Chapter 256 – S-Rank Control
God’s Domain Association, mental space:
When Shi Feng stepped into the mental space, he was greeted by the size of a spacious hall the size of a football field and a large staircase with over a hundred steps. The staircase was brightly illuminated, and every step had stone pillars of varying sizes erected.
Before Shi Feng could approach the staircase, the lights suddenly went out, and the hall was drowned in darkness.
Sure enough, it’s the same as in the past, Shi Feng thought as he closed his eyes and focused his mind on the mental blades that were coming at him from multiple directions. Then, he swiftly evaded these mental blades while gradually making his way to the staircase.
The mental space was one of the few places in the Greater World that allowed people to develop their mental strength. However, very few people knew about this secret. Typically, only the various cities’ administrators and the God’s Domain Association’s executives would know about it.
As for most other people, they would simply treat the mental space as a place to test their mental strength. Hardly anyone knew about the intricacies and benefits of the mental space.
Even Shi Feng had taken quite some time to figure out this secret during his previous life.
The mental space’s mental staircase had a total of 103 steps, and one could not reach the top unless one was at the three-star mental strength grandmaster standard. Anyone who managed to ascend to the top could become an Elder in the God’s Domain Association and gain the right to pioneer a new continent.
When ascending the mental staircase, one would have to face an increasing number of mental blades the higher one climbed. More specifically, the number would gradually increase from four to one hundred and seven. In addition, the strength and agility of the mental blades would increase with every three steps.
During his previous life, Shi Feng had only ever managed to climb to the 101st step before he abruptly reincarnated again. Now that he was no longer at his peak, he naturally couldn’t climb back to the 101st step. Even so, he could still use the mental staircase to train his current mental strength.
As for how he could accomplish this, it was simple. All he needed to do was concentrate his mental strength into a barrier to continuously defend against the mental blades.
Of course, one couldn’t develop one’s mental strength just by blocking any random mental blade. The mental blade one blocked needed to be strong enough to shatter one’s mental barrier. Moreover, the stronger the mental blade, the better. That way, the mental blade could shatter one’s mental barrier more thoroughly, giving one an easier time absorbing the residual mental energy left behind by the mental barrier.
However, the stronger the mental blade one blocked, the greater the pain one would suffer. Fortunately, challengers were at no risk of dying in the mental space as the test would be automatically stopped when they exceeded their pain tolerance. So, challengers could let the mental blades shatter their mental barrier without worry. As for how long a challenger could last, that would depend on their willpower.
Subsequently, Shi Feng continuously evaded the oncoming mental blades and swiftly ascended the mental staircase, having no intention of wasting time on the lower steps.
The mental space’s difficulty didn’t only increase with the number of steps a challenger had climbed. It would also increase along with time. Simply put, the longer one spent dawdling around, the greater the difficulty one would face in ascending the mental staircase. This prevented people from taking their sweet time training their mental strength in the mental space.
If Shi Feng wished to take full advantage of the mental space’s training properties, the best way would be to ascend the mental staircase as quickly as possible until he reached his limit.
Fortunately, Shi Feng was already familiar with the attack patterns of the mental space’s mental blades. Even though he only had the physical fitness of a Henglian master right now, he reached the 60th step, a place only Henglian grandmasters and above could reach, in no time.
However, after reaching the 67th step, despite his familiarity with the mental blade’s attack patterns and trajectories, Shi Feng could no longer evade the overwhelming number of mental blades that attacked him. So, he was left with no choice but to conjure mental barriers one after another to block the oncoming mental blades.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
As a half-step mental strength master, the mental barriers Shi Feng conjured were only as thick as a sheet of paper. As a result, the mental blades instantly shattered his mental barriers into countless fragments and ruthlessly stabbed into his mental sea, causing him to feel as if his body was being torn asunder. The pain was so overwhelming that Shi Feng nearly lost consciousness when the pain first hit him.
Hold on! I must hold on until I hit my gravity limit!
The consecutive instances of pain Shi Feng suffered caused him to instinctively want to retreat. However, he resisted his instincts and kept pushing himself forward.
The mental space’s training effect would be at its best during one’s first attempt.
Aside from facing the mental blades, one would also be subjected to an increasing gravity as one remained in the mental space. Meanwhile, the rate at which the mental space’s gravity increased would also increase with the number of times one challenged the mental space. This, in turn, would reduce one’s mental tolerance and the time one could spend in the mental space.
Hence, when a person was challenging the mental space for the first time, they should try to challenge the strongest mental blades they could and stay within the mental space for as long as they could to achieve the best training effect.
One minute… Two minutes… Three minutes…
Time passed bit by bit as Shi Feng continuously ascended the mental staircase with gritted teeth. However, even though Shi Feng’s face was currently as pale as a sheet, the speed at which he conjured mental barriers was getting faster and faster.
Evidently, the training offered by the mental space was doing wonders for his mental strength. At this point, his mental strength was already on par with two-star mental strength masters.
When Shi Feng climbed to the 79th step, a height only three-star mental strength masters and above could reach, 83 mental blades shattered all of his mental barriers simultaneously and stabbed into his mental sea. Before the pain could take effect, the mental space’s test abruptly came to an end.
It seems this is my current limit. Shi Feng clenched his teeth as he gazed at the top of the staircase that was only a short distance away from him.
Thanks to the mental space’s training, Shi Feng’s mental strength was now at the two-star mental strength master standard. His perception and judgment toward danger could already allow him to fight against bona fide one-star mental strength masters even with his disadvantage in physical fitness.
With such a high mental strength standard, he could already become an official member of the God’s Domain Association and rent a room on the 100th to 200th floor of the Association Building. Although he would need to pay 10 Star Coins per day to rent a room on these floors, it was much cheaper than the alternative of renting a room in the city. However, whether he could find an unoccupied room to rent would depend on his luck.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Shi Feng turned around and descended the staircase.
…
God’s Domain Association’s first-floor lobby:
At the same time as Shi Feng concluded his mental strength test, silence enveloped the entire lobby as everyone stared at the scoreboard.
At this moment, even Breeze Wine couldn’t help but rub his eyes in doubt as he looked at the scoreboard.
Mental Grade: Special Mental Strength Expert;
Potential Rating: 86;
Mental Strength Rating: A;
Mental Control Rating: S;
Overall Ranking: 100
…
TL Notes:
[1]special mental strength expert is the rank below mental strength master
