The teleportation point behind the auditorium was a breathtaking structure.
At its center floated a constantly shifting, shimmering sphere. Blazing flames and rushing water moved within it, flowing side by side without interfering with each other. It looked impossible, yet it worked.
Traces of time lingered across its surface. Things were constantly being destroyed and reborn, as if the cycle of creation was trapped inside.
Around the sphere, streaks of seven-colored light appeared and vanished, circling it like living ribbons.
There were twelve of these Teleportation points across the territory of the Astryx Federation.
Legend said they were gifts from the creator of the Thousand Realms, appearing at the same time as the system when the Federation joined the Astral Imperium's Abyss Resistance plan.
Many students seeing it for the first time couldn't help but stop and stare in amazement.
"My God, this doesn't even look real"
"It's….it's incredible"
Link had seen this countless times in his previous life, so he didn't stop. He stepped forward and placed his hand on the sensing device.
A faint sting ran through his fingertips, and a mechanical voice sounded in his ear:
"Information verification in progress… Verification successful."
"Random dimension assignment in progress… Please wait…"
"Assignment complete. Transferring to transit space of Plane G06581…"
A beam of light fell from the sphere and covered Link.
In the next moment, he disappeared.
⸻———x——————
"Welcome to the Thousand Realms, challenger."
A stunning woman appeared before him. She wore a bright crimson gown, her presence was elegant and composed as a scepter floated beside her.
"You may call me the Guide," she said softly.
"Hello, Guide," Link replied, quickly steadying himself after the dizziness of teleportation.
Across the countless worlds, powerful beings often preferred humanoid forms. Even the system intelligence of the Thousand Realms followed this pattern.
"Challenger, before entering the battlefield, you must complete a beginner trial. Please choose your path: Lord or Champion," the Guide said with a faint smile.
Link took a deep breath.
"I choose the Lord path… and I want the Hell assessment."
This was a decision he had made after careful thought.
Although no one could interfere with beginner trials, countless patterns had been discovered over time.
In his previous life, Link had reached god-level strength and held high authority within the Federation. He had access to a large amount of classified information.
The trials followed a clear progression from easy to Overlord.
In his previous life, he had drawn a Hard-level trial, Resist a Weak Insect Horde, followed by Resist a Primary Insect Horde, and eventually the Hell-level Resist an Origin-Level Horde.
From what survivors described, the Hell-level trial required building defenses within ten days to resist one billion elite swarm units led by a powerful hero, and survive for ten minutes.
There were other series as well, such as Conquer the Star Machine Lands, ranging from breaking simple AI-controlled defenses to breaching a star fortress guarded by a young Mechanical God King.
The goal was to find a flaw in the system and break into the core.
Then there were the worst trials.
Breakout from Heaven's Gate and Siege of Drakemire were among the most difficult. Drawing them almost always meant certain death.
Still, not all trials were hopeless.
Some had hidden shortcuts.
For example, a challenger once revealed that his Hard-level dungeon, Wrath of the Bronze Wyrm King, required surviving one hour while being hunted after ten days.
He chose goblins and focused on building defenses. But on the seventh day, he discovered a hidden recruitment point in spacetime near his base.
It contained heroes equal to the dungeon boss, along with powerful treasures, but everything was extremely expensive.
Because he had focused too much on defense early on, he didn't have enough resources later to buy anything useful.
After failing, he concluded that the correct strategy might have been to abandon defense entirely and focus on gathering wealth.
If that was true, then Link knew many talents and factions related to resources.
If luck was on his side…
"A challenger request has been received. Selecting Hell-level Lord trial…"
"Selection complete."
"Mission name: Siege of Drakemire."
"Temporary reward: SS-level talent, Constellation. Will become permanent upon success."
"Please select a temporary faction. Overlord-level allows maximum selection, including high-ranking houses."
The Guide raised her scepter, and hundreds of figures appeared in the void.
Link sighed
Then he gave a bitter smile.
"…Of course."
No tricks this time.
He had drawn one of the worst possible trials.
Siege of Drakemire.
Join House Veylor, break through thirteen layers of corrupted Veylor troops, and slay the demonized warlord, Lord Malrik.
"This one will do," Link said quietly, selecting a high-ranking armored mammoth.
There was no room for strategy tricks in this kind of dungeon. Countless experts had already proven that.
Very few could even break through the first line.
Killing Lord Malrik was almost impossible.
Even among unwinnable trials, this one ranked near the top.
Link shook his head slightly.
Looks like this is the end.
He had been confident in about thirty percent of known dungeons.
But this one… was impossible.
After failing, he planned to pass on the intelligence he knew to a trusted high-ranking official.
It could help the Federation grow stronger.
And in return, he could obtain high-level Champion cards.
"Challenger, all preparations are complete. Good luck."
The Guide raised her staff.
At the same time, a system notification sounded:
"Trial teleportation starting. Synchronizing timelines…"
"Synchronization failed. Timeline inconsistency detected."
"System self-check in progress…"
"Error detected in transit space G06581. Generating solution…"
"Solution complete. Restarting transit system…"
Link's eyes widened.
G06581… that was his location.
This had never happened before.
"Timeline anomaly… could this be because of my rebirth?"
The space around him suddenly turned pitch black.
The Guide disappeared.
Time passed, though he couldn't tell how long.
Then, a faint light appeared.
Modules began to form in the void, one after another.
Many of them looked familiar.
Dungeon modules, talent modules and more.
Link reached out and touched one.
"Ding! External interaction detected. No system intelligence active."
"System in maintenance mode. Switching to manual control."