"This year's first monthly exam content has undergone some reform and is a little different than in past years."
"Let me tell you about the rewards for top students first. I know you must have secretly looked up past rewards online, but this year the school is more generous than before. The top ten will be rewarded with C-grade universal nutrition reagents. Moreover, the rankings are more lenient; this year, any student who makes it into the top two hundred will get a reward."
As Lu Junxiang spoke, he couldn't help but secretly blame the grade director. He had only learned about the exam rules the day before.
Some students had secretly asked him about the content of the monthly exam after class, luckily he didn't give a direct answer.
"In past years, for your first monthly exam as freshmen, there would have been a Beast Taming battle. But this year, we will not include this in either the first or the second monthly exams."
"For the first-year students' first monthly exam this year, we've switched to a Beast Taming physical assessment and will not have a battle test."
"Many prestigious schools out there now adopt this exam model, especially those in Dragon City. Before the end-of-semester exams of the first term, the focus will mainly be on the growth of the Beast Taming."
Upon hearing this, the students didn't show much change in expression.
After all, most of them didn't have much confidence in Beast Taming battles.
Having never commanded a beast before, they were all anxious before their first battle. When they heard that the first monthly exam wouldn't include Beast Taming battles, they actually felt relieved.
On the other hand, directly assessing the development of the tamed beasts was more straightforward, which gave everyone a better idea of where they might rank.
"If you have an Awakening Skill, the score in this area will be determined based on the skill awakened and the degree of mastery."
"Everyone, line up in two columns in the hallway and get ready for the monthly exam check on the field." Lu Junxiang clapped his hands, signaling the students to gather in the hallway.
They followed the crowd to the field.
On the way there, the whispers of Zou Minghan next to him were incessant, "It's over, it's over, it's over, I feel like I can't even make it into the top two hundred, GG."
"Chen Xing, you should be able to make it into the top twenty this time," someone said.
Wang Qiming chuckled softly, "Top twenty? I think Chen Xing could probably make it into the top five."
Li Zhixuan exclaimed in surprise, "The beasts I saw from the students in Class 1-2 aren't as big as Chen Xing's. If we're just comparing the size of the beasts, Chen Xing could probably make it into the top one of our grade."
Chen Xing, "..."
Stop jinxing me, you guys; I haven't even seen the beasts from the other classes.
Arriving at the field, they were divided into three large formations based on class.
Chen Xing also saw the other two types of tamed beasts from the same grade. He had seen them occasionally at school, but it wasn't often and it was rare to witness such a large-scale, impressive scene of collective summoning.
Compared to the Salty Bay Crocodile, the armored rhinoceros looked quite plump, round, and bulging like a fat ball.
"Although our crocodile is a bit longer, it can't compare in weight to them; their weight is solid," someone commented.
On the far right, there was a group of restless fledgling eagles.
The dark Iron Feather Fighting Hawks were flying and circling in the sky, occasionally spar with each other. These birds loved to fight, even against their own kind.
At the front of the field, equipment for measuring height and weight had been set up, and the teachers were handing out report cards. When a student's name was called, they would step forward to record their results.
It wasn't long before it was Chen Xing's turn. As the teacher responsible for recording the results saw Taotie beside Chen Xing's feet, there was a noticeable look of surprise.
Whispers of amazement rippled through the students waiting in line.
"Wow~"
"His is so big."
Besides the students from Chen Xing's class, most from other classes were seeing Taotie for the first time.
"Your Beast Taming is quite impressive; it looks strong, and it's in good spirits too," the teacher said approvingly and gently continued, "Let your beast go and stand on the equipment over there."
Taotie wasn't shy, treading with an aggressive stride onto the platform.
The equipment quickly displayed the results.
Body length 136.6cm! Weight 19.6kg! Energy level 6.12!
"Well raised," the teacher complimented. "Have you awakened any skills?"
Chen Xing, neither humble nor arrogant, replied, "Passive Skill: Water Concealment."
The teacher was somewhat surprised, taking another look at Taotie, "You're that lucky?"
Passive Skills can't be inherited through Skill Orbs, so they can't be re-learned by removing the original skill, which means that Passive and Innate Skills totally depend on luck.
In other words, the luck is really good. More than a hundred students were tested before, but none had awakened a Passive Skill.
This student... Chen Xing.
The teacher glanced down at Chen Xing's name.
"Chen is quite lucky, but it's not just luck. You've done a very good job with your beast taming as well."
The teacher entered the score onto Chen Xing's report card and then handed it to him.
Not far away, a group of teachers stood to one side, with a middle-aged man at the very center seemingly their focus.
The middle-aged man was none other than the principal of School No. 8, Xue Jinbao.
His main attention was still on the team with the armored rhinoceros, given that an adult armored rhinoceros is known as a "land tank," averaging 4-5.5 meters in body length, 1.7-2.5 meters shoulder height, and weighing between 4-8 tons. Moreover, the various evolutionary forms of the armored rhinoceros were also impressive.
"What's the largest size that's been measured for the armored rhinoceros among the students tested so far?" Xue Jinbao asked.
"113cm long, 92kg," one teacher replied, looking at the latest data on the electronic tablet. "According to the historical rankings from the same period in previous years from other schools, this size would rank 14,874th."
More than fourteen thousand ranks...
Xue Jinbao was silent.
Of course, it wasn't to say that this result was low.
After all, this was the ranking for the size of armored rhinoceroses that other public schools had raised during a one-month period, which had been recorded since the internal network of this education authority was established.
With tens of millions of students in Great Xia each year, nearly a hundred thousand who raise armored rhinoceroses annually, and nearly thirty years since the establishment of the internal network...
It meant that being able to rank around ten thousand out of more than three million was still quite significant.
"Principal, within the Salty Bay Crocodile scorecards, there's a student whose combined historic ranking is actually within the top thousand!" exclaimed the teacher who was browsing the data on the tablet.
Xue Jinbao's eyes brightened and he snatched the tablet immediately.
The rankings for various data were already listed; he saw the top data immediately.
Body length 136.6cm, weight 19.6kg, Energy Level 6.12! Awakening Skill: Water Stealth.
Comprehensive score 5462, overall ranking 987th.
This was the ranking over thirty-three years; if averaged across each year, it nearly ranked this student among the top thirty Beast Tamers who were raising Salty Bay Crocodiles in all high schools across Great Xia for the same period.
Of course, it couldn't be calculated in this way since this year's scores had yet to be registered.
But even so, this gave Xue Jinbao a glimpse of hope.
He repeatedly compared the scores of other students around the rank of 987 and found that this particular Salty Bay Crocodile had a slight advantage in body length and weight but fell short in Energy Level. Moreover, it had even awakened a Passive Skill.
Very good, very good, the difference between a Salty Bay Crocodile with a Passive Skill and one without was substantial, especially when ambushing in the wild.
"It's a pity that the Energy Level is slightly low."
The Energy Levels of other students nearby averaged above 8. This issue had cost quite a few points, but if the Energy Level could be increased, the rank could go much higher.
Xue Jinbao inquired to Director Sun, "What's the background of this student's family?"
Director Sun quickly called Lu Junxiang over.
Lu Junxiang pondered; he had a general understanding of the family backgrounds of the students in his class.
He relayed the general situation of Chen Xing's family to Xue Jinbao.
After listening, Xue Jinbao nodded slowly, contemplating.
"So the family isn't able to provide much support, and most of it comes down to the beast's own aptitude?"
Lu Junxiang agreed, "It seems that way."
He had an inkling of the principal's thoughts. Lu Junxiang had a favorable impression of Chen Xing, a serious and attentive student. If he could help the student, he naturally would not be stingy with his praise, "This student works hard and shows ingenuity when answering questions in class."
"Is he able to take first place in this month's exam?" Xue Jinbao asked.
Director Sun smiled and replied, "Almost certainly, although the grades from the other classes aren't all out yet, there shouldn't be a problem. Principal, your revised exam strategy this time has really helped this student. If it were a practical fight, it's not certain he could have secured first place easily. I've seen quite a few who have mastered Intermediate Skills."
Standing to the side, Lu Junxiang also largely agreed that the power of an Intermediate Skill was not insignificant. Although the power of the same skill was somewhat influenced by the releaser's own Energy Level, at this stage, an Intermediate Skill could potentially achieve a one-shot kill.
Xue Jinbao maintained a neutral expression, but inwardly he calculated. If a student with little family help could break into rank 987, then with additional support from the school, couldn't he climb even higher?
"Let's wait and see, and check if there are any other surprises later on," Xue Jinbao spoke with his hands clasped behind his back.
Soon, half a day passed, and all the students' scores were gradually recorded, then converted into corresponding ranks on the school's intranet based on a formula.
To everyone's surprise, in the end, there were actually two more unexpected achievements: an Iron Feather Fighting Hawk that ranked 3,450 in the historical records and a Salty Bay Crocodile that ranked 16,677.
The rankings of other students were a bit more distant. Aside from the top four in the grade, the fifth place in the historical records had already fallen beyond the 100,000 mark.
Principal Xue's gaze locked onto the name of the student ranked first, Chen Xing... It was a good name. He hoped it would bring him luck.
Xue Jinbao spoke, "Increase the reward resources for the student ranked first in the grade. Upgrade from ten bottles of Grade C Universal Nutrition Reagent to fifteen bottles. Mr. Lu, please have Chen come to the principal's office later."