The entire crowd fell silent, so stunned that they even forgot their wild cheering. All they saw was the fifteen-year-old boy named "Nicholas" out on the water, his toes tapping lightly across the planks. Within seconds, he had run fifty meters, closing in on the highest record in today's trial!
At that moment, the gifted boy who had scored sixty meters also widened his eyes, his heart in his throat. He simply could not bear to have someone surpass his first-place result. It was perfectly normal for a young boy to hate seeing someone stronger than himself!
"Could this guy be a high elf? Or a half-elf?" someone muttered, instantly setting everyone's thoughts racing.
Indeed, who besides those light-footed high elves, or the half-elves born of unions with humans, could accomplish this? Supposedly, the high elves had a similar rogue apprentice assessment, but fifty meters was only the passing mark, and plenty of them exceeded a hundred meters...
Jiang Jie had no idea what the people on shore were thinking. In any case, he easily passed fifty meters, then tapped his toes lightly and, in just a few more steps, passed sixty meters, then seventy. There were no more planks ahead!
Would he stop?
Would he fall into the water?
Did he intend to keep challenging himself with greater difficulty?
At that moment, everyone held their breath. There were no planks beyond seventy meters now, and as long as Jiang Jie could run another ten meters, his result would be equivalent to the original hundred meters-a result never before achieved in the human world!
Jiang Jie felt no pressure at all!
Wasn't it just the surface of the water? He could easily run a hundred meters at the surfing beach. If he had not had too little internal energy to sustain it, even running thousands or tens of thousands of meters would have been nothing. Once he had mastered Lightness Skill: Skimming over Water, running on water was nothing special. It really was not difficult!
In an instant, Jiang Jie reached eighty meters, then heard someone scream!
Baron Soroson's expression turned extremely ugly.
Because it was clear that the boy named "Nicholas" had already broken humanity's highest record. Although the most gifted rogues did not actually need to take the qualification trial, this was still enough to prove his genius.
Hadn't they seen the examiner's eyes light up?
That boy would definitely be recruited directly into the Lordaeron Royal Assassins! Even with his power, the baron would not dare openly oppose the Royal Assassins. It was an organization that every noble feared!
Of course, Jiang Jie knew none of this.
He did not stop, but kept running forward. He remembered that a hundred meters seemed to be full marks? Since he was here, how could he possibly leave without getting full marks?
Then Jiang Jie reached the hundred-meter mark!
Everyone waited eagerly, wanting to see just how far Jiang Jie could run!
Putting themselves in his shoes, they would certainly have run as far as possible if they were taking the trial. Only that would fully demonstrate their strength. For boys of this age, glory, praise, and the attention of others were very important!
But...
The next moment, Jiang Jie abruptly turned, tapped his toes lightly against the water, then crossed five meters in a single stride and landed steadily on shore!
In an instant, deep disappointment appeared on everyone's faces.
What was he doing?!
The boy named "Nicholas" was not flushed, breathless, or even showing a racing heartbeat. Who couldn't see that? At this rate, would running another two or three hundred meters have been a problem?
They could all tell that since he could run thirty meters on water, he could run another three hundred. He had already mastered the technique, so however far he ran would be no problem!
Looking at their disappointed expressions, Jiang Jie smiled bitterly inwardly.
Only he knew that the internal energy in his body had already been completely exhausted. It was not that he did not want to run-he really could not! He had only been practicing internal cultivation for a little over a day, after all. His reserves of internal energy really were nothing much...
"A genius!!! An extraordinarily rare genius! A genius destined to become a master rogue!" the examiner murmured, his voice and face brimming with wild delight. "To think that I, Miles, have found a genius! A genius even more gifted than Edwin VanCleef and Mathias Shaw! Now,
the Lordaeron Royal Assassins finally have a young man who can outshine the Stormwind City Assassins!" How could he not be happy!
Of humanity's seven great kingdoms, the Kingdom of Lordaeron was the strongest and had the largest territory. It had His Highness Prince Arthas, who drew the eyes of the world, and more paladins than the other six kingdoms combined. Yet it lacked sufficiently outstanding rogues!
As the Kingdom of Lordaeron's foremost rogue organization, the Lordaeron Royal Assassins were always being compared with the Stormwind City Assassins. Unfortunately, they had never won that comparison.
Especially in recent years, the emergence of two outstanding geniuses in the Stormwind City Assassins, Edwin VanCleef and Mathias Shaw, had left the Lordaeron Royal Assassins unable to hold their heads high.
Although VanCleef later changed careers to become an architect, joined the Stormwind City Stonemasons' Guild, and then founded the Defias Brotherhood to openly oppose Stormwind City, Mathias Shaw alone was still enough to overshadow the Lordaeron Assassin Corps.
Not to mention that all five of Stormwind City's fingers-its five branches-excelled in their fields. The Lordaeron Assassin Corps simply could not compare.
And now, a genius like this had finally appeared. He could almost see Mathias Shaw's extremely ugly expression, and his smile deepened.
"Quick, go notify Master Onias! I'm going to request the best benefits for Nicholas! I'm going to serve as Nicholas's trainer myself!" Miles shouted, the joy on his face already soaring beyond the heavens, along with his voice.
Having found a genius among geniuses today, he naturally had to notify the leader of the Lordaeron Assassin Corps, and the only master rogue in all of Lordaeron: the half-elf infiltrator, Master Onias.
Meanwhile, Baron Soroson's face looked uglier than pig liver.
That damned lowborn wretch had actually passed the rogue trial! And his result had been so good that it practically broke through the heavens!
How was this possible!!!
No one in all of Lordaeron had ever accomplished this!
Of course, as a half-elf, Master Onias might also have achieved a hundred meters in the trial if the previous leader of the Assassins' Order had not recruited her directly.
But!
How could humans compare with half-elves!
Although half-elves were not as light-footed and agile as high elves, they were still much better than pure humans!
He knew that if he wanted to deal with Jiang Jie in the future, he could no longer do it openly. Jiang Jie was about to become a member of the Lordaeron Assassin Corps, and would soon be personally received by Master Onias.
Of course, Nicholas Jiang had to die!
But he would have to find another way. If he could not act openly, he could only resort to underhanded tricks!
Baron Soroson naturally had no interest in staying to admire Jiang Jie's moment of glory. He pulled his son Dudley into the carriage and returned to his residence.
The entire trial ground erupted!
Then word spread from ten people to a hundred, and soon all of Lordaeron erupted!