Chapter 240: Begin the Ranking Push! Rankings Soar!

The entire Magic City Ability University had only a little over 4,200 students.

Xu Jingming's ranking of just over 4,100 was undoubtedly dead last.

As for the other eighty-plus students ranked even lower than him, their combat power was likewise zero — clearly they had never even attempted the virtual trial.

"No wonder they think Kong Shi is stronger than me. The gap in the combat power rankings is just too huge."

He wondered whether it was meant to motivate the students of Magic City University to cultivate harder.

Depending on the ranking, the effects displayed on the entire stone pillar differed vastly.

The names of the top three each shimmered with golden light.

The font was much larger than everyone else's, and even rendered as handwritten signatures.

Kong Shi, ranked first, even had a little crown perched atop his name, looking incomparably regal.

By contrast, Xu Jingming's name at the very bottom used the standard font.

The text was exceedingly tiny and, like grains of sand, dim and lusterless — forming a stark contrast with Kong Shi in first place.

One had to know,

every student who underwent the virtual trial could see this stone pillar ranking.

Every time they entered, the first thing they saw was Kong Shi, that dazzling golden first place; over time, this naturally formed a default impression.

"Still, that first place of yours will soon be mine."

Gazing at Kong Shi's name at the very top, the corners of Xu Jingming's mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"Welcome, S-rank student Xu Jingming, to the virtual trial!"

At that moment, a vast, solemn voice rang through the sky, as if spoken by a god.

Immediately after, a girl's figure materialized in midair.

The girl was only about 1.5 meters tall, with a cute baby face and long twin ponytails tied at the back of her head.

Unlike ordinary people's black hair, this girl had a head of long green hair.

Yet this green hair didn't look out of place at all; on the contrary, it set off the fairness of her skin.

"Hmm???"

Staring at this girl, Xu Jingming couldn't help but have a head full of question marks.

With such an imposing voice, who would have thought what came out was a petite loli?

"You're... Eva?"

Although her appearance had changed, apart from Eva, Xu Jingming couldn't think of anyone else who could appear in this virtual space.

"As expected of an S-rank student, so clever." A sweet smile appeared on Eva's little face.

This time the voice was no longer solemn, but crisp and pleasant, like an ordinary little girl's.

"Why aren't you in your little round-ball form?" Xu Jingming was a little surprised.

The little round-ball form could still be interacted with; this girl-like appearance, though good-looking, left no way to freely pinch and squish her.

"Hmph! You want to pinch my cheeks again, don't you?"

Eva crossed her arms over her chest and gave a petulant little hum, but then immediately explained:

"The round-ball form saves the most computing power. Since you're an S-rank student,

1% of computing power was specially allocated to you to simulate a more realistic virtual space, so I simply switched forms.

If you prefer the little round ball, I can change into it for you right now."

Buzz—

The petite loli transformed with a shake and became the little round ball Xu Jingming was familiar with.

"Forget it, just change back."

After seeing that little loli just now, Xu Jingming found it hard to interact with her as a cute, dumb little ball anymore.

"By the way, do you AIs even have genders?" Xu Jingming was a little curious.

Depending on computing power, AIs were divided into different grades, from Grade 5 to Grade 1.

Yet top-tier AIs above Grade 1 — humanity simply couldn't manufacture them yet.

Today's top-tier AI mainframes, Eva included,

were without exception excavated from the ruins of ancient civilizations.

This was still a piece of secret information Xu Jingming had happened to overhear from Vice Principal Hearing Ling Shuang.

He just hadn't expected that AIs seemed to have gender preferences as well.

"Of course not, I just prefer a female appearance. If you prefer a male one, I can switch too."

As she spoke, Eva transformed again into a burly man with a thick beard, and her voice turned rough along with it.

"Cough, cough, that very first appearance was just fine." Xu Jingming nearly choked and hurriedly said.

"Knew it — you boys like girls."

Eva giggled and transformed back into the petite loli.

Then with a wave of her right hand, one battle suit after another circled around Xu Jingming:

"Everyone needs to pick one B-rank battle suit and one B-rank weapon for the virtual trial.

Take a look — whichever you want, just reach out and touch it lightly to put it on."

Hearing this, Xu Jingming also began to examine them carefully.

A few minutes later, he picked a black battle suit produced by Extreme Technology.

This battle suit leaned toward the light and agile type; its defensive capability was rather lacking.

But with the S-rank defensive battle technique 'Nether Prison Thunder Armor' on hand, Xu Jingming didn't really need much defense.

Buzz—

He reached out his right hand and lightly tapped it; the floating battle suit vanished.

Immediately, Xu Jingming's original casual clothes, along with his casual shoes, were replaced by a black battle suit and battle boots.

"Next is the weapon. The weapon weight can be freely set."

Eva seemed to know what weapon Xu Jingming used.

With a wave of his right hand, the battle suit surrounding him vanished, replaced by dozens of long spears of varying designs.

"This one. I want a weight of 1,000 kilograms."

Xu Jingming chose a long spear roughly 2.1 meters in length, its design somewhat similar to the Black Glimmer Spear.

Gripping it in his hand, he could immediately feel its astonishing weight.

"Battle suit and weapon selection complete. You have one minute for final preparations.

In one minute, the virtual trial will officially begin."

Eva's crisp voice rang out. Xu Jingming gave a slight nod and began to move his body.

He tried running, jumping, thrusting the spear—a series of movements.

To his surprise, these movements were incomparably smooth; he couldn't feel he was in a virtual space at all!

"Truly a stunning virtual reality technology," Xu Jingming marveled inwardly.

Then, with a thought, resplendent SS-grade Doushen Shenlei surged forth, swirling around his body.

"No wonder the teacher said the virtual trial would absolutely satisfy me—even my abilities are perfectly simulated!"

Xu Jingming sighed inwardly.

His right hand exerted force, and the long spear thrust forward.

Instantly, a sharp sound of piercing air rang out; he could even feel the resistance from the air.

"This is the S-grade exclusive reality simulation technology. Others only experience 80% of the effect."

Twin-tailed Eva explained with a light smile, then tilted her head and asked:

"Are you ready? The virtual trial is about to begin.

Since this is your first trial, you must start clearing from the 1st level."

"No problem. Bring it on."

Xu Jingming took a deep breath, gripping the long spear, with violent golden Lei Ting swirling around him.

"Countdown 3... 2... 1... Virtual Trial Level 1 officially begins!"

After Eva's countdown ended, the ancient, unadorned grand door not far away slammed open!

Boom boom boom!!!

The entire silver-white space, centered on the ancient grand door, suddenly transformed into a stretch of verdant lawn!

Xu Jingming could even smell the fragrance of earth and grass in the air.

"Roar—"

"Roar—"

Accompanied by deafening roars, a full twenty unicorn rhinoceroses, their bodies roughly the size of small sedans, charged out from the door!

Their thick hooves stomped on the grass, crushing out deep pits one after another.

"Twenty 1st-tier mid-rank unicorn rhinoceroses might be a bit difficult for an ordinary freshman.

But for me, it's utterly trivial."

Xu Jingming didn't even feel the desire to use his long spear.

Violent Doushen Shenlei surged forth, instantly engulfing and slaying all twenty unicorn rhinoceroses.

"Level 1 trial passed. You have 1 minute of rest time. Would you like to rest or continue the trial?"

The petite twin-tailed loli Eva floated in mid-air, her crisp, pleasant voice echoing throughout the entire space.

"Continue." Xu Jingming didn't hesitate in the slightest.

"Level 2 trial begins!"

Crackle crackle~~

Lei Ting surged, and it was an instant kill once again!

"Continue!"

"Level 3 trial begins!"

"Continue!"

"Level 4 trial begins!"

"Continue!"

"..."

Given Xu Jingming's current strength, only 4th-tier fierce beasts could resist the engulfment of Doushen Shenlei.

Therefore, these low-tier fierce beasts were basically instant kills upon meeting.

Under this terrifying killing efficiency, Xu Jingming's combat power rapidly skyrocketed from zero!

His ranking also soared upward at a terrifying speed!