Chapter 39: Warm-up Trial! The Tower Climb Begins!

"The Secret Realm Tower is about to open. Will all candidates please prepare yourselves, hold your entry permits, and line up to enter the tower."

At this moment, Liu Lanzhi, dressed in the uniform of the Soul Profession Office, held a megaphone and announced loudly to the students standing in the preparation area.

"I am the monitor for this Secret Realm Tower activity. Before we begin, I must announce a few points of note."

"First, the Secret Realm Tower supports a maximum of five-person teams. Before climbing the tower, there will be a basic trial phase consisting of five waves of minor monsters; no points are awarded for killing them."

"The trial phase is merely to help everyone warm up and to test your combat awareness."

"Second, after the trial phase, you will enter the official tower climb. The higher the floor, the higher the monster level and the greater the difficulty. Those who fail a challenge will be automatically sent back to the previous floor; I hope everyone will act according to their abilities!"

"Third, for every floor passed, you will receive corresponding point rewards. The amount of points depends on the time taken. The points obtained can be exchanged at the Soul Profession Office for Experience Stones or rare items."

"Therefore, in the Secret Realm Tower, killing monsters grants no experience and drops no equipment, only points; thus, points are very important. The more points you obtain, the more experience you can exchange for."

"Fourth, each person has a maximum of two free tower-climbing opportunities per day. Once the free opportunities are used up, you can pay to purchase more, at a rate of 100,000 per attempt."

"Fifth, those participating in the climb may carry equipment, but cannot use other items. You may carry a maximum of 5 Health Recovery Potions and Soul Power Potions. Once you enter the tower, your Storage Space will be temporarily sealed."

"Finally, I wish all the students present many points and plenty of experience!"

After finishing the instructions for the tower climb, Liu Lanzhi turned, walked down from the high platform, and entered a tall building next to the Secret Realm Tower.

Killing monsters in the Secret Realm Tower grants no experience; one can only exchange the points obtained for experience.

This was undoubtedly good news for Zhou Chu, who was already at the 10th Level.

In this way, he did not have to worry about the experience he gained going to waste due to overflow.

However, for Zhou Chu's two god-tier servants, it did not seem very friendly.

Since he could not temporarily raise the levels of his two god-tier servants, all Zhou Chu could do was obtain more points.

This was the most important thing.

As the gate to the entrance of the Secret Realm Tower slowly opened, the students participating in the climb began to enter one by one.

After stepping into the entrance, Zhou Chu was automatically assigned to an independent space.

It was almost the same as a Copy; the Secret Realm Tower was the same way.

Zhou Chu discovered that he was now in a dark and damp underground palace.

Not far away, behind a huge iron fence, stood a dark, blurry figure.

Presumably, this was the minor monster used for the warm-up.

【The warm-up trial is about to begin, 15-second countdown starting!】

Zhou Chu did not immediately summon his god-tier servants.

Because in the first ten floors of normal difficulty, there were monitors conducting real-time surveillance.

In order not to attract excessive attention, Zhou Chu decided to temporarily use the B-Grade servant from his Contract Pool to get through the normal difficulty.

After the tenth floor, when reaching Hell Difficulty, there would be no monitors watching, which would be the time for his god-tier servants to show their stuff.

Zhou Chu first summoned only one Grave Digger from his Contract Pool.

At the same time, in the Monitoring Hall next to the Secret Realm Tower, the principals and teachers of the three major high schools of Tianhua City were sitting there, along with some senior management from the Soul Profession Office.

He Muxue's mother, Liu Lanzhi, was not only the monitor for this activity but also the director of the Soul Profession Office.

First, the monitor's screen locked onto the three S-rank Soul Professionals from the three schools.

At the same time, another screen showed Zhou Chu, who had taken first place in the mock exam.

Although the Secret Realm Tower was not an exam, these four were, after all, the big favorites among this year's graduates.

Therefore, the performance of these four in the Secret Realm Tower also created a sense of competition between the three schools to a certain extent.

"Oh? Didn't this kid Zhou Chu go to the front lines? It hasn't even been a day, how come he's back?" Luo Dachun, the principal of the Second High School, said with some surprise upon seeing Zhou Chu on the screen.

"By the way, Old Su. Doesn't the Exorcism Army only have two days of rotation leave per month? And that's only for those with a rank of private or higher, right?"

Su Zhanghe was also stunned for a moment, but quickly said: "Zhou Chu obtained the qualification for the College Entrance Exam, so even if he just joined the Exorcism Army, he is still eligible to participate in the College Entrance Exam. There's nothing strange about that!"

Su Zhanghe had always held a grudge against Luo Dachun for playing dirty and inciting Zhou Chu to join the Exorcism Army.

So it was clear that his tone was not good.

Luo Dachun smiled dismissively and said: "But why do I feel like he was discharged? Actually, he could have completely skipped an activity like this."

"Wouldn't it be faster to level up by killing Calamity monsters on the front-line battlefield than by climbing the tower?"

"I heard that to join the regular combat units of the Exorcism Army, your Soul Profession rank must be at least E-Grade."

"So there's nothing shameful about Zhou Chu being discharged; at the very least, his life was saved, isn't that pretty good?"

In fact, Su Zhanghe only knew that Zhou Chu had gone to the recruitment office from other students at the school.

He never expected that Zhou Chu would go to the recruitment office to sign up without a recommendation letter from him.

Moreover, Zhou Chu happened to catch the situation where the front lines were short-handed, and they were exceptionally pulled to the front-line battlefield ahead of schedule.

For this reason, Su Chang went to the recruitment office to find Zhou Chu in person, but she never expected that Zhou Chu had already boarded the military truck heading to the front lines.

Being able to see Zhou Chu again, Su Zhanghe felt a slight sense of comfort in his heart.

Su Zhanghe hummed twice in his throat; facing Luo Dachun's sarcasm, he had no good retort.

Because he also felt that for Zhou Chu to return from the Exorcism Army in less than a day, it was highly likely that he had been discharged.

After all, exams look at grades, and joining the army looks at strength.

Even though Zhou Chu took first place in the mock exam, he was ultimately an F-rank, so being returned was quite normal.

In the Monitoring Hall, the atmosphere became somewhat subtle due to Luo Dachun's words.

Liu Lanzhi frowned slightly and said: "Principal Luo, it is too early to draw conclusions. Since Zhou Chu was able to take first place in the mock exam, he must have his own merits. Let's wait and see his performance in the Secret Realm Tower before we speak."

Luo Dachun smiled indifferently and said: "Director Liu, I am just speaking based on facts."

"The Exorcism Army is not a vegetable market, after all; you can't just come and go as you please."

"Even if Zhou Chu was exceptionally accepted into the army, what could he possibly achieve with just this F-rank Soul Profession? He'll probably be a pawn for the rest of his life, with no chance of promotion at all."

"But it's good that he's back. I couldn't see how he passed the Copy during the last mock exam, so this time I want to see what kind of tricks he can pull in this Secret Realm Tower!"

On the other side, He Laijin, who was sitting beside Liu Lanzhi, had a look of deep preoccupation on his face.

Because he was also wondering how Zhou Chu had been able to leave the Exorcism Army.

Originally, sending Tu Shu to the front lines was mainly to bring back his own daughter, but he had not expected Zhou Chu to come back along with her.

Upon learning the news that Zhou Chu had also returned, He Laijin could not help but wonder if he had snuck back from the Exorcism Army.

Moreover, trying to get any information out of his daughter He Muxue was simply too difficult.

That girl was the type who wouldn't even let out a fart if you hit her with a stick; she was too lazy to even say a single word.

For now, he could only follow the suggestion of his wife, Liu Lanzhi, and observe Zhou Chu's performance in the tower climb.

As the 15-second countdown ended.

The heavy iron gate slowly rose, and immediately after, a big-headed fellow with amber skin and a small stature, like a toy with its spring released, rushed over while brandishing the club in his hand.

A D-Grade mob, the Warrior goblin.

The Grave Digger that had been summoned let out a roar, swung its scythe-like claws, and met it head-on.

Splat!

The action was too fast; before one could even see what had happened, the Warrior goblin's head shattered instantly like a smashed watermelon.

"Wuhu ya!"

The Warrior goblin let out a strange cry and fell to the ground.

【Successfully killed "Warrior goblin"】

【Successfully collected Contract Material "Warrior goblin (D-Grade)"】

【Obtained Soul Fragment *1】