Chapter 24: A Leap of Advancement
Strivon / Ash Editor: Geoffrey / Lancent
The world in front of his eyes twisted and warped as a myriad of arcane glyphs flared one by one, changing the world completely into the Great Illusionary Land. Soon, Li Yao found himself in the middle of an enormous arena made up of embedded black stone tiles.
The test he was about to take was a simpler one, so the coming challenges were unlikely to prove as big of a spectacle as the ones from the last exam simulation.
The black stone arena was about 500 meters in diameter. Black walls were placed in all directions reaching towards the clouds. One could see countless passageways the color of blood all around when gazing far into the distance. The faint roars of demon beasts came out from inside them.
The figures of savage demon beasts gradually came into view.
Li Yao warmed up each joint of his body in a loose yet not leisurely manner, causing his body to produce a ringing of “pop pop pop pop” bursts. He thoughts suddenly moved to action when he thought back to last night and the earnest motions of the Federations 5th Sequence of Body Exercises performed by the smiling clown.
“It seems that this exercise is nothing special, there’s nothing profound about this. Forget it. Let’s first test the limits of my speed!” Li Yao ignored the dozen or so demon beasts that were approaching. He knelt on one knee, used his pair of hands to support himself, and stuck his buttocks up, adopting the stance of a starting runner.
“Bowowowowow!” Several demon beasts with scarlet eyes shouted for Li Yao to come over.
“Woosh!” Every single muscle fiber in Li Yao’s two legs burst forth like thousands upon thousands of sharp blades unsheathing. Two gaping holes the size of fists were stamped into the black stone tiled floor. He turned into an image of savageness as he flashed past seven to eight demon beasts!
Li Yao did not pay any attention at all to the eye-catching demon beasts. He only had one thought in his head, and that was to run!
He dashed 250 meters away from the center to the edge of the black tiled arena in an instant. He was 50 meters away from the wall, yet he still maintained his sprinting speed. Just when it looked as if he was about to crash into the wall, his body flew into the air and turned in a strange fashion. His pair of feet stomped heavily against the wall.
“Bang!”
A web of cracks appeared on the wall’s surface. Li Yao was like an arrow let loose from a bow as he shot towards the other side of the arena.
The dozen or so demon beasts had not even grasped half a hair on his head up to this point!
He traveled another 500 meters at lightning speed. Li Yao reversed directions once again and was standing fixed once more in the center of the arena. He had done this in the time it took to glance up at the sky.
“1000 meters in 1 minute and 32 seconds! Not bad. I have improved by 41 seconds over my previous self. The next thing to do is to test the limits of my jumping power!”
Li Yao squatted once again. He took off, sped up, and sprinted forward. Right before two of the demon beasts was about to rip him to shreds, he leapt super high, and like a released flying sword, he pierced towards the sky!
It was in this fashion that he tested his speed, endurance, jumping power, anti-gravity strength, and limit-burst ability under the surrounding pressure of demon beasts.
An hour later.
Li Yao was weary; his strength was spent. He was gasping for breath while he sat in the middle of the dismembered corpses of demon beasts. His face was painted with the wild blood of the vanquished foes.
His eyes pierced through the fog of blood. He gazed towards the sky, brimming with anticipation.
A black cloud was raging in the middle of the sky; a dark wind wreaked havoc while muffled lightning struck in waves; a series of complex calculations was happening. Finally, the Great Illusionary Land produced his current Spirit Actualization Quotient:
“58%!”
“58%!”
When Li Yao saw this sparkling shining figure, he could not help but wave his fist and roar out in excitement.
Two days ago, his Actualization Quotient was only 35%, categorized into the worst aptitude grade. After his mind went through purgatory training in the longest dream with Ou Yezi, his Actualization Quotient actually increased by over 20%. He was only one distant step away from reaching the cultivation geniuses of the Important Class.
Even though he knew clearly that this type of bodily rebirth probably can only happen once, there were still exactly 97 days until the exams. He had the absolute confidence that he could raise his Actualization Quotient by another 10% within this time frame!
The road ahead of him was still very long, but if he could forge onwards and pierce through any obstacles no matter how difficult, he would surely pass the test and join the Nine Elite Universities to step onto the road of cultivation — to become a Master Refiner!
Only when Li Yao left the Illusionary Land and stepped out of the examination chamber, did his heart finally stir greatly with emotion. It took a long time before he calmed down.
He felt an itch in every joint of his body. He felt every fiber of his muscles howling. Every time he breathed, he puffed out steam. His strength wandered throughout his body with nowhere to disperse. It caused him to stir incomparably restless and made him extremely impulsive.
He surveyed his surroundings. Everyone was training diligently. His best bro, Meng Jiang, was nowhere to be found. Li Yao was unable to share in his delight.
He swallowed a mouthful of spittle. The fire of restlessness still remained in his throat. Li Yao took a deep breath and walked to the end of the gym.
An old, dilapidated Strength Tester machine was set up over there.
These days, students were long accustomed to using the Great Illusionary Land to test their strength. They had no interest towards this old artifact with its simple mechanism and glyph array structure.
It had been a long time since someone had last used this old strength-tester artifact. The strength-testing machine was covered fully in dust. It was like a giant creature that had been dead for who knew how many years. Only a dark skeleton remained.
Li Yao was actually very fond of these kinds of old artifacts that were the complete opposite of the virtual and formless Great Illusionary Land. He felt these artifacts that were comprised of assembling countless parts, glyph arrays, and channels had an elaborate composition. It was a profoundly complicated, old artifact. It had a charm that was moving and thrilling.
The him of the present… needed urgently to unleash the feelings of excitement within his heart.
While it’s true he could do anything he wanted in the Great Illusionary Land, it was still incomparable with the real physical world. How could it compare with the real feeling of fist hitting flesh?
“Bang!”
Li Yao exploded out with an extremely simple fist. It landed perfectly on the center target of the strength tester machine. Suddenly, dust surged into the air, filling the sky as far as the eye could see.
The old artifact was like an enormous beast awakening from its slumber. Arcane glyphs flared one after another. Sweet sounds of colliding metal resonated from within the artifact. The sounds of gears churning and the sounds of essence energy surging through crystal channels rumbled out. Finally, a series of numbers appeared on the crystal channel counter on the surface of the strength tester machine.
“355 Pounds!”
“One strike of my fist only produced 355 lbs of force? It seems that my strike wasn’t very strong! I feel like I’m missing something… In the end, what could it be?” Li Yao squinted his eyes, allowing the dust to curl around his body. He stared dazedly at his fist, thinking hard from every angle.
He let out a light laugh a moment later and fished two earbuds out from his pocket.
This was the “Tone Bell” artifact crafted by the “Sounds of Wonder Guild”. With these plugged in one’s ear and with a telepathic thought, the microglyph arrays within these earbuds begin to operate to produce the sound of beautiful music for one’s ears.
“Look and see. The dark rolling clouds are incapable of blocking the ever-flowing galaxy!”
“The endless darkness will dissipate under the radiance of the heavenly stars that ignite all of life aflame!”
A recording of a resounding singing voice that caused one to believe in themselves over false gods and buddhas exploded between Li Yao’s pair of ears!
That’s right! This is it! The dark rolling clouds are incapable of blocking the ever-flowing galaxy! “DIE!” Li Yao’s hips sunk as he unleashed a deep howl. The dust that had settled on his body just a moment ago dispersed in a flash, forming a light gray orb with a radius of half a meter around his body. And just a moment later, this orb was ripped apart by the wind of his fist!
“Bang!”
“Bang Bang Bang!”
“Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang !!!!”
Right when the strength tester machine was producing the result, the tall silhouette of a bold and powerful person strode leisurely into the gymnasium.