Chapter 55 – An Irresistible Rise in Rankings

While Lin Ze was busy climbing the rankings, the Glory Virtual Realm forum was buzzing with activity.

Early in the morning, posts about Beast-Taming Academy freshmen sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain.

[Encountered a freshman noob, got today’s first win!]

[Total battle rankings increased from 560,000+ to 590,000+, this year’s freshman count is estimated to exceed 30,000]

[A wave of fresh meat (points) is coming]

[I’m finally not in last place anymore!]

Every year at this time, the Glory Virtual Realm inevitably floods with a large number of new players, ninety-nine percent of whom are freshmen from various Beast-Taming Academies. Most of these new players are weak, making them prime targets for veteran players to farm points. So every year at this time, the Glory Virtual Realm enters a “carnival period,” with veteran players celebrating and cheering.

Of course, there are also those unlucky ones who encounter elite students and end up with another loss instead of points. These people also post complaints on the forum.

Just as the forum was buzzing with heated discussion, a post suddenly appeared out of nowhere, quickly grabbing everyone’s attention.

[Super rookie spotted, pet beast level suspected to be Tier 4!]

The post roughly said that the OP encountered a newcomer this morning, and upon asking, learned they were this year’s freshman. The OP was thrilled, thinking they’d get an easy win, but the newcomer turned out to be incredibly strong and instantly one-shot their pet beast.

This post caused quite a stir in the forum, with many players replying below.

“OP must not be awake yet. How could a freshman who just got into a Beast-Taming Academy have a Tier 4 pet beast? Tier 3 is already pushing it!”

“Agreed with the above. Even senior Apprentice Beast Tamers rarely have Tier 4 pet beasts, let alone freshmen.”

“OP is probably just making excuses to comfort themselves after a loss.”

“By the way, how did OP determine the opponent’s pet beast was Tier 4?”

“I checked OP’s ranking, No. 492852. Their pet beast is at most Tier 2, and a low-stage one at that. Any Tier 3 pet beast could one-shot it.”

“Then it must be a Tier 3 pet beast for sure. The newcomer OP encountered is probably an ace freshman from some Beast-Taming Academy!”

The post’s popularity skyrocketed, with over a thousand replies in less than half an hour. However, most people were either skeptical or mocking, with no one believing the OP’s claim of a Tier 4 pet beast.

But soon, the OP replied, “I looked up that newcomer’s battle record, here’s the screenshot!”

Attached below was an image.

Name: Lin Ze

Gender: Male

Level: Apprentice

Points: 340

Battles: 34

Win Rate: 100%

Ranking: No. 478992

This image immediately caused an uproar.

“No way, is this real?”

“A 100% win rate!?”

“Damn, that’s insane!”

“Is this image fake?”

“I searched it up, the battle record is real!”

“Impressive! Definitely a super rookie!”

Battle records in the Glory Virtual Realm are public. Aside from login addresses, everything—points, battle count, win rate, and ranking—can be looked up. So speculation about the image being fake was quickly dismissed.

For a moment, many people were taken aback. Still, some stubbornly held onto their doubts.

“Even so, that still doesn’t explain how this freshman’s pet beast is at Tier 4. With just a Tier 3 pet beast, it’s easy to dominate the six-digit rankings!”

“That’s true.”

“Regardless, this freshman named Lin Ze is undeniably impressive—probably a genius from one of the Federation’s top ten Beast-Taming Academies!”

“I envy these guys, all just eighteen and already this strong.”

“Whoa, everyone look, that freshman’s ranking went up again!”

“It really did! Rank 476,998—damn! Jumped nearly two thousand spots!”

The crowd was stunned and immediately checked Lin Ze’s battle record.

Sure enough, in just a short moment, Lin Ze had racked up three more wins.

His points had directly increased by 30.

“Hasn’t it been less than three minutes? He won three in a row already?”

“What kind of speed is this? That’s insane!”

“Excluding matchmaking wait time, he averages less than ten seconds per win!”

“Today I’ve really seen something new…”

The players reading this post were all shocked.

In the past, freshmen with Tier 3 pet beasts had appeared before.

Those people climbed quickly, but never this absurdly.

Three straight wins in under three minutes!

Subtracting wait time and interaction time, wasn’t every match basically an instant kill?

Even for a genius student, this record was astonishing.

And this was only the beginning.

Under the stunned gaze of countless players, Lin Ze’s ranking shot up like a rocket.

On average, every minute or so, his rank would surge by hundreds or thousands of spots.

And every match earned him the maximum 10 points.

Absolutely unbelievable!

As time passed.

Lin Ze’s ranking climbed higher and higher.

450,000.

430,000.

410,000.

Before long.

Lin Ze broke into the top 400,000.

His points also surpassed the 500 mark.

Players tracking his record in real time were dumbfounded.

They’d never seen such a ferocious freshman!

Now they could finally confirm that Lin Ze was definitely getting instant kills every match.

Otherwise, there was no way he could move this fast!

As the buzz exploded, the post was quickly pinned by the forum moderators.

And so.

The news that a monster-like newcomer had appeared in the Glory Virtual Realm spread quickly.

More and more people flooded into the post.

Among them were players who had lost to Lin Ze.

“This freshman is too strong—my pet beast got instantly killed!”

“Mine too!”

“Mine’s a Tier 2, Stage 9 pet beast, and it still couldn’t last a single round against his!”

“I guarantee Lin Ze’s pet beast is above Tier 3, Stage 5!”

Tier 3, Stage 5!

Across the entire Federation, freshmen with Tier 3, Stage 5 pet beasts could be counted on one hand.

The title of genius was well deserved.

For a moment.

Nearly half the forum’s players were following Lin Ze’s battles.

Many kept refreshing his record.

Watching helplessly as his ranking surged unstoppably, breaking through the 300,000 and 200,000 marks in succession.

Until Lin Ze’s rank finally came to a halt, no longer changing.

He had already broken into the top 100,000.

Name: Lin Ze

Gender: Male

Level: Apprentice

Points: 1040

Matches: 104

Win Rate: 100%

Rank: NO.98427

Seeing the glaring 100% win rate and ranking on Lin Ze’s record, the entire forum erupted.

A Freshman who had just been admitted to the Beast-Taming Academy entered the Glory Virtual Realm on his very first day and, in less than two hours, surged from over five hundred thousandth place into the top one hundred thousand.

Absolutely unheard of!

Which Beast-Taming Academy student could this possibly be?

In an instant.

Many people began to ponder this very question.