As the challengers entered the first shrine, they soon realized that they were not inside a shrine, but it was more like they were being sent to a corner of the ruins. There was snow everywhere, and the place seemed to be an endless sprawl of white while heavy snow fell from above. Many of them were stunned, but they soon realized that instead of having been sent somewhere, it was, in fact, the first shrine of the Sorcerer Goddess's Shrine. They did not care whether it was an illusion or if the space was imbued with special effects as the most important thing was the content of the assessment.
As soon as the 4,000-odd people entered, Wu Mo's voice came from above again.
"Welcome to the first level of the Sorcerer Goddess's Shrine! Since the first batch has arrived, let me explain what this level is going to be like.
"In this level, you'll be tested on your personal ability. There'll be a monster horde soon in which the least powerful creature will be an immortal-level rank-1 and the most powerful will be an imperial-level black gold-level."
"There are three conditions to passing the level. The first is to survive the monster horde. The second is to kill 5,000 monsters in the ten hours, and the last one will be to kill ten imperial-level black gold-rank monsters in the ten hours. You'll have to fulfill all three conditions to pass the level. Those who fail will be sent out of the Sorcerer Goddess's Shrine and won't be allowed in anymore.
"You're allowed to work together with the others on this level, but the number of monsters killed will be calculated individually. The person who manages to kill the monsters eventually will be considered the killer. No matter how much damage you've done to the targeted monsters, the tally won't belong to you as long as you're not the one who killed the monster."
Everyone was excited to hear that they could work together, but they became upset when they heard the last rule. According to the method of calculation, there would definitely be conflict among the teams as everyone would want to be the last who killed the monster. Those who failed to do so would be bumped off. As long as there was conflict among the teams, the possibility of being disqualified was high.
After all, since they would have to kill 5,000 monsters in ten hours, that would mean that everyone would have to kill a monster in 7.2 seconds on average. A couple of minutes of conflict would affect their efficiency significantly. Therefore, the teams had to plan among themselves properly before the assessment started to prevent any friction happening.
"Don't be afraid. Don't worry that you'll die in this assessment. This is just a space for your consciousness. Your consciousness will return to your body after you die," Wu Mo reminded.
"That's all from me. You can ask whatever questions that you may have now before the assessment starts."
Among the crowd, a man in a Union Government military uniform raised his hand.
"If I managed to kill 5,000 monsters and ten imperial-level monsters before the ten hours ends, will I be exempted from the first condition and head to the second shrine right away?"
"No, you'll have to fulfill all three conditions to pass the level."
This time, a member of the Dynasty spoke. Up, "Since this level is restricted to ten hours, that means that everyone who passes will be sent to the second shrine after the ten hours has passed without any difference in time. I'd like to know if there'll be many levels with time restrictions like this. If yes, doesn't that mean it'll be difficult to have any time difference between each challenger?"
"Including the first level, there are only two levels that have a time restriction, so as long as you have sufficient ability, you don't have to worry about the time difference."
A couple of people asked their questions after that, and Wu Mo answered them one by one.
"Alright, if there are no more questions, you guys may start the assessment now."
As Wu Mo said that, the monster horde advanced from far away. Apart from some of them, most of the challengers teamed up with people that they were familiar with. It was a monster horde after all, and besides some of the powerful people, it was hard for the rest to survive on their own. Teaming up would increase their survival rate.
However, the conflict started after the teams were formed.
"There are five of us. The efficiency will be poor if we take turns to kill one at a time. So, do the remaining four just watch while one person kills the monsters? I think this is such a waste of time!"
"What do you suggest? Help one person to kill all 5,000 monsters and the next person will continue after that? If that's the case, do you think the person who has fulfilled the mission will have the strength to help the next person? We only have ten hours. It's possible for the first four people to complete the mission within the time limit, but what about the fifth person? Who can guarantee that the fifth person will fulfill the condition? And who is willing to be the fifth person?"
Everyone on the team became silent as nobody was willing to be the last person.
A moment later, a person put up his hand and suggested, "Why don't each of us kill a hundred. The next person will go after the first person fulfills the 100 kills? This way, the last two people will be left with 100 monsters each, so it doesn't really matter who goes last anymore."
Everyone supported this suggestion, and many teams carried out the same strategy to minimize the conflict. Soon, the first monster horde finally arrived. Millions of monsters dashed towards them. They were mostly blue frost corpses on immortal-levels rank-1 to rank-3. Although there were many monsters in this round of horde, the combat level of the monsters was considered low. However, everybody knew that the next horde would have more powerful monsters.
"Since the monsters in this horde will be the least powerful, let's not hold back and kill as many as we can since the later ones are more difficult to kill," a person said to his team members and the rest nodded. However, they were not the first team to think that way. Many of them had the same strategy.
Before the monsters came closer, they initiated the attack by dashing into the horde and starting the massacre. Most of them who entered the Sorcerer Goddess's Shrine were immortal-levels rank-7 to rank-9. The monsters that were on immortal-levels rank-1 to rank-3 were like herds of goats entering the territory of tigers whereby the humans were on the winning side. It was not a battle anymore, but a one-sided grisly massacre!