novelraw Chapter 789 - 737: Rankings
Chapter 789 - 737: Rankings
The sound of discussion rose behind him.
"It’s Audric Bloodgold!"
"The one from the Golden Dragon lineage? Is he going in too?"
"No kidding, who else but him? Just wait and see how far he can go."
"At least fifteen layers, right? After all, he’s from the Blood Gold Clan..."
Audric ignored the chatter. He walked slowly, each step exuding an innate, aristocratic calm.
He stepped into the blue barrier.
The barrier shimmered with ripples, and his figure disappeared beyond the gate.
On the leaderboard, the top position lit up.
1st Place: Audric Bloodgold (Blood Rose)
Current Layer: 1
Time Taken: 00:00:00
The plaza erupted with even greater discussion.
"Audric! The first one!"
"The Blood Gold Clan is just different, no hesitation at all."
"Look, look, his layers are moving! How many seconds was that?"
Current Layer: 2
Time Taken: 00:00:47
"Forty-seven seconds? He finished the first layer in just forty-seven seconds?"
"The second layer is moving too! Third layer now!"
Current Layer: 3
Time Taken: 00:01:35
In just a minute and a half, he’d cleared three layers.
The entire plaza fell silent for a moment, then the chatter swelled like a tide.
"One and a half minutes for three layers? Is this illusion realm that simple?"
"It’s not that the illusion realm is simple, it’s that Audric is too strong..."
"Simple or not, just go in and try, right?"
"You’re right, I’ll go first!"
People in the crowd began to get restless.
Those who were initially observing watched as Audric’s name on the leaderboard climbed rapidly—fourth layer, fifth layer, sixth layer—and finally, they couldn’t hold back any longer.
Gradually, people entered the teleportation gate, and a young warlock in a Star Tower robe pushed through the crowd, striding towards the gate.
With an expression of "if he can do it, so can I," he didn’t even glance back at his companions but charged straight into the barrier.
A new name appeared on the leaderboard.
47th Place: Alex Stardust (Star Tower)
Current Layer: 1
Time Taken: 00:00:00
And then—
The barrier flashed.
The young warlock named Alex stumbled back out of the gate.
He stumbled back several steps, plopping down on the ground, face pale, forehead beaded with cold sweat.
His magic robe was covered in dust, hair disheveled, looking as if something had chased him all the way.
The plaza went silent for a moment.
Then someone burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! What just happened?"
"In for three seconds and then out?"
"Alex? Didn’t you say it was easy?"
Alex sat on the ground, panting heavily, his face alternating between blue and white.
Several Star Tower students hurried over to help him up, only to be pushed away.
"I got careless..." he said through gritted teeth, "I hadn’t even reacted in the first layer’s illusion, and then..."
He didn’t finish, but everyone understood.
He got wiped out.
Couldn’t even pass the first layer.
The discussions in the plaza grew even more chaotic.
Some were gloating, others were secretly glad they hadn’t rushed in; some began to reassess the difficulty of this test.
Yet there were still those who refused to believe it.
"Alex that failure, he was never good at real combat," a young witch in a Blood Rose robe snorted disdainfully as she pushed through the crowd towards the teleportation gate, "I’ll go."
She went in.
Forty-five seconds later, she came out.
She didn’t stumble but looked equally displeased.
In half an hour, at least twenty people had gone in to challenge, with results all over the place.
Some barely made it past the first layer, some got stuck on the third layer, unable to get through no matter what, and some didn’t even get a feel for the first layer.
On the leaderboard, those names that had just lit up, one after another, turned gray, marking their exits.
Only a few names remained lit, continuing to climb.
Meanwhile, at the very top, Audric’s name had already reached the ninth layer.
1st Place: Audric Bloodgold (Blood Rose)
Current Layer: 9
Time Taken: 00:27:13
The discussions in the plaza started to change.
"Ninth layer... twenty-seven minutes..."
"He’s going to push through all ten layers in one go."
"Haven’t you noticed? Those who went in, the fastest only reached the third layer; most couldn’t even pass the first layer."
"No kidding, did you think this was child’s play? This is a selection test!"
"Good thing I didn’t rush in..."
The atmosphere in the plaza gradually shifted.
The initial eagerness had cooled as one failed participant after another emerged from the teleportation gate, replaced by a more cautious, probing attitude.
People began to gather around those who had come out, inquiring about the inside.
"Which layer did you come out from?"
"The first layer..."
"What was it like inside? What kind of demon?"
"It was a... I can’t say exactly, but it was big, very fast."
"Be clear!"
"I can’t explain it! Go see for yourself!"
Similar conversations played out across the plaza.
Duke stood at the edge of the crowd, quietly listening to the scattered information.
A witch who had come out of the second layer was surrounded by seven or eight people, bombarding her with questions.
"The first layer had a few shadow cats. Very fast, but not very defensive. I used an area spell to clear them." She paused, "The second layer was an armored rhinoceros. Its skin was too thick, I couldn’t break through, and after half an hour, I ran out of magic power, so I had to leave."
Beside her, someone pressed, "Shadow cats? Why did my friend encounter a venomous python?"
"Venomous python? That’s different."
"I faced a giant spider..."
"Mine was a corrosive slime..."