Huh?


    Sterl was taken aback.


    [Teleportation is now starting!]


    The message changed again. Before Sterl could react, a vortex appeared in front of him, quickly sucking him in.


    ...


    Sterl felt himself instantly transported to an ind.


    He could hear the sound of waves crashing and smell the salty sea air.


    The ind''s scenery was quite nice, with many tall coconut trees and a distant coastline that looked like a translucent white line. This ce seemed more like a vacation paradise than a trial ground.


    Sterl opened his mini-map and found himself in the [Hall of Valor Simted World (A2 Zone)].


    The map only showed information about this ind, with the surrounding areas marked in dark purple, suggesting the edges of the simted world.


    Sterl meticulously studied the map, uncovering the overallyout of the ind. ording to the map, the ind was divided into four major zonesbeled A, B, C, and D, with each major zone further subdivided into 1 to 5 smaller sectors.


    If each zone had the same number of people...


    "That''s 1000 people?"


    "No wonder it takes three years to match."


    Sterl pondered. Killing a legendary unit was required to qualify for the extreme trial.


    Legendaries had a massive advantage over third-ss units, and even with the Hall of Valor gathering talents from multiple continents, it was tough to find 1000 people.


    "Maybe I was just lucky, joining the queue right before it was about to bepleted?"


    As Sterl thought this, he suddenly heard murmurs around him.


    "Wasn''t I dead? How am I here?"


    "Where is this ce? I remember being crushed by that boss..."


    "Weren''t we wiped out? Why am I the only one here? Abraham! Amanda! Where are you?"


    "Is this heaven or hell?"


    "Why was I teleported here? And what''s this about some ancient family contract? What''s going on?"


    ...


    Everyone was in a state of bewilderment and chaos. Some individuals nced around, hoping to glean useful information from the mouths of others.


    Listening to them, Sterl realized none of these people had entered the Hall of Valor for a trial in the proper way.


    They were all thrown in here for various reasons: some died and ended up here, others were bound by some weird contract...


    Around 50 "people" (including different races), and Sterl was the only one who entered this map through legitimate means.


    Sterl frowned slightly and used Star Insight to scan.


    Sure enough, everyone had at least an S-ss profession and S-ss talent, with some even having dual S-ss talents or professions, making them top-tier geniuses.


    Moreover, all of them were max-level third-ss, on the verge of breaking into legendary status. Each had golden skills with considerable investment in legend points, making them formidable inbat.


    Judging by their appearances, they were also quite young.


    Sterl felt it was reasonable for these people to have the ability to challenge legendaries and be selected for the extreme trial.


    Everything seemed logical, except for the fact they hadn''t voluntarily signed up for the extreme trial.


    Sterl couldn''t help but feel suspicious, "Did I get matched so quickly because of timing, or is the Hall of Valor randomly pulling people in now?"


    He noted that those who said they were summoned by ancient family contracts seemed clueless about the extreme trial.


    This suggested that such teleportations had never happened before.


    Alternatively, those teleported might have been unable to ry information back.


    Both scenarios were possible, but the likelihood of teleportations never happening before seemed higher. If families had people continuously disappearing, it would raise suspicion, and those summoned would likely have been prepared.


    "So, the extreme trial filling up so quickly—is it because the Hall of Valor is randomly pulling people in? Including the dead and family heirs bound by ancient contracts?"


    Sterl pondered. Ever since Gloria and the other deities appeared, he felt he had touched upon some hidden secrets of this world.


    "Cataclysm?"


    The word shed in his mind.


    Could it be that some impending disaster was causing the Hall of Valor''s unusual behavior?


    Sterl had his doubts.


    Unfortunately, at this stage, he couldn''t do anything but focus onpleting the trial and earning some rewards.


    While Sterl was deep in thought, the initially chaotic crowd began to settle down.


    These were all top-tier geniuses, strong and experienced. They quickly calmed down and assessed the situation.


    Many of these geniuses knew of the Hall of Valor and pieced together the truth from the hints.


    "So, we''ve been pulled into this extreme trial by the Hall of Valor?"


    "Complete the trial, and we get great rewards. Fail, and we die here???"


    Someone muttered.


    The other geniuses had varied reactions.


    "Whatever the case, at least it brought me back from death. A trial? I''m in!"


    "I didn''t expect to get another chance at life..."


    "A trial, how interesting..."


    "Maybe this is my chance to be even stronger."


    ...


    Those who had died and were brought here felt grateful. The Hall of Valor had given them another shot at survival, so they had no objections to the trial.


    The ones forcibly summoned were also excited.


    They were "geniuses," used to oveing challenges and doing extraordinary things, growing rapidly.


    Facing a high-difficulty challenge aligned with their instincts, they were far from panicked and instead felt thrilled.


    As the group discussed, Sterl loudly imed that he too had been teleported after dying, blending into the crowd.


    Then, they began to discuss—


    "This ce looks pretty safe. It''s called the extreme trial, so it should be tough, right? But I can''t see what''s so difficult about it yet."


    People chatted, their expressions rxed.


    Some people who already knew about the Hall of Valor began to exin, "Actually, my family had nned for me to enter the Hall of Valor, so I know a bit about it."


    "Generally, the Hall of Valor''s standard trials gather many yers and force them to face a boss in a world they can''t escape from."


    "The boss''s strength is set based on the strongest yers gathered."


    "In theory, even the strongest yersbined with others can''t defeat the boss, forcing them to break their limits and counterattack!"


    "However, the difficulty of breaking through isn''t very high."


    "It could be a breakthrough in individualbat ability or in yers'' cooperative skills."


    "And the boss will prioritize hunting down the weakest yers first."


    "The strongest yers have plenty of time to train themselves."


    "But, if the yers'' talents aren''t enough to break their limits, they all die."


    As the exnation continued, Sterl finally understood why the demigod had told him he''d meet the Dark Moon Alliance yers again when taking him off the rainbow ship.


    The reason was simple. In a standard trial, those yers would act as cannon fodder, sacrificing their lives to buy time for Sterl and the other top-tier yers to develop.


    "I just wonder what the extreme trial''s situation will be like..." As someone voiced this thought.


    Suddenly, the sky changed color!


    A notification popped up in all yers'' retinas.


    [Gifted warriors from another world, struggle!]


    [Enemy: Devourer of All Things (Simcrum) has descended in A2 Zone (the strongest yer zone).]


    [Note: The rules for this trial are the same as the standard trial. Push your limits as much as possible.]


    "Huh??"


    "We''re the strongest?"


    "Great, I''m very satisfied with that evaluation." Many yers were not surprised but rather delighted and even proud.


    Only Sterl''s expression changed, looking grim.


    The Hall of Valor''s trial rules were very targeted at him! Because he relied on his overpoweredbat abilities to steamroll through, and now they were creating an enemy stronger than him??


    Damn!


    Sterl''s heart was racing. Knowing that the Hall of Valor was created by a great Divine Power, his trump cards, except his cheat abilities, were probably all analyzed.


    This meant the Devourer of All Things would likely be created based on Sterl''s maximum strength.


    "Fine, testing my breakthrough ability, huh?"


    "With my cheat abilities, breaking limits is the least of my worries."


    He wasn''tcking in confidence.


    Sterl''s real concern was the Hall of Valor revealing his trump cards.


    But after some thought, he calmed down.


    Sterl perceived that the intrinsic will of the Hall of Valor bore a striking resemnce to the titan within the consciousness space employed by the Divine Mountain Empire, devoid of subjective biases or preferences. Thus, his revtion of his trump cards seemed inconsequential.


    Moreover, being a creation of a great Divine Power, the Hall of Valor should not be entirely susceptible to the dominion of ordinary deities...


    Sterl deemed this exposure to be of little consequence...


    However, he cast a nce of pity towards the nearby yers.


    These individuals, currently basking in a state of tion, remained blissfully ignorant of the impending horror they were about to confront.


    At that very moment, the sky underwent a dramatic transformation. Bolts of lightning began to descend upon the once clear ind, and a pure ck void started to expand rapidly from the size of a mere grain of rice.