The ceremony’s host placed his hand on the central crystal.

The silver patterns on the ground quickly lit up, running along the stage like streams of living energy converging toward a single point. The air before Ethan and Laira began to ripple. A layer of silver-white mist poured out of the void, swirling into a vortex, then slowly forming a gate nearly four meters tall.

Inside the gate was a dense mist that couldn’t be seen through.

At the same time, the large screens on the walls of the main hall lit up one after another.

Today, Ethan wasn’t the only one taking part in the Heaven’s Gate trial. Dozens of other students had also finished choosing their Blind Boxes and begun entering their own separate trial spaces. The central screen quickly split into many small panels. One student appeared in the middle of a dark forest, where a few black shadows were moving behind the tree trunks. Another stood on a stretch of land covered in rubble, holding a sword just opened from a Blind Box. A girl was facing three low-tier gray wolves. Another student began searching for a weapon in an abandoned room.

This was how Aurora Academy observed the process of opening the Heaven’s Gate.

The instructors could monitor progress, record results, and intervene in dangerous cases. If a student realized they couldn’t go on, they only needed to activate the retreat seal. The transfer gate would immediately bring them back to the main hall.

However, today no one was really paying attention to the other students.

Most people’s gazes were still fixed on Ethan and Laira.

The moment Ethan’s gate formed, the man in the military uniform on the top floor spoke up: "Split off a separate screen. Prioritize monitoring Ethan Ashford."

The gray-haired woman didn’t object.

A technician quickly worked the control panel. The image panels of the other students were pushed off to the sides. In the very center of the main hall, a separate, much larger screen immediately appeared.

[Ethan Ashford.]

[Partner: Crimson Dragon Laira.]

[Difficulty selected: Nightmare.]

Low murmurs immediately rang out.

"The leadership is prioritizing watching Ethan."

"Of course. No matter what, a Mythic Partner is just too special."

"I wonder if he can get through Nightmare."

Lionel leaned back slightly against the VIP seat, folding his arms across his chest. "Good. At least we won’t have to wait for others to report the results back to us."

Vanessa said nothing.

Her gaze was still fixed on Laira.

Rowan looked at the screen coldly, as if waiting for an outcome that had been decided in advance.

The ceremony’s host looked at Ethan. "Remember this well. The most important goal is to survive. If you sense you can’t continue, immediately activate the retreat seal. There’s no need to push yourself to the point of losing your life."

Ethan nodded.

Laira stood close beside him. Her long red hair stirred in the current of air pouring out of the gate. She said nothing, only calmly looking at the swirling mist before her.

Ethan stepped forward.

But just as he was a single step away from the gate, the silver patterns around him suddenly trembled violently.

Crack!

A small crack appeared on the central crystal.

The host immediately changed color. "Stop!"

But it was too late.

Boom!

The silver gate suddenly contracted. The entire layer of white mist was compressed into the center of the vortex, then exploded into a dark red color. A colossal pulling force appeared, dragging the air, the dust, and the surrounding rays of light toward the gate.

Ethan froze.

Laira immediately reached out to wrap her arm around his waist. The dragon wings spread open behind her, but instead of pushing back the pulling force, both their bodies were still being dragged toward the vortex.

On the large screen, a barrage of red warnings kept appearing.

[Spatial discrepancy detected.]

[Checking.]

[Check failed.]

[Unidentified interference source detected.]

[Difficulty selected: Nightmare.]

[Unable to maintain original coordinates.]

[Restructuring trial space.]

[Unable to disconnect.]

[Unable to activate retreat mechanism.]

[Unable to determine coordinates.]

The entire main hall immediately fell into chaos.

"Did the system glitch?"

"The gate changed color."

"Ethan’s being pulled inside."

"He can’t retreat?"

"What’s happening?"

The ceremony’s host shouted: "Lock the gate! Cut the energy supply!"

In the control room, the technicians immediately worked the panel. Streams of data slid down at extreme speed. One turned pale, his hand nearly trembling as he kept tapping the control symbols. "The connection is being forcibly altered. We’ve lost control of the gate!"

Another looked at the screen before him, his voice full of panic. "We can’t cut the energy supply. There’s another energy source overriding the system. No. It’s not just overriding. It’s replacing the entire trial coordinates."

Headmaster Cole immediately stepped up to the glass. The calm on his face vanished completely. "Lock the coordinates. Forcibly pull Ethan back."

The technician shook his head. "We can’t! The retreat seal isn’t responding. We no longer have the right to intervene."

The gate kept changing color.

Dark red.

Then pitch black.

That black wasn’t like ordinary darkness. It was so deep that even the surrounding light was sucked inside, as if behind the gate wasn’t a trial space but a fissure leading straight into the Void.

Right before the eyes of hundreds of people, the final line of text appeared on the large screen.

[Actual difficulty: Abyss.]

The air froze.

A student opened his mouth but took a few seconds before he could produce a sound. "Abyss?"

The one sitting beside him had a deathly pale face. "He chose Nightmare. Why did it turn into Abyss?"

"The Abyss trial, for someone who hasn’t opened his Heaven’s Gate..."

The other didn’t continue.

Because everyone understood.

There was no complete data.

There were no reliable records.

Of those who had entered the Abyss trial, almost no one had been able to survive and come back.

Ryan was stunned for a brief moment. Then, the corner of his mouth slowly curled up. The venom instantly turned into undisguised delight. "Abyss." He let out a laugh. "This is exactly the consequence of not knowing your own limits."

Selene, who had been tense, also slowly calmed down. She looked at the words [Abyss] on the large screen, then looked at the black gate. "What a shame. I did advise him not to be too hasty."

Lionel folded his arms across his chest, his expression far more relaxed. "Looks like we won’t have to wait too long."

Vanessa curved the corner of her mouth slightly. "Abyss for someone who hasn’t opened his Heaven’s Gate? He probably won’t survive the first floor."

Rowan concluded coldly: "Seeking his own death."

Headmaster Cole paid no attention to those words at all. His gaze was still locked on the large screen. "Is the observation connection still holding?"

A technician immediately checked. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Yes. But we can only observe. We can’t intervene."

"Keep the connection." Cole ordered coldly. "Do not lose the image."

The pulling force from the gate intensified.

Ethan felt his entire body being pulled off the ground. Laira still held his waist. The dragon wings spread open behind her, but even she couldn’t resist the spatial vortex.

In just an instant, the two of them were swallowed whole.

Boom!

The gate closed.

The screen dedicated to Ethan went black for a few seconds.

Then the image began to shake. Lines of interference kept appearing, making everyone in the main hall hold their breath without thinking.

Ryan still kept his smile.

Lionel leaned back slightly against his seat.

Vanessa watched intently.

Rowan gripped the staff in his hand lightly.

The image stabilized again.

Ethan and Laira appeared in an extremely vast chamber.

Not like a forest.

Not like a wasteland.

Nor like any ordinary trial space.

It was an indoor arena.

The ceiling was hundreds of meters high, almost entirely sunk in darkness. Colossal black stone pillars stood around all four sides, their surfaces covered in patterns worn down by time. The ground was paved with old gray slabs, riddled with cracks and traces of battle. Farther out were empty stands, stretching upward in tiers that rose higher and higher.

There were no spectators.

But the feeling was still like countless gazes hidden in the darkness, silently waiting for the match to begin.

A cold voice rang out.

It wasn’t only Ethan who heard it.

The sound also carried straight through the observation screen in the main hall.

[Welcome to the Abyss Tower.]

[You have entered the first floor.]

[Each floor of the tower contains a trial.]

[Defeat the guardian to advance to a higher floor.]

[The more floors you clear, the higher the reward you receive.]

[No limit on the number of floors.]

[You cannot leave the trial of your own will.]

[Failure means death.]

In the main hall, sharp intakes of breath rang out.

A student muttered in astonishment: "No limit on the number of floors?"

The one beside him turned pale. "Can’t retreat. This is no longer a trial for newcomers."

Headmaster Cole frowned. "The Abyss Tower..."

The gray-haired woman immediately asked: "You’ve heard of this place before?"

Cole shook his head. "No. There isn’t a single record in the academy’s database."

Inside the arena, Ethan calmly observed his surroundings. Laira stood close beside him, her expression still completely composed.

At the center of the chamber, the ground suddenly trembled.

Crack!

The cracks spread wide.

A dry, skeletal arm slowly broke through the stone floor. Then a second arm. A skeleton over two meters tall slowly crawled up out of the ground. Its frame was unusually thick and large. The surface of the bone was covered in dark red veins that looked like twitching blood vessels. In its hand was a colossal, chipped battle-axe. The two empty eye sockets blazed with red flame.

Boom!

The Berserker Skeleton stamped its foot on the ground.

A savage aura immediately swept across the chamber.

[Berserker Skeleton.]

[Race: Undead.]

[Level: Black Iron tier 5.]

[Trait: Berserk.]

[Trait: Cannot feel pain.]

[Trait: Strength increases when taking damage.]

In the main hall, a student immediately changed color. "Black Iron tier 5? On the very first floor?"

The one sitting beside him swallowed dryly. "Ethan hasn’t even opened his Heaven’s Gate."

Ryan let out a laugh.

"Looks like the fun’s begun."

Lionel folded his arms across his chest. "If he can’t even get past the first floor, he has even less standing to keep the Crimson Dragon."

On the screen, the Berserker Skeleton slowly raised its battle-axe. The red flames in its eye sockets locked onto Ethan.

Then it roared.

"Raaaaargh!"

Boom!

The ground shattered.

The monster charged straight at Ethan.