A flash of white light signaled Jiang Lin's teleportation out of the secret realm.
The exit was already in a state of utter chaos.
One flash of white light after another illuminated the area as students were teleported out, wailing and howling like ghosts.
"What a degenerate! A total degenerate! That priest from Boulder Magic Academy is a complete degenerate!"
"That paladin from Radiant Magic Academy is a bastard!"
"The restroom! I need a restroom!"
"Waaaah, I'm not clean anymore, waaaah..."
"..."
The students who had been eliminated early and were waiting at the entrance were stunned by the scene.
They were especially perplexed to see so many people either clutching their stomachs or pulling at their pants with strange expressions. At first, they were confused, but after noticing certain details, they understood the situation.
"What happened in there?"
"Thank goodness I came out early."
"Mommy, is this hell?"
They were profoundly shocked.
Holding her nose, Demi found Anya, who had just teleported out in a flash of white light.
She looked at Anya with an inquiring gaze, seemingly asking if she had been victimized as well.
Anya replied expressionlessly:
"I just like fighting, I'm not an idiot. I can distinguish between dignity and the exam; I know which one carries more weight."
Saying this, she glanced at the points on her identity bracelet.
【Points: 980】
【Ranking: 3】
【Total Defeated: 212】
She had originally been in first place, but unfortunately, she was overtaken by that toxic healer priest and Jiang Lin.
Especially during that last wave, almost everyone on both sides had been eliminated by those two degenerates, making their point-earning efficiency significantly higher than hers.
However, it was still acceptable. In this joint exam between the three schools, her academy held two of the top three spots. She wondered how the top team from Morning Star Junior Magic Academy had fared...
Anya's face darkened as she looked at the wailing classmates around her.
She had seen the situation on the battlefield clearly. Jiang Lin was the one who started it, leading the entire competition into an indescribable visual style.
No wonder this guy had such great talent yet leveled up so slowly...
How did someone like him even awaken the paladin class?
Nearby, Frederick and Eli—who had been eliminated early and had already changed their pants—somehow felt a sense of superiority. They pointed at the crowd and critiqued them:
"Not a single one of them took off their pants. Such weak fighting spirit, how cowardly!"
"Exactly! These latecomers are truly disappointing!"
"Sigh, if only a few of them had the same fighting spirit as us, they wouldn't have lost so miserably."
Clearly, both of them realized this was Jiang Lin's handiwork.
However, they were still surprised. After all, Jiang Lin had actually managed to make so many people suffer with that move.
At that moment, the remaining three people in the secret realm were teleported out one by one.
Jiang Lin looked at the scene of misery and mourning all around him and felt a bit embarrassed.
Then he saw the toxic healer from Boulder Magic Academy and her summoner friend right next to him.
How vexing, those two actually managed to escape at the very end!
Sensing that some people were staring at him with burning gazes and figuring they must harbor quite a bit of resentment, he immediately clutched his stomach and lay down:
"Aaaaah, what a degenerate! How can the people from Boulder Magic Academy be such degenerates!!"
As he shouted, he ripped off the Boulder Magic Academy uniform he was wearing, leaving Lina and Eve dumbfounded.
Obviously, by doing this, he blended right into the environment, preventing more people from noticing him.
The other two were not so lucky. As some of the few combatants still standing—and as the primary culprits behind everything—Lina was instantly targeted by countless malicious gazes.
Fortunately, although everyone's hatred shifted toward her, the general quality of the students was still relatively high. No one started throwing mud at them, otherwise, the scene would have become even more chaotic and indescribable.
Soon, staff members arrived to maintain order, and the chaotic scene was gradually calmed down.
However, today's events were deeply etched into the memories of everyone present, leaving a particularly vivid mark on the history of Boulder City's education sector.
For many years to follow, students would curiously ask their teachers why the rules for the city's joint exams included a specific clause: "Prohibited from casting 【Strengthening Technique】 on opponents."
...
Since the competition ended early and not at the scheduled time for the award ceremony, the original plans were disrupted. After medical personnel checked the students' injuries and provided treatment, the students were sent home or back to their schools, with arrangements to be made the following day.
Seeing that he was no longer drawing too much attention, Jiang Lin stopped clutching his stomach and returned to his normal state.
At this time, the female priest with green eyes came over to find Jiang Lin:
"Hello, Sir Paladin. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lina, rank one of Boulder Magic Academy."
Jiang Lin remembered that she was the toxic healer from the opposing side. He suddenly felt a sense of mutual appreciation, as if meeting a kindred spirit.
"A pleasure to meet you, esteemed Priestess. I am Jiang Lin."
Lina also looked at Jiang Lin with admiration, and as their eyes met, everything was understood without words.
"Sir Jiang Lin's line of thinking has given me much inspiration."
"You flatter me. Miss Lina has also provided me with many ideas."
"Sir Jiang Lin's ideas were far more pioneering."
"Haha, Miss Lina is welcome to come to Radiant Junior Magic Academy for an exchange of learning whenever you have time."
While the two were engaging in mutual flattery, the two from Morning Star Junior Magic Academy also walked over.
"Sir Paladin, I believe your name isn't actually that strange name, Wei Yimin, is it?" Frederick asked in a half-joking tone.
"Who are you?" Jiang Lin was a bit confused, then he remembered.
These two were the ones from that rookie team with only fifty-some points. Though they were actually quite troublesome and had cost him a fair amount of effort.
"Ahem, my nickname is Wei Yimin."
Jiang Lin hadn't expected the two of them to seek him out after coming out.
Seeing that Jiang Lin almost had no memory of him, Frederick's face darkened:
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Frederick, rank one of Morning Star Junior Magic Academy. This is Eli, rank two."
So they were in the top ten of their grade. No wonder they were so hard to beat.
Jiang Lin nodded: "I am Jiang Lin, rank one of Radiant Junior Magic Academy."
"You were eliminated by him too?" Lina was a bit surprised.
She knew the top-ranked students from the other schools, but this was the first time she had heard of Jiang Lin. He might have been hovering outside the top ten before, and the special mechanics of this joint exam gave him more opportunities to shine.
Given his performance this time, he would likely take the overall first place across the three schools unless he was part of a three-person team.
Lina and the others directly treated Jiang Lin as a peer. Because Jiang Lin was constantly running his breathing technique passively, he used 【Breath Concealment】 to hide his level fluctuations.
Lina asked, "May I ask who Sir Jiang Lin's teammates are? Could you introduce us?"
Jiang Lin shook his head: "I have no teammates."
Hearing this, Lina was even more shocked. That meant he had fought two-on-one and defeated the top two students from Morning Star Academy?!
At this time, some students who were starting to leave also noticed the group.
"Hey, isn't that the guy who was cultivating at the gate this morning?"
"Holy crap, that degenerate was him!"
"I heard someone call him Jiang Lin? Isn't he the one who was hunted during the evil god incident?"
"I see. If I were an evil god, I'd target him too."
"If it's this degenerate, then it's not surprising."
...
While the students were being directed to leave, the Temple and the schools were preparing for a meeting to discuss the subsequent arrangements.
Moonlight spilled through the window into the office where Cecilia Brightstar, the Temple Master, was processing paperwork. A knock sounded at her door, and three gold badge Temple members responsible for supervising the exam entered.
"Lord Temple Master, these are the key video recordings from the testing grounds."
Salas handed a crystal to his master with a strange expression.
The Temple Master immediately opened the recording to review it.
Time passed second by second. The footage soon reached the scene of the three-way battle.
The Temple Master's brow furrowed slightly. Originally, the Temple did not want to see candidates forming illegal teams, but since they had united based on their respective academies, it was somewhat acceptable.
Then, the recording in the crystal began to develop in that indescribable direction until finally, Jiang Lin was teleported out.
The Temple Master deactivated the crystal, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm her emotions.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and said calmly:
"Cancel tomorrow's award ceremony. I do not wish to see the top-ranking students of this exam for the time being. Just issue the rewards to the individuals directly."
Pausing, she continued:
"It seems we cannot simply copy the exam rules from other cities; they need improvement. Tomorrow, call the grade directors and principals of the three schools. We will have a meeting.
"By the way, you three and the clerical staff in the Temple responsible for refining the rules also need to be present."
"Yes!"
The three gold badge members nodded in obedience and then quietly withdrew from the Temple Master's office.
...
On the other side, the point rankings for the exam were announced, and the dispersing crowd began to flock toward Jiang Lin.
"Brother Jiang is awesome! First place among the three schools!!"
"That's right! Brother Jiang used their own medicine against them. It wasn't 'despicable means' like those outsiders say!"
"Exactly! Our Jiang Lin is a paladin, how could he possibly use despicable means proactively!"
"Boss, is it too late for me to join the All-Nighter Group?"
"What are you saying? Our All-Nighter Group always welcomes everyone!"
Although Jiang Lin really wanted everyone to calm down, they were simply too enthusiastic.
"Keep it down, everyone calm down. Let's head back to school first.
"Forget the autographs for now, there will be plenty of chances later. Don't push, don't push... Holy crap, who just slapped me! Don't run if you've got the guts!!
"Damn, another one? Who are you now?!
"Who the hell kicked me?!"
Although some people were saying good things about Jiang Lin, they were actually quite indignant about his degenerate behavior. They pretended to be allies to squeeze in, gave Jiang Lin a slap, and ran—a tribute to Jiang Lin's tactic of wearing other schools' uniforms.
After another ten minutes, Jiang Lin finally escaped the haters in the crowd and returned to the school with his true subordinates—the All-Nighter Group.
Now, with Jiang Lin, their leader, taking first place, the size of the All-Nighter Group had more than doubled.
Originally, everyone had been skeptical about staying up late, but now that the leader of the all-nighters had become the top student of the three schools—and since the people around them who pulled all-nighters seemed to have performed slightly better than them—everyone wanted to give it a try.
Back at school, Jiang Lin looked at the tail-end class, which was now packed with people, and felt a sense of gratification.
Little Black had disappeared somewhere. Jiang Lin had looked around just now but couldn't find it, so he didn't bother further.
Little Black was a good cat; it would find its own way back.
"Ahem."
Jiang Lin coughed loudly, silencing the noisy classroom.
"I couldn't have achieved what I have today without my persistent hard work. So, everyone, hurry up and work hard. Once today is over, there are only 64 days left until the final exam."
After speaking, Jiang Lin sat cross-legged and began to prepare for allocating his rewards from this trip.
Hearing Jiang Lin's speech and seeing him still practicing with such urgency, everyone felt a chill in their hearts.
Even the number one student is working this hard, how can we rest?
Thus, those who felt they hadn't reviewed well began preparing for the theory classes in a few days; those who felt their level was too low began practicing their breathing techniques; those who felt their physical fitness was too poor ran to the hallways or the gym to train their bodies; those who felt their mental power was too weak began tempering it; and those who felt their skill proficiency was insufficient made plans to head to the martial arts field to practice.
In this way, the atmosphere of learning at Radiant Junior Magic Academy at night was even more intense than during the day.
【Random Skill Upgrade 34】
【Designated Skill Upgrade 3】
Jiang Lin looked at his gains this time and was in a quite good mood.
He assessed his mental state and felt he could probably handle the impact of one more no-rank skill.
And so—
【Basic Punching (superlative) → (limit-broken)】
【You have comprehended fist intent】
【Punching talent has received a slight increase】
A massive amount of memories flooded into his mind. Jiang Lin's eyes widened, his teeth clenched, and cold sweat soaked his back.
Ultimately, he successfully accepted the vast amount of memory without losing consciousness.
Exhaling deeply, Jiang Lin began to recover his mental state and fully operated his limit-broken breathing technique.
After the breathing technique reached the limit-broken level, his speed of absorbing magic essence to increase his life level became even faster. He estimated that in less than a week, he would be able to raise his level from 4 to 5 again.
If this speed could be maintained, he could reach level 9 by next month.
By then, he would have roughly 40,000 HP, which should match the basic physical fitness of a level 14, making him essentially peerless within rank 0.
After breaking through to rank 1, one would not be limited to the breathing technique of their specific class; they could learn various functional breathing techniques.
For example, those that strengthen physical fitness, defense, agility, or mental power.
Adventurers would no longer have to rely solely on level-ups and daily exercise for physical improvements. The accumulation of various attributes would be much faster, so the gap between each level would also be much larger.
According to Jiang Lin's understanding, within rank 1, the minimum requirement between each level for melee classes was 10,000 HP. As for records regarding rank 2, Jiang Lin was unclear.
He still didn't understand how Matthew, who was possessed by an evil god, had managed to fight Salas while being 20 levels lower.
However, this exam also made him feel that the skills he mastered were still too few. His offensive means were basically limited to 【Seven Star Holy Glow Slash】 and 【Low-level Strengthening】, while his defensive means consisted only of the copied 【Stone Skin】.
Learning more skills was his top priority, as well as using his skill upgrade opportunities.
Thinking of this, he closed his eyes and began his meditative breathing.
The next day.
After a night of meditative breathing, Jiang Lin's spirit had recovered to its peak.
Many of the students who had tried pulling an all-nighter for the first time were listless as they stood up to leave.
They weren't going home to catch up on sleep; they were preparing to buy 【Mental Invigoration Potion】.
The seniors of the All-Nighter Group had already shared their experience of many days with them.
If you're sleepy, drink 【Mental Invigoration Potion】. If you can't concentrate, drink 【Mental Concentration Potion】.
No matter what problem you encounter, just take some medicine!
As for Jiang Lin, he began a new round of attribute allocation, raising his last no-rank skill to limit-broken.
【Breath Concealment (superlative) → (limit-broken)】
【After activating the skill, your presence will be significantly reduced, making it even harder for others to notice you】
【Stealth-type skill talent has received a slight increase】
Rate on N.U.
