Chapter 6: The Sixth Floor of the Trial Tower
After entering the Trial Tower, the space changed once again, and Shen Mu found himself in a vast grassland.
The emotionless electronic voice sounded again. "Shen Mu, the first level A grade trial has bespear. Kill 50 Black Vultures within 20 minutes, all of them are lower Commander level. Since it's your first time entering the trial, you have five minutes to prepare."
Shen Mu held a long spear, floating on a shield in mid-air, with 16 golden flying knives circling around him. He said directly, "Let's start now."
"The A grade trial begins."
Suddenly, 50 black giant birds appeared in the sky above the grassland. Each had a wingspan of over three meters, with red eyes and shiny black feathers.
A series of piercing screeches echoed as dozens of Black Vultures swooped down on Shen Mu at an extremely fast speed. Shen Mu remained expressionless. With a light wave of his right hand, ten dazzling golden streams of light shot out, colliding with the dozens of Black Vultures.
***
As a newcomer, Shen Mu's ranking on the Black Dragon Ranking was automatically at the bottom, and because he had never hunted monsters before, his points were zero. Even if his Trial Tower level increased, outsiders would not know.
But this did not include Liu He. As an inspector of the Limit Dojo, Liu He had high authority and could directly watch Shen Mu's performance in the challenge.
Dozens of lower Commander-level Black Vultures were slaughtered by dozens of flying knives before they could even get close to Shen Mu.
In just a matter of seconds, the first floor A grade ended. More than two minutes later, Shen Mu cleared the first floor, and his Trial Tower level was updated to 2.0.
Then, Liu He watched as Shen Mu easily passed the second and third floors, until the speed slowed down at the fourth floor. But in just half an hour, Shen Mu successfully cleared the fifth floor C grade and entered the sixth level, a place only a few Speakers and a very small number of powerful above Wargod experts could reach.
The opponent in the sixth floor of the spirit master's Trial Tower was the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle, an extremely powerful bird-type monster with top-tier speed and defense.
"He has just awakened as a spirit master and lacks experience. In theory, controlling 10 full-power flying knives should give him a good chance of clearing the sixth floor A grade."
Generally speaking, for fighters to pass the sixth floor A grade, they need Artistic Conception level techniques and combat skills, along with a force amplitude of 8 times or more.
Of course, people like Hong and Lei Shen, their combat skills and body techniques were no longer just at the Artistic Conception level; they had reached the level of unity between heaven and man. Therefore, even if their force amplitude could not reach the required level, they could still pass the sixth floor A grade.
Liu He watched as Shen Mu fled in all directions under the pursuit of dozens of Black-Crowned Golden Eagles, occasionally counter-killing one, but the efficiency was too slow. As time passed, his spirit would inevitably be exhausted.
Inside the Trial Tower, Shen Mu's situation was exactly as Liu He had predicted. As time went by, Shen Mu's spirit force was severely depleted, and he could no longer control 10 full-power flying knives. In the end, he was torn apart by the remaining 23 Black-Crowned Golden Eagles.
Of course, the lack of experience was just a facade that Shen Mu put on. After all, he had just awakened his spirit, and his high spirit amplitude could be attributed to talent. Experience, on the other hand, couldn't be explained, so he still had to maintain his character.
When the challenge ended, Shen Mu's figure reappeared at the entrance of the Trial Tower.
"Congratulations, among all the individuals who can reach the sixth floor of the Trial Tower, you should be the only one who hasn't surpassed the Wargod level."
In response to Liu He's congratulations, Shen Mu was very humble: "Power is the foundation of everything. I am still far from being able to compare with the speakers."
Liu He smiled and didn't say much. He waved his hand and said, "Let's test your spirit force again. The higher the spirit amplitude, the higher the Trial Tower level, and the easier it is to impact the rankings on the Black Dragon Ranking."
The rankings on the Black Dragon Ranking were based on points, which were the product of 'battle achievements' and 'combat power amplitude'. Battle achievements could be obtained by hunting monsters, while combat power amplitude was the product of the 'Trial Tower Floor' and the spirit amplitude.
As soon as Liu He finished speaking, a strange stone tablet appeared in front of Shen Mu, which was the testing device. Without further ado, Shen Mu controlled ten flying knives with his mind, gathered them together, and then rotated them to shoot at the stone tablet.
The tenfold flying knives bounced back, and at the same time, a line of words appeared on the stone tablet—80,000 kg.
The mechanical electronic voice sounded again: "The spirit amplitude is 10 times, and the Trial Tower level is 6.2. Congratulations, Shen Mu, your current 'combat power amplitude' is 62, updating the highest record in the history of the training camp students."
Seeing Shen Mu's Trial Tower level, Liu He was now worried that the confidence of the other students in the training camp might be affected. Generally speaking, a combat power amplitude of 16 times was enough to secure the first place on the Black Dragon Ranking. As for Shen Mu's case, it was unprecedented.
"Let's go, your enrollment procedures have been completed. I'll take you to register a student number later."
"Since you're from Kyoto Base City, your dormitory is in the Forbidden Purple Pavilion. I'll ask Chu Qiang to take you there later. Currently, there are only two students in the Forbidden Purple Pavilion, you and him."
"There are many spear masters in the training camp. If you have any questions about martial arts, you can always ask them. As for spirit masters, currently, there are no teachers in the training camp who can teach you. After all, there are only five Speaker-level spirit masters in the world, and only they have achieved perfect control over 10 or more spirit weapons, besides you."
Spirit masters were rare, and Speaker-level spirit masters were even rarer.
***
After the test ended, Shen Mu and Liu He had just walked out of the training room when they saw Chu Qiang waiting outside.
Liu He directly waved his hand and said, "Chu Qiang, your Junior Brother Shen Mu hasn't registered a student number yet, I'll leave it to you."
"Yes, Inspector Liu." Chu Qiang quickly responded.
Liu He outsourced the task assigned by the Grandmaster to Chu Qiang and then left the training camp. After Liu He left, many students gathered around.
Chu Qiang looked at Shen Mu and said, "Junior Brother Shen Mu, let me take you to register your number first. Tonight, our Chinese faction's students will hold a banquet for you. I'll introduce you to our Chinese faction's students then."
Shen Mu nodded and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Chu Qiang."
The management office of the elite training camp was on the first floor of the Nine-Story Tower. All procedures in the training camp were handled there.
The registration process was quick. Shen Mu entered the training camp in January 2058, but to become an official student, he had to wait until the first day of the next month, so the first four digits of his number were 5802, which represented the year and month. As for the last two digits, he could choose freely. Shen Mu directly chose 01, which happened to be the date he will officially become a student.
After completing the procedures, Chu Qiang took Shen Mu straight to the Forbidden Purple Pavilion. The so-called Forbidden Purple Pavilion was actually a quadrangle courtyard composed of four three-story pavilions, covering a considerable area, with a large locust tree in the courtyard.
Chu Qiang pointed to the pavilion in the south and said, "The South Pavilion is where I live. The other three places are empty. Of course, if you want, you can also live with me in the South Pavilion."
"Senior Brother Chu Qiang, I'll just live on the third one." Shen Mu was not interested in living with Chu Qiang.
Chu Qiang nodded slightly and then said, "I heard that Junior Brother Shen Mu also practices the Destroyer Spear Technique?"
Shen Mu nodded and said, "Yes, but I've only mastered the first level of the Destroyer Spear Technique's force technique."
Chu Qiang laughed and said, "That's already very good. After all, you are a spirit master. Coincidentally, I also practice the 'Destroyer' spear technique. As for my force amplitude, it's 4.8 times, and my spear technique is at the Artistic Conception level, on the same level as our training camp's spear technique teacher. If you have any questions, you can ask me too."
The Destroyer Spear Technique consisted of six levels. The force amplitude for the first five levels were 1.2 times, 2.4 times... up to 6 times. As for the sixth level, it described the realm of unity between heaven and man in spear technique, which no one in the world could master except for Hong.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Chu Qiang."
Shen Mu naturally would not refuse. He still needed to practice his spear technique, after all, he was not like Luo Feng, who had a Golden Horned Beast avatar that could break through to the Universe level and naturally possess a domain.
To have his own domain, he must gradually comprehend it step by step from the basics, micro, perfection, and Artistic Conception.
***
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