Ender stood in mid-air above the grassland, a light screen appearing before him, covered in text.
"Morning Light Academy Trial Tower assessment is about to begin. Your current assessment route selection is Controller."
"Please choose your Spirit Weapon type, quantity, and flying apparatus."
As soon as he finished speaking, various basic Spirit Weapons appeared before him.
Without overthinking, Ender chose the bone spike he had used for a long time, selecting 23 of them, corresponding to his newly measured Spiritual Force amplitude of 23 times.
After selecting his Spirit Weapon, various flying apparatuses appeared before him, including shields, shuttles, and greatswords.
Ender fell into a brief contemplation, looking at the flying apparatuses before him.
Among these flying apparatuses, the shuttle was the fastest, the shield offered the best defense, and the greatsword was naturally the best for attack.
"Among these flying apparatuses, I am most proficient with the shield. Moreover, the shield is suitable for defense, allowing me to withstand Demon Beast attacks in critical moments and compensating for the flaw in my movement technique not yet being perfect."
After a brief consideration, Ender chose the shield as his flying apparatus.
If he had cultivated his movement technique for a longer time and reached a higher Realm, his first choice would have been the shuttle.
But for now, the shield was the optimal solution.
As Ender completed his selection, the light screen closed and vanished, then a new light screen unfolded.
"Trial Tower First Floor: Please kill one Apprentice Level 9 flying Demon Beast—a Corpse Eating Bird—within one minute."
"Click Confirm to start the assessment in ten seconds."
Below the text, there were large red words: 'Confirm'.
Ender clicked 'Confirm', and a ten-second countdown appeared.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
As the countdown ended, a Corpse Eating Bird flew from the horizon, then swooped down.
"Trying to disturb my state of mind?"
Looking at the swooping Corpse Eating Bird, Ender's eyes seemed to burn with fire, "I will make you despair! Marcel!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
23 bone spike flew out from Ender's side, targeting the swooping Corpse Eating Bird.
The bone spike drew graceful arcs in the air, heading straight for the swooping Corpse Eating Bird.
The Apprentice Level 9 bone spike were only slightly stronger than the Corpse Eating Bird's tough feathers, barely able to break through its defense.
Bang, bang, bang...
Amidst metallic collision sounds, the Corpse Eating Bird suffered continuous bone spike's impacts, its body flying backward and tumbling upside down in the sky.
Pfft, pfft...
After the metallic collision sounds, a series of sounds of bone spike piercing flesh rang out. The Corpse Eating Bird was killed, pierced through by bone spike!
Trial Tower First Floor: Passed!
The blood-splattered Corpse Eating Bird disappeared, and the assessment for Trial Tower Second Floor was about to begin.
The objective was to kill three Corpse Eating Birds within a time limit of three minutes.
Without pausing, Ender directly clicked 'Confirm', and the assessment began.
In less than a minute, three Corpse Eating Birds had been killed by his fury, at the cost of him sustaining minor injuries.
Trial Tower Second Floor: Passed!
The Corpse Eating Bird corpses vanished, and Ender's minor injuries also disappeared, along with the recovery of his previously expended Spiritual Force.
Trial Tower Third Floor: Objective to kill ten Corpse Eating Birds within a time limit of ten minutes.
It took three minutes and twenty-seven seconds to kill all ten Corpse Eating Birds, and Ender's cost was an arm.
Trial Tower Third Floor: Passed!
After clearing three floors consecutively, Ender's anger was fully vented, and he regained his composure.
"Trial Tower Fourth Floor: Please kill thirty Apprentice Level 9 Demon Beast—Shishi Birds—within thirty minutes."
Looking at the text on the light screen before him, he knew that the true Trial Tower assessment was about to begin; the first three floors were merely a warm-up.
"To pass Trial Tower Fourth Floor, I cannot clash head-on with a large number of Demon Beasts. I must fully utilize my small size to maneuver around the Demon Beasts."
"I also need to use my Spiritual Force for environmental observation, then use my movement technique to make Demon Beasts block other Demon Beasts, and save a few bone spike for essential use. This should allow me to pass the Fourth Floor."
Having decided on his strategy, Ender clicked 'Confirm'.
The countdown began, and dozens of black dots started appearing on the horizon.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
As it ended, the black dots on the horizon had appeared directly above Ender; there were thirty Corpse Eating Birds.
Facing Ender's sudden appearance, several Corpse Eating Birds in the sky began to dive down, as if to tear Ender to shreds.
But he showed no fear, stepping on his shield and flying towards the sky, targeting the diving Corpse Eating Birds.
In his third father Ivan's movement technique teachings, it was mentioned to learn how to utilize the environment to maneuver against enemies.
And this so-called environment was not just inanimate objects; living beings could also be considered part of the environment. This was something he realized when he previously challenged the Martial Artist Trial Tower Third Floor. However, without the aid of Divine Thought, it was difficult for him to employ that Realm of movement technique.
Charging towards the diving flock of Corpse Eating Birds, Ender controlled five bone spike to guard his sides, while the remaining Eighteen bone spike attacked the Corpse Eating Birds.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
The sound of bone spike cutting through the air rang out. Eighteen bone spike split into two teams, attacking the vital points of the two nearest Corpse Eating Birds.
The two targeted Corpse Eating Birds lowered their heads, protected their heads with their wings, and used non-vital parts of their bodies to block the attacks.
However, this action was futile against the faster and numerous bone spike!
The bone spike drew arcs in the air, bypassing the Corpse Eating Birds' broad wings, and in pairs, they struck their necks and heads consecutively, then pierced into them.
Chirp!
Blood splattered, and the Corpse Eating Birds shrieked miserably.
While killing two Corpse Eating Birds, another five bone spike also flew out, forcing the three Corpse Eating Birds behind them to fold their wings and defend themselves.
At this moment, Ender recalled his bone spike, simultaneously sweeping past the three Corpse Eating Birds and plunging into the massive flock of Corpse Eating Birds.
The Corpse Eating Birds were not small; their wingspan reached ten meters.
Ender's current height was less than two meters, making him a small figure among these massive Corpse Eating Birds. Only three or four Corpse Eating Birds could attack him simultaneously.
Shuttling through the flock of Corpse Eating Birds, Ender's Spiritual Force spread out, covering the surrounding sky.
Within the range of his Spiritual Force, he could instantly know any movement the Corpse Eating Birds made.
This range was seven meters, with a 360-degree unobstructed view.
Of course, doing so came at a terrifying cost. It consumed a lot of his energy, and his Spiritual Force depletion increased significantly. The number of bone spike he could fully control decreased from 23 to 12, a drastic reduction.
If he expanded the Spiritual Force coverage, the number of bone spike he could control would continue to decrease, perhaps even leaving him without the energy to manipulate any bone spike.
"I must finish this quickly. The Spiritual Force depletion is too high; I can only last for a maximum of four minutes. Covering seven meters around me is the minimum, and I cannot reduce it."
"If it's less than seven meters, once a Corpse Eating Bird attacks, I might not react in time to dodge its attack."
Facing the rapid consumption of Spiritual Force, Ender had to finish the battle quickly.
Fortunately, he had figured out the Corpse Eating Birds' attack habits. These types of Demon Beasts had limited attack methods: pecking, flapping, and grabbing.
Among these, pecking and grabbing usually exposed the Corpse Eating Birds' vital points, which undoubtedly gave him an opportunity.
When facing these two attack methods, as long as he counterattacked when the Corpse Eating Bird initiated its move, he would often achieve good results.
bone spike could strike the Corpse Eating Birds' necks and heads, and those hit would be lightly injured or even killed!
If the Spirit Weapons provided by the Trial Tower were stronger, then Corpse Eating Birds hit in vital areas would be directly killed.
Even with the limited power of the basic Spirit Weapons, Ender still killed Twelve Corpse Eating Birds within one minute. With his remaining Spiritual Force, it was enough to pass this Trial Tower Fourth Floor.
The battle continued. Ender manipulated his shield to descend, retreating to his back right, passing between two Corpse Eating Birds.
Bang!
Two Corpse Eating Birds chasing Ender collided, and at the same time, the wing flap of a Corpse Eating Bird from above missed its target.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Two bone spike struck the skulls of the two Corpse Eating Birds, instantly making them dizzy.
One of them plummeted from the sky, while the other flapped its wings several times to stabilize its body. The part of its body that was attacked was also bleeding profusely.
Taking advantage of these two injured Corpse Eating Birds, Ender sent out four bone spike, combining them in pairs, attacking the vital points of the two Corpse Eating Birds in a front-and-back manner.
Chirp, chirp!
Two miserable cries rang out, and these two Corpse Eating Birds were killed.
Successfully killing two Corpse Eating Birds still couldn't alleviate the frustration in Ender's heart.
"The Spirit Weapons provided by the Trial Tower are too weak. I need cooperation to quickly kill Demon Beast; otherwise, I can only attack repeatedly to wear them down and exhaust them to death."
In the time that followed, Ender dodged and attacked repeatedly. By the time he killed all the Corpse Eating Birds, he had little Spiritual Force left.
Feeling his remaining Spiritual Force, Ender thought to himself, "If I only rely on attrition to kill Demon Beasts, it's very time-consuming. The first two floors of the Trial Tower were fine as there weren't many Demon Beasts, and I had enough time and Spiritual Force to spare.
"But by the Third Floor, without some ability, it's impossible to pass by attrition alone. The increased number of Demon Beasts places certain demands on movement technique."
"And this Fourth Floor, its difficulty is more than five times that of the Third Floor, posing a huge test for movement technique."
"Those with weak movement techniques don't even have the qualification to wear them down; they can only die surrounded by numerous Demon Beasts."
Trial Tower Fourth Floor passed. The Corpse Eating Bird corpses on the ground disappeared, and a light screen appeared before Ender.
At first, he didn't understand why the opponents in the Controller route of the Trial Tower were always Corpse Eating Birds, never mentioning random Demon Beasts.
After challenging the Trial Tower multiple times, he understood: this was to reduce the difficulty for the candidates taking the Trial Tower assessment.
The habits of a single type of Demon Beast are easy to grasp, allowing for better response in combat, and this is fair to all candidates.
Otherwise, facing unfamiliar Demon Beasts that appear randomly, with only Apprentice Level 9 Spiritual Force and the most basic Spirit Weapons, passing Trial Tower Fourth Floor would not be easy, let alone the Fifth Floor.
One must know that the number of Demon Beasts to be killed on the Fifth Floor is one hundred!
"Trial Tower Fifth Floor: Please kill one hundred Apprentice Level 9 Demon Beast—Shishi Birds—within one hundred minutes."
Looking at the text on the light screen before him, Ender shook his head, "Trial Tower Fifth Floor, with my current strength, I cannot pass."
"Passing the Fifth Floor is impossible, but my current goal is to achieve a good score. Continuing with the Fourth Floor's combat method is the best choice, killing as many Corpse Eating Birds as possible before my Spiritual Force runs out."
Muttering softly to himself, Ender clicked 'Confirm'.