First on the Six Lists, the College Entrance Examination Begins
The journey was uneventful.
While traveling with two beautiful women was nice, Lin Xuan's main focus was still on his future plans.
Don't be fooled by how he can now effortlessly kill monsters of the same level, or how his HP is comparable to a BOSS.
If he encounters anything too far above his level, his life will still be in danger.
For example, that professional who controlled three long-tusked mammoths.
If he had ill intentions, Lin Xuan would definitely not be able to defeat him.
Dispel, displacement, crowd control, large-area AOE damage—these are all abilities that high-level professionals are bound to possess.
"The college entrance exam shouldn't be a problem; I can sweep the test grounds relying solely on Skeleton Soldierss."
"The important thing is which university to attend after the college entrance exam."
Different cities have vastly different resources.
A small main city like Jiang City only has Goblin Castle as a novice dungeon.
Some of the larger main cities even have five novice dungeons.
More dungeons mean more types of equipment.
This allows novice professionals to develop more quickly and diversely.
Currently, the largest and most famous in Xia Kingdom are the three seas and two cities, forming five super main cities.
The three seas are Jinghai, Jianghai, and South Sea.
The two cities are Shanhe City and Xiangchuan City.
These five super main cities each have their unique characteristics.
The two cities are inland, with various species of monsters found in mountains, forests, lakes, volcanoes, and basins.
The three seas are coastal, with even richer resources.
Lin Xuan fell into a dilemma for a moment.
The last time he was this conflicted was when he was on Earth, contemplating whether to attend Tsinghua or Peking University.
The final outcome is best left unsaid.
Of course, this life is different.
Whatever the result, he can completely decide it himself.
Now, he is confident he can contend for the top scholar of Jiang City.
Perhaps even the top scholar of the entire nation!
It was already 7 PM when he returned to the city.
Lin Xuan parted ways with the two girls and returned home to rest.
For the remaining two days, he continued to clear dungeons in the city.
With the Summon Undead skill, which allowed him to summon thirty-two Skeleton Soldierss at a time with a cooldown of just over two minutes, his dungeon clearing speed became faster and faster, and he gained more experience.
During this time, Lin Xuan kept Silly Cow by his side.
He discovered that although Silly Cow was small, its strength was astonishing.
Its only attack method currently was a charge with its ox horn, but it could overturn vehicles weighing tens of tons.
This was still in its most basic form.
It's important to know that Silly Cow has potential for growth.
The growth method is very simple: it requires experience.
Therefore, when Lin Xuan cleared dungeons, he set the experience distribution to a fifty-fifty split.
Although this would reduce his personal experience, with the efficiency of rapid dungeon clearing, his rank on the newcomer leaderboard still slowly climbed to first place!
Thus, Lin Xuan successfully achieved first place in six out of six categories in the newcomer stage!
He was only one step away from the highest honor for a newcomer in Jiang City: first place in all seven categories—the top scholar of the college entrance exam!
June 6th, noon.
Today was the day the newcomer leaderboard was locked.
After the lock, the Jiang City Professional Association would determine the monster levels for the college entrance exam's martial test based on the current year's novice professionals' levels and safety considerations.
At this moment, at the central crystal in the dungeon hall, many people were discussing animatedly.
"In Jiang City's history, the highest level a newcomer reached before the college entrance exam was fourteen. I never thought it would be broken this year by this Necromancer named Lin Xuan!"
"Yes, that record was set by the Deputy City Lord when he was young. Could it be that Jiang City is about to produce another City Lord-level powerhouse?"
There are only over two hundred City Lord-level powerhouses in the entire Xia Kingdom.
Every single one of them has been battle-hardened and has never stopped leveling up.
To this day, only General Li, the strongest professional in Xia Kingdom, has managed to surpass them later on!
Thinking of this, many people shuddered.
Is Jiang City about to produce such a figure again?
Jiang City Professional Association.
College Entrance Exam Department.
Several staff members were discussing the level of monsters to be placed in the test grounds this year.
A woman in a uniform, wearing glasses, adjusted her spectacles and began to read the report she held.
"Due to the increased number of applicants for this year's martial test, the average level needs to exclude the top and bottom one hundred levels."
"After calculation, the monster levels are set at nine to eleven."
"Following previous years' practice, the BOSS in the depths of the test grounds will be chosen based on the average level of the top one hundred, which is thirteen."
"Finally, the BOSS group will be suppressed, with an average level of the highest ranker plus three levels, meaning an eighteen-level BOSS, and the leading BOSS will be five levels higher, at level twenty!"
When the woman finished her report, almost everyone in the room gasped.
This year's BOSS was two levels higher than in previous years.
Especially the leading BOSS in the depths, which actually reached level twenty.
This was not something ordinary students could handle.
Because a BOSS of this level already possessed two skills and a small amount of intelligence.
"Are we really going to release a level twenty BOSS? This might be risky."
"This is a decision from higher up, but considering the difficulty is too high and there are indeed significant risks, the final BOSSes to be released will be Lava Giant, Spiked Turtle, and Mountain Qiuqiu people."
When the woman finished speaking, everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.
These three BOSSes are slow-moving and relatively docile.
As long as the students in the test grounds don't actively attack them, there will be no risk.
"Alright, that's settled. This afternoon, proctors from neighboring cities will be dispatched. Teacher Zeng, you are responsible for receiving them."
"Yes, Minister."
-
June 7th.
The college entrance exam is something Xia Kingdom has insisted on since before the Great Cataclysm.
This is a national event.
It is also an opportunity for many students to change their fate.
In this era, the strong are respected.
Many dungeon resources and wilderness resources are controlled by large forces.
Newcomers only have the opportunity to access those dungeons and secret realms with good resources by entering a university.
Otherwise, relying on themselves, they might go to a leveling area in the wilderness only to find that the area has already been reserved, and they can only be driven away.
This would cause their level to fall further and further behind their peers.
In the early morning, the usually bustling streets were quiet and spacious.
Almost everyone was focused on the college entrance exam.
The higher a professional's level, the more difficult it is to reproduce.
Since professionals cannot be resurrected, the global population is decreasing sharply every year.
This has led to all countries uniformly emphasizing the cultivation of novice professionals.
Of course, all countries are encouraging ordinary people who are not professionals to have more children.
"Daughter, don't try too hard once you're in the test grounds. Just survive."
"Mom, don't worry, I'm a Priest, I'm not afraid of getting hurt."
"Son, remember on the test grounds, don't be a coward when you encounter monsters. Every year, many candidates successfully get into A-class universities by relying on their performance scores."
"..."
When Lin Xuan arrived at the dungeon hall, it was already packed with people.
At this time today, only martial arts test candidates were allowed into the dungeon hall.
Many students participating in the martial arts test were saying goodbye to their parents at the entrance.
Of course, more were forming teams here.
The college entrance exam did not restrict students from forming teams, but they needed to complete their team status and report it before entering the dungeon hall.
Many people had already completed their teams days in advance.
Those who hadn't teamed up by today were mostly observers.
They were estimating the level of the monsters in the test grounds based on the leaderboard.
After all, while teaming up was safer, it also meant it was harder to score points.
"Look, Lin Xuan is here."
"Huh, why is he alone? Didn't he team up?"
"Are you stupid? With his strength, teaming up would just be others dragging him down."
"I really hope Lin Xuan makes a splash this time, to show those famous high schools in Jiang City that our Binjiang No. 1 Middle School also has talent!"
"Lin Xuan, go for it!"
Squeezing through the crowd, Lin Xuan constantly heard people greeting him.
Most of them were cheering him on and encouraging him.
This gave him a strange feeling.
On Earth, he was just an ordinary teenager from an ordinary family.
His elementary school was an ordinary one in his hometown.
His middle school and high school were also ordinary schools.
Even in college and at work, he remained ordinary.
On Earth, he was like an NPC.
But now, he was the big player of this world!
Lin Xuan nodded to each person, expressing his gratitude.
He entered the dungeon hall.