top five.
But he'd only managed to stay where he was?
"Wait..."
"Why does this feel so familiar?"
Only then did someone realize something was off.
Why hadn't the rankings at the top changed at all from yesterday?
Before anyone could think it through, the rankings flickered and changed again.
[1st: Chen Ming (Lv. 5) - C-Rank Shield Guard - Morning Light Squad] [2nd: Qin Zhixue (Lv. 5) - SS-Rank Holy Radiance Angel - Morning Light Squad] [3rd: Lin Wei (Lv. 4) - A-Rank Contractor] [4th: Wang Yan (Lv. 4) - S-Rank Abyss Mage - Abyss Squad] [5th: Wu Qingyang (Lv. 4) - S-Rank Light Priest - Abyss Squad]
At the edge of the urban district,
the rankings also shimmered across screens above the camps of the various guilds and corporations.
Besides this year's newly awakened Class Changers, plenty of other people were following the Grand Exam.
Now, as they watched the full rankings appear,
it wasn't just the Class Changers who fell silent. Everyone did.
One by one, they widened their eyes and fixed their gazes on the enormous words "Chen Ming" in the first-place spot.
And the words "C-Rank Shield Guard" right after his name were glaringly conspicuous.
"First place... who? Chen Ming?"
"Holy crap, am I seeing things?"
"Dude, what the..."
In fact, when they'd seen Song Chuan remain in sixth place, quite a few people had already guessed that Chen Ming might still be in the top five today.
He'd already reached Level 3 yesterday.
If he'd been close to the experience needed to reach Level 4, gaining another level was perfectly reasonable.
After all, the rankings were based on how quickly people leveled up.
But...
They'd never imagined the result would be this!
Ridiculous!
It was beyond ridiculous.
A C-Rank Shield Guard had outpaced every Class Changer in Cloud Sea City, even surpassing an SS-Rank Class Changer to seize first place!
Who would believe that if you told them?
"Yikes... Miss, Chen Ming actually ranked higher than you."
Behind Qin Zhixue, Lin Wei stared with wide eyes, her gaze flickering with shock.
She knew full well how many exotic beasts her young miss had killed today to reach Level 5. Qin Zhixue had even gone into Exotic Beast Forest to hunt high-level beasts.
And yet Chen Ming had ranked higher.
That meant Chen Ming had reached Level 5 even faster than Qin Zhixue!
"Could he have awakened a mental-type skill already?"
Qin Zhixue stared at the rankings, lost in thought.
Just then, Lin Wei suddenly thought of something.
Then she looked at Wang Yan and Wu Qingyang with a peculiar expression.
At Lin Wei's faintly... mocking look, Wang Yan and Wu Qingyang froze in place.
They suddenly felt uncomfortable all over.
They'd just called Chen Ming a useless good-for-nothing.
Then the rankings came out, and the "good-for-nothing" they'd mocked had taken first place.
Didn't that mean they were even more useless?
They'd slapped themselves in the face.
"Th-this can't be real, can it?"
In the end, someone couldn't hold back and voiced their doubts.
"I think so too. How is this even possible?"
"Could there be a problem with the rankings?"
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves.
"The rankings can't be wrong. So the problem must be... Chen Ming."
"Wait, could he have teamed up with a high-level Class Changer and cheated his way up?"
At that, Wang Yan seemed to have latched onto something. His eyes lit up.
"That's right. Chen Ming must've cheated!"
"How could a C-Rank Class Changer possibly get a result like that?"
"If you ask me, he must've found some way to evade the Grand Exam's cheating-detection system!"
Cases of cheating in the Grand Exam cropped up every year, usually one or two.
For example, someone might team up with a Class Changer who wasn't taking the exam and have them help them level up.
Or they might get a high-level Class Changer to weaken an exotic beast, then step in and kill it themselves to gain experience easily.
In every case, though, the cheater would be kicked out of the Grand Exam and permanently barred from receiving an Alliance rating.
The Grand Exam had zero tolerance for cheating!
With Wang Yan egging everyone on,
the voices of doubt quickly swelled.
"Rest assured, I'll report this and make sure it's investigated..."
"Rooting out cheaters is our generation's duty!"
Wang Yan's grandfather was the principal of Third High School.
He had the authority to communicate with the Alliance's higher-ups.
At those words, quite a few people finally felt reassured.
Some had even begun searching for Chen Ming, hoping to make him come forward and clear his name.
But Chen Ming was nowhere to be found anywhere along the border.
"Where's Chen Ming?"
"He seems to have gone into Exotic Beast Forest around noon and hasn't come back. I've been at the border all afternoon."
A Class Changer with bandages wrapped around his body spoke up.
He'd been injured fighting an exotic beast that morning and had spent the afternoon recovering at the border.
"Chen Ming hasn't come back? He's still outside the city?"
Wouldn't that make the cheating look even more suspicious?
Class Changers above Level 10 didn't dare stay in Exotic Beast Forest at night, let alone someone who was only Level 5.
Meanwhile,
on a nearby high-rise,
"Hmph, a bunch of ignorant fools!"
The Mechanical Crow perched on the Inspector's shoulder let out a cold snort.
"They dare question the legitimacy of the Grand Exam? How utterly foolish!"
Behind it,
several principals wore awkward expressions.
The principal of Third High School looked especially grim, his face flushed with shame.
After all, the one shouting loudest down below was his grandson, Wang Yan.
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