Chapter 572 - Condensed Strength

How important was a divine realm to a God of the Divine Civilization? It ranked second only to their lives. With a medal that could anchor their divine realm, they would have a shelter that no external force could destroy. Such protection was nothing short of invincible!

Xu Hai wanted the medal badly because of how powerful it was. It was worth at least thirty complete Laws. Even so, he had his principles and wouldn’t act against his conscience. Moreover, the medal’s owner was his own student, so he wouldn’t take it.

“You can’t use it for now, so keep it safely within your divine realm.” He took the opportunity to offer a brief lecture as well. “Do not let anyone learn of it, or they may attack you...”

“Don’t worry, sir! I understand!” Han Wu nodded and stored the medal in his vault.

After casting one last lingering glance at the medal, Xu Hai turned back to Han Wu. “Now, tell me, what exactly did you do in the Heaven Stair Challenge? Why did they blacklist both of us?”

The Heaven Stair Challenge was widely known, with countless participants. Its organizers were World experts, or maybe even a rank higher than World.

Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t do anything. So how had Han Wu managed to fleece them so thoroughly that he earned a permanent ban? Xu Hai could not hide his curiosity.

Han Wu explained, “I didn’t do anything special. I just sent my clones through the fifty-first floor once. I didn’t even get past the fifty-sixth floor before they kicked me out.”

To protect the secret of his avatars, he deliberately referred to them as clones. Having a Skill that generated clones was unique, but it wasn’t so rare that no one else possessed one. Compared to an avatar, a clone was insignificant.

Xu Hai stroked his coarse beard and asked, “Never thought clones could participate in the Heaven Stair Challenge. How many clones did you make?”

“Not much, only 176,” Han Wu replied matter-of-factly.

Xu Hai almost fainted as realization struck him. That explained why he had received so many gift boxes from Han Wu’s participation! Under the Heaven Stair Challenge’s rules, every time someone passed the fiftieth floor, they would receive a gift box containing a single Law as a reward. That was why hundreds of gift boxes had ended up in Xu Hai’s hands.

“Well, if you encounter something like this again, you’d better not show off.” Xu Hai warned. He then retrieved 150 gift boxes from his divine realm and handed them over. “Here, take these Laws. They should help you when you attempt to ascend to the World rank.”

Han Wu didn’t know what was inside the boxes, but he understood that resources used by World life forms were definitely precious.

“But sir, how can I accept so many valuable resources?”

Xu Hai flinched a little.

You brat. You were the one who fleeced them from the Heaven Stair Challenge.

“You won them from the Heaven Stair Challenge, so just keep them. I doubt that the organizers will come looking for trouble with us. Probably not,” Xu Hai said with forced firmness.

With that, Han Wu accepted those Laws.

Xu Hai then raised another concern. “What happened to your strength? Why has it dropped so much?”

Han Wu knew the reason. “It’s because of the Heaven Stair Challenge. It somehow condensed my strength. Even though I emanate a Sage aura now, I’m actually stronger than I used to be.”

Xu Hai sighed in relief. He had worried that the organizers had forcibly stripped Han Wu’s power. If that had been the case, he would have sought compensation from them in person.

With everything settled, Xu Hai left.

At that moment, Han Wu noticed something had changed with the Death Tower in his divine realm. There were supposed to be one hundred floors, but five additional floors had appeared.

“Why are there five extra floors?” he murmured.

He sent his stronger units to investigate. Soon, Steely reported back, and Han Wu was surprised to find that these new floors closely resembled the fifty-first through fifty-fifth floors of the Heaven Stair Challenge that he had experienced, though the size was different.

Han Wu also noticed something even stranger. Steely’s aura had been suppressed to that of a Sage life form, just like his own. After some tests, he realized that Steely’s overall strength hadn’t diminished in the slightest. On the contrary, he had become stronger.

Han Wu attributed it to the Death Tower’s additional floors. Once a life form entered it, as long as it cleared the first 100 floors, each subsequent floor would compress its strength to a certain degree. Once the compression was completed, its rank would regress, but its actual power would remain intact and even increase.

The discovery was excellent news for Han Wu. He summoned all of his powerful units and told them to challenge the Death Tower.

At first, some of them objected. They saw no reason to do so. That was until they noticed Steely’s transformation, and they agreed to give it a try. All they needed to do was complete the cycle once, after which their ranks would undergo compression.

When they increased their strength once more, they would receive the reinforcement that came with ascension. The process felt like exploiting a loophole and gaining free rewards. Before long, many units within his divine realm were clamoring to enter the Death Tower.

...

In a faraway location, the Heaven Stair Challenge’s chief organizer howled, “What are you all doing? How could you give away 170 Laws for nothing? Those are Laws! You can’t afford even one of them after ten years of work!”

“Sir, please calm down,” someone said. “We’ve checked the records and confirmed that all of them were sent to the same address.”

“Where is it? Who received it? Find them for me!”

The controller replied, “The one who participated in the Heaven Stair Challenge is a God King. We have locked onto their aura, so we can track them.”

“Then go!” the chief organizer barked. “Bring them to me!”

“Yes, sir!”