Chapter 60 - 60 48 Invitation

60: Chapter 48: Invitation 60: Chapter 48: Invitation “I swear, my battle will be for the light and follow justice.” With a blur in front of his eyes, Lu Ping’an entered the Secret Realm. However, instead of the small room he expected, he was met with a towering, circular high tower reaching into the clouds. Layer upon layer, he couldn’t see the top, as if it were the legendary Tower of Babel from myths. On both sides of the path leading to the tower were various sculptures of legendary heroes and knights, identified by their shapes and the murals behind them. But most of them were various types of knight armor, warrior armor, and chivalrous attire, with these “protectors” as the main theme of the sculptures. Lu Ping’an looked towards the front of the tower, and there was a statue of the Lord of the Secret Realm. Just like the information he had, it was an ancient white armor without a helmet. According to the legend, the true form of this deity was an animated suit of armor. Perhaps, he truly regarded these “guardians” as heroes and as his own “kind.” In the few humanoid sculptures, some were humans, but most were various odd and weird races. It wasn’t until the end of the sculptures that Lu Ping’an saw a large number of humanoid creatures, many of whom wore modern clothing. “…The Rust Knight, the Knight, and the God of justice, huh…” Since it had been confirmed that the second round of combat would probably be held here, Lu Ping’an had naturally done his homework beforehand. What to say? The first time he heard about it, it felt quite subtle. “…So there really is a God with a good reputation, even Da Mao said he’s a good deity, and Xia Qin, she never had a good word to say about the gods before…” This “Mr. Knight” probably belonged to an extremely rare type of order-loving and kind-hearted deity in the traditional camp. He admired virtues, extolled the martial virtues and honor of warriors, and his secret realms were mostly relatively safe places for trial by combat and duels. What he pursued was the refinement of martial arts and the spirit of a warrior, so even though he admired duels and gladiator fights, as long as one lost their will to fight or shouted “I surrender,” the battle would end. Under his control, in most cases, the losers would not lose their lives…completely unlike some other gods. And the biggest difference from others like Lin Nu was that his path was completely “open,” with most of his “professions” supporting lateral jumps. His path began with the 2-tier “Dueling Swordsman,” and any first-tier profession with sword skills could jump into it, though following some troublesome restrictions was said to be necessary. And the third-tier was the Athletic Knight, quite famous on the front line, but apparently quite rare in modern society due to its harsh requirements. Da Mao also said that he had a rarer logistics path, but the noble fourth-tier profession had nothing to do with Lu Ping’an. And of course, obtaining information in advance was valuable… “There’s a one-in-three chance, hope my luck isn’t that terrible.” As soon as he entered the gate on the first floor, Lu Ping’an hated that he couldn’t turn around and leave after just one glance. A group of magic monsters was already waiting for him in the opposite direction, and these enemies were the “one-in-three” chance he least wanted to see. “…Sigh, a bit unlucky, it’s really Animated Armor.” Standing opposite of Lu Ping’an was a hunan-shaped Animated Armor. It held a rusty one-handed sword in one hand, a small metal round shield in the other, with an empty space beneath its simple helmet. Its metal armor moved on its own, and its headless body bowed to Lu Ping’an. The magical creatures born from the Secret Realm had to go through the baptism of the Lord of the Secret Realm’s rules, and most were closely related to the “deity,” with their types relatively fixed. And in this knight’s secret realm, at least one-third of the magical creatures were various types of Active Weapons and Animated Armor, and they… “Heavenly Gardeners indeed…” Whether it was poison or “explosion,” or even irritating smells, none would be effective on metal beings without flesh and blood. Even the poisonous vines that entangled and strangled their prey were rather helpless against these metal creatures. Plus, the Animated Armor and Active Armor would generally come equipped with metal weapons, as chopping wood and trees were their forte, making the situation even more difficult for them. The first floor was not difficult, and the next few floors should be random, so Lu Ping’an was confident he could easily pass the first few floors. The real problem was… “It’s said that if Animated Armor appears on the first floor, there’s a high chance that Mr. Knight’s path’s Animated Armor heavy tanks will appear on key floors like the 5th floor and 10th floor, getting stronger and stronger. If your luck’s bad, you can even encounter a third-tier metal Athletic Knight on the 15th floor, one that can play with you all day long.” In fact, when watching other people’s trials before, Lu Ping’an had noticed. Many candidates who were well-prepared in advance saw the first floor had animated armor and withdrew from the trial without hesitation. After all, there were three chances to participate in the trial of the Secret Realm in a day, and the school rules only required picking the best one out of the three. Trial time was also a scoring standard, people’s physical strength is limited, and actual combat would cause injury. Instead of forcibly competing three times, it’s better to challenge it once in the best condition. No one would be unlucky enough to encounter armor in all three consecutive times, right? No, no. “…I hope not. I didn’t shake hands with Brother Xue En today, did I? Uh, I hope he’s not watching the live stream… An Xin, An Xin, he’s only at the first-tier; he doesn’t have the ability to affect me inside the Secret Realm.” However, Lu Ping’an, who was overwhelmed by the Heavenly Gardener, didn’t rush to leave. Since he was here, he had to give it a try. In the next two times, he would definitely encounter animated armor, so he might as well accumulate experience now. “Heh, a blunt weapon is needed to hit animated armor, and I just happen to have one right here…” Looking at the electric baton less than an arm’s length away, Lu Ping’an sighed. “…Let’s just give it a try.” But when he really started, Lu Ping’an’s expression was even more subtle. This low-level animated armor had a lot of holes in it, rusty all over, and as slow as an old man. Its attack moves were even more simple and rigid, making a lot of noise to move, which Lu Ping’an could easily dodge while yawning. But if you hit it with a hammer, well, at least with a short stick, it would just ignore it. “Clang clang clang!” The sound of the bell made Lu Ping’an’s hand hurt, but the armor seemed oblivious and continued to swing its sword slowly and persistently. Suddenly, Lu Ping’an felt that the sound and rhythm were somewhat inexplicably decompressing, and he began to compete with it. “Clang, clang clang, clang, clang!” He tried knocking in a door-knocking rhythm, but the door didn’t open. “Clang, clang clang clang, clang clang, Do you wanna build a snowman!?” He started singing, even using a fake female voice from Frozen! S~eaʀᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Fortunately, the “live stream” sound could not go out, or he would face social death before even entering school. “This won’t work either? Then let’s try… One, two, three, four, tonight, let’s get wild!” He brought out the sparks with his police baton, manually started the turntable, and fired up. “… Sleep your MB; get up and party.” His hand moved so fast it left afterimages. “The boundless sky is my love, the continuous green mountains, the flowers are in full bloom…..” He started singing again…. In the end, under his drumming at a fast tempo, the ancient relic that should have retired long ago finally couldn’t hold on, and was really pulverized into pieces, turning into a black shadow and dissipating. The path to the upper level opened at this moment. He wasted a full thirteen minutes, probably refreshing the slowest record. On the outside, the sound couldn’t be transmitted, probably only seeing a poor rookie freshman who hadn’t done his homework beforehand, gritting his teeth and jumping up and down around the animated armor. But in fact, Lu Ping’an, who had not yet had enough fun, licked the corner of his mouth, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Anyway, this round had already been wasted. He thought about going up and finding another living armor to practice his drumming, his turntable skills… and his hand. What Lu Ping’an didn’t know was that from the moment he entered, there was someone in the Science and Technology University’s group staring at the small screen where he was. It wasn’t until Lu Ping’an finally moved towards the second floor that the person started to take action. He recited the secret code and prepared to enter the Secret Realm, but not the version to test the high tower. “In the name of justice, I, Deng Jun, now invite Lu Ping’an to a fair duel!”