Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Nan; the Soul Essence Lamps on his body were simply too dazzling.
Nan looked back at Zhang Ye, who gave a slight tilt of his chin, signaling for him to go ahead.
With an expressionless face, Nan turned and walked toward the instructor, placing all the Soul Essence Lamps on the table.
The instructor stared at the table full of lamps, stunned for a moment. Then, with a look of admiration at Nan, he began the tally.
A magic circle swept directly over the lamps, instantly determining how many soul essences were inside, their tiers, and converting them into points.
A moment later, the results were out.
“Totaling... 157,457,055 points!”
In an instant, the entire crowd gasped in unison.
“Sss!”
“Sss-sss!”
“Sss-sss-sss—”
“Sss... cough, cough! Stop gasping! I can’t breathe!”
The entire square was in shock. Even the face of every examiner and the Saint-tiers floating in the sky showed visible astonishment.
Although they knew Nan would have many points, breaking one hundred million... was truly unprecedented!
The highest record in the history of the academy’s admissions was only nearly sixty million. Usually, the top scorer of a typical year would hover around two or three million.
Leona also wore a look of surprise.
She was the one who had set that record, but her points had only been a little over fifty-eight million. This Nan was incredible!
However, she felt something was off.
Nan was at the mid stage of Tier Nine. Logically, his points should have hovered around fifty million at most. She considered herself no less capable than Nan; when she took the exam at age twenty, she was at the late stage of Tier Nine and only managed fifty-eight million points. How could Nan, at the mid stage of Tier Nine, have triple her points?
It was too exaggerated.
After all, no matter how strong a normal person was, they couldn't be like Zhang Ye, who could refill his mana in seconds. Normal people had to stop and recover after grinding for a while, which was extremely time-consuming... Wait, Zhang Ye?
Leona looked toward Zhang Ye and noticed that while he had many lamps, it was nowhere near as many as Nan.
Then she looked at Lina and Renomon beside him.
Leona knew her younger brother best.
He was at the early stage of Tier Nine with Magic-Martial Dual Cultivation; he should have been able to farm about forty million points. But looking at the lamps on Renomon... he was probably going to break her record too!
Then there was Lina. She was also covered in lamps, and it looked like she had even more than Renomon.
Leona was naturally aware of this little princess because the Salomon family was one of the royal families of the Lionheart Empire and had close ties with the imperial family.
Leona knew that while the princess had great magical talent and understanding, she... actually had very little combat power.
This was because she hadn't learned any spells, possessing only two innate magics.
Therefore, it was impossible for her to obtain more soul essences than Renomon on her own!
So, who was helping her?
Leona’s gaze fell on the grinning Zhang Ye, and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
The answer was obvious.
Somehow, this kid had ended up with the little princess, so her lamps were definitely obtained with Zhang Ye’s help—or more directly, given to her by Zhang Ye.
From that, she could infer: were the lamps on Renomon and Nan, who had come out with Zhang Ye, also given by him?
Though Leona seemed carefree, she was actually extremely sharp and deduced everything instantly.
In her view, eighty percent of the reason Nan’s points had broken through the heavens was because of Zhang Ye.
She couldn't help but chuckle.
This kid really knew how to give her a shock...
Next was Renomon, who had over ninety million points. Then came Lina, who had over one hundred million, jumping directly to second place.
It was even more points than Zhang Ye had estimated!
Finally, it was Zhang Ye’s turn.
To Leona’s surprise, this kid only had eighty million points, placing him fourth.
Leona’s beautiful eyes shimmered.
He’d rather give up my kiss just to help them?
Truly... cute in a silly way.
Once the four of them finished their tally, the results were already beyond doubt.
The gap of tens of millions of points was like a massive chasm, leaving the other examinees in awe and trepidation.
Many of them had originally thought that their soul essences would earn them a good ranking, but seeing the sky-high scores of those four, their confidence instantly evaporated.
The rankings refreshed.
【1st Place: Examinee #3 — 157,457,055 points.】
【2nd Place: Examinee #6667 — 105,648,205 points.】
【3rd Place: Examinee #250 — 95,425,640 points.】
【4th Place: Examinee #6666 — 88,888,880 points.】
Good grief. It was funny enough that his brother-in-law was number 250, but Zhang Ye’s point total was incredibly auspicious!
The geniuses who had walked out of the secret realm with their heads held high immediately deflated.
How were they supposed to compete with that?
This was ridiculous!
Were those four people grinding machines? How could they farm so much?!
Afterward, three more people stepped forward to tally their points.
It was Samanra and her two companions.
Soon, the rankings refreshed again.
Sabiba and Sacra had given most of their soul essences to Samanra to ensure she got a high rank. Consequently, Samanra ended up in fifth place with nearly seventy million points, while Sabiba and Sacra temporarily held seventh and eighth with several million points each.
Soul Essence Lamps could not be given away after leaving the secret realm, so the distribution had to happen inside. This method of pooling lamps to secure a high ranking was used by many examinees from the same factions, but even their combined points couldn't compare to the people at the top of the board.
Furthermore, many people wanted to ensure their own rankings, so even when distributing essences, they wouldn't concentrate too many on one person.
Unless a faction had issued a strict order to stack most of the essences on a single individual.
For instance, in this entrance exam, to catch the academy's attention and fight for a spot in special secret realms, many examinees had come along just to act as tools for their masters.
However... Zhang Ye’s efficiency in farming points was terrifying. Coupled with the hundreds of millions of points Labella had gifted him, those people could grind with their lives and still not match him even if they pooled everything.
One by one, the examinees completed their tallies, and the rankings continued to refresh.
When the last examinee finished, the rankings were finalized.
In this session, over 2,800 examinees made the rankings, while those outside the rankings were directly eliminated.
From Samanra in fifth place downward, not a single person had over sixty million points.
In sixth place was a pink-haired girl with over fifty-nine million points, clearly a rank obtained by pooling points. Lina recognized her; it was the girl she called Paige.
This year’s examinees were full of hidden talents, but Zhang Ye had managed to sneak in, causing the top five to steal all the limelight.
And except for Zhang Ye, the points of the other four had all come from him, which was incredibly impressive.
This was the definition of behind-the-scenes manipulation!
Looking at the rankings, Zhang Ye felt a great sense of achievement.
Look at that. Except for me, the rest of the top five are all my buddies. Pretty impressive, right?
I’m just too awesome!
Let me strike a pose with my hands on my hips for a bit... wahahaha!
“The rankings are set. All examinees on the list will be admitted to All Souls Academy. Ranking rewards will be distributed after real-name registration. Subsequently, the academy will assign classes based on everyone’s various data. Please be patient, keep your number plates, and you will be notified through them in due time,” a Saint-tier said slowly, sounding very professional.
The entrance exam had officially come to an end.
“Is it over?” Leona asked Rand beside her.
Rand chuckled. “It’s over.”
This lady really lacked patience; she had been hoping for the exam to end early so she could go back.
“Then I’m leaving.” Without waiting for Rand’s response, Leona vanished on the spot.
Rand shook his head with a smile.
A female Saint-tier laughed. “Dean Rand, don’t mind her. That’s just her personality; she can’t sit still.”
Rand said kindly, “It’s fine. Young people should have that kind of drive, hahaha... What do you all think of this year’s intake?”
The several Saint-tiers looked at each other and then shook their heads. “We can’t see through it.”
“The performance of the examinees this time truly exceeded my expectations. I originally thought the top score would be around fifty million at most, perhaps breaking the record slightly. But I never expected...” a Saint-tier said, shaking his head with a smile. “Tripling Leona’s record... that little fellow in first place is not simple.”
“More than just not simple. Such a result is enough to shock history,” another Saint-tier agreed.
The female Saint-tier from before spoke up. “While this result is impressive, I can’t help but wonder if something went wrong with the secret realm, Dean Rand?”
Hearing this, Rand took a deep look at the examinees below and said, “I was observing the secret realm core the entire time. There was nothing wrong with the secret realm. The ones with the 'problem' are the examinees.”
“However...”
“Even if there is a problem, it’s a good one.”
“If they were able to obtain opportunities within the secret realm that we cannot even imagine, then that is their own capability.”
At this point, he stroked his white beard, his face full of pride. “As long as these little guys can grow strong, surpass an old fossil like me, and protect the human race, they could tear the secret realm apart for all I care!”
“Heaven bless the human race, hahaha!”
...
...
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