Trial Tower Sixth Floor

After entering the Trial Tower, the space shifted once more, and Shen Mu found himself standing amid a vast, desolate grassland.

The emotionless electronic voice rang out again.

"Shen Mu, the first floor's Stage A trial has begun! Kill 50 Black Vultures within 20 minutes. They are all junior General-level Beasts. This is your first time entering the Trial Tower, so you have five minutes to prepare."

Shen Mu held a spear and stood atop a shield floating in midair. Sixteen golden throwing knives whirled around him as he said directly, "Start now."

"Stage A trial begins!"

Fifty enormous black birds abruptly appeared above the grassland. Each had a wingspan of over three meters, crimson eyes, and jet-black feathers that gleamed brightly!

"Shriek!"

Piercing cries echoed one after another as dozens of Black Vultures dove toward Shen Mu at breakneck speed!

Shen Mu remained expressionless. With a light flick of his right hand, ten dazzling streaks of golden light shot forth and collided head-on with the flock of Black Vultures.

As a newcomer, Shen Mu was ranked at the very bottom of the Black Dragon Rankings by default. Moreover, since he had never hunted any monsters before, his Points stood at zero. Even if his Trial Tower level rose, outsiders would have no way of knowing.

But Liu He was an exception. As an inspector of Limit Martial Hall, Liu He had high enough authority to directly watch Shen Mu's performance in the trials.

Before dozens of junior General-level Black Vultures could even get close to Shen Mu, more than half of them had already been slaughtered by his flying knives.

In barely a dozen seconds, the first floor's Stage A had ended.

A little over two minutes later, Shen Mu cleared the first floor, and his Trial Tower level was updated to 2.0.

Then, Liu He watched with his own eyes as Shen Mu effortlessly passed the second and third floors. Only upon reaching the fourth floor did his pace slow slightly.

Yet in less than half an hour, Shen Mu successfully cleared Stage C of the fifth floor and entered the sixth floor—a place only a few Speakers and an extremely small number of powerful Councilor-level experts could set foot in.

The opponents on the sixth floor of the Mentalist Trial Tower were Black-Crested Golden Eagles, an extraordinarily powerful species of avian monster. Both their speed and defense were among the very best.

"He has only just awakened as a Mentalist, so he lacks experience. Logically speaking, if he can control ten full-power throwing knives, he has a good chance of clearing Stage A of the sixth floor."

Generally speaking, for a martial artist to clear Stage A of the sixth floor, they needed movement technique and Combat Technique at the Artistic Conception Level, as well as a force exertion amplitude of over eight times.

Of course, people like Hong and Thunder God had Combat Techniques and movement techniques that had long surpassed the Artistic Conception Level, reaching the realm of Harmony of Man and Nature, using technique to compensate for Brute Force.

Thus, even if their force multiplier fell short, they could still clear Stage A of the sixth floor.

Liu He watched Shen Mu flee in all directions beneath the pursuit of dozens of Black-Crested Golden Eagles, occasionally killing one in return, but his efficiency was far too low. As time passed, his mental power would inevitably be exhausted.

Inside the Trial Tower, Shen Mu's battle unfolded exactly as Liu He had predicted.

As time passed, Shen Mu's mental power was severely depleted, and he could no longer control ten full-power throwing knives. In the end, he was torn apart by the remaining twenty-three Black-Crested Golden Eagles.

Of course, this lack of experience was merely something Shen Mu had put on display. After all, having just awakened his mental power, he could hide his high consciousness amplitude behind talent. Experience, however, was impossible to explain—he still had to stay in character.

Once the trial ended, Shen Mu's figure reappeared at the entrance to the Trial Tower.

"Congratulations. Among all the experts capable of reaching the sixth floor of the Trial Tower, you should be the only one who has yet to surpass the Wargod level."

Faced with Liu He's congratulations, Shen Mu replied modestly, "Realm is the foundation of everything. I'm still far from being comparable to the Councilors."

Liu He smiled but said no more. With a wave of his hand, he said, "Let's test your mental power burst again. The higher your mental power burst multiplier, the higher your Trial Tower level will be, and the easier it will be to climb the Black Dragon Rankings."

Rankings on the Black Dragon Rankings were determined entirely by Points, which were the final product of "combat record points" and "combat power amplitude."

Combat record points could be earned by hunting monsters, while combat power amplitude was the product of one's "Trial Tower level" and strength—or mental power—burst multiplier.

As soon as he finished speaking, a strange stone stele appeared before Shen Mu. This was the strength testing device.

Shen Mu did not waste words. With a thought, he controlled ten throwing knives to converge, then sent them spinning toward the stone stele.

Bang!

The ten throwing knives flew back, while a line of text emerged on the stele—80000kg!

The mechanical electronic voice sounded once more: "Mental power burst level: 10 times. Trial Tower level: 6.2. Congratulations, trainee Shen Mu. Your 'combat power amplitude' is now 62, setting a new all-time record in the training camp!"

Seeing Shen Mu's Trial Tower level, Liu He was now somewhat worried that the confidence of those youngsters in the training camp might take a hit.

Generally speaking, a combat power amplitude of sixteen times was enough to basically lock down the number one spot on the Black Dragon Rankings. A situation like Shen Mu's was unprecedented.

"Come on. Your admission procedures have already been completed. I'll just take you to register a trainee number later."

"Since you're from Kyoto Base City, your dormitory is in the Forbidden Pavilion. I'll have Chu Qiang take you there later. At present, only you and him are trainees in the Forbidden Pavilion."

"There are quite a few spear experts in the training camp. If you have any questions regarding martial artists, feel free to ask them at any time. As for Mentalists, there are currently no teachers in the camp who can instruct you.

"After all, among all the Mentalists in the world who can control ten full-power Mental Power Weapons, everyone besides you is a Councilor-level expert."

Mentalists were already rare to begin with, and Councilor-level Mentalists were rarer still.

There were only five Councilor-level Mentalists in the entire world, and only they could perfectly control more than ten Mental Power Weapons.

After the test ended, Shen Mu and Liu He had just stepped out of the training room when they saw Chu Qiang waiting outside the trial room.

Liu He beckoned directly. "Chu Qiang, your junior brother Shen Mu hasn't registered his trainee number yet. I'll leave him to you."

"Yes, Inspector Liu," Chu Qiang hurriedly replied.

After outsourcing the task assigned to him by the headmaster to Chu Qiang, Liu He left the training camp directly.

Once Liu He had left, many students gathered around.

Chu Qiang looked at Shen Mu and said, "Junior Brother Shen Mu, I'll take you to register your number first. Tonight, the students of our Huaxia faction will hold a welcome banquet for you. I'll introduce you to the other students of our Huaxia lineage then."

Shen Mu nodded. "Thank you, Senior Brother Chu Qiang."

The Elite Training Camp's administrative office was located in the first-floor lobby of the Ninefold Tower. All procedures within the training camp were handled there.

Registering a number was quick. Since Shen Mu had entered the training camp in January of Year 58, but would have to wait until the first day of the following month to become an official student, the first four digits of his number were 5802, representing the year and month. As for the final two digits, he could choose them freely.

Shen Mu directly chose 01, neatly completing the year, month, and day.

After completing the procedures, Chu Qiang took Shen Mu straight to the Forbidden Pavilion.

Though it was called the Forbidden Pavilion, it was actually a courtyard compound made up of four three-story pavilions. It covered a considerable area, and there was even a large locust tree in the courtyard.

Chu Qiang pointed at the pavilion farthest to the south. "The South Pavilion is where I live. No one lives in the other three, of course. If you're willing, you can live with me in the South Pavilion."

"Senior Brother Chu Qiang, I'll stay on the third floor." Shen Mu had no interest in living together with Chu Qiang.

Chu Qiang nodded slightly, then asked, "I heard that Junior Brother Shen Mu also cultivates the World Extinction Spear Technique?"

Shen Mu nodded. "Yes, but I've only grasped the first level's force-generation technique of the World Extinction Spear Technique. As for my spear technique realm, I'm only at proficiency."

Chu Qiang laughed heartily. "That's already quite good. After all, you're a Mentalist. As it happens, I also cultivate the World Extinction Spear Technique. My force-generation technique is at 4.8 times, while my spear technique realm is at the Artistic Conception Level—the same level as our training camp's spear technique instructor. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me as well."

The World Extinction Spear Technique was divided into six levels. The force-generation techniques for the first five levels were 1.2 times, 2.4 times... up to 6 times. The sixth level, meanwhile, described the spear technique realm of Harmony of Man and Nature. Other than Hong, no one in the world had mastered it.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Chu Qiang."

Naturally, Shen Mu would not refuse. He still needed to practice his spear technique. After all, unlike Luo Feng, he did not possess a Golden Horned Beast clone that could obtain a domain upon breaking through to the Cosmic-Level.

If he wanted to possess a domain himself, he had to comprehend his way upward step by step, from basics to proficiency, perfection, and then Artistic Conception.