novelraw Chapter 84: God-tier Glitch!
Chapter 84: God-tier Glitch!
"Recalculating Data..." the system voice announced.
The number next to Daniel’s name flickered. The score of 18,950 disappeared. New numbers started rolling in so fast they were a blur.
The bar next to his name shot up. It flew past the other students in the bottom tier. It flew past the top 100. It shot past Levi Manuel’s 42,200.
The crowd stopped laughing.
The snickers died in their throats. The bar kept going. It smashed past Zara Stark’s 55,850.
She stood up, her mouth falling open as her record was obliterated in a split second.
The number kept climbing. It hit 100,000. "What is happening?" someone whispered in terror.
It hit the all-time record. 120,000. It didn’t even slow down. It smashed through the legendary record like a truck hitting a glass window. 150,000... 200,000... 250,000...
Finally, the counter slowed. It ticked over a few more times and then stopped. The final number glowed in a blinding, pulsating gold that lit up the entire hall.
Total Score: 260,550.
The hall fell into a profound, heavy silence. It was the kind of silence you hear after a bomb goes off, before the screaming starts.
Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
Even the boisterous Blanca was stunned into silence. She stared at the screen, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open.
She looked at Daniel, then back at the screen, as if she couldn’t connect the two. On the stage, Instructor Baldwin looked visibly shaken.
She gripped the podium so tight that her knuckles turned white.
She checked her datapad, thinking it was a glitch. She refreshed the data. The number stayed the same. She looked up.
She took a deep breath to compose herself.
"The data is accurate," Baldwin announced. Her voice trembled slightly, amplified by the speakers.
"This performance is... astronomical. It is unprecedented in the history of the Vanguard Academy."
The spell broke. The crowd erupted. It wasn’t applause. It was bewildered chaos.
"Two hundred thousand?" a student screamed. "That’s not a student! That’s a monster!"
"He’s a walking apocalypse!"
"How did he do that? Did he kill everything in the Verge?"
They looked at Daniel with a mixture of worship and horror. He wasn’t just Rank 1 anymore, he was something else entirely.
Daniel stood there, feeling the weight of thousands of eyes on him. He felt exposed, but he also felt powerful. He had proven himself, that he was more than his skills. He was the best.
Suddenly, a soft chime rang on his Databand. It was a private notification, just for him.
He opened the notification on his Databand. The list of rewards made the previous chest look like pocket change.
[Congratulations, Daniel Rivers!]
[For achieving Unified Rank 1 and an unprecedented performance across all assessment phases, you have been awarded the following:]
[- Apex Vanguard Cache: Contains unique, legendary-tier items, skill impartations, or reality-bending trinkets. (Warning: May contain existential angst.)]
[- Sovereign Resource Allocation Token (Rank SSS): Upgraded. Grants full priority access to all automated Academy resources and lets you override most standard protocols.]
[- Vanguard Commendation Points: +3000]
[- Free Attribute Points: +20]
[- Class Skill Points: +3]
[- Prime Mentorship Slot: Guaranteed access to any available High-Rank Vanguard, including Academy Directorate members, as your personal mentor.]
Daniel stared at the notification. He was overwhelmed. The sheer magnitude of the resources now at his disposal was dizzying.
With the Sovereign Token, he could get access to equipment that money couldn’t buy. With the Attribute Points, he could push his stats even further. And the Class Skill Points meant he could upgrade his new S-Grade skill immediately.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Blanca. She wasn’t grinning anymore. She looked at him with a serious, intense expression.
"Okay," she whispered, her voice full of respect. "I take it back. You aren’t a spear. You are the whole damn army."
Daniel just smiled. He had won, but he knew the game was about to change. The secret he had been hiding has been revealed publicly.
He was standing in the spotlight now, and he had to be ready for whatever came next.
The silence in the Gathering Hall was heavy. Daniel stood there, looking at the massive screen where his name and score shone in bright gold letters.
Rank 1: Daniel Rivers.
Score: 260,550.
The numbers were impossible. They were numbers that belonged to a legend or the gods themselves, not a mere student.
Suddenly, the lights on the main stage changed.
They shifted from a white to a warm, golden color. The air on Platform Alpha seemed to vibrate with a new kind of energy.
Instructor Baldwin, who had been commanding the room with an iron fist, suddenly stepped back. She bowed her head slightly and moved to the side of the podium.
A new figure walked onto the stage. It was a man wearing a simple, dark suit.
It was Director Wexford. He was the elusive principal of the Vanguard Academy, a man who rarely showed his face to the students.
Usually, the Director observed from afar or through cameras, but today was different.
Today, he had come down to the ground. He walked to the center of the stage and looked out at the sea of students. His eyes scanned the crowd until they stopped on Daniel.
Director Wexford smiled. It was not a scary smile, but it made everyone nervous because it was so unexpected.
"Ahem! Yes, well," Director Wexford began. His voice was amplified by the speakers, booming across the hall, but it still carried a tremor of disbelief.
"This here caught my attention. While I was in my office, attending to some urgent business regarding important matters, I got a piece of news. It was news that made me leave everything to come over here immediately."
He paused, allowing his words to settle in the minds of the aspirants. His voice resonated across the hall, echoing off the metal walls.
His eyes looked across the sea of students, making each person feel like he was speaking only to them.
He continued, his voice growing stronger.
"Gentlemen and ladies, I must announce that we are living in an era where myths are real. We live in an age where things once confined to storybooks now walk among us. The same tales nannies used to frighten children... or lull them to sleep... are standing in this room."