C37 – Continued to Rise
In the plaza just outside the Land of Nothingness, silence enveloped the area.
Every teacher, including Jiang Hao, was struck dumb, their eyes glued to the leaderboard.
Xie Yang’s performance had left them utterly speechless.
In a mere moment, his position had skyrocketed from somewhere in the top hundred to sixth place.
“How on earth did he manage that?”
“Is it possible that Xie Yang took down several third-rank ferocious beasts at once?”
“No way. The third-rank ferocious beasts in the forest are solitary creatures, and they keep their distance from one another. There’s no chance they’d all converge at once.”
“Exactly. And even if Xie Yang did come across multiple third-rank ferocious beasts, given his abilities, he couldn’t possibly have dispatched them all in such a short span of time!”
“That makes sense.”
The crowd buzzed with speculation, but the mystery remained unsolved.
Jiang Hao, quick to act, ordered someone to review Xie Yang’s assessment footage once more.
As the video played on the screen, a collective gasp rose from the onlookers.
It turned out just as one of the examinees had predicted: Xie Yang had stumbled upon a ferocious beast’s lair.
A Fermi Ant nest, to be precise, which he had found by chance while hunting.
In this forest, the majority of ferocious beasts were not social.
Typically, they roamed either solo or in small groups of two or three.
Sightings of them moving en masse were exceedingly rare.
The Fermi Ants, however, were the exception to this rule.
They were a definitively communal species of ferocious beast.
After an encounter with a Fermi Soldier Ant, Xie Yang intentionally left one wounded and allowed it to retreat to its nest.
He then trailed it back to its lair and proceeded to exterminate the entire Fermi Ant population.
The Fermi Ants were categorized into Worker Ants, Soldier Ants, Flying Ants, and Queen Ants.
The Worker and Soldier Ants were classified as first-rank ferocious beasts.
“He truly is a rare find.”
“Now, let’s see if he can outdo the top four and claim the title of number one among the freshmen.”
Many teachers nodded in agreement with the sentiment.
Previously, they would have never entertained the idea of Xie Yang taking the top spot among the new students.
But the stunning display they had just witnessed erased any doubts.
Given Xie Yang’s capabilities, he could still catch up and seize first place, despite his current score lagging behind.
Unaware of the buzz he’d generated outside, Xie Yang continued his quest, leading Jennie to hunt down more ferocious beasts after dispatching the Fermi Ants.
The most formidable beasts in the forest only reached the sixth layer of the third rank—no match for Jennie.
Typically, any beast that crossed her path was swiftly eliminated.
Jennie’s hunting efficiency was nothing short of phenomenal.
On the leaderboard, Xie Yang’s score soared at intervals, leaving his fellow candidates in awe.
501, 519, 531, 556...
Such a rapid ascent was astonishing to all.
Then, about half an hour later, under the watchful eyes of the astounded onlookers, Xie Yang’s score broke the 800 mark.
He surpassed Jin Haocan, moving into fourth place.
In first place was Lian Xia, with 893 points.
Second Place: Han Xuemei, 885 points
Third Place: Yun Ye, 864 points
Fourth Place: Xie Yang, 828 points
Fifth Place: Jin Haocan, 815 points
With these scores, Xie Yang had finally caught up with the top scorers.
He had even managed to surpass one of them.
Now, he was trailing Lian Xia, the current leader, by less than 70 points.
And with roughly two hours remaining until the assessment concluded, anything could happen.