14: Chapter 14 Ranking of the Trial Tower

Jiang Ling entered the main gate and found the interior to be very lively. Some people were exchanging experiences, some were waiting in line, and others were checking the leaderboards.

"The one at the top is indeed Jiang Ting of the Jiang Family. He actually broke through to the 18th floor with 5,800 points!"

"As expected of an SS-grade talent!"

"It's estimated that he'll be able to take the title of provincial top scholar for our Xiangnan Province this year!"

"The Jiang Family had already produced three disciples with the bearing of a Prodigy, and now another SS-grade has appeared. Their Luck is truly extraordinary!"

"Isn't there another one in the Jiang Family named Jiang Ling?"

"How come I don't see him on the leaderboard?"

"He was always number one back at school!"

"Don't you know?"

"This Jiang Ling Awakened an F-grade trash Supernatural Ability and has already been kicked out of the house by the Jiang Family!"

"Ah! To think such a thing happened. That's a bit of a pity!"

"It's said that his martial arts talent is very strong!"

"No matter how strong your martial arts talent is, it's useless without a powerful Supernatural Ability!"

"A powerful Supernatural Ability is the key factor that determines one's ceiling."

...

Jiang Ling listened to these discussions without any expression on his face.

Growing up, he had heard more than enough of other people's gossip.

Because of his status as an illegitimate son of the Jiang Family, he was often targeted by Jiang Ting. Being the number one in martial arts talent at school, talk about him had never ceased.

Jiang Ling went to the counter, purchased a resurrection stone, and then headed to the entrance to line up.

There weren't many people in line today, only a dozen or so, and it was soon Jiang Ling's turn.

"Is your resurrection stone ready?"

The guard at the door was responsible for checking for resurrection stones. Without one, entry into the trial tower was prohibited.

"I've bought it!"

Jiang Ling showed the resurrection stone to the guard.

"Go on in!"

The guard waved him through.

Jiang Ling walked inside. After passing through a downward passage, he soon saw a teleportation gate ahead that looked like a Secret Realm.

Without any hesitation, Jiang Ling stepped inside.

Buzz!

A flash of white light later, Jiang Ling entered a white space. Everything around him was a vast expanse of white, with nothing in sight.

Standing inside, it felt as though Jiang Ling was standing in the middle of Chaos.

"Identity information detected: Jiang Ling, Grade 12, Class 7 student of Yue City No. 1 High School!"

"Trial authorization level is Rank 1, possessing basic challenge qualification for the trial tower!"

"Rank detected as Rank 12. Difficulty will be adapted to the Rank 12 stage!"

"Would you like to begin the challenge?"

A mechanical electronic female voice rang out in Jiang Ling's space, sounding like an artificial intelligence broadcast.

"It's actually this sci-fi?" Jiang Ling raised an eyebrow, finding it quite novel.

"Begin!"

As Jiang Ling's words fell, the scene before his eyes immediately changed.

As if aeons had passed in an instant, the original chaotic space transformed into a lush, green deep forest.

He stepped on the grass; it was soft and felt no different from real grass.

The fragrance of grass and wildflowers drifted into his nose from time to time, carrying the scent of fresh soil.

From the surrounding thickets came the occasional sound of cicadas and birds, and the sound of rushing water could be heard in the distance. It was practically a real world.

"I thought this place would be like a virtual game device, but I didn't expect it to be so realistic!"

Jiang Ling clicked his tongue in wonder.

Just then, Jiang Ling's mind suddenly stirred as he sensed a wave of killing intent.

He immediately took out the horizontal saber from his spatial ring.

Hisss!

"My saber can actually be perfectly manifested too!"

Jiang Ling looked toward a thicket, perceiving that the danger was coming from that direction.

The next moment, with a howl, a giant brown wolf roared and lunged toward Jiang Ling.

A Rank 10 exotic beast, the Mane Giant Wolf.

A Rank 10 exotic beast posed almost no threat to the current Jiang Ling.

Jiang Ling didn't even need to use Wind Thunder Slash; he simply stepped forward and delivered a horizontal slash.

Puchi!

A huge gash was instantly cut into the giant wolf's neck. Blood sprayed out violently, splashing onto Jiang Ling's body with a heavy, fishy smell.

Thud!

The giant wolf fell heavily to the ground, struggling for a few moments, but it could not get back up and soon died.

"So real!"

Jiang Ling touched the giant wolf's fur; the texture was exactly like the real thing.

"Ding! Combat has caused the leveling effect to double. Realm increased by 0.38%!"

"Eh? Fighting in here can also increase my Realm?"

"It's just that the leveling effect from a Rank 10 exotic beast is no longer that strong for me!"

"And because it's a virtual simulation, it's even lower than a real exotic beast."

"But even small amounts of meat are still meat!"

...

Just as Jiang Ling was preparing to continue hunting, the mechanical electronic voice sounded again.

"Congratulations, you have passed the first floor!"

"You have thirty minutes of rest time, or you can directly start the second floor!"

"That's the first floor cleared!"

Jiang Ling raised an eyebrow.

"It seems the first floor is just a foundation and isn't difficult!"

"Then let's start the second floor directly!"

As Jiang Ling's words fell, the world shifted once more, and the surroundings turned into a desert.

"It's a desert this time!"

"I wonder what kind of exotic beast it will be!"

Jiang Ling crouched down and let a handful of sand flow through his fingertips, finding it was still absolutely lifelike.

Jiang Ling held his saber and looked around, but found nothing; there was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see.

Just then, a sudden squeaking sound rang out.

Jiang Ling immediately became alert. The next moment, he saw many giant yellow scorpions crawling out from under the sand, rushing quickly toward him.

Each scorpion was about the size of a small wolfhound.

"It's scorpions this time!"

"Looking at this appearance, they should be quite troublesome!"

Jiang Ling took a light breath. Seeing the dozen or so scorpions arrive before him in an instant, he gave a low shout and swung his saber forward. A sheet of lightning covered the scorpions.

Crackle...

As the lightning erupted on the scorpions, they all flipped over one by one, the smell of roasted meat emanating from their bodies.

"They're all dead just like that?"

Jiang Ling couldn't help but rub his nose. It seemed the difficulty here wasn't as high as he had imagined!

"Congratulations, you have passed the second floor!"

"You have thirty minutes of rest time, or you can directly start the third floor!"

"Start the third floor!"

Jiang Ling hadn't expended much effort at all, so he naturally didn't need to rest.

The scene before him changed once again. Jiang Ling appeared on a large ship. Dark clouds rolled in the sky, thunder boomed, and pitch-black waves surged below, as if they were about to completely overturn the ship.

Jiang Ling staggered, nearly falling.

"This time the scene is actually in the middle of the sea!"

"The content of this trial tower is truly rich enough!"

"What will the exotic beast be this time?"

Jiang Ling looked around warily.

After a while, a sudden ethereal song rang out, ethereal and beautiful, striking directly at the heart with an endless allure.

"Sirens!"

Jiang Ling reacted immediately.

If it were a Martial Artist with poor Mental Energy, they would be easily hypnotized by the siren's song and then offer themselves up to the siren's mouth.

But Jiang Ling's Mental Energy was 60 (X10), reaching a full 600 points.

This kind of hypnosis was completely child's play to him.

Before long, the sirens realized Jiang Ling hadn't been hypnotized and began to leap onto the ship one by one.

"Finally here!"

"Kill!"

Jiang Ling showed no mercy, brandishing his horizontal saber and charging forward.

Puchi puchi puchi...

The Ranks of these sirens ranged from Rank 10 to Rank 12. Jiang Ling had absolutely no difficulty killing them.

In the blink of an eye, all the sirens were dead.

"Congratulations, you have passed the third floor!"

"You have thirty minutes of rest time, or you can directly start the fourth floor!"