"Did it work?"
"The Guild Master is incredible!"
Everyone stared at the Trial Shadow dissipating within the magic circle, momentarily unable to believe what they were seeing.
The battle between the two had been a relentless spectacle — miss even a split second of attention and you'd lose track of the exchange entirely, unable to process what had just happened. Their base stats were simply too high; attacks flashed like lightning, and in the blink of an eye they could clash two or three times. Without absolute focus, there was no way to follow the breathtaking, razor-thin battle unfolding before them.
Among them, the dozens of White Tiger Dojo students who had entered the fifth floor of the Ancient Divine Ruins stood with mouths agape, utterly stunned.
They had seen experts fight before — they'd witnessed countless matches in the Combat Arena.
But a battle this relentless, this overwhelming in its pace? This was definitely a first.
"It's finally over." Shi Feng let out a deep breath of relief.
He hadn't expected the Asura-grade trial to be this difficult. If not for a sudden flash of inspiration that had deepened his understanding of Reason and dramatically improved how he utilized his body and surroundings, he would have long since become a fallen corpse beneath the Trial Shadow's blade.
Yet this battle had also taught Shi Feng something important.
Beyond strengthening the heightened perception and control of the Subtle Domain, advancing the Realm of Reason was equally critical. The Subtle Domain was like a wooden barrel — players continuously patched its weak points to hold more water, essentially serving as a container. The Realm of Reason, on the other hand, was the ladle, or perhaps more accurately, the weapon. How much water you could draw from the barrel depended on how deep your understanding of Reason ran. The deeper the understanding, the larger the ladle, and the more water you could extract with each scoop.
Simply enlarging the container without advancing the Realm of Reason was like a child sitting on a mountain of treasure without knowing how to use it — one scooping water with a tiny spoon, the other with a washbasin. The gap between them was anything but small.
This was also why some experts who hadn't achieved Subtlety could rival those who had, simply by relying on combat techniques. Combat techniques themselves were a special application of Reason. First, you needed the container to reach a certain level, and then you could draw out more power from it. Players could use these techniques, but they couldn't fully understand them.
"I should have the guild members strengthen their understanding of Reason as well," Shi Feng thought to himself.
Improving the Subtle Domain — the container — wasn't easy, but advancing the understanding of Reason didn't conflict with it. In fact, it could accelerate players' overall power growth, and the interplay between the two might even cause both to progress faster.
However, improving everyone's understanding of Reason wouldn't be simple. First, they needed a training ground designed to cultivate this understanding. Clearly, places like the Combat Arena and the Gods and Demons Arena didn't have what Rheinbeck had — a place specifically meant to test players in this regard.
Without such a place, his words alone would be useless. Understanding of Reason wasn't something that could be explained in a few sentences. And knowing about it was one thing; applying it was another — the two were fundamentally different concepts.
"That's not right. There is such a training ground."
Shi Feng suddenly recalled the White Square Tower in the Lost Town.
On the surface, the White Square Tower seemed designed to improve players' combat abilities and help them grasp the Realm of Subtlety. But its true purpose, much like Rheinbeck's trial, was probably to help players comprehend the Realm of Reason — an ancient training ground passed down from antiquity. In the Divine Realm, there was no such thing as "Subtlety"; there was only the Realm of Reason.
The more Shi Feng thought about it, the more convinced he became that the White Square Tower was an ideal place to train the Realm of Reason.
"A sacred site for cultivating the Realm of Reason?" This realization shifted his thinking entirely — what had been a half-abandoned plan to give up on the Lost Town now became an urgent necessity. "No wonder obtaining the Lost Town was such a difficult quest. So that's why."
Training in the Realm of Subtlety had long existed in the virtual gaming world. Even the super guilds had built complete training systems around it, and the ultra-first-rate guilds were only a step behind. But when it came to training the Realm of Reason? Not a single guild had anything. They didn't even know where to begin.