On the Seven Towers

All the scenes in front of Ackley began to shake, the figures became blurred, and the scenes turned into nothingness. Everything around him seemed to be sucked into a whirlpool, all boiling down to one point.

When the surrounding rooms, hospital beds, and Chen Hansheng faded away, only the room with a table and two chairs remained.

There was no one on the chair opposite, but a magic circle was slowly dimming on the table.

Ackley has a feeling that there is a complete world behind this magic circle.

His hand touched the magic circle, as if he wanted to climb over it and enter the world behind. After all, for him, that world was a place where he devoted countless efforts, and all his experiences were extremely real.

He never doubted that it was not a real world. He remembered the rough feeling of the hemp rope wrapped around the hilt of the sword. He remembered the smell of soil and grass among the trees and grass. He remembered the resolute, free and easy, fearful and confused expressions on their faces when facing those people. He even remembered a lot of insights and experiences in the high-level realm. He tried to circulate the fighting energy in his body, and then discovered that the quality of his fighting energy was at the mid-level level, but it now operates them much more delicately than before. And the path to higher levels is so clear and definite.

Rather than saying that he is a mid-level warrior who has understood high-level fighting spirit, it is better to say that he is a high-level warrior who, for some reason, accidentally dropped his level of fighting spirit to the middle level.

He tried to recall the past, and all the scenes were clearly imprinted in his mind. It made him feel that they were all close before his eyes, and he even had the illusion that he was back in the room where he was tested last time after a year.

At this time, a young man opened the door and walked in. Ackley vaguely recognized him. He seemed to be the test officer Xiao Chen whom he had seen in the loyalty test a long time ago.

Xiao Chen walked into the room and sat on the chair opposite him. He showed a friendly smile and said, "Mr. Ackley, how do you feel about having an extra year of experience in your life?"

Ackley's expression became a little weird. He raised his brows with difficulty and looked at Xiao Chen, like a person who stayed in bed in the morning and didn't want to wake up: "All those things, so many things I have experienced, are really... A magic test?"

"Yes. This is our latest development to test whether recruits meet our requirements. You are the first to try it."

"Are they all fake?"

"I don't think it can be simply summarized as true or false. Maybe it is false to others, because all the participants in the incident, whether the Duke of Greenwood City or Chen Hansheng, have never experienced these things. But for you, it is false. It's hard to say it's fake." Xiao Chen said. He turned his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Do you think the emotions you released, the memories and experiences you gained, are real or fake?"

"I don't know. Compared with other memories in my previous life, they are not any different. I want to know, is the knowledge I learned real, or is it a false thing in the fantasy?"

"You have to know that what you have just experienced is not just a simple test magic. It is a powerful magic that is combined with a sacred instrument called the Pearl of Memory. This sacred instrument originally has the function of inheritance, so you All the skills learned are true.”

"It's... incredible. But it's not a good thing for me. I always feel like a part of my life has been taken away by you," Ackley said.

Xiao Chen replied: "You should feel that we have given you a very valuable gift. You must know that it takes a lot of crystal stones and rare materials to get you progress that does not take time."

"If the person you choose fails the test, will you let him learn these things?" Ackley asked.

"Those who fail often make mistakes very early and are driven away from this illusion. Because they leave early, it is difficult for them to make any decent progress. As for those who participate in good tests, they are not willing to join us. We still have some ways to keep them safe. But there are not many people participating now, and you are the only one who has completely passed all the tests. I admire your performance in this test, so determined and principled." Xiao Chen extended his hand to Ackley, "The Guards welcome you, you can join the recruit training camp immediately and become a new soldier."

"Wait a minute," Ackley said. "I have a request."

"What?"

"I... don't want to join the Guards anymore." Ackley hesitated a little when he spoke, but finally emphasized again, "I really don't want to join."

Xiao Chen was surprised, "What's going on? Haven't you passed many tests? Why are you wavering now?"

"Maybe it's because this test feels so real to me. I've been in the Guards for so long and participated in many battles, big and small. The longer the time goes by, the more tired I feel." Ackley said on his face There was a nostalgic look on his face, "I suddenly felt that I was tired of that kind of life. In fact, the process of making decisions like that was very painful, and I didn't want to go through it again.

To you, it may be just a little test in the eye of the beholder. But in my opinion, I have already suffered the ultimate consequences of these choices. Maybe after experiencing these things for the first time, I will endure them for the sake of my family. But if there is a second chance like this, I don’t want to go through the same old path again, I want to live for myself. "

This scene was not what Xiao Chen expected. He tried to understand what the other party meant, and then asked: "It's like you are a child who built a complicated house with building blocks. The house accidentally collapsed, but you are not happy to build it again? Do you feel annoyed and painful?"

Ackley smiled bitterly: "Maybe."

"What are you going to do?"

"Please send me back to the labor camp. I will be released from prison soon, and I believe I will find a suitable place here."

...

Xiao Chen returned to the next room, where Peng Ziyi and Luo Ling were waiting.

"This script is wrong!" Xiao Chen said with a dark face, "How come the person with the best test score quit?"

Luo Ling said: "Remember the story of the Yellow Millet Dream? What is the ending?"

"That person became a monk. He has experienced everything he should have experienced and found it boring." Xiao Chen replied with a wry smile, "What should we do then?"

"Let's recruit a few other useful people first." Peng Ziyi patted Xiao Chen on the shoulder and said, "Don't be discouraged. At least for those who are strong, such tests are still necessary. Otherwise, it will be too harmful to include them in our system. We can simplify some processes and reduce some difficulties, so that it won't be so easy to persuade people to quit, right?"

Luo Ling said: "Have you given up on Ackley so quickly?"

"Do you think he can still be saved?" Xiao Chen asked back.

"I always have a feeling that when memory brings us pain, maybe it hides the beauty on the other side?"