Chapter 239: Live Broadcast Test
"Preventing others from developing hostility..."
"What a pity, it's still an ability targeting the weak. It won't have much impact on those with Four Tiers of combat power, let alone us." Half of those present were military-trained, their wills naturally firmer than ordinary people's, so they didn't need to care.
"Wen Jian, you're pretty slick with it. You've adapted to the new power grading system so quickly."
"These numbers, one, two, three, four, are definitely easier to remember than the messy system we had before. What's there to be slick about?"
"I have other matters to attend to, I'll take my leave first."
"Take care." "No need to see me off."
Since the advent of the supercomputer, a powerful auxiliary device, Bai Mo's main body had been perpetually immersed in the supercomputing center of the experimental ground. Almost all other appearances were handled by his avatars, reserving his personal presence only for meetings with those of similar cultivation stage.
Because only with the terrifying computational power of the supercomputer could the immense strength of his Hundred Thoughts level be fully unleashed. Relying solely on the brain's processing speed still limited the execution of each individual thought to a certain extent.
"According to the settings, the attributes for Tier One are approximately between 1 and 4, Tier Two between 4 and 6, Tier Three between 6 and 8, and Tier Four between 8 and 10. The specific rating will be a comprehensive assessment based on the final results of all aspects."
As the first test subject was about to begin their ability assessment, the commentator on the live broadcast promptly provided an explanation for the audience.
"Hello, sir." The first test subject in line suddenly found a person with a microphone next to him. "I'm the on-site reporter for this live broadcast. May I ask if you consent to our detailed reporting of your upcoming trial?"
"Of course!" Opportunities to appear before hundreds of millions of viewers weren't common, and he wasn't some grand master whose intelligence needed to be kept secret, so the young man readily agreed. "My name is Xiao Mingyue, from Anxi City..."
"Welcome to the Heaven-Reaching Pagoda trial of Tiancong Hall. Should you successfully pass the first and second layers of the trial and enter the third, you will be awarded Contribution Points based on your final performance. These points can be exchanged for corresponding prizes at Tianfu Hall within Tiancong Hall."
"Please cherish each trial. Trial participants have only one opportunity to participate every six months. Thank you."
A mechanical voice emotionlessly explained the rules to everyone present, sparking anticipation for the so-called prizes in some.
After Xiao Mingyue confirmed the start of the trial, only the female host, using a temporary administrator account, followed him into the trial area. Since it was a virtual arena, the subsequent participants didn't need to wait; they entered different positions simultaneously.
"The first stage is a basic aptitude test. Please do your best to eliminate the waves of beasts that appear in sequence." The mechanical voice continued its explanation.
"As we can see, contestant Mingyue's first stage is a trial resembling a tower defense game. He will face waves of virtual monsters, each more numerous and stronger than the last. His goal is to last as long as possible, allowing no more than ten monsters to cross his defensive perimeter." The host immediately began to explain for the audience outside.
"The first wave of monsters consists of five mutated crabs, a low-level type of creature that an ordinary person could easily kill with a wooden stick..."
"As expected, two Spirit Arts fireballs quickly dispatched them all."
...
"This is the eleventh wave of monsters: two elephant-armored beasts, each as tall as a man. These mutated creatures primarily appear along the southern coast of Huaxia, and their two sharp tusks can be used in medicine."
"Currently, contestant Mingyue has endured until the fifteenth wave. In previous rounds, he allowed a total of nine monsters to slip through. This is his last chance, and this current wave happens to be composed of mutated beetles, which are the most difficult to thoroughly eliminate..."
"Damn it! Why these abominations, of all things?" He was confident he could eliminate all the mutated beetles without taking damage, but it would require sufficient time...
"Unfortunately, contestant Mingyue's progress halted at this stage." Though he had been very careful, two of the creatures still managed to slip past his defensive line.
"The second stage is the dodging corridor. There will be a certain number of various attack emitters on both sides of the corridor. In the bottom right corner of the interface is the player's health bar, determined by a preliminary assessment. The objective is to get as far as possible from the starting point before your health bar is depleted. Note: Please do not attempt to destroy the emitters."
"Contestant Mingyue's second stage is a bullet-dodging game."
"You can choose to fly in the sky, but the air and ground have equally dense attacks. You can choose to endure them directly or dodge as much as possible."
"Of course, participants in this test also need to be fast runners. This is a comprehensive assessment of defensive power, physique and recovery ability, and speed and evasion skills." The host closely followed Xiao Mingyue, who was clearing the stage, providing commentary.
"Teleportation Ability Users have a significant advantage in the early stages of this level, but according to staff, in the middle and later sections, there will be a large number of precise laser-type attacks or area-of-effect attacks like firestorms, so one cannot afford to be careless."
Because she was using an administrator account, all attacks passed directly through her image; she was like a ghost that didn't truly exist.
"Xiao Mingyue is now applying his defenses. It looks like he intends to charge straight through the various attacks! Facing attacks that are almost impossible to entirely defend against, this is not a bad idea."
"Through the camera, we can see that he is not using an ordinary basic shield, but a modified three-layer composite shield with superior defensive performance. It is said that this Spirit Art can now achieve up to seven layers of embedding, a seamlessly tight structure that can truly be described as a marvel of craftsmanship."
"Based on the checkpoint results, he has currently advanced one thousand eight hundred meters. The increasingly formidable single-target attacks ahead make it difficult to continue by simply enduring them."
"He now faces a difficult choice: where exactly should he change his strategy?"
"As it stands, he has only sustained minor injuries. It's important to note that while there's a health bar, injuries in trial mode will hurt and impair movement just as they would in reality. In standard mode, however, pain is set to one-tenth of its actual value."
"Roughly... two thousand three hundred meters?" Bai Mo, also observing the commotion beside the two with an administrator identity, offered his own estimate.
Naturally, he was in a completely invisible mode; neither the cameras broadcasting the live stream nor the other two individuals could perceive his presence.
As the system's chief designer, Bai Mo found it necessary to monitor its operational status and make manual adjustments when required.
Aided by the supercomputer behind him, he could now genuinely allow each thought to independently control an avatar. However, due to limitations in Spirit Energy support, most of these avatars were deployed in the virtual world, as overly weak avatars held little significance for his main body in the real world.
Dozens of avatars ceaselessly tested every corner of the virtual reality system, striving to fix all potential bugs before anyone else could discover them.
"Two thousand three hundred and sixty-one meters—this is contestant Xiao Mingyue's final test score! Facing such a brutal trial, he has performed exceptionally well!"
Xiao Mingyue's results were roughly as Bai Mo had predicted, primarily because the difficulty system itself was his design. He generally had a clear idea of how far anyone could reach.
"And now, let's look at the third stage. Here, there's only a giant crystal mirror. What kind of test will this be?" The host, seizing the moment, worked to heighten the atmosphere.
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