Jiang Hao took out the greatsword [Heroic Blade] that the city lord of Jinling City had just given him from his backpack and handed it to the little skeleton.

The little skeleton shakily descended from the mountain of bones, gripping the hilt of the [Heroic Blade] in one hand.

"Huh? Why did you give the city lord's token that I gave you to a little skeleton?"

The city lord of Jinling immediately expressed his dissatisfaction.

"None of your business. When are we leaving? To Qiongfeng Pass."

"Oh, we'll have to wait a little longer. Some equipment needs to be sent over together; it's being loaded onto the ship now."

The city lord of Jinling took out a silver-white cloth bag from his bosom and handed it to Jiang Hao.

"Here are 10,000 silver-grade energy crystals. Once you reach the Qiongfeng Pass, hand them over to the legion commander personally."

Jiang Hao's serious questioning made his meaning very clear.

Why am I being asked to submit it?

"Whether we can hold the pass depends on this bag of energy crystals. I don't trust anyone else with it."

The city lord of Jinling City then took out a golden cloth bag from his pocket and handed it over.

"There are 1,000 gold-grade energy crystals in here. You'll definitely need fire support when you're capturing the front pass. If you give these to the legion commander, he certainly won't let you down."

"Remember, keep these 1,000 coins safe for yourself, and don't let anyone else know about them."

Jiang Hao took the two cloth bags and nodded.

"Alright, I need to go check on the loading process. The troops will be departing in about half an hour. You can find me at the air dock then. If anything comes up, you can take care of it now."

After saying that, the city lord of Jinling left in a hurry.

Jiang Hao thought to himself that he didn't have anything to do right now.

How about we try another trial?

With a thought, Jiang Hao put the little skeleton into his summoning space.

Upon arriving at the first floor of the cathedral, Jiang Hao saw that the hall had been cleaned up spotlessly, showing no trace of the coup that had taken place there and the nine people who had died in it.

"Greetings, esteemed warrior. Are you ready to witness the extraordinary spirits of human history? Fear not, the Hall of Heroes will limit their power. If you successfully challenge them, you will receive a tremendous attribute boost. Are you sure you wish to take on the challenge?"

In the Hall of Heroes behind the main hall, hearing the familiar system notification, Jiang Hao confirmed again.

Last time, he didn't dare continue the challenge because he was worried about the health loss from the Godslayer Curse. This time, he wanted to test his limits.

Upon entering the familiar circular arena once again, Jiang Hao encountered the summoner who had tested him last time.

However, this time, three ferocious beasts stood in front of him.

A cheetah with wings on its back, a yellow elf that looks somewhat like an energy crystal beast, and a palm-sized elf dragon with wings on its back.

"These are summoned beasts I summoned from the spirit beast space. They were originally epic-level. Now their strength has been suppressed to silver-level. Defeating them will count as a successful challenge."

Jiang Hao's eyes narrowed. Although he hadn't yet investigated the attributes and skills of the three spirit beasts, he could already sense that the difficulty of the trial had increased significantly.

He went from having one bronze-level creature to having three silver-level creatures.

The Summoner's Trial is escalating in difficulty at a rocket-like pace.

"As a summoner, aren't you going to summon your summoned beast?"

Hearing the summoner's reminder, Jiang Hao quickly summoned his summoned creature, the Inspiring Little Skeleton. At the same time, he opened his inventory and put back on the equipment he had previously removed, piece by piece. His total health had reached the required level.

To be honest, Jiang Hao was considering retreating. Any one of the three silver-level spirit beasts could deal at least 7,000 damage to him with a single attack. He could withstand one hit, but the second would kill him. Even with the 5,000 HP provided by his summoned skeleton and the [Heroic Blade], his total HP was only 6,170, not enough to withstand a single attack from a silver-level spirit beast.

The sight of a single person and a skeleton facing three silver-level spirit beasts is indeed somewhat inspiring.

Once you enter the trial, it's either win or lose; there's no option to surrender.

Jiang Hao and the little skeleton retreated a few steps until they reached the edge of the arena. They simultaneously raised their staffs, and at Jiang Hao's command, the little skeleton also raised its large sword.

The moment the battle began, the Wind Spirit Leopard let out a long roar, as if in a show of defiance. Jiang Hao immediately dismissed it. The Fairy Dragon flapped its wings, about to fly over, but Jiang Hao reacted swiftly, his staff descending just as the dragon reached the center of the arena. The Fairy Dragon vanished instantly, reappearing beneath Jiang Hao's staff.

-

A white damage indicator appeared above its head, instantly reducing its health by a quarter.

At this moment, the yellow sprite had reached the center of the arena, and the little skeleton lowered its greatsword. The yellow sprite's body instantly vanished from its original spot, then reappeared beneath the little skeleton's greatsword.

-

The white damage numbers were also exceptionally conspicuous. Summoned creatures can inherit 60% of Jiang Hao's talent damage, and with the added damage from Heroic Blade, even a common-quality skeleton took away one-tenth of the yellow sprite's health in one hit.

Looking at the Wind Spirit Leopard again, its roar was still ongoing.

The summoner glanced at his Wind Spirit Leopard with some disdain at the sudden reversal of the situation. Just as he raised his finger to give the Wind Spirit Leopard the battle command, Jiang Hao raised his staff again and brought it down in its direction.

The Wind Spirit Leopard vanished instantly, reappearing beneath Jiang Hao's staff.

-

White damage numbers floated up from above its head, and its health instantly dropped by a quarter.

The innate stun duration is 5 seconds, and with Jiang Hao attacking twice per second, controlling the two spirit beasts was incredibly easy. The two silver-level spirit beasts, with a combined HP of only around 700,000, both perished in the sixth second of the battle.

Although the little skeleton had poor stats, its attacks, occurring once per second, kept the yellow sprite firmly under control. Especially after Jiang Hao joined the attack in the 6th second, the yellow sprite only lasted one second longer before following its two companions.

"Announcement from Jinling City: Congratulations to player Lord of Hell for successfully completing the two-star trial of the Hall of Heroes. Jinling City grants player Lord of Hell two-star citizen status."

"Honorable warrior, would you like to continue challenging the 3-star trial?"

I've already said I don't want to challenge the 3-star trial anymore.

If the Wind Spirit Leopard hadn't made a mistake and had pounced at the very start of the battle, it's uncertain whether they would have passed this trial.

With only one summoned creature, the Little Skeleton, Jiang Hao didn't want to waste any effort improving its attributes.

There's no need to rush this. Participating in the trial now is simply to have a better chance of survival on the battlefield of the desolate pass.

I'll come back to challenge you in the future with a large army of summoned creatures.

Jiang Hao chose not to continue.

Unsure how much his attribute values ​​had increased, Jiang Hao curiously opened his attribute panel.