The moment Hengsheng slew the goblin shaman, the remaining goblins froze and began to disintegrate, their existence no longer necessary.
After that, a branch of system notifications appeared before him.
[Congratulations, you have completed the mission.]
[Last Chapter — Survive & Escape, Title] [Complete]
[The Hidden Chapter — The Conqueror] [Complete]
—[Tutorial Cleared]—
Evaluation:
Total Score: 45,800
Grade: SS
Rewards Obtained:
—4,580 Tower Points.
—Colorless Exp Stone x100
—Red Exp Stone x10
—Random Artifact Ticket [Epic] x1
—Cultivation Technique Choice Ticket [Epic] x1
—Title: The Tutorial Graduator — Permanently increases all attributes and talents by 1%.
—Title: The Conqueror Candidate — Grants the aura of dominance.
Bonus Rewards Obtained:
—1,000 Tower Points.
—Colorless Exp Stone x50
—Red Exp Stone x5
*Rewards have been added to your inventory.
…
Hengsheng frowned after he read through the system notice, his expression clearly showing his dissatisfaction with the tutorial result.
"What the hell? Why is it only SS, not SSS?" he muttered. He was certain his performance had been outstanding—he deserved the highest score, yet he did not receive it.
With a frown of doubt, Hengsheng immediately invoked his System Maker authority, peering into the System Log to uncover what had kept him from achieving an SSS grade.
It didn't take long to find the answer.
The system had flagged him as one of the cheaters.
The Trial Tower was designed for those at the very beginning of their cultivation path—mortals up to the Grand Unity Realm or Tier 1 to Tier 6 cultivation realm.
Anyone beyond this level was automatically disqualified as the training subject. They will not be able to use the Trial Tower Invitation Token and join the grand competition.
Cheaters were defined as individuals who, in one way or another, possessed mastery or experience exceeding the first six realms of cultivation unconventionally and somehow still qualified as training subjects, such as reincarnators, clones, or avatars.
Basically, all those who were not actually novice cultivators.
That was why he could not receive the SSS grade, despite having attained the required score threshold.
He closed the System Log after finding the answer he needed. It was a shame he couldn't obtain the SSS reward, which would have granted him a Unique-rank item—an item truly one of its kind, far superior to Epic rank and below.
"Whatever, it was just a test anyway," Hengsheng muttered. There was some regret, but not much, since nothing he gained here would carry over to the real world.
Then he looked around; all the goblins were gone, leaving only the dropped items on the floor. More than a hundred Exp Stones lay scattered.
He glanced at his inventory and decided not to pick them up, feeling too lazy. With the Exp Stones he had in his inventory, that was all he needed to reach Level 2.
Hengsheng walked toward the widest corridor that connected to the Boss Room. It was the path leading to one of the seven exits in this goblin dungeon.
This path was special, opened only after the boss had been slain. Along the way, he passed multiple chambers on both sides, each containing treasures, but he ignored them and pressed onward.
He reached the end of the corridor and found a spiral staircase ascending to the higher floor. Following it, he arrived at the final chamber, where a blue portal shimmered at the center.
The Exit.
…
"MASTER!!!" A little girl jumped into his arms immediately after he stepped out of the portal.
"Prim, how long have you been waiting?" Hengsheng asked, gently patting her head.
"GIGIGI! I've been waiting for 10 minutes! …" Prim replied, then continued to talk about her experience inside the goblin dungeon.
As a system race who understood how systems operate, she had done the same as him—rushing straight to the boss room to finish it off quickly and achieve the best rewards.
Unlike him, who the system considered a cheater, Prim was neither a cultivator nor a fighter. She was regarded as a fresh training subject, so she attained an SSS grade without issue and received the unique-rank item.
With a bright smile, Prim held up a shiny bead.
"Behold! The Manifestation Bead!" she exclaimed.
"Ohhh…" Hengsheng watched the unique-rank treasure with curiosity.
From Prim's explanation, she says that this bead had the power to manifest any form of Qi construct as the user wishes—a powerful treasure capable of easily rivaling a top-tier Divine Artifact.
Hengsheng thought to himself that the bead was basically like a magical ring from a certain US comic.
"Let's hang out a bit, shall we?" Hengsheng said.
"Ok!" Prim replied, grabbing his hand.
Hengsheng smiled and gazed in a certain direction, spotting the source of an enormous shadow stretching across the city from the horizon.
The Primordial City—named after the Primordial Tower—was what he called the city.
The city combined various architectural styles. It was a massive city with buildings lining orderly streets, stone-paved roads, and numerous beautiful spots. It served as the central hub—a waiting room for those challenging the tower, and a meeting place for challengers.
They were now in the middle of the city square. It was supposed to be full of people, but it was almost empty—only a group of NPCs were stationed at certain spots, waiting to serve their purposes.
Hengsheng and Prim walked around the city, visiting various spots they had previously seen only through displays. He showed her the places he had designed, and she brought him to the spots she had put effort into.
They weren't just hanging out—they were also examining the city for any bugs that might have gone unnoticed. Finding them was difficult since everything was under his control, but they did spot a few.
Nothing major—no glitches that would let challengers become overpowered by exploiting the system. Only minor issues, like NPCs appearing too human, making them hard to distinguish from real people, and potentially confusing challengers.
Hengsheng considered whether to fix it, but after consulting Prim, she said it was fine to leave it as it was, and he agreed.
He agreed.
After a while, they finished their city tour and decided to resume the test.
They stood in the heart of the city, before the enormous trial tower, and began preparing to challenge the first floor.
Both brought out the EXP Stones from their own inventory and began to swallow them, one after another.
When Hengsheng swallowed his third red EXP Stone, the system notice appeared before him.
[DING!]
[You have gained EXP.]
[Your EXP has reached the 25% threshold]
[You have grown stronger]
White light surged through his body, and he sensed that he had become stronger. This was similar to when he leveled up, but did not have as much impact on his strength.
He continued to swallow the Red EXP Stones; two more notices appeared when he swallowed his 7th and 14th stones, telling him that he had hit the 50% and 75% thresholds, respectively.
With no red stones left, only the colorless ones remained. He sighed as he looked at the pile of hundred Colorless EXP Stones; swallowing them all would be a tiring task.
To reach level 2, he had to do it.
Soon.
[DING!]
[You have gained EXP.]
[Your EXP has reached the 100% threshold]
[You have grown stronger]
[EXP Limit Reached]
[To advance to Level 2, you must first equip the cultivation technique]
—[Select an available cultivation technique]—
He proceeded, clicking the selection button, and saw the cultivation techniques he knew from both the real world and the tutorial he had just completed, neatly lined up.
He selected one he was familiar with—the System Maker Cultivation Scripture. The moment he did, the white light once again bathed him.
Spiritual Qi surged through his spirit vein and dantian, implanting the cultivation technique into his body and mind.
And then.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up.]
—[Status Window]—
Name: Lan Hengsheng
Level: 2
Race: Human [Hyperhuman: Sealed]
Spirit Foundation: Spirit Ring System [Divine] [7 Rings: Water, Wood, Fire, Metal, Earth, Five Element, Chaos]
Cultivation Technique: The System Maker Cultivation Scripture [Unique] — Highest possible growth rate for all attributes.
…
Hengsheng was satisfied that his Divine Sense had returned; cultivators who couldn't extend their spiritual sense into the world around were no different from the blind.
He was now ready to enter the first floor and end the test.
"MASTER, LOOK!" Prim, standing beside him, had also completed her advancement, and with her newfound power, she activated the artifact, forming a manifestation of the Primordial Dragon God, Drachroma.
"Oh… That is quite realistic. Can it unleash the dragon breath like a real one?" Hengsheng asked.
"Let me try!" Prim answered and used her will to command the manifestation to shoot the dragon breath.
The Primordial Dragon's godly eyes lit as it hurled back, opening its jaw to gather a certain amount of Qi before unleashing the destructive elemental breath toward the dummy.
DOOM!
"WOW!" Hengsheng exclaimed in surprise, not at the power of the dragon breath, which was great compared to the World Shatter Palm he used when he was at the Qi Gathering Realm, but that it could actually fire the dragon breath. It seemed he had underestimated the power of a Unique Rank Item.
"GIGIGI…" Prim laughed with satisfaction. She really liked her new toy. It was a shame that she couldn't bring it back since it was not real, but she didn't give up.
She secretly copied its existence record, hoping to use it to replicate this toy once she got out of the test.