Chapter 155: The Strength Trial Begins

“Beep, entering the Strength Trial.”

“Within the Trial Tower, you’ll face enemies of all varieties. Defeat them to move on to the next floor.”

“In the Strength Trial, all equipment bonuses are nullified and other attributes drastically reduced.”

“Battle commences in 10 seconds. Please prepare.”

A brief flash of dizziness later, Yenir’s eyes snapped open and he quickly scanned his surroundings.

He found himself inside a dim tower—a vast, open space spanning roughly a kilometer—with no structures to obstruct his view. All around, dark, ominous walls stood like those in a massive coliseum.

In the distance, a huge, pulsating circle repeatedly flashed—it was clearly the spawn point for mutated creatures.

All his equipment was sealed away, leaving him with only his basic skills.

Just like his stripped attributes, his equipment skills were purely functional, causing no damage whatsoever.

Gazing at the twin swords in his hand, as white as daylight, Yenir assumed a standard combat stance, slightly crouched, waiting for the monsters to appear.

“Promotion to 10th floor… Reach above 20th floor to break into the global top three.”

“The 23rd floor marks the limits of humanity after the apocalypse…”

A silent murmur.

Watching the enormous ranking display on his right, Yenir took a deep breath and steadily adjusted his state.

His target was floors above 24!

Perhaps even in his past life he could not achieve it, but in this life he was far more confident!

One reason was that his attribute conversion ability hadn’t been sealed.

Thanks to the Ling An Ring’s special effect, he could completely convert his willpower into strength, granting him attributes beyond those of Second-Stage fighters! It wasn’t huge, but enough to rival a top-tier strength talent.

“With my attributes and combat techniques, breaking to the 20th floor shouldn’t be a problem.”

“For the remaining floors, I’ll rely on my four SSS-Level sword techniques…”

As he silently mapped out the battles ahead, a fierce determination surged within him.

Little did anyone know he even possessed the abnormal Sword God System.

Indeed, with his willpower suppressed, his spiritual energy was nearly useless—no Awakener could use skills beyond their innate talent.

Yet his SSS-Level sword techniques, which require no energy, ignored any such limitations completely!

It was like having an unfair advantage. With four Third-Stage sword skills at his disposal, Yenir mused that if he couldn’t clinch first place, he might as well just crash headlong into death!

The difficulty beyond the 20th floor was exceedingly high, but even then, they wouldn’t spawn advanced Third-Stage mutants.

To him, no matter how strong the mutant, a single sword strike was all it took!

“Buzz–”

In a blink, 10 seconds had passed.

With a piercing shriek, a First-Stage zombie hound sprang forth from the glowing circle in the distance.

Its skin peeled away to reveal red muscle; after a brief hesitation, the creature’s head split open like a blooming petal. Drooling, it lunged in a frenzy.

Its sharp, powerful claws scraped the ground with a cacophony of sound.

In an instant, Yenir let out a cold laugh and charged forward with his sword, thrusting without hesitation.

“Swish!”

With a perfectly aimed strike, his razor-sharp alloy sword impaled the zombie hound from mouth to brain. With one lethal blow, he casually shook his sword to shatter its brain before holstering it with a light chuckle, ending the fight.

He barely even used any stamina. Against these low-level mutants, his kills were effortless.

The first seven floors were merely appetizers—no challenge whatsoever for him.

“Beep, floor 1 passed.”

“Next floor in 30 seconds.”

“Please prepare.”

“Expected mutant spawn: Steel-Clawed Leaping Zombie.”

….

In the real world, outside the Trial Tower.

“It’s underway, everyone.”

Holding an instrument resembling a display screen, Yang Guoping calmly announced while gazing at the rippling vortex of the trial.

The device in his hand was a special system artifact with little intrinsic power—the only function being to relay the current floor reached by Awakener candidates inside the trial.

The trial wouldn’t last long; the upper echelons could afford to wait.

After all, the sequence re-ranking was at stake, and many high-level participants were eager to secure the latest updates firsthand.

“Progress is uniform—all have reached the third floor now.”

Every few minutes, Chen Kailai succinctly reported the status, while the others engaged in casual chatter.

This time, only elite Second-Stage fighters had entered. The first ten floors posed virtually no challenge.

“The pace for the first seven floors should be the same.”

“Any differences will emerge around the seventh or even tenth floor.”

“I wonder who’ll hit the tenth floor first?”

Among the high-level group, one Third-Stage fighter specializing in Strength, with evident interest, chatted with his companions. The initial seven floors were populated solely by First-Stage mutants. As long as one had consumed a Strength Fruit and had decent talent, passage was easy.

The gap appeared in the final three floors, where battles turned into duels against Second-Stage opponents.

Lacking sufficient combat experience, a mediocre Second-Stage challenger could fall with a single misstep.

“Probably Commander Zhang’s son…”

“With Zhang Yang’s SS-level talent and dual-system advantages, he can rapidly replenish energy and burst into power. For him, conserving strength is not even a concern.”

“That’s true. If I were him, I’d station myself at the spawn point and kill any mutant as soon as it appears. It hardly takes any time.”

Among the crowd, Zhang Meng listened with a smile to the discussion unfolding behind him. Although there was some exaggeration, the facts spoke for themselves.

“Not necessarily.”

“Wang Kai, descendant of Wang Chu, also boasts impressive talent. I’ve heard his strength burst is off the charts and his speed isn’t far behind.”

Zhang Meng turned to a nearby Middle-Aged Man and remarked approvingly, not minding to give him some credit.

The Middle-Aged Man’s status appeared much higher than Wang Hai’s—a commander vs. a deputy. However, as director of supplies in the Capital Safe Zone, Wang Hai wielded covert power that even he had to respect.

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Hai smiled coolly, though inwardly he felt a twinge of anxiety.

Unlike Zhang Meng, whose background was strictly military, Wang Kai—despite having S-level talent—could never bear to see his son grappling headlong with monsters.

Though his talent was promising, his strength was entirely forged through Spirit Crystals. This time, in a bid to advance quickly, he had no choice but to enter the instance. Like Zhang Meng, he barely managed to clear it at the cost of four Third-Stage fighters.

Wang Hai’s combat experience had him genuinely worried.

Promotion was assured, but he wasn’t confident about the pace. All he could do was hope that Wang Kai would step up and deliver a stellar performance.

In a series of factional discussions among several groups, Zhao Long—clearly the most concerned about Yenir—wore a grim expression.

Chen Kailai had specifically instructed him to look after Yenir and informed him that a cooperation had been established. For Chen, Yenir was his key investment.

But he hadn’t expected Yenir to disregard his advice and act on his own.

Nobody really worried about Yenir; in everyone’s eyes, he was the one least worth monitoring in this trial. At best, they were all curious about whether he’d be the last to pass the 10th floor.

Listening to the chatter around him, his anxiety festered like ants incessantly nibbling at his heart.

In this trial, besides the two Strength-Type seeds, the other twenty entrants were all established Second-Stage fighters. Yenir, an Awakener with a willpower system, simply couldn’t match them.

Without talent bonuses and with everyone operating at their limits, Yenir was arguably the weakest link.

“If I end up at the bottom of the rankings… things will look really bad…”