Chapter 145: The Test Underway

Inside the venue, the students’ scores from the secret realm were faithfully transmitted to the screens of the recruitment officers, including those from top-tier universities like Qinghua and Beisheng. Their treatment was clearly superior; after the students entered the secret realm, these elite instructors, accompanied by the event organizer, retreated to a quiet, comfortable conference room to continue observing the students’ performance in the practical segment.

On the large screen in the conference room, the students’ scores rolled continuously.

Ouyang Lan smiled and said, “It seems the top three positions have stabilized now. Unlike before, when teams were neck and neck, chasing each other.”

Yu Jiazhen stroked his beard thoughtfully. “That’s because the easily defeated ferocious beasts have mostly been divided. Now, any beast worth points requires a concerted effort to overcome.”

“The true strength of each team is being directly revealed.”

“Simply put, there’s no more room to bluff.”

As they said, the leaderboard on the screen showed a locked top three:

First was the team led by Lu Shiyu, whose comprehensive strength was formidable. Under the overwhelming pressure of the Ice Queen, no ferocious beast managed to survive their blows.

Second was the team with Cai Kun. As a Blood Shaman, Cai Kun had an advantage against bronze-tier beasts that had yet to develop skills and relied solely on brute strength.

Third was the team led by Meng Liwen. She and Cai Kun had teamed up multiple times to encircle and slaughter beast packs, reaping abundant rewards.

“The top three of this competition will most likely come from these teams,” Ouyang Lan remarked.

Zhu Jingjun nodded. “No mistake there. These are the main subjects we need to watch closely. From them, we can select some promising talents to fulfill Luzhou’s recruitment quota.”

Yu Jiazhen sighed. “What about that student Wang Chen? He hasn’t shown much. I was hoping to see his prowess in actual combat.”

Limited by screen space, not all teams could be displayed, and the elites in the conference had little interest in lower-ranking students. Thus, only the top thirty teams’ scores were shown.

The organizer seemed to hold Yu Jiazhen in high regard. Upon hearing his remark, he proposed, “Master Yu, I’ll have another screen brought over for you to check the data yourself.”

Yu Jiazhen smiled warmly. “Isn’t that a bother?”

“Not at all,” the organizer replied, turning to quietly instruct his secretary.

A minute or two later, a small screen was placed before Yu Jiazhen. The secretary pulled up the scores for Wang Chen’s team.

“Ah, I didn’t expect Wang Chen’s team to score so poorly,” Yu Jiazhen exclaimed in surprise.

Wang Chen’s current ranking was around the mid-to-lower tier among all teams.

Ouyang Lan, curious about Yu’s reaction, leaned over to glance at the screen.

After a moment, she sighed regretfully, “It seems this student Wang Chen won’t bring us any more surprises.”

With such a performance, he would likely only be admitted to third or fourth-tier universities.

Zhu Jingjun, speaking with cold finality, said, “That’s because he’s just a Life Shaman.”

“During the earlier rank test, he skipped due to special circumstances, and now his practical test shows such a poor level. There’s really no need to pay him any more attention.”

Ouyang Lan let out a barely audible sigh as well—there was nothing to be done. The path of a professional was ultimately determined by true strength.

But Zhu Jingjun’s icy tone made the truth sound all the harsher.

Just as everyone was about to turn their attention back to the main screen, Yu Jiazhen suddenly asked the secretary, “Does this data represent the team’s travel distance?”

The secretary quickly lowered his head to check. “Yes, Master Yu. The number here indicates this team is nearing the Silver region.”

“If you open this team’s data, you can also see their route.”

The secretary operated the system, pulling up the map Yu Jiazhen wanted to see.

“So Wang Chen’s team, since entering the secret realm, has been heading straight for the Silver region?” Yu Jiazhen frowned, pondering as he examined the screen.

“What is his intention? While others scramble for easily earned points, he’s heading into the more difficult areas.”

Ouyang Lan, now only focused on the top three teams, was bored. Unlike other recruitment officers who had to consider whether to recruit students ranked around the top twenty, she had no such worries—no one could outperform Qinghua Beisheng’s top three.

So she was idly watching when she heard Yu muttering to himself and leaned closer.

After a while, she asked cautiously, “Could it be that Wang Chen intends to focus his scoring efforts in the Silver region? Judging by this route, it looks like he’s about to make a move…”

Before Ouyang Lan could finish her sentence, Wang Chen’s team’s score began to surge wildly!

——

Cai Kun manipulated the blood of the takin before him, causing its blood vessels to clog and the beast to die. His skill was perfect for dealing with these low-level ferocious beasts that relied purely on brute force.

The takin’s eyes bulged as it collapsed. Cai Kun’s team’s score ticked upward again.

He felt secretly pleased and prepared to hunt down another takin.

Their team had just encircled a herd of about seventy to eighty takins and was dividing and conquering.

At that moment, a female voice came from beside him—it was Meng Liwen.

“Cai Kun, your team is impressive, steadily keeping us stuck in third place,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Cai Kun frowned. “Didn’t we agree earlier to jointly encircle the herd but compete individually for points? First kill, first claim?”

Meng Liwen rolled her eyes. “That was earlier. Who knew you, Young Master Cai, were so good at hunting these low-level beasts?”

“Cut the nonsense. If you want to keep cooperating with us, you have to agree to allocate us a quarter of the beasts in the next encirclement.”

Meng Liwen stated firmly, “Or else we part ways here.”

Cai Kun pondered for a moment but agreed to Meng Liwen’s demand. Their team had a professional with a group paralysis skill, which was useful for hunting.

Even after giving Meng Liwen a quarter of the beasts, it was still worth it.

He just needed some time to persuade his teammates, since ceding their tangible benefits required promising future returns.

After some hectic negotiations, Cai Kun calmed the team.

He felt a bit drained—managing team relations was much more exhausting than killing ferocious beasts.