Final Results on the Combat Rankings

Lu Yuan's ranking hadn't stopped climbing yet.

Two seconds later, with everyone watching in stunned silence, it reached 189th.

This jump was slightly smaller than the ones before — the students clustered in this range were fairly evenly matched, most falling somewhere between 50% and 80% Chief Grade tempering. Still, the fact that his ranking kept rising proved Lu Yuan had cleared yet another round.

It wasn't over. His ranking continued to tick upward.

A moment later, it jumped to 173rd.

By this point, the hall had gone eerily quiet. Everyone stared at the board with their mouths hanging open.

It wasn't that his ranking was particularly high.

It hadn't even reached the predictions Si Tinglei and Wang Cheng had made.

But the speed of his climb was something else entirely. One jump every two seconds — and given that there was always a slight delay between clearing a round and the board updating, that meant he was practically one-shotting everything in his path.

Who could keep up with that?

Nobody in the room was slow-witted. Being able to one-shot opponents at this stage meant Lu Yuan's real power was far beyond what any of them had imagined.

His ranking continued to rise.

152nd.

133rd.

...

91st.

When it suddenly jumped to 91st, the room erupted.

"He's broken into the top hundred! So fast!"

"The top hundred — that's mostly Lord Grade warriors. Are you saying Lu Yuan was one-shotting everything all the way through the Chief Grade bracket? That's insane! He just broke through to Second-rank as a junior Lord — even an intermediate Second-rank Lord would struggle to pull that off!"

"If he's doing this against Chief Grade, couldn't he end up in the top fifty?"

The crowd buzzed with shock.

Wang Cheng stared at Lu Yuan's ranking, brows locked in a tight frown. A strange pressure had settled in his chest.

*He knew his own limits. Even his own test had landed around the same level as what Lu Yuan was showing now.*

"Now that he's in the top hundred, his opponents are Lord Grade — the speed of his climb should start to slow down..."

Wang Cheng hadn't finished speaking when his eyes went wide.

Lu Yuan's pace had slowed — but only slightly. From one jump every two seconds, it had shifted to roughly one jump every four seconds.

"A few seconds per opponent... doesn't that mean he's showing total dominance even against lower-tier Lords?"

Even Si Tinglei was shifting in his seat.

Lu Yuan's performance had blown past every estimate he'd made.

A few more seconds passed, and the ranking climbed again — 73rd.

"73rd! That's what Senior Si Tinglei and Senior Wang Cheng predicted, and he got here this fast — at the rate he's going, 73rd is nowhere near his ceiling."

"Obviously! The way he's been steamrolling everything up to this point, that is not 73rd-place power!"

"Let's take bets — where does he end up?"

"Top fifty! I say he lands somewhere in the high forties!"

"I'm going top forty!"

"Top forty means dealing with high-tier Lords of the same rank. That's a stretch."

"Just watch. I have faith in him!"

Eyes gleaming, the crowd fixed their gaze on the leaderboard.

This time the wait stretched longer — over ten seconds before his ranking moved again.

63rd.

The hall went quiet once more. Everyone was riveted to the Combat Rankings, waiting for the next jump.

More than twenty seconds later, it moved again. 59th.

Si Tinglei's gaze sharpened.

"59th — that should be a Second-rank Lord with around 40% tempering. And even that only held him for twenty-odd seconds?"

Sweat had appeared on Wang Cheng's forehead. His hands were clenched tight, eyes fixed on Lu Yuan's name.

*This doesn't feel right.*

*At this rate... surely Lu Yuan isn't going to overtake my ranking.*

*...Right??*

Under a minute later, the ranking jumped again.

56th.

Then, in less time than before, it jumped again. 52nd.

Another ten-odd seconds, and it leapt to 46th.

The speed of that last jump left everyone blinking.

"Wait — why is he going faster? Shouldn't it be getting harder?"

Wang Cheng's brow furrowed, his voice uncertain. "Did he just bring out his trump card?"

That stopped the room cold.

"He only just started using his trump card?! You're telling me everything up until now was without it?!"

"He's barely stepped into Lord Grade, and he was taking down Lords with 30% or even 40% tempering without even going all out?!"

Ice shot down more than a few spines.

*Why were they all geniuses of the Talent Camp, and yet this guy could be this utterly absurd?*

Before long, Lu Yuan's ranking jumped again — this time all the way to 35th.

A sharp collective intake of breath swept through the hall, then silence.

"Top forty... and this is his very first combat power test!"

Someone's voice carried a barely-suppressed tremor.

"The real question is — can he crack the top thirty?"

The words hung in the air, giving voice to what everyone was thinking.

Wang Cheng could feel his heartbeat picking up. His own ranking sat at 26th — not quite the gatekeeper of the top thirty, but not far off. At this rate, he was starting to feel genuinely worried.

Meanwhile, inside the Virtual Room.

Lu Yuan's current opponent was a Lord Grade warrior at 80% tempering.

Get past this one, and the next would be a Lord at 90% — effectively a peak Lord Grade fighter.

The gnoll Lord standing before him radiated a tremendous aura. Even Lu Yuan couldn't help frowning as the pressure bore down on him.

*My tempering rate isn't high. Objectively, I barely qualify as entry-level Second-rank — my other two Lord Grade genes haven't been fully tempered yet.*

His strength came from elsewhere. Part of it was his Gene Armament, which was exceptionally powerful. The other part was his Body Technique foundation: Black Steel Force multiplied his strength fourfold, and his force-deflection technique had been refined to the point where he could redirect forty percent of incoming force.

With his current defensive capability, any warrior type that relied on physical impact would find it extremely difficult to actually hurt him — every type, that is, except Elemental Type fighters, who didn't deliver that kind of direct force.

That was how he was managing even high-tier Lords.

"RRAAGH!!"

The gnoll Lord bellowed and drove its feet into the ground. Its body vanished — to the eyes of weaker warriors or ordinary people, it would have seemed to disappear entirely.

But Lu Yuan could track it.

An Assault Type warrior, gripping a massive black battle axe with both hands.

The blade came arcing down toward his head, trailing a razor edge of axe-light that pricked at his skin even from a distance.

Lu Yuan's expression went still. He activated Black Steel Force and White Jade Spirit Body simultaneously, gripped his greatsword with both hands, and brought it up in a deflecting guard.

**CLANG!!**

Steel rang against steel. A tremendous force surged into him.

Even after redirecting part of it, he was pushed back several steps.

*An 80% Lord is no joke. That hit was overwhelming — even with Black Steel Force and White Jade Spirit Body stacked, I barely absorbed it. If I hadn't shed some of that force, I'd already be taking damage.*

Before he could fully recover, the gnoll Lord was already charging again.

In that instant, Spirit Power surged through Lu Yuan's body. A beam of dark blue light shot from his hand, aimed straight at the gnoll's head.

The Shooting Star Insignia's Star Ray — a Combat Technique with firepower equivalent to an intermediate Second-rank Lord — wasn't enough to seriously threaten the gnoll, but it was enough to force it back and buy him room.

Inside the Virtual Room, external consumables like Talismans were off the table. But Combat Techniques embedded in a Gene Armament could still be used freely.

With the gnoll pushed back, Lu Yuan channeled Spirit Power into the black-and-gold greatsword in his hand.

*Type LS7 Mechanical Greatsword (Second-rank 80%): Lord Grade Armament.*

When Spirit Power was channeled in, it triggered the Mechanical Load effect — boosting destructive output by fifty percent.

The black-and-gold blade hummed with faint blue electromagnetic light, a low crackling emanating from it as Lu Yuan felt the raw destructive force coiled within. At the same time, his Spirit Power was draining fast.

No Spirit Crystals to restore it inside the Virtual Room. He needed to finish this quickly.

He planted his feet and pushed off. The white expanse cracked faintly beneath the impact as he launched himself toward the gnoll Lord.

Black Steel Force. White Jade Spirit Body. Mechanical Load.

A sharp gleam flared in his eyes. He swung the greatsword in a broad arc, electromagnetic trails streaking through the air in its wake.

The gnoll Lord roared in defiance and charged to meet him, battle axe raised high.

Head-on.

**CLANG!!**

The combined force of Lu Yuan's raw strength and Mechanical Load hammered into the gnoll and sent it skidding backward, arms trembling.

Lu Yuan grinned. His footwork shifted, and his sword techniques came in relentless waves — each strike flowing into the next without pause.

The two figures flickered across the endless white expanse. Steel rang against steel in a continuous percussion, and each collision sent rings of compressed air rolling outward.

With Mechanical Load active, Lu Yuan had clear dominance. After over a hundred exchanges, one decisive strike sent the gnoll Lord's battle axe spinning out of its grip. Its eyes went wide — a flash of disbelief crossing features that had known nothing but battle-hardened confidence.

Lu Yuan's greatsword continued its arc without breaking. Blue electromagnetic light trailed behind the blade as it swept cleanly across the gnoll Lord's neck.

**Hiss.**

The gnoll Lord's body dissolved into white light and vanished.

"Round thirty-eight cleared. Would you like to rest for ten minutes?"

Lu Yuan exhaled, letting the heaviness in his breathing settle. He thought for a moment, then smiled.

"I'll end the test here."

*At his current level, if he leaned on Nature's Touch in a war of attrition — trading wounds for wounds until his Spirit Power gave out — he could probably grind down a peak Lord eventually.*

*But there was no point.*

Ranks 11 through 100 all awarded the same Credits. Why push harder than necessary?

Good enough was good enough.

At his words, a mechanical chime sounded.

"Ding — Cadet Lu Yuan, test concluded."

White light washed over him. When it faded, he found himself back in the Virtual Room exactly where he'd been standing — not a step displaced.

He was used to it from the Simulation Room. He walked straight out the door.

Back in the hall, more than a minute had passed since Lu Yuan's ranking stopped at 35th. It hadn't moved.

Eyes darted around the room.

"Did he hit his limit? Can't he go any higher?"

At those words, a collective exhale swept through the crowd.

Lu Yuan's performance had been genuinely overwhelming.

Every student in the hall — new enrollees and veterans alike — had felt the pressure. The man had been here barely a month and was sitting at 35th. What did that say about the ones who had been enrolled for years without cracking the top hundred?

With his ranking stalled, the tiniest flicker of relief passed through the room.

*At least he's still human.*

Nobody felt this more acutely than Wang Cheng. The cold sweat he'd worked up had soaked through his palms. Seeing no further movement, he let out a long breath, a faint smile tugging at his mouth.

"Junior Lu Yuan only enrolled a month ago, after all. Ranking 35th on his very first test is already extraordinary. Breaking into the top thirty will take a bit more time and seasoning."

Si Tinglei gave a soft, admiring laugh. "Junior Lu Yuan is already on par with an Innate Lord... no, probably quite a bit stronger than an Innate Lord, honestly."

Several heads nodded.

"Exactly — he isn't called the monster who took down an Innate King Grade for nothing."

"Ranking 35th on his very first combat power test. Terrifying."

"..."

And then, while the room was still buzzing, Lu Yuan's ranking flickered — and climbed one final time.

It settled at 25th.

Wang Cheng, previously 26th, was pushed to 27th.

Dead silence fell over the hall.

Every pair of eyes locked onto that number. No one said a word.

Si Tinglei was the first to find his voice, barely above a murmur.

"How is this possible... how can he be this strong?"

His words broke the spell. Dozens of students erupted at once.

"He actually cracked the top thirty?!"

"Top thirty means peak Lord Grade opponents! He just entered Second-rank and he's already putting out second-rank peak performance?! I can't wrap my head around this!"

"..."

Wang Cheng's mind had gone completely blank.

He had just let his guard down — and then the ranking moved anyway. And it moved above him.

*He just lost a rank. His own rank.*

Wang Cheng stood there in a daze, the memory of what he'd said moments ago replaying in excruciating detail. Heat crept up the back of his neck.

Si Tinglei, meanwhile, stared at Lu Yuan's final position, something burning in his gaze.

*Lu Yuan had started as an ordinary person. At Second-rank, he'd inscribed Lord Grade genes, and his combat power was in a category all its own.*

Talent like that... even calling him a future Battle Emperor seemed like an underestimate. If he could cultivate a friendship with this person, even the throne of the Red Maple Empire might be worth contending for.

*Then he remembered — Lu Yuan shared a dormitory with his third brother.*

Si Tinglei's mouth twitched. His mood soured on the spot.

*Why was Third Brother always this lucky?*

Lu Yuan stepped out of the Virtual Room and headed for the stairs — and nearly walked straight into Yang Ping, who was coming down from the floor above.

Yang Ping's eyes lit up the moment he spotted him. He broke into an enormous grin.

"Lu-ge, Lu-ge! How'd it go? I just beat a Boss Grade opponent at 100% tempering — cleared Level 20! Not bad, right? Couldn't get past Level 21 though, that First-rank Chief Grade absolutely wrecked me. I figure I'm probably landing somewhere around the top 500 this time. Oh, right — what about you? How far did you get?"

Lu Yuan smiled. "Not that far. Just barely scraped past Level 38."

Yang Ping stared at him.

"..."