Tower of Heaven

Atlas looked at the person across from him. It was a woman with straight black hair and an ordinary appearance. She was looking back at him with serious eyes.

The voice continued its explanation and told them the rules of the game. A round ended when one person took a bite of the food on the table. Every round, one person had the choice to either keep the dish in front of them or take their opponent's dish instead. Once they made their choice, they had to take a bite.

From there, if they survived, the game would continue, and if they died, the game would end and the winner would move on to the next round.

Right, the game didn't end when one person took the poison. It only ended when one person died.

'In other words, I am completely fine.'

He didn't have to worry in the slightest.

[Perfect Adaptability] was more than just a trait that cooled his emotions, after all.

The first round began in every group surrounding the table. A small dot on the table in front of Atlas turned green, indicating to him that it was his turn.

[Intrinsic Foresight]

He looked into the essence of the two dishes in front of him. They both looked like ordinary chicken breasts garnished with various herbs and two different sauces, however, Atlas could clearly see the poisonous qi flowing through the one on his opponent's side.

'Well, let's be careful for now.'

Atlas decided to take the poisonous dish for himself. He didn't have any grudges against his opponent, and more importantly, he didn't know if the manor artifact was the kind of treasure that grew by absorbing the energy of death.

Cutting into the chicken, Atlas took a small bite. He looked refined while doing it, and he admired the taste like a true gourmet. Though the dish was indeed filled with poison, it tasted quite good.

At most, the poison made it seem like the chef used slightly too much salt and citrus. It was a perfect death trap for anyone else.

When the poison entered Atlas' body, it was immediately detected by his trait and vanquished before he could even feel it.

Looking around, the other cultivators around him were quick to show that they weren't so fortunate. In the first round alone, six people died. Their faces slammed into their plates and the foam coming out of their mouths became garnish for their food.

Atlas and his partner both survived, so they did not move. The six who did die had their chairs pulled away from the table by a mysterious force, and their previous opponents were set against each other.

'Is this supposed to continue until everyone dies?'

Atlas looked around, noticing that the red-haired man was still alive, before turning back to his opponent.

She had a much easier choice in front of her, though she was clearly unaware.

'Both of these dishes are safe.'

The chicken that Atlas didn't choose was still in front of them, and on the other side, a new dish had replaced the one he chose. What was interesting was that this dish was, in fact, safe as well.

'She is unaware that they are both safe since I didn't show any reaction to the poison.'

However, she would be fine no matter what she picked. Atlas was more concerned with the mechanism itself.

'If you are not guaranteed to face a poisoned dish every round…'

He wanted to delve into the more delicate parts of this room's challenge, but as he did so, he made a different realization.

There were no delicate parts to this trial. It was exactly as it appeared on the surface, and it was meant to be a luck-based game that ended in a great amount of death.

There weren't any hidden mechanics in place to help people survive the seemingly terrifying challenge. Why would they implement something like that if they only wanted people to die?

The things he noticed weren't features of the challenge, but holes left in the trial by sloppy design.

Atlas shook his head and watched his opponent take a bite of her food. She chose the new dish, thinking the chicken was poisoned, and survived.

Four people died in the second round. More people understood how to avoid the poison, but in two rounds, they'd been culled to half of their original population.

In the third round, two people died. Atlas decided to do the woman a favor and take the chicken off the table, leaving the other poisoned dish.

However, that left her in a terrible spot in the fourth round.

Because at that point, the second dish that came in was also poisoned. She had no choice but to choose one of the poisoned options, and in the end, she was one of the four deaths in the fourth round.

Five people sat at the table wondering how things became like this so quickly.

"The final four!"

The broken voice returned.

"Hmm… I can't let four people into the playroom… Only two of you can come! Two!"

The table was cut in half. The two halves then shortened so that they were only big enough to seat two people. Atlas looked at the man in front of him, who still wasn't able to speak, with calm eyes.

"I think both of you are traitors! Traitors!"

The broken voice yelled at them before immediately changing its tone.

"Well… only one of you is a traitor, but both of you might as well be!"

The table between them was filled with food.

"Everything is poison! Everything!"

The voice seemed more excited than before, but as if the record crystal was reaching the end of its lifespan, the voice was also cracking much more frequently.

"Eat the food! Eat it! Whoever survives can come to the playroom!"

The moment they stopped eating, they would lose.

'Right, then…'

Since it was all poison, it was just a matter of who had a higher tolerance. Hell, if one person's tolerance wasn't abnormally higher than the other, then it was entirely possible for them to die as well, unable to recover or use antidote pills.

His opponent was very clearly unnerved, but Atlas stopped paying attention to him. It was about time for him to stop caring for this trial, since it was starting to look like it was only a single step towards the center of the manor.

In terms of poison, Atlas was entirely immune. [Perfect Adaptability] granted him immunity to "all" status effects.

And in terms of appetite…

Well, cultivators didn't "need" to eat. They could use Spiritual Energy simply enough to sustain themselves.

However, cultivators were beings with great appetites. Stronger cultivation techniques actually led to a need for more nutrition, which meant that when they did eat, cultivators could even probe each other's strengths by looking at their appetites.

Atlas was practicing the Five Element Technique, but the black hole in his knowledge sea came from the Heavenly Unification Law.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

In simpler terms, if Atlas wanted to eat, he could clear out a street full of restaurants before he got full.

He ate and ate and ate, focusing on nothing else. He sincerely decided to enjoy the taste of his food since the poison didn't matter to him. By the time he stopped, he realized that the person in front of him had collapsed at some point in time.

Looking to the side, he bore witness as the wall between the two tables disappeared, revealing the victor on the other side.

And, considering who was partaking in this trial…

Well, the two final survivors were already easy to predict.