Trial Tower

Chen Yuan arrived at the entrance to the Trial Tower and looked up at the towering structure that disappeared into the clouds, feeling like an ant.

Two black stone pillars stood at the main entrance of the Trial Tower. As Chen Yuan approached, words quickly appeared on them.

Name: Chen Yuan

Gender: Male

Identity: Elite Training Camp Probationary Trainee

Trial Tower Level: 1

"Trial Towers like this are usually designed to be extremely difficult. With every floor, the enemies' strength rises sharply." Chen Yuan was rather curious. "I wonder how many floors I can reach."

As he stepped through the entrance to the Trial Tower, an electronic voice echoed through the entire Virtual Space.

"Chen Yuan, please select your combat uniform and weapon. After making your selection, enter the Trial Tower for the trial within one minute."

As soon as the voice fell silent, various equipment options appeared before Chen Yuan. They were much like those in Arena Battle, except there was now a one-minute time limit.

Chen Yuan immediately selected the Streamer Battle Sword and combat uniform he was familiar with. He finished equipping them in ten seconds, then carried his sword into the pitch-black entrance of the Trial Tower.

Whoosh—

In an instant, the space shifted, and Chen Yuan found himself on a vast grassland.

"Chen Yuan, you will now undergo the first floor's A-Grade trial." The electronic voice echoed over the grassland. "The A-Grade trial requires you to kill fifty Beginner Beast General Level Mang Oxen within ten minutes. If you die midway or fail to kill fifty Mang Oxen within the allotted time, you will fail."

"You have five minutes to prepare."

"Fifty Beginner Beast General Level Mang Oxen?" Chen Yuan smacked his lips. "Seems ordinary enough. Mang Oxen evolved from herbivores, so their strength is mediocre among Monsters."

Of course, no matter how mediocre they were, every Mang Ox was a genuine Beginner Beast General. With fifty attacking at once, while his physical fitness was restricted to the Beginner War General level, this was exceedingly difficult for most Martial Artists.

But for Chen Yuan, it was very simple.

Five minutes later, fifty Mang Oxen spawned near Chen Yuan. They quickly spotted him and charged toward him one after another with bloodshot eyes.

"Whew..." Chen Yuan exhaled softly. "The slaughter begins."

Before his words had faded, his entire body turned into a streak of lightning and instantly charged into the herd. His battle sword flashed, taking the lives of one Mang Ox after another.

In only five minutes, all fifty Mang Oxen had been slaughtered.

"Congratulations, Chen Yuan. You have completed the A-Grade challenge." After he killed the last Mang Ox, the electronic voice sounded again. "Next is the B-Grade Trial. You must kill one hundred Beginner Beast General Level Mang Oxen within thirty minutes."

"Got it." Chen Yuan waved at the sky. "No need to wait five minutes. Hurry up and spawn the Monsters."

The electronic voice paused, seemingly not expecting Chen Yuan to be so arrogant. Then one hundred Mang Oxen spawned.

Chen Yuan smiled faintly, and his figure charged toward the herd once more.

More than ten minutes later, the trial ended. Chen Yuan did not pause at all and directly entered the C stage.

This stage required Chen Yuan to kill two hundred Mang Oxen within fifty minutes, ten of which were Intermediate Beast General Level.

But it was still no challenge for Chen Yuan. His 3.2-fold force output was enough to rival an Advanced War General, and combined with speed comparable to an Advanced War God's, these Mang Oxen lasted only half an hour before they were all dead.

"Time used: thirty minutes and nineteen seconds. Killed one hundred ninety Beginner Beast General Level Mang Oxen and ten Intermediate Beast General Level Mang Oxen. C stage passed. Congratulations, Probationary Trainee Chen Yuan." The electronic voice sounded as the entire grassland vanished in a flash of light, replaced by an endless desert.

"Next is the second floor's A-stage trial. Your objective is to kill fifty Beginner Beast General Level Iron-Armored Scorpions within ten minutes."

"Iron-Armored Scorpions?" Chen Yuan watched scorpions crawl out from the yellow sand, recalling this Monster's characteristics. "They are small, agile, known for their elusive movement techniques, and prefer to move in packs..."

"Elusive movement techniques, huh? Perfect. Let me see just how elusive they are." Chen Yuan's lips curled up as he began another slaughter.

In truth, with Chen Yuan's strength, the first three floors of the Trial Tower posed almost no pressure. In less than an hour, he had cleared the second floor as well.

The third floor of the Trial Tower consisted of flying Monsters called Golden Vultures, and their numbers had essentially doubled compared to the first two floors.

The A-Grade trial alone had one hundred Golden Vultures. The B-Grade Trial had one hundred ninety beginner-level and ten intermediate-level Golden Vultures, while the C-Grade trial had three hundred Golden Vultures, including fifty Intermediate Beast Generals.

This floor was essentially the limit many War Gods could reach. Forget clearing all three floors—even passing the A-Grade trial would make one outstanding among War Gods.

Yet this floor still could not obstruct Chen Yuan. However, as flying Monsters, the Golden Vultures did give the flightless Chen Yuan some trouble, preventing him from finishing as cleanly as he had on the first two floors.

"Time used: forty-one minutes and fifty-five seconds. Killed two hundred fifty Beginner Beast General Level Golden Vultures and fifty Intermediate Beast General Level Golden Vultures. Congratulations, Probationary Trainee Chen Yuan. You have completed the C-stage trial."

This round had been rather thrilling for Chen Yuan. Not because he had been in danger, but because he had missed the time limit by less than nine minutes.

"The difficulty really has increased a lot. I wonder what the fourth floor will be." As the fourth floor's A-stage Monsters spawned, Chen Yuan's expression changed slightly. "What the hell? One hundred Intermediate Beast General Level Bloodthirsty Tanks?!"

Bloodthirsty Tanks—the second-ranked pig-type Monster and a pack-dwelling species. Like Fire-Scaled Trident Pigs, their entire bodies were covered in a layer of scales, giving them extremely high defense. At first glance, they resembled armored tanks, hence the name.

"Using Beginner War General physical fitness to fight one hundred Intermediate Beast General Bloodthirsty Tanks? The difficulty increase is way too drastic." Compared to the third floor, the fourth floor's difficulty began to soar. Even Chen Yuan no longer looked calm.

This battle was extremely difficult for Chen Yuan. The main issue was that the weapon issued by the Trial Tower was only Grade 4, corresponding to the Beginner Beast General level. Now he had to use a Grade 4 weapon against one hundred Intermediate Beast Generals, and they were Bloodthirsty Tanks known for their defense. It truly was making things difficult for him.

To kill even one, Chen Yuan had to drive the tip of his sword into a Bloodthirsty Tank's weak points, such as its eyes, belly where scales did not cover it, or rear. He could not slaughter them recklessly as he had on the first three floors.

What was more, this damned trial had a thirty-minute limit. Even with Chen Yuan's strength, without using Illusion Technique, it took him a full twenty-eight minutes to finally finish off all the Monsters. He had nearly run out of time.

"Alright, let's see what the B-Grade Trial is. Based on the pattern from the previous floors, there won't be Advanced Beast Generals, right?" Chen Yuan took a deep breath and waited for the next stage to spawn.

The next second, a full two hundred Bloodthirsty Tanks spawned. Ten of them were exceptionally massive, undoubtedly Advanced Beast Generals.

"Fine, fine, fine." Chen Yuan forcibly suppressed the urge to curse and charged into the beast horde with his sword.

Fifty minutes later.

"Time is up. Killed one hundred seventy-three Intermediate Beast Generals and six Advanced Beast Generals. You failed to eliminate the beast horde within the allotted time. Trial failed." The electronic voice reported the result without emotion. "Probationary Trainee Chen Yuan, your Trial Tower level has been assessed as: 4.5."

Outside the Trial Tower, Chen Yuan's expression was blank. Although a Trial Tower level of 4.5 was already very high, he felt that if not for the poor quality of the weapon, which made it difficult for him to break through their defenses, the fourth floor would not have been able to stop him.

"Forget it. My original purpose was never to clear the tower, but to temper my swordsmanship." Chen Yuan let out a long breath, his mood already calm. "Looking on the bright side, after this Trial Tower training, my Gale Sword Art proficiency has increased by another 2%."

"For the remaining time, let's see how far I can improve my swordsmanship." Chen Yuan looked at the Trial Tower entrance, then carried his sword and walked inside once more.