Pretending To Be A Boss

And the educational institutions were on the third level. For many people from the lower class, the most glorious time of their lives was between the ages of twelve and eighteen.

At the age of eighteen, the D-class regular army would take them to the mining area for an examination.

The name of the exam was somewhat cheesy, known as "Heaven's Chosen Trial."

Regardless of status or wealth, it was an opportunity for all the bottom-class personnel to change their fate.

In a sense, Tang Xian's destiny indeed underwent a significant transformation.

…

…

The passageway to the second level was like a tall tower, three hundred meters from the ground of the first level.

At the entrance, there were a series of scanning devices and two squads of elite D-class soldiers.

After completing the scan, Tang Xian, accompanied by the guiding soldiers, entered the passage.

Gazing at the scenery outside the reinforced glass, his eyes were deep, his thoughts drifting back to "Heaven's Chosen Trial" six years ago.

The transformation from a top student with perfect scores to a temporary worker at the bottom, such a thing was naturally hard to forget.

…

…

The mining area was the redemption of this world.

Here, one could see sights that humanity could only witness before depleting this planet. The resources were rich, and forests were plentiful.

There were also creatures of terror never before seen by humans, even those that existed only in myths. They harbored great hostility towards humans.

This also shattered humans' dreams of migrating to the mining area through the transport rifts.

Later, people discovered that they could not stay in the mining area for more than seven days; exceeding this time limit would rapidly deplete their life force.

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It was like a forced logout mechanism in a game.

However, people did indeed find new energy sources in the mining area that could sustain the real world.

Everyone could bring their gains from the mining area into the real world.

It was as if the creator had made an unprecedented game, or rather, a version full of rich resources.

Who could kill stronger monsters in the mining area, who could extract more precise ores, who could acquire more strategies and resources from this game, became the sole standard for judging whether a person was excellent.

Developing and exploring the mining area as much as possible was the only subject for all of humanity.

"Heaven's Chosen Trial" was a test that stemmed from this system.

Tang Xian had always been regarded with high expectations.

He scored full marks on every cultural test, and was particularly proficient in the languages of various countries. Many geniuses were in his cohort, but they all paled in comparison to Tang Xian.

He was also very familiar with various known research on the mining area.

Sometimes, he seemed like a native who had lived in the mining area for many years; the concepts and knowledge he learned were as if he had practical experience, which could be directly applied in practice.

As long as he passed "Heaven's Chosen Trial," even if it was the bare minimum, he was bound to be among the elite of the elite, with boundless prospects.

Being an elite and ascending to the fourth or fifth level or even higher echelons was just one final test away.

But, perversely, in this most serious of tests, Tang Xian gave some strange—even bizarre—answers.

After entering the mining area, the special magnetic field would render all detection devices useless, but in the eyes of a few, special data would emerge.

This data was talent.

The reason for this remains a mystery, just like the mining area itself.

But it's certain that those with talents share at least one common piece of data.

Life value.

Any talented individual could see the life values of creatures in the mining area. With this talent, one could pass the final part of "Heaven's Chosen Trial" and become an official worker.

The treatment included at least the right to live on the second level of the fortress. If one could see even more talent data, the treatment would be higher.

There are only ten types of talent data, and they were also recorded in the Stele discovered when humans were exploring the Pyramid.

But which ten talents they were had been determined by people through a massive amount of data analysis over hundreds of years.

Apart from these data, there were none other:

Health, Attack Power, Defensive Power, Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Health Regeneration, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Damage, Stamina, and Attack Range.

When Tang Xian told the examiner he could see eight types of data, nearly everyone in District 669's teachers and students went mad.

Most talents could see one to two types of data.

A very small number of exceptional talents could see three to five types.

And research showed that the more talent data one could see—

In the mining areas, the stronger the combat abilities one could potentially acquire.

Those who could see more than five types of talent data could be determined to be born for adapting to the mining areas and would provide tremendous help to the entire human civilization.

As for those who could see more than eight types, they were inevitably legends that would be recorded in human history, all active in the deeper layers of the mines.

Tang Xian possessed an unprecedented perfect score in the cultural exams; if he also reached an astonishing eight types in the talent test, it could be confirmed that a true chosen one would arise from Fortress 39, District 669.

Such talent would bring endless glory and riches to District 669.

Actually, Tang Xian had concealed from the examiners and school officials that he saw a total of 11 types of data.

This contradicted some common knowledge he had heard, so he chose a relatively modest reply.

But when he wrote out these eight types of data, the world soon responded to him with its cruel side.

"What is this absurdity? I'll ask you one more time, for the test unit, how much is the elite skeleton giant's health? Tang Xian! Laozi is warning you, don't joke about your own future!"

"Stop talking to Laozi about luck value, charm value, or what kind of things you like! Those aren't among the ten pieces of data you're supposed to have. Get serious for fuck's sake!"

Examiner Liu Qiang's tone was somewhat anxious. Why had Tang Xian written down such ridiculous things?

Did this kid have any idea how many people had expectations of him?

Did he know how many people would have preferred him to fall to the bottom layer, never to rise again?

Many people believed that Tang Xian, who got a perfect score in the cultural exam, had cheated, but Liu Qiang had watched Tang Xian grow up.

He was well aware of the boy's effort and talent.

"I'm asking you one last time, and this is your last chance, even guess if you must, but stop writing that nonsense! I'm asking you, what is the health of the test unit two skeleton giant?"

Liu Qiang's urgent and disappointed tone sometimes even appeared in Tang Xian's dreams.

Tang Xian had fallen from grace.

He was quickly labeled a "cheater."

How could someone who couldn't even see a fundamental attribute like health obtain a perfect score?

Did he deserve it?

This was the opinion distorted by jealousy. Yet it spread quickly as if it were the truth.

Nevertheless, there was no evidence, and the school district had not taken any action.

What truly convicted Tang Xian was the emergence of "evidence" shortly afterwards.

About a dozen teachers had their licenses revoked for "assisting students in cheating," and these teachers admitted to it as well.

Naturally, some big shot had bribed these teachers, but even Tang Xian himself was unaware of this; the so-called evidence was known only to the upper echelons of the school district.

And with evidence—

Cheating was as good as confirmed, and Tang Xian was quickly demoted to the lower levels.

…

…

"We've arrived."

The soldier's words snapped Tang Xian out of his reverie. Before Tang Xian's eyes stood a massive alloy door.

The door was five meters tall, and at its top, the words level 2 shone in fluorescent letters.

"Make the most of the opportunity, kid," said the soldier, who had been somewhat indifferent from beginning to end.

Tang Xian nodded and walked into the second level.