Chapter 59: Eternal Monument: Special Training Ground

The second level of the Trial Tower was a majestic stone city.

In the center of the stone city stood a vast square.

At the very heart of the square rose a colossal stone stele.

A thousand meters tall, piercing the clouds, its surface inscribed with mysterious divine script.

The divine script shimmered with golden light, arranged vertically and shifting over time.

Around the base of the stele, the square teemed with people—no fewer than a thousand.

They gathered in small groups, divided by region and nation.

“Old Zhang, how’s it going over there?” said a middle-aged man in Huaguo military uniform.

Old Zhang sighed, his face grim. “Same as always.”

“For some reason, our side has an unusually high number of space portals.”

“So many, and so many monsters—that’s why our recovery progress is painfully slow.”

The soldier sighed too. “Even if your side struggles, at least you’re reclaiming territory.”

“Our side is flooded with wind elements. Unless you use energy attacks, you can barely eliminate them.”

“All we can do is build fortifications and fight positional warfare.”

Both men were high-ranking officials of the Huaguo faction, each overseeing a major region.

After the apocalypse, social order collapsed instantly.

Yet the survivors who remained stubbornly rebuilt a new order.

They guided the humans in their respective areas to save themselves.

Especially after entering the Trial Tower.

Survivors from all over discovered that, upon clearing the Infinite Maze,

they would encounter other human settlements within the stone city on the second level.

They shared intelligence and experience, greatly increasing survival rates in the apocalypse.

This was the Trial Tower’s second advantage: information exchange.

The apocalypse had severed all connections between regions worldwide.

Especially after the first shock, Blue Star expanded.

This physical isolation became even more pronounced.

Not only were human settlements overrun with monsters, but the wilds teemed with them.

Humans inside settlements had the protection of buildings.

If they couldn’t fight, they just hid in a room—and were safe.

But venturing into the wilds? Pure suicide. Endless monsters would simply drown you.

If this trend continued, humanity would remain isolated unless a legendary powerhouse emerged—or some special means were employed.

Otherwise, every region would stay cut off forever.

But the Trial Tower changed all that.

Clever humans exploited its spatial properties to link distant regions.

Like the internet, it turned Blue Star into a village—but one where people could meet face-to-face.

Although after clearing the Infinite Maze, one had only one day to stay.

And once leaving, one had to wait a full month before re-entering the Trial Tower.

But humans were organized—they could rotate personnel to maintain a permanent presence inside.

Thus, the second level of the Trial Tower became a hub for information exchange.

And since the stone city was vast and imposing, to prevent newcomers from getting lost,

everyone unanimously chose the central stele as the gathering point.

“Officer Li, new arrivals.”

A young man interrupted the soldier and Old Zhang’s conversation.

Officer Li didn’t mind—it was his own instruction.

New survivors were the critical matter; everything else was trivial.

As one of the highest-ranking officials of the Huaguo outpost, he bore a vital mission:

To welcome any Huaguo citizen entering the Trial Tower.

The first goal was naturally to learn the situation across Huaguo’s regions.

The second was to gather survivors, preparing for the future reconstruction of Huaguo.

Behind the young man stood Zhang Di, excited, and Jiang Xian, still bewildered.

“Where are you two from?” Officer Li asked kindly.

Zhang Di, seeing the soldier, felt warmth and said eagerly: “We’re from Ancheng. We just arrived today—until now, we’d hardly seen anyone else.”

“We were almost dying of loneliness. Now we’ve finally found our organization.”

Officer Li felt a pang of disappointment. Ancheng, as the provincial capital of the southern region,

had several million permanent residents—he naturally cared deeply about its condition.

But Zhang Di and Jiang Xian were lone survivors, not from any large group.

Such individuals were not uncommon on the square.

After all, the Trial Tower spawned arrivals randomly; who came was pure chance.

But Jiang Xian interrupted Zhang Di: “No—we met someone else. Someone incredibly, incredibly powerful.”

It wasn’t an impulsive lie; she’d planned it on the way here.

No need for elaborate reasons—just trust in the organization.

Officer Li raised an eyebrow. “How powerful?”

Someone who’d survived eleven days in the apocalypse had at least decent judgment.

Especially someone who’d cleared the Infinite Maze and seen countless monsters.

If this girl said someone was powerful, it carried some credibility.

Jiang Xian spoke in an odd tone: “Someone who fought a monster as big as an elephant alone. Someone who could speak with a god.”

“What!” Officer Li’s face turned pale with shock. Those nearby were stunned by her tone.

This wasn’t about how deep someone’s cunning was.

Anyone who’d fought monsters knew how strong a creature the size of an elephant truly was.

Even without supernatural powers,

just its base stats from sheer size made it a foe humans could only defeat at great cost.

And Jiang Xian said he fought it alone.

As for speaking with a god—that was even more terrifying.

After the apocalypse, no one doubted gods existed.

Priests, rangers—these classes required divine faith to advance.

It plainly told survivors: gods were real.

And a being worthy of the title “god” possessed incalculable power.

So how powerful must a human be to speak with a god?

Old Zhang blurted: “Girl, are you serious? Don’t lie!”

Jiang Xian was startled by “girl.” She blinked, then said: “It’s true. This body of mine? The god did this.”

Then Jiang Xian recounted her ordeal in the maze.

But she didn’t mention becoming a girl.

She was too embarrassed, didn’t know how to bring it up.

She only spoke of other things—like how the ranger became a Lucky Hunter.

Officer Li and Old Zhang exchanged glances. In each other’s eyes, they saw a spark called hope.

As high-ranking officials, their access to information far surpassed ordinary people’s.

In just eleven days, they’d learned from explorers returning from the mystery realms that legendary power existed.

According to those who returned, humans could ascend to a realm called Legendary.

Legendary powerhouses were said to possess strength enough to destroy cities and sever rivers.

Though Huaguo was now slowly advancing, steadily reclaiming lost land,

countless compatriots still died every single day.

Since hearing of Legendary powerhouses,

some within Huaguo had desperately hoped a supreme champion would emerge quickly.

To end the apocalypse and reduce casualties.

But the birth of a Legendary powerhouse was unimaginably difficult—such dreams were just dreams.

Reality remained unchanged… until now, a new possibility had appeared.

Old Zhang and Officer Li didn’t know Fang Shi’s exact strength.

But from his actions, he was clearly among the strongest humans alive.

He was the most likely candidate to ascend to Legendary status fastest.

As for power struggles or politics? Those weren’t concerns now.

At least Officer Li and Old Zhang didn’t have that idea; they both hoped China could minimize losses right now.

Officer Li said: “When that strong one arrives at Shicheng, you must invite him over.”

Old Zhang nodded: “Right, I’ll give the order immediately.”

As they spoke, a commotion arose at the stone tablet in the center of the square, followed by cries of astonishment.

A middle-aged man with gray hair ran over and said: “Officer Li, the top rank on the stone tablet has changed.”

“ID0000000001 has suddenly risen to first place on the tablet, with a score of 300!”

Officer Li’s eyes lit up: “It must be that strong one.”

“Only he could have such conditions.”

Old Li sighed: “We tested ID 01 ourselves later.”

“These IDs are assigned strictly in the order players open their attribute panels.”

“No wonder he’s so strong—he was the first to open his panel. He was definitely extraordinary before the apocalypse.”

The stone tablet in Shicheng wasn’t just a landmark.

Its main purpose was to record the scores of all players who passed the Endless Labyrinth.

It ranked them, and those near the top received a set number of survival points daily.

The more survival points, the longer the training ground could be accessed.

The efficiency of skill and specialty training also increased.

Since ranking required actual strength, humans also treated this tablet’s leaderboard as the official human strength ranking.

Old Zhang and the others had stayed here long enough to know how difficult it was to reach 300 points.

The previous top scorer had only 83 points—nowhere near the gap between heaven and earth compared to today’s 300.

That 83 had come from a Level 4 duo assembled by China, who barely escaped a Level 6 monster through sheer effort.

Old Li had been part of that team, and he understood the difficulty better than anyone.

It was unimaginable that anyone could achieve such a feat.

In the American base, a blond-haired, blue-eyed youth spoke to his aide.

“Albert, who is this ID 01?”

The aide replied respectfully: “My lord, we have no information yet.”

The youth didn’t expect an answer—he clenched his staff: “Then send people out immediately! Find out what’s going on!”

“Yes, my lord.”

After speaking, the aide hurried off.

The youth muttered to himself: “How could such a strong one appear? This makes no sense—neither scientifically nor magically.”

“Even with the Book of Law, I don’t have this power. Who the hell is this person?”

In the Central Europe base, a gray-robed Daoist Priest heard the commotion and opened his tightly shut eyes.

His spiritual sense immediately connected to the central stone tablet, his expression shifting unpredictably.

Disbelief flashed in his eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, the gray-robed Daoist Priest finally calmed down.

He stroked the dagger at his waist, closed his eyes, and began silent prayer.

A similar scene unfolded at bases across other regions and nations.

Lacking intelligence sources, none knew the origin of ID 01.

But all had dispatched personnel to search—no matter their motives, they all wanted to meet this 300-point strong one.

…

“You have passed the first level of the Trial Tower—the Endless Labyrinth.”

“You earned 4 (level-crossing 8-5+1) × 750% (Level 8 base multiplier) × 1000% (contribution) = 300 points.”

Inside the majestic Shicheng, Fang Shi appeared randomly in a corner.

Unlike others who were confused, he understood the secrets of Shicheng perfectly.

Shicheng was named Dicheng—a living city.

When the Trial Tower first opened, it was small, but as more players entered,

it gradually expanded until it grew large enough to house the entire global population.

The stone tablet at the square’s center was called the Immortal Stele.

The divine script upon it displayed the IDs and scores of top-ranked players, updating in real time.

As long as one consciously communicated with the Immortal Stele, even those who didn’t understand divine script would comprehend its inscriptions.

Thus, linguists had tried studying the script to decipher its meaning.

But sadly, divine script was vast and profound—each symbol contained unimaginable information.

Its meanings shifted not only with context, but also with time, celestial patterns, and natural laws.

Without reaching a certain realm or possessing extensive knowledge, no matter how hard one studied, it was like reading celestial scripture.

One could never understand the true meaning of divine script.

Often, people thought they understood—yet they were completely off track, utter nonsense.

Before his rebirth, Fang Shi had heard that some mages, seeking divine script’s power,

studied it to the point of madness, their minds shattered.

They went on rampages across human settlements and were executed.

Yet, the Immortal Stele had other functions besides recording scores.

And Fang Shi was about to activate one of them.

“Do you wish to open the training ground?”

“Yes.”

“Your score of 300 has been detected—3000% of the Level 5 standard of 10 points.”

“Training ground efficiency increased by 3000%.”

“Select training focus (list).”

“Sword specialty.”

“Training focus selected.”

“Training ground opening, please wait…”

Fang Shi smiled in satisfaction at the 3000% efficiency.

This was why he had gone to such lengths to grind his score.

The score directly affected training ground efficiency—it was a critical metric.

The higher the efficiency, the greater the skill and specialty training speed.

A multiplier of X meant X times the acceleration.

Generally, anyone who tried hard could at least reach two or three times.

Far faster than normal training.

Not to mention the training ground had time acceleration.

No matter how long one stayed inside, only one day passed in the outside world.

This was the miraculous power of the Trial Tower—it greatly enhanced human strength.

Fang Shi currently had 2113.2 survival points.

The Level 5 fee was 150 points per day, meaning he could stay in the training ground for 14 days.

Combined with his score bonus, it equated to one year’s worth of training in the outside world.

Most importantly, the training ground provided guidance.

One wouldn’t enter and be left clueless, wasting time uselessly.

“Detected: Player possesses Jianjianmen Foundation Establishment disciple’s notes, and player’s score exceeds 2000%.”

“Special training ground—Jianjianmen—now opening.”

?

Jianjianmen!

What’s going on?

Before Fang Shi could make sense of it, he vanished from Dicheng.