prynovel Chapter 90 : Chapter 90
Chapter 90 : Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Tower Challenge — He Earned 50 Billion Eco Points on the First Floor!
“Oh, right. Ouyang Xun’s matter is more or less resolved for now, but what about your demonization problem?”
Mu Xiying suddenly remembered it.
“I already have a plan for that. After I come out of the Heaven-Reaching Tower, I will go deal with it!”
Xiao Xuan replied directly.
When the time came, he would have to make a trip abroad. Back in the future, he had already found the one who could solve his demonization problem.
But if he wanted to go overseas, he needed to be strong enough first. And this Heaven-Reaching Tower was the perfect place to raise his strength.
“That works too.”
After hearing that, Mu Xiying did not hesitate. She left the room with Xiao Xuan and flew toward the center of Imperial Capital University.
Imperial Capital University had a large number of cultivation facilities.
And among all of them, the least popular was the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
Although one could earn points in the Heaven-Reaching Tower, each person could only earn points the first time they cleared each floor, and the scores for the lower floors were not very high.
Of course, the place with the highest value was also the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
That was because the tower would set the strength and number of your opponents according to your level.
Naturally, you could also choose to increase the difficulty.
The higher the floor one could reach in the Heaven-Reaching Tower, the stronger one’s combat power at the same level would be.
For many people with powerful combat talents but weaker cultivation talents, the Heaven-Reaching Tower was a blessed land.
By relying on the points they earned there, they could exchange them for all kinds of cultivation resources and rapidly increase their strength.
By the time Mu Xiying and Xiao Xuan arrived beneath the tower, it was currently vacation time, so there were somewhat fewer students around.
Still, on the Martial Path, almost no one chose to go home for the holidays just to rest.
Even if they did go back, it would only be for a few days.
So although there were fewer people, there were still more than a dozen students waiting there.
That was right. The Heaven-Reaching Tower required people to queue up.
Only one person could enter at a time.
Of course, ordinary disciples only had one chance per year to challenge the tower.
So there was never any major congestion.
“So this is the Heaven-Reaching Tower? In the future, it was destroyed by my subordinate after I was demonized. This is the first time I have seen the real thing.”
Looking at the thousand-meter-tall giant tower, Xiao Xuan was curious.
Of course, having seen countless grand spectacles in the future, the Heaven-Reaching Tower before him was nothing particularly remarkable in his eyes.
“The Heaven-Reaching Tower is not actually that difficult. With your strength, clearing it will be effortless.”
“However, you can choose to raise the difficulty of the tower.”
“Of course, even if the difficulty is higher, the final points will not increase by all that much.”
Mu Xiying explained to Xiao Xuan.
She thought Xiao Xuan had only come for the points.
“I know. But since I am here, I am naturally going to challenge the highest difficulty.”
“Otherwise, what would be the point? Do you not agree?”
Xiao Xuan grinned.
Then, without waiting for Mu Xiying to say anything more, he walked straight into the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
After hearing that, Mu Xiying also felt that he had a point. After all, that was exactly what she had thought back then as well. So she followed him inside.
At the entrance to the Heaven-Reaching Tower was a service window. Xiao Xuan directly inserted his student ID card into it.
“Beep! Prodigy Disciple: Xiao Xuan. Number: 10!”
“Tower Challenge Floor: 0”
“Identity information has been entered. You may enter through the VIP channel directly, no queue required!!”
An electronic voice rang out.
The moment Xiao Xuan’s information appeared, however, all the students waiting to enter widened their eyes in disbelief.
“Holy hell, a Prodigy Disciple? Xiao Xuan? Why have I never heard of him?”
“Our Imperial Capital University has someone like that? And he is ranked directly at number ten?”
“Wait, wasn’t Zhao Wuji ranked fourth? How did it become Xiao Xuan?”
For a moment, everyone looked at Xiao Xuan and Mu Xiying, who had just walked in, with great curiosity.
But when they saw how young Xiao Xuan looked, all of them were bewildered.
The news about the Hundred-Province Genius Tournament had not spread yet. After all, only one night had passed.
“So I even have special privileges. Does that mean you still have to queue, Sister Ying?”
When Xiao Xuan heard that, he raised a brow.
“It does not matter. At most, it will only take a few hours.”
Mu Xiying did not mind.
“In that case, I will go in first!”
Hearing that, Xiao Xuan said nothing further and walked straight to the front.
A little more than ten minutes later, a seventh-year Martial King was teleported out with severe injuries all over his body.
The nearby medical team immediately rushed over and sent him into a treatment pod for healing.
“These Ferocious Beasts are pretty vicious.”
When Xiao Xuan saw that, he raised his brow.
Still, the more vicious they were, the better.
He did not hesitate and strode directly inside.
Buzz!!!
The moment he stepped into the teleportation array, Xiao Xuan, who possessed the Teleportation trait, sensed the surrounding space beginning to fluctuate.
In the next instant, his figure vanished from the spot.
……
……
With a blur before his eyes, Xiao Xuan found himself standing on a vast plain.
A plain in the most literal sense. There was not a single plant on the ground. The earth was extremely level, as if some terrifying force had flattened it.
Shallow traces of battle could be seen everywhere.
Yet there were no Ferocious Beasts here at all.
The plain was roughly ten thousand meters in diameter.
“This place does not seem to be inside the Heaven-Reaching Tower anymore. Then again, no matter how large the tower is, there is no way it could contain a plain this big, right?”
Xiao Xuan glanced around at the surrounding space and could not help pondering.
This place had likely been converted from a Subterranean Cavern as well.
The space inside Subterranean Caverns was actually quite easy to make use of. If properly utilized, it could provide the human race with a great deal more living space.
“Detected realm: First Heaven of the Martial Emperor Realm!”
“The following Tower Challenge modes are available.”
“Standard Tower Challenge Mode! Clearing the first floor rewards 100 points! For the first ten floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 100 points.”
“For the middle five floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 1,000 points!”
“For the final three floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 10,000 points!”
“……”
“Advanced Tower Challenge Mode! Clearing the first floor rewards 300 points! For the first ten floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 300 points.”
“For the middle five floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 3,000 points!”
“For the final three floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by 30,000 points!”
“Based on your realm, this mode is recommended for combat power above the Fifth Heaven of the Martial Emperor Realm!”
“……”
“High-Level Tower Challenge Mode! Clearing the first floor rewards 1,000 points! For the first ten floors, the reward increase is floor number × 1,000.”
“That is to say: second floor, 3,000; third floor, 6,000; fourth floor, 10,000 points; fifth floor, 15,000 points!”
“For the middle five floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by floor number × 10,000!”
“For the final three floors, each floor cleared increases the reward by floor number × 100,000!”
“Based on your realm, this mode is recommended for combat power above the First Heaven of the Martial Venerable Realm!”
“……”
“Custom Tower Challenge Mode! You may customize the tower challenge content yourself. The system will analyze the difficulty and calculate the final points accordingly.”
“In this mode, for the same level of difficulty, the points awarded are lower than in the three official modes. Please choose carefully!”
“……”
After Xiao Xuan landed, the rules of the Heaven-Reaching Tower appeared before his eyes as well.
The High-Level Tower Challenge Mode, which only those qualified to challenge as First Heaven Martial Venerables could attempt, already posed an enormous challenge even to the top geniuses on the Heaven Ranking.
“So if these points are converted into money, that means each point is worth 10,000.”
“In other words, even clearing the most ordinary mode would net about a billion?”
“As expected of Imperial Capital University. They really do spend without restraint.”
“Still, hardly anyone would choose the weakest basic mode.”
“After all, the points for each floor can only be claimed once.”
“If you choose the most basic mode, the difficulty of getting money is the lowest, but the amount you get is also very small.”
“Only people who are about to graduate would probably choose this place to cash out one last batch of resources.”
After thinking that through, Xiao Xuan did not hesitate and directly selected Custom.
“Please enter your customization parameters!”
The top-tier AI Core of the Heaven-Reaching Tower spoke in an electronic voice.
“Exactly how many Subterranean Caverns is the Heaven-Reaching Tower connected to? And can all the Ferocious Beasts in those caverns be teleported here?”
Xiao Xuan did not rush to define the challenge. Instead, he asked first.
“The Heaven-Reaching Tower is connected to 358 eighth-tier Subterranean Caverns!”
“And that number is still continuously increasing. All of these caverns are covered and sealed by a teleportation grand formation constructed by the human race’s number one Formation Master, Grandmaster Liu Yan, a high tenth-tier Formation Master and seventh-rank Martial Saint!”
“It can precisely teleport all Ferocious Beasts within the formation into the Heaven-Reaching Tower!”
“So you may customize freely. As long as those Ferocious Beasts exist within those eighth-tier Subterranean Caverns, they can all be teleported here!”
The AI Core’s voice rang out again.
“Grandmaster Liu Yan? So it was actually his handiwork. I remember that in the future, he used an eleventh-tier formation to injure even me after I was demonized!
“He really is a capable man!”
When Xiao Xuan heard that name, he immediately understood.
“In that case, teleport all the Ferocious Beasts above the seventh tier from all those caverns here for me, then distribute them among these eighteen floors according to their level and strength!”
“Now calculate how many points I will get in the end!”
Very quickly, Xiao Xuan laid out the trial content he had planned long ago.
The moment he said it, the AI Core fell silent.
It seemed to have entered a state of calculation.
But very soon, the result appeared.
“According to your custom configuration, the trial difficulty is extremely high.”
“On the eighteenth floor, you will face thirty-eight Ferocious Beasts at the peak of the Martial Venerable Realm!”
“Even the current number one on the Heaven Ranking would be unable to clear the tenth floor!”
“If your method is used, the point rewards will be as follows.”
“Base reward for the first floor: 1,000 points. After that, the reward for each floor doubles!”
“The tenth floor reward will be 500,000 points! Clearing the eighteenth floor will reward 128 million points!”
“Battle records from the Imperial Capital University Supreme AI Core of your battle with Ouyang Zhantian have been detected. You possess the strength and qualifications to activate this customization! Do you wish to proceed?”
A prompt sounded quickly.
When Xiao Xuan heard that, he raised a brow.
At this level of difficulty, the tenth floor would probably be far harder than the eighteenth floor of the High-Level Mode.
And yet the total points awarded were actually lower than the High-Level Mode.
This Custom Mode was probably intended for those who did not care about points and only wanted specialized training.
But for specialized training, Imperial Capital University had plenty of other places with even better results.
That was why no one had ever used the Custom Mode.
And from the sound of it, even this customization required the challenger to have the qualifications for whatever they were trying to define.
Which made sense. Xiao Xuan’s custom setup was essentially emptying out all the caverns at once. The amount of energy required would definitely be terrifying.
The AI Core clearly had some threshold-based screening.
If anyone could customize it like this whenever they wanted, then no matter how powerful Imperial Capital University was, it would never be able to withstand such terrifying consumption.
And Xiao Xuan, with the realm of First Heaven Martial Emperor, had killed Ouyang Zhantian, a peak Martial Emperor and number one on the Heaven Ranking. Naturally, his strength qualified him to activate this custom configuration.
“Confirmed. Use exactly this setup for me.”
Xiao Xuan did not waste any more words and chose to begin immediately.
“Understood. Teleportation will begin shortly! It will take some time, so please prepare yourself!”
The AI Core replied respectfully.
Buzz!!!
In the next moment, Xiao Xuan sharply sensed a terrifying spatial fluctuation spreading through the entire cavern.
Even the surrounding space began to grow unstable.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!!
As expected, with wave after wave of spatial ripples, enormous Ferocious Beasts began falling from the sky one after another.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
The moment those Ferocious Beasts hit the ground, they smashed enormous craters into the earth.
The sound of dense masses of Ferocious Beasts landing thundered into Xiao Xuan’s ears.
And all of those suddenly teleported beasts were filled with vigilance.
Seeing so many other Ferocious Beasts around them with strength similar to their own, every single one of them released powerful auras. At the slightest provocation, a battle might erupt.
But very soon, an invisible force locked onto Xiao Xuan.
In the next instant, all the Ferocious Beasts went berserk and fixed their gaze on Xiao Xuan’s position.
“ROAR!!”
“ROAR!!”
“AWOOO!!!”
“GRAAAH!!!”
……
As all kinds of beastly roars erupted, every Ferocious Beast in the area charged madly toward Xiao Xuan.
“So they are all at the First Heaven of the Martial Emperor Realm?”
“There really are a lot of them. I just wonder how long it will take before they finish teleporting them all.”
“But no matter. I will kill first.”
Looking at the Ferocious Beasts still raining madly from the sky, Xiao Xuan smiled.
Without the slightest hesitation, he activated Telekinetic Force!
Boom!!
His Nanotech Battle Armor instantly burst apart, transforming into blade after blade of flying knives that hovered around him.
Their number quickly reached a hundred.
At the same time, countless cracks split open across his body.
A great quantity of blood burst forth, then poured into those flying knives. In an instant, blood-colored flames surged over them, shrouding them completely.
In the future, one of the telekinetic martial techniques Xiao Xuan specialized in was called Soul Blood Domain!
With the Blood Domain Flying Blades, it formed a telekinetic domain.
Because these flying knives were infused with Xiao Xuan’s blood, each one possessed its own awareness and could automatically seek out enemies. The moment an enemy entered their attack range, they would instantly tear them apart.
He could practically kill while lying down.
Relying on this martial technique, the future Xiao Xuan had basically never needed to move in battle.
Of course, in the future, at his peak, he could produce tens of thousands of flying knives. Right now, he could barely manage a hundred.
Fortunately, each of these flying knives could unleash the full force of his telekinetic strike, so practically no one could withstand them.
“Slaughter!!!”
With a single thought from Xiao Xuan, all the flying knives shot out wildly, instantly turning into more than a hundred blood-red streams of light that frenziedly pierced through the bodies of the Ferocious Beasts.
Pff! Pff! Pff! Pff! Pff!!!
The moment those flying knives touched the beasts, it was no different from cutting through empty air.
Almost instantly, they pierced through the beasts’ heads and burned their brains dry on the spot!
Not a single beast had time to let out a scream before they began collapsing one after another in a mad wave.
Looking at the corpses of those Ferocious Beasts, Xiao Xuan did not waste them. He directly waved his hand.
His storage space opened.
Buzz!!!
In the next moment, a huge spatial rift opened across the sky.
A violent suction force erupted from within the rift, drawing the beasts from the ground upward one after another.
That storage space was like a bottomless pit.
These Ferocious Beasts could not fill it at all.
Although that storage space was only a top silver trait, its diameter had reached a terrifying ten thousand kilometers.
Forget these Ferocious Beasts. It could have barely fit the Earth itself before the world mutated.
Of course, as those Ferocious Beasts died in great numbers, a vast quantity of traits also exploded out onto the ground.
Because there were far too many beasts, Xiao Xuan naturally could not plunder each one’s traits individually.
He could only rely on them dropping after death.
Fortunately, every beast guaranteed at least one purple Death trait, along with one or even two inherent purple traits of its own.
Since Ferocious Beasts mostly possessed the three basic physical-body traits, those were also what they dropped the most.
But to Xiao Xuan, it did not matter what kind of trait it was. As long as it was purple, that was enough.
With that thought, Xiao Xuan’s telekinetic force erupted as well.
He began collecting the purple traits from the ground.
Even before, it had not been a problem for him to pick up purple traits, but the range had been very small.
Now that his strength had soared, not only had the range covered by his telekinetic force expanded by thousands of times, but even picking up purple traits had become extraordinarily easy.
The purple traits on the ground turned into a torrent of violet light and crazily streamed into Xiao Xuan’s body.
[Congratulations, you have collected 2,541 purple traits and obtained 100 million Eco Points!]
[Congratulations, you have collected 2,654 purple traits and obtained 100 million Eco Points!]
[Congratulations, you have collected 2,214 purple traits and obtained 100 million Eco Points!]
[Congratulations, you have collected 2,684 purple traits and obtained 100 million Eco Points!]
……
……
For a time, one notification after another from the Supreme Will echoed through his mind.
And Xiao Xuan’s Eco Points rose at a terrifying speed.
“This formation is not bad at all. As expected of a combined structure made from several hundred peak ninth-tier formations and one high tenth-tier grand formation!”
“It is quite convenient for clearing out Subterranean Caverns!”
Seeing his Eco Points quickly break past ten billion, Xiao Xuan could not help nodding.
Of course, because these First Heaven Martial Emperor Ferocious Beasts were too weak, the value of their traits was low. Once he reached the higher floors, the Eco Point gains would be much greater.
As time passed, a total of 480,000 seventh-tier Ferocious Beasts were fully teleported over.
Xiao Xuan obtained more than 800,000 purple traits in all. There were blue traits as well, but they were far less valuable than the purple ones.
The total number of his Eco Points increased by more than 50 billion.
However, eight full hours had also passed.
After all, the number of Ferocious Beasts had been too great.
Teleportation itself was the biggest problem.
“The number of beasts on the later floors should decrease. Otherwise, if Mu Xiying returns to the future next time while I still have not even finished clearing the tower here, that will be troublesome.”
After thinking of that, Xiao Xuan stopped dwelling on it.
[Congratulations, you have successfully cleared the first-floor trial! The opponents for the second floor will now begin teleporting in!
Please prepare yourself!]
A prompt soon sounded.
“So this so-called trial ground only has one battlefield!”
“Then again, that makes sense. Connecting more than three hundred eighth-tier Subterranean Caverns requires a high tenth-tier formation. A formation of that level is already amazing enough to have even one. Other countries could not build even one no matter if they devoted the strength of an entire nation.”
“So naturally they could not make several.”
At that thought, Xiao Xuan felt a little conflicted. This time, he had slaughtered every Martial Emperor- and Martial Venerable-level beast.
Would that not render the Heaven-Reaching Tower useless?
But he soon realized the truth.
What made those more than three hundred eighth-tier Subterranean Caverns precious was not the caverns themselves, but the formations required to connect them.
The formations could be moved freely.
After all, no matter how many caverns there were, they still could not withstand the students of Imperial Capital University coming here every day to train. So the locations of those formations were frequently changed.
Once the Ferocious Beasts in one cavern were nearly wiped out, the formation in that cavern would be moved to the next eighth-tier cavern.
This not only met the live-combat needs of the geniuses at Imperial Capital University,
but also ensured their safety.
At the same time, it helped address the ever-growing number of eighth-tier Subterranean Caverns across Huaxia.
So in theory, although Xiao Xuan’s method would empty all the currently linked caverns at once,
the university would only need to connect a few dozen more caverns to temporarily restore enough supply for its geniuses’ training needs.
In only about half a year, all the formations could be linked to new caverns, and the Heaven-Reaching Tower would return to normal operation.
Otherwise, if Xiao Xuan’s custom trial could truly destroy the Heaven-Reaching Tower simply by being cleared, then this custom challenge would never have been approved in the first place.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!!
But right at that moment, large spatial ripples appeared in the sky again. Then Ferocious Beasts began falling down one after another like raindrops.
And this time, their level had risen to the Second Heaven of the Martial Emperor Realm.
A new round of slaughter had begun!!
……
……
Meanwhile, outside!
The queue for the Heaven-Reaching Tower had already grown to seventy or eighty students.
Ordinarily, the Heaven-Reaching Tower could process three to five students per hour!
That was because most people only challenged the first floor.
And most of the time, they lost there as well.
Only students who had not challenged it in many years, or freshmen who had just enrolled, would sometimes challenge several floors in one go.
But there were only a very few such cases.
Yet now, a full eight hours had passed, and Xiao Xuan still had not even cleared the first floor.
“No way. Is this Heaven Ranking number ten guy really struggling this much just to clear the first floor? He is ranked tenth on the Heaven Ranking! Even on high-level difficulty, he should have cleared it instantly!”
“For fuck’s sake, did he fall asleep in there or something?
“And every floor has a time limit. He has been in there eight hours already. Why has the tower still not marked him as failed?”
“Could he have chosen the legendary Custom Mode? But even in Custom Mode, the first floor should not be this hard!”
……
For a time, all the students in line were talking among themselves.
When the later arrivals learned that the one challenging the tower was Heaven Ranking number ten, they had not complained at first.
But now that eight hours had passed, they truly could not wait any longer.
It was too slow. It was just far too slow.