Jiang Lin seized the recovery window after the lava great lizard’s tail-swipe attack and lunged forward, charging toward its body.
Simultaneously, the 400,000 units of mental energy within him surged like a bursting dam, flooding into the sword!
The eight-colored longsword erupted with unprecedented, brilliant light!
This was the first time since mastering the eight-colored sword qi that he had pushed it to its absolute limit without reservation!
"Ha!"
With a low shout, Jiang Lin gripped the sword with both hands and slashed down violently at the lava great lizard’s relatively vulnerable neck!
A streak of eight-colored sword qi, condensed to the extreme until it almost became a beam of pure destructive light, tore through the scorching air, rushing forward with an unrivaled momentum!
The lava great lizard seemed to sense that this strike posed a genuine threat.
It forcibly twisted its massive head, trying to avoid its vital points. The dark red scales on its body instantly turned a glowing crimson as high temperatures distorted the surrounding air, sending waves of heat that felt almost solid surging toward Jiang Lin.
At the same time, its terrifying giant tail whipped back frantically, smashing toward Jiang Lin with a momentum that threatened to incinerate everything!
However, Jiang Lin's sword still landed on his opponent!
Creeee—!!!
A piercing cutting sound rang out!
That condensed eight-colored streak of light ultimately slammed into the lava great lizard’s neck.
Instantly, the sound of harsh friction erupted.
The sword qi collided violently with the lava great lizard’s scales!
In the end, the sword qi containing Jiang Lin's immense mental energy proved superior!
It tore through the outer layer of the lava great lizard’s scale defense and plunged into its body, where the eight violent elements began to rage uncontrollably!
"Roar—!!!!"
Scales flew everywhere as a shrill howl erupted from the lava great lizard’s mouth, filled with pain and fury. Its burning vertical pupils glared at Jiang Lin in the air with shock and rage.
At this moment, dark gold blood, like molten lava, flowed from the gash on its neck, sizzling as it dripped onto the ground and sending up plumes of white smoke.
However, Jiang Lin keenly noticed that once the energy of his sword qi was exhausted, the blood flowing from the wound began to slow down, as if the creature was already repairing its internal injuries.
'Are the life forces of these demonic beasts so strong once they reach the king-tier?'
Jiang Lin thought to himself, noticing that the opponent's next attack was already upon him.
The giant flaming tail, carrying the power to incinerate all, whistled through the air as it smashed toward him!
Shadow and heat threatened to envelop him instantly.
In the next second, his body would be heavily damaged by this attack!
However, this was only the vision of what might happen in the next second as seen through the Chronowalker's Evil Eye.
Using the heaven-defying predictive ability of the Chronowalker's Evil Eye, Jiang Lin adjusted his posture in mid-air. As he landed, he moved closer to the lava great lizard’s body in an almost counter-intuitive maneuver.
"Wooo—Boom!!!"
The burning tail slammed down with the force of ten thousand tons, narrowly missing Jiang Lin’s dodging form as it crashed into the ground!
If he had been just a fraction slower, Jiang Lin would have been severely injured!
Even so, Jiang Lin didn't have it easy.
The intense heat and air currents generated by the tail's sweep slammed into his back.
It felt like being hit head-on by a dump truck.
Jiang Lin felt his internal organs vibrate violently, but he quickly stabilized his internal state!
At the same time, Jiang Lin secretly sighed in relief that he hadn't been directly hit.
If he had been hit, it wouldn't have been as simple as a head-on collision with a dump truck. It would have been facing destiny head-on, being crushed like a speed bump...
Although the school's Tower of Trials had safety measures, they were limited to interrupting the summoned projection if a student was detected to be severely injured.
If a student suffered a fatal wound, they would be dead instantly.
While the system of the Tower of Trials would judge whether a student could withstand the damage before deciding whether to terminate the projection, the school's system occasionally had bugs.
The school had included a description of the dangers of facilities like the Tower of Trials in the enrollment contract, and teachers emphasized it in class, requiring students to confirm the school's liability waiver.
Even though this was all because the school system occasionally failed, the school still had a set of excuses ready.
They claimed that whether before or during a fight, students always had the opportunity to deactivate the demonic beast projection themselves.
Furthermore, the rules of the Tower of Trials increased level by level. If a student found the previous demonic beasts difficult, they should choose to give up on the subsequent ones.
If someone couldn't even judge their own limits, then once they left the school's ivory tower, they would likely meet an untimely and unexplained end.
It was considered a way to teach students to know their own limits.
...
Returning to the battlefield, although Jiang Lin was almost hit by 'destiny,' it was still only 'almost.'
This gave Jiang Lin the chance to continue his attack.
The eight-colored longsword in his hand erupted once again with an almost identical light.
Mental energy flooded into the eight-colored longsword, and terrifying fluctuations emanated from the blade!
Seeing this, even the previously overbearing lava great lizard showed a trace of fear in its vertical pupils.
It was currently in the recovery animation of its tail-swipe attack.
While its massive size gave it terrifying power and great vitality, it was several degrees slower than the gloom-shadow demonic wolf from before.
Therefore, it couldn't dodge in time and could only let Jiang Lin’s terrifyingly solid sword qi slam into its body again!!
"Boom!"
The second streak of eight-colored sword qi, condensed to the limit, slammed into the lava great lizard like a blade of divine punishment!
A large number of dark red scales shattered, and the violent energy of the eight elements raged within it as golden-red lava-like blood flowed out!
"Roar!"
The lava great lizard erupted with another angry roar. After tanking another of Jiang Lin's full-power attacks, it merely had one more wound, but it still didn't fall.
The scales on its body flared, and a large amount of scorching lava-like mist seeped out from its skin.
Its wounds were also healing at a pace visible to the naked eye.
After unleashing that strike, Jiang Lin didn't linger. Using the recoil, he retreated rapidly to put distance between them.
His chest heaved slightly. Releasing those two full-power bursts of eight-colored sword qi had drained a significant portion of his mental energy.
Combat at this level reminded Jiang Lin of how it felt to fight the Shadow of Blood.
Based on a comprehensive assessment, the gap between him and his opponent wasn't that large.
His raw strength was actually a bit weaker than the lizard's.
However, he held the advantage in agility and combat techniques.
This allowed him to injure the opponent while taking minimal damage himself.
Looking at how the opponent's wounds were healing again, Jiang Lin estimated that completely defeating it would require a long, grueling battle.
Jiang Lin calculated his options.
But since he had come here specifically to familiarize himself with his current power, this kind of evenly matched confrontation was exactly what he craved.
He pulled out a bottle of rank-2 mana recovery potion and began chugging it.
'Haha, you stupid demonic beast projection, you didn't expect your boy to have items, did you!'
These were potions he had prepared for the Trial of Blood, but he had barely used any.
If he didn't use them now, their cost-effectiveness wouldn't be as high once he broke through to the 2nd rank.
When facing even more intense battles later, he would naturally need higher-tier magic potions to achieve better recovery in the same amount of time.
These mana recovery potions might become useless then.
And so, the man and the lizard became locked in a fierce, deadlocked battle.
For a time, flames and sword shadows flew everywhere, and the aftershocks of the energy collisions slammed into the walls of the trial space.
Finally, dozens of minutes later, with an unwilling roar, the lava great lizard’s massive body began to sway.
The golden-red light in its mouth flickered before finally spitting out only a puff of black smoke mixed with dark gold blood.
The dark red scales that covered its body and provided incredible defense had mostly been hacked off by Jiang Lin, and those that remained had lost their luster, turning dull.
Jiang Lin, having finished this, was also exhausted and had sustained several non-negligible injuries.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth but didn't leave immediately. Instead, he waited for the final level of the demonic beast projection to condense.
This was the strongest demonic beast projection this Tower of Trials could generate.
He was curious to see just how strong a level 30 overlord-tier demonic beast could be.
【Level 30 · Overlord-tier · Abyssal Eye】
Buzz!
In the center of the space, a massive, bloodshot, slowly rotating eyeball-like creature appeared.
It had no limbs and floated in mid-air, radiating a spiritual pressure that made the soul tremble and an aura of the abyss that was chaotic and distorted.
Its entire body was covered in a viscous shadow membrane that seemed to absorb light. That giant pupil, like an abyssal vortex, stared intently at Jiang Lin.
An aura far more eerie and heart-palpitating than that of the lava great lizard instantly permeated the area.
This wasn't physical pressure, but a cold, greasy, and chaotic sensation acting directly on the depths of the soul!
Jiang Lin felt as if his mental energy was being wrapped and pulled by invisible tentacles. His thinking became sluggish, and the scene before his eyes even distorted and shook for a moment.
Without a second thought, Jiang Lin directly canceled the projection summon.
The projection dissipated, and Jiang Lin slowly emerged from the fear of being dominated by the opponent, only then realizing that his back was soaked in cold sweat.
'Whew, good, it’s just sweat. I was going to say, there's no way an enemy of this level could make me piss myself...'
It seemed there was still a significant gap between him and a level 30 overlord.
Afterward, he walked out of the trial room door.
Unsurprisingly, the crystal at the door erupted with a dazzling golden light.
Jiang Lin, without looking back, picked up Little Black and walked out of the Tower of Trials.
Placing his hand on his clothes, he took out a fresh set from his spatial ring and changed into them.
At the same time, he cast a few small cleaning spells.
Instantly, the bloodstains and grime on him were completely cleared away.
It was nearing dusk, and Jiang Lin felt like he was in poor condition.
However, there was no need for combat now, so as he walked, he adjusted his breathing rhythm, letting his passive breathing technique enter a more efficient state to recover his stamina.
Jiang Lin went to find his homeroom teacher's office.
But since there were still ten days before the start of the term, his teacher wasn't particularly passionate about work and hadn't returned early to handle school affairs.
So, after thinking it over, he left a leave request on his teacher's desk. He debated between Director Edwin and Vice Dean Keith, ultimately choosing Vice Dean Keith Howard, who had been responsible for his admission.
The reason was simple: Jiang Lin felt that Vice Dean Keith Howard wasn't responsible for the students' daily affairs and seemed to be idling around all day, so it should be easier to get a leave slip approved.
Besides, once Vice Dean Keith Howard notified his homeroom teacher, the teacher wouldn't be able to say much.
He then arrived at Vice Dean Keith Howard’s office.
"Vice Dean Keith!"
"Is there something you need?"
...
"You say you're... Student Jiang Lin?"
Vice Dean Keith Howard looked at the person before him with confusion.
He still had some impression of Jiang Lin, who had enrolled with excellent grades a month ago.
But he didn't look like this then, did he?
With Vice Dean Keith Howard's strength, he could naturally tell that Jiang Lin wasn't using any transformation magic.
This was his true appearance.
'Did some kind of bloodline awaken??'
"It’s really me, Vice Dean! About my leave request..."
Vice Dean Keith Howard leaned back slightly, scanning Jiang Lin’s now-dazzling appearance.
"Student Jiang Lin, there are only ten days until school starts. Are you sure you want to take nearly a month off?"
Jiang Lin cleared his throat.
"It might only be a month. If things are resolved quickly, I might even be back before the term starts."
Vice Dean Keith Howard nodded slowly upon hearing this.
"Then write an acknowledgment form yourself. The school won't be responsible if any accidents occur while you're away on leave.
"But let me remind you again, Emerald City is located on the border. Its security isn't as good as Clearwater City’s. You must stay safe. Also, if you encounter a situation where you can't return, and if conditions permit, ask the academy for help. The academy can dispatch teachers to support you.
"However, if we encounter a situation even we can't solve, then you can only leave it to fate."
Hearing this, Jiang Lin thanked him.
"Thank you, Vice Dean!"
Jiang Lin briskly signed the leave slip and then turned to leave.
He also said goodbye to the two in his dormitory before setting out on the road to Emerald City.
...
As the capital of Qinghe County, Clearwater City had a transportation network extending in all directions.
The Court of Space, being the most important facility among them, was naturally open twenty-four hours a day.
Since Jiang Lin still had plenty of 'relief grain' provided by the school, he grandly laid out several gold coins and bought a ticket to the royal capital.
Since there was no direct teleportation array from Clearwater City to Emerald City, Jiang Lin had to go through several transfers to get there.
After waiting in line for a long time and stepping onto the teleportation array, a strong sense of spatial dizziness hit him.
Jiang Lin skillfully held Little Black and headed for the vomiting zone at the exit of the royal capital’s Court of Space.
He couldn't quite understand why he didn't feel such strong dizziness when teleporting to the Blood Realm or the God-blessed Land.
But why did taking a long-distance teleportation array from Clearwater City to the royal capital make him this nauseous?
After he finished vomiting and rested for a while, Jiang Lin bought another ticket for the teleportation array to Ironforge in the north.
Ironforge was an important transportation hub and city in the northern part of the Saintas Kingdom. Since Emerald City was a relatively remote small city, another transfer was required.
Rate on N.U.
