"Heh, you think that's strange? If I wasn't saving my strength for the next round, I could've hit eighty meters, no sweat. Still, making it to fifty meters is pretty solid for you. Passing the first trial shouldn't be a problem." Woody Luo grinned.
Gavin Wei shot Woody Luo a gloomy look and said, "Don't get too cocky yet. You might not be so lucky in the Second Trial."
Evan Chu was genuinely surprised inside. He hadn't expected this girl to have such insane physical defense. Unable to help himself, he asked, "Woody, what realm are you at now? How did you manage to get that far?"
"Me? I'm at the first layer of Heaven Martial Realm. What's wrong? Don't tell me you two are still stuck at Earth Martial!" Woody Luo stared straight at Evan and Gavin, trying to see if they were telling the truth.
"Yeah, we're both still in Earth Martial Realm. That's why we couldn't get as far as you. Honestly, I didn't expect you to be this strong." Evan Chu smiled, genuinely impressed by Woody's realm. But then he remembered Roxy was already Divine Martial, so it didn't feel that strange.
"Let's go. The Second Trial's waiting for us. Everybody should give it their all and try to make it to the most mysterious final round." Evan Chu said.
The three quickly joined the rest of the seventh group. Now, only about seven hundred people were left—an insanely high death rate.
Plenty of people still looked pale, clearly drained from burning too much Stellar Power.
Soon, everyone stopped moving. The ones who'd already passed sat down right where they were, clutching Starstones and Star Crystals to absorb more Stellar Power, getting ready for the Second Trial.
Right now, inside Evan's dantian, the powerful energy from his briefly awakened dragon bloodline was slowly fusing into his Chaos Qi. His Earth Star Pellet was more saturated than ever and didn't need to absorb any more Stellar Power.
Gavin Wei was pretty drained, so he sat down and pulled out a low-grade Starstone to start absorbing.
Evan glanced over and handed Gavin a high-grade Starstone, saying, "Absorb this one. It'll help you recover faster."
Seeing Evan not absorbing Stellar Power, Woody asked, "Why aren't you absorbing Stellar Power? Are you giving up on this trial?"
"Me? I barely used any Stellar Power at all. I don't need it," Evan replied.
Woody looked confused. "You got to sixty meters without using any Stellar Power? Who are you kidding? I burned half mine just to reach seventy-five. Whatever, I'm going to absorb now—give me a Starstone."
Evan was surprised by how blunt she was, but handed her a high-grade Starstone anyway. "Take your time absorbing. I'm going to look around," he said, and walked off.
Evan had already spotted, not far from the training field, a giant tripod formed by three slanted stone pillars. Suspended in the center was a massive bronze bell, over five meters wide and nearly ten meters tall—truly enormous.
Striking a bell that huge wouldn't be easy; Evan figured the Second Trial would be even tougher than the first.
Nearly everyone who'd passed was busy absorbing Stellar Power, gearing up for the next trial.
By midday, the last group finished. Dozens of golden-armored Royal Capital Guards descended from the sky, led by General Roland Lowell.