Chapter 83. The Trial of the Prodigies, Round One...
The raindrops, like playful little elves, drifted down lightly, brightening the entire space and making the battlefield appear like a scene from a fairy tale, dreamlike and beautiful.
Lin Xiaoxiao sensed something was wrong from the very first moment the rain of light appeared. She squinted and stared at it for a couple of seconds, and her expression immediately changed drastically.
A rain of faith? What a grand gesture.
[Rain of Faith: A special rainwater refined by diluting and refining the power of faith with the water of life, the essence of the blazing sun, and the fruit of the Luo Cui... It is used year-round at the end of various divine sacrifices and is a reward given to the gods.]
[Special Note: The Rain of Faith is a powerful tonic for those favored by the gods, a special resource that nourishes the body and enhances strength; for demonic beasts, it is a precious material for improving bloodlines and restoring strength; for humans, it is both a treasure and a poison. A ninth-level expert can absorb only one drop of the Rain of Faith per year...]
In the first trial of the prodigies in my previous life, the terrain didn't change at all; it was just a huge chessboard-shaped battlefield, and there was no rain of faith.
I've accomplished everything in my life.
Lin Xiaoxiao pulled up Xiao Weizhi, who was sitting next to her, and called the other friends back to her side. She gritted her teeth and squeezed out a sentence: "Weizhi, extract the wind element and make a barrier to block these light rains."
Xiao Weizhi quickly formed a hand seal, drawing in the surrounding wind elements and condensing them into a dome-shaped barrier before the rain of light fell on their heads.
This barrier constantly absorbs the surrounding wind elements, then blows them out, then absorbs them back, in an endless cycle, blowing away the rain of faith and isolating it outside the barrier.
All the monsters on the scene stopped attacking the moment they came into contact with the rain of faith.
Like a sculpture, it stood still, closed its eyes, raised its face, and reverently touched the golden raindrops with its face.
Some clever professionals, like the Dragon Tooth Squad, chose to isolate themselves from the Rain of Faith through various means as soon as possible, so as not to touch it.
Some professionals who were a few steps slower got a little wet, and they also set up various barriers.
Some professionals who came into contact with the monsters and found no changes in their bodies, carefree and nonchalant, continued to wander among the no-longer-attacking monsters, praying in their hearts that the rain would last a little longer so they could kill a few more monsters.
The rain lasted only three minutes. After it ended, all the monsters seemed to have taken a super tonic, and their attacks became exceptionally fierce.
If you look closely, you can also see those professionals who have been bathed in the rain of faith, their faces flushed, their eyes excited, and their bodies seem to have inexhaustible strength. Every time they swing their swords or throw skills, their movements are powerful and resounding.
Lin Xiaoxiao sighed softly, looking at the professionals, her regret almost overflowing.
Gu Qingqi and the other three had little contact with Lin Xiaoxiao and were puzzled as to why she made such a command arrangement.
Gu Qingqi asked, puzzled, "Xiaoxiao, how much longer are we going to stand here?"
Although Shen Bi'an, Lu Xumo, and Pei Shuyan did not speak, their curious gazes were undisguisedly directed towards Lin Xiaoxiao.
Compared to the other professionals who had already begun fighting the monsters, the fourteen members of Dragon Fang standing together looked particularly out of place, like a group of huskies among a pack of fierce wolves.
Wang Hao used his weapon to unleash a series of skills, blasting away dozens of frenzied monsters.
Chen Feng and Liu Huihui wielded their weapons with incredible speed and precision, desperately blocking the monster that lunged forward with its gaping maw ready to tear them apart.
Lin Xiaoxiao took a closer look and made sure that no more rain of faith would fall.
She nodded to Xiao Weizhi, signaling him to remove the wind element barrier above his head, and said in a low voice, "If this kind of rain falls again, remember, don't let it get on your body."
As soon as he finished speaking, a light rain began to fall sporadically from the sky again.
At the same time, Xingyan's communication module popped up, initiating a call request to Lin Xiaoxiao:
[Time Goddess's Agent - Xingyan has sent you a call request. Do you wish to answer?]
[Switch to private call mode? Yes or No]
Before entering the Trial Grounds of Prodigies, Lin Xiaoxiao changed all the communication modules to require prior consent to connect.
Lin Xiaoxiao said to Xiao Weizhi, "Weizhi, put the barrier up again."
Xiao Weizhi nodded, raised her hand and made a hand seal, raising a screen of wind elements to block the falling rain of faith once again.
Then the connected and invisible module floated to Lin Xiaoxiao's ear.
Xingyan's voice traveled directly into the depths of her mind: "Crazy Xiao, those people have already found out your identity and are preparing to use the Rain of Faith to force you to appear in the Dragon Kingdom Trial Grounds."
Lin Xiaoxiao frowned deeply, asking in a low voice in her mind, "Is the information accurate?"
Xingyan's voice was slightly agitated and frustrated: "It's as accurate as it gets. It's confirmed that you—Lin Xiaoxiao—are this year's agent of the Goddess of Luck."
Kagome's voice rang out at the same time: "That's right, it's said that the information was 'accidentally' obtained from one of your 'long-term clients'."
At this moment, inside the City of the Gods, Hoshino was with Kagome, and neither of them looked too happy.
Lin Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. Even if she guessed that her identity couldn't be hidden for long, wasn't it a bit too coincidental that her identity was discovered so soon after she entered the training ground?
Or perhaps her identity had already been exposed, but they used a clever trick, using the Endless Treasure Vault as bait to lure her in, and then unleashed their dogs behind closed doors.
A jumble of thoughts raced through her mind, but in the end, she only managed to ask one question: "Is the Endless Treasure Vault located within the Trial Grounds?"
Kagome's voice was calm: "Yes."
A cold glint flashed in Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes, and a sneer curled her red lips: "That's fine then."
It was expected that my identity would be discovered, but it happened a little earlier than planned.
Since it can't be avoided, we must acquire the skills; otherwise, if we miss this opportunity, we may never have another chance.
Xingyan gave a helpless sneer: "You really are a madman. They're about to find you, and you're still worried about whether the skill is still there."
One can imagine how speechless Xingyan must be right now, behind the communication module.
After a brief chat, the rain of faith falling from the sky became increasingly dense, turning from a light drizzle into a torrential downpour.
The rainwater made the fur of the monsters even more translucent and smooth, and their aura grew stronger again. Many of them had already begun to break through their levels.
Many professionals were drenched, and their bodies felt like balloons being pumped in frantically, expanding into spheres in the blink of an eye before exploding into pieces.
The series of explosions startled all the professionals present and also frightened the Chinese people watching the live broadcast from the outside world.
Operations Director Jiang Dehai quickly stood up from his chair, ignoring the chair falling backward. He braced himself on the table with both hands, his teeth grinding together, his eyes wide like copper bells, staring intently at the miserable state of the professionals being broadcast live in the training ground, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
The first trial is not yet over, and of the 100,000 professionals, only 7,000 remain.
Ten years ago, in the first round of the Trial of the Prodigies, at least 40,000 people managed to survive. Why is it like this time?
Many Dragon Kingdom citizens who watched helplessly as their relatives, friends, and lovers perished in the trial grounds fainted on the spot, their cries of grief and sobs echoing throughout the entire Dragon Kingdom.
The entire Dragon Fang Squad turned pale, clenching their teeth as they watched this sudden turn of events. Each of them felt a strange chill creep up from their feet to the back of their heads.
Lin Xiaoxiao looked up with a cold smile at the scoreboard hanging in the sky, slowly took out Ashmid's cane from her spatial storage, and prepared to walk out, leaning on it.
Xiao Wei grabbed her wrist: "Don't go out."
Lin Xiaoxiao patted his hand in return, signaling him to let go, and gently comforted him, "It's okay, I'll come back safely."
Xiao Weizhi gripped her wrist tightly, refusing to let go, his eyes filled with a stubborn determination not to let her leave.
Everyone present also tried to persuade Lin Xiaoxiao to stay where she was and wait for the rain to stop before going out.
Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't help but laugh when she heard this.
Waiting for the rain to stop? That's difficult; the rain will only keep falling until she appears. Or all the professionals in the Dragon Kingdom will perish, leaving only her and those favored by the gods hidden in the shadows.
She chuckled and put down her cane, then touched Xiao Weizhi's cheek with her other hand: "Listen to me, let go, I'll come back safely."
Xiao Weizhi stared intently at her, his voice inexplicably hoarse: "You promise."
Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and nodded: "I promise!"
Xiao Weizhi slowly released his large hand that was gripping her wrist, gritted his teeth and pretended nothing was wrong, watching her leave the barrier and stopping all his friends from stopping him.
Wang Hao: "Boss, are you crazy? You're letting Xiaoxiao go out alone in that damn rain."
Cheng Cheng: "Quickly, Ah Feng, quickly reach out and pull Xiao Xiao back!"
Jiang Tao: "I'll sneak out and drag her back." Xiao Weizhi reached out and grabbed the back of his collar.
The rest of the group: "Boss (Wei Zhi)..."
...
Lin Xiaoxiao, bathed in the rain of faith and leaning on her cane, walked forward step by step. As she listened to the growing noise behind her, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
The rain of faith not only didn't soak her at all, but it seemed to bathe her in a golden light, as if it had been turned on by special effects.
The people of Longguo watched in astonishment through the live broadcast camera as Lin Xiaoxiao walked in the rain as usual, without any change.
Jiang Dehai and his group of powerful figures seemed to remember something, and a look of wild joy flashed in their eyes...
Within the capital of divine favor, the divinely favored individuals watching this trial sat up straight, carefully observing this newly appointed representative of the goddess of fortune, considering whether...
All of this was irrelevant to Lin Xiaoxiao in the trial grounds. She walked slowly in the rain, leaning on her cane, as if an invisible cloak had been washed away by this rain of faith.
[The hidden condition for the permanent identity concealment buff to be triggered is: {This buff will lose its effect if your identity is exposed in public.}]
Unfortunately, you have lost a powerful buff.
Congratulations on obtaining the Divine Might BUFF (Permanent)
[Divine Majesty Buff (Permanent): As the representative of the gods on earth, your majesty is inviolable. With this buff, you will possess an invincible aura, favored by the gods and unapproachable by mortals...]
As the identity concealment buff disappeared, it was replaced by the divine might buff.
A sudden gust of air appeared around Lin Xiaoxiao, instantly sweeping across the entire training ground, and even the rain of faith falling from the sky paused for several seconds.
She raised her right hand to her chest, making a grasping gesture.
When the skill [Extraction of All Things] is used, it is as if an invisible cloth is placed in the sky, completely enveloping the falling rain of faith and turning it into water spheres encased in bubbles.
With a snap of his fingers, the [Sealing Technique] sealed these water spheres into crystal balls the size of basketballs, the light golden liquid inside constantly swaying back and forth.
A moment later, the crystal ball rolled and tumbled all over the ground.
Without the control of the Rain of Faith, the demonic beasts that had been frozen in place, whether they had completed or were halfway through their ascension, roared angrily and pounced on Lin Xiaoxiao.
Amid everyone's worries, Lin Xiaoxiao took out a handful of 100,000 experience coins from her spatial storage and slowly scattered them out.
Each experience coin deals explosive damage upon contact with a monster, comparable to the power of a forbidden spell.
[Congratulations to Lin Xiaoxiao for defeating the (Diamond-level) Level 145 Wind Beast BOSS, earning: 12 points]
[Congratulations to Lin Xiaoxiao for defeating the (Diamond-level) 155 Tengteng Flying Bird Beast BOSS, earning: 12 points]
...
Her ranking is climbing rapidly at a visible pace.
Some of the monsters tried to flank her, but when Lin Xiaoxiao glanced at them, they were immediately frightened and retreated, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
The fearless monsters were all blasted to ashes by the handfuls of experience coins that Lin Xiaoxiao scattered.
An hour later, countless severed limbs and broken arms were scattered around Lin Xiaoxiao. She was surrounded by many demonic beasts, leaving a circular clearing about six meters in diameter, but not a single demonic beast dared to cross the boundary and attack her again.
Suddenly, a professional wearing gray-brown armor, mingling among the monster bosses, launched a skill attack on Lin Xiaoxiao.
Lin Xiaoxiao's left eye emitted a fierce, holy light, and the Scales of Fortune appeared out of thin air, blocking all the deadly attacks.
She slammed her cane on the ground and shouted angrily, "Insolence!"
The professional's body seemed to be out of control, as if it had its own consciousness. He knelt down on both knees, looking down at the ground with an extremely pale face and a look of shock and terror in his eyes. Cold sweat dripped uncontrollably from his forehead.
Along with the sweat, a large puddle of foul-smelling urine also fell to the ground.
Lin Xiaoxiao's right hand glowed slightly as she made a pinching motion with her thumb and forefinger in front of her chest.
The next second, an experience coin with tiny starlight appeared.
The face value is 2000 points, which was made using the experience points in her body.
She walked slowly forward, leaning on her cane. After walking for a while, as if remembering something, she tossed the experience coin behind her, and it 'just so happened' to land on the professional.
Thirty seconds later, accompanied by a deafening explosion, a small mushroom cloud rose.
[Agent of Lady Luck: Lin Xiaoxiao, execute the follower of [Wild God - Crocodile Lar], and obtain: 1 Divine Shard]
Ten minutes later, the thick smoke dissipated, and the professional was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a crater more than thirty meters deep.
The god-favored one, who had originally intended to follow a servant and kill Lin Xiaoxiao, immediately withdrew his plan.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Lin Xiaoxiao slowly walked in a certain direction.
As he walked, he extracted millions of experience points from his body, compressed and condensed them into an experience coin that exuded terrifying pressure and shimmered with platinum-gold light through a sealing technique.
Hold it in your hand, flick it into the air from time to time, and then use it to propel it up, repeating this action over and over again.
Whether it was the professionals, monsters, or gods present, or the Chinese watching the live stream, everyone watched her movements with bated breath, fearing that she might not catch the experience coin, drop it to the ground, and then blow the entire secret realm to ashes.
Two hours later, Lin Xiaoxiao found her destination. After she steadied herself, she tapped the ground with her cane in her left hand and said sternly, "Come out."
Her voice sounded a little impatient: "I'll count to three, one, two."
Before the word "three" could even be uttered, a monster over a meter tall, with a semi-transparent body, an upper body resembling an ape, and a lower body with a snake's tail, suddenly leaped out from the ground.
This is a quasi-god-level monster BOSS named -- Weld Horn, who is also responsible for guarding the core of this secret realm.
Welding Angle rubbed his hands together obsequiously, revealing his uneven teeth: "Miss Agent, what is it?"
Lin Xiaoxiao pointed her cane at its brow: "Take out the core of the secret realm."
The difficulty on the welding angle's face, even on his hairy face, couldn't be hidden: "This, do you have a clearance permit?"
Lin Xiaoxiao sneered, flicked the experience coins in her hand, tossed them into the air, and caught them again: "No! Perhaps I can blow out the core myself."
Blow out the core? Wouldn't that destroy this secret realm? Or should we just wipe it out while we're at it?
The welding corner, personified, makes a gesture of rubbing its forehead and says anxiously, "No, no, no, I'll get the core out right away, don't worry."
As soon as it finished speaking, it darted deep into the ground, emerged carrying a core that emitted a yellowish-brown light, and respectfully placed the core against its surface with both hands.
Lin Xiaoxiao grabbed the core of the secret realm, and a golden stream of light shot straight into her body from within it:
Congratulations on obtaining: Endless Treasure Vault Skill Fragment [1/3]
Sure enough, when she saw the core of the secret realm earlier, she felt something was wrong.
If she hadn't known those people's personalities so well, and hadn't happened to catch a glimpse of the secret realm's core, she would have missed the skill fragments. She played the "blind spot" trick quite well.
She casually tossed the secret realm core back to Welding Horn: "The secret realm core has been found. The first trial is now over."
There are three ways to end the first round of the Trial of the Prodigies early:
1. Stay for a full twenty-five days.
2. Annihilate all the monsters in advance.
3. Find the core of the secret realm (hidden rules).
The welding corner hurriedly took the core, held it in his arms somewhat timidly, and said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
With the control core on the welding side, press the special button to complete the trial.
All the surviving professionals vanished into thin air, falling into a huge emerald green lake.
This is the first baptism of rewards after completing the Trial of the Prodigies: the Holy Pool of Life.
Soaking in it for ten minutes will grant you a permanent 2000-point increase in your constitution attribute and also repair all your internal injuries.
Soaking in the warm pool, Lin Xiaoxiao was held in Xiao Weizhi's arms, her face resting on his shoulder, her eyelids drooping and she was somewhat drowsy.
Several agents, upon seeing Lin Xiaoxiao acquire skill fragments, broke down and smashed everything within their reach:
"Damn it! How did she find it?"
"Damn it, if you don't kill her, you're all useless, useless."
"Aaaaaah, you bastard! Who was the one who suggested hiding the fragments in the core of the secret realm?"
...
Divine Decree—
Xingyan slumped onto the sofa, finished the last sip of red wine, and faced the now-blank live stream screen after completing the trial, her face flushed. She said helplessly, "She doesn't seem worried about being hunted down at all."
Kagome picked up her teacup and took a sip: "Our identities have already been exposed, so worrying and being afraid won't help. We might as well get our skills back first."
Xingyan laughed freely, putting her hands behind her head: "In this respect, you two are more compatible, one a calm madman, the other a madman who goes all out."
Kagome chuckled: "You're not bad either, you crazy person who gets happier the more chaos there is."
Xingyan laughed heartily: "Thank you for the compliment!"
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Author's Note: Sorry, I had some things to do today, so the upload was late [hands clasped hands][hands clasped hands]. I promise it won't be like this tomorrow.
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