Third-rank Perfect King Grade, Test Ends

In the main hall of the Virtual Building.

The wager between Lu Yuan and Si Tingxue had been overheard by everyone present.

All eyes fixed on the Combat Rankings, humming with curiosity over who would come out on top.

"Her Highness the Ninth Princess has climbed to tenth place! She must be able to kill a low-tier King Grade at the same rank by now. What can you expect from an Innate Lord Grade — she's already inscribed a King Grade gene as her fourth, hasn't she?"

Throughout the Talent Camp, even among those called geniuses, the students who could actually kill a same-rank King Grade could be counted on one hand. Most of them were sixth-years who had reached Fourth-rank and inscribed King Grade genes. The reason Si Tingxue ranked so high barely half a year into school came down entirely to the Lord Grade gene she had inherited at birth.

"I wonder how Junior Lu Yuan is doing."

Since the test hadn't started for him yet, a few other rankings had already shifted, bumping Lu Yuan down to twenty-ninth.

Then the board flickered.

Lu Yuan's rank shot straight to nineteenth.

Eyes went wide across the hall.

"Junior Lu Yuan can already kill a Perfect Lord Grade of the same rank?! Didn't he just break through to Third-rank?"

Those words landed, and a jolt ran through the crowd.

"Don't tell me... he inscribed a King Grade gene too?"

Someone spoke up.

"Not exactly — I heard Junior Lu Yuan bought the Spatial Type Transcendent Gene, Flicker. He must have inscribed a Spatial Type gene."

"What? That costs two million Credits! Someone actually bought it? You're serious?"

Exclamations rippled through the hall.

"Completely serious. I heard it from my mentor, and I checked the shop myself afterward — Flicker is out of stock. There was only one to begin with, and apparently Junior Lu Yuan is the one who took it."

"Well, knowing Junior Lu Yuan, he'd have the Credits for it. Just during the Beast Tide alone he earned a million and a half — and that's not counting everything he's sold since then."

One of the older students let out a rueful laugh. "Junior Lu Yuan has earned more Credits in a month and a half than I have in five full years. There really is no comparing people."

The rest of the crowd looked equally gloomy.

"A Spatial Type gene... Even if Flicker is only Boss Grade, Spatial genes are supposed to give solid personal buffs, and more importantly, Spatial Type Combat Techniques are just broken. They're practically on par with King Grade genes, aren't they?"

"Junior Lu Yuan was already terrifying in both strength and defense. Add Flicker on top of that and he's got wings — no wonder he can kill Perfect Lord Grades of the same rank."

"If he really did inscribe Flicker, then maybe he can actually take down same-rank King Grade opponents."

A young woman said, staring at the leaderboard.

The words had barely left her mouth when Lu Yuan's rank shifted again.

Straight from nineteenth to eleventh.

The hall went still. A moment passed before someone swallowed and managed to speak.

"He... he jumped again?! How is that even possible?! Even with Flicker, he shouldn't be killing same-rank King Grades this fast, should he?"

Shock flashed across every face in the hall.

"Does Junior Lu Yuan have other trump cards? Body Technique? Spirit Technique? Something else entirely?"

Curiosity burned in their eyes.

It wasn't long before Lu Yuan's rank climbed once more — to eighth. Si Tingxue, who had been sitting at tenth, was bumped down to eleventh.

"Hiss..."

A collective breath sucked through teeth. Eyes wide, no one could find the words.

If the Virtual Room weren't cheat-proof, they would have suspected fraud.

Lu Yuan's performance was nothing short of terrifying.

A young man stared at the board with open disbelief.

"It's only his second month and Junior Lu Yuan is already in the top ten of the Combat Rankings. What kind of monster is this?"

"Exactly. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was Innate King Grade. This is absurd."

"Then again, this is the same monster who slaughtered same-rank Innate King Grade opponents when he was still Second-rank. I suppose normal rules don't apply to him..."

Every pair of eyes stayed riveted to the Combat Rankings.

Lu Yuan had genuinely frightened them.

In the Talent Camp, the number of geniuses who could achieve King Grade combat power at the same rank before reaching Fourth-rank could be counted on one hand. Typically, it was only the rare few who had broken through to Fourth-rank Battle Venerable who managed to inscribe King Grade genes at all. But Lu Yuan was only Third-rank.

That single-rank gap meant everything. The raw difference between a King Grade gene and a Lord Grade gene was immense — which made what Lu Yuan was demonstrating all the more staggering.

While they talked, Si Tingxue was climbing ranks of her own — up to eighth.

Lu Yuan dropped to ninth.

Before anyone could comment, Lu Yuan's rank rose again. Sixth.

Then, before the shock had even settled — fifth.

Watching both names leap across the board, the onlookers exchanged dazed looks, thoroughly at a loss.

The upperclassmen — fifth-years and sixth-years especially — wore expressions of quiet misery.

They had spent five or six years at the Talent Camp.

And here they were, being overtaken by two freshmen who hadn't been enrolled for a year.

Who were they supposed to complain to?

Still, despite everything, every person in the hall kept their eyes nailed to the Combat Rankings, waiting to see what came next.

Soon, Lu Yuan's rank climbed one more place. Fourth. Si Tingxue's didn't move.

Murmurs stirred through the crowd.

"Is Junior Lu Yuan really going to keep climbing? At this rate, the Ninth Princess is going to lose."

"If the Princess loses, she'll have to cook for Junior Lu Yuan... Damn it! He has to stop now!"

"Come on, Your Highness! You can do it!"

The male students were rallying behind Si Tingxue; the female students were cheering for Lu Yuan.

Before long, Lu Yuan's rank climbed once more — to third, edging past Liu Qingmei, who had held that spot.

At that point, every breath in the hall caught.

"Is Junior Lu Yuan actually going for first place in his second month?!"

"Impossible. Senior Su Xu has already reached perfect Battle Venerable, and Senior Shi Xiu is at peak Battle Venerable too. Both have inscribed King Grade genes, and with all the Body Techniques they've mastered and the Gene Armaments they carry, their combat power is in a league of its own. Senior Shi Xiu already cleared level fifty — and Senior Su Xu made it to level fifty-one. No matter how strong Junior Lu Yuan is, there's no way he's clearing level fifty."

Inside the Virtual Room.

Lu Yuan was locked in combat with a Third-rank Assault Type Gnoll King Grade warrior tempered to ninety percent.

The Gnoll wore black armor and wielded a massive black spiked mace, its presence overwhelming — its raw strength a near-equal to Lu Yuan's own. Lu Yuan possessed three King Grade genes, but none were fully tempered yet. Only by combining both King Grade Gene Armaments, Black Steel Force, and every advantage his White Jade Spirit Body provided did his strength manage to keep pace with this ninety-percent-tempered Gnoll King Grade.

The Assault Type's raw power was nothing short of frightening.

And it wasn't just the strength — the speed matched.

But no matter how fast, speed alone couldn't help an opponent facing Space Teleportation.

The Gnoll roared and vanished without even leaving an afterimage. An instant later, it materialized directly in front of Lu Yuan, its massive spiked mace crashing down in a torrent of brutal force.

Before the weapon connected, Lu Yuan was already gone — reappearing behind the Gnoll.

He drove Black Steel Force and White Jade Spirit Body to full output. The Thunder Fury Greatsword crackled with arcing lightning — one of the weapon's innate abilities, loading every strike with thunderous force.

Blazing with violet lightning, the greatsword swept toward the Gnoll's neck.

But before it could land, the Gnoll had already wheeled around, spiked mace meeting the blade in a ringing collision.

**Clang!**

Both figures staggered backward from the impact.

As Lu Yuan fell back, the space around him rippled and he vanished again, reappearing directly behind the Gnoll. His gaze sharp and cold, he brought the greatsword down once more.

The Gnoll King Grade howled, its balance thrown by the exchange, but it still managed to spin and swing its mace in a desperate counter.

Lu Yuan's body vanished from where he stood.

He reappeared behind the Gnoll.

**Shing!**

The greatsword traced a streak of violet lightning across the Gnoll's neck. Blood sprayed.

The Gnoll's physique was immense — one blow tore open a savage wound, but not a fatal one. Yet the thunder's paralyzing current made the King Grade's movements stutter for just a heartbeat.

That heartbeat was enough.

Two more rapid sword strokes, and the Gnoll King Grade crumpled to the ground, fury still burning in its dimming eyes.

Lu Yuan watched the body dissolve and exhaled slowly.

*Spatial Combat Techniques really are something else.* Even now, when he didn't quite qualify as a true low-tier Third-rank King Grade, the near-ghostly unpredictability of Space Teleportation had let him dismantle a Gnoll tempered to ninety percent. It was completely unlike his old method of hitting hard and taking hits in return.

With Space Teleportation, he could practically pass himself off as an Assassin Type warrior.

"Continue the test."

Next opponent: a Third-rank King Grade at one hundred percent tempering.

The system chimed, and the test began.

But Lu Yuan saw nothing.

Before him stretched endless white — a boundless, featureless plain with no enemy in sight.

Then, with no warning at all, every hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

He didn't think. The space around him pulsed, and he vanished.

The instant he disappeared, something appeared in the spot he had just vacated — a slight, wiry Gnoll draped in a tattered black shroud. Arcs of pitch-black sword light sliced through the exact point where Lu Yuan had stood.

One strike. One miss. The Gnoll dissolved without a trace.

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed.

*An Assassin Type Gnoll warrior?*

*That stealth ability is completely unnatural.* He'd thought his perception was sharp — and still he'd felt nothing until the last possible instant.

*So this is a Third-rank King Grade at full tempering.*

White jade light rippled across his body as he activated White Jade Spirit Body. At the same time, his Spiritual Perception fanned outward in every direction.

Then — without any reason he could have named — killing intent pressed in again.

He vanished, reappearing several meters away.

In the same instant, the Gnoll King Grade blinked into existence and sent another volley of black sword flashes through the space he'd vacated.

Lu Yuan had materialized directly behind the Gnoll. He narrowed his eyes and drove the greatsword down.

As the blade neared the Gnoll's body, it dissolved into black mist. The greatsword swept through nothing.

Then the black mist coalesced behind Lu Yuan, and a streak of obsidian light slashed for his neck.

He saw it — activated Space Teleportation — but the blade was too fast. It struck before the transfer could complete.

**Clang!**

A jolt of searing pain shot through his neck.

He completed the teleport, landing in another part of the arena. He reached back and pressed his fingers to his neck. They came away red.

Lu Yuan drew a slow, deliberate breath.

*First time I've taken a hit during a test.*

An Assassin Type Third-rank Perfect King Grade — and even with Space Teleportation, it had found its opening. His defenses weren't thin: three King Grade genes each reinforcing his physique, the inherently defensive White Jade Spirit Body, and the Steel Body Body Technique layered over everything else. His defensive capability sat a notch above a same-rank Guardian Type warrior's.

And it had still cut through.

Though part of that was simply the cultivation gap. He wasn't quite where he needed to be.

Before he could dwell on it, mortal danger pressed in once more.

He teleported.

The moment he arrived, the threat was back.

His eyes went cold. *It's already matching my teleportation pace?*

If he jumped several kilometers away the Gnoll King Grade couldn't follow — but his current range was only about a hundred meters per transfer, and at Third-rank speeds, a hundred meters meant nothing. Closing that gap took no effort at all.

There was nothing to do but keep teleporting.

As he blinked from position to position, he activated Life Light.

The searing pain faded from the back of his neck. The wound sealed over in moments, as if it had never been.

And so the battle became something strange — two figures flickering across the white expanse in a relentless, silent dance, appearing and vanishing with no discernible pattern, never more than a hundred meters apart.

Mid-transfer, Lu Yuan's expression settled into something focused and deliberate.

With his current Spirit Power reserves, amplified by White Jade Spirit Body's natural regeneration, he could sustain short-range teleportation for hours. If it came to a war of attrition, he could win.

But he had no intention of dragging this out.

A sharp light entered his eyes.

The next time he completed a transfer, he immediately drove the greatsword — thunderforce fully loaded — directly behind himself without turning.

**Clang!**

A cloaked, slight figure went airborne.

A smile tugged at the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth.

After all those consecutive transfers, he'd worked it out: the Gnoll had a habit. It always materialized behind the enemy to attack.

So he'd swung at his own back the instant he landed — and connected.

Even if he'd missed, the worst outcome was eating one hit. His defenses could absorb it, and Life Light would handle whatever damage came through. Not a reckless bet at all.

As it turned out, he'd guessed right.

And in a direct exchange of force, an Assassin Type's raw strength was nowhere near an Assault Type's. Lu Yuan's power clearly outstripped the Gnoll's — the blow sent it tumbling through the air.

Before it hit the ground, Lu Yuan vanished and reappeared at its side, greatsword already descending.

The Gnoll dissolved into black mist again. The blade cut through empty air.

At the same moment, the mist began to drift behind Lu Yuan — and he was already spinning, driving his heel into the darkness.

**Boom!**

The Gnoll took the kick mid-rematerialization and skidded away, flecks of blood scattering through the air.

Lu Yuan blinked to its position. Greatsword down.

The Gnoll dissolved into mist once more — but this time, no attack came from behind.

Without the cover of stealth, the Gnoll couldn't hide from Lu Yuan's perception. He sensed exactly where it would take form.

He blinked into position at the same instant the mist converged — sword already falling as the Gnoll solidified beneath it.

Shock flared in the Gnoll's eyes in the fraction of a second before the blade found its neck.

Blood erupted.

An Assassin Type didn't have the physique of a Guardian Type or an Assault Type. Without an exceptional body to fall back on, one clean strike was all it took.

"Level fifty cleared. Rest for ten minutes?"

Lu Yuan quirked his mouth. "End the test."

*Even a Third-rank Perfect King Grade was that much trouble. The ones after this would have Emperor Grade genes — absolutely not.*

He ended it without hesitation.