223: manner

At the same time.

At the location of the one hundred and thirty-seven transit passages.

A dozen or so people were thrown out of one of them in a pathetic state.

"What happened?"

"Why was I thrown out?"

"I think... I heard a voice telling us to get lost."

"I heard it too. It seemed to say we were trash?"

"It wasn't 'seemed,' I heard it too..."

The group looked at each other, their faces flushing red with embarrassment.

When had they ever been evaluated like that?

However, being elites from the Myriad Heavens and Realms, they quickly realized that anyone who dared to do this must be someone of high status within the Association.

Not daring to utter even a single face-saving remark, they could only resentfully find an excuse for themselves.

"Whatever, my talent wasn't in virtual technology anyway."

"Exactly, same here."

"Eh, why is everyone gathered here?"

Just then, a passage lit up, and two figures appeared.

One was a woman in plain clothes with an indifferent expression—she was the genius who had been the only one to reach Level 39 in the previous test.

The other person was beaming with joy and greeted everyone familiarly.

"Fifth Prince."

"Fifth Prince, what a coincidence?"

The group that had been kicked out forced smiles onto their faces without revealing their embarrassment.

"How did you all know that my younger sister just passed the 40th floor assessment of the Tower of Time!"

The joy on the man's face intensified as he shouted out an answer to a question no one had asked.

"What!"

"The 40th floor assessment of the Tower of Time?"

The crowd gasped in shock, even ignoring the man's deliberately boastful posture.

The Tower of Time was one of the core knowledge towers of the Time Traveler Association, and its requirements were the most stringent.

The hardest part was reaching 40 or more credits in a single subject; the highest score in ten thousand years had only been 39.

In comparison, the other requirement of 200 total credits was far too simple.

In other words, this almost guaranteed that she had been admitted!

"Congratulations."

"Congratulations, Fifth Prince. Congratulations, Seventh Princess. It seems the status of your Silver Splendor Empire is about to rise again."

"Heh, I'm sure everyone will get good results too. Seventh Sister, come quickly, your ranking should be visible on the stone tablet now."

The Fifth Prince gave a perfunctory response, pushed through the crowd, and trotted over to the stone tablet, pointing at the newly appeared name at the bottom.

"Come look."

"Fifth Brother, I... I only barely reached the minimum requirement for the Tower of Time..."

The woman shook her head gently. Her voice, unlike her cold appearance, was a bit halting, likely due to a long period of little communication with others.

She turned around, preparing to head toward another passage.

Meanwhile, the others approached the stone tablet with envious expressions, looking at the several additional rankings at the bottom.

"It really is 45 credits for a single tower... Wait, wasn't it 40? Why is it 45!"

Someone suddenly cried out in shock.

"Virtual Tower, 45 credits in a single subject! My god, am I seeing this right! Who is this Zhang Huaiyuan?"

Everyone began to scream uncontrollably.

Although their talent was at the bottom among the many examinees, in the outside world, every one of them was a peerless genius.

They understood the concept of 45 credits in a single subject all too well.

One had to know that aside from that freak who was first on the all-time historical list, the second place in history was only 43!

If 40 was the threshold for top-tier geniuses who looked down on them like ants...

...then reaching 45 meant one had already transcended the category of 'genius.' To such a person, even top-tier geniuses were like ants!

It was a completely different concept!

In an instant, everyone's gaze changed.

With such a result, barring any accidents... no, there were no accidents; this person would absolutely be favored by the high-level members of the Association!

In this Sea of Time, as well as the three thousand Great Worlds and billions of Small Worlds that existed dependent on it, another pivotal figure was about to emerge.

"We must win him over in advance!"

The group exchanged knowing glances and almost simultaneously took out communication devices or transmission talismans to notify the powers behind them.

The Fifth Prince, meanwhile, could no longer afford to keep being happy for his sister. His expression changed, and he immediately sent the news back to his empire.

Although the Virtual Tower was not as difficult as the Tower of Time, above 40 credits, every single point of difficulty increased exponentially. The gap between 45 and 40 was even larger than the gap between 0 and 40.

"45...?"

The Seventh Princess, who had intended to step into another teleportation passage for an assessment, was stunned, and her footsteps stopped.

Her gaze instinctively drifted to the bottom of the stone tablet. A trace of shock appeared on her originally calm and placid face.

"Seventh Sister."

After finishing his notification, the Fifth Prince saw the Seventh Princess standing there in a daze. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he stepped forward quickly.

"Wh... what is it, Fifth Brother?"

"Ahem... didn't you tell Father before that you don't like those cultivation-side gorillas who only know how to solve problems with their fists, nor do you like those old monsters who have lived for who knows how many billions of years?"

The Fifth Prince coughed and lowered his voice.

"Look, that guy should be of the same generation as you, and his talent isn't bad either. Perhaps you two would have common topics. Why don't you get to know him... do you understand what I mean?"

"Okay."

"Listen to your brother's advice, right now the Empire's... eh? What did you say?"

The Fifth Prince looked at his sister in surprise. She had always been haughty and looked down on everyone; he had been prepared to spend a lot of time persuading her, but he hadn't expected her to agree so easily.

"Fifth Brother, don't you know? Communicating with an outstanding fellow Scholar is the most interesting thing in the world."

The Seventh Princess's eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked toward the entrance of the Virtual Tower passage.

Since childhood, she had never met anyone of her generation who could discuss academics with her. Even her tutors were surpassed by her in a very short time.

And when communicating with those truly great figures, the gap was too large, so she could only listen.

"Uh... as long as you like it."

Seeing this, the Fifth Prince smiled. If he didn't have to force her, that was for the best.

If a genius of this caliber could side with the Silver Splendor Empire, many of the problems they faced would be easily resolved.

While everyone was lost in their own thoughts...

...the teleportation passage engraved with the four words 'Virtual Tower' suddenly lit up, and a figure appeared.

"Hmm? Why are there so many people?"

Zhang Huaiyuan, who had just come to his senses, was startled to see a large crowd waiting at the entrance.

"Is it him?"

"It should be."

One person plucked up their courage and stepped forward to ask.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhang Huaiyuan?"

"That's me."

Although Zhang Huaiyuan didn't understand what was going on, he still nodded politely.

This guy seemed to be one of the dozen or so who had just been swatted away by that Peculiar Being's tentacle.

"Ahem... I am Bels from Cloud Demon Mountain, and I am also an enthusiast of virtual technology. I very much hope to befriend you. May I have the honor of exchanging contact information?"

A pitch-black creature with two horns on its head tried its best to force a friendly smile, greeting him in somewhat awkward Human Common Language.

"Of course..."

As the saying goes, one does not hit a smiling face. Since the other party was so polite, Zhang Huaiyuan naturally wouldn't go out of his way to offend them for no reason.

"Mr. Zhang, I am..."

"I am..."

Seeing that he was so easy to talk to, the others' eyes lit up, and they all rushed forward to ask for his contact information.

But in the next moment, a tentacle flew out from the passage and directly swatted everyone away.

At the same time, a cold voice rang out:

"A bunch of trash. If you dare to interfere with the assessment of my Virtual Tower student again, you will be expelled directly from Time Island."

...