Chapter 41: Ranking

Wang Hou still had the task of continuing to bring newcomers, so he didn't leave for a while, and simply watched the recording in the replay room.

Of course, the so-called replay viewing is naturally not just a simple recording, but can project one's own combat data.

Just like a simulated monster, it is a truly immersive viewing experience, where every detail can be paused for careful consideration.

Don't underestimate this replay mode; in actual combat, the state, thinking, and bodily reactions differ from usual.

Some thoughts and judgments can only be made after entering combat, while some problems can only be discovered after calming down.

No matter which one is overly trusted and relied upon, it cannot achieve the most effective improvement.

The replay room is considered a relatively niche thing in Dragon Gate; many practical factions scoff at such "after-the-fact" things, yet most of the top‑ranked individuals in Dragon Gate still make time to come here, and Wang Hou is one of them.

Unlike the challenge room, the replay room still allows use of its built‑in playback equipment; pausing the projection freezes the whole space, leaving only Wang Hou as a moving object.

Wang Hou intends to find some time to check the progress of the newcomers he is responsible for.

Although injuries sustained in the challenge room are somewhat reduced, a first‑timer may very well be hit to the warning line and logged out; in that case Wang Hou would need to bring these newcomers for treatment, since they still have another evaluation later.

The difficulty of the entry evaluation is the same for everyone—the lowest difficulty in the Challenge Tower's 【Free Mode & War Mode】.

Inside, the monsters are mainly Beast Generals distributed at random; a High Beast General initially spawns one, after it's killed two respawn, then four, and so on up to sixteen; after clearing them you get a perfect score directly.

However, these newcomers are at the Warrior General level; although they are talents selected from around the world, all under twenty‑four, killing just one would already be not bad.

But the three newcomers I brought are quite formidable; they might even clear the third round and reach thirty thousand points.

The first layer's challenge uses a full score of two hundred thousand points; a Low Beast General is worth fifty points, a Medium Beast General five hundred, and a High Beast General five thousand.

"Let me take a look, how many outstanding ones are there in this cohort……"

Personal combat footage is private privacy, so what Wang Hou can naturally monitor is only the score displayed outside the room; because the evaluation period is special, the score data is tallied on the stele at the center of the Challenge Tower.

In the column under the stele's ranking, besides each person's score, there is also the completion status of each newcomer after the score.

Some finish early because they arrived earlier, while others finish early because they have triggered the ejection limit and "die" in the beast tide.

Wang Hou checks the rankings from bottom to top.

"It seems the level is pretty much the same as in previous years."

To kill a High Beast General amidst a horde where at least Beast General‑level strength is common, one must at least reach High Warrior General‑level strength and also use movement techniques to close in before having a chance to slay it.

In terms of combat power, one must at least exceed the average High Warrior General by a factor, and this double‑power concept is called "combat power amplitude."

It is said that this usage also comes from the earlier "Elite Training Camp," although the testing method has been altered somewhat.

By expressing one's normal physical condition as a multiple of combat power, that multiple relationship is called combat power amplitude.

Using the average level of previous years as an estimate, the average level of newcomers under twenty‑four lies between Medium Warrior General and High Warrior General.

Based on the Medium Warrior General level, to kill a High Warrior General in the beast horde one would need a combat power amplitude of 4.5 or higher to have a chance.

Generally speaking, only about the first ten or so newcomers in each batch can achieve this, and most of them come from the World Tree.

After all, they are still young and have not yet received Dragon Gate's systematic training; after arriving at Dragon Gate, the advantage brought by resources will gradually be worn away, and the true "geniuses" will stand out.

Many people below the leaderboard have already finished the evaluation, their scores roughly in the two‑to‑three‑thousand range, mostly due to some mishap causing immediate withdrawal.

Even if your own ability could still earn a higher score, there is no chance to retake, because on‑the‑spot adaptability and luck are also part of the evaluation criteria.

Moving further up, the scores jump straight from four thousand to ten thousand, with most being in the ten‑thousand‑plus range.

With scores over ten thousand, whether by killing low‑rank Beast Generals or slaying High Beast Generals, on the real battlefield one is already a remarkably elite High Warrior General, truly deserving the title of "genius."

This batch has seventy‑to‑eighty newcomers; after looking at more than half, their scores are already above ten thousand, and Wang Hou begins to pay attention to the rankings.

Above ten thousand, the score gaps start to shrink, and even after the twentieth place the scores are still in the ten‑thousand‑plus range.

Continuing upward, a newcomer named Mo Fan finally breaks twenty thousand, reaching twenty‑three thousand five hundred, currently ranked twentieth, the evaluation not yet finished and his score still slowly rising.

Bu Luosi· Weiyan, score twenty‑seven thousand four hundred, currently thirteenth, evaluation already finished.

Luo Fei, score thirty‑two thousand, currently sixth, evaluation not yet finished.

Seeing this, Wang Hou realizes something is off—the names of the three fellows he brought along don't appear anywhere yet.

Moreover, a score in the thirty‑thousand range, if counted as the number of High Beast Generals defeated, already amounts to six exactly, having completed the second round of respawns; such a result would have been enough to win first place in past competitions, but this time it doesn't even reach the top five.

Wang Hou is also a seasoned veteran, yet facing this scene he cannot help but be astonished—after all, he himself was first place in the previous previous edition, with a score of about thirty‑seven thousand; placed a few years ago in the "War God Training Camp," that would have been world‑shaking.

Calculating by time, Luo Fei's final score should be roughly comparable to mine.

Just what monsters are the top five?

Wang Hou shifts his gaze upward again; above Luo Fei is someone named Di Wak, who sounds Indian, with a score of thirty‑five thousand, evaluation still ongoing.

Fourth place, Jiāng Jiāng—one of the newcomers I am responsible for guiding—upon seeing the score, Wang Hou gulps.

Fifty‑seven thousand six hundred points, directly exceeding fourth place by over ten thousand; that works out to having slain eleven High Beast Generals…… and the evaluation is still ongoing.

Third place: Luofeng, likewise someone I brought along, fifty‑two thousand three hundred, slightly ahead, evaluation still ongoing.

Second place: Ji Heng, a fresh face for Dragon Gate, though Wang Hou had heard of Ji Heng during the World Tree's winter hunt with this batch.

Indeed, Wang Hou also comes from the World Tree.

Ji Heng's score is sixty‑three thousand two hundred fifty, evaluation still ongoing.

While Wang Hou is watching Ji Heng's score, down below Jiāng Jiāng suddenly breaks sixty thousand to reach second place, apparently having slain another High Beast General.

It seems the top contenders are holding on tightly; Wang Hou thinks of continuing to move his gaze upward—

First place: Chén Chén, two hundred thousand points, evaluation already finished.

Wang Hou can hardly believe his eyes.

Must be cheating……

(Although he really did cheat)

————

The challenge evaluation ends; the rankings on the board change little, Chén Chén naturally stays firmly in first, while second place is finally held by Ji Heng with an advantage of over one thousand points.

The fiercely contested third and fourth places ultimately go to Luofeng with a slight edge; in clearing fodder, Jiāng Jiāng's dagger loses to Luofeng's greatsword, after which Di Wak holds fifth, and sixth‑place Luo Fei is overtaken from behind by Bu Luosi· Weiyan, dropping to seventh……

The Challenge Tower evaluation is over; the overall evaluation still has two items left, but much can already be seen from the challenge rankings.

Although ranked second, Ji Heng was actually more embarrassed than Jiāng Jiāng and Luofeng after coming out.

However, Ji Heng did not go for treatment right away; instead, she stared fixedly at the ranking on the leaderboard, precisely staring fixedly at the first-place name.

Those who didn't know Ji Heng didn't think anything of it, but Mo Fan, who came from the same place as Ji Heng and had undergone over two months of special training together with her, knew Ji Heng's unusualness.

Ji Heng is someone who pays great attention to time, to the point of scheduling every minute and second into her plans, whether it be combat, training, treatment, or socializing. Meanwhile, Mo Fan, from the time he met Ji Heng until now, has never once seen her waste time like this, not even once.

Ji Heng stared fixedly for over a minute, then began searching the plaza for the first-place scorer who got full marks, Chu Chen, but unfortunately couldn't find him, after all she didn't even know what this person looked like.

However, judging from the name, you seem to be from China, so what Grandfather said must be about you, right?

Future master of Earth.

I hope you can keep beating me; otherwise I won't accept it.

……

After knowing the ranks of the three people around him, Wang Hou naturally dared not look down on them, especially Chu Chen, who scored full marks on his first assessment and is under twenty years old.

Although Jiāng Jiāng's and Luofeng's results are also amazing, they are not enough to make Wang Hou respectful, after all he himself has already broken through to War God, and it's only just the beginning gap; the two may not necessarily become stronger than him later.

But Chu Chen…… with a full score and finishing early, it can almost be certain that he killed all the high-level beast generals.

Although it's a secondary beast tide, wanting to kill thirty-odd high-level beast generals in such a short time is not easy even for a War God, and no one in the entire Dragon Gate has achieved this at the War General stage.

Even if one is a Spiritual Mind Master, merely surviving when facing a simultaneous refresh of sixteen high-level beast generals would already be not bad.

I always feel this person is cheating.

……

All three had only minor injuries, and one wasn't even hurt; after simple treatment, Wang Hou also slightly composed himself and began introducing the next assessment items to the three.

「This morning's Challenge Tower combat power basic score test divides your challenge points into six grades: below 1,000 points is a poor grade worth twenty points, 1,000 to 5,000 is a medium grade worth thirty points, 5,000 to 10,000 is a good grade worth forty points, 10,000 to 20,000 is an excellent grade worth fifty points, 20,000 to 50,000 is an outstanding grade worth sixty points……」

Speaking of this, Wang Hou couldn't help but glance at Chu Chen.

「200,000 perfect limit, full score recorded as 100。」

According to the final scores, Jiāng Jiāng and Luofeng can each get seventy points, while Chu Chen naturally gets a full hundred.

「This afternoon is the combat power amplitude test; your combat power amplitude multiplier will also be your total score multiplier, that is, multiply your basic score by your combat power amplitude。」

「The combat power amplitude test is special; if you are a Spiritual Mind Master, you can choose the Spiritual Mind Master's standard value for the test, whether you are a martial artist or a Spiritual Mind Master, take the higher of the two amplitudes, and as a Spiritual Mind Master you have a slight edge over ordinary martial artists. 」

Theoretically, the amplitudes of martial artists and Spiritual Mind Masters cannot simply be added together but can still complement each other. However, considering that most martial artists lack the conditions to pursue dual cultivation like Luofeng, Chu Chen simply severed the two paths.

Whenever Wang Hou mentioned Spiritual Mind Masters, he thought of Chu Chen again and again; after all, in Wang Hou's view, Chu Chen is almost certainly a Spiritual Mind Master, not only Wang Hou thinks so, but everyone who knows Chu Chen's scores thinks the same.

What Wang Hou doesn't know is that, among the top five of this test, all Spiritual Mind Masters, for various reasons, did not reveal their Spiritual Mind Master abilities.

At noon, Wang Hou took the three people to Dragon Gate's final restaurant point, to the most expensive dish in the restaurant.

These three are likely not ordinary people in the future; Wang Hou also took out all the money for this guidance mission to treat them to this meal.

What surprised Jiāng Jiāng was that the restaurant's most expensive dish was not the specialties Wang Hou had mentioned earlier, but rather some delicacies mainly vegetarian, whose cooking skill is about the same as her own.

It's just the taste; I don't know why it feels somewhat familiar.

「Emmm, it's just that the texture is a bit worse than imagined。」

These are just the "scraps" of Chu Chen and Jiāng Jiāng's usual meals; although Chu Chen usually doesn't eat these, seeing how enthusiastic young Wang Hou is, we'll just make do.

After lunch, they returned to the Challenger's Tower, where the combat power amplitude test was also conducted; unlike the morning, everyone's lunchtime was roughly the same, and the Challenger's Tower had gathered quite a few people.

Ji Heng rarely waited outside, quietly sizing up each martial artist in the hall, looking for the first person in the crowd she hadn't met yet.

Generally speaking, newcomers from the home country are led by people from the home country; although Dragon Gate's martial artists come from all over the world, it's not hard to distinguish those from China.

Furthermore, based on the reaction to the black stone tablet, inferring who is first is also not difficult.

Wang Hou brought Chu Chen and the three others into the Challenger's Tower; Ji Heng immediately spotted the target over there.

Many people acquainted with Ji Heng at the World Tree also found her reaction today strange, and many speculated it was because of that first-place finisher. After all, since knowing Ji Heng, she has never fallen from first place in any test.

Ji Heng suddenly leaving the World Tree's martial artist squad naturally drew everyone's attention.

She went straight to face Chu Chen and the others.

「Hello, may I get to know you? My name is Ji Heng。」

Her hair is somewhat yellowish and naturally curly, her skin is snow-white, but her perfectly standard Mandarin pronunciation immediately reveals where Ji Heng is from.

「Uh, hello hello, I'm Luofeng. 」 Luofeng replied politely.

「Jiāng Jiāng. 」 Symbolic reply (Jiāng Jiāng smelled the scent of a bad woman).

Ji Heng finally looked toward Chu Chen, and Chu Chen also smiled as he introduced himself: 「My name is Chu Chen, nice to meet you. 」

Chu Chen naturally likes outstanding children like Ji Heng, especially after she reaches the Planet-level.

Of course, given Ji Heng's special identity, it is indeed worth Chu Chen's Earthling identity to make a good connection.

Upon hearing Chu Chen say he was happy to meet her, Ji Heng also showed a faint smile, then politely asked:

「May I ask, Mr. Chu Chen, are you married? If not, do you think I am qualified to take on the role? 」

Chu Chen: 「？」

Jiāng Jiāng: 「？？？」