Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Speedrunning the First Three Rounds, Divine Artifact Celestial Gaze Mirror

As a disembodied consciousness, Zhang Yi surveyed the entire scene below.

Following the Oracle that Zhang Yi had previously passed down, the Wood Elves in the Divine Realm below had already begun to gather.

On the sacrificial altar, Elf Queen An Nobel stood at the highest point.

To her left and right stood Elf High Priest Shamiel and Legion Commander Feiyana, respectively.

At this moment, however, Elf Queen An Nobel made no move. Instead, she stepped aside to stand with Legion Commander Feiyana,

leaving the very center of the altar to Shamiel.

And so, standing at the forefront, Elf High Priest Shamiel began to speak.

"My fellow Wood Elves, it has been two years since the great Elf God delivered his Oracle, and we have been preparing ever since!"

"The great Elf God has also bestowed upon us his blessings!"

"Now, a treacherous and cunning enemy lurks outside our Divine Realm. The time has come to prove our loyalty to the great Elf God with our actions!"

After Elf High Priest Shamiel’s pre-battle speech,

the Wood Elves below, long-prepared and clad in Armor, holding Long Spears and sharp swords, all roared in unison:

"Fight to the death, never retreat!"

"Fight to the death, never retreat!"

"..."

Seeing that their morale was high, Elf High Priest Shamiel stepped back, yielding the stage to Legion Commander Feiyana.

"We march today to fight for the great Elf God!"

"I will lead the charge and never fall back!"

"HUAH! HUAH! HUAH!"

Hearing Legion Commander Feiyana’s words, the Wood Elves below roared in response.

"To war! To war!"

With ample pre-battle mobilization and a fanatical faith,

Zhang Yi believed that, at the very least, his Wood Elves would absolutely not lose in terms of morale!

There was still some time before the battle.

Under Feiyana’s command, the Wood Elves began to send out Scouts, keeping a close watch on the four cardinal directions of the Dawn Forest!

...

「Meanwhile」

In a Green-skinned Lizardman’s Divine Realm, all the Green-skinned Lizardmen were gathered around the center of their tribe.

After a Green-skinned Lizardman standing at the highest point finished relaying an Oracle,

all the Green-skinned Lizardmen cheered happily, raising their charcoal-black Long Spears!

...

In another Divine Realm, belonging to a Centaur,

a suit of full-body Armor, finally forged after a frantic rush, was being fitted onto the Centaur leader with the help of several Dwarves!

...

Once the students who had entered their Divine Realms completed all their preparations, it was time for the exam to begin!

「At that same moment」

all the exam candidates who had logged into their Divine Realms through the school’s Divine Domain Connection Pods received the same message:

"The exam has begun!"

As a disembodied consciousness, Zhang Yi only felt a slight tremor run through his entire Divine Realm.

Immediately after, a black Teleportation Gate—one that had appeared in the Zhang Yi Divine Realm before, but was now much larger—materialized in the northern part of the realm!

Squad after squad of invaders marched out from the black Teleportation Gate in neat formations.

In the northern part of the Dawn Forest, a Wood Elf Scout on reconnaissance also discovered this phenomenon.

Without hesitation, he immediately ran back towards the Dawn Forest, preparing to report this news to the Elf Queen!

The Elf Corps, already fully assembled and ready to march at a moment’s notice,

finally received news of the invading Clan.

The entire Wood Elf Corps erupted with excitement!

The next moment, all the clamor vanished.

The neatly arranged Elf Corps moved in unison towards the northern part of the Dawn Forest.

There, on the northern edge of the Dawn Forest, they would begin the first battle!

When the battle began, there was none of the expected gore and flying flesh, nor was there any close-quarters combat.

The first three waves of invading Clans were all intercepted at the outermost perimeter by the Wood Elves’ ranged and Magic Attacks.

The first three waves, the weakest of the invading Clans, didn’t even have the chance to touch the Wood Elf Corps and engage them in melee!

This was the best proof of Zhang Yi’s long, hard work!

Meanwhile, in the Subspace outside the Divine Realms,

the teachers organizing the first monthly placement exam for the entire second year were gathered.

Besides the regular proctors, the grade-level dean, and the principal, there was also a Divine Artifact used to simultaneously monitor all the students’ Divine Realms: the Celestial Gaze Mirror!

The Celestial Gaze Mirror was a standard-issue Divine Artifact for every school, used specifically to supervise the condition of every candidate’s Divine Realm and prevent cheating.

The Celestial Gaze Mirror broadcasted the events happening in each student’s Divine Realm in real-time, also displaying the corresponding invasion wave and the time taken to clear it.

Suddenly, the ranking of a certain student recorded in the Celestial Gaze Mirror— 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

the ranking for the time taken to clear the first three invasion waves—

shot up drastically,

leaping straight to the very top!

The list was ordered from top to bottom,

with students who cleared the first few invasion waves in the shortest amount of time ranked higher up.

And the student who had just leaped to the very top...

The data recorded after his name...

...showed that the time taken to clear all of the first three invasion waves was an astonishing 18 minutes and 52 seconds!

This change undoubtedly startled all the teachers who were using the Celestial Gaze Mirror to check on how other students were handling their Divine Realm invasions!

"Whose class is this student in? That’s incredible!"

"To clear all of the first three invasion waves in just 18 minutes!"

"On average, that’s only six minutes per invasion wave!"

A female teacher in the Subspace, dressed in white, couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.

"What?! There’s a student like that?"

Another teacher in the Subspace, who had been patrolling the periphery to ensure no accidents occurred during the exam, heard the astonishing news.

The next moment, he flashed over to the Divine Artifact Celestial Gaze Mirror, wanting to witness it for himself.

"This score... This name..." He pushed up his glasses and carefully read the name and the information attached to it.

"Year Two, Class Seven, Zhang Yi!"

"If I remember correctly, this is one of Teacher Guo’s students!"

"He’s the student who won that Divine War in the second year that caused such a stir a while ago!"

As soon as he said this, the other teachers were even more astonished!

"So it’s him!"

"I even went to the multimedia hall that day to watch the entirety of that Divine War!"

"I remember he just had a Divine War with another student not too long ago. It was live-streamed, and he won beautifully!"

"But it’s only been a short month. His power couldn’t have improved this much, could it?!"

Another teacher, who had been observing the Divine Realms of students from other classes and hadn’t seen Zhang Yi’s Clan in action, couldn’t help but raise a doubt.

"Even if he won a Divine War, the speed at which he cleared the first few rounds of the assessment is just too ridiculous!"

"The candidate ranked below him took 30 minutes and 26 seconds to clear the first three waves!"

"The gap is just a bit too big, isn’t it?!"

With such a big development, it was impossible for any of the teachers present not to have heard.

After hearing this, Homeroom Teacher Guo Aiqing couldn’t resist squeezing her way to the front.

"Oh, that’s just one of my students, performing a little better than usual!"

"No need to make such a big fuss!"

Seeing her student, Zhang Yi, bringing her so much glory, Homeroom Teacher Guo Aiqing couldn’t help but humblebrag.