As May began, Su You's swordsmanship breakthrough greatly improved his efficiency at hunting monsters. By the beginning of the month, he had climbed to around 35th place on the Black Dragon Sculpture.
Since he had ranked 42nd in April, Su You had four hours of training time each in the Gravity Chamber and Trial Room this month. This also helped his strength improve even faster.
At the end of April, Su You's strength was kilograms, an increase of only 2,500 kilograms over the previous month. By the end of May, however, his punching power had reached kilograms, a monthly increase of 4,700 kilograms. This was mainly thanks to the Ancient Civilization Gravity Chamber.
Meanwhile, Su You's Dripping Water Sword had also advanced to the Fourth Layer in May, and his body's force output had reached three times its normal level. At full power, his punching strength could reach kilograms, surpassing the threshold for a Low-level War God.
As a result, he had also broken through to Stage B of the Trial Tower's third level. His Trial Tower ranking had reached 3.6, and his Combat Power Amplitude was as high as 10.8. This had also pushed his ranking on the Black Dragon Sculpture up considerably, leaving him in 30th place on the Black Dragon Ranking at the end of May.
At 10:40 p.m. on June 28, a large crowd of students sat beneath the enormous Black Dragon Sculpture.
"Did Su You really go to the Trial Room again?"
"Of course. I saw him with my own eyes. Why would I make that up?"
"He's already climbed to 25th place. The higher you go, the bigger the gaps in points get. I don't think he'll move up much this month."
"According to the evidence, Su You's ancestors were citizens of our Universe Country before the Grand Nirvana."
Beneath the Black Dragon Sculpture, the students chatted among themselves. Inside the Trial Tower, however, Su You was in an extremely sorry state.
The requirement for Stage C of the third level was to kill 200 Intermediate Beast General-level Golden Vultures within thirty minutes.
The body in the virtual space was only at the Elementary Warlord Level, yet he had to kill 200 Intermediate Beast General-level Golden Vultures within thirty minutes. And since they were bird monsters, it was easy to imagine how difficult this stage would be.
Su You darted about, using his Lingbo Microsteps. He was like a small boat in the middle of the ocean, liable to capsize at any moment. At some point, the long sword in his left hand had been knocked away, and several rips had been torn in his combat suit.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
More than ten Golden Vultures swooped in at varying speeds, yet almost simultaneously, converging on Su You and completely surrounding him.
"There's no way out!"
A flash of light passed through Su You's eyes. Five surges of hidden force flowed in succession into his legs, and his speed instantly soared. Combined with the unpredictable changes of his Lingbo Microsteps, he seemed to turn into a gentle breeze, every dodge imbued with a graceful rhythm.
Though the Golden Vultures swooped at him all at once, Su You forced his way through a gap in their encirclement. Then, relying on his footwork, he took control of the battle's rhythm, and a series of shrill cries rang through the sky.
"Time taken: 29 minutes and 37 seconds. 200 Intermediate Beast General-level Golden Vultures killed. Stage C cleared. Third level of the Trial Tower cleared. Congratulations, Student Su You."
"That was close!" Su You let out a breath and plopped down on the ground. If his footwork hadn't reached the Artistic Conception Level, he wouldn't have stood a chance of winning that fight.
On the third level of the Trial Tower, footwork was the most important thing. Otherwise, if a Golden Vulture grabbed him and lifted him into the air, he would have almost no way to fight back.
For example, Zhai Mo, one of Su You's instructors at the Training Camp, was better than Su You at both swordsmanship and force output. But his footwork was slightly weaker, and he still hadn't managed to clear Stage C of the third level.
"Reaching level 4 in the Trial Tower comes with a reward. It's for every member of the Elite Training Camp.
"My force output is 3. Multiply that by my punching power, and my Combat Power Amplitude is 12. That also meets one of the requirements in my contract with the martial arts school, so I can claim another reward."
Su You was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to clear Stage C of the third level this time, which meant he could claim two rewards at once.
When the electronic voice ended, the entire wilderness flickered and vanished. The endless landscape around him transformed back into a desert.
"Student Su You, next is the Trial Tower's fourth-level Stage A trial. Your objective is to kill one High-level Beast General-level Black Armored Ant Queen within ten minutes. Good luck."
Black Armored Ants were a type of ant monster, and warriors rarely encountered them. Their appearance signaled an ant tide, which was far more terrifying than a rat tide. Many times, even War God Rank powerhouses had died in ant tides.
"Black Armored Ant Queen?" Su You muttered. Soon, the endless desert was crawling with countless black ants, seemingly without end.
The smallest were around five centimeters long, while the larger ones were only a dozen or so centimeters. The largest was an ant measuring fifty or sixty centimeters from head to tail. It watched Su You from a distance, seemingly with no intention of attacking him.
"So that's the Black Armored Ant Queen?" A thought flashed through Su You's mind. He darted forward, charging straight toward it.
When caught in an ant tide, you either killed the queen as quickly as possible or ran away. Su You clearly had no other choice.
As soon as Su You charged out, he saw Black Armored Ants swarming toward him, trying to block his path. Meanwhile, the Black Armored Ant Queen kept changing positions, maintaining its distance from him. It seemed to be even faster than he was.
"How—how am I supposed to kill it?" Su You was in a wretched state, completely trapped within the ant tide. A minute later, the endless mass of ants dragged him underground and killed him.
After that, Su You tried three more times. Even in his best attempt, he lasted only three minutes before the ants surrounded and killed him. They were simply too small; as many as a hundred of them could attack Su You at once. His footwork was excellent, but there was nowhere to dodge.
The Black Armored Ant Queen wouldn't attack him at all. Even at his top speed, Su You couldn't reach it, let alone kill it.
When time ran out, Su You was kicked out of the virtual space. His Trial Tower level remained at 4, which clearly meant he hadn't achieved anything in Stage A of the fourth level.
But Su You wasn't discouraged. With his current abilities, even clearing Stage C of the third level had involved a measure of luck. Making it to the fourth level was already quite an achievement.
Su You took off his helmet and glanced at his Communication Watch. Quite a few people had already sent him messages of congratulations. After clearing the third level of the Trial Tower, his Black Dragon Ranking had leaped all the way to 19th place.
He had officially broken into the top twenty. Next month, his allotted time in the Gravity Chamber and Trial Room would increase to six hours.
By the time he returned to the Kyoto Pavilion, it was past eleven. Su You first went to the study and dug out the contract he had signed back then. Then he opened his laptop and checked the instructions for students.
Su You broke into a happy smile. "Those two phone numbers really are the same. At least I don't have to agonize over which one to call first."
The rewards he'd received this time were considerably more generous than the ones Luo Feng had received in his memories of his previous life: one bottle of Dragon Blood at half price, costing 80 billion; one drop of Jade Essence at half price, costing 30 billion; any two complete sets of manuals; and two sets of nine-series combat suits and weapons.
Even at half price, the total cost of all these items exceeded 200 billion Huaxia Currency. It was an enormous reward.
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