253: Chapter 253 The Assessment Begins

The time for adjustment was not very long.

Ten days later, on an open plain, three high towers reaching into the clouds stood tall in the distance.

"Participants from the three great academies."

Amidst an old and majestic voice, a giant tree rose from the ground, lifting high-level figures from various major powers into mid-air.

One of them, an Elf Clan Grand Sage with white hair and beard, took a half-step forward and lightly tapped his staff, his voice echoing in everyone's ears:

"There are three Towers of Knowledge here with different focuses. Each has 50 floors, but the overall difficulty is similar."

"On each floor, you will randomly encounter a problem from a different research field. Once solved, you may proceed to the next floor."

"The higher you go, the greater the difficulty."

"For every floor cleared, each person will receive one point. The sum of points earned by all participants from an academy will be that academy's total score for the first round."

"The total time allowed for answering is 100 years."

"..."

After a set of rules, similar to what the mentors had previously stated, finished being read.

The gates of the three high towers slowly opened.

"Good luck."

Talix from the Time Book House took a deep breath, looked back at his teammates, and encouraged them:

"We must keep the honor within our academy. Everyone has one chance to ask for help; I will set aside as much time as possible to assist you."

"Understood, Senior. We won't hold you back. Let's do this!"

The others nodded solemnly, whispering words of encouragement to one another.

Soon, the tower gates were fully open.

"The competition begins. Participants, please enter."

As a solemn voice rang out, the clouds in the sky dispersed, and a golden ranking board rose.

It recorded the total scores of the three academies as well as the individual scores of each participant.

"Let's go."

The participants from each academy dared not waste time, heading straight to their respective towers to be teleported inside.

Simultaneously, illusory light and shadows appeared in the air, clearly projecting images of every student.

"Which team do you think is more likely to win?"

Several elegantly dressed beings looked up at the projections, discussing with light laughter.

They were among the sponsors of this competition and the behind-the-scenes rulers of several renowned great chambers of commerce in the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

They provided funding for labor, energy, and some of the rewards.

In return, some of the problems contained within these specially made Towers of Knowledge were the research bottlenecks or dilemmas currently faced by these chambers of commerce or enterprises.

If they happened to be solved smoothly, these chambers of commerce would obtain these results for free.

"Naturally, the students of the Time Book House."

One of the merchants from the Sea of Time replied calmly:

"As everyone knows, when it comes to the comprehensive education of academic research, the Time Book House has always been far ahead."

"Is that so?"

One of them looked thoughtful, his gaze sweeping over one of the projections as he couldn't help but say:

"However, I heard that in this year's competition, there are several extremely outstanding geniuses in the Holy Light Monastery, and even Her Highness the Holy Maiden of Holy Spirit City is personally participating..."

"While Her Highness the Holy Maiden of Holy Spirit City certainly has a noble status, in the way of academia, what matters is one's own knowledge."

The merchant interrupted:

"Besides, if their monastery has peerless geniuses, the Time Book House is not to be outdone either."

A mysterious smile appeared on his face as he lowered his voice. "I heard that the peerless genius who was fought over by the two Tower Masters of the Association's Virtual Tower and Tower of All Things to be taken as a disciple is also on this competition's roster."

"Oh? Then it seems this time the first place should be decided between the monastery and the Time Book House."

"That's hard to say. Leviathan Laboratory has always been mysterious, not to mention they are the organizers this year; no one knows how many tricks they have up their sleeves."

"True. It seems this year's sponsorship was worth it."

Smiles appeared on the faces of several great merchants.

For them, it didn't matter who won; the more results achieved, the greater their return.

Additionally, they could observe if anyone performed exceptionally well to establish good relations in advance.

Meanwhile, as the outside world was chatting and discussing.

The students inside the three Towers of Knowledge were focusing with all their might.

Zhang Huaiyuan was no exception.

Although he was confident that after 9,000 years of time-accelerated study and matches in the "Truth Chess Game," his knowledge was absolutely superior among his peers.

But this time, his opponents were also the elite of the elite. God knows what tricks they were hiding, so he had to give it his all.

The light and shadow of the first floor gradually took shape.

It was a thin, gray metal sheet about one square meter in size.

Beside it, the requirements for clearing the floor were written:

This is one of the core components of a certain large-scale time-related device. Due to some hard-to-detect factors, deviations or fracturing frequently occur during use.

Please identify the cause of its instability and improve its structure. If it remains stable for at least twenty-four hours of operation, you will pass.

"An assessment on time-related instruments... the difficulty of the first question is already unusual."

Zhang Huaiyuan frowned slightly.

The assessment within the Tower of Knowledge in this competition was likely to be much more difficult than he had imagined.

Thinking this, his eyes flickered as he activated True Sight to look.

During his previous studies, he had used it sparingly to train his thinking abilities, but in a formal competition like this, he would naturally use whatever means he had.

In an instant, the microscopic form of the entire gray metal sheet was revealed completely.

"What an exquisite structure... No... the flow of time inside is completely different from here; it seems to be a sealed, destroyed space-time..."

"The preheating and output programs are both fine... Logically, there shouldn't be a problem... Wait, what's that? I see!"

"Good grief, no wonder there's a problem."

With the help of True Sight, Zhang Huaiyuan quickly understood the structure of the entire metal sheet and where the problem lay.

That destroyed space-time had likely been annihilated by a disaster similar to "Vacuum Decay."

And when this metal sheet extracted time from that destroyed world, it might have accidentally ingested a wisp of decay's echo along with it.

Every time it operated, it would simultaneously activate that wisp of decay's echo, causing the entire extracted time to be destroyed once again.

"It should be fine as long as I find that wisp of echo and remove it."

Zhang Huaiyuan's gaze swept across, and he quickly found that imperceptible fluctuation that almost most instruments could not detect.

"Remove the module at the marked position, refill it, and modify the relevant programs as follows..."

After identifying the problem, Zhang Huaiyuan quickly made corrections and uploaded them.

These exam questions were likely manifested through some powerful Virtual Technology; without much of a wait, the certification of the modifications was completed.

"Detection complete. Stability over twenty-four hours of continuous operation is good, with no obvious abnormalities detected. Result: Pass. You may now enter the next floor."

"This is much harder than the introductory questions of the Association's assessment back then..."

There was no look of joy on Zhang Huaiyuan's face; instead, he became increasingly solemn.

This first floor seemed easy, but if not for the existence of True Sight, it would have been impossible to find and identify the problem in less than a year or two.

"Then again, many participants, like me and Senior Sister Fang, have already passed the upper-level assessments and only stayed in the subordinate academies specifically for the competition. It's reasonable for it to be a bit difficult."

Zhang Huaiyuan shook his head, stopped dwelling on it, and turned toward the appearing stairs to enter the next floor.

...