Global Game: I Can Choose Instance Rewards

The underground first floor had already been illuminated by oil lamps, as he already visited once while choosing the Black Tower weapon for the Moon-Annihilating Dragon Saber. Now, he needed to use the Black Tower again because his trials relied on it to be completed.

Soon, the hundred youths led by Wang Zhifan glanced around this dimly lit place and found the Martial Venerable brought them before a peculiar object.

It was a black, strange tower standing on the stone floor of the underground palace. Its sharp top barely touched the approximately one-zhang high ceiling of the palace, and its overall design seemed completely different from the towers of Calamity Realm, appearing strange and unique.

This low and broad black tower had opened a brass door, into which the dark interior faced the large group coming forward, as if leading to the legendary mysterious entrance.

"Everyone enter through the brass door in sequence! Once inside, your trials will automatically begin! Starting with you!"

The lead Wang Zhifan quickly walked to the side of the Black Tower and briefly introduced it before starting to point out people to enter.

"Understood!"

The first one he pointed to was a slightly small-framed boy, but both his Spirit and courage were commendable, as he quickly entered the Black Tower’s brass door without any hesitation, disappearing in a blink.

"Who’s next to enter!"

After the first demonstration, Wang Zhifan looked at the other youths around him, hoping they would be more proactive, without needing to be pointed out one by one.

However, the scene of the boy disappearing made other nearby children a bit uneasy, prompting one of them to bravely ask Wang Zhifan:

"Martial Venerable, this is too small. Can’t fit more people inside, right?"

Clearly, the youths believed the Black Tower before them was too small; fitting one person inside seemed hard enough, thus making them reluctant due to perceived lack of internal space.

"Hehe... You little cubs, do you really think this is just an ordinary Black Tower? I’ll tell you, it’s spacious inside like the Grotto Heaven Secret Mansion! Keep moving! If you can’t muster the courage to attend trials, I won’t accept you as disciples!"

After his explanation, Wang Zhifan folded his arms and remained silent, adopting a stance that demanded observation of their actions.

Indeed, this tactic worked well with the small boys. Upon hearing about the legendary spacious interior through the Black Tower’s brass door, and coupled with Wang Zhifan’s provocation, they quickly shed some of their previous apprehension and rushed toward the open brass door.

"Let me enter first!"

"I’ll pave the way for you!"

"Don’t block me!"

...

In an instant, the area before the Black Tower’s brass door overflowed with youths. Were it a normal door, an incident from such a massive rush would be likely; however, Wang Zhifan had no concern over this point.

Since the Black Tower was a legendary, mysterious creation already set up with proper functioning rules, any youths approaching would be instantly transported inside, kicking off their individual trial tests, offering a seamless user experience.

Within a few heartbeats, the hundred youngsters inside the underground palace dwindled to just a few left.

The few remaining youths were either frowning while scrutinizing the "man-swallowing" Black Tower brass door suspiciously, or acting composed, appearing thoughtful as their gaze swept over including Wang Zhifan next to the Black Tower.

However, Wang Zhifan did not push these few hesitant youths to enter, knowing too much pressure could backfire; therefore, he chose a peaceful wait, remaining silent and letting them ponder.

"This tower... it takes people in but not out... so eerie..."

A cloth-clad youth staring into the dark brass door interior murmured lowly, with beads of sweat on his forehead suggesting he was quite nervous.

"Hmm, it is strange indeed... but just wait a bit and the results will be revealed... I won’t easily step into treacherous places without a certain assurance."

A nearby girl dressed like a young master interjected proudly.

She appeared calm and confident, recalling Wang Zhifan mentioned the trials would soon complete, opting for others to go through the process first to observe the broader situation before making a decision.

"This little girl is quite interesting; wonder what kind of performance she’ll show in the trials."

Next to the Black Tower, Wang Zhifan threw a glance of attention toward the girl but then merely slight interest as his focus remained on within the tower.

At that moment, inside the pitch-dark tower, roughly a hundred independent spaces were running simultaneously, each hosting a youth undergoing trials, which were similar across trial scenarios, culminating in facing demons!

Yesterday, when preparing for the Martial Venerable Hall, Wang Zhifan designed his trial items, specifically assessing whether the youth possessed the qualities needed for Martial Artists, such as agility, courage, and resilience.

In contrast, he gave less importance to combat ability, as they were mere children, unless gifted from a young age, it was unreasonable to expect them to defeat vicious demons.

The overall trials involved mountaineering combined with combat, with vocal guidance available at the start and crucial nodes, ensuring the youths wouldn’t get lost or confused.

The mountain to climb was short but the path rather steep, making forceful ascent tough, thus testing bravery and perseverance.

Those with nimble minds could conceive solutions, like ignoring deceiving routes in favor of finding hidden paths or quietly leveraging giant birds resting aside the mountain for a swift ride to the peak.

Throughout this process, besides inherent risk in each plan, weak little animals might disturb the youths, who could choose to directly confront or cleverly evade them, though severe accidents would lead to immediate removal and suspension of their trial from the Black Tower.

Reaching the summit marked the more hardcore battle content, with Wang Zhifan arranged opponents defined as demon templates, marginally stronger than the testing youths, yet visually frightful and violent appearance enough to scare timid kids into loud cries.

This part assessed the youths’ combat talent, where a born Martial Artist should remain composed facing intimidating enemies, subsequently uncovering a foe’s reality through calm maneuvering, probing, and observing, utilizing their extraordinary performance to defeat foes or leverage conditions on the peak for victory.

Conditions included myriad factors, like sharp weapons placed behind demons, a special point on the peak convenient for casting foes downhill onto sharp rocks, or mighty resting giant birds overhead, all possibly aiding the youths in dispatching seemingly formidable demons.

Overall, Wang Zhifan setup well-guided trials devoid of overly convoluted sections, theoretically allowing a talented youth to complete them within less than a moment of tea time.

As for safety concerns, that was watertight.

Because all youths actually fell into illusions for their trials, convinced everything around them was real, and would feel the pain upon injury, witness wounds bleed genuine-looking red blood; however, upon ejection from the tower, they’d find not only unharmed bodies, even their attire pristine, merely feeling slightly drained.

The prominent advantages were precisely why Wang Zhifan opted for using the Black Tower for trials, allowing him to intricately entangle entrants like a game designer and bypass real bodily harm via illusion mode, while in genuinely "real" crises probe the true nature of those tested, simply impeccable.