At the same time.

Dongning Province, Jiangning City.

The top floor of a heavily guarded building.

This was the Chief Examiner's office for the National Examination.

As the Tower of Revelation activated, hundreds of computer screens in the office lit up simultaneously, and dense data streams refreshed like a waterfall.

Each line of data represented the real-time movements of a candidate.

Staff in uniform sat in front of their computers, their expressions focused, fingers rapidly typing on keyboards, monitoring for any anomalies.

In the center of the office, around a large mahogany round table, several middle-aged individuals of extraordinary demeanor were leisurely sipping tea.

They were the Chief Examiners for this provincial examination.

“Old Li, do you think our Dongning Province has any promising Geniuses this year?”

A refined-looking examiner in a Zhongshan suit put down his teacup and asked softly.

Chief Examiner Li, referred to as Old Li, was the overall person in charge this time.

He sighed upon hearing the question and shook his head.

“It’s difficult.”

“There are a few A-Rank ones, and their talents are quite good.”

“But compared to S-Rank, it’s still a world of difference.”

He picked up his teacup, blew on the floating tea leaves, and his eyes showed a hint of helplessness.

“This year’s National Examination, our Dongning Province is probably just going to be an also-ran again.”

“Leaving aside other places, just the Imperial Capital alone produced two S-Ranks this year.”

“And over in the Demon Capital, one emerged there too, and I heard he’s an extremely rare unique hidden profession.”

Another slightly corpulent examiner chimed in, his tone full of bitterness.

“Last year’s National Examination, our Dongning Province ranked thirteenth, which was the best result in nearly a decade.”

“This year, I just hope we can maintain our Rank and not drop out of the top fifteen.”

A trace of regret flashed across the Zhongshan suit examiner’s brows.

“Actually, we still had hope this year.”

“I heard that Donghai City recently produced an extraordinary Genius, suspected to be S-Rank.”

“He cleared the Trial Tower in just nineteen hours.”

“He directly broke the record for our entire Dongning Province.”

“But what was the result?”

He slammed his teacup onto the table with a dull thud.

“Soon after coming out of the Trial Tower, he was targeted by those scoundrels from the Dawnbreaker Guild.”

“Such a promising Genius, just like that... gone.”

“What a pity!”

“Dawnbreaker Guild!”

At the mention of this name, expressions of disgust and hatred simultaneously appeared on the faces of the Chief Examiners present.

“These people are a cancerous tumor in our Great Xia Country!”

“Over the years, who knows how many extraordinarily talented Geniuses they’ve abducted or directly strangled in their cradles!”

“If you ask me, the military should just send a large army to uproot them completely and wipe them out!”

Chief Examiner Li snorted coldly.

“It’s not that easy.”

“These people are elusive, as cunning as rats in a ditch.”

“Their core members are all powerful, appearing and disappearing without a trace.”

“If we could catch them, we would have already.”

“Now, we can only provide key protection for those promising Geniuses who emerge, hoping to reduce some losses.”

Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere in the office became somewhat oppressive. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Just then.

A staff member suddenly stood up from his seat and rushed over, his expression flustered.

“Chief Examiner... Chief Examiner Li!”

He ran to the round table, bent down, lowered his voice, and spoke urgently.

“It... it seems there’s a problem with one candidate’s data.”

“You... you should go and take a look.”

Chief Examiner Li frowned.

“What problem?”

“How long has it even been since it started?”

The other examiners, hearing this, also became interested and stood up one after another.

“Let’s go, let’s go take a look.”

The group followed the staff member to a computer that was flashing an abnormal red light.

On the screen, one line of data was particularly conspicuous.

【Candidate Name: Gandalf】

【Candidate Rank: LV20】

【Profession: Unknown】

【Current Floor: Seventh Floor】

Chief Examiner Li subconsciously raised his wrist and glanced at the time.

Only seven minutes had passed since the assessment began.

Seven minutes, climbed to the seventh floor?

“This isn’t right, is it?”

The slightly corpulent examiner widened his eyes, the first to voice his doubt.

“Could the data be wrong?”

“Seven minutes to the seventh floor? How is that possible? Who could be that fast?”

The staff member wiped cold sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling slightly.

“I... I initially thought there was an anomaly with the monitoring data too.”

“But I checked it repeatedly several times, and everything in the System is normal, without any malfunctions.”

Chief Examiner Li’s expression instantly became solemn.

If the data was correct.

Then there was only one possibility.

This candidate named Gandalf had used some unknown method to openly cheat!

“Can you pull up the real-time footage of this candidate?” he asked in a deep voice.

The staff member shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“The monitoring footage for the Tower of Revelation can only be activated after the candidate reaches the tenth floor.”

“Then let’s wait a little longer.”

The Zhongshan suit examiner crossed his arms, staring at the screen with interest.

“At his speed, it won’t be long before he reaches the tenth floor.”

As soon as he finished speaking.

On the screen, the floor Gandalf was on jumped again.

【Current Floor: Eighth Floor】

Exactly eight minutes had passed.

“...”

The office was dead silent.

Everyone stared at that string of numbers as if they had seen a ghost.

Seriously, one floor per minute?

At this point, the slight suspicion in everyone’s hearts had almost turned into certainty.

This was definitely cheating!

And it was the most arrogant, most brazen kind °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° of cheating!

“Unbelievable...”

The slightly corpulent examiner muttered to himself, completely unable to comprehend.

“Even if he used some illicit cheating method, this speed is too fast.”

“Although the exotic beasts on the first few floors of the Tower of Revelation aren’t strong, there are quite a lot of them.”

“Let alone a group of fierce and powerful exotic beasts.”

“Even if they were all pigs, tied to the ground, motionless, letting him kill them.”

“It would be impossible to clear eight floors in eight minutes, right?”

Chief Examiner Li’s face was so dark it looked like it could drip water.

He stared intently at the screen, not saying a word.

In his heart, he had already sentenced this candidate named Gandalf to death.

Once he reached the tenth floor and they had the evidence.

He would definitely make this audacious fellow understand what regret was!

He must be dealt with severely! As a warning to others!

Time passed, minute by minute.

In the office, you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone’s gaze was focused on that small screen.

Two minutes later.

Under everyone’s tense gaze.

The number on the screen finally jumped to two digits.

【Current Floor: Tenth Floor】

“He’s there!”

“Quick! Immediately pull up his real-time footage for me!”

Chief Examiner Li practically roared the words.

“Yes!”

The staff member dared not delay in the slightest, his hands a blur on the keyboard as he operated swiftly.

The next second.

The computer screen flickered, and the image switched.

The scene inside the tenth floor of the Tower of Revelation was clearly presented before everyone.

In the footage.

A young man clad in a star moon magic robe was unhurriedly stepping onto the final stair leading to the tenth floor.

His figure was tall and straight, his steps composed, showing no hint of tension or fatigue.

And in front of him, on the wide corridor, various forms of exotic beasts were densely packed.

Shadow Swamp Hunter Lizards, Bloodthirsty Frenzy Wolves, Spiked Porcupines...

A full hundred of them!

Their crimson eyes were locked onto the intruder who had just stepped into their territory.

“Roar—!”

Amidst earth-shattering roars, the beast horde surged like a black tide towards that slightly slender figure!

Facing a lineup that would make any candidate’s scalp tingle.

The man in the footage simply calmly raised the staff in his hand.

He didn’t even move a step.

Everyone only saw his lips move slightly, as if he was chanting something.

The next instant.

Rumble—!

The entire screen trembled violently!

Five massive meteorites, burning with eerie green flames, tore through the dim sky inside the tower, descending with world-destroying power!

The meteorites precisely covered the entire beast horde!

The ground cracked, and shattered rocks flew!

The eerie green flames, like maggots clinging to bones, instantly transformed the entire tenth floor into a wailing inferno!

Countless exotic beasts struggled and writhed in the flames, eventually being burned into charred charcoal.

The entire process took no more than five seconds.

When the flames gradually dissipated.

The tenth floor, once filled with hundreds of exotic beasts, was now ravaged.

Only less than one-third of the exotic beasts were still barely clinging to life.

Inside the Chief Examiner’s office.

A deathly silence.

Everyone was as if under a spell, frozen in place, their mouths agape wide enough to fit an egg.

Chief Examiner Li, in particular, almost had his eyes pop out.

He stared intently at the calm figure on the screen, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and after a long moment, he squeezed out a dry, hoarse sentence from between his teeth.

“This... this is... what profession?”