Chapter 40 – The Stele Challenge That No One Could Pass

On the boundless plain.

Thousands of examinees had already gathered.

Compared to the start of the assessment, the number of people had sharply decreased by nearly one-fifth.

Those who had been eliminated early either died at the hands of Ferocious Beasts (unaffected in reality), or were simply unlucky enough not to make it out of the forest within the allotted time.

However, among the remaining four thousand examinees, not everyone was overjoyed.

In fact, the vast majority were dejected.

After all, the rankings and scores were displayed on the Leaderboard.

Whether one could pass the assessment was already clear at a glance.

Those who hadn’t made it onto the board naturally felt gloomy.

In the crowd, Lin Ze calmly checked the Leaderboard with a composed expression.

An empty space surrounded him.

The nearest examinees were seven or eight meters away from him.

It wasn’t alienation or rejection, but rather reverence for the strong and the gifted.

In the previous hunting rankings, Lin Ze had already proven his strength.

His power was beyond doubt.

The final result of securing first place by an overwhelming margin had made Lin Ze’s image unprecedentedly towering in the minds of the examinees.

A true genius!

This was the common impression almost all examinees had of Lin Ze.

Many girls even looked at him with starry eyes.

But Lin Ze paid no attention to the gazes around him. He focused on searching the Leaderboard for the rankings of Guan Ning and the other two girls.

34th place: Guan Ning, 1045 points

428th place: Zhang Xiaoyun, 720 points

443rd place: Liu Siyan, 703 points

“34th place, not a bad result.”

A faint smile appeared on Lin Ze’s face.

Guan Ning’s Demon Flame Bird was at Tier 2, Stage 9.

In terms of Power Level alone, it ranked only behind him and the five including Tan Yong among this batch of examinees.

Of course.

Besides Power Level, factors such as the number of Pet Beast Skills, the Beast Tamer’s Soul Art Attainment, and Soul Power reserves were also key determinants of performance.

In this regard, those examinees whose Pet Beasts were also at Tier 2, Stage 9 but who came from Beast Tamer families and had been meticulously nurtured since childhood undoubtedly held an advantage.

Such people were not few among the examinees.

To stand out from these individuals and achieve 34th place was enough to prove how outstanding Guan Ning’s talent was.

As for Zhang Xiaoyun and Liu Siyan, their strength wasn’t particularly prominent, so achieving these rankings was within expectations.

It was worth noting.

The current top five on the Leaderboard were as follows:

1st place: Lin Ze, 1772 points

2nd place: Tan Yong, 1369 points

3rd place: Guo Xinyi, 1352 points

4th place: Lv Gang, 1340 points

5th place: Li Pengyun, 1305 points

The final rankings remained the same as before, with no changes.

However, the point gap between the other four and Lin Ze had exceeded 400 points.

This was undoubtedly a nearly despairing gap.

“Brother!”

A familiar voice came from nearby.

Lin Ze looked up and saw Guan Ning running toward him with joy written all over her face.

Zhang Xiaoyun and Liu Siyan were following behind her.

“Brother, congratulations on taking first place!”

Guan Ning’s eyes curved into crescent moons from smiling, as if she herself had won first place.

Zhang Xiaoyun and Liu Siyan also offered their congratulations one after another.

“Thank you. Congratulations to you all as well for achieving great results.”

The three girls beamed with happy smiles upon hearing this.

Zhang Xiaoyun and Liu Siyan smiled the brightest.

Their original goal had only been to get into Ningjiang Academy.

Now, achieving these rankings had far exceeded their expectations—it could truly be called a pleasant surprise.

“Quiet!”

At that moment, Gao Wenbai’s voice suddenly echoed through the void.

“The Ferocious Beast hunt has concluded. All examinees ranked below one thousand are eliminated. You will now exit the Virtual Realm.”

The moment he finished speaking, before the pale-faced examinees could utter a word, a dazzling light enveloped them, and in an instant, they vanished.

The dense crowd thinned by more than half in an instant.

“Very well, the irrelevant ones have left. Now, let’s get to the main event.”

“First, congratulations on passing the Admission Assessment and officially becoming members of the Academy.”

At these words, joy spread across the faces of many examinees.

“Once the academic year begins, everyone here will be assigned to classes based on their scores, with 50 students per class, ranging from Class One to Class Twenty. The lower the class number, the more Cultivation Resources you receive each month, and the better your treatment within the Academy—including but not limited to opportunities for one-on-one guidance from Instructors, access to training facilities, and so on.”

“However, the classes are not fixed. After Enrollment, you will be tested every month, and your class assignments will be adjusted accordingly.”

Most examinees had already familiarized themselves with Ningjiang Academy’s regulations beforehand, so they showed little surprise at this.

“But—”

Gao Wenbai shifted his tone.

“Right now, there is an opportunity before you to change your ranking and move up to a class with a lower number.”

“Remember the rules from the very beginning? Whoever successfully touches that stone stele will receive 500 Points. Although the assessment has ended, I can give you one more chance. Does anyone want to take on the challenge?”

Whether it was Lin Ze’s imagination or not, he felt a hint of provocation and temptation in Gao Wenbai’s tone.

However, when Lin Ze looked around, he noticed that many examinees wore indifferent expressions.

As if they hadn’t heard Gao Wenbai’s words at all.

Guan Ning and the other two women were the same.

“Is there something tricky about this challenge?”

Lin Ze asked Guan Ning in a low voice.

Guan Ning’s eyes widened in surprise at his question. “Brother, you don’t know?”

Zhang Xiaoyun and Liu Siyan also looked at him with puzzled expressions.

Was I supposed to know?

Lin Ze was confused. Was this common knowledge?

Seeing this, Guan Ning had no choice but to explain:

“The stone stele challenge is an old tradition at Ningjiang Academy. The reward is generous—enough to drastically change your assessment ranking—but in all these years, no one has ever succeeded. So I imagine no one bothered to attempt the stone stele challenge during this assessment period.”

Only then did Lin Ze understand.

No wonder no one had mentioned the stone stele challenge.

It seemed everyone had subconsciously ignored it.

“Brother, since you didn’t know about this, why didn’t you try it?”

Guan Ning asked curiously.

Lin Ze spread his hands. “Compared to a challenge with unknown Difficulty and content, don’t you think hunting Ferocious Beasts in the forest is the safer bet? I wouldn’t want to run over all eager, only to find I can’t get those 500 Points and end up wasting precious assessment time instead.”

Of course.

If someone’s score had far surpassed his and he couldn’t catch up, he wouldn’t have been opposed to taking a risk.

“By the way, what does the challenge involve?”

Lin Ze asked again.

Guan Ning was about to answer when a flash of light suddenly appeared not far ahead.

Three figures materialized out of thin air on the plain.

Lin Ze looked closely and saw two men and one woman.

They appeared to be about the same age as the examinees present, though their demeanor seemed slightly more mature.

Just as he was wondering about this, one of the young men among the three spoke up.

“Hey, so you must be this year’s Freshmen.”