Jack and Janice checked their tokens and were shocked at what they saw.
Jack stared at his token in disbelief. "What is the meaning of this?"
Mabel glanced over, curious. "What happened?"
"Check your token," Janice urged.
Mabel did as instructed, and what she saw shocked her to her core. Awar, growing frustrated with their reactions, decided to check his token as well. His initial surprise quickly gave way to satisfaction.
"I guess now I can just sleep till the end of this round, right?" Awar said, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.
Mabel frowned. "Are you not wondering how this came about?"
Awar shrugged. "Just take it as the officials trying to curry favor with you."
"The Imperial Sect doesn't operate that way," Mabel argued. "They would never do such a thing, and even if they did, it wouldn't be this exaggerated."
Awar's only response was a lazy yawn. "What do I know? I just want to sleep."
Frustrated with Awar's indifference, Mabel turned to the twins. "What do you think?"
Janice and Jack exchanged uncertain glances. How could they explain that someone they didn't fully understand had decided to gift them the points? And how could they admit their frustration over the rankings, knowing they weren't planning to join the sect?
Jack sighed. "We also don't know how."
Mabel looked thoughtful. "Who is this Lucifer Morningstar anyway?"
They all turned to the Imperial Sect ranking board, which displayed the following:
1. Lucifer Morningstar - 10,000,000,000
Overall team score: 10,000,000,000
2. Jack Connor - 900,000,000
3. Janice Connor - 900,000,000
4. Mabel Lovigary - 900,000,000
5. Awar Malachai - 900,000,000
Overall team score: 3,600,000,000
The more Mabel looked at it, the more her headache grew. "Maybe there is something wrong with the ranking board. We should still hunt more beasts until the end of this round."
Awar groaned. "Can't you just let it go? I'm tired from all the fighting. At this rate, I might die from exhaustion."
Jack shook his head. "You're just a lazy demon who knows only how to eat and sleep. If you weren't an emperor's son, you wouldn't even cultivate in your entire life. But...." Sighing Jack continued, "he's right on this one, though."
Janice and Mabel were dumbfounded by Jack's shameless attitude. He was ranting about how lazy someone was and then agreed with him in the end.
"So, all that talk and you still support him?" Janice asked incredulously.
Jack just nodded.
Mabel sighed. "Whatever is going on, it's part of the test. We're just falling for their traps."
Awar looked pleased. "A trap I will gladly accept right now."
"You are a lost cause," Mabel muttered.
Mabel managed to convince the rest of her teammates to continue hunting beasts, much to Awar's grumbling displeasure. As they moved through the training grounds, they encountered other participants. Some refrained from engaging them due to the presence of the two royalties, while others, more hotheaded, tried to show their might but ended up disqualified from the exam.
After an hour, the second round of the entrance examination ended, and they were teleported to the Imperial Sect battleground.
The examiner's voice rang out. "All of you here have passed the second round. The top three are qualified to enter the inner sect. But before that, let's view the rankings of the second round."
The ranking board was revealed once more:
1. Lucifer Morningstar - 10,000,000,000
Overall team score: 10,000,000,000
2. Mabel Lovigary - 900,001,800
3. Jack Connor - 900,001,200
4. Janice Connor - 900,001,100
5. Awar Malachai - 900,000,000
Overall team score: 3,600,004,100
6. Michael Kent - 6,000
7. Alec Albert - 5,000
8. Dave Lockhart - 4,000
9. Hilary Baston - 1,500
Overall team score: 16,500
The crowd fell silent, staring at the rankings in disbelief. Even the officials were stunned.
A participant shouted, "What is the meaning of this? Was it rigged or what?"
Another participant retorted, "Rigged? How can someone do that in the Imperial Sect? What you should be asking is how many beasts they killed to get that score and how strong they are."
A third participant chimed in, "Are you guys seeing that the number one on the ranking is a one-man team?"
"Woah, it's true," someone else murmured. "Damn, how strong is he?"
Alec Albert was seething with anger. How could someone score that high? No matter how many beasts someone killed in the Imperial Training Ground 1, it would not amount to this. He glared at the sect officials, wondering if they were treating this year's entrance examination as a joke.
Meanwhile, the officials themselves were perplexed. This had never happened before. Who was this Lucifer Morningstar?
Back with the Js, Mabel, and Awar, Awar smugly remarked, "I told you guys to rest and conserve your energy, but you did not listen. See, we made it."
Jack shot back, "You're just a lazy prince. Your opinion doesn't count."
Mabel was still trying to make sense of it all. "How is this possible? Look at the officials; they are as shocked as everyone else. Whatever is happening is a surprise to them too."
Janice sighed, thinking, **Why must he go that far?** She recalled Adams's words about disrupting the entrance examination. **What am I thinking? He did say he was going to disrupt the entrance examination, after all.**
In the void, Adams mused, "Did I go too far? Well, it's showtime."
He left the void and returned as Lucifer, approaching the Js, Mabel, and Awar.
"Hey, guys. How was the second round? I see you guys broke the records," Adams said, smiling, much to Jack's annoyance.
Jack retorted, "As you can see, we are still far behind you, Lucifer."
Awar opened his lazy eyes, confirming that this Lucifer was behind all the mess but also feeling thankful for the rest he got despite his teammates' disturbances. Mabel observed him closely, wondering, **How strong is he to do that to the ranking board? And Janice and Jack seem to know him.**
The examiner cleared his throat and continued, "Now for the final round. If anyone is willing to challenge the top 1,000 participants and the top 10 scorers, please step forward."
Everyone was still too shocked by what they had seen to listen to the examiner. They didn't notice when someone stepped forward.
"Who do you want to challenge, Lucifer?" the examiner asked, looking at him with reverence.
"Actually, I wanted to challenge one person, but due to certain reasons, I would like to challenge Alec Albert, Dave Lockhart, and Hilary Baston," Adams declared.
The entire battleground fell silent, everyone's eyes wide with astonishment.