126: Chapter 126 [Three Minutes and Twenty-One Seconds]

[3:21]

Three minutes and twenty-one seconds.

The moment the numbers appeared, the entire pure white space seemed to have been muted.

Everyone's breath hitched in unison.

The gazes of Hill and the other Examiners were pinned to that string of numbers, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.

Three minutes... it was nearly a minute faster than all of them.

And... the other party was only a C-rank ability user, a whole rank lower than them.

Yet even so, he had actually beaten them by nearly a minute.

For a moment, their hearts were filled with complex emotions.

The red light enveloping Gu Changming flickered a few more times, as if performing a final confirmation, before completely dissipating.

Seeing the red light vanish, Gu Changming curled his lip, feeling somewhat disgruntled.

Sigh, if I had known it would be like this.

I should have put on a better act from the start and kept a pace similar to the other Examiners.

Now look what happened.

Gu Changming raised his head and looked down.

As expected, the Eclipse Clan Trial Takers, who had almost all been crowded on his side, began to slowly shuffle away.

They headed toward the other four, their gazes still fixed on him as if he were some kind of fraud.

Aila and Luo An were no exception, moving along with the crowd.

In the end, the space in front of him was empty; not a single Trial Taker chose his side.

These people weren't fools; his result had so obviously surpassed the other Examiners.

Besides, this person's character seemed questionable; even if their results had been similar, they would never have chosen him.

Gu Changming shook his head helplessly.

Tsk.

What were they thinking?

Choosing my side would clearly be the best option. I would definitely go easy on them to just meet the 'half-pass' rule, making the probability of passing the highest.

Oh, of course.

Luo An might be an exception.

...

After the Eclipse Clan Trial Takers moved, they conducted another round of confirmation.

Subsequently, each of them chose the Examiner they felt gave them the best advantage and lined up in front of Hill and the other three Examiners.

Once everyone had made their choice, the Assessment officially began.

Perhaps sensing a first-mover advantage, some Trial Takers at the front of the lines held their nianshu beads and walked toward the platforms of Hill and the other three Examiners.

As those Trial Takers approached, the auras of Hill and the others noticeably diminished, suppressed to a level below that of the Trial Takers, and then the competition began.

Meanwhile, Gu Changming could only stand to the side, bored, watching their matches.

As the matches progressed, Gu Changming also saw the "interference" methods mentioned in the rules.

Every Trial Taker could exert a certain amount of influence on the Examiner during the Assessment.

For instance, just now, he saw Hill's movements suddenly freeze at the critical moment of completing the assembly, resulting in a clear stutter that wasted a lot of time.

Clearly, this was a rule that these Eclipse Clan Trial Takers could exploit in this trial.

The demonstration earlier served the same purpose: to let these Trial Takers identify potential flaws and loopholes in their disassembly and reassembly process, so they could interfere at the right moment.

This was likely also part of the test of their observation skills.

Furthermore, every Examiner had a different technique; by observing where they had an advantage, Trial Takers could choose their opponent for the trial.

It was just a pity for Gu Changming... with no one choosing him, he didn't get to experience it at all.

...

The Assessment matches continued, and Gu Changming could only stand listlessly by his empty platform, a mere spectator.

During this time, the two Eclipse Clan members he had been watching both passed the Assessment smoothly, and their results seemed quite good.

After passing the Assessment, these Trial Takers wouldn't stay; instead, a flash of light would envelop them, and they would be teleported to another space.

It was likely the Assessment space for the third stage handled by the remaining three Examiners.

Time ticked by, and the crowd of Trial Takers before him grew increasingly sparse.

About a few hours later, the original swarm of over a hundred people had dwindled to only thirty or so.

The remaining Trial Takers all looked hesitant and indecisive; their probability of passing was clearly low, otherwise they wouldn't have procrastinated until the end.

After watching for so long, Gu Changming felt bored. He simply propped his elbows on the platform and rested his chin in his hands, spacing out.

Who knew how much time had passed.

Suddenly, a faint light flashed at the edge of his vision.

"Hmm?" Gu Changming regained his focus slightly.

He thought the Assessment mechanism felt he was being too idle and was sending a warning or something.

But when his gaze fell on the prompt box that appeared, his expression changed slightly.

[intrusion progress: 70%]

[First attempt in progress...]

Is it the intrusion progress?

Gu Changming's heart skipped a beat. In this Assessment, he didn't care about the content at all; almost all his thoughts were focused on this.

However, before he could clearly read all the content...

"Phew! Finally done."

Before him, Hill stretched his body, turned around, let out a long sigh of relief, and greeted Gu Changming.

"You're probably the idlest one among us."

"Ah..." Gu Changming responded unconsciously, giving a token tug at the corners of his mouth to force a smile before pulling his gaze back.

[First intrusion attempt in progress. In ten seconds, there will be a three-second window where the Assessment mechanism is shielded.]

[Please perform an attempt within those three seconds to confirm the success of the intrusion.]

"Eh?" Gu Changming was momentarily stunned.

Then, he caught sight of a gray countdown timer appearing at the edge of his vision, which had already reached the final seven seconds.

[Seven...]

"Is something wrong?" Hill seemed to notice his shifting gaze and waved a hand at him, asking.

Gu Changming's attention was pulled back, his eyes landing on Hill's face.

"Ah... nothing."

Attempt? How do I attempt it?

"Really?" Hill asked again.

"Yeah." Gu Changming nodded.

"After this round of matches, I feel like my Mental Power is going up a few points," Hill said, taking the initiative to change the subject and complaining casually.

"Yeah, the intensity was so high," Gu Changming echoed, his gaze falling back on the countdown timer.

[Three...]

Watching the countdown near its end.

Gu Changming blinked slowly.

Snap!

He reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Hill.

As expected, Hill was drawn by the sound and looked over, his expression puzzled, not understanding what Gu Changming was doing.

Just as he was about to ask, Hill saw Gu Changming's hand glide through the air.

His gaze was naturally drawn along with it.

Gu Changming's hand descended, landing on the platform right next to the nianshu bead.

Then, Hill saw Gu Changming's index finger lightly tap the surface.

Click.

A soft sound.

Hill saw the nianshu bead on the platform decompose at the sound, hundreds of tiny components scattering simultaneously and floating in mid-air like frozen mercury.

The next instant.

Gu Changming's index finger tapped the tabletop lightly again.

Clack.

All the scattered components instantly flowed back, interlocking and resetting.

Then, the silver orb returned to its pristine state, lying quietly in its original place.

The entire process took less than a second.