The man with glasses made a sharp "pu" sound as blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth.
He had forced himself through another assessment, yet still could not understand how to pass it. After repeated mental impacts, his spirit was finally injured.
This meant he no longer had any chance of clearing the last two levels. Recovering mental strength required a great deal of time, far more than one or two days could provide.
He opened his eyes, the blood vessels in them had burst, turning the whites red piece by piece, his expression looked extremely ferocious.
Elara, standing nearby, could not help but shudder when she saw his appearance, she immediately placed the man with glasses on her mental blacklist.
Anyone who cared so much about competition and could not tolerate others surpassing him was definitely not easy to get along with. If they ever met again during the Lord’s trial, she would have to be far more cautious.
Just then, Toji Hisami, who had remained calm in front of them for a full hour, suddenly moved.
He lifted his foot and, under the shocked gazes of both Elara and the man with glasses, walked step by step toward the core.
A beam of light descended from above, absorbing him directly into the dome, he disappeared from the hall.
Elara covered her mouth in astonishment.
From the moment Toji Hisami had entered until now, not even a full day had passed, and he had already cleared all nine levels and entered the Tower of Knowledge.
Just how strong was this person?
Could he be one of those legendary peerless geniuses?
While she was still lost in shock, a sudden commotion spread through the hall.
On the wall that had originally been covered in reliefs, names began to appear one after another, after each name was a line of numbers.
Elara looked carefully and realized these were the times recorded by everyone who had ever passed the tests throughout history.
This was a leaderboard.
Then a name emerged, glowing with golden light, gradually rising from the bottom.
Toji Hisami.
Elara silently memorized the name in her heart.
In front of her, the man with glasses smashed his spectacles onto the ground in the same furious manner. He stared fiercely at the rising name, roaring inwardly.
The name continued climbing until it finally reached the very top of the leaderboard.
The man with glasses froze completely.
Elara, on the other hand, smiled.
How many years had the Hall of Knowledge existed? Nearly a thousand, correct?
And now she had personally witnessed the birth of the first place in history.
She felt as though she was watching the beginning of a great historical event. If a narrator existed, they would probably declare at this moment: "The gears of history begin to turn..."
Suddenly, Elara abandoned the idea of continuing the remaining tests. She activated the halo around her body.
She had already cleared six methods and was fully qualified to enter the Tower of Knowledge.
’Toji Hisami... I hope we have the chance to collaborate in the future.’
Her figure flashed with radiance and vanished into the light column.
Only the man with glasses remained in the hall.
The names on the walls stopped changing, and the golden light faded away. He took out a handkerchief, wiped the blood from his face, and also transformed into a beam of light that entered the column.
At that moment, another person stepped into the hall.
This newcomer wore a cloak and a mask that completely covered his face, he looked at the spot where the man with glasses had disappeared. In that brief instant, he had caught a glimpse of the other’s appearance.
"Prince Victor... under the leadership of the Star King?"
He remembered the wall the prince had been staring at and turned to examine it. Rows of names were still faintly visible.
When his eyes landed on the second name, the pupils behind the mask shrank.
"Yang Chen... the Supreme Archmage!?"
He continued looking toward the first name, but by then the list had already begun to fade. He only managed to catch the two words "Toji Hisami"...
"Who is Toji Hisami? There is no historical figure with that name, is there?"
The masked man rubbed his chin, lost in thought, finally he shook his head and began his own test.
–––––––––
Toji Hisami knew nothing of what was happening in the hall below.
At this moment he was drifting inside the light column. In front of him floated many vortex entrances.
Each vortex represented a different field of knowledge, science, magic, stars, martial arts, literature, and many more. There were even some he had never heard of before, such as "the old days"...
[Congratulations on passing the nine-level test and successfully visualizing your unique knowledge coordinates.]
[After each level, you will gain the learning permission for one field of knowledge.]
[You still have three days to learn, each piece of knowledge mastered will extend the time by one hour.]
[Those who pass all nine levels will receive the soul imprint bestowed by the Tower of Knowledge and may return to the tower after meeting the requirements.]
A series of messages appeared. Immediately afterward, Toji Hisami felt something new settle into his mind.
An additional mark appeared on his attribute panel.
[Knowledge Imprint: Access pass to the Tower of Knowledge, +50% Soul Strength, +100% Soul Resistance, and one Absolute Defense]
[Absolute Defense: Can defend against attacks of any level. Cooldown: thirty days.]
A true treasure.
After reading the description, Toji Hisami was overjoyed.
Soul was a crucial attribute for any lord, a powerful soul improved leadership, learning ability, and the upper limit of the territory itself. On top of that, Absolute Defense was essentially a free survival card, even if the cooldown was somewhat long, the effect more than made up for it.
"This time I really hit the jackpot."
The Knowledge Imprint acted directly on the soul, so there was no need to worry about theft or external restrictions.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself.
He had already obtained this unexpected reward, yet what came next would decide his future achievements.
A total of nine fields of knowledge could be chosen and mastered.
Looking at the dozens of vortexes floating before him, how should he select the most suitable combination?
At that moment Toji Hisami finally understood the true purpose of the previous nine tests.
From the instant he entered the realm of knowledge, he had been guided on how to acquire knowledge systematically. Only by forming a complete system could knowledge transform into real power, a random approach would only produce temporary strength.
He possessed the advantage of two lifetimes of knowledge. In certain areas, his thinking was far less restricted than that of people born in this world. Many times, simply breaking free from conventional limitations opened an entirely new perspective.
In that regard, he never underestimated himself, that was also the greatest advantage of many transmigrators.
Knowing more simply meant knowing more, there was no room for argument.
Perhaps in other places this advantage was not particularly significant. But inside the realm of knowledge, it was like ascending straight to the heavens.
His gaze swept across each vortex, with every brief contact he received a short introduction to that field of knowledge.
Without much hesitation, he first selected Science, Magic, Mysticism, Divine Studies, and Governance Studies.
The first four concerned the essence of knowledge and the last concerned its practical application.
For the remaining four, he needed to think carefully.
Even though the countdown had already begun, he refused to rush the decision, this foundation would support all future development. Once missed, making up for it would require a hundred or even a thousand times more effort.
Evolutionary Studies.
Origin Studies.
Dimension Studies.
Consciousness Studies.
A full day passed before he finally decided on the last four fields.
The unchosen vortexes shrank and vanished, leaving only the nine he had selected.
At the same time, inside his sea of consciousness, the solar-system visualization world established a connection with each field of knowledge.
He incorporated the nine disciplines into the visualization world and arranged them in order.
The Sun: Origin studies.
Mercury: Magic studies.
Venus: Mysticism studies.
Earth: Consciousness studies.
Mars: Evolutionary studies.
Jupiter: Science studies.
Saturn: Governance studies.
Uranus: Divine studies.
Neptune: Dimension studies.
When the matching was completed, the entire mental world erupted with a thunderous roar, as though the gods themselves had returned to their rightful positions, everything became extremely stable.
Origin Studies explored the knowledge of the world’s origin and could establish a connection with the highest-dimensional power.
Magic and Mysticism complemented each other; both were understandings of the projected power of the highest dimension.
Consciousness Studies analyzed self-awareness. Mastering it would allow complete control over oneself, something of utmost importance to him.
Evolutionary Studies and Science matched perfectly: one explored paths of evolution, the other summarized and generalized the existing powers of the world.
Governance Studies was the knowledge nearly every lord who entered this place chose, it could greatly strengthen a lord’s abilities.
Divine Studies explored and sought to master the power of the gods.
Dimension Studies was the core discipline that sought the secrets of the highest dimension, and also one of his hopes for finding a way back to his original world.
Each of the nine fields was an immensely vast ocean, fully mastering even one might take a lifetime. Having more choices was not necessarily better, it also demanded far higher requirements from the learner. Spreading oneself too thin would eventually result in knowing a little of everything and mastering nothing.
Yet Toji Hisami was not particularly worried.
What was the meaning of Heaven Rewards Diligence?
If effort always brought returns, why not study until the very end?
This talent was even more unreasonable than the so-called law of equivalent exchange. After all, it did not require him to give anything of equal value in return...
He began by studying the core of each of the nine fields, the finer details could be set aside for now, they could be continuously deduced and reasoned out through future learning.
Time passed.
Everyone who entered the Tower of Knowledge occupied an independent space, the more one studied, the more time could be extended.
Four days later, Elara was the first to leave the Tower.
Five days later, the man with glasses, Victor, also departed.
Six days later, the mysterious masked person who had entered last left the tower as well.
Seven days.
Eight days.
After a full ten days, Toji Hisami finally appeared outside the Tower of Knowledge.
Standing before the gate of the Hall of Knowledge, he felt completely different from when he had first arrived.
The mastery of knowledge made him appear even more mysterious. His eyes seemed to contain swirling vortexes; anyone who looked into them for too long would feel as though they were being drawn in.
"I can’t believe it’s been this long."
He had not expected to stay inside for ten full days, plus the half-day of testing, eleven days in total.
Outside, the territory trials had already progressed more than a week. Yet when he considered the gains from this trip, he could accept the temporary slowdown in development.
He was confident that after returning, the territory would experience explosive growth, the current pause was merely preparation for future leaps.
"It’s time to leave."
He turned and silently recited the word "leave." A vortex appeared before his eyes.
He glanced back at the Hall of Knowledge one last time, within the still-open gate, a vague figure had appeared at some point.
A pair of calm eyes looked at him, when he looked back, the figure vanished.
Toji Hisami felt a flicker of puzzlement, but he did not linger and he stepped into the vortex.