When he claimed he’d "barely succeeded," the students around him immediately looked on with deep envy.
This was precisely the effect the student was going for.
All those years of diligent study and bitter cultivation—wasn’t it all for this moment? A chance to finally hold his head high and enjoy his victory lap.
After basking in the envious and jealous stares, the young man was clearly in high spirits. He glanced at Li Jianfei and chuckled. "You look pretty pathetic. How about you come work for me?"
Although they were both still students, now that one was a Permanent Reincarnator, their social standings were already worlds apart.
After leaving the Rebirth Hall, Li Jianfei could only return to his group to lick his wounds in silence. The other student, however, could head straight to the registration center run by the Reincarnator Association, where endless flowers and applause awaited him.
But Li Jianfei completely ignored the olive branch he was offered, still muttering to himself, "Chang’an’s theory scores were so high, how could he have failed? We worked so hard for so many years... I just can’t accept this..."
Failing the rebirth was clearly a devastating blow.
After all, in this day and age, a young person’s dreams were often impossible to achieve without first becoming an Official Reincarnator.
While failing the rebirth wasn’t a complete death sentence, it might as well have been.
Seeing Li Jianfei ignore him, the student lost face and snorted coldly. "I was going to give you a chance to help build my domain. If you’re too stupid to take it, that’s on you..."
With that, he turned to leave.
However, upon hearing the words "go to the domain with him," the other failed students in the crowd suddenly had an idea.
They knew this moment, right after the end of the age-eighteen rebirth, was the closest they would ever get to the high-and-mighty Reincarnators of the future.
If they didn’t seize this final opportunity, they would likely never even get the chance to appear before a Reincarnator again.
Thus, a few of the bolder girls, daring to seize the opportunity, rushed right up to the student. One said, her voice breathy, "Hey handsome, I can be feisty or I can be sweet. Why don’t you take me with you?"
Several other shyer, more reserved girls followed suit, their faces flushed red as they finally worked up the courage to ask, "Hey handsome, can I join you?"
A pragmatic and adaptable boy also stepped forward, speaking in a fawning tone, "Senior, my last monthly exam score was in the top 100 of our grade. I have Mastery in professional skills like domain resource management, scientific cultivation of Spiritual Fields, and training large-scale armies. Could I get your contact information? Once you get your domain, maybe you could give me a recruitment opportunity, for old times’ sake as classmates?"
In an instant, the student was completely swarmed by an enthusiastic crowd.
Everyone wanted to seize this opportunity before he truly took off.
For those who had failed the rebirth, the chance to latch onto a Reincarnator and help manage their domain was a dream come true.
But none of this had anything to do with Li Jianfei. His mind was a million miles away, completely oblivious to his classmates who were now in a frenzy.
Seeing his devastated, soul-crushed expression, Qin Yang quickly pulled him aside. "Chang’an didn’t fail," he explained. "It just looks like he hasn’t come out of the Rebirth Space yet!"
Li Jianfei froze at his words, then suddenly snapped back to reality. "Chang’an went into the testing area before I did," he said, shocked and uncertain. "Our whole group is already out. How could he not have returned to the Main World yet?"
Normally, there wasn’t much of a time difference in the return to the Main World for Reincarnators from the same group.
The first to emerge were usually the ones who had failed, as they didn’t have to go through an evaluation in the Rebirth Space and were sent out directly.
As for the students who successfully earned the Rebirth Mark’s approval, they were usually a minute or two behind, waiting for the Mark to complete its evaluation before they returned.
But either way, the amount of time Li Chang’an had spent in the Rebirth World was absurdly long.
The successful students from his group had already gone to the Rebirth Association’s registration center. By now, they’d probably finished registering and were already picking out corporate sponsors or domains.
And yet, Li Chang’an still hadn’t emerged from the Rebirth World.
Qin Yang had been so preoccupied with the large number of students in the group and their poor results that he hadn’t even realized something was wrong.
Now that Li Jianfei had brought it up, it suddenly dawned on him.
"Oh, right!" Qin Yang frowned, thinking for a moment before speaking with a hint of uncertainty. "Do you think it’s possible... that Chang’an’s results were so good that he’s taking longer in the evaluation space?"
Li Jianfei didn’t say a word, but the light suddenly returned to his once-dull eyes.
The more Qin Yang thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He slapped his thigh and shot to his feet. "Wait here. I’m going to the proctor’s station to see what’s going on!"
In this year’s rebirth assessment, his Class 55 had only produced a single Reincarnator so far. Barring any surprises, he was sure to be ranked last in the performance reviews again.
If Li Chang’an succeeded, it would be a huge boon for him as the homeroom teacher!
At that thought, Qin Yang forcibly suppressed the excitement welling up inside him and prepared to head for the Rebirth Hall.
Just then, however, a commotion erupted from within the Rebirth Hall.
Most of the students on the athletic field of Linjiang First Middle School heard the noise and instinctively turned to look toward the source of the commotion.
—and saw a brilliant golden pillar of light shooting up from the grand Rebirth Hall, piercing the clouds as if it connected heaven and earth.
It radiated a staggering majesty and power that made one’s scalp tingle.
Beneath that pillar of light, a tall, slender figure slowly came into view.
The pillar of light was so dazzling that even when the proctors from the Reincarnator Association stared with wide eyes, they couldn’t see the person’s face, only a rough silhouette.
After a quick glance at the figure yielded no further details, they instinctively looked at the electronic screen beside it, which displayed the test-taker’s results.
Before entering the testing area, the proctors had issued every student a wristband to record their assessment scores.
So, even though they couldn’t see which student was in the pillar of light, they could use the wristband to instantly identify them and their rebirth score.
There, on the electronic screen, was a line of text: [Examinee Name: Li Chang’an, Rebirth Rating: S!]
Upon seeing the large, bold "S," the proctors couldn’t help but stare with wide-eyed disbelief, even though they had been steeling themselves for something extraordinary.
"S-Level!?"
"It’s really S-Level!!!"
"My God, Linjiang First Middle School is just a regular high school, isn’t it? How did it produce an S-Level genius? Even the elite academies struggle to cultivate talents like that!"
The proctors’ shouts of astonishment could be heard even from a great distance.
Upon catching the term "S-Level," nearly every student held their breath in unison, their eyes fixed on the pillar of light as it began to slowly fade.
Everyone wanted to know just who the lucky individual in that pillar of light—the one who had received an S-Level rating—was!
...