High Martial: I Grind Professions

Tuka was well and truly put on the spot. The remark about "acting like a man," combined with the crowd’s focused stares, left him in a bind.

He inwardly regretted his impulsive outburst and felt a prickle of unease at Kurudo’s confidence, but for now, he could only grit his teeth and see it through.

"Fine, I’ll take that bet! Five hours! Kurudo, you’d better get your Time Tower hours ready!"

"It’s a deal!" Kurudo’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

And so, the focus of the crowd was no longer just the sealed tower doors. Now, there was the added entertainment of watching a show unfold.

The onlookers murmured amongst themselves, discussing Li Wen’s monstrous exploits as they waited for the outcome.

Their gazes darted back and forth between Tuka, Kurudo, and the motionless tower doors.

Time slipped by quietly, and another hour passed.

The tower doors remained sealed shut.

「Inside the Time Tower.」

Within the silvery void, Li Wen slowly opened his eyes. Within their profound depths, countless fragments of time seemed to flicker in and out of existence before finally settling into tranquility.

He let out a long breath, which seemed to carry the lingering essence of aged time.

"Whew... As expected, comprehending the Time Law inside this Time Tower is so much clearer and easier than in the outside world."

He murmured to himself, his tone filled with sincere wonder and the satisfaction that comes with a new understanding.

"No wonder everyone treats their limited time in here each month like a priceless treasure.

The efficiency of comprehending the Time Law in here is at least several times greater than outside!"

He looked inward, sensing the imprint of the Time Law gradually clarifying deep within his soul, and a powerful sense of anticipation surged through him.

’If I continue at this pace... perhaps I can truly grasp the rudiments of the Time Law within a year! With that, I could step into the Saint Realm...’

At that thought, a sharp glint flashed in Li Wen’s eyes. ’A Saint Realm master who majors in the Time Law... just how strong would that be? And by then, my True Aura will have completely transformed into High Tier Primordial Power!’

A powerful confidence welled up inside him. ’By then, the dark gold giant on the eighth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower will probably pose no threat to me at all!’

He stood up and stretched his limbs.

’It’s been ten days, which means two hours have passed outside... Time to go. If I stay any longer, I’ll probably scare the daylights out of that crowd.’

He considered this. To avoid causing unnecessary alarm and trouble, he needed to cover his tracks a little.

’First, though, I should lower the time multiplier.’

With a mere thought, he used the Time Token in his hand to silently adjust the Time Tower’s flow rate multiplier on his body, reducing it from a staggering one hundred times to twenty times.

One of the Time Tower’s characteristics was that when adjusting the multiplier from high to low, the resulting fluctuation in overflowing energy was extremely faint and virtually undetectable to the outside world.

After confirming everything was in order, Li Wen straightened his robes.

He walked with steady steps toward the massive tower door, a gate that seemed to separate two different worlds.

...

「The Plaza Outside the Tower.」

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

The waiting crowd grew restless, and the volume of their whispers gradually increased.

"It’s been over two hours... and he’s still not out?"

"Hiss... Student Li Wen is staying in that long on his first visit to the Time Tower? That willpower..."

"Something’s not right. Even those Saint Realm masters usually only last an hour before coming out, and they always look mentally drained when they do."

"Yeah, the mental pressure of the Time Tower is cumulative. It gets harder to endure the longer you stay, and the effectiveness plummets. More than two hours... This is..."

"Could it be like Tuka said, that he set the multiplier really low? Otherwise, to withstand a high multiplier for so long on your first try... it’s just... abnormal."

"Kurudo, are you sure your information was correct? Is this Student Li Wen really that amazing? You didn’t get it wrong, did you?" someone couldn’t help but ask.

Listening to the surrounding chatter, Kurudo could no longer maintain his confident smile. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.

’The information I got is absolutely reliable,’ he thought. ’Someone who cleared the eighth floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower—how could his multiplier be less than ten times?’

’But over two hours... This really exceeds everything I thought was possible for a first-timer.’

He snuck a glance at Tuka and saw that the other man’s once ashen face had cleared up considerably.

A faint, almost imperceptible sneer of vengeful glee even touched the corners of his lips.

Tuka’s emotions were indeed on a roller coaster right now.

From being provoked by Kurudo into accepting the bet, to feeling his heart sink in utter despair and intense unease after hearing about Li Wen’s terrifying achievements from others, and now, to have his hopes rekindled as Li Wen’s unusually long stay stretched far beyond the norm...

He now found Kurudo’s attempt to appear calm utterly laughable.

’Five hours of Time Tower duration!’ The thought that he might win back this huge stake made his heart pound in his chest.

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts—Kurudo anxious, Tuka secretly delighted, and the rest shocked and uncertain—

VMMMM!

A low hum reverberated.

The great door of the Time Tower, sealed for over two hours, finally began to slowly swing inward.

A tall, straight figure strode out unhurriedly. It was Li Wen.

An aura of pure, dense time energy rushed out with him, spreading like a tidal wave.

"He’s out!"

Everyone’s gaze instantly locked onto Li Wen.

At the same time, almost as a reflex, streams of spiritual sense, some strong and some weak, shot out like tentacles toward the time-infused aura spilling from the doorway, eager to perceive the time flow rate information contained within.

"A twenty-times multiplier!" An exclamation filled with utter disbelief exploded from the crowd, like a clap of thunder on a clear day.