Rise of the Demon God

"Who says I didn't? The room you saw this consciousness in... It isn't just connected to the prison. It's connected to many places outside."

"I left a path to get to this place for outsiders just like I left a path for prisoners."

"However,  I have a feeling that I was going to find someone worthy here, someone who was going to experience what I did... Someone who was tossed here even though he was innocent like me... And most importantly, someone who had similar potential."

"And how do you know I was sent here without my fault?" Long Chen asked. 

"I already told you. I can see more than you think..." The old man replied, smiling. 

"However, even if you weren't innocent, it wouldn't have mattered as much as talent and affinity. Those were the important factors in the youngsters who came here before you. However, they all failed. Maybe you can succeed?" The old man let out, sighing. 

"So, are you prepared? Or do you want to give up before even trying?"

"What will I get after becoming a disciple if I succeed?" Long Chen asked. "Would you allow me to escape the prison since this place is connected to the outside world as well?" 

The old man smiled. "Maybe or maybe not. Who knows, you might not even need me to help you after that... It all depends on your performance..."

"What do I have to do to win?" Long Chen asked, observing the floating stone tablets in his surroundings. "Something related to them?"

"That's true. Each of these tablets contains a powerful skill. You need to select one. You can select an easy one or a hard one. The only limit is that you can only select one. And then, you must master the skill in two days."

" How fast you can grasp the skill of your selection and your mastery of the skill will decide if you succeed..." The old man said. 

"Two days to learn a skill?" Long Chen muttered. "In this case, choosing an easy skill would be better, but if that was the case, why did the other participants before me lose? They couldn't comprehend easy skills?'

"Maybe." The old man smiled. "Or maybe their mastery wasn't enough. Or it might be something else entirely. Select one tablet, and your time shall begin. You have twenty minutes to select. After that, the tablets you didn't select will disappear."

Long Chen rubbed his chin, observing the expressions of the old man. He certainly knew something. But the way he wasn't telling was making Long Chen even more suspicious. 

"Your time has already started. Only nineteen minutes left." The old man reminded Long Chen. "Will you select, or will you just give up like that?"

"I..." Long Chen shook his head and flew towards the closest tablet. 

"Bomni Mountain: Bring forth the legendary Bomni Mountain to crush your enemies. Difficulty Medium."

The tablets only had names written on them with their difficulty level and a little description about them. 

Long Chen moved over to the next tablet.  However, he remembered the place of the tablets he was skipping so he could get back to them later if he couldn't find a better skill. 

"The Dark Phoenix: Bring forth an Origin Phoenix to burn your enemies.  The difficulty is hard."

"A skill to call forth a phoenix? But it's not a real one. Still, a hard difficulty skill," Long Chen muttered, staring at the stone tablet. 

He skipped the tablet, moving over to the next tablet. 

"Mighty Elephant Stomp: Destroy earth and heaven with just one stomp! Difficulty Extreme."

"Nonsense. How can such a skill exist? Destroy heaven? Such exaggeration. Won't the person who masters the skill become the leader of Heaven?" Long Chen asked the old man in the back. 

"Hey, I didn't make that skill. I didn't write its description either, so I can't comment." The old man shrugged. 

Long Chen shook his head as well. He had seen things like this before. Skills just wrote such things for exaggeration. He was sure the skill was pretty powerful but not strong enough to destroy the heaven.

He moved over to the next tablet and read about it. 

"Another Medium difficulty skill. Where are the easy ones?" 

He kept moving from one skill to another, trying to find a skill with easy difficulty. 

Time kept trickling away as he moved from medium difficulty skills to extreme difficulty skills. He had expected to see many easy skills; however, they were so rare. He hadn't expected that. 

"No wonder so many failed. Finding an easy skill in itself is impossible," Long Chen explained. 

"Three minutes left. You should start making a choice," the old man reminded Long Chen again. 

"I know. Let me just... Huh? Finally!" Long Chen read the skill in the next tablet, which was right in front of him. 

His mind was attracted by the difficulty level even before he had seen the name of the skill. 

"Burning Explosion: Using flames to cleanse the surroundings of all enemies. Difficulty easy."

"Perfect." Long Chen turned to look towards the old man. "I will select...."

He was going to tell the old man his choice, but he felt like something was off. 

The old man had a calm smile on his face, but there was disappointment in his eyes. 

"You select what?" The old man asked. "You need to be clear."

Long Chen didn't answer. He noticed a glimpse of a tablet that was being hidden behind the old man's back. 

The old man had moved throughout these twenty minutes, but the tablet remained behind him. 

"I select the tablet behind you," Long Chen declared. 

"Huh?" The old man grew stunned. His smile disappeared. "Are you sure?"

Even though there wasn't a smile on the man's face, there was an excitement in his eyes which made Long Chen feel like this was the right path. 

"As you wish," the old man declared. All the other stone tablets disappeared, leaving only one tablet behind, which was still hiding behind the old man. 

"Best of luck for this. You have two days. Let's see how you'll do." The old man smiled again before he disappeared. 

Only his voice echoed behind, "Don't disappoint me, young man."

Once the old man disappeared, Long Chen observed the tablet, going straight to the difficulty. 

"What the heck?!" He exclaimed out loud, reading the difficulty. 

"Difficulty: Unranked."

He shifted his gaze to the name of the skill. 

"Spatial Chaos."

There was just the name of the skill on the tablet. There was no short description of the skill, which was even more surprising. 

Long Chen wondered what this skill was? And how difficult it was? Since it was unranked, it could be easy or hardest.