Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Rise in the Ranks
Zhao Chi lay on the grass and opened the real-time rankings.
[Test Real-time Rankings]
[1st Place]Class 9: Zhou Lue
[2nd Place]Class 2: You Yu
[3rd Place]Class 6: Qi Xue
[4th Place]Class 10: Yuan Zhao
[5th Place]Class 8: Wei Jinlong
This stage was a test of ranged combat and accuracy.
Zhou Lue had come from behind to take first place. It seemed he was skilled at dealing with aerial enemies.
Hua Yuyin, who was known for his fierce combat style, had dropped from first place to outside the top five.
You Yu reappeared, shooting straight to second place. She was also very good at handling aerial units.
He then checked his own class’s rankings.
[22nd Place]Class 4: Cao Feng
[35th Place]Class 4: Duan Yun
[36th Place]Class 4: Lu Yi
[39th Place]Class 4: Zhao Chi
[--- Place]Class 4: Yang Xiong
Cao Feng’s rank had also climbed one spot. His Centaur Shooters must have done well.
Lu Yi’s rank had also risen by four places. Her Race was Elf, and she was skilled with a Bow and Arrow. This stage should have been relatively simple for her.
But Yang Xiong...
His rank hadn’t appeared yet. He hadn’t passed the third stage.
His Race was the savage Beastman. They had high Power but low Agility and Accuracy.
Dealing with these enemies flitting about in the sky was indeed a struggle for him.
After a little while, Yang Xiong’s rank finally appeared.
[294th Place]Class 4: Yang Xiong
As expected, his rank had dropped significantly.
It seemed his ranged damage capabilities were a bit lacking.
The group chat had 99+ new messages again.
Wang Lie: [How’d everyone do? My Goblins couldn’t hold on at all. I lost five of them. Those Harpies took them out with a single swipe. They even grabbed two of my Goblins, flew up high, and dropped them to their deaths.]
Li Ke: [It was the same for Skeletons. My Big Skeleton Hero was almost killed, and several other Skeletons died too. Aerial enemies are so annoying.]
Sun Quan: [Wang Lie, you get seven new Goblins every day. Why didn’t you just use Javelins? How could you still lose five?]
Wang Lie: [I didn’t even notice the enemies were in the air at first. I got ambushed.]
Zheng He: [Lu Yi, you’re amazing! You’re already ranked 36th. Our class president, for sure.]
Shi Juan: [Brother Cao, too! He moved up another spot.]
Lu Yi: [It’s nothing. Ranged Races have an advantage in this stage. My Elves just shot from the trees and took them all down quickly. I even captured a few.]
Cao Feng: [Haha, it was nothing. But seriously, Centaur Shooters are awesome. They run fast and can shoot.]
Zhuang Xiao: [Have you guys seen the grade-wide rankings? It’s still the same people at the top.]
Yin Lan: [Yeah, they’re all fighting over the top spots. All we can do is watch.]
Li Xun: [But if you look at the bottom of the grade-wide rankings, more than ten people have already dropped out of the test.]
Shi Juan: [Huh? Why?]
Li Xun: [Either they suffered heavy casualties, or they were in mortal danger and had to be rescued by the instructors.]
Zhao Chi looked at the test rankings.
Sure enough, the status for some students showed that the test had ended for them.
This was understandable.
The Races of most ordinary students were Human, Beastman, or Elf.
These three Races only gained five refugees a day, so they should only have about 40 people by now.
If those were then split into Soldiers and Craftsmen, dealing with 30 Harpies would be difficult. There was a real chance of failure.
Yang Xiong didn’t say anything this time.
He was definitely embarrassed because his rank had dropped.
Zhao Chi closed the class group chat and entered the grade-wide one.
The entire chat was filled with predictions about who would take first place.
Every class was flaming each other.
The system had already muted several people.
Zhao Chi found it boring, so he logged off and rested.
He tilted his head and saw Tang Ruan lying beside him, secretly watching him.
When she saw Zhao Chi look at her, she quickly turned her head away and gazed at the sky.
Zhao Chi smiled. "Tang Ruan, what’s wrong? Do you have something to say?"
Tang Ruan quickly shook her head. "No."
"Turn around and let me see."
"Ah? Oh."
Tang Ruan turned her head, and Zhao Chi stared at her.
Tang Ruan was too shy to meet his gaze, her eyes darting away repeatedly.
Zhao Chi openly watched as Tang Ruan’s cheeks turned red.
Her hair was dark and glossy, long and straight.
Her eyes were large, her pupils bright and clear.
She had a small nose and faintly red lips.
She had a very clean, fresh-faced look.
"My lord, is something wrong?" Tang Ruan asked softly.
"It’s nothing. How are you? I saw you get knocked back just now."
"Oh, I’m fine. The Shield just made my hand ache a bit from the impact, but it’s all better now."
"Good. Rest for a while longer."
"Okay."
Tang Ruan let out a sigh of relief, turned her head away, and continued to look at the sky.
Gu Qing wasn’t nearby.
She was a few meters away with Li Zhu and the others, repairing the Wooden Spears.
Over there, besides Li Zhu and the other Carpenters, were Ding Dang, Feng Xiu, Fang Li, and the other Female Craftsmen.
They were all helping to repair the Wooden Spears together.
Soon, all the Wooden Spears were repaired.
Gu Qing came over with a smile and lay down on the grass next to Zhao Chi.
Zhao Chi asked, "Did you have everyone repair the Wooden Spears together?"
Gu Qing smiled. "Yes. Everyone was very cooperative. By finishing the work together, we can all rest at the same time."
Zhao Chi immediately praised her.
Pleased by the praise, Gu Qing couldn’t stop smiling. "Haha, Tang Ruan and the others wanted to help too, but I didn’t let them. They’re Militia, after all, our most important Combat Power. They can’t waste even a little bit of Physical Strength."
Zhao Chi asked, "Then why did you go and help?"
Gu Qing said softly, "I’m a Hero. And I’m the oldest by Age, so naturally, I have to take care of the younger girls."
Zhao Chi gave her a thumbs-up and went into praise mode again.
"Oh, stop praising me all the time. You’ll make my head swell," Gu Qing chuckled happily.
「At the same time.」
In the proctoring space.
The instructors were all carefully observing the students they were responsible for.
A few instructors disappeared and quickly reappeared.
They had all gone to rescue students who had encountered danger.
Li Yin sighed. "Sigh, I told you so. Starting from this third stage, we need to be on our toes. Just as I thought, some of these students nearly got into serious trouble."
Yue Chong shook his head. "Your Class 9 is doing relatively well. Look at my Class 3. How many times did I tell them during class that development needs to be balanced? Going to extremes makes your strategy too narrow. But a few of them just wouldn’t listen. Well, now they’ll all learn their lesson."
Zhang Shouning smiled. "It’s not so bad if they can learn a lesson from it. After all, they only lost some of their people. The loss isn’t that great."
Chang Miaoxuan said, "Exactly. You only learn the hard way through personal experience."
Yue Chong said, "Easy for you to say. My bonus is going to be docked."
Zhang Shouning laughed. "Don’t worry. Even if your bonus gets docked, Xiao Liu from your Class 3 can earn it back for you."
Yue Chong said, "It’s one thing for others to say that, but coming from you, it sounds a bit like you’re showing off. Yuan Zhao from your Class 10 is basically in the top three again."
Zhang Shouning shook his head. "It’s hard to say. Zhou Lue, Hua Yuyin, Pei Yuanxiu, as well as You Yu and Qi Xue—they’re all very strong."
Yue Chong said, "You mentioned everyone but my Class 3’s Xiao Liu, didn’t you?"
Pang Zhangming said, "And he didn’t mention my Class 8’s Wei Jinlong either."
Li Yin said, "Alright, stop arguing. Ruan Yu over there hasn’t even said anything. If we’re talking about unfair situations, she has it the worst. The strongest in Class 4 was sabotaged by those nobles, so now the class has no one to carry them."
Zhang Shouning nodded. "That’s right, Instructor Li. You should report this to the head instructor. After all, the classes were originally divided by strength. Now your class’s strongest has been lost, and you’ve gained someone with a head injury holding you back."
Li Yin asked, "What was the name of that kid with the head injury again?"
Li Ruanyu said, "It’s alright. My bonus isn’t important. The one in my class who had a head injury is Zhao Chi, but he’s improving very quickly now."
Zhang Shouning: "Oh, right, Zhao Chi. What’s his rank now?"
Yue Chong said, "I don’t know. Check from the bottom of the rankings."
Li Ruanyu shook her head. "You should check from the top. He performed well this time and has already reached 39th place."
Yue Chong suddenly said in surprise, "Huh? Why are all his Human Race people women? Where are the men?"
The other instructors also entered his observation view to take a look.
Zhang Shouning: "Huh? It’s true. Didn’t he come from a poor background? How does he have a population of 80 now? Where did the extra 40 people come from? Did he buy them? They couldn’t have been captured, could they?"
Li Yin said, "This is a bit strange. And look at their appearances... it seems their looks are all rated 6 points?"
Li Ruanyu didn’t say anything more.
Instead, she looked at Zhao Chi’s territory, lost in thought.
