Chapter 69: Assessment ranking

Somehow, Riven felt that the way the man was looking at him had a double meaning. He shifted from his place.

Fortunately, Zandrel looked away. “An heir? No. He didn’t give birth to direct children and he never named one of his Skull Lords as heir.”

“But there was something curious that happened. After his fall, a lot of people and the Skull Lords themselves began to search for something. They turned the capital upside down just for it and fought each other there. Millions of people died from that and numerous undead crawled on the land.”

“They were looking for something and even till now, rumor has it that that thing they are looking for will let them be able to take the throne of the Necromancer.” Zandrel drank more cups.

He stood up and stretched. “Anyway, for anyone to claim king here, then they must have absolute power. The Skull Lords are powerful, after all. Very difficult to control.”

“Alright, students. Riven, it’s night, let’s retire. I wish you luck tomorrow. I think it will be the others that need the luck, though,” Zandrel said with a chuckle as he went out the door.

Riven watched him leave and he sighed, muttering to himself, “He’s acting so weird at the end there, it seems all practitioners have their own weirdness.”

He locked his door and the windows before he summoned the Death Ledger. Even though he knew, he still glanced through its pages, but there wasn’t anything different—nothing about the evolution or new mission.

Riven grunted as he settled himself down to begin reading through his techniques again. After all, he didn’t know what type of difficulty he would find tomorrow.

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The next day, he found himself gathered in the combat hall with all the other rank two. The head instructor stood in front of them and looked at them with a hard face. “You all know the rules. Alright. The assessment is a way for us to know how far you have progressed in a month. It will also determine how much resources you will get for the rest of the month.

“You will all be thrown into the forest behind the mountain. It’s filled with monsters that aren’t difficult for you to handle. That shouldn’t be difficult for you lot to handle.

“Each monster that you kill will add points to your name. It doesn’t matter if you team up or not, only the one that takes a monster’s life will take the points, but you can still work together. After all, these assessments are to train you for when you will leave here and do things on your own without instructions.

“You can look for who to team up with or not. You can try to kill each other instead. Don’t worry, let loose. There’s a formation spread everywhere that will shield against death blows. You will forfeit half of your earned points if you are ’killed’ or choose to leave the assessment.” The head instructor looked at them flatly, but this was the instruction given at every assessment, so they knew it already.

Riven did not, and he raised his hand. “Sir!”

Everyone turned to see who it was. The head instructor was surprised that someone was asking questions, but when he saw who it was, he only grunted. “Yes? You will pass and qualify for the sect if you can enter the top fifty ranked in points.”

Some people sneered at that. Unlike one-on-one fighting, the assessment is always brutal and the students already placed themselves into teams and groups. So what if he beat Jasper? Can he beat twenty Jaspers?

“Head instructor, what I want to know is if I ’kill’ someone, then will I be the one to gain the half point they lost?”

The head instructor raised his brows, but he answered, “That is correct.”

Riven nodded sharply.

When Riven mentioned ’kill,’ some of the students moved away from him, wary when they remembered he was a Necromancer. What was the lunatic who’s not even a student planning now?

The head instructor cleared his throat. “As I was saying, the points you earn will determine your standing for the next month. But more importantly, the first ten ranked will have the right to enter the special hunting grounds to fill their stars.

“Points alone won’t let you be in the first ten ranks. You need to have this with you.” He raised a strip of cloth that was entirely black.

“You have to have this and be in the highest ten ranked. If you have only the strip but not the appropriate points, then you will be counted by your original point rank. But if you have the points but not the strip, then you will be put in eleventh rank or so.”

Riven was captured by it immediately. “…..I must get my hands on one of those strips….then go and start filling my stars…wait…I don’t know the monsters’ combination needed for it….maybe the book will open then….”

“Five minutes after you enter the assessment forest, these ten strips will appear on the bodies of ten random people. At the same time, and till the end of the assessment, the location of the strips will be sent directly to your brain so it can’t be hidden!”

“….clever….with this, no one will just get the strip and hide it with them….”

Suddenly, Riven felt two hot coals looking his way. The back of his neck pricked and he looked back to see Jasper watching him with bitterness and anger. He was smirking as he watched him, surrounded by four more students.

Jasper didn’t say anything, but Riven immediately understood what he meant. In the forest assessment, he could do anything to Riven and there would be no interference. Besides, Atrox was alone while the others already had teams and groups.

“The assessment will only stop when the sun goes down, so use your time correctly. And not all monsters have the same points—the more powerful, the more points!”

“Now get ready! You will be transported into the forest to a random place! Best of luck to all involved in this month’s assessment ranking!”

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