12: Chapter 12 Scholarship Assessment

One week later.

In the center of Jiangcheng City, at the Divine Kingdom Combat Power Assessment Center directly under the Ministry of Education.

Outside the massive domed building, the crowds were bustling, and luxury cars gathered in droves.

Gu Han followed behind his homeroom teacher, Teacher Qin Lin, observing the surrounding environment.

There was also a girl accompanying them named Chu Yue.

Chu Yue had been the top student in Class 1 for Prosperity, and he remembered that she was one of the few in the class with an S-rank rating.

"Most of those here to participate in the assessment today are students from Jiangcheng University in the city." Teacher Qin Lin stopped, turned back, and urged, "Neither of you should feel pressured. Just do your best. Especially you, Gu Han."

Teacher Qin Lin stared at him: "Combat power assessment is no child's play. Once you detect any signs of your Divine Kingdom's ecosystem collapsing, immediately press the abandon button. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Teacher Qin." Gu Han nodded.

For this level of scholarship assessment, the spots were likely extremely limited; it appeared not many people from other county-level universities had come.

If he hadn't stumbled into accepting that Honey Badger challenge, Teacher Qin Lin would never have given him this spot.

Most of those around were students from Jiangcheng University, each of them arrogant and high-spirited, chatting with each other about their respective Divine Kingdom configurations.

"I heard Wang Teng is raising a batch of Berserk Earth Dragons in his Divine Kingdom."

"Pfft, what's that? The school beauty Lin, she has a pure Elven Divine Kingdom now, and has even built Magic Towers."

"With so much money, why even apply for a scholarship?!"

"What do you know? Who would ever complain about having too many Credits?"

Listening to the surrounding discussions, the difference between having funds and not having funds was like heaven and earth.

Those with family means could directly raise elves and start practicing magic. Extraordinary creatures would likely appear soon, and becoming a demigod was just a matter of time.

Gu Han silently calculated his own trump cards; there was absolutely no comparison, and he felt a bit wretched.

The Iron Vine Snake Banyan had not yet fully grown and could only serve as a restraint; the only things capable of fighting were that flock of Honey Badger Chickens and that Large Honey Badger.

In order to get a higher scholarship amount, Gu Han had already planned to sacrifice those Honey Badger Chickens. In any case, they were fighting to the death every day, and their lifespans weren't long anyway.

"Attention all candidates, the assessment list for the War God Path has been published on the large screen. Please verify your personal information."

The broadcast sound rang out.

The giant holographic projection screen in the center of the square lit up, and a dense list of names scrolled by.

They were all S-rank ratings, with SS-ranks at the front.

Everyone was looking for their own names and flattering each other.

When the list scrolled to the last line, the entire square suddenly went quiet for a moment.

Immediately afterward, a roar of laughter erupted.

"Holy crap! Am I seeing this right? How is there a C-rank here!"

"Dongjiang University? Gu Han? Overall rating C-rank?!"

"What the hell is this? A C-rank can also come to participate in the War God Path assessment? The system must have a bug!"

"Who is this person? Did he pull strings?"

Jeers rose one after another, surging like ocean waves.

Chu Yue frowned and moved two steps to the side, seemingly feeling that standing with Gu Han was embarrassing.

Teacher Qin Lin's expression was also slightly awkward; after all, Gu Han had won the challenge, and she had written the application report for Gu Han under pressure.

Yet Gu Han acted as if nothing was wrong, hands in his pockets, quietly watching his name listed at the very end, with a feeling of standing out from the crowd.

Of course, this metaphor wasn't entirely appropriate, but that was the feeling he had in his heart at this moment.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room on the top floor of the assessment center.

Several examiners were sitting in front of the screens, reviewing the candidates' profiles.

"The quality this year is quite good. Among the freshmen in Jiangcheng City, there are over thirty who are S-rank or above." A balding middle-aged examiner nodded with satisfaction.

"Indeed, in previous years there were only twenty-something." Another examiner chimed in.

Sitting in the main seat was a long-haired woman wearing a black military uniform, Colonel Zhong Ran.

She flipped through the tablet in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed.

"This Gu Han, what is his background? How was he let in?"

Colonel Zhong Ran projected Gu Han's profile onto the wall.

"An initial area of 700,000 square meters? That's a scale only S-rank has. How is his overall rating only C-rank?"

The balding examiner took a look and scoffed: "Reporting to you, Colonel, look at his skill. F-rank Forced Breeding, it dragged down the overall rating."

"F-rank?" Colonel Zhong Ran tapped her fingers on the table. "The probability of a Divine Kingdom being destroyed during combat power assessment is not small. A Life Class student running over here to die? Check his records, how was he selected?"

"Colonel, I checked." A young assistant nearby pulled up some data, his voice gradually rising: "This Gu Han had the top academic scores in the whole county, and chose Dongjiang University due to family circumstances. Previously, in a challenge proposed by a teacher, he kept an adult Large Honey Badger in his Divine Kingdom for seven days. Not only did the Divine Kingdom not collapse, but the Prosperity rating even passed."

Once these words were spoken, the monitoring room was silent for a few seconds, followed by a continuous hiss of intake of breath.

Everyone understood the value of this achievement; even students with an SSS-rank rating might not be able to complete this challenge, yet a C-rank had actually managed it.

The balding examiner was stunned: "Large Honey Badger? What kind of joke is that? He..."

The assistant projected the Honey Badger's vital sign chart that Teacher Qin Lin had uploaded onto the main screen.

The balding examiner immediately fell silent.

The seeds of doubt that had just started to sprout in the minds of everyone in the monitoring room were all extinguished by the chart data.

A glint of interest flashed in Colonel Zhong Ran's eyes.

"Interesting."

The crisp electronic broadcast sound echoed over the giant square of the assessment center.

"Please have all candidates enter the corresponding numbered assessment cabins and connect your Divine Kingdoms to the assessment terminal."

"To reduce the consumption of your Divine Kingdom's origin combat power, this combat power assessment will adopt an 'Invasion Mode'. The system will deploy corresponding invading species in batches based on your Divine Kingdom's terrain and environment. The more batches you successfully defend against, the higher your potential rating, and the scholarship amount you can obtain will also increase in tiers."

"A reminder to all candidates: act according to your capabilities. Once you detect that your Divine Kingdom's ecosystem cannot withstand the pressure, please immediately press the red withdrawal button on the console to cut the connection."

"Additionally, based on the principle of Divine Kingdom privacy protection, the large screen in the square will not broadcast the combat situation inside the Divine Kingdoms; it will only update the passed batches and kill data in real-time."

Hearing the broadcast, a wave of relaxed discussion came from the queuing crowd.

Gu Han listened to the surrounding discussions and nodded inwardly. These rules were indeed quite fair; at least those pay-to-win Divine Kingdoms with volcanic, oceanic, or sky island terrains would not have a terrain advantage during the assessment.

He found his own glass cabin, number thirty-nine.

"Gu Han." The accompanying homeroom teacher, Teacher Qin Lin, walked over and gave one last piece of advice, "Don't force it. If you notice anything wrong, withdraw immediately. As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood; don't ruin your Divine Kingdom's origin for a little money."

"Don't worry, Teacher Qin, I know what I'm doing."

Gu Han smiled, pulled open the cabin door, and lay down inside. He pulled down the connection helmet and closed his eyes.

His vision went dark, then bright.

Gu Han's spirit body was already floating above his Divine Kingdom.

At the edge of the Divine Kingdom, space twisted slightly, and a portal shimmering with blue light rose from the ground. The assessment terminal's prompt sounded in his mind right on time, notifying the candidate that they could start the assessment at any time.

Gu Han had no intention of arranging any troops or formations; with a thought, he directly locked onto the Large Honey Badger, which was still fast asleep.

He immediately teleported it to a spot less than three meters directly in front of the portal.

"Start assessment." Gu Han decisively clicked on the virtual panel in front of him.