The stars shifted, and the world spun.
When Lin Mu regained his sight, he found himself in a silent, gray world.
The sky was leaden gray, with no sun and no clouds.
The ground was cracked, and countless enormous boulders floated in midair, defying the laws of physics.
There was no solid earth beneath his feet, only a vast fragment of land drifting through the air.
An aura of nothingness and finality hung in the air, weighing heavily on the spirit.
[Welcome to the Void Secret Realm—Independent Space No. 7.]
[Trial objective: Survive and earn points.]
[Current points: 0]
[Time remaining: 2:59:59]
A translucent panel appeared in the upper-right corner of Lin Mu's vision.
He closed his eyes. His perception, with a range of up to ninety-nine meters, spread out instantly like an invisible web.
Soon, he "saw" his first batch of "prey."
On a floating fragment of land not far away,
a dozen or so creatures, pitch-black and shaped like leopards, prowled silently.
[Void Shadow Beast] (LV.15)
Health: 3100/3100
Traits: Intangibility (chance to evade physical attacks), swiftness.
Weaknesses: Energy attacks, psychic impact.
"Interesting."
Lin Mu's lips curled into a smile.
He didn't rush to attack. Instead, he looked farther into the distance.
This shattered world stretched as far as the eye could see.
Void creatures like these roamed everywhere.
Earning a high score within three hours through individual effort alone would be difficult.
But he was a Necromancer.
Lin Mu raised the [Withered Wood Staff] in his hand.
"Then the game is over."
He swept the staff through the air.
"Awaken!"
Rumble—!
The ground shook violently!
Nine hundred [Steel Skeleton Warriors], clad in heavy armor and wielding steel spears,
surged up from the ground around him like a rising tide!
It was as if the gates of hell had swung open and the Undead Scourge had descended!
The clang of metal rang out, jarringly loud in this silent world!
But that wasn't all!
Lin Mu swung his staff again!
Ten rather fragile-looking skeletons appeared behind the Skeleton Legion!
[Skeleton Artillerymen]!
They dropped to one knee, expertly propping up the cannon barrels on their shoulders—each thicker than their own bodies—and aiming them into the distance.
These were the first appearances of his two new unit types. Lin Mu immediately checked their attributes.
[Steel Skeleton Warrior]
[Health: 9527/9527]
[Attack: 5580–5880]
[Defense: 5090]
[Skeleton Artilleryman]
[Health: 680/680]
[Attack: 7320–8530]
[Defense: 220]
A Skeleton Legion of nine hundred Heavy Infantry and ten artillerymen
had now taken shape!
[Death Prayer]!
Lin Mu chanted softly, and an unseen melody of death swept across the battlefield!
The Soul Fire of every Skeleton Warrior and artilleryman surged!
Attack, defense, speed—all attributes increased by 1004%!
"Advance!"
At Lin Mu's command, he seemed like an undead overlord issuing an Oracle.
Nine hundred Skeleton Warriors marched in perfect unison, swift as phantoms,
sweeping out in every direction!
They leaped between Floating Islands as easily as if they were walking on level ground!
Soon, the first Skeleton Squad encountered the dozen or so [Void Shadow Beasts]!
In the face of overwhelming numbers and strength, the beasts' vaunted intangibility was as fragile as paper!
Steel spears thrust forward, silver light flashed!
The beasts didn't even have time to cry out before they were torn to pieces!
Lin Mu's points jumped from 0 to 12.
Meanwhile,
at the entrance plaza of the [Void Secret Realm],
a massive crystal screen displayed the live rankings of the twenty-nine new students.
Five minutes had passed.
Most of them still had a pitiful 0 points.
Only a handful had managed to inch their scores up to 1 or 2.
"Look! Lu Hu was the first to score!"
The points beside Lu Hu's name had been the first to change from 0 to 3.
"Luo Tian scored too!"
A burst of exclamations rose from the crowd.
The points beside Luo Tian's name had shot straight up to 7!
As expected of someone with a Golden Talent!
Just as everyone marveled at Luo Tian's incredible efficiency,
something unexpected happened.
The number beside Lin Mu's name, which had been sitting quietly at "0,"
suddenly began to flash wildly!
12!
35!
98!
245!
571!
1098!
The numbers jumped so fast they were impossible to follow!
It was as if they weren't points at all, but a string of meaningless digits!
The entire plaza fell silent in an instant!
Everyone stared fixedly at the screen.
Their expressions shifted from shock to blank disbelief, then to the kind of terror one felt upon seeing a ghost!
"W-what the hell is going on?!"
Zhao Lei, who had come to watch the trial, was trembling as he spoke.
"Cheating! He's definitely cheating! The system must have bugged out!"
Even Mu Wanqing, who had remained composed until now, abruptly stood up straight.
Her beautiful phoenix eyes were filled with waves of utter disbelief!
He knew Lin Mu was impressive, but he had never imagined he could be this absurdly powerful!
The silence lasted only three seconds.
Then the plaza erupted like a pond hit by a depth charge!
"Oh my god! Am I seeing things, or has the world gone crazy?!"
"Over a thousand points?! It hasn't even been ten minutes!"
"I took this trial two years ago. After three hours, my total score was still under five hundred!"
"The number's still climbing! Two thousand! Three thousand!"
Zhao Lei clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, yet he felt no pain.
An emotion called fear was devouring his reason.
"Impossible... This can't be possible..."
Smack! Smack!
"Why did I have to provoke him?!"
He slapped himself, muttering under his breath, his voice choked with tears.
Inside the secret realm,
"Rumble—"
Lin Mu lounged on a floating rock, one leg crossed high over the other.
His Skeleton Legion had become the most efficient harvesting machine imaginable.
Radiating outward from him, they swept through the entire independent space.
At his command, the Skeleton Artillerymen launched precise bombardments against areas teeming with monsters.
The thunder of exploding shells rang out one after another.
[You killed a Void Ripper (LV.17), points +15]
[You killed a Void Lurker (LV.16), points +13]
[...]
[Necromancer Lin Mu has reached LV.16!]
The endless stream of notifications was starting to bore him.
"This is still too slow."
Lin Mu furrowed his brows.
He felt there weren't nearly enough monsters in this space to keep his legion busy.
Just then, a tremendous energy signature suddenly appeared through his mental link with the Skeleton Legion.
It was an ancient Altar floating deep in the void.
Perched upon it was a gigantic beast, as large as a hill and made entirely of Void Crystals!
[Void Crystal Beast] (LV.25, Elite Boss)
Health: 98000/98000
Traits: Crystallized Shell (80% physical damage reduction), Void Energy Core (releases a violent explosion upon death)
"Finally, something worth fighting."
Lin Mu's eyes lit up.
With a thought, the three nearest Skeleton Squads—two hundred and ninety-seven Steel Skeletons in total—
immediately changed course and charged toward the Altar!
But just as the Skeleton Army was about to reach the Altar,
the entire gray world suddenly trembled!
A cold, mechanical voice rang through the independent space.
[Abnormal energy consumption detected in Space No. 7, greatly exceeding the threshold.]
[Initiating emergency protocol—"Purification" procedure.]
[Anomalous target: Examinee No. 0713.]
The announcement ended.
The leaden-gray sky above Lin Mu suddenly split open, revealing a massive crimson rift!
An aura far more terrifying and savage than that of the Void Crystal Beast poured down from the rift!
Before you continue