Leveling Up Under Pressure

The tunnel had the same width as an air raid shelter. It was wide enough for a car to pass through, but that was about it. Every one mile, a beam of sunlight would bathe a portion of the tunnel from above. It made the place seem longer than it actually was, and it felt extremely weird.

After each checkpoint of light, the pressure permeating the atmosphere of the tunnel increased. The gemstone class creatures that were the heirs of super creatures could only make it through fourteen of those checkpoints. They were unable to go any further than that.

Looking down the tunnel from a distance, the pools of light looked like the illumination of street lamps, all the way down. There were nineteen of them in total.

Up until now, no one had been able to figure out what lay at the end of the Godlight Tunnel.

Even the creatures that leveled up to super while inside the tunnel were unable to reach the end of it.

( Boxno vel. co m ) Little Lion King followed along and said with a smile, "We met each other on the field of battle. Let's encounter one-another again sometime. I am Little Jade Lion King of Lion Mountain. What is your name?"

"Han Sen. I'm human," Han Sen answered. He still wasn't fond of Little Jade Lion King, but it wasn't as if he hated the lion's guts. He wasn't entirely against having a conversation with him.

As Han Sen and Little Lion King spoke, Yu Miao stared at them coldly. She despised Han Sen.

And as they were having their discussion, someone else entered Godlight Tunnel. Han Sen thought it was just some creature or spirit, but it was in fact Six Paths.

Yu Miao's heart jumped when she saw Six Paths. Six Paths Emperor wouldn't hand over a geno core, and if Han Sen had any form of conflict with the spirit, she believed Six Paths would kill him with ease.

Yu Miao, who was going to continue following, stopped where she was for a spell. She waited for Six Paths to catch up and see if a conflict between the two would break out.

"Sister, Six Paths Emperor is here. I'm not sure Han Sen knows who he is. If he doesn't, given Six Paths' personality, a fight is sure to break out." Yu Xuan told Yu Miao giddily, in hushed excitement. He was thinking along the same lines.

Six Paths soon approached Han Sen, and crushing the expectations set by Yu Miao and Yu Xuan, Six Paths spoke to the human like an old friend. He asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm in God's Ruin. How could I not spare the time to visit the Godlight Tunnel?" Han Sen smiled.

Six Paths nodded and said, "Good timing, then. Now we can compete and see which of us can walk the farthest in this Godlight Tunnel."

Yu Miao and Yu Xuan wore strange expressions. They hadn't expected Han Sen to be personally acquainted with Six Paths Emperor. And again, knowing Six Paths personality to be what it was, it was perplexing to see him address Han Sen as if he was addressing an equal. They were flat-out shocked.

Little Jade Lion King, seeing Han Sen talk to Six Paths Emperor like his buddy, had an even greater admiration for the human. He thought to himself, "It's no wonder he is so strong. To kill Goddess as he pleases, he must indeed be quite the character. Before Six Paths Emperor self-destructed, he was more famous than my father. If Han Sen can talk to him like a friend, then Han Sen really must be strong."

Six Paths wasn't an avid talker, though, and after a few brief verbal exchanges, he went ahead and focused on getting deeper into the Godlight Tunnel.

Han Sen, Queen, Tang Zhenliu, and Little Lion King followed.

Bao'er was in Han Sen's arms, and Starsea Beast was following behind Han Sen. Little Silver was on the big creature's head, staring at the light up ahead.

The light sources above were like small suns, and they managed to light up the tunnel rather well. The first curtain of light fell on Han Sen, draping him with what felt like water. The light was tangible.

But the feeling was not heavy, and it did not feel burdening.

Everyone walked through the first curtain of light with ease. But after passing through the light, the gravity felt much heavier. Still, it did not slow them down or affect their passage too much.

They continued walking until they reached the fifth curtain of light. There, Tang Zhenliu could not take the pressure of what came next. His entire body was wet with sweat, and it felt as if he was carrying the whole weight of a mountain. It took a lot of effort just to make one step.

Of course, he only had a bronze geno core. His fitness and geno core level were still very weak, so it was fairly impressive he had managed to make it that far.

"Can you still go on?" Han Sen asked Tang Zhenliu.

"It's okay. I can keep going. I must make it to the sixth, at least." Tang Zhenliu gritted his teeth.

Han Sen didn't say anything. He just walked by Tang Zhenliu's side. The pressure there was of no bother to Han Sen.

Tang Zhenliu could see everyone else walking forward freely, and he even saw Little Silver lying on Starsea Beast's head in a relaxed posture as if there wasn't a single ounce of additional atmospheric pressure. He sighed and thought to himself, "Han Sen's companions are so scary. How long will it take me to catch up to his level?"

Tang Zhenliu did not want to give up, and onwards he continued. He eventually ended up far behind the others, as his pace was extremely slow. His muscles tightened, as if they were going to tear through his clothes at any given moment.

Han Sen didn't make it obvious that he was deliberately watching the man struggle as he was, but he did keep an eye on how he was doing. If it was becoming too much, and Tang Zhenliu could no longer stay upright against the gravity, Han Sen would take him out of the tunnel before he collapsed and died there.

Surprisingly, as hard it was for him, he managed to hold on strong. And when he almost reached the sixth light, his very bones began to creak. His entire skeleton sounded as if it was going to break.

Boom!

When Tang Zhenliu stepped into the wash of the sixth light, his entire body glowed with the color silver. It looked as if his geno core had managed to reach silver class.

Yu Miao and Little Lion King looked at him. Although it was not a rare thing to level up in the Godlight Tunnel, simply being able to meant he was talented.

Tang Zhenliu was tired, so he sat down and stopped moving forward. His geno core leveled up, but his body didn't. His body could not take any more pressure, either. He couldn't walk an inch further.

"I can't walk. You guys go ahead and I'll wait here." Tang Zhenliu spoke in between deep gasps.

Han Sen nodded as he went on alongside Queen.

When they reached the ninth curtain of light, it was Queen's turn to have difficulty. And when she reached the tenth curtain of light, Queen's body began to slow and her geno core leveled up.

"Godlight Tunnel gives the opportunity to level up a geno core, but the other creatures and spirits don't show any changes. Tang Zhenliu and Queen both leveled up. Is this just coincidental, or is there a reason for this?" Han Sen wondered.