By the time Zhang Yi returned to school from the Subspace via the Divine Domain Connection Pod, quite a few students who were even faster than him were already in their seats.

Seeing this, Zhang Yi went straight to his seat and waited quietly for the homeroom teacher to arrive.

Ten minutes later, the homeroom teacher still hadn’t shown up, but Sima Yuan and Hong Tianyi returned. They were walking shoulder to shoulder, and their faces filled with shock when they saw Zhang Yi already in the classroom.

"How did you get back even faster than us this time!" Sima Yuan looked at Zhang Yi and couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Previously, Zhang Yi usually returned to class very late after dealing with the aftermath. This time, however, he had specifically told his Clan in the Divine Realm to hold their ritual in a few days. This would leave him enough time to return home that evening. From there, he could enter his Divine Realm via the connection pod in his bedroom, arriving just in time for the Clan’s ritual to collect the rewards.

Zhang Yi was also very curious about those Talent Crystals. If I get them through the ritual, what kind of options will my Golden Finger give me?

Just as Zhang Yi was about to speak, Sima Yuan continued, "Silly me! How could I not have figured it out?"

"It must be because you had a huge haul this time and wrapped things up early! Right?"

Sima Yuan looked at Zhang Yi expectantly, trying to gauge the truth from his expression.

Zhang Yi nodded, confirming Sima Yuan’s guess was completely correct.

Sima Yuan and Hong Tianyi went to their seats. Sima Yuan’s expression was no different than usual, but Hong Tianyi was a stark contrast this time. His face was a mixture of anticipation, curiosity, and nervousness as he finally asked, "Zhang Yi, can you tell us how many Treasure Chests you got in this exam?"

"Not many. Just one Golden Treasure Chest, four Silver Treasure Chests, and ten Black Iron Treasure Chests," Zhang Yi calmly listed the Treasure Chests he had acquired over the three-day exam.

Hearing this, Sima Yuan was floored. "Holy crap, what kind of monster are you?! Getting so many Treasure Chests in one exam!"

"With that many, just going by quantity, you must have gained a full 0.3% of Divine Authority of Divine Office!"

Meanwhile, Hong Tianyi looked pleasantly surprised at Zhang Yi’s answer. Seeing his friend’s excited expression, Sima Yuan immediately realized that Hong Tianyi must have done better than him.

Not wanting to disturb the ecstatic Hong Tianyi, Sima Yuan leaned in and whispered to Zhang Yi, "I stopped by the office on my way here and saw the homeroom teacher. Ms. Guo Aiqing was organizing the class rankings for this exam! I snuck a peek at the rankings. You’re first in the class again, Zhang Yi!"

As he said this, Sima Yuan’s face was full of envy. Clearly, Zhang Yi’s ability to take first place twice in a row meant his strength was beyond imagination.

"I got one Golden Treasure Chest, four Silver Treasure Chests, and eight Black Iron Treasure Chests this time. Except for the Black Iron Treasure Chests, there’s not much of a gap between our results. So, what rank do you think I’ll get this time?" Hong Tianyi couldn’t help but exclaim excitedly after hearing the news Sima Yuan shared.

His voice was so loud that even the nearby students turned to look. However, when they saw the group lower their voices, they turned back around. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Sima Yuan was shocked by Hong Tianyi’s answer. Though he had grown somewhat numb to Zhang Yi’s stunning results, this was different. Even Hong Tianyi, who had previously only been a couple of ranks ahead of him, had suddenly pulled so far ahead! How was he supposed to take that?

I clearly improved my strength since last time. I even loaded the Five-star Divine Domain Card, [War Charge], and got the Frenzy Aura. So how are my results worse than before?!

Just as Sima Yuan was sinking into deep self-reproach, unable to figure out what went wrong, Lin Aoxue and Wan Hua entered the classroom. They were the two students who commanded nearly as much attention as Zhang Yi.

Spotting Zhang Yi, Wan Hua, who had grown closer to Zhang Yi’s circle recently, waved at him. "Ms. Guo Aiqing, the homeroom teacher, told us to get the report cards from her office. She said that once they’re handed out, everyone can go home!"

Upon hearing this, the students who had been preparing to wait for a lecture from the homeroom teacher all broke into cheers.

Hearing Wan Hua, Zhang Yi quickly stood up and headed to Ms. Guo Aiqing’s office with him.

After knocking, the two of them entered. A smile naturally spread across Ms. Guo Aiqing’s face as she saw her class’s president and vice president enter the office.

"Our class did very well on this exam!" she said cheerfully. "Zhang Yi, you’re first in our class again! A truly excellent performance! And Wan Hua, don’t be discouraged. Even though your results aren’t as ideal as last time, your school-wide ranking is still excellent!"

Zhang Yi and Wan Hua took the class report cards from Ms. Guo Aiqing’s hands.

School Rank 1: Zhang Yi (one Golden Treasure Chest, four Silver Treasure Chests, ten Black Iron Treasure Chests)

School Rank 2: Hong Tianyi (one Golden Treasure Chest, four Silver Treasure Chests, eight Black Iron Treasure Chests)

School Rank 3: Huang Yingtian (one Golden Treasure Chest, three Silver Treasure Chests, eleven Black Iron Treasure Chests)

School Rank 4: Wan Hua (one Golden Treasure Chest, three Silver Treasure Chests, seven Black Iron Treasure Chests)

School Rank 5: ...

School Rank 6: ...

School Rank 7: Lin Aoxue (one Golden Treasure Chest, two Silver Treasure Chests, six Black Iron Treasure Chests)

...

School Rank 22: Sima Yuan (one Golden Treasure Chest, two Silver Treasure Chests, four Black Iron Treasure Chests)

...

Wan Hua glanced at the report card. He knew full well how he had performed and was satisfied with this result. He was genuinely surprised, however, when he saw Hong Tianyi’s score.

Once they were out of the office, Wan Hua said to Zhang Yi, "You got first place again! You even left Hong Tianyi, the second-place finisher, in the dust!"

Zhang Yi just smiled and said nothing. He was on good terms with both of them, so he couldn’t exactly speak ill of them behind their backs.

Right now, what Zhang Yi was really looking forward to was going home tonight. What kind of surprise will the ritual held by my Clan in the Divine Realm bring me?

Back in the classroom, Zhang Yi stood on the teacher’s podium and announced, "I have the report cards here. In a moment, I’ll have the vice president and the academic committee member hand them out. If any of you are impatient, you can come up and take a peek first! Once you get your report card, you can all go home. There’s no need to wait for the homeroom teacher. There’s no break this weekend, so remember to be on time for class tomorrow!"

The class instantly erupted. Students swarmed forward, all wanting to see their scores before anyone else.

Sima Yuan squeezed his way to the front. When he saw the report card, his face froze.

School Rank 22? I actually improved by a few ranks since last time! So it turns out that while I was improving, you guys were improving even more!

Hong Tianyi, standing next to Sima Yuan, patted him on the shoulder. "Don’t be discouraged. This exam was harder than the last placement test. As long as you improved, it’s a good thing!"

Sima Yuan gave a bitter smile. "But you and Zhang Yi are improving so much faster. The gap between us is just getting wider and wider!"

Meanwhile, as Lin Aoxue helped hand out the report cards, she was thinking to herself, Should I ask him for this? What if he says no? Forget it, forget it... It’s not a big deal anyway.