58: Confused invigilator!

This first round of testing primarily assesses the examinees' combat skills.

Although the Rank of the monsters will be higher than those usually encountered, for a seasoned professional, this is not an issue.

This testing method has been in use for many years.

Typically, battles last from a short dozen seconds to a minute upon entering.

The invigilating teachers can assess the professional's combat ability and award points accordingly.

However, when it came to Xia Qi, this method proved unworkable.

He instantly killed the monster without even moving his body; how could they possibly give him a score?

If his upper limit is unknown, how many points should he appropriately receive?

This truly bewildered the invigilating teachers.

"How should we calculate this score?"

"We can only give him a perfect score."

Several Great Examiners discussed it and finally decided on Xia Qi's score: a perfect 100 points.

Thus, after Xia Qi waited in the room for a moment, a notification appeared before his eyes, indicating the end of the first round of examinations.

Once all examinees had completed the first stage of the examination, a majestic voice resonated in everyone's ears.

"The first round of the martial arts examination has concluded."

"56,112 participants, with 54,807 qualified candidates."

"Now, announcing the results."

Immediately after, a light screen appeared before everyone's eyes, displaying the score rankings.

[Xia Qi, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, cleared in 0.1 seconds, score 100]

[Yu Qiu, Tongcheng No. 1 High School, cleared in 3.5 seconds, score 90]

[Yun Qingyue, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, cleared in 4.8 seconds, score 85]

...

Xia Qi rightfully ranked first.

He took only 0.1 seconds.

Compared to the second-place finisher's 3.5 seconds, his strength was not just a little bit superior.

What surprised Xia Qi was that among so many examinees, Yun Qingyue actually ranked third; it seemed she had put in a lot of hard preparation during this period.

Su Yuanchen was also searching for his own ranking, and it took him a while to find it.

[Su Yuanchen, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, cleared in 8.5 seconds, score 50]

His ranking was directly outside the top fifty.

Upon seeing his score and ranking, Su Yuanchen was furious.

"I used an S-Rank Talent to clear an A-Rank Talent difficulty, yet I didn't even make it into the top ten."

"Damn it, I should have been first! What right does Xia Qi have?"

"And 0.1 seconds? How could such a powerful monster be defeated in 0.1 seconds? There must be a mistake somewhere."

"A normal person hasn't even started fighting in 0.1 seconds, and he's already finished. Is he Heaven-Defying?"

It wasn't just Su Yuanchen who had such thoughts; many people felt a strong sense of unreality after seeing Xia Qi's results.

They were all examinees, so why could Xia Qi be so outstanding?

Yun Qingyue looked at the rankings, her pretty face revealing determination, "Brother Xia Qi is amazing, but I won't give up either."

This first round of examinations was just an appetizer; among the more than 50,000 examinees in the province, only just over a thousand failed to defeat the monsters and were ultimately eliminated with 0 points, missing out on subsequent examinations.

Such were the rules; after a month of training, if one still couldn't individually kill a monster of the same Rank in the college entrance examination, then there was no one else to blame.

"The second round of the martial arts examination is about to begin. Examinees may choose their difficulty level."

"Please note, the second round of examination may involve life-threatening danger. All examinees must choose carefully based on their own circumstances."

"Should you encounter danger, you may directly shout 'give up,' and your examination will terminate. Your score will be based on the point of surrender."

When the rules for the second round of examinations were announced, many examinees' expressions involuntarily became tense.

The true examination had now begun.

Similar to clearing dungeons in the wild, the second round of examination also had four difficulties: Normal, Elite, Hard, and nightmare.

The points gained from killing monsters varied for each difficulty.

Killing one monster in Normal difficulty yielded 1 point, Elite difficulty yielded 2 points, Hard yielded 3 points, and nightmare difficulty yielded 5 points.

All examinees faced monsters of Rank 15.

This meant that examinees who had achieved higher Ranks had a clear advantage in this round of examination.

The examination time was uniformly 60 minutes.

There was only one goal: to see who could kill the most.

Su Yuanchen smiled; he had been waiting for this day to advance his S-Rank Talent, and he decisively chose nightmare difficulty.

In his opinion, with his S-Rank Talent, nightmare difficulty would be a breeze.

Moreover, a single monster in nightmare difficulty was worth five points, which would require killing five monsters in Normal difficulty.

Given the limited time, naturally, the stronger the monster, the higher the points gained.

"I want Qingyue to see who the real strong one is!"

Su Yuanchen held a long spear in his hand, which was his professional weapon.

"Not bad, an examinee chose Hell difficulty."

[Su Yuanchen, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, Rank 16, Spear Warrior]

"It's Jiangcheng No. 1 High School again. Jiangcheng has many excellent students this year."

"Indeed, look at Xia Qi and Yun Qingyue; they are both examinees from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School."

"This Su Yuanchen's data only shows A-Rank, yet he dares to choose nightmare difficulty. Truly commendable courage."

"No, look at the energy on his long spear; it seems to be more than just A-Rank."

Concealing one's true strength was not uncommon in previous college entrance examinations.

Some students from well-off families with resources would find ways to help their children improve their combat power before the college entrance examination.

This involved enhancing Talent Rank, such as using Talent potions and similar items, which could make one's Talent infinitely close to a Talent one Rank higher than their own.

Of course, there were also occasional cases of Talent advancement, but most of these methods had strong side effects, akin to drinking poison to quench thirst.

"What a pity. Everyone's choices are different. This forcibly elevated Talent is achieved by overdrawing one's physical potential, limiting future achievements."

The Great Examiners were naturally well-informed. When they saw the faint crimson energy surging around Su Yuanchen, they immediately knew it was caused by a forced Talent advancement.

"There's nothing more to see with this person. Even if his results are good, it's only for now."

Soon, the Great Examiners lost interest and turned their attention to other top-performing examinees.

After careful consideration, Yun Qingyue chose Elite difficulty.

She was a mage, not skilled in close combat, nor adept at challenging high-intensity monsters without a warrior in the front line.

Although the monsters were only Rank 15, at Hard difficulty and above, their strength was no less than that of ordinary Rank 20+ monsters.

So she chose Elite difficulty, intending to win by quantity.

Yun Qingyue's choice was also noted by the Great Examiners.

"Not bad, the girl from the Jiangcheng Yun Family is quite clever."

"Although mages have high damage, their bodies are frail, and overly strong monsters can easily put them in dangerous situations."

"This is clearly the most suitable examination method for her; she might even have a chance to take first place."

"That's hard to say. You forgot there's still an examinee who can instantly kill."

At these words, several Great Examiners immediately shifted their gaze to Xia Qi's room, wondering what difficulty the top scorer of the first round would choose this time.

......