Chapter 1251 GateKeeper [2]

Someone could have hidden most of their strength. Someone else might have displayed an unusually powerful trump card during the evaluation period and received a ranking above what they could normally maintain.

Others might have improved tremendously since then. Some could have stagnated.

The result was that even among the Top 1000, there were plenty of people occupying what Michael considered false rankings.

A person ranked 300 could potentially possess enough strength to defeat someone ranked 180. Likewise, someone ranked 90 might not actually deserve to remain anywhere near that position.

That uncertainty became considerably more dangerous the closer one moved toward the Top 100.

Michael had already suspected that the monsters there were on an entirely different level. The Fourth Layer gathered countless extraordinary Rank Four existences from different civilizations, realms, races.

Among that many geniuses, it would be stupid to assume nobody had crossed the normal boundary of Rank Four combat power.

Some of them almost certainly possessed Demigod-level strength.

Michael himself already had Demigods.

Lunara. Valeria.

But owning Demigod-level subordinates and personally possessing Demigod-level combat ability inside the Fourth Layer were two very different things.

Michael couldn't simply bring Lunara or Valeria into the Fourth Layer unrestricted. The Origin Battlefield had already made that painfully clear. A true Rank Five existence had to be suppressed before entering.

Even worse, not only was the cost expensive, Michael wasn't convinced a suppressed Rank Five would necessarily be superior to an exceptional Peak Rank Four Awakener.

Suppression didn't merely hide someone's rank. It restricted the power they were allowed to express.

A Rank Four genius who naturally possessed Demigod-level combat prowess wouldn't have that problem.

Michael had no idea what Rank 98 actually was. Perhaps they were simply just another powerful Peak Rank Four.

Or perhaps they were one of those ridiculous existences who had already reached the combat threshold of a Demigod while technically remaining Rank Four. After all, except for him, everyone in the Top 200 was at Level 100.

Choosing Option Two meant gambling his final challenge on an opponent whose true strength he knew almost nothing about for this month.

Option One was different.

The Gatekeeper was generated from the average combat standard of people ranked between 51 and 100. That gave Michael a much clearer benchmark.

Even better, failure carried almost no meaningful punishment. If the trial became too dangerous, he could simply withdraw and remain Rank 108. And if he performed reasonably well without completely defeating it, there was still a chance his evaluation would place him somewhere inside the Top 100.

Though this looked like it was more dangerous, Michael, who believed his Law meant he shouldn't be that pathetic even in the Top 100, felt it was a good deal.

The only difference between choosing Option One and Option Two, at the end of the day, was that Option Two gave less reward.

So he had picked the first.

Michael stared at the fading white humanoid.

The fight hadn't been easy. That alone told him quite a lot. This thing represented an average drawn from Rank 51 through Rank 100.

In the fight, it had also been growing stronger as they fought. It was only now, after so many deaths, that it was finally destroyed and didn't revive.

"So this is the gatekeeper of the Top 100…"

Michael exhaled slowly as he watched the last pieces of the white humanoid dissolve into light.

Now there was only one question left.

How had the Origin Battlefield judged his performance?

As if responding to the thought, a blue panel appeared before him.

[Top 100 Gatekeeper Trial Completed.]

Michael's attention immediately shifted toward it.

[Evaluation Complete.]

[Your demonstrated combat strength has exceeded the theoretical upper peak calculated for Awakeners ranked between 51 and 100.]

[Your performance cannot be accurately represented by the average combat standards of this ranking interval.]

[Final Placement Assigned.]

[Fourth Layer Battlefield Ranking: 51]

Michael stared at the number for several seconds.

"Fifty-one?"

He had expected to enter the Top 100. He had even considered the possibility of being placed somewhere around Rank 70 or 60 if the Origin Battlefield judged his performance highly enough.

But Rank 51 was literally the highest position the Gatekeeper Trial was capable of assigning. Though it was true he had ganged up on the Gatekeeper, this was still a very high placement.

The panel continued before he could think too deeply about it.

[Excellent Performance Detected.]

[Your combat performance substantially exceeded the qualification requirements of the Top 100 Gatekeeper Trial.]

[Special Reward Granted.]

[Ranking Challenge Quota Refunded: +1]

Michael's expression brightened slightly.

His final challenge for the month had been returned. He had originally entered this trial believing he was spending his last opportunity to climb until the following month. Instead, he had jumped directly from Rank 108 to Rank 51 and still retained one challenge.

Michael looked at the recovering battlefield around him. The enormous crater where the Gatekeeper had fallen was already shrinking as shattered earth pulled itself back together.

"Not bad."

That was putting it mildly.

Rank 51. He had crossed fifty-seven positions in a single challenge.

More importantly, the evaluation itself confirmed something Michael had been wondering about. His current combat strength wasn't merely somewhere within the standards of the lower Top 100. According to the Origin Battlefield, he had actually broken the theoretical upper peak calculated for ranks 51 through 100.

Of course, Michael didn't misunderstand what that meant. It didn't mean he was stronger than every person between Rank 51 and Rank 100.

The current rankings were still imperfect, and the Gatekeeper itself had been formed using accumulated combat data and theoretical standards. There could absolutely be monsters hidden among those ranks who exceeded the model.

Michael himself was living proof that such people existed.

Still, the result was valuable. At the very least, he now had a proper estimate of where his current strength stood.

Michael opened the ranking list.

His name had moved dramatically upward.

[51. Michael Norman]

He stared at it for a moment. Then his gaze naturally moved higher.

Rank 50. Rank 40. Rank 30.

Eventually, the Top 10.

Michael's eyes lingered there.

The lower half of the Top 100 was already this strong.

Then what exactly were the people above Rank 50 like? And more importantly… what kind of monsters were occupying the first ten positions?

Michael's bad mood finally improved slightly.

The worry over Arianne was still there, buried beneath everything else, but a faint battle intent began rising in its place.

He still had one challenge.

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