Monster Paradise

In a messy room, a corpse chopped off at the waist showed clear marks of cauterization. There were similar traces of scorching on the wall to the right and the wall next to the window.

Even though the extreme heat had cauterized the body enough to prevent extensive loss of blood, fresh purplish-red blood still managed to stain at least half of the floor in the room.

A man wearing a white shirt stood in the room, the area around his feet coincidentally free of blood.

Blood was still dripping from the blade of the long sword in his hand like rainwater from a roof.

“Can’t believe how weak this fellow was,” the man in the white shirt commented while eyeing the body.

“If my opponents are all like this, even if I mess up I might be number one too, what more that Fallen Star girl.”

In the entire Death Sickle organization, there was only one person with a thick enough skin to come up with a quip like that—Destiny.

However, Destiny quickly turned his gaze away from the dead body to look at the wall.

‘I knew something strange was going on when I used my sword just now; how come the walls are only marked by cuts?! Not to brag but one slash and I can kill a True God, as well as quite a few Rank-9 Virtual Gods. In the God Territory, I don’t even know how many houses I’d destroy with a single slash! But here I can’t even stab through a single wall?!”

‘I’m sure this restriction was put in place in the trial space to prevent these buildings from getting severely damaged. But that’s a bit cruel. Could Boss Xie Lin break through these walls, I wonder…’

…

58 minutes after all competitors had entered the Competitive Trial.

A figure suddenly emerged in one of the houses in the trial space.

Upon realizing that he was now standing in a building, Lin Huang paused in confusion.

He was in the living room of a small residential unit. The living room was rather small with an open concept kitchen. Altogether, the space measured around forty square meters.

After scanning his surroundings, Lin Huang sent out his Divine Telekinesis. His brow furrowed.

‘The probing range for Divine Telekinesis has really been severely reduced. It only has a maximum radius of 1000 meters…’

Thankfully, Lin Huang did not detect anything out of the ordinary within range of his Divine Telekinesis. Immediately, he let his consciousness sink within his body to check on his personal status.

‘Most abilities are not restricted. Monster Cards and multi-function cards are all permissible. Combat Souls and God’s Figurines are permissible too. Although Divine Telekinesis has been reduced in range, its strength hasn’t been reduced. It’s a pity that those god telekinetic weapon relics mentioned in the rules can’t be used here.’

After confirming that these restrictions on his abilities did not put him at too much of a disadvantage, Lin Huang felt a bit more at ease.

It was at this moment that a push notification popped up before Lin Huang’s eyes.

“Participant, please set a username. If no username is chosen, the participant’s real name shall be automatically used. (Username set up is a participant-only privilege. Competitors are required to use their real names in this Trial.)”

“Xie Lin,” Lin Huang gave the name he used in the God Territory.

“Set up complete. The participant’s name is ‘Xie Lin’.”

After setting up his name, Lin Huang noticed that he could now check the rankings on the leaderboard.

Lin Huang expanded the leaderboard out of curiosity.

“1. Shen Wushuang: 5 cumulative points”

“2. Yi Ke: 3 cumulative points”

“3. Twin: 3 cumulative points”

…

“32. Fallen Star: 2 cumulative points”

…

“85. Destiny: 2 cumulative points”

The leaderboard listed only the first hundred names. As for competitors who obtained the same amount of cumulative points, the earlier they obtained the points, the higher their position on the leaderboard.

Lin Huang was familiar with the current leading champion, Shen Wushuang—the number one Virtual God in the Combat God Temple and also the number one Virtual God powerhouse in Sword Dao in the entire God Territory.

With five cumulative points, it meant Shen Wushuang had managed to eliminate five competitors in merely an hour. Of course, that did not exclude the possibility that he might have gained the cumulative points from competitors that he defeated.

Twin was second runner-up, which, to Lin Huang, was something quite unexpected.

Based on overall strength, Twin should be the weakest among the four Death Sickle candidates. However, the evaluation was done on a comparative basis. After all, she was still number seventeen among Virtual Gods and one of the stars of the God Territory. Looking at it now, she was clearly skilled at probing, which had given her an early advantage during the Trial.

Lin Huang scanned down the leaderboard and saw many ranked Virtual Gods from the God Territory. He also saw Fallen Star and Destiny’s names. One of them was positioned at number 32 while the latter was at 85. Each of them had accumulated 2 points.

In truth, even the 100th person in the last place on the leaderboard had obtained 2 cumulative points.

‘Based on Fallen Star and Destiny’s stats, obtaining two cumulative points in less than an hour after the Trial started should be the average in terms of kill stats. As for that Shen Wushuang fellow…he either has terrifying probing-type skills, the gods are smiling on his luck, or he gave it his all without holding back the moment the Trial started.’

Based on the cumulative points from Fallen Star, Destiny, and all the names he was familiar with, Lin Huang came up with some rough speculations based on their kill stats.

The Trial had just started. Most participants would want to lie low while quietly attempting to familiarize themselves with the Trial’s environment and rules. Therefore, the overall speed of the hunt was currently on the slow side.

The slow pace suited Lin Huang well, however. After all, he had entered the trial space nearly one hour later than everyone else.

‘The restriction placed on my Divine Telekinesis’ probing range is ridiculously high. If I want to hunt down other competitors, I’ll have to use other probing skills…” Even as Lin Huang was speaking, he already had an orange Monster Card in hand.

After the card was crushed, a humanoid figure resembling a bald robotic man of about three meters tall appeared before Lin Huang.

The figure’s gleaming, round head was so smooth it reflected the warm glow from the lights.

He had summoned a mechanical Overlord this time.

“Use the fastest, most discreet way to locate all competitors in this trial space.”

“No problem.” After emitting a series of synthesized sounds, the Overlord scattered countless tiny mechanical insects in every direction like dandelions blown by the wind.

The reason Lin Huang summoned the Overlord and not the Bug Tribe Queen Mother was because the mechanical beings created by the Overlord could camouflage themselves as static metallic items when necessary.

Even if someone was probing with Divine Telekinesis, they might not be able to detect this anomaly.

As Lin Huang was making all the necessary preparations for combat, the other three Death Sickle members experienced some confusion about the same matter.

‘What’s going on with Xie Lin? The Trial started more than an hour ago and he still hasn’t gotten into the top hundred yet?’ Twin found this hard to understand.

‘Xie Lin hasn’t climbed up the ranks yet. Could it be that he’s missing some probing abilities?’ Fallen Star noticed the absence of Xie Lin’s name on the leaderboard and could not help furrowing her brows.

‘Boss Xie Lin isn’t ranked? Don’t tell me he’s secretly working on some impressive move?’ Destiny had full confidence in Lin Huang’s abilities because Lin Huang had been personally recommended by Buried Heaven after all.