Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Oxford, United Kingdom
At the University of Oxford's training grounds, the professors were also gathering data on the students' results.
The University of Oxford's attrition rate this time was higher than that of the University of Cambridge. A total of 17 students did not return from this layer.
But there was nothing the University of Oxford could do about this situation.
Even though Matthew and Natalie had set historical records in the supernatural realm for the university, Oxford's students generally weren't on the same level as Cambridge's.
Perhaps, after this year's university evaluations, more promising students would choose to come next year, and in a few years, the university's average student quality could rise.
But this wasn't something the university could solve quickly.
At the moment, Matthew's team's results had not been released yet, and they were still waiting at the training grounds.
Filip Walker, Lucian Richards, and others were all quite nervous.
They had confidence in both Matthew and Natalie, but they were also afraid of unexpected setbacks and poor results.
Only Matthew and Natalie were calm.
Matthew was quite confident in his abilities.
As for Natalie, she was even more confident than Matthew.
Because she believed that, with Matthew's strength, he could not fail at the sixth layer of the supernatural realm.
And just as she expected, the next moment the Super Announcement appeared.
[Announcement. The team of supernatural individuals, "Matthew Atkinson" and "Natalie Russell," and their teammates have achieved an outstanding performance in the sixth layer of the Supernatural Realm, slaying 573,391 monsters and successfully killing one of the seven ferocious beasts. They have been awarded a perfect mission grade: SSS]
When the announcement was issued, all the students on the training grounds turned to look at Natalie and the others.
Although it was somewhat expected, everyone was still shocked when they saw the contents of the announcement.
Because other people only killed dozens or even hundreds of monsters. Only some teams managed to kill more than a thousand monsters.
But Matthew and Natalie's team actually killed over 500,000 monsters?
And what was that ferocious beast thing they killed, as mentioned in the announcement?
They didn't know what it was, but since it was explicitly mentioned in the announcement, it must have been a boss-level monster.
This whole thing was outrageous.
Aside from the other freshmen, even Filip Walker and the others were stunned.
Then, Filip Walker, Denis Read, Sam Harris, and others cheered.
"That's incredible, 570,000."
"Haha, another perfect mission grade."
"Miss Natalie, you are really amazing."
The team members all looked at Natalie with admiration.
Because in everyone's opinion, although Matthew was brilliant, in a monster-slaying layer, intelligence was not the factor that mattered most.
The main force behind killing so many monsters this time must be Natalie Russell.
"What's going on here...?" Professor Isabel Grant asked in surprise. "Has a super announcement appeared?"
"Yes, professor, Miss Natalie led us to another perfect-grade mission rating." Bobby Burns said with a smile.
Filip Walker was even more direct, sticking his head out and saying, "Professor, see for yourself."
Upon hearing this, Professor Isabel Grant immediately tapped Filip Walker's forehead with her finger.
Instantly, the expression on her face turned to surprise.
Before anyone could urge her, she loudly announced the results of Natalie's team.
"Natalie Russell, Matthew Atkinson, Denis Read, Filip Walker..."
"Killed Monsters: 573,391"
"Comprehensive Grade: SSS"
"Overall Ranking: 1st "
"Historical Ranking: 1st"
"Obtained Basic Reward: 350 Attribute Points (Capped)."
"Obtained Additional Reward: 500 Attribute Points (Capped and Divided Equally Among Team Members)."
"Achievement Reward for a Perfect Mission Evaluation: One Extraordinary Treasure Chest (Reward belongs to the main contributor and will be distributed upon entering the next layer of the Supernatural realm)."
As Professor Isabel Grant finished speaking, the teaching and university staff were all taken aback.
"How many monsters did they kill? Did I hear that number right?"
"More than 500,000? How did they do that? That's outrageous."
"Even killing more than 500,000 chickens would exhaust a person, wouldn't it?"
"Not necessarily. Natalie Russell is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, with wide-range attack methods, which can cause large-scale damage."
The professors were discussing it animatedly.
The university management members, on the other hand, were extremely excited.
With Natalie Russell's achievements as a foundation, the University of Oxford's ranking in this year's university evaluation was bound to move up, and it might even break into the top five in the world.
Once all students' scores have been tallied, a management member then said loudly, "Students, you've worked hard. The university has prepared a sumptuous lunch for you. Please go to the cafeteria and enjoy it."
Upon hearing this, the students all headed towards the cafeteria.
Matthew and his teammates also did the same thing.
Upon arriving at the cafeteria, everyone took their food, sat down at a long table, and chatted together.
It was mainly Filip Walker and others who kept expressing their gratitude to Natalie and Matthew.
Because this reward was different from the previous ones.
This time, the additional reward was available to everyone.
500 attribute points, divided equally among ten people, would be 50 points each.
Including the 350 attribute points reward for each person for the perfect grade, a single person would get a total of 400 attribute points.
That was 400 attribute points.
If they tried to earn all those attribute points on their own, it would take them at least two or three months.
And that's assuming they were lucky and didn't encounter any problems in the Supernatural Realm.
...
After finishing their meal, the group sat together and chatted.
They wanted to build a good relationship with Matthew and Natalie.
Because the eighth layer of the supernatural realm was a layer for teams of twelve.
More precisely, the team structure changed slightly in the eighth layer.
While teams still consisted of a maximum of four people, a party could be formed by combining up to three teams.
Although the teams would separate upon entering the eighth layer and work in a different OASIS world, they could still communicate with other teams within the party.
This meant that three teams could share information and make plans while working on their own tasks.
Even though Natalie's power couldn't help them, Matthew's observations and tactics could.
That's why they wanted to be in the same party as Matthew and Natalie on the eighth layer.
At this moment, Matthew noticed something in his pocket and instinctively took it out.
It was a tattered scroll.
The moment he took it out, a notification popped up in his left eye.
[A supernatural skill has been discovered.]
[Skill: Demon God's Descend]
[When activated, it transforms the user's appearance into a demon god.]
[Skill Effect: Upon descending from the sky, the user will land heavily, causing tremors and craters, resulting in widespread destruction. The extent of the destruction is related to the user's strength attribute. The higher the strength attribute, the greater the damage.]
[Note: This skill is extremely powerful. Upon landing, it indiscriminately damages all targets within its blast radius, regardless of whether they are friends or foes. Please use it with caution.]
Seeing the notification in his left eye, Matthew was stunned.
This "Demon God's Descend" skill, both in name and effect, was very similar to Lu Bu's ultimate skill in Honor of Kings.
But…
This skill was pretty good. And it fitted his type.
"Matthew, what is it?" Sam Harris, sitting next to Matthew, couldn't help but ask.
Denis Read also noticed what Matthew was holding and immediately said, "It's an extraordinary scroll, which contains supernatural skills."
Matthew nodded, then explained, "It should be a reward from the fifth layer of the supernatural realm. I must have claimed it in the sixth layer and brought it out."
In the fifth layer of the supernatural realm, he was the captain and led everyone to victory.
Therefore, no one was surprised that Matthew received this reward.
Everyone was curious about what supernatural skill Matthew got.
However, everyone was smart enough not to ask any questions.
Even Sam Harris knew it was wrong to pry into other people's supernatural skills.
Matthew didn't bother explaining; he simply tore the scroll and merged with the skill.
This skill was entirely dependent on the user's strength attribute. Therefore, proposing it to Natalie would be illogical.
At least this time, the reward wasn't related to Superman's items.
If he had gotten his hands on one of Superman's first-generation costumes with underwear on, he probably would have gone crazy.
Well... neither of the two extraordinary treasure chests he'd won as a reward from the fourth layer contained a Superman-related item.
So, he could finally relax about that.
As for the items from the fourth-layer chests, Matthew could have claimed them since entering the fifth layer, but everything was happening in plain sight in that layer.
Therefore, Matthew could only claim his reward after returning. And when he opened the chests when he was alone, he got two identical cards.
[Free Shopping Card: This card allows you to purchase any item from the OASIS special market without paying any price. It can only be used in the eighth, eighteenth, and twenty-eighth supernatural realm layers.]
Apparently, to use these rewards, he first needed to enter the eighth layer.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.149: A New Innate Skill Activated
Ch.150: Trying a Different Approach
Ch.151: Finding a Middleman