I Am Number One!

After that, all that remained was a sea of crimson.

Sprayed blood smeared across the notebook, obscuring everything.

...It seemed that this laboratory had ended up like this because the final advancement ritual had failed.

Still, judging from the later entries in the diary, the supervisor of this laboratory probably had not met a good end either.

Ron could guess what he had gone through—

Instead of brewing the Wronged Dead's finger bone into a Potion, he had used an unknown ritual to directly pour its magic into his body...

Although he had indeed advanced into a "Transcendent" through that method, it was clearly incomplete.

After all, the Gravekeeper's Potion had more than one main ingredient. At most, he counted as half a Gravekeeper.

What was more, he had never gone through the process of brewing a Potion to cleanse away contamination...

The sound of river water Ron had heard on the day of his advancement had naturally become twisted and distorted by contamination.

But judging solely from the diary's final records, perhaps this supervisor had not yet gone completely mad from contamination and mutated into a monster.

He had merely been driven by despair over the Apocalypse that the "Void" would bring...

So the "Void" was not merely a crisis that appeared outside Ideal City's Outer City?

It would bring about an Apocalypse... Was that the key reason the city government was reforming the College Entrance Exam this time, selecting combat talent?

Ron fell into thought and flipped farther back, only to suddenly find a bone polished into a bookmark slipping out.

He caught it instinctively and immediately recognized what it was.

This was the Wronged Dead's finger bone the man had found in the Void? He had not expected the man to keep it on hand even after squeezing all the magic out of it...

Still, the finger bone found in the "Void" really was somewhat different from the one found in the "Potion Era."

It was clearly more illusory than the finger bone from the "Potion Era"...

Ron studied the bone bookmark in his hand with interest when he suddenly heard a chime.

[Setting anchor detected. World setting generated—"Void."]

[You may select world settings to fill a blank world framework and create a new world.]

[Current maximum number of world settings that can be accommodated—2]

A new setting anchor?!

Ron's expression immediately turned grave.

"Void"... The thing that the mad supervisor considered the source of the Apocalypse, the thing Ideal City guarded against so strictly, had actually been extracted by the Manual as a world setting!

Ron immediately thought of the Potion Era—

With only the two seemingly mild keywords "Potion" and "Mystery," it had created a powerful era that left behind magical legacies, an era whose historical Void still troubled the modern age...

Then, using this "Void" that could even represent the Apocalypse...

What kind of powerful era could Ron create, and what gains could he seize from it?

He looked at the Dimensional Update Manual and tried to create a new world.

But after examining it carefully, he discovered that even if he wanted to use "Void" as a world setting to create a new world, he could not do so yet.

That was because, in the world creation options, the section for accommodating world settings did not merely have an upper limit of two. Its lower limit was also two...

In other words, every new world required two different world settings.

Ron currently had only three world settings. "Mystery" and "Potion" had already formed the "Potion Era" and could not be separated.

It seemed he could only create a new world after finding another setting anchor...

Ron carefully put away the bone bookmark and thoroughly searched the underground laboratory, clearing out every last walking corpse.

However, because the [Potion Sequence] profession was constantly being worn down by rejection from the current version, Ron had no choice but to switch back to being Superpowered in order to preserve that trump card.

He relied solely on [Ignorant Servant] to control Corpse Shells and clear out the walking corpses. While cleaning, he searched for clues throughout the laboratory, and his killing efficiency nearly failed to match Jiang Cheng's solo efforts.

Still, Ron's careful search brought rewards worthy of his efforts...

"Biological modification experimental data records...

Noah Pharmaceuticals actually failed to clear this out. Was it hidden deeply enough in the pile of corpses?"

Ron looked at the USB drive he had dug out from among a heap of dead researchers. He plugged it into his personal brain-computer interface and opened the documents inside.

The documents recorded all sorts of physical data on the mutated monsters produced after the ritual failures...

Naturally, those figures were of no use to Ron, but one special note in the records caught his attention—

"According to testing... the subjects fear high-decibel or high-frequency meaningless sounds?"

Then the person who had received organ transplants from those monsters, Noah Pharmaceuticals' "trump card" in this College Entrance Exam...

Would that person inherit the same weakness as these monsters?

Ron pondered for a moment, put the USB drive back where it had been, and only then slowly headed toward the underground laboratory's exit under the escort of the Corpse Shells.

However, as they gradually left the depths of the laboratory and moved away from the death magic leaking from the advancement ritual, the two Corpse Shells began showing obvious "wear."

As though they had endured endless ages, they began visibly decaying.

Before they could escort Ron to the entrance, just like the Corpse Shells summoned by the old Magic user, their fangs fell out and their claws snapped...

In the end, they completely rotted away, turning into two piles of fine white ash.

...Perhaps this was part of the current version's rejection.

Ron looked at the two piles of white ash beside him and silently thought to himself.

Perhaps everything from the previous era could appear here through so-called historical Voids, but it would ultimately be completely worn away after losing its supply of magic...

Their influence likely had no power to threaten Ideal City's rule at all.

—But why did the mad supervisor believe the "Void" was the prelude to the Apocalypse?

It seemed there were still secrets behind this that I did not know.

Ron slowly walked out of the underground laboratory. Jiang Cheng was already waiting nervously at the entrance.

Only when she saw him emerge did she let out a breath of relief and immediately press the call bell.

The underground laboratory's doors slowly opened. The client and his secretary were still standing there, but they were clearly surprised to see Ron and Jiang Cheng emerge.

"...I didn't expect you to win."

There was a trace of emotion in his voice.

"Young people really are unreliable. Old ginger is still the spiciest..."

As he spoke, he opened his brain-computer light screen and tapped it a few times. Ron and Jiang Cheng immediately received a notification on the association forum.

[Commission: Clear Supernatural Riot (Completed!)]

[Commission points and Credit Points have been credited to your account. Thank you for supporting supernatural control efforts.]

[—Through this endless night, we are the only torch and also the final light.]

The Magician Association's promotional slogan really did sound righteous and grand.

But considering what these Magic users had done...

At least Ron could not see how they resembled the "final torch."

"Alright, next comes the promise I made before you went in..."

As the client spoke, he took out those files again.

"Does either of you want to complete an assassination commission and prove your loyalty to Noah Pharmaceuticals?"

Jiang Cheng shook her head, clearly uninterested.

Ron naturally took the file bearing his name and left after promising that he would complete the assassination before the College Entrance Exam.

As they left, Jiang Cheng tried to get closer to Ron, but Ron coldly shook her off.

Now that he had the assassination commission, he still needed to investigate who wanted him dead. How could he have time to humor Jiang Cheng?

He found a secluded place to change back into his original appearance, then immediately went home to inspect the commission file.

After carefully reading every word in the file, Ron did not find a client whose identity was clearly indicated.

That was expected. Assassination was the sort of work that could not see the light of day, so naturally no one was willing to reveal their identity.

However, after carefully examining the commission file, Ron was able to narrow down the enemy's possible identity...

According to the records, he was merely a Lv.1 Telekinesis user. His ability seemed to have mutated, and he had once killed a Lv.2 Superpowered individual.

Ron understood just from the emphasis of those ability records that the client's information source had to be the Patrol Bureau.

After all, only the Patrol Bureau's files would contain such records.

And considering that Noah Pharmaceuticals had issued the commission...

Could some powerful and influential figure be targeting me?

Ron frowned deeply, completely unable to think of what major figure he could have offended.

"Knock, knock, knock."

A crisp knocking sound suddenly rang out, waking Ron from his thoughts.

He put away the commission file and looked outside through the peephole, but all he could see was a gleaming golden... medal?

"Alright, stop looking... Aren't you going to open the door for me?"

A familiar voice came from outside. Ron opened the door and saw Xia Zhi holding a golden five-pointed star medal, smiling at him.

She tossed the medal to Ron. He caught the glittering golden star instinctively and found an obvious pale-gold chip on its reverse side.

"This is...?"

Seeing Ron's confusion about the medal, Xia Zhi explained.

"It's your [Good Citizen] medal."

Whenever you need to use your ID in the future, no matter what you are doing, scan this medal after scanning your ID. You'll often receive a certain degree of preferential treatment."

It could do that?

Compared to a medal, this thing was clearly more like a chip-based identity card on a technical level...

Ron put the medal away with interest and nodded at Xia Zhi.

"Thank you, Sister Xia Zhi... But why did you deliver it yourself?"

"Wasn't it because I was worried the logistics department would 'lose' it?"

A hint of helplessness entered Xia Zhi's voice.

"Don't be fooled just because it's the Patrol Bureau. There are plenty of parasites inside too... Forget it, let's not talk about that."

"I remember you're taking the College Entrance Exam, right? Have you heard about the reforms to the College Entrance Exam this time?"

Ron nodded. "I heard it's being reformed toward combat?"

"That's right." Xia Zhi nodded. "They say they're going to hold some kind of ability free-for-all in Virtual Reality, splitting people into groups and throwing them into virtual scenarios to fight like bugs in a jar..."

She blinked as she spoke. "Based on my understanding of those rich people, they'll definitely pull some strings at a time like this...

Your [Good Citizen] medal might help you piggyback on some of their little tricks."

"Considering how strong your ability is in combat, even if you're only Lv.1, I imagine nothing can stop you..."

As she spoke, she tried once again to recruit Ron.

"A genius like you, why insist on applying to Moen University... Don't you want to try Heavenly Listening University?"

"Thank you, Sister Xia Zhi, but I'll pass..."

After a brief exchange with Ron and confirming that he had absolutely no intention of applying to Heavenly Listening University, Xia Zhi sighed deeply and muttered, "What a waste of talent," before vanishing as mysteriously as she had come.

Just as Ron was about to continue investigating who wanted to assassinate him, his phone vibrated again—

[An Hui: I heard you've been practicing at the training hall lately and haven't attended school for even a single day?]

[An Hui: Although I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I still have to remind you—don't forget to return to school and collect your exam admission ticket!]

[An Hui: I don't want to see you work so hard to improve your ability, only to get stopped outside the exam venue because you forgot your admission ticket, then watch me easily take first place in the College Entrance Exam and regret it for the rest of your life...]

I really had forgotten about that!

The College Entrance Exam was the day after tomorrow. Good thing Huihui reminded me today, or who would I even complain to if I could not take the exam because I lacked my admission ticket?

Ron casually replied that he had received the message, then hurriedly rode his little electric scooter toward a certain high school.

...Before long, he returned to his familiar school.

The old teaching buildings, the guard booth occupied by only an elderly gatekeeper, the familiar scenery all stirred a trace of nostalgia within Ron.

"Hey, isn't this Old Ron? You came back to collect your admission ticket too?"

A familiar voice came from the school entrance. Only then did Ron notice a chubby figure standing before the school's automatic barrier gate.

He looked carefully and remembered that the man was called Lin De, one of his classmates. Their relationship had been limited to Lin De borrowing his homework to copy.

Just like Ron used to be, Lin De was also an ordinary person who had failed to awaken Personal Reality.

However, unlike Ron, Lin De's family had a bit of money. They owned a small business in District D, so he did not need to worry about his future livelihood.

Although they were not particularly close, Lin De enthusiastically walked over and chatted with Ron about their recent lives.

Ron did not reject him. They casually chatted as they made their way to the teachers' office.

After knocking on the door, the two went inside and saw an elderly teacher with graying hair sitting at his desk.

"...You came back for your admission tickets?"

The old teacher looked at Ron and let out a long sigh.

"You never handed me your letter of intent, and you haven't come to class either... You don't want to attend vocational college, do you?"

"Yeah. I still want to give the College Entrance Exam a try."

"A try? How can you try without an ability? This is clearly the best path for you..."

The old teacher seemed somewhat angry, but he quickly deflated.

"Forget it... Do whatever you want. I can't control you anyway."

He waved his hand listlessly, tossed the card-like admission tickets to them, and sent them out of the office.

"Actually, the old man means well, Ron."

Lin De scratched his head. "But everyone has their own ambitions. No one can stop you from taking a gamble on getting good results..."

As he spoke, he patted his chest.

"But don't panic, brother. If you do poorly and can't afford to repay your student loans, don't worry. Just come find me!

You know my family owns a small factory. I'll beg my dad to arrange a job for you, and you can slowly pay back those giant corporation student loans..."

Ron laughed helplessly and shook his head.

"That won't be necessary..."

As he spoke, he looked at his admission ticket, and a subtle feeling unexpectedly arose in his heart.

...Everything was ready.

The College Entrance Exam was just around the corner. Ron was about to take part in this life-defining gamble that belonged to Ideal City's new generation.

Everyone wagered everything from the first half of their lives on this exam. Some lost it all; some seized high scores and won themselves a brand-new life.

As for Ron...

He curled his lips into a smile and climbed onto his old electric scooter.

Suddenly, Lin De looked at Ron riding that battered little scooter and, in a daze, felt that his old classmate had changed.

He no longer seemed to carry that constant hint of exhaustion and insecurity.

Riding that little scooter, he was like the knights in novels mounting their warhorses, carrying an unyielding, forward-driving edge!

Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar Ron, Lin De heard him speak calmly, yet his words filled the sky with boldness—

"I'll come first."

As if it were only natural, Ron added:

"I am number one!"