As Chen Mo lay on the ground to rest, a Heavenly Path's Hint echoed in his ears.
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: You have successfully defeated the god-grade BOSS, the Pseudo-God Incarnation, and did not use any instance items obtained from this space throughout the process. This assessment is graded as perfect! You will receive 100% of the assessment rewards!]
"Hmm!?"
Upon hearing the Heavenly Path's Hint, Chen Mo sat up in shock and opened the hint to read it again.
Good heavens! I was just thinking it was a bit of a waste that I didn't use any items this time. I didn't expect this to be the reason! What would have happened if I had used an item?
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: For every instance item used, the assessment reward decreases by 25%, up to a maximum of 75% reduction.]
Chen Mo glanced at the three instance items he had obtained. That was a close call, he thought to himself.
The Life-saving Charm Necklace had a passive effect; as long as he didn't die, it wouldn't be consumed, so he could rest assured about that.
As for the remaining Weakness Treasure Ring and Holy Water of Hope, Chen Mo had no need to use the Holy Water of Hope.
However, he had nearly used the Weakness Treasure Ring earlier.
It was only because he wanted to save it for the Pseudo-God's Fury and the potentially mutating BOSS that he held back.
Thank goodness he did, or he would have lost out.
This was an SSS-level assessment; even if the rewards were reduced by 10%, it would be a huge loss.
This could have resulted in the top-grade reward he could have earned being reduced to a lower-tier one.
This damned Heavenly Dao is so treacherous, Chen Mo couldn't help but grumble internally. They didn't even give a heads-up, just waited for me to use an item so they could screw me out of my rewards.
Meanwhile, the Heavenly Path's Hints continued.
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: Congratulations on passing the SSS-level assessment, you have earned the SSS-level title "Godslayer Challenger LV1"!]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: Congratulations on passing the SSS-level assessment, you have obtained the mythical-grade equipment "Space-Time Pearl"!]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: Because you have achieved a perfect score in this assessment, you can choose any difficulty level for the next Realm Breakthrough Assessment without consuming any experience points!]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: Because you have achieved a perfect score in this assessment, you have received an extra "SSS-Level Realm Breakthrough Assessment Clearing Scroll"!]
[The Heavenly Path's Hint: This assessment has ended. In 3 seconds, you will be teleported back to your original world!]
Countdown 3, 2, 1...
As the 3-second countdown ended, the scene before Chen Mo immediately began to shift.
Once he could see clearly again, he was so startled he took a large step back.
Because right in front of his face was the furious Principal!
"Prin-Principal... What's wrong?"
Before Chen Mo could finish speaking, the Principal jabbed a finger at his forehead.
"What's wrong? You've got some nerve, daring to attempt the S-level assessment! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Have you ever thought about what would happen to your mother if something happened to you?!
"You didn't discuss such a critical matter with us beforehand, and now you've come out scared, is that it?
"You've wasted a whole day failing this challenge. Don't you think that's a terrible waste?!
"Not only have you wasted a day, but now you can only increase your level cap through autonomous breakthrough!
"Once you choose autonomous breakthrough, you can no longer store experience points. All that massive amount of experience you just got from the red-named individuals will be wiped clean!
"Do you even realize that?!"
Chen Mo, having just emerged from the space, was completely stunned. The Principal was poking him in the forehead while words shot from his mouth like a machine gun, leaving Chen Mo momentarily unsure how to respond.
Fortunately, the Principal soon stopped speaking.
This was because a world-shaking event had just occurred, so shocking that Shen Rulong forgot to continue scolding Chen Mo.
Not long after Chen Mo had left the space, a voice—neither male nor female—that seemed to issue from the endless firmament, a soul-stirring sound of the great path, resounded throughout the entire Earth.
It was also broadcast to everyone's information panels in the form of a Heavenly Path's Hint.
"Congratulations to the Solar System for its first professional to perfectly complete the Level 5 SSS-level Realm Breakthrough Assessment! For this, a special reward will be issued to all professionals in the Solar System. From now on, all native professionals in the Solar System at Level 5 who do not wish to undergo the Realm Breakthrough Assessment may skip it directly, without needing to perform an autonomous breakthrough!"
"Congratulations to the Solar System for its first professional to perfectly complete the Level 5 SSS-level Realm Breakthrough Assessment! This professional will receive an additional SSS-level title reward: 'Pioneer LV1'!"
Upon hearing this voice, everyone across the globe instinctively opened the semi-transparent floating windows only they could see.
Sure enough, the relevant Heavenly Path's Hint was displayed within!
In crowded places, many people had already begun to discuss it.
"Is this for real? Level 5? Did I hear that right?!"
"It's true, it's actually true! Someone really completed the SSS-level Realm Breakthrough Assessment at Level 5."
"That's too damn awesome! Earth actually has such a god-tier person! Level 5... When I was Level 5, I didn't even dare dream of a D-level challenge, and he actually challenged SSS-level. That's heaven-defying."
"Unbelievable! If I recall correctly, the SSS-level Realm Breakthrough Assessment requires challenging a god-grade BOSS, right? A Level 5 solo god-grade BOSS must have at least 100 million health as a baseline."
"Exactly! This whole thing is outrageous. The SSS-level assessment can only be done solo, and there's a time limit. How can one person deal that much damage within the time limit? Impossible!"
"You forgot something. BOSSes have strong recovery abilities. For a god-grade BOSS, let's say it's an exceptionally weak one, belonging to the category with extremely poor recovery. Even if it recovers only 1% per second—which is very low—1% of 100 million health is 1 million! Dealing 1 million damage per second just to match its healing speed? How the hell are you supposed to fight that?! And I'm talking about the worst-case scenario. Normally, it wouldn't be strange for a god-grade BOSS to have a 10% recovery rate."
"Now that you put it that way, I'm even more curious how this talent from Earth managed to pass the SSS-level assessment! After all, at Level 5, you only have your initial profession. It must be hard to get good equipment or skills."
"Maybe he found some bug and exploited it."
"You think this is a game? With how strict the Heavenly Dao's rules are, how could there be bugs?"
"The world is full of wonders; who can say for sure about such things?"
...
Professionals on Earth discussed this matter with admiration, confusion, envy, or astonishment...
However, at this very moment, another group of people had entirely different reactions.
"Completed the SSS-level assessment at Level 5? It seems nothing like this has ever happened in the history of Sirius!"
"Let alone Sirius, not a single one has appeared in our entire Yongming Star System."
"Exactly. It's far too difficult. At Level 5, everyone's strength is far from developed. Challenging a god-grade BOSS at that stage is truly, incredibly difficult—almost unimaginable."
"Such a figure has appeared on Earth! He absolutely cannot be allowed to live. If this person is allowed to grow and enter the Tower of Eternity, the delicate balance we've painstakingly achieved will likely be shattered!"
"Send people to investigate immediately!"
"Earth has so many people; how can we possibly investigate?"
"Since we already know it's someone around Level 5, this matter shouldn't be difficult to investigate!"