2: Chapter 2 ranked first in the evaluation

Two and a half hours later.

Qingshi City No. 1 Middle School, Grand Auditorium.

Over three hundred high school seniors filled the auditorium, the air thick with a mixture of anxiety and excitement. The most critical part of Awakening Day was not the awakening itself, but the post-awakening evaluation.

The potential rating of one's personal world would directly determine a student's future resource allocation, and even their right to choose a school during the college entrance examination.

On the giant light screen at the front of the auditorium, the data of students who had already completed their evaluations scrolled in real-time.

"Wang Hao, Flame World, fifteen kilometers in diameter, embryonic form of civilization established, Rating: C+."

"Li Wei, Plant World, twenty kilometers in diameter, civilization has entered the Bronze Age, Rating: B-."

"Zhang Lei, Martial Arts World, thirty-seven kilometers in diameter, civilization has developed a martial arts system, Rating: A-."

Every jump in the data was accompanied by whispers of envy or jealousy from below the stage. That Zhang Lei's Martial Arts World had already been targeted by several key universities; it was said that people from admissions offices were already in contact.

Su Bai sat in the third row from the back by the aisle, quietly waiting for his number to be called.

There were two empty seats around him.

Some students with poor awakening results had already left early. Although he hadn't proactively shared the news of his Yin Qi World, the expression of the teacher in the awakening room was enough to explain the situation. When the news spread in the class group, it didn't even cause much of a stir.

A trash-tier world wasn't worth paying attention to.

"I heard someone from Class 8 awakened a Yin Qi World. Hilarious, they can't even evolve a civilization."

"Then why even come for the evaluation? Might as well just take the ordinary college entrance exam."

"Probably wants to try his luck. If the evaluation teacher is feeling generous and gives him an F-tier, at least he'd count as a Creator."

Su Bai turned a deaf ear to them.

His consciousness was currently immersed in his own world.

Two and a half hours ago, he had created the Ghost Bride. During these two and a half hours, he hadn't been idle.

[Ghost Bride devouring Yin Qi... Growth Progress: 3.7%]

Although the Yin Qi World was rated as "trash-tier," it was paradise for the Ghost Bride. She didn't need Su Bai to invest any additional Power Of Faith; she could grow slowly just by relying on the Yin Qi permeating the world itself.

More importantly, Su Bai had discovered a fact that everyone else had overlooked.

The Yin Qi World didn't "lack a material foundation."

Yin Qi itself was the material foundation.

Ordinary material worlds require soil, water, air, and light to form an ecological cycle. But the logic of the Yin Qi World was completely different.

Everything here was constructed using Yin Qi as the raw material.

The Ghost Bride's existence was proof in itself: as long as the correct "recipe" was found, Yin Qi could completely condense into functional units.

Only the transmigrated Su Bai could achieve this, because in his mind, he possessed the entire five thousand years of history from the Great Xia Kingdom.

After five thousand years, the Netherworld system most compatible with Yin Qi had become quite refined, and the world ultimately created would be the strongest.

Su Bai discovered this while studying the world rules.

On his world core panel, a line of information appeared that hadn't been there before:

[World Trait: Yin Energy Creation. Consuming Yin Qi can create special units.]

This line appeared after the Ghost Bride was born.

It was as if some hidden condition had been triggered.

Su Bai looked at the Ghost Bride's growth progress again.

Two and a half hours, growth progress 3.7%.

At this rate, the Ghost Bride would reach the second order in about three days.

Su Bai was in no hurry.

He had plenty of time.

"Class 8, Grade 12, Su Bai."

When his name popped up on the light screen, the auditorium fell silent for a moment, followed by a burst of low laughter.

"Is that the guy with the Yin Qi World?"

"Coming for an evaluation with a trash-tier world, he's got some thick skin."

"Probably wants to coast by with a guaranteed F-tier."

Su Bai stood up and walked toward the evaluation area expressionlessly. His pace was steady, his back was straight, and his gaze was fixed forward, without a single ripple of emotion from the surrounding chatter.

The evaluation area was set on the stage at the front of the auditorium, with three precision evaluation instruments arranged in an arc. Five evaluation teachers sat behind them, led by the Vice Principal of Qingshi No. 1 Middle School, Zhao Mingyuan, a Sixth-Order Creator.

Su Bai stood at the designated spot in the center of the stage.

"Su Bai," Zhao Mingyuan flipped through the documents in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly. "Yin Qi World, 10.2 kilometers in diameter, awakening rating: trash-tier. Are you sure you want to participate in the evaluation?"

"I'm sure."

Zhao Mingyuan nodded without saying much. Every year, there were a few persistent students who insisted on participating in the evaluation, and the result was nothing more than having their poor data publicly executed once again. He had seen too much of it.

"Then let's begin. Release your world projection and let the instruments read the data."

Before his voice had even faded, a violent energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the other side of the stage.

Everyone's gaze was drawn toward it.

It was a student in the adjacent evaluation area, Lin Yue from Class 1, Grade 12, one of the people with the best data on Awakening Day. His world was the rare Chaos World, twenty-five kilometers in diameter, with an initial rating of B+. At this moment, he stood in the center of the evaluation area, his face pale and the veins on his forehead bulging.

"What is he doing?" someone exclaimed.

"He's forcibly creating a hero unit!" Zhao Mingyuan stood up abruptly. "That idiot! Without enough talent, you can't perform creation operations; something will go wrong!"

But it was already too late.

Lin Yue's ambition was too great. Not satisfied with a B+ rating, he wanted to showcase a powerful hero unit at the evaluation site to boost his score.

He poured all the approximately 300 points of Power Of Faith given after his world's awakening into hero creation.

But the characteristic of the Chaos World was unstable rules, and the success rate of forcibly creating high-rank heroes was extremely low.

The energy went out of control.

A pitch-black figure tore out from Lin Yue's world projection, its body wrapped in distorted chaotic energy. It was a half-human, half-beast monster, covered in black scales, with crimson eyes and a low growl coming from its mouth.

[Berserk Hero: Chaos Devourer]

[Rank: First-Order]

[Grade: Two-Star]

[Status: Berserk, Hostility Locked]

"First-Order, Two-Star!" a student cried out. "He actually managed to create a First-Order, Two-Star hero!"

"But it's out of control! Run!"

The Chaos Devourer's crimson eyes swept across the stage, eventually locking onto Su Bai, who was closest. It let out a piercing screech and lunged toward Su Bai on all fours like a beast.

"Get out of the way!" Zhao Mingyuan shouted, while simultaneously summoning his own hero unit. But his hero was too far away; it wouldn't make it in time.

Su Bai didn't dodge.

He didn't even take a step back.

At the moment the Chaos Devourer lunged in front of him, Su Bai's world projection suddenly churned violently. The grayish-white Yin Qi seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand.

A snowy-white bare foot stepped out from the Yin Qi.

Red clothes like blood, black hair like a waterfall.

The Ghost Bride appeared in front of Su Bai, standing between him and the Chaos Devourer.

Her movements were very light and slow, as if she were using no strength at all.

She simply raised her hand and lightly pressed her slender, pale fingers against the Chaos Devourer's forehead.

The whole world went quiet.

The Chaos Devourer's massive body seemed to have been hit by a pause button, freezing in place. Its crimson eyes met the Ghost Bride's deep pupils, and the blood-red color in its eyes faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It wasn't being controlled.

It was being devoured.

The Ghost Bride's skill "Resentment Absorption" was operating at full capacity at this moment.

The Chaos Devourer itself was pieced together from the Power Of Faith and rule fragments of the Chaos World; its core composition contained a large amount of resentment and chaotic will.

These things were food for the Ghost Bride.

Grayish-white Yin Qi flowed into the Chaos Devourer's body through the Ghost Bride's fingers, disintegrating, stripping, and devouring its core rules inch by inch.

The entire process lasted less than three seconds.

Three seconds later, the Chaos Devourer's body seemed to have weathered away, turning into grayish-black powder that scattered down.

The Ghost Bride withdrew her hand, turned to face Su Bai, and lowered her head slightly, as if waiting for the next command.

The entire venue was dead silent.

Zhao Mingyuan stood with his mouth agape, his action of preparing to summon a hero frozen in mid-air.

The five evaluators looked at each other; no one spoke.

The over three hundred students below the stage all held their breath.

A First-Order, Two-Star berserk hero.

Had been insta-killed by a First-Order, Three-Star unit.

No, it wasn't an insta-kill; it was a devouring. The whole process was clean and efficient, without even any extra movements.

"This... this is impossible..." Zhao Mingyuan's voice was a bit dry. "In theory, a First-Order, Three-Star can indeed beat a First-Order, Two-Star, but it should at least take a couple of hits, right? How was it just devoured directly?"

He took a deep breath, sat back in his chair, and stared at Su Bai with a solemn gaze.

"Student Su Bai, what exactly is your hero unit?"

Su Bai met his gaze calmly.

"Ghost Bride."

"And the skills?"

"Soul-Claiming Red Makeup, Yin Energy Affinity, and Resentment Absorption."

When Zhao Mingyuan heard the words "Resentment Absorption," his pupils shrank suddenly. He quickly looked down at the recalculated data on the instrument and then sucked in a breath of cold air.

[Re-evaluating...]

[Detected hero unit skill 'Resentment Absorption' can devour core rule fragments of other world units and convert them into its own growth progress.]

[World potential recalculating...]

[Yin Qi World, Special-type World]

[Evaluation Conclusion: This world does not possess conventional civilization evolution capabilities, but performs excellently in unit compatibility and special rules. The hero unit 'Ghost Bride' possesses cross-tier combat potential and self-evolution capabilities, and has a rare 100% compatibility rate with the world.]

[Comprehensive Rating: S]

When the letter "S" appeared on the light screen, the entire auditorium seemed to have been hit by a mute button.

S-rank.

In the entire Qingshi City No. 1 Middle School, an S-rank world had not appeared in the last five years.

Zhang Lei's Martial Arts World, thirty-seven kilometers in diameter, A-rank.

Lin Yue's Chaos World, twenty-five kilometers in diameter, B+ rank.

Whereas Su Bai's Yin Qi World, ten kilometers in diameter, started with a trash-tier rating and ended with a final rating of S.

Zhao Mingyuan stood up, took off his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and remained silent for a long time.

"Student Su Bai," he finally said, his voice carrying a sense of gravity, "your world rating is S-rank. I will report your data to the Municipal Education Bureau. If all goes well, you should receive recommendation invitations from at least three key universities by next week."

He paused and added, "Additionally, I suggest you do not accept any invitations from ordinary universities. With an S-rank rating, you are qualified to aim for the top ten in the country in this year's college entrance examination."

Su Bai nodded, his expression still calm.

"I understand. Thank you, Principal Zhao."

He turned and walked off the stage, his pace still steady and his back still straight.

As he passed by Lin Yue, Su Bai glanced at him sideways.

Lin Yue was currently slumped on the ground, his face pale, his eyes filled with disbelief and regret. Not only had he lost all his Power Of Faith, but he had also been disqualified from this evaluation due to his operational error.

It meant that his path to the college entrance exam was essentially cut off.

Even his path as a Creator was severed.

This was the result of insufficient talent.

While Su Bai's own talent might not be enough, was the talent of the Netherworld, constructed by countless sages over five thousand years of history, not enough?

Su Bai had no worries about this and didn't even stop his pace.

He returned to his seat, sat back down, and his consciousness sank into his world.

[Ghost Bride devouring Chaos unit fragments]

[Growth Progress: 3.7% → 28.2%]

The corners of Su Bai's mouth curled up slightly.

One Chaos Devourer was worth more than half a day of natural growth.

He suddenly felt that the "trash-tier" evaluation of this world might be the funniest joke he had ever heard.

If the first conceived Ghost Bride was this powerful, then to what extent would the Ten Great Yin Marshals, or even the Ten Kings of Hell, be when the Netherworld World was constructed later?!

Su Bai felt a faint thought; it was the Ghost Bride.

She was longing.

Longing to evolve, longing to grow stronger, longing to devour more of the dead's resentment.

Su Bai's brow furrowed slightly; he had no Power Of Faith left.

Furthermore, his world had not yet formed a civilization, so there was no way for it to generate Power Of Faith for him every day.

He looked up toward the brightly lit city center in the distance.

There, there was the official Faith Crystal Trading Hall.

A single lowest-grade faith crystal cost one hundred thousand.

He only had three thousand yuan right now.

The gap was truly too large, but Su Bai wasn't worried; after all, he was currently ranked first, and there would definitely be rewards.