Chapter 179: No Progress, Certain Death! Terrifying Pressure!
But the issue lies in...
The better your resources and rewards, the more coveted you become!
A person without strength holding such a high "identity level" is like carrying a treasure through a bustling market.
Moreover, members of the Hall of Valor with a lower identity level can "legally" murder and seize your identity!
Those who relied on tenure to gain rank would all become the nourishment for players who had joined more recently, hadn\'t yet risen in rank, but possessed formidable combat prowess.
Furthermore, upon joining the Hall of Valor, everyone carries a death warrant on their back.
If you are not strong and cannot level up quickly, but your "identity level" is forcefully increased, you instantly become a juicy target, a prey.
Survival is impossible.
You are destined to be targeted and challenged to death by numerous geniuses capable of surpassing their limits!
This also means one thing: under such a system, the warriors cultivated by the Hall of Valor will undoubtedly be incredibly powerful!
Sterl, after analyzing this, felt no tension; instead, his eyes lit up.
"If I expose more of my strength as Gloria suggested, wouldn\'t I quickly obtain a higher identity level?"
However, there was one thing he still didn\'t understand: "Those who can become [Trial Seekers] generally possess S-grade professions and S-grade talents. Isn\'t it too wasteful to use such talents for this kind of elimination?"
He pondered.
At this moment, the young man with the SS-grade talent began discussing some finer details about the Hall of Valor.
For instance, after joining the Hall of Valor, while the faction only requires you to complete certain tasks periodically, allowing players to act freely in between, you only have the opportunity to leave the Hall of Valor after you are promoted to a semi-divine identity level.
This means that even if a player later realizes they lack talent or strength and wants to leave, they cannot!
They must obediently wait for their identity level to continuously rise, only to be slaughtered and killed by those geniuses!
Escape? Absolutely impossible!
Of course, most players who are promoted to semi-divine rarely choose to leave the Hall of Valor. They often continue to leverage this platform to develop their strength further because the essence of the Hall of Valor was created by an extremely powerful being.
Players can even step-by-step advance to become gods of weak Divine Power through the resources of this faction!
However, the gods supporting the Hall of Valor are no fools. They have certain privileges within the Hall of Valor. To gain resources for promotion to a semi-divine or even divine status, one must sign contracts ranging from a few hundred to several thousand years, serving these gods who control the Hall of Valor.
After hearing this, Sterl remained calm.
The system of the Hall of Valor is indeed extremely terrifying. It\'s a matter of progress or death!
Even the most talented players could potentially get stuck at a certain power level. But the Hall of Valor doesn\'t give you that chance. It uses this deathly pressure to force players to improve rapidly.
But Sterl was naturally not going to become fodder for other geniuses. Instead, after joining the Hall of Valor, he could start attempting to challenge higher levels...
Moreover, this faction could even provide resources for ascending to godhood. Sterl believed that with the backing of the Hall of Valor, his rate of improvement could increase significantly.
All good news!
As he was pondering, a voice suddenly came from high above: "A total of over 150 people?"
"What?"
"Isn\'t that a bit too much?"
"Doesn\'t matter, most of them will die anyway."
A young man dressed in a flaming red cloak slowly descended.
Shortly after, several more extremely haughty figures appeared, looking down on the players with disdain.
The players sensed that these newcomers were all max-level third-class, around level 150!
The young man in the red cloak was even at the legendary level!
The players quickly realized that these people were clearly their [Trial Seekers].
"Alright, if you have any questions, keep them to yourselves and just follow us." said the young man in the red cloak.
Sterl and Faye exchanged a glance and promptly decided to follow the crowd, trailing behind the young man.
Meanwhile, some people started whispering.
"Isn\'t this the Willis who barely passed the Hall of Valor\'s assessment last year?"
"He\'s already reached the legendary level in just one year? That\'s insane!"
"Is the Hall of Valor really that valuable?"
"This is ridiculous. I couldn\'t even detect his stats with my scanning skills..."
Among the crowd, some who recognized the young man in the red cloak began to murmur, while the other haughty [Trial Seekers] remained unrecognized.
Sterl, having joined the Hall of Valor, maintained his divine descent state and overheard the murmurs.
He felt even better.
Although he didn\'t know the exact talents of Willis, the fact that he had significantly improved after barely joining the Hall of Valor for a year was telling. This place...
"I made the right choice." Sterl thought, elated.
The players began to chat among themselves, speculating on how they would rapidly grow stronger after joining the Hall of Valor.
They followed Willis forward. Although they were moving forward, Willis seemed to be stepping in a specific, rhythmic pattern, causing the scenery ahead to constantly change.
They passed through snow-capped mountains, lava fields, wetlands, and rainforests, as if traversing countless worlds.
After roughly 20 minutes of walking, they arrived at a massive door. The moment they saw the giant door, everyone was stunned.
It was a door that stood several thousand meters tall, engraved with intricate patterns and emanating a strong energy fluctuation. The door stood as if it connected the heavens and the earth.
Below the door, in a lush grassland, countless creatures were frolicking freely, while the top of the door pierced through the clouds.
Most of the players dropped to their knees at the sight, overwhelmed by the intense divine aura emanating from the door, causing their legs to weaken involuntarily. Even Sterl\'s breath caught for a moment.
"Don\'t stare. This thing is beyond your reach." Willis said casually. "This is the creation of the great god who once founded the Hall of Valor, a relic."
He burned a talisman, sending it forth. Then, the colossal door slowly opened, and everyone felt as if they were sucked in within a single breath, entering another world...
What came next astounded the players even more! Previously, they had witnessed the spectacle of nine suns chasing the sky and vast wilderness. That was just the tip of the iceberg of the Hall of Valor.
At this moment, everyone received a notification—
[You have entered the large world of the Hall of Valor.]
Then, the players noticed that their panels displayed a regional map.
They tried to scroll through the map, but even after several seconds, they couldn\'t find its end!
The area where the players were located featured a skyline filled with towering buildings, with numerous airships traveling between them, stretching beyond their line of sight.
Despite this massive city, it was marked as only a small section on the map.
"Just how big is the Hall of Valor?" Sterl heard Faye beside him exclaim in awe.
But size wasn\'t the only remarkable feature.
After their initial shock, the players soon realized that this world contained an incredibly dense energy! Just by breathing, it felt as if their attribute experience points were skyrocketing!
In simpler terms, although players could level up by fighting monsters, they could also meditate like NPCs, absorbing the world\'s energy to convert it into experience points.
The energy in the Hall of Valor was a hundred times more potent than outside.
Yes, a hundred times!
Even Sterl felt that without suitable grinding spots and without using experience-boosting potions, meditating in place would be more efficient for leveling up.
However...
As the players admired the colossal city and marveled at the abundant energy of the Hall of Valor, a sudden, piercing shriek echoed from the front.
A dragon-like monster appeared from the clouds! Its level was—Legendary!!
Instantly, the aura from the monster surged explosively.
The players trembled in fear, utterly terrified!
"What\'s happening?"
"A legendary monster??"
"Is the trial starting already?"
"Scatter!"
The players participating in the trial were at most third class. They knew they stood no chance against a legendary monster.
Only a few remained calm, possibly possessing life-saving items like Legendary Crystals.
But despite their quick reactions, they couldn\'t outpace a third-class monster, let alone this speed-focused dragon!
"Roar!!"
With a deafening roar, the monster lunged towards the crowd, closing in within a hundred-meter range. They could even smell the foul stench of its drooling maw...
Many players realized they couldn\'t escape in time and wore expressions of sheer terror.
Yet, they didn\'t give up. Each player showcased their best escape techniques, hoping to get out of the dragon\'s attack range or at least use others as shields.
However, just as the dragon was about to wreak havoc among the crowd, Willis\'s previously lazy expression changed.
With a swift movement, he seemed to activate a legendary ability, conjuring a light sword, and then slashed it with all his might!