Chapter 36

The third floor of the Star Tower is a tropical rainforest.

Xu Jingming carefully observed the rainforest, which was dark and humid, with thick trees and rampant vines. It was eerily quiet, as if there were no other living creatures.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming suddenly felt a pair of dark yellow eyes watching him from a distance. He shuddered and looked closely.

A large feline was staring at him from afar. It had light yellow fur with black stripes, a massive head, and cold, dark yellow eyes that seemed devoid of emotion, scrutinizing its prey. Above its eyes, a 'Wang' (King) character was formed by thick black stripes. It stood two meters tall at the shoulder and was six meters long, its enormous size making Xu Jingming's heart race.

"What a fierce tiger, slightly smaller than the Bear King, but its intimidation is even more terrifying." Xu Jingming was very cautious.

If bears were strong in terms of physical strength, tigers were the epitome of all-round prowess! In terms of physique, strength, speed, agility, attack, and technique, they were all excellent. The massive tiger simulated in the virtual world of the Star Tower far exceeded real-world tigers. With his current strength, Xu Jingming could easily kill a group of real tigers with a single shot, but facing this large tiger, he felt a threat of death.

The large tiger walked over with graceful steps, barely making a sound. Its large paws gently touched the ground as it observed its prey.

"Whoosh!"

Xu Jingming held his spear and charged forward.

Seeing this, the large tiger felt insulted and roared, pouncing towards him.

The human and the tiger, with a huge size difference, charged at each other head-on!

At the last moment, Xu Jingming stepped on a large tree and suddenly changed direction, thrusting his spear at the tiger's neck, which turned into a blur.

"Thud."

The tiger's eyes were cold as it swatted the spear with its paw.

Boom! Xu Jingming felt a terrifying force, causing him to roll and crawl to a large tree.

"It's too agile, and its reaction is incredibly fast." Xu Jingming was frustrated.

Whoosh.

The tiger instantly leaped onto the tree, continuing to chase Xu Jingming.

"Clang."

"Thud."

Xu Jingming kept dodging and fleeing, and even when he found a difficult opportunity to counterattack, the tiger easily blocked it.

"How can this tiger be more agile than me in terms of physique, strength, and speed?" Xu Jingming relied on his smaller size, the rainforest environment, and his spear to barely threaten the tiger, barely delaying the inevitable.

But after five minutes of the chase,

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming's expression changed.

Tigers appeared from all directions in the forest, some five meters long, and the largest over seven meters. The largest tiger remained in place while the others slowly approached.

"The third floor of the Star Tower, to deal with so many tigers?" Xu Jingming was bewildered, "I can't even fight a single ordinary large tiger, let alone dozens."

As the tigers surrounded and approached, six large tigers pounced simultaneously.

Xu Jingming suddenly charged forward, actively confronting one of the tigers.

"Roar!" The tiger roared, its paw sweeping towards Xu Jingming.

Xu Jingming, however, was extremely brave, using the advantage of his spear's length to thrust it into the tiger's neck just as the paw was about to land.

"Mountain Break!"

The most powerful spear technique, the spear pierced deep into the tiger's neck, but the paw's inertia caused it to tear through Xu Jingming's armor and body.

The large tiger and Xu Jingming both vanished, and the other five fierce tigers rushed forward, roaring.

"Really tough."

After failing, Xu Jingming appeared outside the Star Tower, "Trading my life for the tiger's, I only managed to kill one. And even with 'Mountain Break,' I only pierced its neck halfway. If I used 'Shadow Thrust,' it probably wouldn't have worked."

******

Observation Platform.

Li Miaomiao was sitting in the stands, watching the live broadcast of a god-level expert tackling the second floor of the Star Tower.

"Miaomiao." Xu Jingming appeared beside her, "Watching the live broadcast?"

"Uh-huh."

Li Miaomiao nodded, "The Star Tower is really tough. I can fight a few wolves, but when over a hundred attack, I can't handle it. I can't even pass the first floor, sigh... Look, this is Sun Yuting's live broadcast. She's on the second floor, and after killing five large bears, she's facing the Bear King. It looks like she can't win."

Xu Jingming looked.

In the live broadcast, the massive Bear King was chasing Sun Yuting, who had excellent footwork, constantly dodging using the forest. Her shield had been thrown far away, and her left arm was hanging, leaving her with only a sword in her right hand.

"Sun Yuting is ranked 16th in the Xia Kingdom by Wang Xian, and among the nearly 800 god-level experts in the Xia Kingdom, she is definitely at the top level!" Li Miaomiao said.

Xu Jingming nodded.

The virtual world had been open for over seven days, and with the Xia Kingdom's population of over a billion, there were indeed nearly 800 god-level experts. The national team, which had over 300 members from the past 30 years, combined with professional athletes competing in A and B level events, other martial arts experts, and civilian experts, reaching nearly 800 god-level experts in just over seven days, was within Xu Jingming's expectations.

"Sun Yuting's shield and sword combination, both offensive and defensive, is indeed powerful. But against the Bear King, her shield is useless... and it even hinders her movements! The Bear King's paw knocked her shield away, breaking her arm. With just a single-handed sword, she can't even penetrate the Bear King's skin! When she killed the five large bears, she could stab their eyes and heads. The Bear King is clearly faster and more agile, making it impossible for her to get close."

"Even if she could get close, it would be hard to hit the eyes," Xu Jingming commented, "Even if she hit the eyes, it would be unlikely to penetrate the head."

He had used the Shadow Thrust, but even his spear couldn't penetrate the Bear King's eyes.

"The Bear King is too fast."

In the live broadcast, Sun Yuting, while dodging and fleeing, said, "Its fur is incredibly thick, and my sword can't penetrate it. I can't inflict any damage! My injuries are severe, and I can't hold on."

A large tree was shattered by the Bear King, and the broken wood hit Sun Yuting. She dodged clumsily and immediately clicked to exit. Her body couldn't take it anymore.

"Many god-level experts are live streaming, but none have reached the third floor of the Star Tower." Li Miaomiao browsed other live streams, "Many can't even fight five large bears, only those at the top of the Xia Kingdom can challenge the Bear King."

"Many god-level experts reached 50 stars at the Sun level before advancing to the god level. Their base combat power is just over a thousand," Xu Jingming said, "Fighting a large bear is indeed difficult. By the way, how many have fought the Bear King?"

"Sun Yuting, Zhang Qian, Fang Yu, and Niu Hao. Among the live-streaming god-level experts, only these four, all ranked in the top 50 in the Xia Kingdom, have fought the Bear King," Li Miaomiao said, "They all lost. The Bear King is too formidable, with incredible defense, speed, and strength."

Xu Jingming nodded, "The Bear King is indeed strong."

"What about you, Jingming?" Li Miaomiao asked.

"I reached the third floor of the Star Tower but failed," Xu Jingming said.

"You killed the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was both surprised and delighted, "How did you kill such a monster?"

"I fought it for 18 minutes, and it bled to death," Xu Jingming sighed, "Its skin was too thick, and I couldn't kill it with a single shot, so I had to make it bleed continuously."

Li Miaomiao's eyes sparkled, "No wonder, Jingming, you're amazing! Tell me, what is the third floor of the Star Tower?"

"Tigers."

Xu Jingming said, "Tigers even stronger than the Bear King."

"Stronger than the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was surprised.

"And there are dozens of them," Xu Jingming shook his head, "Dozens of large tigers attacking together, the gap is too large."

Li Miaomiao was amazed, "No wonder the Blue Star Alliance set the rule that those who pass the third floor get a reward, and there's no time limit... According to what you said, it might take a long time for the world to accumulate 100 people who pass the third floor."

"Hmm?" Li Miaomiao noticed something was off with the many live streams on the observation platform. She had long studied the platform and quickly noticed that some streamers had changed their stream names.

"Jingming, quickly go to the mission space," Li Miaomiao urged.

"What's wrong?" Xu Jingming hadn't noticed yet, as there were too many live streams.

"The world's first, has been born," Li Miaomiao urged, and she immediately went to the mission space.

...

Mission Space.

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming descended from the sky, landing in front of the Star Tower.

Next to the Star Tower, a massive leaderboard appeared in the night sky, hanging high, as tall as the Star Tower.

Currently, the leaderboard only had one line: "World's First: Liu Hai (Xia Kingdom)"