Trial Begins

"Once you're inside, find a way to stay as long as possible."

"The longer the better, but don't be too aggressive. The trial carries mortal danger—if you're severely wounded, you'll be teleported out. But if you're stubborn and too greedy..."

"The longer you stay, the higher your rank. As long as you make it into the top hundred, you'll receive the empire's reward. Go now."

"You are the most outstanding talents the empire has produced in four years. Go."

The guards explained the rules in a few brief words.

The trial participants, hearts pounding with anxiety, hurried past them, and the guards simply stepped aside.

A massive red stone gate was carved with an enormous, bizarre beast-shaped pattern. It looked unremarkable at first glance, but everyone who approached could feel the overwhelming energy radiating from the gate—enough to easily crush them all. Their expressions shifted involuntarily.

Guen couldn't help but take a second look at the gate. Chen remarked with emotion, "Suqi Volcano was originally the second-largest volcano on this planet, but the largest one went extinct. The magma that erupts from the volcano provides enough energy for the Land of Inheritance. Suqi Volcano used to erupt dozens of times a day, but even so, it takes a full four years to gather enough energy."

Guen shot him a strange look, both shocked by the vast energy required for the Land of Inheritance and surprised that Chen knew such things. If someone like Ganlan had said it, it wouldn't have been unusual, but coming from Chen, Guen couldn't help but find it odd.

Chen remained composed. "If I end up in the top hundred, you'll naturally find out. If I don't, there's nothing more to say."

Guen didn't press further, just nodded.

In Double Moon Town, Red Hair Guen and Green Hair Chen had always stood out compared to others—this was already well known.

"Let's go. The trial won't start until all five hundred have entered." Chen walked ahead.

Guen followed. Beyond the gate was a deep red rock cave, but the moment Guen stepped inside, the entire cave rippled like water, and the temperature around him shot up sharply.

By the time Guen came to his senses, he was already in a strange, fiery red space. Beneath his feet were scorching hot stones, and above him was a hazy red expanse that was hard to see through.

The area was empty and vast. Chen, who had entered with him, was nowhere to be seen.

In this peculiar space, only a single stone pillar stood ahead. Gradually, a script appeared on it—one Guen had learned but rarely used: the Universal Language.

Then, the Universal Language slowly transformed into the script of the Aoyu Empire.

It's connected to the universe?

Guen's heart trembled.

The final text that emerged was a list of the five hundred trial participants' names. One of them was Guen's.

Suddenly, a translucent light screen appeared in front of him. On it, a figure was demonstrating a series of techniques, with annotations in text beside them.

"This looks like techniques for applying force?"

Guen widened his eyes, taking in every movement.

The figure on the screen repeatedly demonstrated a limited set of moves, and Guen grasped each one quickly.

There were sixty-two moves in total, but learning them all was only equivalent to the first ten moves of the Hundred Refinement Fist—the same single-fold force amplification. The Hundred Refinement Fist achieved it in ten moves, while the screen's techniques took a full sixty-two.

Yet Guen felt a hint of surprise.

That ten moves covered the content of sixty-two didn't mean the Hundred Refinement Fist was stronger.

Because Guen had noticed something: these sixty-two moves were far more gradual. Even a warrior who only knew how to mimic could easily master the force application after going through them all.

The Hundred Refinement Fist, on the other hand, required talent. Without enough insight, progress on each move would be slow, demanding a long time.

These sixty-two moves were different. Pure imitation and repeated practice were enough to master them.

The threshold was much lower.

Achieving the same effect with more detailed breakdowns actually showed the creator's profound skill. Only by grasping deeper-level techniques could one create such a structured method.

That was why Guen was surprised.

The creator of the Hundred Refinement Fist was said to be a powerful being among the Norde Race.

Kolong often muttered that if he could break through to Universe Level—above Saint Tier—he'd have a good chance of returning to his race, and even his crimes might be forgiven.

A Universe Level could dominate an entire planet.

This planet had only five Saint Tiers, which was Star Level. In Kolong's eyes, the chances of those five Star Level warriors breaking through to Universe Level were very, very slim.

Planetary Level was just cannon fodder and muscle in the universe.

Star Level could safely hide on an ordinary Life Planet and play the tyrant.

As for Universe Level, normally only one such powerhouse could emerge from an entire galaxy. And a galaxy had over a hundred thousand Life Planets. Even if each planet had just one Planetary Level, that meant one Universe Level among hundreds of thousands of Planetary Level warriors—an absolute peak.

After all, some planets, like the Aoyu Empire, had more than one Planetary Level, and even several Star Levels.

But bring together over a hundred thousand such planets, and under natural circumstances, you'd only get one Universe Level.

And the one who created the Hundred Refinement Fist was said to be even stronger than Universe Level—something Guen could barely imagine.

Was the creator of this Land of Inheritance even more powerful than the Norde strongman who made the Hundred Refinement Fist?

"No wonder that Super Tier expert said this is both a trial and an opportunity." Guen smiled.

It truly was an opportunity. Even if these sixty-two moves only matched the first ten of the Hundred Refinement Fist, they still stirred something in Guen. He began to look forward to what the later techniques might be like.

Guen had already learned up to the fifty-first move of the Hundred Refinement Fist. If the techniques shown in this space continued to unfold in such detail, the help to him would be immense.

But just as Guen's thoughts wandered, the space trembled. From all directions, chunks of rock and magma flew in, rapidly merging together to form a Lava Stone Monster about a meter tall.

"Moo!"

The Lava Stone Monster actually let out a roar, and at the same time, Guen felt his head grow a bit dizzy.

"Oh? There's actually some illusion attack effect mixed into this roar." Guen's eyes lit up. The illusion attack was far too weak—he shook his head once and recovered instantly.

But Guen was full of anticipation. Whether for beasts or humans, most combat was still close-quarters brawling. Those who could attack on a spiritual level were extremely rare; only a small number of Artifact Users could manage it.

Yet Guen also knew that in the universe, this had even formed a specialized school—the Illusionist.

For a Fighter to roam the cosmos, they had to have methods to counter troublesome schools like Illusionists and Controllers.

Artifact Users, strictly speaking, only counted as Controllers, manipulating Telekinetic Power weapons in battle. It was just that the Artifact Users of the Aoyu Empire all used the same materials as Fighters; otherwise, their strength would have been even greater.

Guen tested it out and found that although the Lava Stone Monster had a frightening appearance, its base strength was only on par with a Tier 7 Warrior, and its Force Multiplier was a mere one times.

"It should be tied to my level. At the same time, the Force Multiplier probably relates to the moves I just practiced. The moves demonstrated on the light screen only went up to one times Force Multiplier; there should be stronger ones later. But for now, I'm not in a hurry—I'll first get a feel for the characteristics of illusion attacks."

Guen circled around the Lava Stone Monster without rushing to attack. The closer he got, the stronger the illusion attack's effect became, which was just right for tempering his ability to resist illusions.