Chapter 105 – Temple Trial

After arriving inside the temple’s first floor, Shi Feng opened his eyes and found himself looking at a vast plain. There were also a hundred humanoid statues standing before him, and these statues wielded varying weapons such as bows, spears, swords, sabers, staffs, etc. At a glance, these statues looked like a small and well-organized army.

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System: You have one hour to defeat the 100 monsters here. Your character will be fixed at Level 100, Tier 3. Your weapons and equipment will be fixed at the Level 100 Dark-Gold rank. Please select your class.

…

“Swordsman.”

Shi Feng was surprised when he inspected the humanoid statues’ stats.

Each of these statues only had six million HP, which wasn’t even at the standard of Level 100 Lords. It was just several times higher than the average HP of players. So, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for a Level 100, Tier 3 Flowing Water Realm expert to defeat all of these monsters. In fact, even a Half-step Refinement Realm expert could defeat these monsters in under an hour.

However, Shi Feng quickly realized the problem shortly after choosing his class. Specifically, these humanoid statues suddenly exited their inanimate state and began moving their bodies nimbly like Tier 3 NPCs. Their nimble movements were completely different from what one would normally see from golems.

“Kill!”

Meanwhile, after these NPC-like golems saw Shi Feng, they revealed fierce expressions and charged him straight away.

In the blink of an eye, over 40 NPC monsters wielding longswords, sabers, spears, and shields moved within 20 yards of Shi Feng, their speed far superior to the average Tier 3 NPC.

While these melee NPCs were charging at Shi Feng, the ranged NPCs also began raining arrows and Tier 3 Spells at Shi Feng. Their Skill activation and spellcasting were incredibly fast, all of them achieving motionless activation and silent casting. Yet, despite the shortcuts they had taken, the might of their Skills and Spells was at least 50% stronger than normal…

What incredible technique standards!

However, Shi Feng did not rush to take action. Instead, he simply evaded the ranged attacks and blocked the melee attacks directed at him.

After several exchanges, Shi Feng made another shocking discovery—these NPCs were gradually improving their coordination.

It was especially so for the melee NPCs. After the distant Clerics and Oracles cast their magic shields on them, these melee NPCs would willingly get hit by their allies’ ranged attacks to attack Shi Feng. Moreover, their attacks weren’t frenzied and random. Instead, they executed their attacks one after another, creating a perfect chain of attacks that never ended.

If a lesser skilled player were to fight against these NPCs, they would be put into a passive state where they could only defend and not launch any effective attacks. When fighting these NPCs, Shi Feng felt as if he were a Boss monster getting raided by players.

Is this trial testing the participant’s knowledge and application of the Realms of Truth? It seems this God’s Domain Association is far stronger than I expected. Shi Feng couldn’t help but grow excited as he looked at the Tier 3 NPCs trying to kill him. No wonder the rumors say that only players at the Flowing Water Realm can pass the test.

The Realms of Truth!

This was still a mastery system foreign to most players in the current God’s Domain. The only mastery system most players knew was the Realms of Refinement, and most players treated the Realms of Refinement as a standard for technique mastery.

However, only a small minority of players knew that the Realms of Refinement wasn’t a mastery system for technique mastery. Instead, it was a mastery system for a player’s control over their body. Simply put, when a player made progress in the Realms of Refinement, the flexibility, reaction speed, perception, and other factors of their body would also improve. By making progress in the Realms of Refinement, players would become capable of accomplishing physical movements that they couldn’t achieve previously. This, in turn, increased their combat standard.

In a sense, improvements made in the Realms of Refinement were similar to the improvement of a player’s physique in God’s Domain.

On the other hand, the Realms of Truth was a true mastery system for technique standards. Unlike the Realms of Refinement, the Realms of Truth did not focus on the development of the physical body’s potential. Instead, it focused on the usage of one’s physical body. Thus, one could say that the two mastery systems complemented each other perfectly, and there was no harm in taking on both mastery systems.

Meanwhile, the temple’s first-floor trial might seem like only players at the Flowing Water Realm could clear it, but that wasn’t actually the case. Instead, players only needed to exhibit combat power at the Flowing Water Realm standard. If a challenger was only at the Refinement Realm, so long as they were also at the Truth Realm, the first realm in the Realms of Truth, they could similarly pass the first-floor trial.

Once a Refinement Realm expert reached the Truth Realm, they could exhibit the power of basic combat techniques with their every move. Combined with their Refinement-level control and reactions, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to defeat the Tier 3 NPCs here. After all, the Basic Attributes of these NPCs were only slightly higher than the average Level 100, Tier 3 player.

Since I already know what the test is about, it’s time for you things to disappear!

After sweeping a glance at the Tier 3 NPCs charging at him, Shi Feng brandished the two swords in his hands.

Sword’s Transmigration!

Immediately, sword lights bloomed on the battlefield one after another, rapidly draining the lives of the melee NPCs. Although the healers standing in the back had tried to save their companions, every attack Shi Feng executed consisted of over a dozen sword lights merged into one. With only six million HP, the melee NPCs couldn’t withstand even one attack, their HPs reaching zero instantly.

In less than three minutes, Shi Feng had wiped out all 100 Tier 3 NPCs.

…

System: Congratulations! You are the 100th participant to clear the first floor’s trial. Rewarding 100 God’s Domain Association Points. These points will be bound with your account. These points cannot be traded with others. These points can only be used to exchange with the God’s Domain Association.

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I’m 100th?

Shi Feng was a little surprised when he saw the system notification. Several dozen people had already cleared the first floor when he entered the temple. He had also taken his sweet time clearing the first-floor trial, so he never expected to score within the top 100 still.

However, Shi Feng quickly came to a realization.

Participants had to face 100 NPCs at the Half-step Refinement Realm standard. Moreover, these NPCs were capable of exhibiting power close to that of basic combat techniques with their every move. Not to mention, these NPCs had excellent coordination with each other, so they could more or less make up for each other’s deficiencies. Even if a Flowing Water Realm expert fought against these NPCs, they wouldn’t have much of an advantage against these NPCs.

Thus, not only would Flowing Water Realm experts require a significant amount of time to clear the first-floor trial, but there was even a chance that they might fail.

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System: You have cleared the first floor. You are now officially a Bronze Instructor at the God’s Domain Association. You will have one recommendation slot for every Talent Camp the Association hosts. Do you wish to proceed to the second floor and challenge the Silver Instructor’s test?

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“Proceed to the second floor.”

Shi Feng chose to enter the second floor without hesitation.