18 Chapter 18: Snowball Effect

[You have completed the second option]

[You have been awarded the Pendant of Protection]

[Pendant of Protection can block any three life threatening attacks, regardless of their strength]

Eren was enjoying the misery of the main character when he saw more notifications appear before him.

A beautiful pendant appeared around his neck, unnoticed by anyone.

He had received the reward for his choice, along with the description.

Initially, he had thought that the reward was going to be just as useless as everything else. But he was quite surprised to hear the description of the reward.

It was a life saving measure which could block three attacks from anyone?

In other words, even if the Sect Master of Demon Sect was going to attack him with her strongest attack, he could still stay unharmed.

Accompanied by his bluff, it really had a lot of uses.

For him, who was trying his hardest to survive in this world, this reward was exactly what he needed.

However, he could also see the flaw in this pendant's use. It could only be used three times.

As he was weak, almost every attack could be considered life threatening to him. It didn't have to be from the Sect Leader.

So three uses appeared too little. He really didn't want to waste the three uses of the pendant.

....

The examination continued. And from that point on, no one challenged Eren.

The remaining participants either chose Zhang Wei, or Elder Li for their test.

It was only after a few more hours that the tests were finally over.

All three Elders had scored the participants independently. And only after they were done, the three lists were combined to create the complete score of the participants.

Eren didn't remember the scores of the minor characters so he gave the scores based on his rough understanding.

As for the important characters whose scores were mentioned in the novel, he stuck as close to the story as possible to make sure there were no variables like before.

He didn't want to have a snowball effect, just because he messed up the scoring.

Once the three scores were complete, a final tally was created.

Elder Li sent the list of top five to all remaining elders who weren't here, before announcing the scores.

He began saying the names of the participants who had received less than ten percent of the score, which was almost eighty percent of the participants.

All those who were named were escorted out of the Sect by an official disciple since they had failed the test.

Only a hundred participants were left.

Next, Elder Li announced the scores of those who had received more than ten percent scores.

It was another major chunk of the remaining participants as it included more than seventy participants.

"All those who have been named... congratulations," Elder Li declared.

"From today on, you are outer Disciples of the Sect. Please follow your guide who will take you to your dwellings and tell you the rules and other important things."

Another official disciple led the students to the Outer Sect.

With that, only twenty five youngsters were left, which included the heirs of the major clans, the six star talent and the Ye Liang.

It was elder Zhang Wei who announced the scores of the remaining twenty five people who had received scores of over thirty percent.

She announced the names of everyone except the top five.

The twenty, whose names were announced, were escorted to the Inner Sect in a similar manner.

And thus, only five people were left. They were the toppers of this exam.

Although none of them had crossed the forty percent threshold, they had still managed to impress Elders with their potential.

"Now the top five," Elder Zhang stated as she received the responses from the remaining Elders. "The fifth place is taken by Yu Lin."

She looked at a young boy, who looked like he came from a wealthy family. He had the best treasures amongst all the participants as well.

He was the heir of the Yu Clan, a major power in the Kingdom.

"Of course he did," Eren mumbled under his breath, letting out a knowing smile.

Zhang Wei didn't know it, but the reason Yu Lin received a score like this was because of Elder Li, who was the uncle of Yu Lin.

It was mentioned clearly in the story that Elder Li owed a favor to the Yu Clan Patriarch and he was repaying that favor now by increasing his score.

Unfortunately, even with Elder Li's score, Yu Lin could only take the fifth place because the scores from the other two elders were lower.

The only benefit was that he had managed to reach the top five thanks to this. Otherwise, he would have been out.

"There are three Elders who want you as their Disciple. They are..."

Zhang Wei gave a description of the Elders. And Yu Lin could only choose one of them.

Elder Li wasn't one of them since he had already repaid his favor. He didn't select Yu Lin as a disciple.

Amongst the three Elders, Yu Lin made his choice. He was taken by another Disciple to the residence of the Master he selected.

The fourth and the third position also selected their masters. The only difference was that they had more choices since their performance was actually decent.

There was no change in the story and Eren was slightly glad. There were now two disciples.

The Main Character Ye Liang, and the six star Talent Wang Qingyu, whose real identity was more special that even Zhang Wei and Elder Li didn't know.

It was kept a secret until the later part of the second volume even in the novel.

"The Second Rank..." Zhang Wei went through the list with only two names remaining. "With a score of thirty six, Ye Liang."

Zhang Wei made a declaration. And in response, Ye Liang revealed shock. But more shocked than him was Eren!