The Combat Power Test — Rapid Ascent Through the Rankings

Several hours later, Lu Yuan sat in his assigned waiting spot in the hall. A few students were still lined up ahead of him.

They were all senior students looking to buy something from him.

Over those few hours, he had sold an enormous amount. In Second-rank Lord Grade Gene Armaments alone, he had moved six pieces.

Since their quality was somewhat below the four he had sold to Si Tinglei, the six together came to roughly 120,000 credits total.

On top of the Lord Grade pieces, he had sold even more in Chief Grade and Boss Grade Gene Armaments, pulling in another roughly 150,000 credits.

Beyond that, he had even managed to sell one Lord Grade Transcendent Gene, fetching 230,000 credits.

And those were only the Second-rank Gene Armaments. He had First-rank ones to sell as well.

Gene Evolution Fluids, Talismans, Psionic Bombs — he had moved a considerable number of those, too.

All told, Lu Yuan's credit balance had climbed to just under one million: 892,500 credits.

He still needed roughly 1.11 million more to buy the Flicker Transcendent Gene.

Since he was still in cultivation, he had no intention of parting with his Spirit Power Gene Fluid.

He also needed to keep some cards in reserve. Should he ever run into real danger, he would have to respond without hesitation — so the most valuable of his Talismans, Psionic Bombs, and gene compounds were off the table.

The same went for his Second-rank peak Lord Grade Mechanical Warriors. He needed them for protection, at least until his own strength grew sufficient to do without.

Which meant the range of goods he could actually sell was fairly limited in the first place.

The past few hours of selling had burned through roughly half his available stock. The remaining half should be enough to cover the 1.11 million he still needed — more or less.

And even if it fell slightly short, he wasn't worried. He could always return to the Aier Mechanical Ruins for more resources. One more trip would definitely close the gap.

His real concern was something else: everything he was selling was First-rank or Second-rank gear.

The entire school only had so many First- and Second-rank Gene Warriors, and their credit reserves were inevitably thinner than those of the senior Third- and Fourth-rank students.

He doubted that even if every single First- and Second-rank student poured every credit they had into buying his goods, they could pool together two million credits combined.

A First-rank Gene Warrior had usually just enrolled. Take Yang Ping — he had been at the camp over a month, done missions, sold some things, and still had barely over five hundred credits to his name.

The others probably weren't doing much better.

As for Second-rank students, having ten thousand credits on hand was already considered substantial. After all, they burned through credits constantly — consumables, cultivation costs, one thing after another.

The senior who had bought the Lord Grade Transcendent Gene was a Third-rank Battle General, and Lu Yuan had watched him borrow heavily from his friends just to afford it.

Once the credit pools of the First- and Second-rank students ran dry, the only goods he could still sell profitably would be Transcendent Genes. Lord Grade and Chief Grade ones were genuinely in demand even among Third- and Fourth-rank students.

The other option was to wait until his cultivation advanced a bit further, return to the Aier Mechanical Ruins, push into the core zone of the central Floating City, cut through the Third-rank Mechanical Guardians, and explore the third-rank towers. There would be a massive windfall waiting for him there.

When that day came, credits would be the last thing he had to worry about.

More than enough. In fact, plenty to spare.

After handing the last few items to the remaining senior students, Yang Ping turned to look at Lu Yuan with barely concealed envy:

"Lu Yuan, bro — you've really struck it rich this time! Credits shouldn't be a problem for you anymore, right?"

Maige beside him wore the same covetous expression. "I did the math — you're probably sitting at about a million credits. Then I looked at my own balance and suddenly felt like crying."

Si Tingfeng's eyes still held a trace of astonishment.

"Someone who walks into Talent Camp and earns nearly a million credits inside their first month — I don't think that's ever happened since the camp was founded."

Lu Yuan smiled. "I'm still quite a ways short. I'm planning to buy a better Transcendent Gene."

All three stared at him.

Yang Ping's expression went slack. "Lu Yuan, bro — what kind of Transcendent Gene are you trying to buy?! A million credits isn't enough?!"

Lu Yuan just smiled. "That's a secret."

Si Tingfeng and Maige exchanged a glance, both letting out helpless, rueful smiles.

In a single month, this junior of theirs had more credits than either of them. Who could even compete with that?

Just then, the queue terminal nearby announced their names.

Someone ahead of them had finished their combat power test, freeing up a room — it was their turn.

The four of them stood and followed the other called students out of the hall.

As Lu Yuan rose to leave, the students remaining in the hall watched him go, curiosity plain on their faces.

"Junior Lu Yuan has already inscribed a Lord Grade gene — and he's only Second-rank."

"I know. From what I've heard, he comes from an ordinary background. Not an inheritor-type genius with ancestral genes passed down through the family — and yet he has a Lord Grade inscription at Second-rank. It's unbelievable. My father heard about it too, just sent me a message saying Junior Lu Yuan will be at least a Battle Sovereign someday and telling me to get close to him."

"A Battle Sovereign as his floor... I can't even wrap my head around that."

"The real question is — where will he rank in the test?"

Nearby, Si Tinglei — who hadn't been called yet — watched with sharp, calculating eyes, a faint smile on his lips.

"Right now, every student in our Talent Camp with a Lord Grade inscription is a Third-rank Battle General or above — sixty-two of them by my count. They all have solid Body Technique cultivation behind them, and some have even mastered Spirit Techniques. There are also students with Chief Grade inscriptions who have honed their Body Techniques to the point where they can hold their own against weaker Lord Grade warriors of the same rank. Those students aren't necessarily inferior to Junior Lu Yuan. Taking all of that into account, I'd put him around seventieth."

Most of those listening nodded, murmuring in agreement.

"Si Tinglei's reasoning is sound. Junior Lu Yuan only just broke through to Second-rank, and even with a Lord Grade inscription, he's still going to be a step behind the established Lord Grade warriors. He's only been here a month, too — his Body Technique cultivation probably hasn't had much time to develop. Seventieth sounds right to me. Could even be lower."

A young man radiating a heavy, powerful presence chimed in with a nod.

"With Senior Wang Cheng and Senior Si Tinglei both saying so, it's probably not far off."

"Still — it's impressive regardless. Only been here a month, first test, and he's already looking at a top-hundred ranking somewhere in the seventies. That's extraordinary. Outside of those born with high-grade inscriptions — your Innate Lord Grade types, your Innate King Grade types — I don't think any student has ever done that."

"Right. By his second year he'll probably be in the top thirty. By his third year, he might even challenge the top ten."

The thought drew a gleam of genuine admiration to every face in the room.

Every student here had been admitted to the Red Maple Talent Camp — fewer than a thousand chosen from tens of millions of new Gene Warriors across the Red Maple Empire. The talent gathered in this hall was extraordinary by any measure.

But even among geniuses, there were tiers.

Standing where they were, they could already feel that gap.

The crowd's gaze shifted to the massive display screen mounted on the far wall of the hall. On it shone 930 names — the full Combat Rankings of every student in the Talent Camp.

First place: Su Xu. Second: Shi Xiu. Third: Liu Qingmei. Si Tingfeng, only in his fifth year, held ninth place. Si Tinglei and Wang Cheng both sat comfortably in the top thirty — Si Tinglei at nineteenth, Wang Cheng at twenty-sixth.

Since this was Lu Yuan's first test, his entry was the default starting rank assigned to all new students: 927th.

Now everyone waited, eyes fixed on the screen, wondering where that number would end up once the test was done.

Virtual Room 302.

This was the room Lu Yuan had been assigned.

When he stepped inside, he found it almost identical to the Simulation Room in the Training Hall.

He had been to the Simulation Room enough times to know it by heart.

He pulled up the holographic interface. There was one option he didn't recognize from the Simulation Room: Standard Combat Power Test.

That was what he was here for.

He selected it.

White light bloomed outward and washed over him.

An instant later, Lu Yuan stood on a vast, featureless white expanse stretching endlessly in every direction.

A mechanical voice rang out:

*"Beep. Combat power test initiated. Cultivation rank detected: Second-rank. Round One — Second-rank Elite Grade Feral Beast, ten percent tempered."*

The voice cut off. A massive black tiger materialized before him, its shoulders nearly two meters high.

Its presence was unmistakably Second-rank — but against Lu Yuan, pitifully outmatched.

As per the system prompt, this was an Elite Grade beast at ten percent tempering.

The tiger roared and launched itself at him in a streak of shadow.

Lu Yuan's expression didn't change. He drove his fist into the black tiger's skull.

**BOOM.**

Half the beast's body caved inward and dissolved into a flash of white light.

An Elite Grade Feral Beast was laughably beneath him.

*"Round One cleared. Take a ten-minute rest?"*

"No rest. Continue."

*"Round Two — Second-rank Elite Grade Feral Beast, twenty percent tempered."*

Another black tiger appeared.

Marginally stronger — twenty percent tempered, still Elite Grade. It made no difference. One punch. Gone.

The pattern held — each round brought another black tiger, tempering climbing by ten percent.

By Round Ten, it had reached one hundred percent: a peak Elite Grade Feral Beast at full Second-rank.

Still one punch.

Round Eleven finally brought a change. The opponent that materialized was a pitch-black Gnoll.

It fixed Lu Yuan with ice-cold killing intent.

Second-rank Boss Grade, ten percent tempered.

A Boss Grade Gnoll hit noticeably harder than the fully-tempered Elite tiger — but against Lu Yuan it still didn't matter. The Gnoll charged in howling, and Lu Yuan ended it with a single punch. It didn't last a full second.

Boss Grade advanced the same way as Elite Grade: ten percent per round.

Round Twenty-One brought another shift. The opponent was now a Kaman, its power upgraded to Second-rank Chief Grade, ten percent tempered.

A Kaman was clearly stronger than a Boss Grade Gnoll, but for Lu Yuan it was still one punch.

In truth, if he had faced a Second-rank peak Chief Grade opponent right after his breakthrough — or even right after evolving Mechanical Control — he would have needed genuine effort to win. Two or three exchanges at minimum.

But after his time in the Aier Mechanical Ruins, Lu Yuan had tempered a portion of his White Jade Spirit Body. And now he wore a complete set of Lord Grade Gene Armaments. A Second-rank peak Chief Grade opponent posed no real threat.

He dispatched the peak Chief Grade Kaman with a single punch and arrived at Round Thirty-One.

At Round Thirty-One, the gnolls returned — but now at Second-rank Lord Grade, ten percent tempered.

At Lord Grade, Lu Yuan began to take things seriously.

He drew his greatsword. White jade radiance pulsed across his body, and his presence surged upward.

White Jade Spirit Body — full output.

The Gnoll across from him was an Assault Type warrior. It gripped an enormous spiked club, let out a battle cry, and white flames erupted across its body, gathering into a blazing streak as it hurtled forward.

In a heartbeat the Gnoll was before him, club raised high, crashing down with tremendous force. The howling slipstream stirred Lu Yuan's hair.

His expression stayed calm. He shifted to the side, evaded the blow with easy precision, then answered with a sweeping slash — white light blazing along the blade — that drew a clean line across the Gnoll's throat.

A low-tier Lord Grade warrior was still no obstacle when Lu Yuan was truly focused.

He pressed forward.

Back in the hall.

Lu Yuan had barely been inside the Virtual Room when the students monitoring the Combat Rankings screen saw his name begin to move.

First jump — from 927th to 914th.

A ripple ran through the room.

"It's started!"

"How long has he been in? Less than a minute? And he's already cleared nearly twenty rounds?"

Eyes lit up, everyone locked onto his ranking and talked over each other.

While they chattered, his number jumped again — practically every two seconds — breaking into the top eight hundred and climbing without pause.

"That pace — he's just obliterating everything."

"That's expected at this stage. Lord Grade going up against Elite and Boss Grade opponents — of course he sweeps. The real picture won't show until later."

Si Tinglei watched with sharpened eyes, his voice even.

Wang Cheng — ranked twenty-sixth — was also watching intently.

In his assessment, Lu Yuan was still a half-step below his own level for now. But that gap wouldn't last. It wouldn't be long before Lu Yuan came gunning for his spot.

A rival like that deserved his full attention.

Lu Yuan's name kept climbing without hesitation, pushing through the three hundreds and settling at 295th.

"Two ninety-five. At that bracket, the opponents should be Chief Grade now."

Wang Cheng murmured, eyes fixed on the screen.

Then it jumped again — to 276th.

His eyes narrowed. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.

*That fast? He's maintaining that pace through Chief Grade opponents?* "His real strength must be higher than I assumed."

The others shared his reaction, shock plain on their faces.

Then the rankings erupted.

251st.

"There it goes again! I was sitting at 255 — I just dropped a spot. Damn it."

A clean-featured young man grimaced, expression caught somewhere between resignation and wounded pride.

He had mentally prepared for this. But being actually leapfrogged still stung. He was a third-year student — and some kid who had been enrolled for one month had just passed him. That was brutal.

At least the ranking didn't affect his credit allocation. Otherwise he might genuinely have cried.

Then everyone's eyes snapped wide.

Lu Yuan's ranking jumped again — 199th.

"At that bracket... his opponents should be Chief Grade around forty percent tempered, right? He's *still* one-shotting them?!"

Disbelief spread through the crowd.

Even a freshly-minted Second-rank Lord Grade warrior would normally need at least two or three exchanges to instantly put down a same-rank Chief Grade opponent at forty percent tempering.

But Lu Yuan was apparently still finishing them in a single blow.

A stunned silence fell over the assembled students.

Si Tinglei's gaze turned quiet and thoughtful as he watched the number settle. His voice dropped almost to himself:

"It seems I underestimated him. Seventieth was never going to be his ceiling."