Chapter 52: Number One on the Heavenly Rankings?

Half an hour later, Liu Yang chopped off the head of the final tier-6 zombie.

Simultaneously, new subtitles appeared on the stone monument.

"Congratulations on clearing the 100th stage! The Heavenly Rankings test has ended! You have claimed the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings. Reward: Cloak of Darkness."

Liu Yang was momentarily stunned.

"Huh? It's over? I haven't even had my fill of fighting yet!"

To be honest, all the way up to the 100th stage, Liu Yang hadn't felt the slightest bit of difficulty. Instead, the more he fought, the more excited he became.

Now receiving the notification that the clearance was complete, he still felt a lingering sense of unfulfilled excitement.

After all, while others were restricted to attributes merely twice that of an ordinary human, Liu Yang had already reached 16.5 times. This kind of dimensional-reduction strike made his test exceptionally effortless.

He hurriedly checked the attributes of the rewarded item.

"Cloak of Darkness: This equipment grants you a brief flight capability lasting 5 minutes, with a cooldown of one hour. Your flight speed will be twice your movement speed."

Seeing these attributes, Liu Yang was utterly astonished.

"Just this tiny cloak, and it actually grants the ability to fly! Holy crap! This is too awesome! As expected from the reward for the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings!"

Flight was the dream of countless men.

Walking on air was literally something only immortals could accomplish!

Now, a mere cloak could grant him the power of flight; it was simply mind-blowing!

Although Liu Yang's current speed had already reached 16.5 times that of an ordinary person, and having flight capabilities might not boost his actual combat strength by all that much, in his view, being strong was just a temporary thing, but being cool was a lifetime commitment!

Never mind how much the flight ability enhanced his combat power; the main point was simply how cool it looked!

To match the Cloak of Darkness, Liu Yang retrieved a set of clothes he had scavenged from a supermarket out of his dark space. He selected an entirely black outfit, and when paired with the Cloak of Darkness, he instantly emanated the aura of a solitary, aloof ranger.

Looking at his dashing and handsome attire, Liu Yang nodded with satisfaction.

It seemed he had to find an opportunity to walk upon the air and show off his presence in front of people.

Otherwise, wouldn't he be wasting the flight capability of this Cloak of Darkness?

With these thoughts in mind, Liu Yang stepped out of the monument space.

The next second, he materialized outside the stone monument.

At this moment, Scar Rat, White Fox, and the others were still waiting outside.

Seeing Liu Yang emerge, White Fox was taken aback. She said in disbelief:

"So fast?"

When she had undergone the Yellow Rankings test ranking, she had spent a full three days fighting inside just to clear the 12th stage!

Why had it taken such a long time?

Because an esper's mental energy was limited. After clearing a stage, if you used your abilities, your mental energy would suffer depletion.

You had to wait until your mental energy was fully recovered before daring to enter the next stage; otherwise, failing to use your abilities in the subsequent stage meant certain defeat.

This was the tactic employed by many challengers.

The entry time for the next stage was selectable, leaving ample time to recover physical and mental stamina.

Naturally, if your stamina and mental energy were completely restored yet you still failed to clear the next stage, it simply meant you had reached your strength limit.

Yet Liu Yang had only taken half an hour.

Didn't that imply he hadn't spent any time recovering his mental energy at all?

Had White Fox's thought crossed Liu Yang's mind, he likely would have scoffed disdainfully, saying: "A mere clearance test, is there any need to use abilities? Without any mental energy depletion, why would I need to recover?"

Just as White Fox was filled with shock, Scar Rat chimed in:

"Holy crap! Boss Liu Yang's name isn't even on the Profound Rankings! Could it be that the boss cleared it too quickly and missed the rankings?"

Hearing this, White Fox immediately shifted her gaze to the Earth Rankings, scanning it rapidly.

Although a half-hour clearance time meant ordinary espers might not even pass the 1st stage, Liu Yang was different. The chances were slim, but what if he had made it onto the Earth Rankings?

However, scanning from the 1000th rank all the way to the 1st, White Fox failed to find Liu Yang's name.

A trace of disappointment quickly flashed through her eyes.

As expected, it wasn't possible!

Even someone as formidable as Liu Yang, if he only spent half an hour, still couldn't make the rankings.

Was it perhaps because Liu Yang had exhausted all his mental energy on the 1st stage and thus simply gave up on the clearance?

White Fox felt a twinge of regret.

Had she known, she should have told Liu Yang in advance that after clearing each stage, he could wait until his mental energy was fully restored before entering the next one, rather than just giving up directly!

Just as White Fox was feeling remorseful, Wang Feifei's surprised voice rang out from beside her:

"Hey, look over there! Look at the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings!"

Hearing this, White Fox and Scar Rat immediately cast their gaze toward the supreme Heavenly Rankings. When they saw the name occupying the 1st rank, they were instantly dumbfounded.

On every ranking board, the name in the 1st position was dozens of times larger than the 2nd place and all other names, while radiating a dazzling golden light!

And right now, shining brightly at the 1st position of the Heavenly Rankings were precisely the characters: Liu Yang!

White Fox froze.

This,

How was that possible?！！

In merely half an hour, he had actually secured the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings!

This was simply unimaginable!

Every esper in this survivor base had attempted the stone monument's test.

And after completing the test, they would converse and share their experiences with one another.

From these exchanges, they learned that although everyone's stages differed, the difficulty relative to their individual strengths was roughly similar.

In other words, the stone monument would tailor the stages based on each person's power.

Generally, it took about an hour to clear the first stage, and the clearance time for the second stage might even extend to two hours.

The later stages became increasingly difficult, and the clearance times would grow correspondingly longer.

In the end, you might not even be able to clear a single stage in an entire day!

Yet Liu Yang had spent merely half an hour to become the number one.

What kind of person was he anyway?!

To what terrifying extent must his abilities reach for him to pull off such a miracle?

White Fox couldn't fathom it.

As an esper herself who had also undergone the stone monument's test, she understood all the better just how excruciatingly difficult it was to claim the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings!

Yet Liu Yang had achieved it in just half an hour.

Did this imply that for others, achieving the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings meant their strength had reached the pinnacle of the Heavenly Rankings, whereas for Liu Yang, achieving the 1st rank on the Heavenly Rankings was simply because the highest ranking available was only number one?

If there were a Divine Ranking or something similar, as long as he was willing to spend a bit more time, could he still ascend to the very top?

After all, half hour was definitely not Liu Yang's upper limit!

Did this mean that even the testing monument was incapable of measuring Liu Yang's upper limit?!

Realizing this, White Fox looked at Liu Yang with a gaze reserved for deities.

This man was simply not human!

Calling him a god would hardly be an exaggeration!