However, before Max could reach the site where the ape had crashed, the ape itself stormed forward, its eyes blazing with fury.

Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!

It slapped its chest repeatedly before charging toward Max.

Seeing that, Max stopped in his tracks, clenching his right fist. Using the Infernal Coating skill, his fist changed color, turning pitch black.

At that moment, the four-armed monster appeared in front of Max again, its four arms aimed to slam him down.

Max grinned as he took a step back and punched forward with all the might of 15 Draconic Essences.

Bang!

The ground beneath them was destroyed instantly when their attacks connected, and a moment later, a figure was blasted away like a broken kite.

It was the four-armed golden ape. Its figure glided through the air once again in the direction of the crash site. But before it could fully reach there, cracks began to appear in its body, like spider webs, before its entire body exploded into small blue particles scattered around it.

A moment later, these small blue particles of light were drawn to Max and entered his body.

However, the notification of leveling up didn't come, but Max wasn't worried because he could feel he was close to leveling up.

Glancing down at the last monster in the sphere, Max waited. "It's all on you to level me up to level 7 of Apprentice Rank," he said, smiling.

Soon, the last monster from the sphere fell, its eight legs piercing the ground. It was a green-colored, eight-legged, gigantic spider.

Max glanced at the spider, his smile widening. "A 5th level Adept Rank monster. Perfect!"

The spider locked its many eyes on Max, emitting an eerie chitter as it stormed toward him with deadly intent.

Max responded swiftly, activating his Magic Sword Barrage skill. In an instant, hundreds of glowing, ethereal swords materialized around him, each one radiating with a brilliant blue glow.

With a flick of his hand, Max imbued the swords with black flames, causing each of his hundreds of swords to blaze in black flames.

Following that, he unleashed the barrage, sending a rain of flaming, black swords hurtling toward the massive spider.

The air hissed with the searing heat as the swords streaked through the sky like falling stars. The spider, due to its enormous size, couldn't evade the onslaught in time.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The swords struck true, impaling its massive form from every angle. Some pierced through its thick, armored limbs, pinning them to the ground. Others embedded themselves deep in its grotesque body, searing its flesh with unrelenting flames. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

A few swords found their mark on the spider's head, driving through its carapace and silencing its frenzied movements.

The corpse of the spider soon turned into green glowing particles and was devoured by Max.

[Congratulations to Max Voidwalker for leveling up to Level 7 of Apprentice Rank.]

"Ah, good!" Max smiled, finally reaching level 7. Jumping from level 4 to level 7 in one day was something Max had only dreamed of. "I would have needed hundreds of thousands of cores to level up three realms so quickly," he muttered with a sigh.

Just then, a door appeared in front of him—a red glowing door.

"Time to enter the 2nd floor," Max muttered as he entered through the door and disappeared from the like-world.

---

Max found himself emerging from the monolith in an environment almost identical to the first floor, except that there were many Adept Rank geniuses roaming around.

"Hey, look, someone from the first floor is here."

"Huh? Guys, look at his strength—level 7 of Apprentice Rank! How did he pass the trial?"

"I don't know, maybe the trial is easy or something, and this guy looks very familiar for some reason."

"Familiar? You people from the other regions sure have slow minds. The one standing before us is none other than Max Morgan, who just ascended to the top of the monolith not long ago. Behold your eyes and feast on the number one genius of the East Region—at least in terms of potential, that is."

"Humph, they can't even recognize the figure they've seen not long ago. Here I thought so highly of the geniuses from the other regions."

"Why, you...?"

Some geniuses recognized Max easily, while others couldn't, leading to them being mocked by the geniuses from the East Region. But when they did learn his identity, they were surprised. They hadn't expected they would get to see the legendary figure who had ascended the peak of the monolith with their own eyes.

But that led to even more surprise for them when they realized Max was only at level 7 of Apprentice Rank.

Max heard them loud and clear, but he didn't care. His eyes scanned the chunk of rocks far in the distance, where the comprehension aura was concentrated.

However, just as he reached there, a figure blocked his path. It was Anton.

"You did good," Anton said proudly. "Ascending the monolith is very difficult, and reaching the top is even more impossible. Only a handful of people have ever accomplished that feat."

Max smiled, noticing the change in Anton's attitude. But he didn't comment on that and instead said gratefully, "Well, I had some luck, so…"

Anton nodded, glancing at him. He didn't look like the guy who had been suspicious of him before they entered the temple, but rather like a completely different person.

"Anyway, I will go and try to enter the third floor," Anton said, pondering. "Last time I came from floor 1 to floor 2, I had to fight an Adept Rank monster while I was at the peak of the Apprentice Rank, so I believe whatever I will be fighting in the trial will be at the peak of Adept Rank for sure."

Max nodded, feeling strange about how he had to fight five monsters of Adept Rank, each one stronger than the last. 'Looks like I was taken special care of,' he mused.

All the glowing particles he had absorbed had leveled him up three times, but he believed those particles would easily let someone else reach the peak of Apprentice Rank, or even Adept Rank, due to their strength. The only reason they hadn't done so for him earlier was his unique situation.

'Is this the benefit of reaching the peak of the monolith?' Max wondered. He also thought that if someone else had been in his shoes, at level 4 of Apprentice Rank, they would have been absolutely destroyed by the first level 1 Adept Rank monster. They stood no chance against an opponent of Adept Rank while being at level 4 of Apprentice Rank.

"Be cautious of those from the other regions," Anton said at this time, glancing at the other geniuses who were eyeing Max like he was some sort of prey. "They might pull some trick on you."

Max nodded. "Don't worry. I will take care of them."

"Alright, I will be going then." Anton nodded and slowly walked past him, entering the door leading into the monolith.

Turning to the chunks of rocks filled with level 2 auras, Max trembled in excitement. He had been wanting to upgrade his auras to level 2 for such a long time, but it was only now that he had the opportunity to do so.

'Since I can't ascend to any other monoliths on the other floors, my time should still be 1000 minutes,' Max thought, finding this enough to take his three auras to level 3.

Without wasting any more time, he sat down in front of the sword aura rock chunk. Since it was his first aura, he wanted to increase its level to 2 first, then work on his other auras.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay