284: Chapter 284 The Third Round

An unknown dimension.

Countless illusory mental apparitions floated quietly in the void as if they were physical entities.

Until at a certain moment, one of the apparitions suddenly snapped its eyes open, hollow and soulless.

One projection after another flashed by.

They were scenes that had taken place in the Origin Star Sea, specifically those involving the World Tree.

The images shifted constantly before finally freezing on the faces of Saintess Jiang Nian and Zhang Huaiyuan.

A deliberately lowered, greedy voice rang out simultaneously:

"Master, two geniuses with terrifying potential have appeared. They might impact our plans. Do we need to initiate the plan ahead of schedule?"

"Hmm?"

In the originally empty darkness, a pair of eyes that seemed embedded into space slowly opened.

"It is that little girl from Holy Spirit City... pay her no mind... her true body is within the Eternal Realm. Like us, she is immortal."

"As for this little fellow..."

Those eerie eyes looked toward Zhang Huaiyuan.

"The 41st floor of the Tower of Knowledge... he actually surpassed that little girl from Holy Spirit City."

"Hmm? Wait, this is... that kind of special rule power!"

The originally indifferent tone suddenly turned into a sharp shock.

Almost simultaneously, pairs of similar eyes opened from the void, all looking together at Zhang Huaiyuan.

"Indeed... it is that power."

"No wonder he could defeat a deity..."

"And at such a young age, he has already begun to master the Power of Causality... A massive threat. He must be eliminated..."

"Must be eliminated..."

"Must be eliminated..."

Soon, all the voices in the void seemed to reach an agreement.

"The Time Traveler Association has always had perfect protection measures for their Scholars, let alone a disciple of this caliber... I fear even if he dies, they would pay a massive price to resurrect him."

A voice continued to narrate:

"Therefore, there is only one chance. We must erase all traces of that little fellow's existence across all timelines and parallel worlds, completely cutting off the possibility of resurrection."

"Now is an excellent opportunity. Act before he returns to the Sea of Time..."

"Do not expose yourselves..."

"It took us billions of eons to find a method to break through the seal and infiltrate to a certain extent. Currently, our penetration into various worlds is not complete. Once exposed, if those damned fellows from the Eternal Realm interfere, the outcome will be a toss-up."

"Naturally..."

The void space gradually returned to silence.

Only some of the floating manifestations became slightly sparser.

...

On the other side, at the assessment grounds located on a branch of the World Tree.

As the chief examiner, the High Priest of the Elf Race was also in urgent communication with the other examiners.

"An unexpected situation has arisen."

"Currently, the Time Book House has a total score of 602 points, which is a full 226 points higher than second place. Based on the assessment of the current students' levels, the originally planned third round would only create a maximum gap of 200 points."

"In other words, no matter what, the Time Book House's first-place result is secured. Even the gap between second and third place is nearly 100 points. According to predictions, if we proceed, this gap will only widen..."

One examiner said with some hesitation.

The High Priest of the Elf Race instantly understood the other's meaning.

The current score gap for Leviathan Academy was already unsightly enough, nearly setting an all-time record for the worst performance.

If the competition continued, not only would the result remain unchanged, but the scores would become even more embarrassing.

"No."

The High Priest of the Elf Race shook his head slightly.

"The competition between the three academies has lasted for a long time. We cannot make an exception just because we fear losing face. That would only make us look petty. Everything will proceed according to plan with minor adjustments."

"Yes, Your Excellency High Priest."

While communicating, the High Priest of the Elf Race scanned the thirty examinees below, who had various expressions.

The people from the Time Book House, who were leading by a wide margin, clearly felt no pressure now. They appeared extremely relaxed, laughing and chatting amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, the group from Leviathan Academy all had dark expressions, keeping a slight distance from each other in silence.

As for the Holy Light Monastery, they still seemed to be living in their own world. Aside from Saintess Jiang Nian, who had pulled out a virtual gaming device to play, the others were all muttering with devout gazes.

"First, congratulations to everyone from the Time Book House, especially student Zhang Huaiyuan for his outstanding performance and excellent results."

The High Priest of the Elf Race tapped his staff, and a gentle force pulled everyone back from their own activities. He smiled and said:

"However, the competition is not over yet. There is still one final round."

Saying this, he waved his staff, driving the branch of the World Tree to slice through the void.

Immediately, a brilliant galaxy descended from the sky, where tiny stars could be faintly seen floating within.

With a casual gesture, he had changed the very world around them.

At the same time, the High Priest of the Elf Race's gentle voice rang out:

"If the first round's Tower of Knowledge was to assess your current knowledge, and the second round's melee was to assess your application of knowledge, then this round is to assess your potential and find the true geniuses."

"Hmm... this is!"

Zhang Huaiyuan looked up at the orderly flowing galaxy and was slightly stunned.

He was far too familiar with this thing!

Although its degree of perfection was much lower, its form and layout were clearly identical to the 'Truth Chess Game'!

Sure enough, the High Priest of the Elf Race's voice continued:

"This object was discovered by our Queen in the ancient records of the treasury and simplified from them."

"It is the great invention of a certain unspeakable Great Being."

"There are a total of 1.2 million Knowledge Star here..."

"You need to solve..." (See Chapter 234 for details.)

He explained the rules, which were similar to those in the ruins.

However, compared to the 12 trillion stars in the ruins, this imitation wasn't even at a kindergarten level.

"In this match, you can freely choose between six examiners, including myself, to act as the opposing chess player."

"Among them, for those who choose the other five examiners as opponents, the base point multiplier is 1. That is, capturing one of the opponent's pieces earns 1 point. As for choosing me as an opponent..."

Saying this, the High Priest of the Elf Race's gaze swept over Zhang Huaiyuan and Saintess Jiang Nian intentionally or unintentionally, and he chuckled:

"The base point multiplier is 2; capturing one of my pieces earns 2 points."

"Of course, for the sake of fairness, my avatar will be affected by the Laws of Time, retaining the knowledge reserves and experience I had at twenty thousand years of age."

As soon as these words were spoken,

Some students who had been thinking of taking a gamble immediately lost heart.

One must know that an existence capable of becoming the High Priest of the Elf Race was definitely a genius among geniuses.

Perhaps in his own year's competition, he was an existence nearly as dazzling as Zhang Huaiyuan is now.

If he were at an equal level, they might dare to take a shot.

But with twenty thousand years of age plus his talent, what was there to fight against?

However, there were exceptions.

"Double points?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

In the full version of the 'Truth Chess Game', he had captured a piece from the Lord of Truth at the same age.

Even if this High Priest of the Elf Race had twenty thousand years of knowledge reserves, could he even reach a fraction of the Lord of Truth's level?

...