Second Round of the Semifinals
Six hours is the time it takes Gu Ding to complete the entire preliminary round.
When Gu Ding arrived at the summit plaza, most of the participants were still struggling to climb the Buli.
"Clap clap clap..." A round of applause came from not far away.
Gu Ding turned his head towards the source of the sound and saw that the person clapping was a short-haired young man who looked to be no more than twenty years old. But Gu Ding knew that the other person's actual age was definitely more than that, because the other person's aura clearly indicated that he was a powerful Ninth Sequence True God. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "The Heavenly God Palace has so many Ninth Sequence True Gods. The examiner I encountered before was one, and this one I'm encountering now is one too."
"You arrived here in just six hours, young man. Your performance is truly amazing." The short-haired youth seemed to admire Gu Ding. "Do you know? Your speed even surpasses some Seventh Sequence true gods. Although the difficulty of the advanced rank is different from that of the intermediate rank, it is still quite remarkable. Your achievement even broke the previous fastest record of ten and a half hours for the intermediate rank, raising the record to a new level."
"Thank you for the compliment. May I ask who you are?" Gu Ding had already guessed the other person's identity. Since the other person was here and not a contestant, they were obviously an examiner for the second round.
"My name is Li Bo, and I'm an examiner for the second round of the semi-finals. It's nice to meet you, young man," Li Bo introduced himself.
"What will the second round of assessments be about?" Gu Ding couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry, the second round of assessment involves a lot of interaction among the participants. I will explain the rules to everyone once they are all here," Li Bo said with a shake of his head and a smile. "You can take this time to rest and adjust your condition. There are still fourteen hours until the end of the first round of assessment, so you can definitely get a good night's sleep."
Gu Ding immediately sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. He soon entered a semi-sleep state.
The so-called semi-sleep state is an incomplete sleep state; it can be automatically awakened by the slightest external stimuli. In this sleep state, one can instantly switch to combat mode, thus eliminating concerns about safety.
Seeing that Gu Ding had fallen into a semi-sleep state, Li Bo didn't disturb him any further. He had only come to say hello in the first place. Moreover, due to the rules of the competition, he really couldn't have much interaction with the participants.
When Gu Ding's light sleep lasted for more than four hours, the second person to complete the preliminary round finally appeared; it was a woman in a black dress.
The woman looked young, not yet twenty, but no one knew her actual age. When she saw the people sitting in the center of the square, her expression clearly froze for a moment. Then she quickly darted out and reached the center of the square.
"Are you the examiner?" the woman in the black dress asked Gu Ding.
Gu Ding slowly opened his eyes. Four hours of semi-sleep had fully restored his body to its peak condition, and he was in a very good mood. Looking up at the girl, he shook his head, "No, I'm a contestant."
"That's right, he's a contestant, I'm the examiner," Li Bo suddenly appeared out of nowhere and introduced himself again.
"You're a contestant?! How long did it take you to get here?" The woman in the black dress was clearly a competitive person.
While Gu Ding was still considering whether to tell the truth, examiner Li Bo spoke again, "He only took six hours and twelve minutes, breaking the preliminary round time record. However, you did well too, young lady, taking ten hours and eighteen minutes, which also breaks the previous preliminary round record."
"Six hours and twelve minutes?! How is that possible? It took me more than five hours just to climb that waterfall. How long did it take you to get to the waterfall?" The woman in the black dress was somewhat incredulous.
"More than two hours. The waterfall was definitely the most time-consuming part; I was swept off twice." Gu Ding was telling the absolute truth, without a trace of falsehood.
But the woman in the black dress disagreed. "How is that possible? Did you find some secret passage, or did you cheat in some way? How could you possibly complete that level in two hours?!"
"Young lady, our selection process is not open to cheating because all the competitions are monitored by the examiners throughout. If anyone uses any cheating methods, they will be disqualified immediately and expelled from this mountain range. As for the secret passage, it does exist, but it is very difficult to find. If someone does find it, it's just their luck, and you don't need to be envious." Li Bo frowned slightly upon hearing the woman in the black dress's words.
"I didn't find the secret passage; I just climbed up directly." Gu Ding remained calm as he finished speaking, then drifted back into a semi-sleep state, no longer paying attention to their conversation.
Seeing Gu Ding's reaction, the woman in the black dress didn't say anything more and sat down cross-legged a short distance away, also entering a semi-sleep state.
Three or four hours later, the crowd finally began to arrive at the square one after another.
After the fifteenth hour, the rate of increase in the crowd began to accelerate, and it wasn't until the seventeenth hour that the number of people arriving began to decrease.
The twenty-hour deadline passed quickly.
There were only a little over 30,000 people in the square.
The examiner Li Bo, finally spoke, "The first round of assessments for the intermediate level is over. Congratulations to all the contestants who have arrived at the plaza. As for the others who haven't arrived yet, I can only apologize."
"More than 80,000 people participated in this competition. After the first round of preliminary selection, 32,817 people advanced to the second round of semi-finals. Now that everyone is here, I will explain the rules for the second round of semi-finals..."
Just then, a burly man finally climbed to the top of the mountain. Seeing a large crowd in the square, he tried to blend in.
Unexpectedly, before he even stepped into the square, there was already another person in front of him.
The one who stopped him was none other than Li Bo.
"Make way, let me in!" the burly man shouted hurriedly.
"The first round of assessment has ended in 1 minute and 28 seconds. That means you have not passed the first round of preliminary selection." Li Bo naturally refused to give way.
"It's only a little over a minute late, please let me in. No one else will know." The burly man still refused to give up.
"I'll give you two choices: leave, or die!" Li Bo looked at the other person with a cold gaze.
"Get out of the way!" The burly man finally snapped, swinging his hand at Li Bo to try and knock Li Bo away.
However, all he did was in vain; his attacks were like tickling Li Bo.
"It seems you've made your choice." Li Bo's expression was stern. He grabbed the other man's face with one hand, and in the next instant, the man's head exploded, and his entire body collapsed to the ground.
Li Bo quickly turned around, smiling at the others present, "Sorry for the interruption, let's continue now."
"The rules for the second round of the semi-finals are... Each person will receive a token from me. Then I will arrange for everyone to be teleported to a Trial Space. In the Trial Space, everyone will compete to steal tokens from each other. Those who collect more than ten tokens will pass the second round of the assessment. Therefore, the pass rate for the second round is at most one in ten. Because you have to steal tokens from at least nine people to pass the assessment."
"The elimination rate has suddenly increased..." Gu Ding hadn't expected the second round to be like this. Each person needs to compete against at least nine people to pass the assessment, but it's possible that some guys might collect tokens extensively to reduce the number of opponents they face later.
"Now, I will hand out the cards to everyone," Li Bo said, as he threw a handful of metal cards at each person present.
After receiving the metal plaque, Gu Ding was about to put it into his Storage Space when he discovered that he couldn't fit it in.
"I forgot to tell you all, this metal token can't be stored in your Storage Space; you have to carry it with you at all times. This prevents some people from hiding the tokens after they lose, making the game more interesting." Li Bo's lips curled into a slight smile, and he continued, "The rules of the competition are very simple: don't kill anyone. As for teaming up, there are no restrictions. If you kill someone, you will be disqualified. I also want to remind you that I can see everyone's every move. Don't think that you can get away with killing someone and that I won't find out."
"You can even form teams?!" Gu Ding was stunned. He had thought that team formation wouldn't be a common occurrence in this kind of competition.
"Now that everyone has received their tokens, there's no need to resist. I'll take you into my Miniature World first, and then bring you to the Trial Space." Li Bo spoke, Riber waved his hand, and all the participants in the square suddenly disappeared.
Li Bo's own form gradually faded away and reformed, now re-formed in another space.
Before long, Gu Ding and the others were released.
Seeing the large gate floating in mid-air, everyone couldn't help but be surprised.
"Don't panic, everyone. This door leads to a Trial Space within our Heavenly God Palace. Your second match will begin in this Trial Space," Li Bo explained.
The complex hand seals were quickly formed, and after a long while, the door finally opened slowly, making a creaking sound.
"Go inside, everyone!" Li Bo said to the crowd.
However, many participants seemed hesitant, clearly wary of the unknown.
Gu Ding was the first to step forward, and quickly darted into the gate.
Seeing Gu Ding rush in so readily, the girl in the black dress followed him in, unwilling to give up.
Seeing two people enter the gate one after another, the crowd relaxed their guard and began to walk into the gate one after another.
More than 30,000 participants quickly entered, and the gate in the void finally closed.
"The hunting game begins..." Li Bo's lips curled into a slight smile. A page was projected in front of him, displaying a picture of Gu Ding and the others. (To be continued~^~)