Chapter 135: Good News
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Dear Citizens,
We bring you such good news today. The children are okay, and they are doing really well. Additionally, what happened to them might not be a bad thing, after all.
In a surprising turn of events, one of the children who had been taken to the trial grounds managed to contact a family member. It happened when said family member was at the GMU headquarters hoping to receive any updates.
To our shock and disbelief, the young man stated that he was fine. He revealed the truth about the abduction.
As it turns out, our children had been forcibly taken to participate in the Trial Grounds of the Sky Archons—a fallen race of beings who looked just like us, humans, only with wings.
(Click here to know more about the Sky Archon Race.)
The creator of the trial grounds made it in a hurry—around the time when their world was hours away from falling apart. Although he managed to send it away and connect it to the world system, he did not have enough time to fix the issues. That’s why the trial ground forcibly took our children.
But it was confirmed that our children will, indeed, not die in there and will return eventually. One year at minimum, a maximum of two.
In the Trial Grounds, our children will have to fight Undead Creatures each ’night’; they will be forced out of their safe zone and also have to search for five Sky Archon pieces to return to safety.
They could earn points by killing the undead. These points can be used to buy daily necessities to support them throughout their stay in there.
This means that so long as our children fight back, like martial artists do, they will have the means to survive in that place.
They could also use these points to make a call through the world system. That’s how the young man managed to contact his uncle from all the way there.
This could go both ways, meaning that we can use the world system to call them, too, and check up on their state.
Although the trials are certainly challenging, and the undead certainly are a cut above what our children can handle, they are spared from permanent death.
To quote what the young man said: ’It’s like raiding the beginner-level dungeons. Yes, we can die in there, but we’ll just respawn in the plaza. It’s the same here. If I died from the undead, I’ll just wake up in my starting zone. I’ll lose half of the points I earned that ’night,’ though.’
Because of this discovery, most of the concerned family members attempted to call their children through the world system, and they went through.
Some of them were scared, confused, and wanted to go back, but all of them were safe and alive.
We also discovered another astonishing thing about those trial grounds...
And that is, while in there, the children’s training speed was at least three times faster compared to the dungeons.
This has been confirmed by the majority of the children themselves. It’s not a unique or temporary state; that’s just the base.
They could also double this effect by buying an ’experience boost’ in the unique store of that place. It costs 15,000 points, which is definitely expensive and only lasts for five days.
But having a practice speed of 6× for the next five days, in our opinion, is worth that price. It’s not like the place was lacking zombies to kill.
This is why we said that this situation might not be so bad, after all. Even we adults would willingly go and stay in that place if we knew that it was like that.
Just to remind everyone, the children who were taken to the place were those who reached Bone Forging and Marrow Cleansing at the age of 18 and below.
With 3× training speed, so long as the children don’t slack off while they’re in there, most of them would return as Pulse Awakening martial artists.
Going from bone forging to pulse awakening will usually take years; some might even need decades to achieve it. But in there, with 3× training speed, our children—who are already talented on their own—will just need a few months to fly across realms.
This convinces us that this was no tragedy but a blessing in disguise instead. This presents, possibly, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our children to become better versions of themselves and return stronger.
For those who can’t afford the merit points to make cross-realm calls through the world system, please head to the Grand Martial City and to the GMU Headquarters. We will do our best to help you out in any way we can.
- Grand Martial Union.
**
The GMU’s update was actually slower than word of mouth this time.
Ren’s act of calling Mikel through the world system had become known through the entire human civilization after it ended. It has been spread by those who witnessed the whole conversation between the nephew and the uncle.
Of course, it wasn’t limited to that.
News about the 3× training speed had been spread, too.* In fact, that made more noise than the other.
As soon as Ren ended the call, the others began contacting their children through the world system to check on their state. As the announcement stated, most of them were still scared and afraid. Some hadn’t even read writings on the wall.
But of course, there were also those who adapted fast and discovered the same things as Ren did. These people were doing just fine, and like Ren, they had no plans on leaving the place anytime soon. In fact, some of them even planned on staying there for as long as they’re allowed to.
Suffice it to say, they too discovered the about 3× training speed and the ’experience boost’ that could be bought in the store. They were fired up and raring to kill more undead.
Forget about the Sky Archon Pieces! If they could get it, they would. But making the 6× training speed practically last for the entirety of their stay was an even more pressing matter for them.
To those who had things to prove and had good reason to become strong fast, this kind of temptation was simply irresistible. It’s not some sham or a scam; it’s real. It does sound too good to be true, but it was definitely achievable.
Now that stable contact could be made, concern about safety had become minimal. They’ve seen that the children were okay, so the concern shifted into something else—encouragement.
The children will return eventually. What they need to do now is to take advantage of this massive opportunity, for they may never have something this good again.
Some of those who came from ’tougher’ families were ’highly encouraged’ to make the most out of it. Saying that if they can’t return as Pulse Awakening martial artists, they might as well never return at all.
Sure, these families were very few, but they do exist.
But now that most of the children had direction, the fear of the unknown could no longer touch them. Those who were scared before making contact with a familiar face had recovered and started to pick themselves up.
The others were right; this was an opportunity that they could not afford to miss.
Those who were completely blindsided, especially those who didn’t even bother reading the writings on the wall, now discovered that they can use points to buy food, water, shelter, and clothes. That’s what they prioritized first because they had been starved for two whole weeks.
They most relied on circulating chakra to survive and wait for rescue. But obviously, that changes now.
As for the tougher ones—those who were brave enough to explore and check their surroundings, of course they’re already way ahead.
They’ve discovered thw writings on the wall. They know how this works. They already killed a lot of zombies and even collected some Sky Archon Pieces. Some of them probably died, but that’s no big deal.
Obviously, they have food and water for days thanks to the points they’ve earned. Some were already eyeing the ’experience boost,’ saving up points to buy one as soon as they can.
The real strong and talented ones were already thriving way beyond others.
Not only were they set in their domes with plenty of food variety, more than enough water to drink and bathe, stacks of clean clothes to choose from, and a large, well-decorated shelter to use, but they had also already purchased the experience boost and even had spare points to buy and study the Sky Archon Arts.
Others might not even consider this option since they are banned from practicing other means to strengthen themselves other than martial arts. But Sky Archons do look like humans, just with wings.
And if they were curious enough to buy the cheapest Sky Archon Art, they would instantly realize how closely it resembles martial arts. It had no caveats too, aside from adjusting it for those who don’t have wings.
Little do they know that this little curiosity of theirs will serve them well in the future to come...
