Chapter 59: Immortal Monument: Special Training Ground

The second floor of the Trial Tower is a majestic stone city.

At the center of the stone city, there is a broad plaza.

Right at the center of the plaza stands a massive stone stele.

It rises a thousand meters tall, piercing into the clouds, with profound divine script inscribed upon it.

The divine script flickers with golden light, arranged vertically on the stone stele, shifting with time.

The plaza below the stele is filled with people—at least a thousand of them.

They gather in groups of three or five, divided by region and nation.

"Old Zhang, how's things on your end?" a middle-aged man in a Huaguo military uniform said.

Old Zhang, his face creased with worry, sighed: "What can it be? Same as always."

"Don't know why, but there are an awful lot of spatial passages on our side."

"They're packed tight, and the monsters are especially numerous, so our recovery progress is painfully slow."

The uniformed man also sighed: "No matter how hard it is, at least you can reclaim lost territory."

"On our side, it's wind elements everywhere—besides energy attacks, it's basically impossible to wipe them out."

"All we can do is build defensive works and fight positional battles."

The two men are both officials on the Huaguo faction's side, each among the upper echelons of the territory they oversee.

After the apocalypse, the social order was instantly dealt a devastating blow.

But the surviving personnel stubbornly rebuilt a new order.

Each led the humans in their locality to save themselves.

Especially after entering the Trial Tower.

Survivors from every region discovered that, as long as they cleared the Endless Labyrinth,

they would encounter survivors from other human gathering points within the stone city on the second floor.

So they exchanged intelligence and experience together, greatly improving humanity's survival rate in the apocalypse.

This is the Trial Tower's second benefit: the sharing of information.

The arrival of the apocalypse cut off every corner of the world from one another.

Especially after the first impact, when Blue Star expanded.

This physical isolation became even more pronounced.

It's not just human settlements that have monsters—the wilderness is packed thick with them.

Humans in settlements still have houses for protection.

If they can't win, they just duck into a room and they're safe.

But heading out into the wilderness is practically seeking death—endless monsters will simply drown a person.

If this trend continues, humanity would need to produce legendary powerhouses or adopt some special measures.

Otherwise, every region would remain cut off forever.

But the appearance of the Trial Tower changed this state of affairs.

Clever humans exploited the Trial Tower's spatial properties to connect every region.

Like the internet, they turned the entire Blue Star into a village—and a face-to-face internet at that.

Although after clearing the Endless Labyrinth, there's only one day to stay.

And after leaving, it takes a full month before one can enter the Trial Tower again.

But humans are organized; they can take turns dispatching personnel to remain inside.

Thus the second floor of the Trial Tower became an information exchange hub.

And because the stone city is grand and vast, to prevent newcomers from being unable to find their organization,

everyone tacitly chose the stone city's landmark—the site of the central stele—as the exchange center.

"Commander Li, there are newcomers again."

A young fellow interrupted the uniformed man's conversation with Old Chen.

The uniformed man, Commander Li, didn't mind—this was his own rule.

The new survivors are the matter of vital importance; everything else is trivial.

As one of the highest-ranking commanders of the Huaguo station, he shoulders an important mission.

That is to receive any Huaguo nationals who newly arrive at the Trial Tower.

The first purpose, naturally, is to find out clearly the situation in every part of Huaguo.

The second is to gather survivors, in preparation for rebuilding Huaguo together in the future.

Behind the young fellow were an excited Zhang Di and a still-dazed Jiang Xian.

"Where are you two from?" Commander Li asked amiably.

Zhang Di, seeing a soldier and feeling a kinship, said excitedly: "We're from Ancheng. We just arrived today. Before this, we basically hadn't seen anyone else."

"We were nearly dying of loneliness. At last we've found the organization."

Commander Li was a bit disappointed upon hearing this—Ancheng is the provincial capital of a southern province.

With several million permanent residents, they naturally care deeply about Ancheng's situation.

Unfortunately, Zhang Di and Jiang Xian are lone survivors, not part of a large contingent.

Such people are not rare on the plaza.

After all, the Trial Tower spawns randomly, and the people who make it here are also random.

But Jiang Xian actively cut off Zhang Di's account: "No, we also met one person—met an extremely, extremely powerful person."

She didn't do it on a whim; she had already planned it on the way here.

There are no so many "whys," only trust in the organization.

Commander Li asked in surprise, "How powerful?"

A person who has lived in the apocalypse for eleven days at least has good judgment.

Especially since they passed through the Endless Labyrinth and witnessed various monsters.

When this young girl says someone is powerful, there is a certain degree of credibility.

Jiang Xian spoke in an inexplicable tone, "One who can fight an elephant-sized monster alone, a powerhouse who can converse with deities."

"What!" Commander Li's face showed shock, and the people around were also startled by Jiang Xian's tone.

This is not a matter of whether one is deep or calculating.

Rather, anyone who has fought monsters understands how strong an elephant-sized monster is.

Even if these monsters possess no supernatural power.

Relying solely on the base attributes boosted by their size, they are existences humans must pay a price to defeat.

Moreover, what Jiang Xian mentioned was a one-on-one duel.

As for conversing with deities, it is even more terrifying.

Having experienced the apocalypse, no one disbelieves in gods.

Classes like Priests and Rangers explicitly require faith in deities to advance.

This clearly tells the survivors that gods exist in this world.

And those who can be called gods absolutely possess unfathomable power.

Therefore, how powerful is a powerhouse who can converse with deities!

Old Zhang couldn't help but say, "Little girl, is what you say true? Do not lie!"

Jiang Xian was stunned by being called "little girl," paused for a moment, and said, "Of course it is true; my current state was caused by a deity."

So Jiang Xian told them about her encounters in the Labyrinth.

Of course, during the telling, Jiang Xian did not mention that she had turned into a girl.

She was truly too embarrassed and didn't know how to bring it up.

She only spoke of other things, such as the Ranger becoming a Lucky Hunter.

Commander Li and Old Zhang exchanged a glance; they both saw a light named hope in each other's eyes.

They hold high positions, so the information they obtain is naturally incomparable to that of ordinary people.

In just eleven short days, they learned from Mystical Realm exploration personnel about the existence of a Legendary powerhouse.

According to those who returned, humans can advance to a realm called Legendary.

And Legendary powerhouses are said to possess the strength to destroy cities and sever rivers.

Although Hua Guo is now steadily advancing and slowly reclaiming lost territories.

In reality, countless compatriots die every single day.

Since hearing of the existence of Legendary powerhouses.

People within Hua Guo have urgently hoped that a supreme powerhouse could quickly emerge within Hua Guo.

To end the apocalypse and reduce casualties among compatriots.

But the birth of a Legendary powerhouse is how difficult; such a thing can only be wished for.

Reality proceeds as it must, but now there is a new choice.

Old Zhang and Commander Li do not know Fang Shi's specific strength.

But judging from Fang Shi's performance, he is absolutely the top existence among humans currently.

He is the human with the hope of advancing to Legendary the fastest.

As for struggles for power and profit, those are not things to consider now.

At least Commander Li and Old Zhang have no such thoughts; they both hope Hua Guo can minimize losses right now.

Commander Li said, "When that powerhouse arrives at Stone City later, we must invite him over."

Old Zhang nodded, "Correct, I will give orders immediately."

Just as they were speaking, a commotion arose at the stone stele in the center of the square, and waves of exclamations rang out.

A middle-aged man with gray hair ran over and said, "Commander Li, the number one spot on the stone stele has changed."

"ID0000000001 suddenly climbed to the number one spot on the stone stele, with a score as high as 300 points!"

Commander Li's eyes lit up, "It must be that powerhouse."

"Only he possesses such conditions."

Old Li sighed, "The ID of 01, we tested it later."

"These IDs are determined entirely by the order in which the attribute panel was opened."

"No wonder that person is so strong; opening the attribute panel first, he must have been extraordinary before the apocalypse."

The stone stele in Stone City is not merely a landmark.

Its primary purpose is to record the scores of all players who passed through the Endless Labyrinth.

And to rank them; those ranked higher receive a certain quantity of Survival Points daily.

And the more Survival Points one has, the longer the training grounds can be opened.

The efficiency of training skills and specialties is also higher.

And since reaching the list requires strength, humans also regard the ranking on this stone stele as the Human Strength Ranking.

Old Zhang and the others have been here so long; they long ago understood how difficult it is to reach 300 points.

The previous first place was only 83 points; compared to the current 300 points, it is a gap between heaven and earth.

That was achieved by a two-person team of level 4 organized by the Hua Guo side, who exhausted all efforts to escape a level 6 monster.

And Old Li was one of them, fully aware of the difficulties involved.

It was simply unimaginable that anyone could reach such a level.

At the American outpost, a blond, blue-eyed youth spoke to the adjutant beside him.

"Albert, who exactly is this number 01?"

The adjutant replied respectfully, "My lord, there is no news yet."

The youth had not expected an answer from the adjutant; he tightened his grip on the scepter in his hand: "Then why not send people to investigate immediately? We must find out what is going on."

"Yes, my lord."

After the adjutant spoke, he hurriedly ran off.

The youth murmured to himself, "How could such a powerful being appear? This is neither scientific nor magical."

"Even with the Book of Laws, I do not possess such strength. Who exactly is this divine figure?"

At the Central European outpost, a gray-robed cultivator heard the commotion and opened his tightly shut eyes.

His consciousness hurriedly connected to the central stele, his expression shifting unpredictably.

A look of disbelief flashed in his eyes.

After an unknown duration, the gray-robed cultivator finally regained his composure.

He stroked the dagger at his waist, closed his eyes, and began to pray silently.

This similar scene played out at outposts in other regions and nations.

Due to a lack of intelligence sources, none of them knew the origin of number 01.

But all had dispatched personnel to search; regardless of their motives, they all wanted to see who this three-hundred-point powerhouse truly was.

"You have passed the first floor of the Trial Tower — the Endless Labyrinth."

"You have obtained 4 (over-level 8-5+1) × 750% (level 8 base multiplier) × 1000% (contribution) = 300 points."

Inside the magnificent stone city, Fang Shi randomly appeared in a corner.

Unlike others who were bewildered, he clearly understood the secrets of the stone city.

The stone city is named Imperial City; it is a living city.

It was very small when the Trial Tower first opened, but as the number of entering players increased,

it would gradually expand until it was magnificent enough to simultaneously accommodate the entire global population.

And the stele in the center of the square is named the Immortal Monument.

The divine script upon it displays the numbers and scores of top-ranking players, changing in real time.

As long as one's consciousness actively communicates with the Immortal Monument, one will understand the information inscribed upon it, regardless of whether one understands the divine script.

Thus, some linguists have attempted to study the meaning of the divine script through the information inscribed upon it.

But unfortunately, the divine script is profound and vast; the amount of information contained in a single symbol is unimaginable.

Its meaning changes not only with context but also with time, celestial phenomena, and natural laws.

Without reaching a certain realm or possessing extensive knowledge, no matter how much one studies, it is like reading a heavenly book.

One can never understand the meaning of the divine script.

Often, one thinks one understands, but in reality, one is going in the opposite direction, speaking complete nonsense.

Before his rebirth, Fang Shi had heard that some mages, in their quest to obtain the power of the divine script,

studied the divine script to the point of madness, their minds completely unstable.

They attacked everywhere in human settlements and were subsequently executed.

However, besides the function of recording scores, the Immortal Monument has other uses.

And Fang Shi was now about to activate another of its functions.

"Do you wish to activate the training ground?"

"Yes."

"Detected that your score is 300, which is 3000% of the level 5 standard value of 10 points."

"The efficiency of the training ground has been increased by 3000%."

"Please select a training direction (list)."

"Sword specialization."

"Training direction selection complete."

"Training ground activating, please wait..."

Seeing the 3000% efficiency, Fang Shi revealed a satisfied smile.

This was the reason he had gone to such great lengths to grind his score.

The score relates to the efficiency of the training ground and is a crucial indicator.

And the higher the efficiency of the training ground, the higher the training efficiency for skills and specializations.

A training efficiency of X times means an acceleration effect of X times.

Generally speaking, anyone who puts in effort can at least grind two or three times.

Far faster than one's usual training.

Not to mention the training ground also has a time acceleration function.

No matter how long one stays inside, it is only one day in the outside world.

This is the miraculous function of the Trial Tower, capable of greatly enhancing human strength.

Fang Shi currently had 2113.2 survival points.

The charging standard for level 5 is 150 points per day, meaning he could stay in the training ground for 14 days.

Add the rating bonus, and it equals a year of training in the outside world.

Most importantly, the training ground offers guidance.

One won't enter and know nothing, wasting time for nothing.

"Detected that the player possesses the Foundation Establishment disciple notes of the Heavenly Sword Gate, and the player's rating exceeds 2000%."

"Now opening the special training ground—Heavenly Sword Gate."

?

Heavenly Sword Gate!

What is going on?

Before Fang Shi could figure it out, he vanished from the Imperial City.