Chapter 56 – First Day Thousand

Virtual Combat Room.

In a corner booth.

Lin Ze opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

The two-hour-long battle had left him feeling somewhat impatient.

After all, the process had been extremely dull.

From start to finish, it was just Xiao Xue unleashing skills to instantly defeat opponents—there was no challenge whatsoever.

He summoned his Pet Beast panel and took a look. Sure enough, the Growth Rate had barely improved.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

Opponents ranked lower on the leaderboard simply weren’t that strong—it was unavoidable.

“I’ll just have to climb the ranks as fast as possible.”

Stretching lazily, Lin Ze got up and left the booth.

Guan Ning had already logged out of the Glory Virtual Realm. Hearing the commotion from the adjacent booth, she immediately stepped out.

“Brother, you’re amazing!”

The girl’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Lin Ze, her face beaming with delight.

“You broke into the top 100,000 in just one morning—the whole Forum is talking about you right now!”

Forum?

Lin Ze was momentarily taken aback, but quickly returned to normal.

He had never been particularly interested in what others said about him.

Guan Ning, on the other hand, seemed to revel in it, as if she were the one being praised.

Lin Ze affectionately patted the girl’s head and said with a smile:

“Come on, it’s getting late. Let’s grab lunch, then come back in the afternoon.”

“Okay.”

The two left the combat room and headed toward the cafeteria.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, Lin Ze felt like people were pointing at him along the way.

When they got closer, he could faintly overhear some chatter.

“Look, Lin Ze is here!”

“I heard his combat ranking has already surged past 90,000!”

“So jealous. I entered the Glory Virtual Realm early this morning, and I’m still stuck around rank 560,000.”

“The key thing is, he did it in less than two hours!”

“Yeah, the whole Forum is in an uproar right now!”

“…”

Hearing this, Lin Ze finally understood.

So the news about his battles had spread.

“That spread way too fast.”

A hint of helplessness flashed in Lin Ze’s eyes.

Beside him, Guan Ning’s eyes curved into crescents, wearing an expression of shared pride.

Just as they were about to reach the cafeteria entrance, Zhou Hong jumped out from who-knows-where.

“Big bro!”

The chubby guy’s face was beaming like a blooming chrysanthemum.

“You’ve stolen the spotlight again—the whole academy is talking about your combat ranking.”

“How did the news spread this fast?”

Lin Ze felt a bit exasperated.

Maybe others were eager for fame.

But he wasn’t particularly fond of this kind of attention.

Being the target of pointing fingers while walking down the street wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

“Ningjiang Academy has an internal Forum. Whenever anything happens on campus, it spreads there in no time.”

Zhou Hong explained with a chuckle.

To be honest.

When he first heard the news, he was equally shocked.

Breaking into the top 100,000 in Virtual Combat on the very first day of Enrollment—the impact of that achievement was no less than clearing the Stele Challenge.

Lin Ze had already made a name for himself as the Top Freshman and the first to clear the Stele Challenge.

After this, his reputation could be said to have spread across the entire academy.

Not just the First and Second Year students—even the Fourth Year students, who rarely stayed on campus, had heard of the name Lin Ze.

It was fair to say.

Lin Ze had become an undisputed celebrity at Ningjiang Academy.

And because of that, Zhou Hong felt more and more that his decision to latch onto Lin Ze’s coattails had been a wise one.

After chatting for a bit, Lin Ze suddenly remembered something and asked Zhou Hong:

“Do you know any way to quickly earn Resource Points?”

Ever since learning that Resource Points could be exchanged for Pet Beast Materials, Lin Ze had been keeping this in mind.

Compared to spending Credit Points to purchase Pet Beast Materials, exchanging Resource Points through the academy was undoubtedly more cost-effective.

“Of course.”

Zhou Hong nodded without hesitation upon hearing this.

“Besides getting a high ranking in battles, the fastest way to earn Resource Points is to explore Secret Realms.”

Secret Realms?

Lin Ze searched his memory and quickly recalled relevant information.

During the Era of the Great Cataclysm, countless Interdimensional Rifts appeared like stars in the sky.

Some Interdimensional Rifts connected to another plane world.

Within them lived civilized races similar to humans.

Some of these civilized races were on good terms with the Federation, exchanging goods and resources.

Some were hostile to the Federation, locked in endless conflict.

Others had become colonial planes of the Federation.

It was said that several of the Federation’s top Beast Tamer Families each controlled one or two small Civilized Planes as colonial planes.

Other Interdimensional Rifts connected only to incomplete Semi-dimensional Planes.

These planes generally had no civilized races, only large numbers of Ferocious Beasts.

Most of humanity’s early Pet Beasts originated from these planes.

And they were called Secret Realms!

Compared to the colonial planes controlled only by the Federation or top Beast Tamer Families, Secret Realms were far more common.

Basically, any Beast-Taming Academy held one or two Secret Realms to some degree.

An academy like Ningjiang Academy, ranked in the Federation’s top ten, had no fewer than two Secret Realms.

It was precisely through the abundant resources obtained from Secret Realms that Ningjiang Academy was able to grow rapidly and reach its current scale.

While Lin Ze was recalling information about Secret Realms, Zhou Hong continued:

“The academy issues Secret Realm exploration missions every month, summoning students to collect specific resources from the realms, with Resource Points as compensation.”

“If you’re strong enough, earning over a thousand points from a single exploration mission isn’t a problem.”

“With your strength, big brother, this method suits you best!”

There was no denying it.

Lin Ze was somewhat tempted.

This approach—both fighting to increase his Pet Beast’s Growth Rate and earning Resource Points—fit his goals perfectly.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Ze quickly formed a plan.

“Once the battle rankings are done, I’ll take on a Secret Realm exploration mission.”

He definitely couldn’t neglect the battle rankings.

After all, as long as he maintained his ranking, he’d receive monthly Resource Point rewards from the academy.

This fixed source of Resource Points couldn’t be given up.

Snapping back to the present, Lin Ze smiled and nodded at Zhou Hong.

“I understand. Thanks for the information.”

“No need to be polite. I’m glad I could help you, big brother.”

Zhou Hong waved his hands repeatedly, then added:

“If you have no other instructions, big brother, I’ll take my leave—I won’t disturb your private time together.”

Lin Ze laughed and scolded him, shooing him away with a wave.

Guan Ning, meanwhile, had a slight blush on her face. She giggled and bit her lip, saying nothing.

After finishing lunch, Lin Ze and Guan Ning returned to the Virtual Combat room.

Guan Ning had only fought 15 matches so far.

Because her ranking was low, she’d encountered relatively weak opponents, so she still maintained a 100% win rate.

However, her Points were only 124, ranking her at over 530,000th place.

Guan Ning didn’t mind.

After all, with her current strength, it was nearly impossible for her to break into the top ten thousand and earn the Academy’s Resource Points reward.

So there was no rush to improve her ranking.

Sitting cross-legged in the adjacent room, Lin Ze quickly entered the Glory Virtual Realm and continued to immerse himself in battles.

Time flew by.

By evening.

A startling piece of news erupted like a hurricane across the Glory Virtual Realm Forum.

A newcomer named Lin Ze, with a record of 422 consecutive wins and a total score of 4,220 points, had surged into the top thousand.

In an instant.

The entire Apprentice Zone was thrown into an uproar.