Chapter Forty-Four: The Fourth Round Ends, The Fifth Round Begins

The candidates eliminated in the fourth round wore expressions of relief, one after another. There was no helping it—the sheer number of monsters in the fourth round had been overwhelming.

“It was absolutely terrifying. I thought I was going to die!”

“With that many monsters, how could anyone possibly kill them all?”

“I wonder how many people will actually pass the fourth round?”

“I used to think I was pretty strong. I never imagined there were people even stronger than me!”

“Right! That Yang Feng who ranked first in the previous rounds—this time shouldn’t be a problem for him, right?”

Cai Xukun, after holding out through the fifth wave of monsters, found himself unable to continue and had no choice but to give up. As soon as he was teleported out of the examination arena, he heard people discussing Yang Feng.

Unable to resist, Cai Xukun spoke up, “Yang Feng is my classmate. He’ll definitely pass this round!”

“What’s your name, classmate?”

“I’m Cai Xukun, from East Sea First High School!”

“So it’s Student Cai. Can you tell us just how formidable Yang Feng really is?”

“Haha! Of course, let me tell you all about how incredible Yang Feng is!”

With that, Cai Xukun launched into an enthusiastic account of Yang Feng’s exploits. When he described how Yang Feng, together with himself and Ye Mengyan, completed the hard-mode dungeon in less than half an hour, everyone present wore looks of disbelief.

“No way!”

“That’s impossible!”

“How could anyone be that strong?”

No one believed Cai Xukun’s tale, convinced he was boasting. But Cai Xukun didn’t care whether they believed him or not; he simply relished telling the story, unconcerned with their skepticism. For him, as long as he enjoyed telling it, that was all that mattered.

As more and more candidates were eliminated, those remaining in the fourth round grew fewer and fewer. In the end, fewer than a thousand remained.

One candidate, however, drew the examiners’ attention.

[Zhan Tian, Level 16, Berserker]

At that moment, several examiners focused intently on Zhan Tian’s battle. They watched as he wielded an axe, cleaving through the encircling Wind Wolves. With each swing, a Wind Wolf fell to the ground.

“This Zhan Tian has finally unleashed his full power!”

“Berserkers are a special class—why were his earlier results only mediocre?”

“So Zhan Tian had been concealing his strength, waiting to unleash it in the fourth round.”

“He must be from the Zhan family, a martial arts clan, which would explain his knowledge of the examination rules.”

“He knows that the final two rounds are key to the overall ranking, so he saved his strength for the fourth round.”

“The Zhan family is a prominent clan in Jiangnan Province, so they would be intimately familiar with the rules.”

“Look, Zhao Haoran is starting to go all out as well!”

“Of course Zhao Haoran isn’t foolish—this is the perfect time to show his true power!”

As the sixth wave of Wind Wolves appeared, Zhao Haoran let out a fierce roar and activated his Berserk skill.

[Berserk Skill: Duration—ten minutes.]
[While Berserk, combat power increases by 100%, defense increases by 100%, speed decreases by 50%.]
[After Berserk state ends, the user enters a state of weakness lasting thirty minutes.]

Once Berserk mode was engaged, Zhao Haoran’s combat power doubled. Though the Berserk state lasted only ten minutes, that was more than enough for him.

The sixth wave of Wind Wolves was slain, and the seventh emerged. In his Berserk state, Zhao Haoran entered a frenzy of slaughter. With one sweeping slash, over a dozen Wind Wolves fell. One hundred Wind Wolves were dispatched with astonishing speed.

Ten minutes later, the final wave appeared. This time, the Wind Wolf Leader was replaced by the Wind Wolf King.

For Yang Feng, the Wind Wolf King was an old acquaintance by now. Whether it was the Wind Wolf Leader or the Wind Wolf King, neither made any difference to him.

The Raven Warrior charged forth, launching an assault on the Wind Wolves. Then Yang Feng cast a Fireball Spell, instantly felling the Wind Wolf King.

Thus, for Yang Feng, the fourth round was finished. Now all that remained was to wait for the others to finish as well.

Roughly half an hour later, the fourth round at last came to a close.

“The fourth round is over!”

“Over ten thousand candidates took part, and in the end, only one thousand passed!”

At the chief examiner’s announcement, a wave of astonishment swept through the crowd. Out of more than ten thousand, only one thousand remained. These thousand, without doubt, were the truly exceptional ones—the chosen among the chosen.

These thousand would be eligible for the top ten universities in Great Xia.

At that moment, the results of the fourth round were announced.

First place: Yang Feng, 1000 points.

Second place: Ye Mengyan, 900 points.
Third place: Zhao Haoran, 800 points.
Fourth place: Zhan Tian, 700 points.
…

Yang Feng remained firmly at the top of the rankings.

Beams of healing light shone down upon the thousand survivors. In an instant, they were restored to full strength. Zhao Haoran, who had been weakened from his Berserk state, was instantly back to normal upon receiving the healing.

“Everything is going just as I expected. I can go Berserk again!”

“The fifth round is when the true victor will be decided!”

Ye Mengyan breathed a sigh of relief. “Second place—getting into Qingbei University shouldn’t be a problem now!”

“Qingbei University—I must get in!” Zhan Tian declared solemnly.

For Yang Feng, Ye Mengyan, Zhao Haoran, and Zhan Tian, there was no doubt about their goal. They all had their sights set on the highest institution in Great Xia—Qingbei University.

Just then, the chief examiner’s voice sounded again.

“I know you all want to get into a top university, especially Qingbei University!”

“But don’t think for a moment that just making the top ten will guarantee you a place at Qingbei!”

“In the fifth round, if your ranking slips, you could still fail!”

“If you want to get into Qingbei, it all comes down to your exam results!”

“As long as your scores are high enough, you can enter Qingbei University!”

“Now, listen carefully to the rules for the fifth round.”

“…”

At these words, everyone listened intently.

The rules for the fifth round were simple: each candidate would enter a separate, dungeon-like space. In this instance, each person would face their own dungeon, filled with a variety of monsters—some of the warrior type, some speed-based, some akin to mages.

Any type of monster you could imagine would appear within these dungeons.