Chapter 114: The Trial Tower, a Weapon That Can Only Be Called "Cheating"! (Bonus Chapter for Reaching 400 Average Subscriptions)

"All geniuses of the 1008 universe sectors, assemble at the central plaza!"

A voice resonated within the consciousness of every genius. Jiang Chen, who was drinking at a bar, heard the voice as well and simultaneously sensed an incredibly subtle force attempting to intrude upon his mind.

Before Jiang Chen could even think to resist, he lost consciousness entirely. A Universe Venerable’s handiwork was, naturally, not something a "little guy" like Jiang Chen could withstand. Had it not been for his [Soul Sublimation] specialty, he wouldn't even have had the chance to perceive it.

Across countless restaurants and bars, and within the 1008 massive buildings, unconscious geniuses were lifted into the air, flying toward the central plaza to line up according to their respective universe sectors. In mere moments, 1,008,000 geniuses had formed a neat, massive formation.

Then, all the geniuses woke up.

"What a terrifying illusion!" A bead of cold sweat appeared on Jiang Chen's forehead. Under the enhancement of his [Soul Sublimation] specialty, he had barely managed to perceive how the Nine Swords Venerable had acted, but he was completely helpless to stop it. The gap in willpower and consciousness between them was simply too vast.

"What's going on?"
"Why am I here? Wasn't I resting in my room?"

The geniuses were all in a state of shock. At that moment, the immortal leaders from the 1008 universe sectors simultaneously released their own pressure. The overwhelming aura of over a thousand immortals instantly silenced the millions of geniuses; not a single one dared to make a sound.

"Welcome to the 'Peak Genius Tournament' hosted by my Virtual Universe Company," a gentle voice echoed.

The Nine Swords Venerable stood high in the sky, naturally radiating a powerful aura. The space where he stood seemed subtly distorted, as if he were not in the same dimension as the rest of them. That sense of disorientation was incredibly uncomfortable; just one glance caused dizziness, forcing everyone to quickly look away.

Ignoring the reaction of the geniuses below, the Nine Swords Venerable continued, "There are 1008 universe sectors, each selecting one thousand geniuses, totaling 1,008,000 participants. However, the Virtual Universe Company only wants the geniuses among geniuses, the elite among the elite. Only the best one thousand among you are qualified to be recruited by us as core members."

"The rules for these million people fighting for the one thousand spots are as follows."

"In the first stage, tomorrow, all of you will enter a 'Trial Space.' We have prepared over a million such spaces, one for each person."

"There are seven trial towers in each space! Each tower has seven levels!"

"Start from the first tower. Once you finish the seven levels of the first, proceed to the second... keep going until you die or are expelled from the space!"

"Your ranking will be calculated based on the points you earn in the trial space."

"The top 1 to 100 participants will be directly recruited as core members by the Virtual Universe Company, claiming 100 of the available spots without further screening."

"Participants ranked 101 to 7300 will engage in a tournament to compete for the remaining nine hundred spots."

"As for those ranked 7301 and beyond, they are all eliminated!"

"Now, you are free to do as you please! Tomorrow at this time, the trial space assessment will begin promptly!"

With that, the Nine Swords Venerable departed with the 1008 immortals.

Pandemonium erupted in the plaza. Out of over a million geniuses, only 7300 would pass the first stage. This meant that the first round alone would eliminate over a million people. The cruelty was staggering. One had to remember that everyone present here was, at the very least, among the top one thousand geniuses of their respective universe sectors. While the elimination rate wasn't as high as the first massive melee of the "Universe Sector Preliminaries," the cold, calculated cruelty of it was far greater.

Some geniuses gathered in small groups to discuss the upcoming competition. Others, indifferent, simply returned to their rooms to rest.

—

The next day.

"Everyone, please prepare. We will soon commence the mass teleportation to transfer all contestants to their respective trial spaces!" A crisp voice echoed throughout the plane.

Having been notified the previous day, every genius had risen early. Hearing the prompt, they immediately braced themselves for the brutal elimination to come. Inside his room, Jiang Chen checked his spatial ring, confirming he was ready.

—

Suddenly, an invisible ripple descended. Across the entire plane, the 1,008,000 geniuses—whether in their rooms, restaurants, or bars—were instantly teleported away.

—

Jiang Chen appeared suddenly on a massive meteorite. After a brief moment of dizziness lasting less than a second, he quickly regained his senses and observed his surroundings.

The meteorite was about 100 kilometers in diameter, its surface barren, with only seven tower-like structures standing in the very center. Each tower occupied an area of several square kilometers and rose over ten thousand meters high. These seven towers were the "Trial Towers" of the first stage.

Jiang Chen raised his wrist. Much like the first round of the sector preliminaries, his bracelet screen displayed the competition information.

—
Contestant: Jiang Chen (Ganwu Universe Sector)
Points: 0
Rank: N/A
Trial Space: xxxxx
Rules: There are seven trial towers, each with seven levels.
The first tower grants up to 10,000 points per level. Perfect completion grants 70,000 points.
...
The seventh tower grants up to 10 billion points per level. Perfect completion grants 70 billion points.
Note: Once you die, the trial ends.
Methods to pass a level:
1. Kill all targets in the level to receive all points and teleport to the next level.
2. If you fail to kill all targets, after 10 days, if you are still alive, you will be teleported to the next level, and your points will be calculated based on the number of targets killed.
When all contestants die, the trial ends and rankings are determined by points.
Leaderboard: ...
—

"As expected, they imply it’s impossible to clear all seven towers. Is the Virtual Universe Company that confident?" Jiang Chen’s expression was unreadable. Instead of rushing to the towers, he opened his spatial ring.

With a thought, a massive mech appeared before him. It was humanoid, just over 18 meters tall, and appeared quite slender. Its outer shell was covered in deep blue armor, looking quite imposing. Its left hand held something resembling a massive iron ball five meters in diameter, while its right arm lacked a palm, revealing a dark, hollow cannon muzzle at the forearm.

The [Gundam] mech.

Naturally, due to the restrictions on material selection in the Genius Tournament, this was a "watered-down" version—and a significantly watered-down one at that. Even the configured weapon modules were greatly reduced in power. However, it was more than enough to handle this year's tournament.

Entering the cockpit, Jiang Chen’s mental energy materialized, infiltrating the optical computer to take over the operating system instantly.

*System boot, self-check program initiated, engines started...*

After a brief "boot-up" sequence, Jiang Chen piloted the mech into the air and flew toward the nearest trial tower. Stepping into the first tower, the text on his bracelet screen changed instantly.

"First Tower, First Level: 10,000 'Blood-Haired Mammoths.' Gain 1 point for each kill. 10,000 points for clearing all..."

The rules were as stated. Scanning the area, the level was a plain spanning several kilometers. On the plain, massive beasts spotted the intruder and charged toward him. Judging by their sharp horns and the momentum of their charge, an average Star-level 9 genius would be in grave trouble if hit even once.

"Luo Feng is probably planning to stay for the full ten days on each level to grind out time. But for me, that's unnecessary. I’ll just charge through."

With a thought, Jiang Chen raised the mech's left arm, and the sphere in its hand emitted an invisible ripple. A thin, translucent "membrane" enveloped the mech's surface—a (watered-down) Psionic Shield. Even in its reduced state, if he disregarded consumption and activated "Overload Mode," the shield's strength was sufficient to withstand a full-force strike from an average Domain Lord.

Simultaneously, the mech’s right arm lifted, the muzzle aiming at the center of the plain. A dark shadow flashed as a streamlined missile, over three meters long, flew from the cannon. It traced a strange arc through the air before detonating at an altitude of about 100 meters.

*BOOM!*

Inside the warhead, "antimatter," previously held in check by a powerful magnetic field, lost its containment and collided with the material forming the inner lining of the shell, annihilating each other. During this process, terrifying energy erupted, spreading outward in the form of X-rays and high-energy gamma rays.

The rays bombarded the warhead casing made of special materials, and the contained energy rapidly converted into intense heat, spreading outward. Even more terrifying were the rays that weren't "intercepted" by the casing, which expanded at the speed of light with astonishing energy.

A semi-circular crater appeared on the ground, rapidly expanding. The "Blood-Haired Mammoths" charging in the front were instantly vaporized by the high-energy radiation, and those in the rear disappeared in a timeframe too brief to perceive.

*BOOM!*

A portion of the radiation hit the mech. The powerful psionic shield on its surface blocked the attack but became unstable. Fortunately, the shield generator continued to output energy at an overload, barely keeping the shield intact. However, under the terrifying impact, the mech was sent flying backward at high speed.

*CRASH!*

With a loud thud, the mech slammed into the high wall at the edge of the plain. The wall, crafted from extremely sturdy special materials, showed no signs of damage from the terrifying antimatter explosion. Yet, everything else—except for the wall and Jiang Chen’s mech—had been annihilated. The ground itself revealed a massive, deep crater, exposing the base layer made of the same material as the walls.

A single "antimatter bomb" had cleared the entire level. The whole process took less than a second!

—

In the Genius Tournament plane, on the plaza surrounded by the 1008 buildings, countless floating screens displayed real-time footage of the trial spaces. For the Nine Swords Venerable and the immortal leaders of the 1008 sectors, multitasking to watch 1,008,000 screens simultaneously was effortless.

Just then, a blinding light flared on one of the large screens. Less than a second later, the entire trial tower had become a ruin; all the beasts had vanished, leaving only the 18-meter-tall mech floating in mid-air.

"That power!" Many immortals widened their eyes.

The leader of the Noah Universe Sector, the immortal 'Sephra,' couldn't help but exclaim, "This power—it’s enough to kill a weak Domain Lord, isn't it?! The materials for technological weapons are strictly limited to Grade B, right? Even if he used Grade B materials to synthesize higher-grade materials to create a Grade D weapon, how did he survive that explosion?!"

These immortals had lived for eons and seen everything; their judgment was keen. They realized at once that the truly shocking part wasn't the power of the antimatter bomb, but the fact that the mech Jiang Chen was piloting remained completely unscathed by such an indiscriminate explosion!

If there were no restrictions, or at least if the material restrictions weren't so strict, this wouldn't be strange. After all, while the explosion was strong, it was only at the Grade D level. If he had used Grade E armor, he would naturally be unharmed. But given the material limits—even if he could synthesize higher-strength materials from Grade B components—there was an upper limit. Even if he created Grade D materials, they should have shown at least some signs of damage under such an blast.

But he was completely unscathed!

"This trial space, it seems, cannot contain him," the Nine Swords Venerable quickly judged, speaking up. "The power of this explosion reaches the 'D1' level. Aside from the Zerg Mother Nest on the last level of the seventh tower, he could sweep through everything else with just these bombs."

"Could it be that an unprecedented monster who clears all seven trial towers is about to emerge?" an immortal couldn't help but say.

"Impossible!" another immortal immediately countered. "The Zerg Mother Nest in the last tower is World Lord-level. It cannot be killed by a 'D1' bomb. A little Star-level guy can't withstand the soul attacks of a World Lord-level Zerg Mother Nest either. The higher-ups set up that seventh tower specifically to ensure no one could clear it!"

"However, with this move, the other geniuses in the later tournament rounds won't be able to withstand him..." another immortal noted.

Upon hearing this, everyone envisioned the scene: on a ten-kilometer-wide arena, Jiang Chen and his opponent appear. Jiang Chen raises his hand, releases an 'antimatter bomb,' and it explodes.

Match over.

The immortals looked at each other, stunned. No one had ever imagined that the finals of the Genius Tournament would lose all suspense in such a manner.