Translator: CKtalon
The third floor of Cosmos Tower was a rainforest.
Xu Jingming carefully observed the rainforest.
It was dark and humid, with thick trees and wantonly grown vines. It was silent as if there were no other creatures.
Huh? Xu Jingming suddenly sensed a pair of dark-yellow eyes in the distance. He couldn’t help but jolt to attention and take a closer look.
A large feline in the distance was staring at him; it had light-yellow fur and black horizontal stripes on its body. It had a huge head, and its dark-yellow eyes appeared emotionless as it examined the prey in front of it. The stripes above its eyes formed the word ‘King’ in Chinese. Its shoulders spanned two meters, and it was six meters long; its massive size made Xu Jingming’s heart tighten.
That’s some tiger. It’s slightly smaller than the bear king, but it gives off even more terrifying vibes. Xu Jingming was very vigilant.
If the bear was said to be very strong in terms of physique, then a tiger was a representation of comprehensiveness! Physique, strength, speed, agility, offense, and technique—it was strong in every aspect. This huge tiger that was virtualized by the virtual world’s Cosmos Tower far exceeded the tigers in reality. With Xu Jingming’s current strength, he could kill a real tiger with a single strike. However, he felt the threat of death when facing this large tiger in front of him.
This large tiger strode over elegantly without making a sound. The flesh on its four huge tiger paws gently touched the ground as it observed its prey.
Whoosh.
Xu Jingming held his spear and charged forward.
The tiger felt offended upon seeing this, and it let out a roar before charging forward.
The man and tiger charged straight at each other despite the huge difference in size!
The moment he approached, Xu Jingming stepped on a tree and suddenly changed directions. He thrust his spear at the tiger, producing afterimages as it stabbed at the tiger’s neck.
“Pfft.”
The tiger’s eyes were cold as it swatted the spear with its claws.
Boom!
Xu Jingming felt a terrifying force pass through him and was sent tumbling to a tree.
It’s too agile, and it’s terrifyingly fast at reacting. Xu Jingming was in a conundrum.
Whoosh.
The tiger instantly climbed up the tree and continued pursuing Xu Jingming.
Clang.
“Pfft.”
Xu Jingming constantly dodged and fled during the chase. Even if he found an opportunity to counter-attack, this tiger would easily block it.
Forget its physique, strength, and speed, but why do I feel that this tiger is even more agile than me? Xu Jingming only managed to barely buy time because of his small size and the fact that he could threaten the tiger with his spear and use the rainforest’s terrain.
However, the pursuit lasted for five minutes.
Huh? Xu Jingming’s expression changed.
Huge tigers appeared in the forest in all directions. The smaller ones were five meters long, and the largest was more than seven meters tall. The largest tiger stood in its spot while the other tigers slowly approached.
I have to deal with so many tigers on the Cosmos Tower’s third floor? Xu Jingming was a little stunned. I can’t even defeat one ordinary-sized tiger, much less dozens.
As the streak of tigers closed in, six large tigers suddenly lunged over.
Xu Jingming abruptly charged forward and took the initiative to attack a tiger.
Roar!
The tiger roared and swiped its claws at him.
Xu Jingming showed extreme valiance. With the advantage of the spear’s length, the spear stabbed into the tiger’s neck before the tiger claw could land.
Mountain Shattering!
His most powerful attack stabbed more than halfway into the tiger’s neck, but this didn’t stop the inertia of the tiger’s claw—it tore right through Xu Jingming’s armor and body.
The tiger and Xu Jingming’s bodies turned ethereal and disappeared. The other five tigers rushed over and roared.
It’s really difficult. Xu Jingming appeared outside Cosmos Tower after his failure. I exchanged my life for just one tiger. Moreover, Mountain Shattering only managed to stab halfway into the tiger’s neck. If I had used Shadowless Thrust, it would probably be useless.
******
On the spectator platform.
Li Miaomiao was sitting in the stands, watching a live broadcast of a Divine expert attempting the Cosmos Tower’s second floor.
“Miaomiao.” Xu Jingming appeared beside her. “Watching a livestream I see?”
“Yeah.” Li Miaomiao nodded. “The Cosmos Tower is too difficult. I can fight two or three of those wolves, but I can’t fight more than a hundred of them. I couldn’t even clear the first level. Sigh… Look, this is Sun Yuting’s livestream. After she killed the five bears with great difficulty on the second level, she encountered this bear king. It looks like she can’t win.”
Xu Jingming looked over.
The massive bear king was chasing after Sun Yuting in the livestream. Sun Yuting’s footwork was excellent, and she constantly exploited the forest to dodge. Her shield had already been sent flying, and her left arm was dangling. The only weapon she had left was the sword in her right hand.
“Sun Yuting is ranked 16th in China according to Fairy Wang’s rankings. There are nearly 800 Divine experts in China now, so Sun Yuting is definitely one of the top Divine experts!” Li Miaomiao said.
Xu Jingming nodded.
It had been more than seven days since the virtual world’s launch, and China had a population of more than a billion. There were nearly 800 Divine players now. For example, the national team’s A and B team members over the past 30 years added up to more than 300. There were also many professional contestants who participated in Division A and B competitions, experts from other martial arts schools, and civilian experts. Nearly 800 Divine in seven days was also within Xu Jingming’s expectations.
“With Sun Yuting’s shield and sword combination, her offense and defense are definitely impressive. However, her shield will be useless against the bear king… It will even affect her movement! The bear king sent her shield flying with a single slap, and it even fractured the bones in her arm. Just a single-handed sword can’t pierce through the bear king’s skin! When she killed the five bears previously, she could target the eyes and stab through their heads. This bear king is clearly more agile, so she can’t get close at all.”
“Even in close combat, it’s very difficult to pierce the eye,” Xu Jingming commented. “It’s also unlikely for her to stab right into the skull subsequently.”
He had used Shadowless Thrust, so even when the spear stabbed into the eye, it failed to penetrate deeper.
“The bear king is too fast.” In the livestream, Sun Yuting—who was fleeing for her life and dodging—sent a voice message, allowing all the audience to hear her. “Its fur is ridiculously thick. My sword can’t pierce through its fur and fat, so I can’t deal any damage to it! My injuries are quite serious; I can’t hold on anymore.”
A large tree was shattered by the bear king, and the splinters crashed into Sun Yuting. The latter dodged in a sorry state and immediately tapped out of the battle—her body couldn’t hold on any longer.
“There are many Divine experts live-streaming, but none of them made it to the third floor of Cosmos Tower.” Li Miaomiao scanned the other livestreams. “Many Divine experts can’t even defeat the five bears. Only the top-ranked experts in China can fight the bear king.”
“Many Divine experts only reached Divine after reaching 50-star Radiant Sun. Their basic combat strength is probably just above 1,000,” Xu Jingming said. “It’s indeed difficult to deal with a single bear. Oh right, how many people have fought the bear king?”
“Sun Yuting, Zhang Qian, Fang Yu, and Niu Hao are the only four Divine experts live-streaming. They are all Divine experts ranked in the top 50 in China,” Li Miaomiao said. “They fought the bear king and lost. There’s no solution to the bear king. Its defense is ridiculously strong, and it’s fast. Its strength is also incredible.”
Xu Jingming nodded. “The bear king is very strong.”
“Jingming, what about you?” Li Miaomiao asked.
“I reached the third level of Cosmos Tower, but I also failed,” Xu Jingming said.
“You killed that bear king?” Li Miaomiao was surprised and delighted. “How did you kill a monster like the bear king?”
“I fought it for 18 minutes, and the bear king eventually bled to death,” Xu Jingming sighed with emotion. “Its hide is too thick; I couldn’t kill it with a single strike. All I could do was keep it bleeding.”
Li Miaomiao’s eyes lit up. “As expected of my Jingming. Impressive! Tell me, what’s the third floor of Cosmos Tower?”
“Tiger.” Xu Jingming said, “A tiger that’s stronger than the bear king.”
“More powerful than the bear king?” Li Miaomiao was alarmed.
“And there were dozens of them.” Xu Jingming shook his head. “There’s no way to fight them when dozens of large tigers are attacking together. The difference is too great.”
Li Miaomiao was dumbfounded when she heard that. “No wonder the rules established by the Earth Alliance state that bonuses are awarded for those who clear the third level. Moreover, there’s no time limit… According to you, it might take a long time for a total of 100 people in the world to clear the third level.”
“Oh?” Li Miaomiao noticed that something was wrong with the many livestreams on the spectator platform. She had studied the spectator platform for a long time, so she immediately discovered that streamers had changed the name of their livestreams with a glance.
“Jingming, quickly head to the mission space,” Li Miaomiao said immediately.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Jingming hadn’t realized yet. After all, there were too many people in the livestream.
“The world number one has been born,” Li Miaomiao urged. At the same time, she tapped and immediately went to the mission space.
…
Mission space.
Whoosh.
Xu Jingming descended from the sky and landed in front of Cosmos Tower.
Beside Cosmos Tower, a huge list appeared in the night sky. It reached high into the sky, almost at the same height as Cosmos Tower.
Now, there was only one line of text on this huge list—”World Number One: Liu Hai (China).”