The Second Round: Boss Battle

Meanwhile, in the crowd, Ye Qingxue looked at her ranking on the leaderboard and pursed her lips slightly.

This score would have placed her in the top ten in the province in previous years. But this year, she only ranked thirteenth. Who are the twelve people ahead of her? What were their scores?

She couldn't help but look in Su Mu's direction.

The boy stood at the edge of the crowd, looking at her. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment.

Su Mu walked over.

He stopped in front of Ye Qingxue, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "What's your score?"

At this moment, Su Mu was thinking about using Ye Qingxue's score as a reference to estimate his own ranking.

At this moment, Ye Qingxue did not expect Su Mu to ask her this question.

But she knew Su Mu wasn't showing off in front of her, so she answered without hesitation, "131,068. Thirteenth place."

Su Mu nodded. Ye Qingxue had over 31,000 points, ranking thirteenth.

So, even if the second to twelfth ranked people are stronger than her, the gap between them won't be too large.

After all, everyone here is SSS-level.

The second place is estimated to be around 40,000 at most, but of course there might be someone even more impressive.

It's a pity we don't know the score of the second-place winner.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the square, a tall young man was frowning, staring intently at the number one name on the leaderboard.

Zhao Wuji -Ki.

The Provincial Capital No. 1 High School, the SSS-level Nine Nether Sword Master.

He couldn't believe that someone was even more capable than him.

You must know your profession, the Nine Nether Sword Master, especially when dealing with large numbers of monsters.

With a single sword strike, he swept away an entire area, his clearing efficiency unmatched; he was practically a monster-slaying machine. He originally thought he had first place in the bag.

But on the leaderboard, the number one spot was occupied by Su Mu.

Rongcheng No. 1 High School.

Zhao Wuji's brows furrowed into a knot.

Rongcheng No. 1 High School?

They're actually ahead of him in line?

"Wuji, do you know this Su Mu?" A teammate leaned over and asked in a low voice.

Zhao Wuji shook his head. "I don't know him."

"Rongcheng No. 1 High School? I've never heard of them before. Could they be a dark horse?"

"A dark horse?" Zhao Wuji's lips twitched, his tone carrying a hint of disdain. "The first level is all about speed in clearing monsters. My Nine Nether Sword Master can sweep through entire groups with a single strike, crushing everything before wave fifteen."

The fact that he can be faster than me only means that he is more efficient at clearing monsters.

But the difference isn't that significant. Everyone's in waves 15, so the kill count can't be that much different. At most, it'll be a few thousand more than mine.

He paused, then added, "But this guy is definitely something, managing to come out of a small place like Rongcheng. Let's see how he fares in the later tests. The first round is just a warm-up."

Not far away, several SSS-level Awakened individuals from the Provincial Capital No. 1 High School gathered together, discussing in hushed tones.

"Su Mu, Rongcheng No. 1 High School. Has anyone heard of him?"

"No. Even our Provincial No. 1 High School has never produced someone like this. It's truly unexpected that a small place like Rongcheng would produce a top student."

"It's just the first hurdle. Being ranked first now doesn't guarantee you'll have the last laugh."

"Yes. And his points were hidden, so who knows if he only had a few more points than us. Maybe he just got lucky and timed it perfectly."

That makes sense.

Everyone nodded, their expressions shifting from initial shock to calm.

It's certainly surprising that a student from Rongcheng got first place, but it's not enough to convince them yet. This year's college entrance exam covered the entire province, so it's quite normal for one or two unexpected figures to emerge.

Furthermore, no one believes that the other is necessarily better than themselves, because they all think they are roughly the same.

In the crowd, Ye Qingxue withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Su Mu.

She tried to hold back, but in the end, she couldn't resist.

"How many did you hit?" she asked.

Su Mu looked at her and hesitated for a moment.

It wasn't that Su Mu didn't want to talk about it.

Rather, that number is too large.

Nine hundred and seventy thousand versus thirty-one thousand.

A difference of thirty times.

He was worried that speaking out would hurt the other person.

After all, Ye Qingxue had been trying her best to catch up all week.

Su Mu saw all of her efforts, her dedication, her buying cooling items out of her own pocket, her staying up all night grinding, and her never showing weakness in front of him.

If I told her now, "I have 970,000, you have 30,000," wouldn't she feel that all her hard work this week was meaningless?

Su Mu was considering it.

Seeing his hesitant expression, Ye Qingxue frowned slightly, about to ask him further.

Just then, the bells rang out again over the square.

Buzz...

The emotionless voice announced, "The second stage of the assessment is about to begin. The rules for the second stage are as follows."

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it.

Furthermore, the sound was also blocked.

Su Mu breathed a sigh of relief.

He doesn't need to answer.

After all, it would be a shame, both in the long run and in terms of conscience, to damage the interests of one's major benefactor.

Ye Qingxue also withdrew her gaze and looked at the rule-based characters that appeared in mid-air.

[College Entrance Examination - Second Stage - Lord Conquest]

[Rules: Candidates will enter an independent Dungeon Space where the lair lords will appear in batches. The first wave will be a level 10 BOSS, the second wave will be a level 11 BOSS, the third wave will be a level 12 BOSS, and so on.]

Each wave of bosses increases the boss's level by one.

After the eleventh wave, the BOSS will no longer level up, but its numbers and overall combat quality will increase significantly.

The final score is based on the total number of bosses killed; the more waves you clear, the higher the bonus.

There is no time limit for this level, but the time taken will be a crucial factor in determining whether you can advance to the fourth level.

[Special Condition: The BOSS possesses a complete skill set and combat intelligence. Defeating the BOSS when its core card's HP reaches zero is considered a loss.]

[Preparation time: 3 minutes.]

Su Mu narrowed his eyes slightly after reading the rules.

BOSS battle.

Furthermore, after the eleventh wave, the BOSS's level will no longer increase, but its number and overall strength will increase significantly. This means that later BOSSes will not only be more numerous, but each one will be stronger than the previous ones.

This is a completely new challenge for Little Drill Wind and White Bone Spirit.