Talented Martial Hero
Chapter 547 A Boring Game

The warmth around the place started to increase, making sweats drip from Darren's forehead atonce. With his legs crossed and his spirits in deep meditation, Darren sat firmly on the ground. Herecalled repeatedly in his mind the scene when he first saw the guardian of the fifth floor.

Though the scene lasted only a quarter of an hour, yet it flashed in Darren's mind many times.

Just as he was in the act of meditation, at one and the same instant, Darren also recalled how heattacked the middle-aged man, in addition to a few brief conversations that they had earlier.

"No fight means that I cannot depend on skills.

I can't attack him, but he can attack me in return, and his power is far better than mine,”

Darren muttered while meditating, along with his calm and stalwart stature at the moment.

Sun, moon, and stars, together with the clouds that seldom brought forth rain, alternatelydominated the sky. Days passed by so quick that it had been a month since Darren started hismeditation.

"Oh! So that was it! I get it!"

Like a nocturnal owl that awakened from a whole day of sleep, Darren suddenly opened his eyesand released his inner power to shake the dust that accumulated and clung in his body.

Swoosh!

With his hands stretched resembling the eagle's wings, Darren swiftly flew down to the base of thehigh ladder.

"Huh? Do you want to barge in by yourself?" out of nowhere, the middle-aged man said dryly,breaking the silence with his raspy voice.

"If I don't give it a try, how would I know if I can do it? What do you think?" Darren asked whileturning his head, waiting for the man's response.

"Please," the middle-aged man said coldly while he was stretching his hand, pointing it towards thehigh ladder.

Swoosh!

Contingent upon the moment, Darren stepped on the ladder, took a deep breath, stooped a little,and ran up as quickly as he could.

Judging from the speed of his sprint, it would take him at least an hour to reach the end of the highladder.

He was midway the ladder panting and almost out of breath when the middle-aged man caughtDarren and pulled him down.

As an aftermath of such action, Darren fell from the high ladder. Down he went, almost to thestarting point.

Considering the middle-aged man's potent strength in pulling Darren down, he fell on the groundwith a sickening thud. But then again, he stood up calmly and patted the dust off his body."Continue?" the middle-aged man said in an ironic tone while his brows were raised suspiciously."Of course,"

Darren retorted, energized and more excited this time. As he dashed towards the high ladder again,he left a puzzling smile behind for the middle-aged man to ponder.

Correspondingly, the middle-aged man dashed with speed way faster than Darren and reached outfor him again.

This time, however, as he saw the middle-aged man approaching, Darren flew away from the highladder. The instant he made a safe distance away, he began to attack the middle-aged man at once."Hum!"

Realizing that Darren made such a reckless action, the middle-aged man sneered and allowedDarren to hit him. He was confident that Darren's attacks wouldn't reach him

"Do you think you can kill me when I transformed into my physical body to pull you down theladder? You're too slow, weak even.

Besides, my power is way much stronger than yours. Even if I show my real self entirely to let youattack, you can't defeat me at all. You are really naive!" the middle-aged man said. With all theconsiderations he had mentioned, he still didn't believe Darren could do it. The middle-aged manthought that Darren's method didn't work unless Darren's skill had surpassed him. Yet, on the otherhand, if Darren's ability really exceeded him, he couldn't stop Darren from climbing the ladder.Howbeit, Darren ignored the middle-aged man and stepped on the high ladder again. Though deepinside him, Darren was frustrated as he couldn't replace a way on how to even inflict an attack againstthe invincible middle-aged man. As he made his way up the ladder, his mind was busy thinking ofideas on how to deal with the man. However, as the silence grew longer, Darren paused andthought, “What would the middle-aged man do this time?" Just as he had expected, the middle-aged man stopped Darren again, pulling him down the high ladder.

Similarly, as he had done earlier, Darren attacked the middle-aged man again though he knew thatit was totally useless.

Climbing and falling, Darren and the middle-aged man repeated the process for hundreds of timeslike a merry-go-round that went round and round all day long.

But as the middle-aged man claimed, even when he revealed his real self to Darren, the youngwarrior, still, couldn't hit him considering Darren's speed.

"Hey! You! If you attack me again, I will kill you!"

the middle-aged man bellowed at Darren angrily. It was apparent that he had reached the end ofhis rope. Such meaningless action and reaction tired him and made him lose his temper.

"Sir! Please be patient with me! If I have guessed it correctly, as long as I am not climbing the highladder, you can't hurt me. Am I right?" Darren asked with a grin resembling a bobcat.

Baffled by Darren's expression, the middle-aged man was shocked by Darren's words. He wassurprised that the young man was smarter than he had thought. Nonetheless, the middle-aged manthen said, "So what? Your behavior is too childish. After you've played here for a few months, youwill stay here forever. By then, you will be in trouble. You need to think about it!"

"Okay! If that's what you think, then I'm out of questions. I'll see you tomorrow then,” with asurprisingly joyous face, Darren said as he waved to the middle-aged man, and then flew away.Such action held the middle-aged man in a daze, and he stared at Darren's back for a moment.After which, he said in a calm tone, "Hmmm, my mind has been clouded and disturbed by such ayoung lad. I really shouldn't be. Haha!"

The middle-aged man pondered about his behavior when he was angry. He managed to calm downand draw a smile suddenly. As he went on his way, he gradually ignored the thought about Darrenand the childish game.

Meanwhile, Darren came to a desolate place and immediately sat on the ground to cultivate.

As he prepared himself ready for cultivation, he took a deep breath, and before he closed his eyes,his eyes glowed silvery white in a trance.

After three days of continuous cultivation, Darren woke up from his meditation and flew towardsthe high ladder again.

"Oh, so you come back?" the middle-aged man kindly said as he saw Darren approach the highladder.

"Well, I thought you were still angry. That's why I let three days pass before coming back. Haha!"exclaimed Darren while giving out a sly laugh.

"It's not worth wasting my time getting angry with you. Say it! What's your play?" the middle-agedman asked in an inquisitive tone, smiling.

"What play do you mean? I just want to break through the high ladder,” Darren replied as hechuckled blandly. And, he rushed towards the high ladder.

Just like what had commenced three days ago, the middle-aged man went to catch and stopDarren. Darren, in return, left the high ladder to attack the middle-aged man, and the battlecontinued again and again.

Without any of the surrendering to one another, after Darren repeated the process hundreds oftimes, he retreated away. Howbeit, a few days later, he came back and indulged himself intorepeating the same climb-catch-attack process with the middle-aged man.

As what they were doing turned into a regular routine, Darren hadn't noticed that he had beendoing the process for a few months. And it would be a whole year very soon.

One typical day, Darren flew to the side of the high ladder again and waited for the middle-agedman quietly.

Then as he was expecting him, the middle-aged man arrived at the high ladder with no expressionon his face at all. He knew that it must be the same this time, just like playing a boring game."Only half a month is left. Why don't you take a rest? In the future, you're going to be bored, andeven feel unending loneliness." The middle-aged man gave out a suggestion to Darren. By this time,the man had already drawn his conclusion that Darren couldn't make through. Such a conclusionwas based on the fact that Darren wasn't able to replace the right way on how to break through thehigh ladder.

"You're definitely wrong!" Darren announced in a confident tone. He lifted his head high andbeamed a smile towards the middle-aged man. Then, he continued with a smile. "After today, I willleave you. I hope you don't feel lonely being alone in here.”

"What? Haha. I'm starting to appreciate your patience and confidence. In fact, I can remind you nowthat the key to beating me is speed. You're doing it wrong, or you failed to replace the solution, whichwas which, young man?" mocked the middle-aged man as he was a bit annoyed by Darren's words."Speed? In my current level, no matter how I improve my speed, I can't be on par with your speed,”retorted Darren towards the middle-aged man. By this time, hearing Darren's words made the manconfused whether Darren was praising him or insulting him.

"It's not certain. If you had just carefully looked for it, you would replace that there are many speedcreatures at the edge of the space. As long as you patiently capture and kill them, you willaccumulate the Speed Rule. In a year, your speed is likely to exceed mine,” the middle-aged manexplained while his head cocked to the side in an arrogant expression.

After hearing that, Darren shook his head with a deep sigh.

"Well. I guess this is where your journey ends. Are you sorry now? Do you regret what you havedone? But it's too late now. Even if you had started collecting the speed creatures a few monthsago, you still couldn't make it."

"No, I don't. I don't regret anything, nor was I sorry. I just think that I've overestimated you and themaster of the Star Tower. It turns out that the test is only for my speed and patience. I thought allthe while that it was designed to test the mind and wisdom," Darren said.

"How dare you! I'll need to teach you a lesson after making sure that you'll stay here forever.”

To Darren's surprise, the middle-aged man's anger was triggered by his words. He snapped out ofhis wits after he heard Darren's words. “What does he mean to have overestimated the master of theStarry Tower and me? Can I forgive such people who are so incompetent and speaks aboutmadness?’ the middle-aged man thought.

"Forget it. I will continue my mission in trying to break through this high ladder,” Darren said andwalked toward the high ladder, while shaking his head.

Unable to believe Darren's unyielding determination to pass the test, the middle-aged man justgave out a sigh. Soon enough, the moment Darren was halfway through the high ladder, themiddle-aged man snorted and prepared to stop Darren.

Yet, as he neared the climbing warrior, the middle-aged man's eye widened in terror. He was reallyshocked by the scene in front of him.

"You..." the middle-aged man stared at Darren, and cursed him at once. His face was terror-strickenand was full of shock.