The final trial!
Han Jue was now convinced this place must be where some powerful faction selected disciples, and he'd been chosen. If he successfully passed this trial, he would become the heir to their legacy, just like Luo Feng would eventually become with his own inheritance.
He just didn't know the strength of the original owner of this place.
However, even if they weren't supremely powerful, they should at least allow him to travel beyond Earth and into the universe, right?
Compared to the vastness of the universe, Earth wasn't even a puddle, it would only hinder Han Jue's growth.
[The final inheritance trial begins. This is a test of willpower. If you sink into it, you will never leave this place.]
"Huh?"
As soon as this line of text appeared, Han Jue felt dizzy, his consciousness wavering.
Is this... an illusion?
No matter how hard Han Jue tried to resist, his eyelids still closed heavily, dragging him down into unconsciousness.
"Han Jue!"
A piece of chalk struck Han Jue's head with precise accuracy, jolting him awake from sleep.
Han Jue opened his eyes and stood up from the back row of the classroom, bewildered. Before him stood a woman in her forties, wearing black-framed glasses, her face lined with wrinkles as she glared at him with undisguised fury!
"How dare you sleep in my class! Come here and solve the problem on the blackboard! If you can't, I'll contact your parents and have them take you home!" the woman said angrily.
Han Jue remembered, this was his math teacher.
The classmates around him were trying to hold back their laughter, but the teacher's intimidating presence, they called her the "old witch" behind her back, kept them from laughing out loud. They had to lower their heads and pretend to study their desks intently.
Han Jue walked up to the blackboard in a daze, looking at the complex equation displayed there, his mind completely blank.
He remembered now.
This was Jiangnan City No. 1 High School. He was in the second semester of his senior year, and final exams were in just a few days.
"Why are you still standing there?!" the old witch sneered from behind him.
"If you don't want to attend class, get out! I'll have your homeroom teacher contact your parents to take you back to bed. Don't disturb the other students here!"
The old witch continued her tirade, but she startled when Han Jue suddenly turned around. Standing at 1.91 meters tall, he stared down at her with a cold, piercing expression.
"What are you doing? You want to hit me? Go ahead!" The old witch, though frightened, took a step back but still refused to back down completely.
Han Jue ignored her and turned back to the board, a faint smile playing on his face.
He quickly finished solving the equations on the blackboard and tossed the chalk aside.
Then, in front of the entire class, Han Jue kicked the old witch away!
"Han Jue, you're crazy! How dare you attack a teacher!" The male students near the podium rushed to help the old witch to her feet, while others ran out of the classroom to get help, causing immediate chaos.
It wasn't an illusion?
No, it IS an illusion!
Looking at the security guards who appeared at the classroom door in just ten seconds, impossibly fast response time, Han Jue suddenly understood.
The assessment might have begun long before this moment!
Unwavering determination!
Han Jue closed his eyes and let the guards approach him.
The next moment, the illusion shattered into fragments!
"Han Jue?"
Han Jue opened his eyes. Before him stood a girl with a lovely smile, extending her fair, delicate hand toward him.
Cherry blossom petals fell overhead, creating a romantic atmosphere that seemed charged with unspoken feelings. The girl's cheeks flushed slightly, and she appeared afraid to look directly into Han Jue's eyes.
"Are you... Chen Xiaxuan?" Han Jue said, stunned.
Such a distant memory.
Han Jue had recalled everything now, but he seemed to still be trapped within an illusion.
This was... what he had experienced before transmigrating to the world of Swallowed Star!
That year, he had only been sixteen years old.
"What a pity," Han Jue said with genuine regret.
"What?" Chen Xiaxuan looked puzzled.
"Nothing." Han Jue smiled calmly and stood up.
One punch, shatter it!
How could a mere illusion hinder my path to becoming stronger?
Fake is fake, after all.
"Han Jue!"
"Han Jue?"
"Han Jue..."
The blue slime-like entity stared at Han Jue in the white room with undisguised surprise.
"Such unwavering willpower! Sticking to his true self, absolutely selfless, this... even my master couldn't achieve it!"
"What fortune! Meeting such a genius on this backwater planet. With proper training, he might be able to compete in the next Virtual Universe Company Genius Battle! I just don't know what his talent for comprehending the fundamental laws is like."
"Mastering Artistic Conception at the Apprentice level is rare even in the universe, but in a genius competition, it's somewhat underwhelming."
"From the way he cracked that movement technique, I can tell he has good talent for spatial laws. But to enter the core of the Virtual Universe Company, he must at least cross the threshold of the fundamental Origin of Space. Hmm... with proper training, there should be hope."
Meanwhile, Han Jue in the room was still facing off against the robot.
From the very beginning, he had been trapped in layer upon layer of illusions!
Illusions within illusions, endlessly intertwined.
If he had sunk into them, he would never have awakened.
The next moment, Han Jue's eyes snapped open and he swung Frost with devastating force.
With one strike, he decapitated the robot!
The machine's head flew through the air and clattered to the ground, but its body continued attacking with mechanical precision.
But Han Jue was no longer the same warrior who'd entered this trial.
Wave!
Unleashing his perfected sword technique, standing across from Han Jue was like facing the ocean itself, imbued with the profound essence of Water's Artistic Conception.
Waves crashed down!
Boom!
The first strike had decapitated the robot.
The second cleaved it vertically in half!
[Congratulations to the trial participant on passing the final assessment]
"Excellent! You are truly worthy of becoming my master's successor!"
A blue slime phantom materialized from thin air, leaping before Han Jue with obvious excitement.
"I know you have many questions. Don't worry, listen carefully."
"The universe is filled with countless different civilizations and life forms. Those you call warriors and War Gods on Earth are merely Apprentice-level beings. You, too, are equivalent to Apprentice Ninth Level. And above that, there are Planetary-level, Stellar-level, Universe-level, Domain Master-level, World Master-level, Immortal-level, Universe Venerable-level, Universe Master-level, and True God-level beings."
The blue slime continued its explanation, recounting common cosmic knowledge with obvious enthusiasm, seemingly agitated after not speaking to anyone for so long.
Han Jue didn't interrupt, simply listening quietly. Some of this information he already knew from his memories of the novel, but hearing it confirmed by an actual artificial intelligence from that era made it feel more real.
"In the universe, there are six supreme races, and our human race is one of them. The human race has five major factions, and my master belonged to the strongest of these five, he was a core member of the Virtual Universe Company and a genius from the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm!" the blue slime said with obvious pride.
"So how is he now?" Han Jue asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
"My master has fallen, due to excessive arrogance..." The blue slime's voice filled with sadness. "I'll tell you more about this later. Confidence is a good thing, but overconfidence beyond one's abilities is dangerous. You should be more careful in the future."
The slime glanced at Han Jue with what might have been concern.
"About forty years ago, I gained true intelligence, evolving from ordinary artificial intelligence to intelligent life. Before I met you, I had planned to leave this planet and venture into the universe to find a proper successor for my master. But after meeting you, I decided to pass on my master's legacy to you directly."
"You don't need to formally become his disciple. This was my master's instruction before his death. He only hoped that someone would inherit his secret techniques and knowledge... You can call him the Lord of the Ice Wasteland."
"From now on, I will recognize you as my new master. Wear this intelligent optical brain computer."
A bracelet-like device appeared before Han Jue, hovering in the air with a faint glow.
Han Jue took it and placed it on his wrist, feeling the device automatically adjust to fit perfectly. "Do you have a name?"
The slime appeared stunned. "No."
"How about calling you Rimuru?" Han Jue suggested with a slight smile.
The image was incredibly similar to a certain blue slime from another story he remembered, even the voice sounded familiar.
"Excellent! I have a name too!" Rimuru seemed genuinely excited, his shadowy form bouncing on the ground enthusiastically, his eyes shifting as he looked at Han Jue with obvious joy.
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"Master, this spaceship was constructed with F9-class Cold Jade Silver Mother metal. There's still plenty of energy left, enough for us to travel into the universe!" Rimuru suggested eagerly.
"Just call me Han Jue. As for traveling into the universe, there's no need to rush just yet," Han Jue said thoughtfully.
According to his calculations, traveling into the universe would require at least waiting until he broke through to Planetary level and mastered a Domain, giving him some actual means of self-protection at that level. It wouldn't take too long to reach that point anyway, given his current rate of progress.
According to his original plan, it would take about a year.
By then, Luo Feng should at least be able to reach invincible War God level. Han Jue could take him to find Babata, and then rely on Babata's resources to travel into the universe together. After becoming stronger in the wider cosmos, they could return to deal with the Golden-Horned Beast that would threaten Earth.
Of course, now that he had Rimuru, he didn't necessarily have to wait for Babata.
The plan had changed!
"Did your former master leave any other legacy besides what's here?" Han Jue asked with genuine curiosity, his eyes gleaming with anticipation at what secrets might still be hidden within this ancient vessel.
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