Chapter 39

Dragon Gate.

It is both a breeding ground surpassing the War God and a battlefield of the World Tree and the monsters.

Since the establishment of Dragon Gate, every month it suffers joint attacks of sea beasts and the monsters of the Australia region.

A beast tide rated capable of destroying inland cities on other continents occurs once or twice a month; if such war intensity were placed in the interior of the continent, it would be enough to destroy any one of the five major nations on the continent within just a few months or a year.

Then, since the establishment of Dragon Gate, the total losses here are not as great as a single devastating beast tide in any city worldwide, and the death toll of elite personnel has not even broken three digits.

Despite this, the monsters continue to launch fierce attacks here one after another, with no intention of stopping.

A dedicated guide led Chén Chén, Luofeng, and Jiāng Jiāng into Dragon Gate, boarding an air vehicle like a sports car to bid farewell to the airport, and gradually saying goodbye to the black metal city wall, hundreds of meters high and hundreds of meters thick, hidden beneath giant trees and thick vines.

From afar on the city wall, one can see individual black blockhouses; according to the guide, that is Dragon Gate's defense laser cannon system, mainly used to suppress firepower against monsters below Lord level.

"In Dragon Gate, there are rarely any idle moments in a month; while martial artists elsewhere need to go out hunting, in Dragon Gate monsters constantly stream in day after day, fewer in normal times, but once they accumulate a certain number, a beast tide erupts, and after repelling the tide the monsters will calm down for a few days."

"You just experienced a beast tide before you arrived, so it's still relatively quiet now."

The guide explained while operating the aircraft.

"I really can't tell, but while on the plane I felt the area near Dragon Gate Base City was quite clean."

"Although Luofeng happened to experience a 'rat tide' once, according to what he knows, even if the beast tide were repelled, the surrounding land should be a mess, left with endless bloodshed."

"You say this? Once the plane enters low altitude, it's already within our control range; after the battle, the friends of the Nature Spirit will take care of cleaning."

Luofeng nodded; it seems the friends of the Nature Spirit rather like cleanliness.

"After all, cleaning up once is enough to feed them for a long time."

Luofeng: ……

What Luofeng doesn't realize is that plants that have evolved into Nature Spirits have not only gained intelligence, but also shifted from selfless producers to occasional omnivores that can nibble on small dishes, and different varieties have different tastes; those that come to Dragon Gate have a liking for seafood.

"The most popular dishes in Dragon Gate are Tiger Claw Dragon Lobster, Golden Emperor Crab, and White Oyster King; whether it's the martial artists here or the friends of the Nature Spirit, they all prefer them, and they are hard to find elsewhere in the world."

"You've come at just the right time; if you arrived a few days later, you might not be able to get them."

Jiāng Jiāng listened to the guide's introduction, seemed to trigger a dangerous alarm, and immediately asked:

"It's hard to find elsewhere… is it because of air transport? Given how frequently monsters attack Dragon Gate, shouldn't planes coming and going be easy targets?"

This is vital news concerning my own and Chén Chén's lives; I must ask about it in advance. Come to think of it, I just got off the plane—wouldn't that have been extremely dangerous?

"Um, theoretically that's correct, so we usually schedule flights when there is no beast tide."

"But monsters aren't stupid either; if they can organize a beast tide, there's no reason to let us come and go after it, otherwise their organized beast tide would be meaningless."

As a survival expert, Jiāng Jiāng naturally spotted the doubt, and Luofeng nodded as well; if the monsters wanted to break through Dragon Gate, letting its people go out or letting outside reinforcements in would both be unreasonable.

"You probably have it backwards; in fact, only when the monsters blockade with a beast tide does Cloud Sky Aviation's flight become affected, making it inconvenient to enter Dragon Gate."

The reason other aviation companies or national aviation facilities have huge transportation costs is that the cost of preventing monster attacks is too high.

And Cloud Sky Aviation gradually came to dominate global air transport, thereby securing hegemony in this area, precisely by seizing the initiative on this issue.

Everyone in the world knows Cloud Sky Aviation solved the problem of airborne monster raids, but even our own people who fly aircraft in the World Tree don't know how Cloud Sky Aviation solved it.

After all, to this day Cloud Sky Aviation's employees still don't know what their big boss is called.

"Then what do you mean by saying that the food here is hard to find elsewhere?" Jiāng Jiāng asked again, returning to the original question.

"Um, actually it's just too delicious, so everyone finishes it quickly, leaving no chance to ship it out by air, especially the friends of the Nature Spirit, whose appetites are far greater than ours humans."

……

Continuing into the 'city', each house has its own character: some resemble bastions and gun emplacements rising from the ground, others are surrounded by vines and flowers like leisure gardens, but one can see that the divisions between buildings are clear, clearly indicating different owners reside there.

"These below are all for Dragon Gate's trainees or instructors; if you can pass the assessment, you may freely choose a place in the city as your residence and decorate it however you like."

"Up ahead is the reporting location."

Surrounded by many private residences in the central core area are more than ten vastly different massive buildings, each several times or even tens of times larger than a single outside residence.

"Actually, there's no such thing as a War God Training Camp inside Dragon Gate; or rather, the War God Training Camp is just called Dragon Gate, and Dragon Gate's most important components are precisely what we see before us."

"Inside are either relics from the old era, or technological products from extraterrestrial civilizations, plus many cultivation chambers for fledgling Nature Spirit companions, and so on; if you stay, you will get to know all of them in the days ahead."

As the aircraft slowly descended, the three finally arrived at the destination of this War God trial.

"The first place to get to know is the trial ground you need to pass today—the Challenger's Tower."

Chén Chén had been silent for a long time; in fact, he always felt that all trial grounds were just things like towers and such, which really lacked any distinctive features. Given his talent as a former executive at a construction company, designing a trial ground with an attractive appearance and complete functionality was naturally no problem.

"So we didn't get the wrong place, right? For something like this trial, towers and such should go straight to the sky, with no end in sight," Jiāng Jiāng kindly reminded the guide.

The gigantic cubic box before them was only a few dozen meters tall, not even considered high among the visible buildings nearby; most importantly, it was not a tower-like structure at all.

The guide scratched his head.

"Hehe, supposedly the design here pursues practicality; it seems it was even designed by an unknown master architect of the World Tree."

Jiāng Jiāng focused and took several glances.

"Indeed, using the cube with the highest space utilization, the same space if it were a tower-like building would have difficulty and consumption several times, even dozens of times greater than this ordinary one, yet the building is still called a tower—such a structure is both ironic and practical."

Fortunately it's not some skyscraper or tower; according to Jiāng Jiāng's knowledge, such places easily become targets for villains' attacks—being hit by planes or blown up with explosives—these are listed as vigilant scenarios in Jiāng Jiāng's survival manual.

One must say, as expected of the World Tree's master architect, the building's level is high; I also recall that Chén Chén once mentioned a architectural style praised as the ultimate in practicality, something like a "box"—this must be that type.

"Let's go in……"

Seeing Jiāng Jiāng start to think, Chén Chén decisively spoke up to stop her, pulling Jiāng Jiāng inside.

Luofeng also followed closely, walking while observing the shape of the "Challenger's Tower"; Jiāng Jiāng's eyesight…… is really not bad.

Chén Chén walked in the front, yet the guide and Luofeng followed closely behind; only then did Luofeng realize he had never asked the name of the person who had been leading their group all along.

"By the way, senior, I still haven't asked your name."

"Oh oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself again; I'm Wang Hou, actually I just arrived a year earlier than you all—call me Brother Wang or Brother Hou."

"Oh oh, Brother Wang."

Jiāng Jiāng, walking ahead, also heard their conversation.

"Hiss, so we need to ask that person's name? When they came up, they didn't introduce themselves; I thought they were just an extra, and afterwards we wouldn't see them again."

Jiāng Jiāng quietly squeezed Chén Chén's hand and sent a message: "Chén Chén, why don't you ask?" After all, in past performances, Chén Chén has always been a social butterfly, handling all interactions with others.

Chén Chén felt Jiāng Jiāng's signal, rolled his eyes, and thought, "I know what this person's name is—what do I need to ask?"

Wang Hou…… in Dragon Gate is also considered a somewhat Having a Name person, and also one of the few people that Chén Chén pays attention to.

As for why just a little Having a Name still gets Chén Chén's attention, it's because Wang Hou theoretically should have obtained greater fame, but due to some special reasons, his reputation dropped a level.

The three walked through the corridor, and what naturally came into view inside the Challenger's Tower was a metal stele standing at the center of the building, a genuine tower‑shaped metal monument.

Luofeng and Jiāng Jiāng stared fixedly at the stele, cold sweat streaming from their foreheads that they couldn't stop; only after a few seconds did they slowly recover.

"Your mental strength is pretty strong; this is the Challenger's Tower ranking board, but you haven't been logged in yet, so you can't use it. Because of its special material, it's quite a burden for ordinary warriors with weaker mental power."

As for what that special material is, only one person present knows.

This is a special metal that Chén Chén pulled out of his body, which can slightly provide mental pressure to train mental power, just as a change in gravity subtly alters a creature's physical strength; on Earth there is temporarily only this one piece.

Earthlings' mental‑master talent has been altered by the Hermit of the Mountain, giving them greater development potential, yet mental‑mastery is a noble, rare profession in the Universe; Chén Chén can obtain only limited cultivation resources, so placing this stele here serves as a trial point, and if the opportunity arises, more will be laid out elsewhere on the body.

"With your strength, passing the assessment shouldn't be difficult; congratulations in advance."

Wang Hou said, especially glancing at Chén Chén, somewhat surprised by Chén Chén's performance.

On their first visit, even a war god would inevitably suffer a lapse, but who would have thought this kid not only came away unscathed, he even had the energy to observe others.

The Challenger's Tower seems to have many entrances; people entering from different doors, one by one, were just as stunned by the stele as Luofeng and Jiāng Jiāng, and those with slightly weaker mental power staggered and fell straight to the ground.

Luofeng regained his composure and looked around; the plaza had a few dozen people scattered about, of various skin tones, but it was obvious that East Asians were noticeably more numerous.

"Brother Wang, when does the assessment start?"

"We can start anytime; come with me."

Wang Hou continued leading the three forward, introducing as they walked:

"Inside the Challenger's Tower there is one area divided into three zones: the Challenge Zone, the Review Zone, and the Points Zone."

"The eastern side we know of is the Challenge Zone; here there are eighty‑one challenge rooms, each with a front‑end device at the doorway, which not only provides your assessment but also serves as a regular practice ground for everyone."

"After all, except during beast‑tide periods, the combat intensity is usually insufficient most of the time, and once you become official members you will inevitably have to come here to train."

Luofeng and Jiāng Jiāng both sucked in a breath of cold air, never expecting to hear complaints that the combat intensity wasn't enough.

Leading the three to a room doorway, a control platform slowly rose before the door — exactly the front‑end device Wang Hou had mentioned.

"Who will go first?"

Seeing that Chén Chén and the two others had no intention to step forward, Luofeng simply stepped forward.

"I'll go."

"You should have picked up our smart wristwatches before coming here; pull up your personal information."

Wang Hou said, selecting the 'Record' option on the control front‑end, a blue laser shot from the metal platform, scattering particle‑like light dots across the scanning surface, landing on the barcode at the bottom of the personal panel Luofeng had pulled up.

"Beep, recording successful."

"Detected that you are a reserve member; your assessment challenge has been prepared. Please enter the assessment room once ready."

Wang Hou beside them nodded.

"Just follow the voice prompts to complete the operation after you go in."

Luofeng nodded and walked through the door.

"You two can just stay next door."