186: Chapter 186 Beast Ear Clan

[The 17th Assessment: Plane Competition]

The words hung in the sky, etched into the eyes of every member of the Beast-Eared Clan.

Inside the palace of the Gale Nation.

The palace ceiling was high and wide, with several deep blue crystals embedded in the stone pillars and dome illuminating the entire hall.

On the throne sat a burly, bare-chested middle-aged man of the Beast-Eared Clan with knotted muscles.

At this moment, he was excitedly tapping the armrest with his thick fingers, a pair of dark brown tiger ears with ringed markings atop his head twitching slightly with his movements.

Below the steps, several ministers, also possessing various types of beast ears and dressed in simple leather or light armor, stood in two rows.

"Plane Competition..." King Horn spoke slowly, his tiger ears suddenly perking up, his eyes bursting with unconcealed excitement.

"I didn't expect there would be another one!" he said, uncontrollably clenching his fists.

The ministers below also had excitement shining in their eyes.

Yes.

Last time, during the same Plane Competition Assessment, they had failed.

At first, they didn't understand at all how generous the reward of obtaining ownership of a plane, as mentioned in the rules, was.

So after their failure, they could only watch helplessly as other nations and powers that had secured planes surpassed them step by step.

But now, the opportunity to catch up had arrived.

Such a "competition Assessment" had actually descended once again. This time, they absolutely could not miss it.

They exchanged glances, their breathing hurried.

At that moment, the excitement in the hall was interrupted by a flurry of hurried footsteps.

A scout practically stumbled in from outside the hall, but his face held no panic; instead, it was filled with an excitement even more intense than Horn's.

"Is there news?" Horn leaned forward, his tiger ears standing straight up.

Below the steps, all the ministers turned their heads in unison toward the scout.

The moment the Assessment appeared, they had immediately dispatched people to begin searching for the appearing plane Assessment points within their territory.

Now, with the scout reporting so hurriedly, it was clear that the location had been found.

"Reporting to Your Majesty!" The scout knelt on one knee, his breath unsteady from excitement. "It's been found! The plane entrance has been found!"

"Where?!" Horn suddenly stood up from his throne.

"On a piece of wasteland less than thirty li west of the Royal Capital!" the scout reported quickly.

"Good!" Horn slammed a fist onto the armrest, almost unable to wait to set off.

"And..." the scout's voice suddenly rose.

"And what?" Everyone seemed to sense that there was more good news.

"And the entrance that appeared this time is a promotion-type plane Assessment!"

"What? Are you sure?!" Horn's pupils constricted, followed by immense joy washing over his face.

The ministers below were also stunned at first, but then uncontrollable smiles appeared on their faces as they exchanged excited glances.

"Absolutely certain, Your Majesty!" The scout nodded vigorously.

Actually, no special identification methods were needed; once near the plane, staring at it for a few seconds would cause information to appear on the panel.

"Haha!" Horn couldn't help but laugh loudly.

After the last "Plane Competition" Assessment ended, having failed, they naturally inquired about the Assessment situations of other powers and kingdoms.

They also figured out the basic content of the Assessment. It was categorized; there was the Hunting Ground Slaughter type, where once inside, the killing began immediately, and only one side would survive to claim the final ownership of the plane.

This type was the most cruel. One kingdom had eventually gained ownership, but after the Assessment ended, because their strongest combatants had fallen inside, they were later annexed by other powers.

Then there was the Score-based type, where points were earned by hunting the creatures of that plane or finding mission materials, and the one with the highest score won. This was the type they encountered last time.

There were also some other types.

Of course, the one with the least loss was the promotion-type Assessment they had this time. After entering, they would face carefully designed trials and layers of selection, eventually deciding the most adaptable and well-rounded winner.

Of course, that's not to say such an Assessment was easy.

But the difficulty of this type of Assessment lay in being "well-rounded"—it tested not just combat power but also brains. How to interpret the rules, how to utilize the rules, how to get high scores in the trials...

Moreover, it wouldn't have a casualty rate as high as the Hunting Ground Slaughter type, where one might die at any moment.

So he could send in as many people as possible, using numbers to stack the probability of winning.

And most importantly, when the Assessments began, they had established relevant departments to study the mechanisms and rule logic of each Assessment.

Now, encountering this type of Assessment was perfect timing!

Horn stood up excitedly, his voice echoing in the hall:

"Pass the order: All citizens of our nation with strength at Rank E or above, proceed immediately to the plane entrance to participate in this Assessment!"

"All the think tank members in the palace 'Research Institute,' leave none behind, all of them go in as well. This time, we must seize this plane!"

"Yes!" Everyone below the steps shouted in unison.

They turned and quickly dispersed, as orders were rapidly transmitted.

This time, they would give everything to seize that plane.

...

[The 8th Assessment: Plane Competition]

Gu Changming looked at the white text that appeared and yawned.

[Assessment Content: Compete with other civilizations; the winner will gain ownership of the entire plane.]

[Rule Supplement: The Assessment type is determined by the plane's own characteristics and varies in kind.]

[Assessment Entrance: A plane entrance will be fixedly generated within twenty kilometers of every existing human Stronghold. Each Stronghold corresponds to only one entrance.]

[Assessment Time Limit: The end is marked by the determination of the final winner within the last plane.]

After reading it, Gu Changming casually closed it.

In his previous life, he hadn't participated very deeply in this Assessment.

It wasn't that his strength was insufficient, but as the rules stated, this Assessment involved competing with other civilizations.

So this Assessment was mainly geared towards various powers rather than individuals; individual participation would only result in getting some scraps.

Recalling, Gu Changming took out the map that had been in his Ring Space for a long time and started sliding his hand across it.

Because those planes, unlike the secret realms that close after a while, can exist indefinitely.

So Gu Changming still remembered them; for example, he had entered a trial-type plane that Su Wan and the others from the Xinhuo Stronghold had won.

Jiang Chen and his group had taken a plane related to the Spirit Realm, and later developed some kind of Dream World from it where people could continuously resurrect and fight each other to improve their strength.

Finally, Gu Changming stopped at the southwest region of the map.

In his memory, there were no Plane Channels here.

"Hmm, right here then." Gu Changming pressed his finger down.

Having an extra Plane Channel would only bring benefits to humanity, no harm.