Popularity is everything; I play a super genius.

The specially designed armor-piercing projectile traced a scorching trajectory and accurately struck the slightly lighter-colored gap in the carapace at the joint of the scorpion's left hind leg!

"Snap! Hiss—!"

The sound of shells shattering and the painful howls of the phantom beasts rang out at the same time!

The scorpion's left hind leg visibly buckled, and its massive body immediately lost its balance, tilting to one side.

opportunity!

Huo Mu's eyes lit up, and his adrenaline surged.

Instead of retreating, he charged forward.

As the scorpion struggled to steady itself with its other limbs, it aimed at the wound again!

"Bang bang bang!"

Three shots in a row, all hitting the target!

The bullet exploded inside the wound, destroying the flesh and blood inside.

The scorpion let out a mournful howl, its struggles growing weaker and weaker.

Huo Mu gritted his teeth, dodging its final, frenzied tail spiking attack, and rushed to extremely close range.

The gun barrel was almost shoved into Scorpion's eye before he pulled the trigger!

"Bang! Bang bang bang—!"

Only after the magazine was emptied, and the second-tier scorpion collapsed completely to the ground, its eerie light fading, did Huo Mu, panting heavily, shakily put down the scalding hot barrel and slide down to the ground, leaning against a jagged rock.

He did it...

He actually... single-handedly killed a second-tier void beast?!

Overwhelmed by exhaustion and unbelievable elation, he was momentarily exhausted.

"Weren't you quite capable?"

Just then, a familiar voice, tinged with approval, came from above and to the side.

Huo Mu suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.

There sat Qi Ji leisurely on the mountain-sized corpse of the scorpion king, one leg bent, elbow resting on his knee, tilting his head to look in his direction.

The Scorpion King's indestructible rock armor was covered with terrible dents and cracks, especially its head, which was almost completely flattened, with dark purple venom and unidentified tissue flowing all over the ground.

As for Qi Ji, there was hardly any dust on his body, let alone his wounds.

"?!?!"

Fire and Wood Pupils Earthquake.

When did this guy... take down that most terrifying scorpion king?!

Although the battle on his side was intense, it only lasted for less than seven minutes in total!

In just seven minutes, he took down a Tier 2 Upper-level Rock Armored Scorpion leader, known for its tough carapace, with his bare hands?!

Seeing that Saki had made a move, he immediately asked for help.

"Hey! Come quick, help me—!!"

She had been cornered by the second-tier venomous scorpion, her speed had slowed down significantly, and she was in grave danger.

However, Saki didn't move, but glanced at the time and said calmly, "There's still a little bit left until ten minutes are up."

"But didn't you already kill that leader!" In the blink of an eye, he was almost struck by the Void Beast's claws. He barely dodged with a lunge followed by a tactical roll.

"Oh, you mean this?"

As if just remembering something, Qi Ji slowly explained,

"The ten minutes I mentioned refers to the time you need to persist to achieve an A grade. If you can hold your own against a second-tier void beast for ten minutes without being defeated, that's enough to get an A grade in the assessment."

"What...?!" She almost choked on her breath. "Ten minutes... so it didn't refer to the time it took you to kill that leader?!"

"Of course." Qi Ji patted the Scorpion King's corpse beneath him and said in a calm tone, "It won't take that long."

"Alright! We know you're good! Please stop watching and come help! The rating doesn't matter anymore!!"

"Are you really not bothered? You're clearly capable of this; your potential is much greater than this."

When faced with Saki's question, Setsuna wanted to say something, but a certain image flashed through her mind, which made her fall silent.

The next moment, a resolute glint flashed in her eyes.

He stopped speaking and stopped looking at Qi Ji, instead focusing all his energy back on the virtual beast in front of him.

Nine minutes, ten minutes... eleven minutes...

Her movements became slower and slower, and she accumulated more and more abrasions, but her eyes showed no sign of discouragement.

Thirteen minutes!

Just as she reached her limit, she stumbled, and it seemed the scorpion's massive pincers were about to snap her in two at the waist—

A figure appeared in front of her as if by teleportation.

Qi Ji put one hand in his pocket, casually stretched out the other, bent his index finger, and flicked it lightly at the scorpion claw, which was thicker than an adult's thigh and was hurtling towards him with a fierce wind.

"Thump!!"

A deep, guttural bang!

The massive claw that had come at such a ferocious speed crashed back even faster than it had come!

The scorpion's massive body was dragged back several steps, its carapace creaking under the strain.

"Congratulations, Shasha, your rating is A+."

He glanced at the tall figure of the person before him, then at the scorpion that had been repelled by the blow, let out a long sigh of relief, and forced a weary yet relieved smile:

"The rest... I'll leave it to you."

Before she could finish speaking, she collapsed to the ground, unable to hold on any longer.

The continuous, extreme stimulation for thirteen minutes had already exceeded the limits of her body's capacity.

The second-tier venomous scorpion shook its head, seemingly enraged. It hissed and charged forward again, unleashing its stinger and venomous pincers, its attack even more ferocious than before!

Qi Ji remained with his hands in his pockets, but just as the scorpion rushed in front of him, he twisted his waist and delivered a simple, direct, yet so fast that it was just a blur. The kick landed on the scorpion's relatively vulnerable chest and abdominal carapace.

"Bang—!!!"

With a huge thud, the second-tier scorpion was hit head-on as if by a speeding truck. Its body was folded into an exaggerated "<" shape, and it flew more than ten meters off the ground before crashing heavily into the rock wall.

Its shell shattered and became embedded in the rock wall. It twitched twice and then stopped moving.

The dust settled slowly.

In the western battlefield, with the death of the last Tier 2 Poison Scorpion, the remaining few Tier 1 Poison Scorpions were quickly dealt with by the other students working together.

The battle is over.

……

In the college's multimedia room, several teachers watched the footage transmitted by the recorder and fell into a brief silence.

"This guy didn't use any echoes the entire time?"

"no."

"So... he single-handedly defeated a Tier 2 Upper-level Scorpion King protected by rock armor through sheer physical strength and speed, and then instantly killed a Tier 2 Lower-level one?"

"This level of physical ability cannot be simply described with an 'S'!"

"What is his level of experience in responding?"

"He...didn't get tested."

"Not tested?!"

"Well, neither the final assessment at the preparatory school nor today's entrance exam included any potential tests related to response."

"Why?!"

A teacher who had heard of Saki's deeds adjusted his glasses and, in a tone that mixed with helplessness and amazement, repeated Saki's famous quote:

He said, "Testing is defining, and defining is limiting."

"And he is—"

"A genius who is neither defined nor restricted."

Silence fell once again in the judging room.

Only on the recorder screen, the boy wearing a pure white mask stood calmly with his hands in his pockets under the murky, cracked sky.

It's as if they have their own halo.

……

……