Following yesterday's rhythm, Wang Zhan immediately challenged the 69th-ranked student, and after arriving at the arena, he also challenged the 68th-ranked student.
Continuing his winning streak, Wang Zhan didn't even feel much pressure.
At this ranking, most of his opponents were already at the level of a level 3 Martial Artist, and each had mastered some martial arts skills.
But the Limit of a level 3 Martial Artist, if quantified, is only 500 attribute points. Unlike Wang Zhan, these students simply couldn't push their attributes to the Limit before a breakthrough.
According to Wang Zhan's observations, these opponents, although level 3 Martial Artists, had at most just over 300 attribute points.
The Essence Energy was roughly equal, but their physical strength was nearly half of his!
This difference, reflected in combat power, was just Wang Zhan constantly crushing them.
After three hours, Wang Zhan achieved ten consecutive victories and moved up to rank 60.
Just as he stepped off the platform, Wang Zhan suddenly noticed Cheng Shu's miserable expression.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy making academic credits?" Wang Zhan raised an eyebrow and asked, "How much have you won so far?"
"About 20,000 points," Cheng Shu grumbled. "Now a lot of people are betting on you to win, and the odds are pitifully low."
"Low odds are okay too. Those guaranteed academic credits can't be wasted," Wang Zhan said nonchalantly.
But Cheng Shu looked rather annoyed. "Two senior-year students have already gone bankrupt, leaving only one bookmaker, except..."
"Except what?"
"Except the guy is betting on whether you can keep winning to the end and become number one in the sophomore ranking," Cheng Shu complained, "And the conditions are extremely strict, saying that you must challenge one by one. Any jumping of ranks does not count."
Wang Zhan was amused.
"Go, bet all your winnings. I was planning to do that anyway. Those conditions aren't a big deal."
Having said that, Wang Zhan looked at Cheng Shu with some suspicion.
"Fatty, you don't have faith in me, do you?"
"Not at all, I'm going now!" After some thought, Cheng Shu decided to trust Wang Zhan again.
After sending Cheng Shu away, Wang Zhan was about to proceed to the next challenge when he suddenly received a challenge message.
Su Wanying, ranked 7th? Why would someone with such a high ranking challenge me? Refuse! Wang Zhan refused without hesitation.
What a joke. If I lost, I would lose academic credits, and if I won, my rank would directly jump to 7th. How would I continue to grind for academic credits then?
Only challenges from lower ranks to higher ranks cannot be refused. If I reached the 7th rank and then challenged those ranked behind me, they could refuse outright.
But shortly after Wang Zhan refused, a friend request came over.
It was indeed from Su Wanying.
As soon as he accepted, Su Wanying's message flew over.
"What? Are you afraid?"
"..." Wang Zhan was speechless.
"That's all? Chu State's number one genius is just this timid?"
"Your provocation is a bit crude," Wang Zhan responded honestly.
Actually, Wang Zhan had browsed the forum and mostly knew that Su Wanying was planning to break his winning streak and fight for the honor of the sophomore-year students.
But admittedly, even though Wang Zhan knew that it wasn't nice to bully the weak, the academic credits were too tempting.
After some thought, without waiting for Su Wanying to provoke again, Wang Zhan replied, "Don't worry, Senior. Fighting with you now would cause me to lose a lot of academic credits. I'll take it one by one, and it should be your turn by tomorrow at the latest."
After sending the message, Wang Zhan didn't hesitate to remove her from his friends list.
Then he was eager to challenge the next opponent.
「Training Ground No.1.」
"Shit! I'm so pissed!" Seeing the exclamation mark in front of the sent message, Su Wanying felt like she was about to explode.
"What happened?" Lv Qing looked over curiously.
Su Wanying showed Lv Qing the chat log with Wang Zhan.
After reading it, Lv Qing said with a light laugh, "No wonder he started challenging one by one after reaching the top hundred. Why has no one ever thought that you can grind academic credits from the ranking competition?"
"Who can fight dozens of battles a day and keep winning?" Su Wanying took a deep breath and said solemnly, "This guy is indeed very powerful. I'm probably not his match."
Last night, Su Wanying hadn't paid much attention to Wang Zhan, but now she had learned quite a lot about him and naturally realized the gap between her and him.
Su Wanying estimated that she could also maintain a winning streak against opponents in the top hundred, but she definitely couldn't replicate Wang Zhan's crushing and relentless victories.
"Then why did you provoke him?" Lv Qing was surprised.
"Humph, I can lose the battle, but not my pride."
In fact, Su Wanying was not alone.
On the second day of the ranking competition, Wang Zhan received many battle applications one after another from many of the top-ranking sophomore-year students.
Obviously, his actions had upset these elite sophomore-year students.
A freshman defeating everyone in the top hundred of the sophomore-year students—where would that leave the pride of the sophomore-year students?
Among these battle applications received by Wang Zhan, there were ones like Su Wanying's provocation, ones suggesting a friendly match, and even some offering to wager 10,000 to 20,000 academic credits on a fight.
Wang Zhan readily accepted all comers. He was eager for someone to make a wager with him.
Soon, the second day's ranking competition was over.
At this point, Wang Zhan had reached the 23rd position.
The intensity of today's battles was more formidable than yesterday's. As his rank got higher, Wang Zhan began to feel the pressure gradually.
In the evening, Wang Zhan returned to his dormitory, exhausted.
I was running out of strength at the end of the last few battles. Of course, the strength of my opponents has improved, but more than that, I have been fighting all day, only resting for an hour at noon.
Wang Zhan summarized the day's gains and losses.
If it weren't for my physical endurance exceeding its Limit, I wouldn't have been able to hold on until the end of the day.
As he pondered, Wang Zhan opened up the leaderboard on the forum again.
There are still 22 opponents ahead. Tomorrow morning, I'll strive to get into the top 10, then focus on reaching first place in the afternoon.
Wang Zhan was determined to obtain first place in this ranking competition. 10,000 academic credits were a lot, but what was even more significant was the soldier-level suit.
Wang Zhan had checked today; while a soldier-level suit only cost 5,000 academic credits, it also required military merit!
This meant that to obtain a soldier-level suit, academic credits alone were not enough; one also had to take on missions in the wilderness.
During his last trip to the wilderness, Wang Zhan had experienced the power of a soldier-level suit.
The sharp claws of the Demonic Dogs of the Plains had a hard time even breaking his defense, while his soldier-level dagger could easily cut through the tough skin of the beasts.
For such a sharp weapon, there's no reason for Wang Zhan to pass it up.
If I don't have enough time tomorrow, I'll have to sacrifice Fatty's academic credits. After all, first place is a must for me, Wang Zhan thought to himself.
Soon, Wang Zhan started body refining with Mixed Essence Pills and entered a state of complete focus on cultivation.
「Deep into the night, the Martial Arts Academy was completely silent.」
Except for the top floor of the main office building, where the lights were still on.
Vice Presidents Lv Zhenglong and Liu Zhenfeng sat at the forefront, with every high-level member of the school present without exception.
The conference room was completely silent; all eyes were on the two figures at the front.
They were not merely vice presidents but Grandmasters of martial arts—they were pillars of human strength.
"I apologize for summoning you all so late," Liu Zhenfeng spoke first. "The situation is somewhat severe, so there's no avoiding it."
"Vice President Liu, what happened?"
"Let Old Lu tell you," Liu Zhenfeng shook his head slightly.
Lv Zhenglong took a deep breath, sweeping his gaze over every face in the room.
After a moment of silence, he spoke with a hint of frustration in his tone, "Sun Jian is critically injured, on the verge of death."
"What?!"
"How could this happen to Teacher Sun?"
"Could a beast injure Teacher Sun within a hundred kilometers of the Wilderness?"
Lv Zhenglong raised his hand to signal everyone to calm down, then continued, "This morning, I personally retrieved him from the wilderness. You all don't need to worry. Although his injuries are severe, they will not impact his abilities when he recovers. This is a blessing in disguise."
"However, what I want to talk about isn't this," Lv Zhenglong said slowly, tapping the table. "Sun Jian went to investigate the Original Organization and high-level beasts incident, and I found him in a hidden Valley."
"A Valley?"
"Yes, outside the range of the Wilderness that Base City can control. That place is the research base of the Original Organization—where they research the mutation of beasts."
As he spoke, Lv Zhenglong's tone gradually filled with killing intent.
"The Original Organization has crossed the line. Our tolerance of their existence was already as much as we could possibly extend. But their recent actions have breached humanity's bottom line!"
He did not specify how they had crossed that line, and no one present was tactless enough to press for details.
"What do the higher-ups intend to do?" someone asked.
"This time, the Original Organization released more than a hundred experimental subjects, beasts of level 6 and above, into the wilderness. Most of these beasts are currently active within a hundred kilometers of the Base City," Lv Zhenglong said.
As he said this, understanding dawned on quite a few people.
"Are we going to do a massive sweep again?"
"Let the mentors do it."
Unexpectedly, Liu Zhenfeng said, "No, this time during the massive sweep, the mentors will only act as support. The senior-year students will take the lead."
"The third and fourth-year students are only at the fourth or fifth level of Martial Artists. Sending them raises the risk of injury. Isn't this a bit rushed?"
Liu Zhenfeng calmly said, "That's why we are assigning mentors to accompany them. And if one person can't win, won't they team up? We might as well see the effect of their usual cliques."
"That's what I think too," Lv Zhenglong nodded.
Once both vice presidents showed their support, no one else could object.
After the decision was reached, Liu Zhenfeng said, "First, recall all students who are still lingering in the wilderness. Then, temporarily stop issuing missions for one week! During this week, the mentors must fully instruct the students on how to use combined attack methods. After one week, all senior students will go to the Wilderness!"
As his voice fell, Liu Zhenfeng narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.
"The students at our Martial Arts Academy have been living too comfortably."