Tower of Heaven

Swoosh!

A shadowy figure rushed through the dense vegetation of the forest with speeds that a regular human could never imitate.

Whenever he met an obstacle, he deftly dodged without breaking momentum, firmly grasping the layout of his surroundings.

When he first started chasing the trail of those humanoids, Atlas could barely run at a normal speed without accidentally crashing into a tree or two, but it had been 6 hours since then and he was now much more proficient.

At this point, he had only regained his memories, eyesight, and a bit of cultivation for less than a week. It would be a miracle if he could adapt that quickly. He had simply been rushed by the momentum of the trials to adapt as best as he could.

And most of all, he had never truly trained his body. He was purely relying on his cultivation to produce the feats he had shown so far. He knew there was a need to get some proper training in, but it'd have to wait until he passed the tutorial.

Well, if he continued getting trials like this one, he might adapt a bit faster.

The main contributor to his quick adaptation especially when it came to his reflexes was his eyes. Simply understanding the ability they possessed helped him use it more intentionally, becoming more proficient with time.

Whenever he made a mistake, he was sure to not make it again. And as he piled up mistakes in these past hours by being unable to control his body exactly how he wanted, he improved steadily.

Injecting qi into his eyes once again, the world around him turned grey. Time slowed down to a crawl and the trees became mere lines with their base components revealed to him. The ground became two-dimensional as the tracks left on its surface were revealed in full.

'These are new. I must be getting close.'

He hadn't simply been traveling in one direction the entire time with the blind hope that he'd find what he was looking for. He would occasionally use this sub-ability that he began to call [Intrinsic Foresight] to affirm his path.

Within another half an hour, Atlas was able to hear the sounds of laughter and random chatter from ahead of him. It seemed he had finally found the people he was looking for.

Reigning in his aura as much as he could with his slightly above-average qi control, Atlas took cover in a bush to observe the individuals in front of him.

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"We don't know each other enough to cooperate in this trial. It would be more apt if we simply don't get in each other's way," A burly man said. His head was that of a lion while his body was more human, besides the thick fur that covered it.

"That doesn't matter! We have 12 hours to learn how to cooperate. Who knows, maybe there's a hidden reward if we do things that way." A small girl responded. She looked around 13, but her aura was fiercer than any 13-year-old should have.

Still, the tower didn't have a limit on what age one had to be to enter, only the fact that they had to be in the Dantian Establishment realm.

"From that reasoning, there could also be hidden rewards for doing everything solo. The last 5 trials of the tutorial change with every new batch of Ascenders, so we have no information on what's to come." The man rebutted.

The girl kept quiet, seemingly not having a counterargument, but her annoyance was clearly written on her face.

Around the two that were arguing, another 7 people stood discussing the same topic. From what Atlas could make out, they were mainly split between these two opinions.

"Where the hell is the 10th?" Someone suddenly mentioned, attracting the rest's attention.

"That's right, the beast tide most likely won't start until all 10 of us are in the same place. I heard from a friend of mine that there are some rules that need to be followed by the tower."

"The tower system might seem all-knowing, but even it bows its head to the heavens."

"That doesn't matter now. We just need that damn 10th to show up so we can start fighting already."

Atlas understood their reasoning. He had been running for 6 hours and hadn't encountered a single sentient being, let alone a beast. If they needed to be in a group for the beasts to start appearing, it'd explain everything.

'Well, these people don't look like a cohesive group so there's nothing to worry about there. Besides, we all have the same level of strength.'

He was aware that his lack of experience would put him at a disadvantage in a fight against them, but he was confident he could at least flee. Sighing lightly, he stood up and started walking towards them.

"Who?!" The lion-man yelled, sensing a presence approaching.

"Relax. Weren't you all just saying something about a 10th? Well, here I am."

"You couldn't have shown up earlier?" The girl jabbed, venting her annoyance.

"If I could have, then wouldn't the trial have started already?" Atlas quipped once again. If it was petty arguments like this, he had no fear of losing.

Before any of them could say another word, a series of roars resounded from a distance. A small black wave could be seen making its way in their direction.

[All participants have gathered. Commencing the Trial of Attrition.]

"So what's your deal? Are you planning to fight as a team with us or go off on your own like that musclehead?" The little girl pressed.

Atlas thought for a minute. The safer option was clearly to fight with a group since his lack of true combat experience would be covered by others, but the way to progress faster was to fight alone.

The pressure would push him to grow just like the other trials had, and he would be able to use anything he had to fight.

Being around strangers like this meant he'd have to hide some of his cards, no matter how minuscule the number of cards in his hand was.

Thinking this far, it didn't take long for him to come to a decision.

"I'll fight alone."

Atlas didn't wait for a response, quickly leaving the area and moving to the side of the tide of beasts he saw on the horizon.

Besides his physical abilities, he also wanted to test his flames. He had an adept amount of comprehension regarding his "superheat" concept, but he didn't know how much of that comprehension would be applicable.

Luckily for him, there was no order in this beast tide. None of the beasts seemed to have a goal in mind or any large amounts of bloodlust, simply stampeding as the tower ordered them to.

This meant that there was a certain degree of safety involved for him who had to kill 10 beasts without tiring.

And with the duration of the trial being only a single day, it meant he had to fight without pause.

Surveying the part of the tide that he could see, Atlas searched for a beast that prioritized power over speed. This would be his first target.

And directly after finding the beast he was looking for, he charged into the fray.