Infinite Professions

Chapter 465: Chapter 238: Secret Realm 2

...

Within the secret realm, Shen Hex traveled alone, his steps steady and Shrinking Inches, while recalling the scene of the young man being transported away after his defeat.

He hadn’t actually killed the opponent earlier. When the Cyan Dragon Divine Gang broke, a peculiar force was activated, sending the opponent away.

There’s no doubt that this is the protection mechanism of the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm.

After all, this is the real world, not a virtual network. If you truly kill a person, even with means to resurrect them, you’d face staggering costs involved in their recovery. With a personnel base of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, the Xingyi Martial Mansion’s resources wouldn’t tolerate such extravagance.

Therefore, the protection mechanism does not only trigger upon death but also includes a unique determination of victory and defeat.

Quite intriguing!

Shen Hex even sensed that the way the transport worked faintly resembled "Reincarnation" in the Divine Dao World.

This made him marvel and further understand the strength of the Martial Mansion and the Empire.

If a Martial Arts Academy possesses such methods, what about the entire Empire?

It’s truly unimaginable!

...

This Hidden Dragon Secret Realm seems vast, even with tens of thousands of participants in this special recruitment tournament, only a few immediate encounters occurred initially. Shen Hex ran into merely three or four individuals along the way, two of whom chose to retreat without engaging in battle.

Shen Hex didn’t chase after them either, because the tournament is based on a scoring system where everyone maintains certain points that transfer upon defeat rather than disappearing, thus there’s no worry about lacking points to harvest in the end.

Theoretically, if your power is formidable enough, you could let others fight or tackle obstacles, then strike at the final moment to gather points, which not only requires less effort but accumulates more points.

This holds great significance as the scoring system pits you against current and former participants. Surpassing predecessors or even breaking records could earn you substantial rewards from Xingyi Martial Mansion.

Therefore, experts confident in their skills tend not to engage in early battles but prefer letting others take on challenges and accumulate points, planning to harvest them later.

The prerequisite is sufficient strength; otherwise, before your "pig" grows fat, you might be slaughtered yourself.

Though there are always newer talents and worldly wonders, Shen Hex doesn’t consider himself invincible or guaranteed to win ultimately, but he doesn’t mind nurturing points.

His relaxed mindset lets him pursue academic credits if possible, yet he won’t stress if not. He’ll simply retreat and continue dreaming.

Free to advance or withdraw!

...

"Boom!!!"

"Bang!!!"

All directions stirred, warfare escalated, and some even signaled to assemble their teams against enemies.

Shen Hex used his communication device to contact Zhong Qin and Teng Manyun, forming the team.

With help, many may succeed; without help, few manage to. Shen Hex understood the strength of alliances clearly. Although he couldn’t become a dominant leader yet, forming small groups remained feasible, especially since the special recruitment tournament influenced distribution and benefits. He had reason to support Zhong Qin and others.

The Academy didn’t prohibit this, merely imposed some balancing restrictions like increasing negative scores related to communication items.

Shen Hex didn’t exploit loopholes here, opting to use communication devices obediently rather than relying on Spirit Control Contract, Divine Dao Faith, or Celestial Secret Divination abilities.

For a few points, exposing such trump cards would be unwise.

Worried about lacking points within the secret realm? Focus on finding people first.

Relying on communication, Shen Hex swiftly located someone.

"Shen Hex, over here!"

Seeing Shen Hex arrive in an Instant Step, Zhong Qin quickly approached to greet him.

The ace is here!

"Let’s go!"

Without many words, Shen Hex took Zhong Qin along to meet others.

However, with an additional member, progress slowed, further hampered by escalating warfare and distance, resulting in a final gathering of seven, including Zhong Qin and Teng Manyun, from the group of twenty-five special recruits. The rest were lost to communication.

Needless to say, they were eliminated.

"What’s next?"

"Should we fight?"

Despite losing over half the group, the remaining members weren’t discouraged. Instead, they brimmed with fighting spirit.

This was courtesy of their leader, Shen Hex.

However, Shen Hex shook his head: "First tackle challenges to gather points; battle can wait."

"Alright!"

Upon hearing this, everyone agreed, immediately searching their memories, determining positions, and finding surrounding challenge points.

Although the Hidden Dragon Secret Realm receives minor updates yearly, it’s merely slight adjustments. A real Little World can’t alter maps like online games can.

Thus, there’s a "strategy" for the special recruitment tournament. Teng Qinglong leveraged his senior advantage to procure one, probably outdated general knowledge, yet still somewhat helpful.

Following a search, everyone finally found a challenge point.

A valley where many had already gathered, yet the scene remained peaceful with no inclination to fight.

Clearly, everyone thought alike, aiming to tackle challenges, gather points first, and strike later once fattened.

This valley resembled the Sword Valley layout Shen Hex once arranged in Taiyuan Realm, except inside were Xingyi Divine Martial Stele rather than sword inscriptions.

"Xingyi Divine Martial Stele, those who comprehend the mysteries may pass and score!"

Together with Shen Hex, the group reached a stele, inspected its inscriptions, and each began their contemplation.

Shen Hex also immersed himself in its mysteries.