Worldwide Class Change: Minimal Effort, Maximum Reward!

The journey lasted several hours.

The further the bus moved away from Jianghe City, the more the landscape began to change. The familiar wilderness gave way to wider roads, reinforced pathways, and heavily guarded outposts. Convoys passed occasionally, some carrying hunters, others transporting resources, all moving with purpose toward a single destination.

Celestial City.

By the time the bus crested the final ridge, the city came into view.

It was massive.

Far beyond Jianghe in both scale and presence.

Towering walls stretched endlessly in both directions, reinforced with materials that faintly shimmered under sunlight. Guard towers stood at fixed intervals, each manned by high-level hunters whose auras alone were enough to make ordinary students instinctively lower their voices.

And beyond those walls—

The city rose.

Layer upon layer of towering structures, gleaming under the morning sun. Buildings reached heights that Jianghe could never compare to, and at the very center of it all...

A tower.

A single structure that pierced the sky.

The Dragon God Tower.

It stood like a pillar connecting heaven and earth, its surface engraved with ancient patterns that seemed to shift faintly when observed for too long. Even from a distance, a pressure radiated from it—heavy, ancient, and absolute.

Wang Hao pressed his face against the window again, his voice filled with awe.

"...So that’s it."

Su Qinghan’s gaze remained steady, but even she couldn’t completely hide the faint flicker in her eyes.

"...The Dragon God Tower."

Lin Yi said nothing. But his eyes remained fixed on it. There was something familiar, not in form, but in presence. A faint echo of the power he had felt before, from the Celestial Emperor’s Abode.

The bus slowed as it approached the designated arrival zone, and they were not alone. One by one, other buses came into view. Seven more, each bearing different insignias, each carrying students from other frontier cities under Celestial City’s administration. Wang Hao leaned forward slightly, reading the markings as the buses lined up.

"Blackstone City..."

"Heavenly Fate City..."

"Devil City..."

"Red Lotus City..."

"Han Gu City..."

"Azure Lake City..."

"Tie Ling City..."

Seven cities. Eight including Jianghe. Eight frontier cities under one Celestial authority. Each city had its own academy. Each academy had sent its best. And now all of them had gathered.

The bus doors opened. Students began stepping out one after another, the ground beneath them already filled with hundreds of participants from different cities. Different uniforms, different weapons, different auras. But all with the same purpose. To pass. To rise. To enter a Regional Academy. The air itself felt heavier, not from pressure, but from competition.

"That’s from Heavenly Fate City... their sword division is strong."

"Look at Devil City’s formation... Yin classes dominate there."

"Red Lotus... flame users. Be careful of them."

Wang Hao exhaled slowly. "...This is completely different."

Su Qinghan nodded faintly. "This is no longer just Jianghe."

Lin Yi stepped forward, his expression calm but his gaze moving. Observing. Measuring. Calculating. There were many strong ones here, far beyond the level of Jianghe’s average students. But none of it mattered. His attention shifted toward the tower. The Dragon God Tower stood directly ahead, its base surrounded by a massive open plaza designed to accommodate thousands. And at the center of that plaza, a platform. Several figures stood upon it. Among them, one man stepped forward. The moment he moved, the entire area gradually quieted. His presence was different. A man who stood at the peak of authority.

The President of the Dragon God Tower Organization.

He looked across the gathered students, his gaze calm yet piercing. Then he spoke.

"Students."

His voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried across the entire plaza effortlessly.

"Today marks the beginning of your trial. You have traveled from eight cities, carrying your ambitions, your efforts, and your expectations." He paused briefly. "Before anything else... I will say this." A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared. "Do not disappoint yourselves."

A ripple moved through the crowd. He continued. "The examination you are about to undertake is simple in structure... but not in execution." His hand lifted slightly toward the towering structure behind him. "The Dragon God Tower. All of you will enter it. All of you will climb." His voice sharpened. "One hundred floors."

"Each floor represents a level of challenge, and the deeper you go, the stronger the opposition. Each floor contains projection beasts, manifestations created by the will of the tower itself, and I urge you not to mistake the word projection for weakness, because they can injure you, and they can kill you.

There are no rewards for defeating these projections, no experience, no materials, nothing except your score, and for every floor you clear you will gain ten points, with your final ranking determined solely by how far you climb. You may form teams of a maximum of three participants and a minimum of one, and if your team clears a floor then every member of that team receives the full score individually.

Regarding duration, the tower will be open across two days with four hours of climbing allocated each day, giving every participant a total of eight hours to advance as far as their strength and judgment will allow, and when the four hours of the first day expire all participants will be extracted automatically and given the night to recover before the second session begins."

Then his gaze deepened. "One more thing." The air seemed to tighten. "At the summit of the tower... lies the source." A ripple of shock spread through the crowd instantly.

"That’s... real?!"

"The Dragon God... here?!"

"A Level 100 entity," the president continued calmly. "The origin of all projections within the tower. Only that entity grants experience." His gaze swept across every face before him. "But understand this clearly. No one is expected to reach it. Your goal is not the summit. Your goal... is your limit." A pause. "Know when to advance. Know when to stop. And most importantly..." His voice dropped slightly. "Know when to retreat." His gaze moved across every student. "Your lives... are worth more than your scores."

No one spoke. No one moved. The weight of those words settled deeply.

Lin Yi mind quickly reeled as he recalled something.

Dragon God?! Dragon God! Long Tianyu, the level 189 S Class Monster. The National Guardian of Jianghe! His mount is the authority of the tower! Such power!

Then the president stepped back, and an examiner stepped forward, holding a tablet-like device, his voice sharper and more direct.

"All participants. Prepare yourselves. Equip all gear now. Once you enter, your equipment will be locked. No changes will be allowed. Formation of teams must be finalized before entry." A brief pause. "Failure to prepare properly... will be your own responsibility."

Students immediately began moving. Weapons were checked. Armor adjusted. Teams confirmed.

Wang Hao exhaled slowly, gripping his blade. "...This is it."

Su Qinghan tightened her grip on her frostblade, her eyes steady. Lin Yi stood between them. Calm. Unmoving. But ready.

The examiner raised his hand. His voice rang out across the entire plaza.

"Dragon God Tower Examination..."

A brief pause.

"Begin!"