My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 380 The Competition Begins, Six-Pillar-Level Treasures Appear!
Sunset and sunrise, the second day arrives.

Some people stayed up all night in order to climb to a higher level of the Thousand-Layer Tower, which led to a drastic change in the rankings after one night.

The leader changed from Donald and Qin Tai to Xia Lin...

With all his might, Xia Lin reached the 600th floor of the Thousand-Layer Tower in just one night—this initial test was really not difficult for Xia Lin.

After a day of observing the battle, all the Ash Walkers in the City of Oaths now have a general understanding of the rules of the Thousand-Layer Tower.

The number of people climbing the tower on the second day was much higher than on the first day.

But the vast majority of them are just there to make up the numbers.

The last five hundred floors, and even the last eight hundred floors, of the Thousand-Layer Tower have absolutely no relation to the vast majority of Ash Zone Walkers.

A one-month probationary period is long enough.

Just one week later, the area in front of the tower was nearly deserted, with most people having finished their ascent.

……

Inside the restaurant, Donald Charlin sat at a table, enjoying the exotic cuisine while listening to his subordinates report on the week's battle situation.

"The vast majority of Ash Walkers are stuck between the 100th and 200th floors."

The corresponding attribute for this stage is between 100 billion and 10 billion.

This is the mainstream level of the Ash Zone Walkers in the preliminary rounds of the Myriad Races Sequence War, and this result also means that this group of people cannot pass the preliminary rounds and become one of the top 10,000 people in the Ash Zone.

"A small number of people are stuck between the 200th and 300th floors."

The attributes of the virtual examiner at this stage fall between the first and second third laws.

This data already places them among the top thirty in the human race... but considering that these virtual examiners lack professional skills and talents, their combat methods are quite limited. Therefore, even those Ember Walkers who haven't triggered the Third Law can still put up a fight against them.

—Nelson, Gentle, Clown, Xing Fanwu, and several others are in this group.

Nelson put in a lot of effort to get past floor 200 and reach floor 201.

Gentleness got stuck on the 212th floor.

The clown is stuck on floor 238.

Xing Fanwu's performance exploded, reaching the 289th floor.

Of the four, only Xing Fanwu is likely to advance, while Nelson is destined to be eliminated...

There's no other way; with Nelson's strength, he might be able to compete for a spot in the top 100 of the human race.

Unfortunately, there are too many powerful beings among the myriad races of the universe.

From this perspective, the value of this multi-race sequence war is quite high.

Above that are the players who are most likely to advance.

During this period, Xia Lin heard the names of many acquaintances.

Bao Bowen: 342nd floor.

Human race sequence 14, Bao Bowen, is stuck here and cannot move forward!
Between floors 300 and 350, the virtual examiner's attributes fall between the second and third laws, while Bao Bowen only triggered the third law once.

With his well-developed skill set, Lao Bao overcame the disadvantage of being at level one and made it to level 330. Then, he changed his mind and decided not to continue with combat-type challenges, but instead chose puzzle-solving...

This may seem like a shortcut, but in reality, there were no bugs to exploit in this assessment.

The difficulty levels of the three types of assessments—combat, puzzle, and comprehensive—are roughly the same.

With his intellect surpassing even his physical strength, Lao Bao advanced another 12 floors, but ultimately could not continue.

This reminded Xia Lin of a guy named Ning Feng. This guy only chose puzzle-solving challenges and reached level 400+ on the first day. Xia Lin had no concept of this before, but now that he had Lao Bao as a comparison, Xia Lin realized how terrifying this guy was.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a trump card hidden by the Six Pillars.

Most of the major clans ranked 10-30 and the minor clans ranked 5-10 are similar to Bao Bowen, stuck at this stage and unable to reach the 350th floor of the Thousand-Layer Tower.

However, for these people, advancing was indeed a matter of course.

But after the 350th floor, the real test begins.

Xiao Feng and Xin Zhan are human race sequence 7 and human race sequence 8, respectively.

Stuck on the 400th floor, no matter what methods were used, they could not pass the test on the 401st floor.

Level 1 authority assessment can be smoothed out by profession, skill system, and techniques, but the difference between the two levels of assessment also means that the attribute difference is too large, and no technique can make up for it.

而在401层-500层之间，则是大族序列4、5，与部分小族序列1、2的位置了。

Soul One and Luo Zhidao belong to this category.

Strictly speaking, however, the strength of these people was not enough for Xia Lin to remember.

They are strong, but not strong enough to pose a threat to Xia Lin.

Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that someone is deliberately hiding their strength, but the probability is small and will not be included in the discussion for now.

"After the 501st floor, the real opponents are those we should take seriously."

This aligns with what Donald said before: the second half of the Thousand-Layer Tower is where the real test begins.

Just then, a blank sheet of paper was handed to Xia Lin.

Xia Lin looked down and saw a summary of the current rankings for the advancement assessment.

First place: Donald, Charlin, 900th floor.

Without considering Wuxin, it has been confirmed that only these two people in the entire Ember Zone have reached the limit of the Ember Zone's regular attributes.

It's only natural that they are tied for first place.

Second place: Qin Tai, Ning Feng, 880th floor.

One of them chose a comprehensive test, and the other chose a puzzle-solving test.

They kept up with Xia Lin and Donald's progress, but after 850 floors, they clearly started to lose momentum and gradually fell behind Xia Lin and Donald.

Third place: Ocres, Shadow, Yuan Zhuo, 850th floor.

On the first day, their performance might not have been remarkable, but now that a week has passed, their results have demonstrated their strength.

However, like Qin Tainingfeng, these people have shown obvious signs of fatigue.

They couldn't push any further.

Xia Lin's gaze continued downwards, and soon she saw Wuxin's name.

Ninth place: Wuxin, 777th floor.

This person climbed the tower in his living form and has not changed his form to this day.

The same three methods are enough to easily defeat the virtual examiners—the Curse Seal system and the Undying Evolution system don't care about the difference in attributes, and they can wear down the virtual examiners. It's just that it takes a lot of time, which makes Wuxin's ascension speed relatively slow.

However, considering that only a week has passed... from a time perspective, Wuxin will not be delayed in achieving the final result due to speed.

"To be honest, this round is still a stage for the three of us..."

Donald threw down the paper and said with a sigh.

In just one week, most people have already reached their limits.

Apart from Xia Lin, Wu Xin, and Donald, those who had climbed past the 500th floor also lacked the strength to continue ascending...

Xia Lin had previously thought Liu Zhu was quite generous, but he started spending heavily during the preliminary rounds.

But in reality, his generosity was only superficial; in this preliminary round, Liu Zhu couldn't have actually brought out many valuable items.

Liu Zhu probably also knows that most people don't have the resources to touch a Liu Zhu-level treasure.

Thinking of this, Xia Lin got up and walked outside.

"If one step is fast, then every step will be fast... Since Wuxin wants to take it slow, then let's not give him any opportunity to take advantage."

After the 991st floor, those who reach the top first will be given priority to receive the six-pillar level reward.

Xia Lin loved to do things like blocking the way for those who came before him.

……

The main reason why Xia Lin and Donald stopped at the 900th floor was to adjust their state and face the real challenge.

Yes, for these two attribute limit users, the real challenge only begins after reaching level 900!
When Xia Lin re-entered the Thousandfold Tower, the first thing she heard was a familiar notification sound.

Please select your test type.

[Category 1: Puzzle Games]

[Part Two: Combat]

【Three: General Category】

"Choose two."

Xia Lin's choice remained the same as always: combat-related.

Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, the virtual examiner appeared before Xia Lin.

It was a stone golem that remained unremarkable.

However, with his innate talent for witnessing, Xia Lin saw through the true nature of the stone golem at a glance.

[Racial stats: 100y]

[Basic Attributes: 100wy]

This is the limit of the attributes in the Ash Zone!
Starting from floor 901, the attributes of combat examiners have already reached the extreme values ​​of the Ash Zone. As they continue to ascend, Xia Lin speculates that the virtual examiners, who originally had no professional talent skills, will also fully equip themselves with professional talent skills and even items to enhance their combat power and thus increase the difficulty of the assessment.

A heavy punch came head-on, and then a sudden east wind appeared.

With the amplified buffs, defeating a virtual examiner with the same attributes but no skills would be a simple matter for Xia Lin, requiring only a few punches and kicks.

Choose reward: A foundational skill.

In the previous levels, Xia Lin also obtained a lot of item and skill rewards, but they were generally not very useful to him, so there is no need to go into details.

After passing the 901st floor, they climbed to the 902nd floor, where the virtual examiner appeared. Xia Lin's eyes flashed, and she smiled knowingly. "Don't say Brother Wang forgot about me... He's waiting for me here."

Strictly speaking, Xia Lin has the best relationship with the King of Kings... If she had to choose, Xia Lin would not choose the Demon Emperor or Super Star, but would instead throw herself into the King of Kings' camp.

This time, the King of Kings didn't summon Xia Lin at all, making it seem as if the two had no personal relationship.

But right now, it seems that the King of Kings is using a unique method to give Xia Lin a helping hand and increase Xia Lin's bargaining power.

Just as Xia Lin had predicted, the virtual examiner on the 902nd floor had gained a profession and a talent.

[Class: Warrior]

[Talent: Warlike (S-rank): When you enter combat, your base attributes will slowly increase as the battle progresses.]

Simple talent, seemingly meaningless.

But Xia Lin knew that this was only temporary.

As Xia Lin continues climbing the stairs, he will eventually encounter a virtual examiner with extraordinary talent or skills.

On the one hand, this gives Eternal Inscription room to play its role – the remaining two permanent skill slots don’t necessarily have to be inscribed with Wu Xin’s skills. If a super skill really appears, Xia Lin will naturally not miss it.

On the other hand... just now, after Xia Lin realized that the subsequent virtual examiners would possess innate skills, he had already made minor adjustments to his own skill set.

Of course, this minor adjustment only meant that Xia Lin regained three more skills.

It's the familiar process of observation, recording, and replication!
[Observation (Racial Heritage Level): Passive Skill, Observer Exclusive Skill. Your eyes can see through everything! Nothing can hide from your gaze; everything is revealed, even its very essence!]

[Record (Racial Heritage Level): Passive skill, exclusive to the Observer, used in conjunction with Observation. You can record everything you see (including but not limited to professions, talents, and skills) in your mind! When you face professions, talents, and skills that you have recorded, you will gain advantages such as high damage reduction and extra hit detection...]

[Copy (Racial Heritage Level): Active skill, exclusive to Observers. Used in conjunction with Observation and Recording. This skill has no cost; you can use all classes, talents, and skills you have observed or recorded! However, your observation record will be cleared after each copy and use! This skill has a 10-minute cooldown.]

Xia Lin placed these three observer-specific skills in slots 7, 8, and 9 of the constant skills list.

In terms of effect, this is a scaled-down version of the Eternal Inscription system.

After acquiring the Eternal Inscription, this system wasn't particularly valuable to Xia Lin.

However, its advantage lies in the fact that this system, which combines three skills, is not limited by skill slots. It can copy an infinite number of skills as a backup plan and then use one of them when the opportunity arises.

Given: Permanent skill slots have limited space, and there are currently only two empty slots left.

It is also known that Xia Lin's current methods are insufficient to pose a fatal threat to Wu Xin.

This system has a special card-drawing effect. Perhaps by using this system, one can copy super skills from the virtual examiner or Wuxin who is forced to use all his strength during the next ascent, thereby changing the current situation!
"Don't say I'm not trying. I'm trying my best to kill Wuxin..."

Muttering to himself, the virtual examiner from floor 902, roughly in human form, rushed in front of Xia Lin, only to be blasted to death by Xia Lin in his Black Origin Martial God form with a single punch.

……

Just as Xia Lin and Donald began to climb to higher levels with all their might, Wu Xin also ended his short rest and re-entered the Thousand-Layer Tower.

This time, Wuxin no longer fought in his living form, but transformed into his dead form!
When Wuxin activates the Death Form, it also means that Wuxin has truly begun to exert its power.

Thus began the competition among the top three in the current Ember Zone, attracting the attention of the entire Oath City and even the Six Pillars.

In the darkness, several distant gazes fell upon the Thousand-Story Building, some with malice, some with indifference, and some with expectation.

Inside the building, Xia Lin maintained his forms as the East Wind Overlord and the Black Origin Martial God, rapidly climbing upwards.

With an increase of over a hundred times, even puppets with weak skills and talents can be instantly killed in one move.

Donald also revealed some of his true potential: he had already demonstrated basic attributes that exceeded the limit of the Ash Zone by a hundred times!
However, most people in the Ash Zone are unaware of the concept of the Ash Zone's attribute limits, let alone understand the special nature of those who break the limits. They simply assume that Donald also used a temporary buff similar to Xia Lin Dongfeng's Domination.

What's even more eye-catching is the heartless form in its dead state.

With the Ghostly Immortal Mind and Divine Body and Ghostly Armament, both skills that amplify combat power by a hundredfold, Wuxin's actual combat performance is stronger than Xia Lin's.

A day later, in full view of everyone, Donald was the first to pass through the 990th floor and was about to go to the 991st floor.

Just as Donald chose to continue his upward challenge, clear text appeared on the live stream screen.

[Starting from floor 991, all challenges will be combat-based!]

Ultimately, what the Ashen Zone, this cursed entity, needs is the combat power of the Ashen Zone Walkers.

Starting from floor 991, the reward for clearing each floor will always be a level 6 skill or item!

This news was not known to the public, and its release immediately caused an uproar among the Ash Walkers throughout the City of Oaths.

[The final reward for floor 991 will be revealed first. There are three rewards for now, and those who clear the floor first will choose their reward first.]

[One: Kiss of the Soul (Six-Pillar Level Item): Forged personally by the Demon Emperor, it possesses extremely strong defensive effects at the soul level and can alleviate and slowly heal all wounds and defects at the soul level!]

The item called the Kiss of the Soul is a strangely shaped black pendant.

It's hard to describe the shape of the pendant; all you can see is a dreamy, shimmering light constantly flashing across it.

Inside the tower, Xia Lin, who was on the 983rd floor, also witnessed this scene.

I couldn't help but think that this tool was probably the product of the balance reached through discussions among the six pillars...

The Demon Emperor is number one in the Soul Path, and Wuxin's problems mainly focus on the soul level.

Normally, the Demon Emperor would not help Wuxin solve his soul problem. However, under the balance of the Six Pillars, and without knowing how the Demon Emperor and the Creator of Heaven negotiated, the Demon Emperor brought out this Six Pillar-level treasure that could most likely solve, or at least alleviate, Wuxin's problem.

When Xia Lin saw the second item, he immediately realized what was going on.

It all comes down to balance...

[The Soul-Cleansing Jade (Six-Pillar Level): Personally crafted by the Creator of Heaven. It possesses an extremely powerful effect in dispelling inner demons! Furthermore, it contains a trace of the essential power of the ancient rulers, which can enhance the talent effects of those who have broken through limits and reduce the occupational risks they face!]

The Demon Emperor and the Creator, Donald and the Heartless.

These two pairs are quite interesting... Wuxin, as the creator of the Heavenly Dao, has to rely on the Demon Emperor to solve his own problems.

Donald, though a Demon Emperor, is a Limit Breaker, subject to the control of the Old Ruler, who is in turn a puppet of the Creator of Heaven.

Without a doubt, this prop was specially prepared for Donald by the Creator of Heaven—its significance to Donald is roughly equivalent to the significance of the Kiss of the Soul to Wuxin.

As a Limit Breaker, Donald is also subject to the consequences of his power.

It was only because he often resided in the Demon Palace, which, as the Demon Emperor's home ground, isolated the power of the other pillars, that Donald's problem did not become apparent.

But Donald himself admitted that he did have a hidden danger—if he stayed away from the Demon Temple for too long, he would also suffer from the corruption of his power.

To some extent, the profession of Limit Breaker restricts Donald's activity space, limiting his main activity space to the Demon Temple. Even when choosing the Ash Zone, he can only choose the short-duration Ash Zone.

The appearance of this Soul-Cleansing Jade can help Donald solve this problem.

And from these two props, we can actually see something like this.

The six pillars are essentially an open secret; only Wuxin, Donald, and at most Xia Lin can obtain six-pillar level items.

The third reward came into view, but it was no longer an item; it was a six-pillar level skill.

【The Essence of Time and Space (Six-Pillar Level Skill): Passive skill, not limited to any class. Mastering this skill will allow you to grasp the essence of time and space and comprehend its mysteries!】

The shorter the description, the higher the upper limit!
With Xia Lin's perspective, he could easily understand the significance of this sixth-pillar level skill—it would be a comprehensive skill involving time and space.

Once you acquire this skill, you will automatically master everything about time-space professions such as Timewalkers and Space Mages, and even surpass them!

Looking at the three major rewards offered by the 991st floor, Xia Lin sighed softly and stood up.

"From this perspective, starting from the 991st floor, the test is no longer limited to combat strength, but also includes decisions about the rewards..."

It seems that the first two rewards are only suitable for a specific person, and are not very useful for others.

However, in a relationship of mutual mortal enmity, strengthening oneself is not necessarily more important than harming the enemy!
As the virtual examiner appeared, Xia Lin made another move, but also spared some attention to Donald's situation.

Soon, Xia Lin saw a martial artist dressed in coarse linen clothes appear out of thin air in front of Donald.

This is the examiner from the 991st floor.

This person has rugged features and distinctive characteristics.

Xia Lin did not recognize this person, but his appearance caused an uproar among some people in the city of oaths.

"This person looks so familiar..."

"Familiar? How so?"

“You, a junior, are naturally unfamiliar with this person, but an old man like me who has lived for tens of thousands of years will never forget this person’s appearance in this lifetime.”

"This person is none other than the top-tier human race... the first generation of the Super Star Faction's Martial King, Martial God!"

That is, before Wuxin reached the top, he was at the pinnacle of the human race in that generation!

Some people sighed with regret: "It's a pity that before Wuxin could step forward, this person had already activated the Two Realms Battlefield and advanced to level ten. Their timing was different, and it's hard to say who was stronger between them..."

I didn't know before, but now I can find out for myself.

In the examination room on the 991st floor, a man named Wu Shentong slightly bowed and gave Donald a hearty smile.

"None of us dared to refuse the invitation of the Six Pillars... I am stationed here this time, and my strength is the same as before I left the Ash Zone. You junior need not worry, I will not bully the weak!"

Today, Wu Shentong is still alive and fighting for Chaoxing and the Sanxiang Gang. His strength has reached the peak of level eleven, and he deserves the title of a big shot!
And this virtual avatar isn't entirely fake.

He possesses the consciousness of the Martial God and the full strength of the Martial God when he left the Ash Zone!

Is the present inferior to the past? Or is the past inferior to the present?

From the depths of the universe, the King of Kings spoke softly, his tone filled with anticipation for a good show.

In the dim light, the Creator of Heaven let out another cold snort.

The rules had already been established, and the Creator of Heaven had foreseen this scene.

Wang Wei, though seemingly fair and impartial, actually gave that kid Xia Lin some favors.

Every generation of Ashen Realm Walkers has produced a prodigy.

Such a person must possess a super system and super skills!
In this stage, Xia Lin will not only be a test-taker, but also a student, able to absorb the essence of many schools of thought. The ten stages represent ten opportunities for transformation!
In some ways, Xia Lin, who possesses the inscription system, benefits from it even more than the six-pillar level reward.

"But isn't that precisely the bargaining chip you're using to demand the essence of time travel from me?"

The King of Kings slowly spoke, while the Creator of Heaven remained silent.

Yes, the Six Pillars-level reward, the Essence of Transcendence, came from the hand of the King of Kings and originated from the demands of the Creator of Heaven!

(End of this chapter)