dhibooks Chapter 797 - 741: Rewards
Chapter 797 - 741: Rewards
The moment Duke appeared, someone recognized him.
"Duke? The one from Black Sail?"
"That’s him, the one who got first place in Elemental Control class before."
"The one with High-Level Earth Element Affinity?"
"Yeah yeah yeah, that’s him."
Voices of discussion came from all directions, much louder than just now.
Out of the corner of his eye, Duke noticed that there were clearly more people in the square than when he went in.
Some had just arrived, some had already come out and were watching others challenge, and a few were obviously waiting specifically to see the results.
He lowered his head and continued to inch forward with difficulty.
"Which floor did he come out from?" someone asked.
"Don’t know, the ranking board hasn’t refreshed yet, right?"
As soon as the words fell, the gigantic light screen flickered.
A new line of text appeared on the ranking board.
No. 5: Duke (Black Sail)
Current Floor: 28
Time Used: 09:12:47
"Fifth? Twenty-eighth floor?"
"Damn, someone from Black Sail broke into the top five?"
"Nine hours twelve minutes, almost an hour slower than the person in fourth... but twenty-eight floors, that’s seriously hard."
The discussions grew even louder.
The discussions grew even louder.
Duke could feel those gazes burn even hotter—there was shock, scrutiny, disbelief, and a faint hint of wariness.
Someone from Black Sail on the West Coast, with no background and no bloodline, had rushed up to fifth place.
"High-Level Earth Element Affinity..." someone muttered, "no wonder he can climb that high."
"What do you mean?"
"You don’t get it. Earth Element has strong defensive power, it’s the most advantageous in this kind of Illusion Realm. As long as you can tank it, you can slowly grind your way up."
"So he just grinded his way up?"
"What else? Nine hours twelve minutes, that much slower than the fourth place—he definitely brute-forced and grinded through."
"That’s still awesome! Being able to tank twenty-eight floors, that’s real skill."
"Sure, it’s awesome, but compared to those who speed-clear, it’s still a bit lacking."
Listening to these comments, the corner of Duke’s mouth twitched slightly, but he kept his expression under control.
Even though these people couldn’t reach such a high floor, it didn’t stop them from pontificating about it.
"That one from Black Sail, fifth place... what’s going on with the West Coast this year?"
"First Vera, then Leon, and now another one, Duke. Is the West Coast about to rise up?"
"Rise up my ass, it’s just these few people. Look at how many of them came this year in total—less than thirty."
"That’s true... but these few are indeed monsters."
"Especially that Morris, from Doomsday Bell—six hours fifty-eight minutes. I still can’t figure out how he did it."
"Don’t even mention it, that guy’s not human."
Duke rushing to the twenty-eighth floor and ranking fifth undoubtedly stirred up quite a wave.
A lot of people truly began to pay attention to this previously obscure Wizard from Black Sail on the West Coast.
In any case, the fact that Duke could reach the twenty-eighth floor was enough to prove that his own strength was more than solid.
Even if he took a bit longer, he still ended up in the top five.
...
A month’s time slipped by quietly as the numbers on the ranking board kept changing.
The Light Gate of the Illusion Tower flickered one last time, then slowly closed.
The gigantic Teleportation Gate lingered in the center of the square for three breaths, emitting a low hum, then fell completely silent.
The assessment was over.
The enormous light screen floated above the square, and all the densely packed names on it had already turned gray.
Those numbers that had once flickered, those results that had once drawn gasps or sighs, were now frozen as the final outcome.
At the very top, that name still hung high above.
The top ten had been decided.
Four from the West Coast: Morris first, Vera third, Duke fifth, Adrian sixth.
Leon was unfortunately squeezed out of the top ten, landing at twelfth.
After a month of fierce competition, the gap from fourth to tenth place was very small—almost purely a matter of time.
Duke only held a slight edge, barely beating Adrian by ten minutes.
The West Coast occupying four spots in the top ten was beyond many people’s expectations.
Before the Illusion Tower began, Adrian was actually the only one most people had predicted would make the top ten, since he had water/fire dual High Affinity Talent.
But Morris, Vera, and Duke all unexpectedly broke into the top ten.
Morris was quite mysterious; outsiders knew very little about him, and no one had expected him to possess such strength.
Vera had a bit of fame, but mostly because of her status—she was Thorn Flower Dele’s student, after all.
Now it seemed there was good reason she could become Dele’s student; she wasn’t just a pretty vase.
Vera was second only to Morris and Audric, and was the only one who had reached the twenty-ninth floor.
As for Duke, he was even more of a surprise. Compared to the others, he truly came from the bottom with absolutely no background, and his name was hardly known.
Starting from the previous elemental course and now the Illusion Tower, Duke had finally begun to emerge bit by bit, causing many to pay attention to this rather low‑key Wizard.
Over the course of a month, of the several hundred Wizards originally gathered in Zone 7 of the Central Islands, only just over two hundred remained.
Among the Wizards who made it here, aside from those like Duke who were here purely on their own excellence, many had actually come relying on the connections of their families or their Wizard Organizations, to get a bit of polish.
After all, being able to study for a while in the Six-Ring Tower region of the Central Islands counted as a line on one’s résumé when you talked about it.