Next, Huang Yi managed to easily kill 20 waves of minor monsters with his large-scale Judgment Skill, completing the trial. The main difficulty here was really about the equipment. If one’s gear wasn’t up to a certain standard, the trial would be challenging. It was thanks to that level 40 Split Hammer that he had such an easy time; without it, it wouldn’t have been possible.
After killing the 20 waves of minor monsters, the severely injured warrior finally passed away in peace, leaving a pile of red ashes on the ground. Huang Yi placed his hand on the ashes, and a stream of red Energy instantly coursed through his arm into his body, surging towards his limbs and bones.
[System Prompt]: Congratulations, you have learned the Judge Class’s level 35 skill [Pursuit].
[Pursuit]: Consumes 20 points of Rage, quickly dashes in one direction. Any enemy hit by the dash will fall into a Dizziness state for 2 seconds. The dash distance is a maximum of 40 meters, with a cooldown time of 1 minute.
This was a positioning skill. Many Melee Classes had similar Charge-like skills that were crucial for closing the distance to Ranged Classes. However, Huang Yi’s Pursuit was more Agile than a Charge, which needed a target to cast, rendering it ineffective without one and limiting its use to an offensive skill. In contrast, Pursuit did not require a target and could therefore be used to escape.
With this skill in his arsenal, Huang Yi’s capabilities became more well-rounded. When he had fought Man Lie before, he had been quite powerless to escape. He often couldn’t get out of the range of area attacks. If he had had this skill back then, his flexibility would have been significantly increased.
...
After leaving the Warrior Hall, Huang Yi gazed at the night view of Thornbush City and felt a moment of trance. When he first arrived here, he was just a level 19 newbie wearing tattered gear, without a single Class Skill learned. Now, he was level 35, clad in Purple Gear, and had learned four powerful Class Skills.
He decided to leave Thornbush City the next evening, heading for the Desolate Sands. Once he crossed that area, he would reach the distant Dragon City, meet with Number 9, and join up with the organization.
Having used up his solo attempts in the Tower of Pantheons for the day, Huang Yi, with nothing else to do, went again to Sally Garden. This place had seemed to become his nightly destination these days, a habit that had formed unknowingly. Every time he saw the silhouette of that girl, his heart would completely calm down, and he would sleep especially soundly.
Tonight, the girl’s window was still lit, her silhouette still inside, seemingly engrossed in reading. She certainly didn’t know that there was a young man outside her window who came to look at her every night but never approached, just watching from a distance.
Huang Yi still spent the night in a chair in the garden and, upon waking up the next morning, he logged off to have some breakfast.
Meanwhile, Rose Prison was bustling. The Prison Overlord, Lei Shen, had gathered a group of Criminals again, training them in the large cell block, continuing the life he once had in the military. This dreary prison was brought to life under his leadership.
Indeed, the communal cell block was much better than the solitary cells from before, as the Criminals had interactions with each other and life was not so monotonous anymore.
Huang Yi also stretched and did some fundamental training in his own cell, including push-ups, handstands, sparring, and meditation, among various exercises targeting different aspects. He had been training like this since he was a child, never missing a day even during his struggles in The Second World, always finding the time to complete these exercises each day. Only by doing so could he keep his body in good shape.
It wasn’t until after lunch that he logged back into The Second World.
The first thing he did online was naturally to go grind in the Tower of Pantheons. This time, he Teleported to a floor he hadn’t played in a long time – the 20th floor!
This was the last level in the labyrinth scenario, the place where the world record was refreshed!
Previously, in the 10th-level garden scenario, he had broken the world record twice in succession, receiving rich rewards. Now at level 35, he was at the prime level to challenge the 20th floor, with another batch of generous rewards waiting for him.
Huang Yi wielded a level 40 Purple Martial Split Hammer, which was like a bug in this 20th layer, completely overwhelming in his progression. However, he deliberately delayed his clearance time a bit, to leave room for improvement when he broke the record for the second time.
Before long, Huang Yi came face to face with the second boss, the Undead Mage. Initially, it had taken him 24 hours to kill this boss, but now the opponent had become as fragile as a minor minion. Wielding the Split Hammer, Huang Yi smashed it into a pile of broken flesh in just a few hits.
In the entire 20th floor, the most troublesome was undoubtedly the last, the fifth boss whose ability was Rebirth. After being killed, it would resurrect three times, and with each resurrection, it would grow stronger. This boss also had a high Health Points and strong defense, requiring a very long time to be defeated.
However, Huang Yi defeated this boss very quickly, because his Split Hammer had a very special "Corpse Shatter" effect, which turned the slain enemies into chunks that couldn’t resurrect. This meant Huang Yi only had to kill the boss once, rendering the opponent’s Resurrection Skill completely ineffective. This was a key reason for Huang Yi to break the world record!
In the end, without any suspense, Huang Yi shattered the world record previously held by Heavenly Dao from Japan! This was already the third time he had broken the rival’s record!
After breaking the world record, the system once again handed out generous rewards, namely 50% Experience Points, a D-class Energy Stone, an increase of 1000 Energy Value, and a level 30 Purple Gear. Huang Yi accepted them all and then left Tower of Pantheons.
As soon as he returned to Thornbush City’s Teleport Plaza, Huang Yi heard an excited voice.
"Instakill has broken the world record again! Everyone look! Just now, he broke the world record for the 20th floor!" A player shouted excitedly; he was a Chinese player, and naturally felt a sense of pride with a Chinese breaking the world record.
At that, the surrounding players all opened the leaderboard to check the rankings of Tower of Pantheons and indeed found that the holder of the world record for the 20th floor solo mode had changed from Heavenly Dao to Instakill!
"Three slaps in the face! This is the third time Heavenly Dao has had his world record broken by Instakill, isn’t it? I wonder what Heavenly Dao thinks about this!"
"Could it be that Instakill is deliberately picking a fight? He doesn’t break any other records, just specifically aims for Heavenly Dao’s. Isn’t he afraid of offending the other party?"
"Offend? You’re not using the right word there. Instakill and Heavenly Dao are both figures of the same caliber. That’s not called offending, that’s called fair competition!"
...
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Instakill is about to leave Thornbush City now, so I ask the dear folks at home to send a Recommendation Ticket his way for a more peaceful departure...