Chapter 122

“The Freshman Grand Competition actually has no restrictions in any aspect, that’s great!”

“It seems my bloodline secret technique can also be used!”

“Fortunately, I also brought a set of rarer equipment; I’ll change into it in a while!”

“...”

For a time, many freshmen were incomparably excited!

You have to know, during the college entrance examination, for the sake of absolute fairness,

corresponding restrictions were carried out.

Besides weapons being limited to Bronze 3-star, even some bloodline secret techniques and powerful talent skills couldn't be used.

They had originally thought that this Freshman Grand Competition would be the same.

They didn't expect that Suhang University’s Freshman Grand Competition actually had no restrictions at all!

Of course, regarding this point, many noble family children were well aware.

They had long made corresponding preparations.

“Next, enter the first stage of the Freshman Grand Competition, the dungeon challenge!”

Accompanied by Wu Mang’s low voice.

On the side, the Dean of the Element College, who was also the Vice Principal of Suhang University, Zhou Huayang,

stepped out of the queue and held his staff high.

“Silver secret, open!!”

The next moment, a terrifying magic energy fluctuation erupted from the round crystal core at the top of the staff!

Boom!!

Behind the empty playground, a secret gate about forty meters high and thirty meters wide slowly condensed from the void!

Floating in the air!!

This gate was silver-white in its entirety, filled with mysterious runes and patterns.

And what was strange was that at the base of the gate, there was actually crimson flame burning!

“This is the Silver secret gate? But what is that flame?”

“I felt an ominous aura from it...”

Looking at the secret gate behind, numerous freshmen all revealed confused expressions.

They knew the Silver secret, but that strange one.

It was as if it were a crimson flame from hell, which they had never seen before.

Among these confused freshmen, only some noble family children seemed to have thought of something, and their expressions changed drastically.

“The scale and strength of this year’s freshmen are the largest and strongest in history...”

“In order to allow every freshman’s strength to be maximized, therefore, this Silver dungeon secret not only has simple, difficult, and nightmare difficulties.”

“But it also specially opened the abyss difficulty above nightmare for you!”

Wu Mang’s voice rang out slowly, echoing in the ears of many freshmen.

"They actually opened the Abyss difficulty! No wonder there was eerie fire burning at the base of the secret realm gate!"

"Absurd. I remember the Abyss mode difficulty is over ten times more terrifying than Nightmare difficulty."

"Abyss mode hasn't been opened at the Freshman Grand Competition for decades, has it?"

"......"

In the spectator stands, many senior students were also discussing it one after another.

Their words were filled with astonishment.

"To be precise, Abyss mode hasn't appeared at the Freshman Grand Competition for exactly eighty years."

A lean young man said slowly.

He had short hair, deep eyes, and a unique aura.

"It's Lin Haoran!"

Someone recognized the man's identity and whispered in surprise.

At Suhang University, there are two strength ranking lists.

One is the Earth Ranking, exclusive to First-Transition professionals.

The other is the Heaven Ranking, exclusive to Second-Transition professionals.

And this Lin Haoran is a formidable figure ranked 34th on the Second-Transition Heaven Ranking!

"Didn't he accept a mission to the front lines? Why is he back now?"

Some were surprised by the timing of Lin Haoran's appearance.

Others followed the previous topic and continued the discussion:

"80 years ago? That means the Abyss mode appeared at the Suhang University Freshman Grand Competition around the year 2544."

"2544...... Hiss! Isn't that the Golden Age?!!!"

Thinking of the time corresponding to 2544, the people around them suddenly widened their eyes.

The Golden Age!!

This is a special term for the year 2544.

In that year, many professionals with monstrous talent emerged!!

"Gale Sword Saint Cang Pinghai, Storm Mage God Li Shaoyang—they were both born in the Golden Age and are still active, formidable figures today!!"

"Now that the Abyss mode has been opened again, could it be that the Golden Age... is about to descend once more?!"

Someone muttered in a low voice, their expression filled with shock.

"Brother Lin, when did you get back?"

At this moment, Li Dongsheng of the Aurora Society also spotted Lin Haoran.

He trotted over quickly and asked with a hint of surprise.

Lin Haoran is also a member of the Aurora Society.

And he is also a department-level cadre.

However.......

Lin Haoran has a cold temperament; he doesn't usually manage club affairs and just holds a nominal title.

Of course, even if it's just a nominal title, no one would doubt his ability.

After all, 34th on the Heaven Ranking is a ranking with plenty of substance.

As one of his few good friends, Li Dongsheng knew.

He should have accepted a mission and set off for the neighboring Huiyang Province to eliminate an invading monster legion; why would he appear here now?

"The mission was canceled; I just got back."

Lin Haoran replied.

"The mission was actually canceled?"

Li Dongsheng frowned.

As one of the top universities in the country, Suhang University.

Besides having a powerful educational lineup.

It also places great emphasis on students' training in actual combat.

In the school's mission system, there are often dangerous tasks such as hunting monsters or pursuing fugitive professionals.

And war missions are the most dangerous type among this series of combat tasks, and also the type that rewards the most credits.

Of course, the arrangements for such missions are determined long in advance.

If no extremely important changes had occurred, it would be impossible to cancel them.

"I heard it was an arrangement from above."

Lin Haoran said helplessly.

"Many legions in Huiyang Province have been withdrawn, saying they need to comprehensively clear out the medium-sized spatial rifts throughout the entire province."

"As for what exactly they are clearing, I'm not too sure, but I have to follow them and set off in three days."

"I hope nothing bad is going to happen..."

Lin Haoran subconsciously looked at the playground below.

2544!!

The Golden Age!!

In that era, many young people with monstrous talent emerged.

And many people also regarded it as the horn sounding for a full-scale counterattack against the Otherworld!!

However......

Just 20 years after the Golden Age, the Otherworld creatures launched a crazy invasion!!

In order to resist the rampaging Otherworld creatures.

All eight billion-plus professionals on Blue Star joined the battle.

After 30 years, paying the heavy price of nearly 5 billion professionals killed in action and countless ordinary people buried.

The offensive of the Otherworld invasion gradually slowed down, entering the peaceful period that lasts until today.

And that period of crazy Otherworld invasion is also known as the Dark Age!

Gale Sword Saint Cang Pinghai and Storm Mage God Li Shaoyang were heroic figures born in the Golden Age and rose to prominence in the Dark Age!!

Besides them, there were many other formidable professionals born in the Golden Age.

It's just that they all perished in the Dark Age......

And how similar is this scene now to the peak period before the Dark Age?

"I hope this is just my imagination."

Shaking his head, Lin Haoran didn't think about it anymore.

After more than fifty years of recuperation, humanity's overall strength is different from the past.

Across the entire Blue Star, there are not only multiple Sword Saints and Mage Gods who have reached the pinnacle of professionals!

The number of professionals has reached an unprecedented 15 billion!

Even if they experience another crazy invasion by Otherworld creatures.

In the end, the ones who will be unlucky will definitely be them!!

"It's actually Abyss difficulty; now this will be fun!"

"Hehe, I just felt that Nightmare difficulty might not be enough; I didn't expect there to be a brand new difficulty above Nightmare!"

"Hmph! Just wait, I will definitely sweep through the Abyss-level dungeon in a moment!"

"......"

Unlike the exclamations in the spectator stands, the freshmen on the playground were full of fighting spirit.

They couldn't wait to rush into the dungeon and slaughter right now!!

After all, the freshmen who were able to get into Suhang University all cleared the Nightmare-level dungeon in the college entrance exam dungeon.

Therefore, for a higher difficulty, they didn't feel afraid at all; instead, they were extremely excited, feeling that they had a new challenge.

On the ceremonial platform, Wu Mang scanned the area below.

Seeing that some freshmen were dismissive of the Abyss difficulty, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Conventional secret realm dungeon gates only have three difficulties: Simple, Difficult, and Nightmare.

To open the Abyss difficulty, one must invest a large amount of Abyss Magic Stones!!

And Abyss Magic Stones come from the Otherworld.

Just obtaining this batch of Abyss Magic Stones took a lot of effort from the school.

Of course......

The increase in difficulty is also extremely obvious.

The monsters in the Abyss-level dungeon have thicker health, stronger defense, and more agile movements!

Overall, the Abyss-level dungeon is ten times more terrifying than the Nightmare-level dungeon!!

Yet, some people actually look down on it so much.....

"The ignorant are fearless; those who look down on the Abyss difficulty will surely pay the heaviest price!"

Gathering intelligence is also one of the key skills that professionals need to master.

You don't know what level of difficulty the Abyss-level dungeon is; can't you ask the classmate next to you?

Those aristocratic family children all have serious expressions; can't they see there's a problem with the Abyss dungeon?

"Fine, let them hit a wall."

Shaking his head, Wu Mang stopped paying attention to the freshmen's actions and said loudly:

"You have one minute of preparation time."

"After one minute, the dungeon opens! We officially enter the first stage of the Freshman Grand Competition!"

As the words fell.

The freshmen gathered all over the playground immediately began to move.

Warriors with sturdy builds began to wipe their longswords and shields.

Sharpshooters also began to count their ammunition.

Some people, upon hearing that there were no restrictions on equipment for this Freshman Grand Competition, immediately began to change their gear!

Fortunately, everyone had a layer of undergarments beneath their equipment.

So there wouldn't be a situation where they were completely exposed......

For a moment, the entire playground was no longer noisy, with only the sound of friction from changing equipment.

And the occasional clashing sound from checking their items and gear.

At this moment.

Even the freshmen ranked outside the top thousand were extremely serious.

On the ceremonial platform, many eyes also fell on Zhou Yi.

Upon seeing the huge axe-blade weapon revealed behind him, they couldn't help but show strange expressions.

"It's actually a battle axe......"

For a heavy-armor support-type Paladin, the most common weapon combination is a shield and a one-handed sword.

Some Paladins who purely follow the support route even abandon heavy weapon equipment altogether.

Choosing to use a huge holy cross that has special buffs for support-type skills as their weapon.

And a Paladin like Zhou Yi, who carries a battle axe, is extremely rare......

Battle axe!

That's right.

This time, Zhou Yi did not choose to use a war hammer again.

Instead, he chose an 18th-level Gold-tier giant battle axe.

Because, after experiencing the battle within the Gale Mountain Range, he discovered.

Although the war hammer has a miraculous effect on monsters wearing heavy armor, as it can directly shatter internal organs.

It wasn't quite suitable for him.

He still prefers the thrill of seeing blood with every swing of the axe!!

— Author's Notes —

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