CHAPTER 198: DARK BEAST TOWER

"How could the training become so hard all of the sudden?"

In previous years, they only had to pass 1,000 levels in the Dark Beast Tower.

Now, it was directly multiplied ten times! What’s more, they only have three months! How could they possibly complete this challenge?

The Dark Beast Tower wasn’t some ascension game where enemies grew stronger with each level. It was a marathon they couldn’t pause.

Every level pitted them against enemies roughly equal to their strength, varying only in type and environment.

The catch? Though their health and energy reset each level, they had only one life.

Die, and their progress reset to the beginning.

Even a battle-hardened warrior would crumble under an endless wave of dark beasts, let alone a group of greenhorn elites.

Passing 10,000 levels without dying? Even a machine would break from such relentless strain.

"Alright, no need to complain. Just do your best," Zeke said with a flat tone.

He knew the challenge was nearly impossible for most, but the order came from above.

Unlike past years, this year’s Seeded Talent Program was filled with extraordinary talents.

Without a real challenge, their training would be ineffective.

"Begin!" Without another word, Zeke started the trial and left the field.

As for supervision? They weren’t kids. If they wanted to slack off, not caring about their future and consequences, that was their choice.

As Zeke vanished as abruptly as he’d appeared, the group had no choice but to start the trial.

"Good luck! You can do this!" Camilla smiled, cheering Nash on.

With her Immortal Phoenix Body, she wouldn’t die as long as she had energy.

"You too, take care," Nash replied, unfazed.

Isn’t it just endless waves of dark beasts? With the [Combat Module System], it was a piece of cake.

Entering the Dark Beast Tower, they faced endless rows of rooms.

"They’re all full. Let’s go up," Natasha said, guiding the group.

Contrary to Nash’s expectations, the tower didn’t contain or simulate dark beasts.

"How does this tower work?" Nash asked as they searched for an available room.

"I don’t know..." Camilla shrugged, as it was also her first time in the tower.

Turning to William, Nash saw him shake his head, equally clueless about the tower’s mechanics.

"Let me explain," Natasha cut in, describing how the Dark Beast Tower worked.

The Dark Beast Tower essentially served as a relay and calculation device for the virtual world.

All the data, simulations, and dark beasts depended on the virtual world for input.

In a way, the virtual world ran the trial’s simulation, while the tower handled the heavy computational work.

This was deliberate, as the calculations for such a massive battle were too immense.

The virtual world was typically used only for communication and trade.

Except for important events like cosmic competition, it wouldn’t deliberately waste its computational resources.

If someone or an organization wanted to simulate other things besides communication and trade, they had to come up with the computational resources themselves.

This was also why the Nova Sector’s virtual servers lacked a decent fighting arena; they simply couldn’t afford it.

Simulating a large-scale arena on their own would be a losing investment for a small place like Nova Sector.

"I didn’t expect the virtual world to have insufficient computational power..." the others muttered as they were enlightened.

They had thought the virtual world was a second universe, nearly omnipotent.

"Duh! The virtual world’s computational power comes from each Cosmic Empire. The Virtual World itself, or its Administrator, only handles connection and regulation," Natasha clarified.

As a cosmic elite for nearly a century, Natasha knew most of the universe’s secrets, or at least those of the Chronos Empire.

As they climbed to the 700th floor, they finally found a large number of unoccupied rooms.

"Pick a room and good luck," Natasha said with a grin.

With her auspicious words, the group dispersed, each choosing a room.

Saying goodbye to Camilla and William, Nash stepped inside.

Seeing the lone virtual pod inside, he climbed in.

---

[Detecting a special virtual device...]

[Initializing connection...]

[Entering Dark Beast Tower Mode...]

[Deep Scanning...]

[Initiating the first level...]

As virtual lines flashed before his eyes, Nash found himself on a grassland.

Turning in front, three wolf-like dark beasts roared at him, brimming with killing intent.

Activating his runic detection, a spark of interest lit his eyes.

[Grass Wolf: Tier 3

Combat Power: 15,000]

"Interesting..."

The dark beasts’ strength was just above his raw power—not too low, but not overwhelming.

For an ordinary fighter, it would be a life-or-death struggle, but for the elites of the Seeded Talent Program, it was manageable.

Letting the [Combat Module System] take over, Nash easily cleared the first level.

[Initiating the second level...]

Entering the second level, the enemies remained the same but had more numbers.

Soon, from the third to the tenth level, the enemies Nash faced varied, either growing stronger or increasing in number.

[Assessing combatant strength...]

[Combat Strength: Grandmaster]

[Generating the eleventh level...]

On a new battlefield, Nash was greeted by a Cerberus.

[Bloodthirsty Cerberus: Tier 3 (Mutated)

Combat Ability: 130,000]

"Damn! Why the sudden spike?!"

From mere tens of thousands, the dark beast’s combat power jumped to over a hundred thousand.

This was not a joke!

Seeing the Cerberus quickly lunged at him, Nash took manual control of his body, fighting the dark beast himself.

The [Combat Module System] could only handle and adapt to dark beasts with up to 30,000 combat power.

"This Dark Beast Tower’s intelligent system is screwing me over!"

The grandmaster combat evaluation it gave him was misleading.

Grandmaster combat ability was the peak a being could achieve without using the power of law.

It meant perfect combat efficiency, moving without waste, anticipating every enemy action, and striking with minimal effort.

Even surrounded by endless enemies, a grandmaster could fight without taking a single hit, as long as they had energy.

Nash knew most in the Seeded Talent Program were at the Expert level, with a few reaching Master at best.

(Novice, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Legend, Mythic, Transcendent)

Nash had only reached grandmaster-level combat ability thanks to the [Combat Module System] analyzing countless opponents.

Against a stronger, unfamiliar enemy, the system was like a clueless calculator, unable to solve the problem alone.

Even Nash, facing a new opponent he hadn’t analyzed before, could only muster pseudo-grandmaster ability thanks to the Runic Body.

Though he could anticipate movements, move efficiently, and exploit weaknesses, it came at a cost.

Activating his runic ability, his void and mental energy consumption surged tenfold.