"That shield you used to block Firozâs attack just now, what skill was that?" Su Ze asked curiously.
Mr. Ya seemed a little down. He answered, "Thatâs a Tier 4, S-rank skill I just absorbed called âFlawless Shield.â Its effect is one second of absolute invincibility."
"Invincibility? Thatâs badass!" Su Ze was stunned. âThat fly extract had a skill like this in it?â
"Itâs only for one second. It can block an enemyâs burst attack, but if youâre really up against someone you canât beat, youâre still dead after that second is up," Mr. Ya said.
"Thatâs not how you should look at it. In one second, you could bolt a mile away. Thatâs a top-tier life-saving skill, no doubt about it."
Mr. Ya nodded, not continuing the topic. Instead, he said earnestly, "Boss, thank you. If it werenât for your help, I might never have had the chance to get my revenge in this lifetime."
Mr. Ya knew full well that without Su Ze, he never would have grown so quickly or gotten to where he was today. He wouldnât have even had the chance to enter the Divine Dice, let alone kill Firoz and get his revenge.
"Weâre brothers. Cut the sentimental crap, I donât want to hear it." Su Ze had never been one for melodrama.
When he had first incited Mr. Ya to come to Dongli with him, he had promised that one day, he would help him return to Luofan in glory and put all those who had bullied and betrayed him in their place.
Although he hadnât fully achieved that yet, he had at least helped him kill one of his enemies with his own hands. He wasnât just talking big.
Besides, Mr. Ya had helped Su Ze a great deal over the time theyâd known each other, becoming one of the people Su Ze trusted most. Given the chance to help Mr. Ya get revenge, Su Ze would naturally give it his all.
Mr. Ya knew Su Ze didnât like to hear such things, so he said no more.
Just then, the Dice Space trembled, and three beams of light shot down from above.
The third trial was about to begin!
With the drastic reduction in numbers, the Dice Space seemed much quieter. Su Ze could take a good deal of credit for that, as he had killed fourteen people!
There were still fifty people at the start of the second trial. A few died during the trial itself, ten lucky ones managed to escape, two were killed in the melee while fighting for the exit, and Su Ze killed fourteen... Now, only twenty people remained in the Dice Space.
When these people looked at Su Ze, their eyes were filled with apprehension and fear. In their minds, Su Ze was now the last person they should ever provoke.
Fifteen people had ganged up on Su Ze. In the end, fourteen died, and only Yarlin escaped with a broken leg.
The Trialists from the Evolution Divine Teachings, Mu Country, Luofan Country, and the Tao Family had all been wiped out by Su Ze. Not a single Trialist from Ancient An Country had made it to the third trial, either.
...
Su Ze paid no mind to the othersâ stares, quietly waiting for the third trial to begin and looking forward to its reward.
The rewards for the first two trials had been the ability to digest extracts and an increase in Spiritual Power. Theoretically, the reward for the third trial should be even better.
VMMMM...
The light from above suddenly became dazzling, as if a flashbang had gone off. Su Zeâs vision went white, and his ears rang.
In a daze, he heard explosions, shouts, and screams... as if he had been dropped into the chaos of a battlefield.
âWhere am I...?â Things gradually came into focus for Su Ze. He saw that he was wearing a suit of strangely designed metal armor, standing bare-fisted amidst a field of corpses.
Around him, there truly was a battlefield.
The two warring factions were, on one side, the same Crystal People he had seen during the first trial, and on the other, humanoid creatures with purple skin.
The purple-skinned people all had a single eye located above their nose, but this one eye was hugeâas large as three normal human eyes combined.
Furthermore, Su Ze discovered he was wearing the same kind of armor as the purple-skinned people.
âSo this is a battlefield between two armies, and Iâm on the side of the purple-skinned people?â
The moment that thought crossed his mind, a Crystal Person soldier raised a great axe and swung it down at him.
"Furious Waves!"
Su Ze instinctively tried to counter with a skill, but when he stomped his foot, nothing happened. He then realized none of his skills were working!
In the third trial, skills were forbidden!
Fortunately, however, his physical strength remained. His speed, power, flexibility, and Defense Power were all at their original levels.
He sidestepped the axe, raised his fist, and punched, shattering the Crystal Personâs head.
The next moment, a stream of purple energy suddenly flew out of the dead Crystal Personâs body and drilled into Su Ze. He immediately felt his physical attributes improve!
His strength increased a little, his speed a tiny bit...
Although the increase was minuscule, practically negligible, the very fact that he could feel it meant it was actually a significant boost!
âAm I killing mobs for EXP?â
Su Ze now had a general understanding of the third trialâs rules.
No skills allowed, just pure physical combat to kill the Crystal Person soldiers. Each kill granted a small boost to his physical attributes.
As long as he killed enough, these small increments would add up, and his physical attributes would be massively enhanced!
âThis is more effective than any natural medicine!â
âSo this round tests physical attributes. Thatâs my strong suit again!â
Su Ze was fired up. Transforming into the most valiant of the purple-skinned soldiers, he charged to the front lines.
He punched Crystal People, kicked Crystal People, and tore Crystal People apart with his bare hands, fighting with unmatched ferocity!
Su Ze seized two large broadswords, one for each hand. Wielding both blades, he cut down the Crystal People as if he were chopping vegetables, carving a path through the massive army.
Exhilarating!
This exhilarating feeling of mowing down enemies reminded him of a distant memory from his past life...
Back then, the only "Mr. Chicken" was the one from the movies.
He was just an elementary school student back then.
Every day after school, he and his friends would take the one or two yuan theyâd saved by skipping breakfast, run to the arcade, and play Dynasty Warriors for an hour or two.
Su Ze felt like he was playing a live-action version of that hack-and-slash game right now, unable to stop swinging his two broadswords.
Before long, he could feel that his physique had improved by a huge margin!
He also noticed that neither the Crystal People nor the purple-skinned people could use skills either; they all fought using only their physical strength.
The physical strength of the common soldiers in both armies was roughly on par with a Cocoon Stage evolver, while the minor leaders in the ranks were comparable to Butterfly Stage evolvers.
Su Zeâs physical attributes, however, were outstanding even among those at the Butterfly Stage. His bones, in particular, were harder than even someone at the Peak of Butterfly Transformation.
Therefore, he could just charge headlong into the fray without any fear of being injured. He was the only one doing the killing.
He was like a meat grinder, charging in and out of the Crystal Person ranks at will.
As he continued to slaughter his way through the enemy, Su Ze also pondered a question... Was this battlefield real, temporarily created by the Divine Dice, or was it just an illusion?
He had thought about this during the first two trials. Su Ze first ruled out the possibility of an illusion, because people had died and been injured in the previous trials, and those events were all real.
If the second Trial Space was real, then the first Trial Space and the crystal baby within it must have been created by the Divine Dice.
The same had to be true for this third Trial Space. It was impossible that a real, active battlefield just happened to be available for his trialâespecially since it wasnât just for him, but for twenty people.
Who exactly created the Divine Dice? Who created all these trial scenarios? And where did all the precious, magical rewards come from?
One question after another surfaced in Su Zeâs mind.
But during all of this, his hands never stopped swinging his blades.
His physique was also rising steadily.
As he continued his rampage, having killed so many Crystal People, he finally attracted the attention of a Crystal Person general.
A Crystal Person general with three Crystal Spikes on his back, riding a magnificent Crystal Warhorse, charged toward Su Ze.
âWhy do you get a horse and I donât? This is unfair...â Unsure of the Crystal Person generalâs strength, Su Ze turned and ran.
The general on the purple-skinned side seemed to have noticed Su Ze long ago. âThis man has the might of ten thousand soldiers,â he thought. He slapped the hindquarters of his mountâa Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast that resembled an old oxâand then leaped off.
The Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast galloped over to Su Ze and obediently lowered its head.
âHow nice of you, General, giving me your mount. So why arenât you fighting him yourself?â
Su Ze grumbled internally but still leaped onto the Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast, turned, and charged back toward the Crystal Person general.
CLANG!
The two shot past each other, their blades clashing once.
The webbing of Su Zeâs hand went numb from the impact. He now had a rough idea of his opponentâs strength; in terms of power, at least, they were about equal.
Wheeling around to charge the Crystal Person general again, Su Ze suddenly leaped from the back of the Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast, landed on the Crystal Warhorse, and brought his blade down on the generalâs head.
The Crystal Person general struck back, swinging his own long blade toward Su Ze.
Su Ze suddenly dropped the blade in his right hand, pressed forward, and used his right arm to block the generalâs strike. At the same time, his left-hand blade swung in a wide arc, slashing horizontally toward the Crystal Person generalâs head.
With a clash of metal, the Crystal Person generalâs long blade struck Su Zeâs forearm, cutting through flesh and blood and hitting his bone.
And there, it was stopped!
Su Zeâs bone was like an indestructible shield. The Crystal Person general couldnât cut through it!
He had expected that one strike to sever Su Zeâs arm and cleave his body in two.
By the time he thought to defend against the blade from Su Zeâs other hand, which was now slicing at the back of his neck, it was already too late.
A crystal head fell. A massive amount of purple energy surged into Su Zeâs body, reinforcing it.
The moment he realized the Crystal Person generalâs strength was comparable to his own, Su Ze had planned to use his bone as a shield to catch him by surprise.
After all, without skill enhancements, Su Ze himself couldnât cut through his own bones with pure strength, so a Crystal Person general with similar strength certainly couldnât either.
So satisfying!
Feeling the magnitude of the enhancement to his body, Su Ze couldnât help but let out a cry of satisfaction. This single boost was greater than the ones from all the hundreds of Crystal Person soldiers he had killed combined.
Deciding to go all in, Su Ze also chopped up the generalâs warhorse, harvesting a good deal more purple energy.
"Whoâs next!"
Standing on the back of the Purple-skinned One-Eyed Beast, Su Ze scanned the army with disdain, looking for a second Crystal Person general.
If he could just kill a few more Crystal Person generals, absorbing a Tier 5 extract while still at the Butterfly Stage would be no problem at all!