Trial Tower Assessment

Li Qi stood suspended above the grassland. A curtain of light appeared before him, filled with lines of text.

Zhaoguang Academy Trial Tower assessment was about to begin. Your current assessment route is Controller.

Please select the type and quantity of your Mental Force Weapons, as well as your flight device.

As the voice fell silent, several basic Mental Force Weapons appeared before him.

Without further thought, Li Qi chose the Bone Spikes he had used for a long time. The quantity was twenty-three times his newly measured Mental-Force Amplitude: twenty-three Bone Spikes.

After choosing his Mental Force Weapons, various flight devices appeared before him: shields, flying shuttles, greatswords, and more.

Looking at the flight devices before him, Li Qi fell into brief thought.

Among these flight devices, the flying shuttle was the fastest, the shield offered the best defense, and the greatsword naturally possessed the strongest offensive power.

"Among these flight devices, I'm most proficient with the shield. It's also suited for defense, allowing me to withstand demon beasts' attacks in critical moments and make up for the fact that my Movement Technique hasn't reached perfection."

After a brief consideration, Li Qi chose the shield as his flight device.

If he had spent longer cultivating his Movement Technique and reached a higher realm, his first choice would have been the flying shuttle.

But for now, the shield was the best option.

Once Li Qi made his selection, the curtain of light closed from above and below before vanishing. Then, a new curtain of light unfolded in the same manner.

Trial Tower, Floor One: Kill one Apprentice Level Nine flying demon beast—a Corpse-Eating Bird—within one minute.

Click confirm. The assessment will begin in ten seconds.

Below the text were two large red characters: "Confirm."

Li Qi clicked "Confirm," and a ten-second countdown appeared.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

When the countdown ended, a Corpse-Eating Bird flew in from the horizon and immediately dove downward.

Trying to disrupt my state of mind?

Looking at the diving Corpse-Eating Bird, flames seemed to burn in Li Qi's eyes. "I'll make you despair! Marcel!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Twenty-three Bone Spikes shot out from Li Qi's side, all aimed at the diving Corpse-Eating Bird.

The Bone Spikes traced graceful arcs through the air as they met the diving Corpse-Eating Bird head-on.

Apprentice Level Nine Bone Spikes were only slightly stronger than the Corpse-Eating Bird's tough feathers, barely enough to break through its defenses.

Bang, bang, bang...

Amid metallic-sounding collisions, the Corpse-Eating Bird was struck repeatedly by the Bone Spikes and sent tumbling backward into the sky.

Squelch, squelch...

After the metallic impacts came a string of sounds as Bone Spikes pierced flesh. The Corpse-Eating Bird was pierced through and killed!

Trial Tower, Floor One: Passed!

The Corpse-Eating Bird, whose flesh and blood had flown everywhere moments earlier, disappeared. The assessment for the second floor of the Trial Tower was about to begin.

The objective was to kill three Corpse-Eating Birds within three minutes.

Without pausing, Li Qi clicked "Confirm," and the assessment began.

In less than a minute, the three Corpse-Eating Birds were killed by the enraged Li Qi. The price was a minor injury.

Trial Tower, Floor Two: Passed!

The Corpse-Eating Bird corpses disappeared, and Li Qi's minor injuries vanished along with them. The Mental Force he had consumed was also restored.

Trial Tower, Floor Three: Kill ten Corpse-Eating Birds within ten minutes.

In three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, all ten Corpse-Eating Birds were killed. The price Li Qi paid was one arm.

Trial Tower, Floor Three: Passed!

After clearing three floors in succession, Li Qi had vented all his anger and regained his calm.

Trial Tower, Floor Four: Kill thirty Apprentice Level Nine demon beasts—Corpse-Eating Birds—within thirty minutes.

Looking at the words on the curtain of light, he knew the real Trial Tower assessment was about to begin. The first three floors had merely been a warm-up.

"To pass the fourth floor of the Trial Tower, I can't clash head-on with such a large number of demon beasts. I have to make full use of my smaller size and maneuver around them.

"I also need to use Mental Force to observe the environment, then use my Movement Technique to make the demon beasts block one another. I should keep a few Bone Spikes in reserve for emergencies. That should be enough to clear the fourth floor."

Having settled on his strategy, Li Qi clicked "Confirm."

The countdown began, and dozens of black dots appeared on the horizon.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

When it ended, the black dots from the horizon had already reached directly above Li Qi. There were thirty Corpse-Eating Birds there.

Faced with Li Qi's sudden appearance, several Corpse-Eating Birds in the sky began diving toward him, clearly intending to tear him apart.

But he showed no fear. Standing atop his shield, he flew toward the sky, straight at the diving Corpse-Eating Birds.

In his third father Ivanko's teachings on Movement Techniques, Ivanko had mentioned learning to use the environment to maneuver against enemies.

And this so-called environment did not consist solely of inanimate objects. Living creatures could also be considered part of the environment.

Li Qi had realized this when he cleared the third floor of the Warrior Path Trial Tower before, but without the support of Mental Force, it had been difficult for him to use a Movement Technique at that level.

Charging into the flock of diving Corpse-Eating Birds, Li Qi controlled five Bone Spikes to guard his surroundings while the remaining eighteen attacked the birds.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The sound of Bone Spikes tearing through the air rang out. The eighteen Bone Spikes split into two groups and attacked the vital areas of the two nearest Corpse-Eating Birds.

The two targeted Corpse-Eating Birds lowered their heads and shielded them with their wings, using non-vital parts of their bodies to withstand the attacks.

But before the faster and numerous Bone Spikes, such actions were useless!

The Bone Spikes traced arcs through the air, bypassing the Corpse-Eating Birds' broad wings. Working in pairs, they successively struck their necks and heads before piercing in.

Chirp!

Blood splattered as the Corpse-Eating Bird let out a miserable cry.

As he killed the two Corpse-Eating Birds, the other five Bone Spikes also flew out one after another, forcing the three Corpse-Eating Birds behind them to fold their wings and protect themselves.

At that moment, Li Qi recalled the Bone Spikes and swept past the three Corpse-Eating Birds, drilling into the enormous flock.

The Corpse-Eating Birds were large, with wingspans of ten meters.

Li Qi was now less than two meters tall. Among these massive Corpse-Eating Birds, he was a small figure. At most, only three or four birds could attack him at the same time.

As he weaved through the flock, Li Qi spread out his Mental Force, covering the surrounding sky.

Within the range covered by his Mental Force, he could detect any movement from the Corpse-Eating Birds immediately.

That range extended seven meters in every direction, with no blind spots.

Naturally, the cost of doing so was tremendous. It consumed a great deal of his energy and greatly increased his Mental Force expenditure. The number of Bone Spikes he could control at full capacity dropped from twenty-three to twelve.

If he expanded the range of his Mental Force further, the number of Bone Spikes he could control would continue to decrease. He might not even have enough energy left to manipulate any Bone Spikes at all.

I need to end this quickly. The Mental Force consumption is too high. At most, I can hold on for four minutes. Covering the surrounding seven meters is the minimum; I can't reduce it.

If it drops below seven meters, then if a Corpse-Eating Bird launches an attack, I might not react in time or be able to evade it.

Faced with the rapid consumption of his Mental Force, Li Qi had to end the battle quickly.

Fortunately, he had figured out the Corpse-Eating Birds' attack patterns. This type of demon beast had limited methods of attack: pecking, wing strikes, and clawing.

Of those, pecking and clawing generally exposed the Corpse-Eating Birds' vital areas, undoubtedly giving him an opportunity.

When facing those two types of attacks, as long as he counterattacked the moment a Corpse-Eating Bird launched its attack, he could often achieve excellent results.

The Bone Spikes could strike the Corpse-Eating Birds' necks and heads. Any bird hit there would be injured at best and killed at worst!

If the Mental Force Weapons provided by the Trial Tower had been stronger, the Corpse-Eating Birds struck in their vital areas would have been killed outright.

Even with the limited power of the basic Mental Force Weapons, Li Qi still killed twelve Corpse-Eating Birds within one minute. With the Mental Force he had left, it was enough for him to clear the fourth floor of the Trial Tower.

The battle continued. Li Qi controlled the shield to descend, retreating toward the rear right as he passed between two Corpse-Eating Birds.

Bang!

The two Corpse-Eating Birds pursuing Li Qi collided with each other, while a wing strike from another bird above also missed.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Two Bone Spikes smashed into the skulls of the two Corpse-Eating Birds, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.

One of them fell from the sky, while the other had to flap its wings repeatedly before stabilizing itself. Blood also poured from the area it had been struck.

Taking advantage of the two injured Corpse-Eating Birds, Li Qi sent out four Bone Spikes in pairs, attacking the vital areas of the two birds from the front and rear.

Chirp! Chirp!

Two miserable cries rang out as the two Corpse-Eating Birds were killed.

Successfully killing the two Corpse-Eating Birds did nothing to dispel Li Qi's frustration.

The Mental Force Weapons provided by the Trial Tower are too weak. I need coordinated attacks to kill demon beasts quickly. Otherwise, I can only attack again and again, wearing the demon beasts down until they die.

Over the following period, Li Qi dodged and attacked repeatedly. By the time he killed every Corpse-Eating Bird, he had little Mental Force remaining.

Sensing the Mental Force he had left, Li Qi thought, Killing demon beasts purely through attrition takes too much time. The first two floors were fine since there weren't many demon beasts, and there was enough time and Mental Force to wear them down.

But by the third floor, it's impossible to pass through attrition alone without some ability. The increased number of demon beasts places certain demands on one's Movement Technique.

As for the fourth floor, its difficulty is more than five times that of the third. It is an enormous test of one's Movement Technique.

Those with weak Movement Techniques aren't even qualified to wear the enemy down. They can only die under the siege of so many demon beasts.

The fourth floor of the Trial Tower had been cleared. The Corpse-Eating Bird corpses on the ground disappeared, and a curtain of light appeared before Li Qi.

At first, he did not understand why the Controller route's Trial Tower opponents had always been Corpse-Eating Birds rather than randomly selected demon beasts.

After repeatedly challenging the Trial Tower, he understood. This was meant to reduce the difficulty for examinees taking the Trial Tower assessment.

A single type of demon beast had easily understood habits, allowing candidates to respond better during battle. This was fair to every examinee.

Otherwise, if they faced randomly selected demon beasts they were unfamiliar with, then with only Apprentice Level Nine Mental Force and the most basic Mental Force Weapons, even passing the fourth floor of the Trial Tower would not be easy, let alone the fifth.

One had to know that the number of demon beasts required to be killed on the fifth floor was one hundred!

Trial Tower, Floor Five: Kill one hundred Apprentice Level Nine demon beasts—Corpse-Eating Birds—within one hundred minutes.

Looking at the words on the curtain of light, Li Qi shook his head. "With my current strength, I can't pass the fifth floor of the Trial Tower."

"Passing the fifth floor is impossible, but my goal now is to achieve a good result. The best choice is to continue using the fighting method from the fourth floor and kill as many Corpse-Eating Birds as possible before exhausting my Mental Force."

Muttering softly, Li Qi clicked "Confirm."