123: Chapter 123 Assessment Stage Two: Trial Competition

【 Assessment Stage Two: Trial Competition 】

【 Description: The level and comprehensive stats of all participants (Examiners) will be temporarily suppressed to 80% of the stats of each Trial Taker (Eclipse Clan). 】

【 Content: Both sides must jointly control the same "nianshu bead". The first side to successfully disassemble and reassemble it will be the winner. 】

【 Reminder: During the Assessment, Trial Takers may perform certain interferences. 】

As the text dissipated, the other Examiners in the hall had varying expressions.

"nianshu bead?" someone muttered in confusion, "What is that?"

Of course, not everyone was ignorant; two or three of them had calm expressions and remained silent, clearly not unfamiliar with this item.

Meanwhile, after noticing Gu Changming's silence, Hill turned to his side and whispered an explanation.

"That nianshu bead is a spherical-looking gadget, but it's composed of hundreds of parts. Inside, it has 'Transformation Array Patterns' and 'Mental Perception Feedback Modules', so the method of disassembling and assembling it is different every time..."

"I heard it was originally used for training by a race skilled in Mental Power. It can improve a Mentalist's Mental Power, cognitive processing, and fine control. But for some reason, it has started appearing in the Assessment."

Hill withdrew his gaze, fixed it on the Assessment panel, and furrowed his brows slightly.

"Because the logic and operations for disassembling and assembling are different every time... we won't be able to accumulate any advantage."

This was likely intended to have them compete against every Trial Taker. Since the steps for disassembling and assembling were different each time, they wouldn't gain any experience even with many attempts, nor would their speed necessarily increase.

Hill continued, "Plus, all our attribute stats will be 20% lower than the Trial Takers, and there will be interference. If things go wrong... we might actually lose to them."

Listening to Hill's explanation, Gu Changming blinked and kept his gaze on the Assessment description.

Uh... actually, it wasn't quite like what Hill thought.

It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the nianshu bead or hadn't seen one before.

It was that he understood it too well—he was too familiar with it.

This item was indeed, just as Hill said, a special tool used by Mentalists for self-training and improvement, and it was quite effective.

By the middle and later stages of the Assessment, most high-level Mentalists basically had one on hand.

It was like fiddling with antiques; they would play with it whenever they had nothing to do, disassembling and reassembling it to train their Mental Power.

The habit he had earlier of playing with those few nails was something he had developed from playing with this item.

Of course, this didn't mean he could say he was overly familiar with this specific item, as the process of disassembling and reassembling changed every time, and the level of fine control required varied as well.

But when Gu Changming said he was too familiar with it, it was because...

Later on, after his strength had improved, the benefits this item provided were no longer significant.

So, he pondered how to upgrade and modify it. He dismantled quite a few nianshu beads, figured out the principles, procured many rare materials, and redesigned the blueprints.

He found an otherworldly craftsman with an extremely high level of forging skill and created an upgraded version for himself: the "nexus box".

Just as he had expected, the results were excellent.

Just how excellent was it?

The system panel popped up a notification directly, without even giving him the option to refuse, threw two S-rank items at him, and then took the design away.

Then, not long after.

Gu Changming saw the purchase page for the "nexus box" in a special mall that only high-level ability users could enter.

Whenever he recalled it, Gu Changming felt he had been "forced to sell" it; that item should have been worth three S-rank items.

While Gu Changming was still immersed in his accusations against the "Organizer".

A new notification box popped up silently, hovering in front of them:

【 Reminder: Only five Examiners are needed for this stage of the Assessment; the remaining three will serve as Examiners for the third stage. 】

As the text faded, five white beams of light descended from the ceiling of the hall, moving rapidly among the eight of them like some sort of random selection.

Gu Changming watched calmly as the beams of light swept over him and moved away.

A few seconds later, the beams of light suddenly froze.

The beams of light enveloped five people respectively.

Gu Changming raised his hand, looking at the white light shining on the back of his hand—he was currently standing inside a beam of light.

Shifting his gaze slightly, Hill was also in an adjacent beam of light, looking towards him.

The two exchanged glances.

Hill revealed a smile once again, "If we lose to those D-rank little guys, it would be embarrassing if word got out."

Gu Changming paused, then twitched the corners of his mouth, returning a smile of similar magnitude.

Immediately after, a gentle yet irresistible suction force came from within the beams of light, lifting their bodies slowly upward.

Hill was stunned and asked, "Aren't you going to give us the orbs first to let us get familiar with them?"

He wasn't worried about himself; powerful figures in their civilization had long since purchased and distributed them. Among their race, even some Mentalists who hadn't reached C-rank had been able to experience them.

He was worried about Gu Changming, as the other party didn't seem to have seen this kind of Mentalist training tool before.

However, the Assessment mechanism gave no response.

In the next second, their vision was swallowed by pure white.

A slight dizzy sensation washed over them, and when their vision cleared, they were already in an empty, pure white space.

At this moment, their body surfaces seemed to be covered in a layer of flowing mist, their outlines becoming blurry and indistinct, making even the details of their palms difficult to recognize.

Clearly, this was to hide their original races and identities.

Gu Changming also roughly understood why five people were chosen; they had eight left just a moment ago, and now there were eight Examiners.

As long as the Eclipse Clan wasn't stupid, someone would definitely suspect whether they were from the same group.

And this mist covering their bodies was likely intended to make their respective races look less chaotic, appearing as if they had been temporarily drafted to serve as Examiners.

Immediately after.

Noisy sounds surged from the white expanse ahead.

The five of them looked over.

The pure white space extended forward, and about thirty meters away stood a dense crowd of figures—all from the Eclipse Clan.

A rough glance showed at least over a hundred people, all of whom should be the Trial Takers who had survived the previous round of hunting.

At this moment, on the faces of those hundred-plus Eclipse Clan members, the four neatly arranged eyes were all staring straight at the five of them.

Unlike them, in the hands of those Eclipse Clan Trial Takers opposite, almost everyone was holding a silver orb the size of a golf ball.

Clearly, the Assessment mechanism had let them experience and get familiar with it first.

A new notification panel lit up at the right moment, hovering in front of them:

【 Please Examiners, perform a demonstration of disassembling and reassembling the nianshu bead, for the Trial Takers to refer to and choose an Examiner to compete against. 】

As the text appeared, five white platforms rose silently from the pure white ground about one meter in front of the five of them.

The surfaces of the platforms were flat, and on each one lay a silent, identical silver-white nianshu bead.

The meaning was very clear: they needed to show off their skills first, demonstrate their level to these Trial Takers, and then these Trial Takers would choose whom to compete against.