Becoming God of a Dystopian World

The spectating disciples were shocked after seeing the display of Zhao Luo's power.

His endurance was enough to handle the attack of the drum but his power was even more than they could imagine.

Some disciples started whispering about their future plans regarding Zhao Luo.

'We shouldn't get on his bad side.'

'Indeed.'

'Look what he did to that poor drum.'

These whispers continued as the person being discussed was solely focused on the second drum of the fourth row.

"Hmm, let's not touch the drumhead this time."

Zhao Luo said with a light voice as he simply grabbed the drumsticks to beat the drum.

Zhao Luo did the same stance as he was doing before and with his controlled strength, the drumsticks in his hand fell on the drumhead.

'Boom.'

A loud sound was released from the drum as Zhao Luo was already walking towards the third drum.

'Boom.'

'Boom.'

.

.

One after another ten echoes reverberated around the Training Area. 

This was no longer a challenge for Zhao Luo.

The carefree and calm expression on Zhao Luo's face showed how hard this 'Drum Of Bellum' was for Zhao Luo.

Just like that Zhao Luo cleared the other three drums in the fourth row. Every time he struck it hard enough to get ten echoes.

This resulted in him walking to the next consecutive drum without facing a single attack by the drum.

'Only the last row is left.'

Zhao Luo who had cleared the first four rows thought as he looked at the fifth row.

These were the last five drums that he had to beat. This was where he will receive the reward of this whole ordeal when he strikes the fifth drum.

'What could be the effect of these drums?'

Zhao Luo questioned as he walked towards the first drum.

He didn't know anything about the fifth row except that they would cause mental attacks on the person challenging it.

'Come at me with all you got.'

Zhao Luo was determined with a serious expression, he grabbed the drumsticks of the first drum.

'How many echoes should I go for?'

Another question appeared in his mind.

Zhao Luo still didn't know how hard he should be hitting the drum.

'How much power should I use?'

Question after question appeared in his mind but in the end, he finally reached a conclusion.

'Let's go all out.'

Zhao Luo had finally decided as he pulled his arms back as much as he could and arched his back before bringing everything forward before striking the drum with the drumsticks in his hand.

Zhao Luo's hands were lifted back again after he had hit the drumhead but no sound was produced by the drum.

This left the spectators silent. They were waiting for the result and not this silent show.

How could a drum not produce a sound after being hit?

'Did he already use all his strength?'

One of the disciples thought while looking at the still-standing Zhao Luo.

'So sad. Handsome brother....'

A female trainee disciple thought while looking at Zhao Luo.

She thought that Zhao Luo was in shock as no sound came from the drum.

'He failed!'

Mite thought with a big smile on his face.

Since the start, this was the only moment he felt a little happy because of Zhao Luo's failure.

These last five minutes felt like a hellish eternity to him, never-ending like Mite was trapped around burning drums and every time the sound of a drum would be heard, he would burn.

Everyone thought that Zhao Luo had failed but nobody knew the reality.

'Brother.'

Feng Mei thought while staring at Zhao Luo's back.

The reality was way different than what others could see.

A reality that was only known by Zhao Luo and nobody else.

Zhao Luo who was standing in front of the first drum of the fifth row had his eyes closed.

It all happened at the exact moment when the drumsticks in Zhao Luo's hand had come in contact with the drumhead.

Zhao Luo had suffered a mind tearing attack by the Drum which had invaded his body in the form of vibrations.

These vibrations in turn combined and exploded as sound when they reached his ears.

A sound that could have resounded in the whole training area was now closed inside Zhao Luo's head reverberating inside his mind in the form of echoes.

'Boom.'

The first echo resounded causing Zhao Luo to clench his fist.

The impact was great but he was handling it fairly well.

'Boom.'

The second echo appeared as the first echo died down.

Zhao Luo still endured it.

This continued till the seventh.

A vein had popped out on Zhao Luo's forehead as he was now clenching his teeth too along with his fists just to help him direct all this pain towards other parts of his body.

'Boom.' Eighth echo.

'Boom.' Ninth echo.

'Boom.' Tenth echo.

After echoing ten times inside Zhao Luo's head the sound finally disappeared. 

Zhao Luo was left in unimaginable pain.

He wasn't prepared for such kind of mental attack.

'Phew, my head.'

Zhao Luo touched his head with his hand while feeling a headache that was tearing his head into pieces but he had to bear with it.

'So the best way to pass these drums is for the drum sound to echo out three times.'

Zhao Luo had confirmed this fact by going through excruciating pain.

'Shwaa~'

The drum in front of him glowed for a moment but the next moment its glow died down. 

This caused a wave of discussion to rise among the crowd of disciple that was watching Zhao Luo.

They all thought that Zhao Luo had failed but what was this?

'Why did the drum glow?'

The disciples thought.

'So he passed it?'

Others wondered.

While they were questioning the situation, Zhao Luo moved to the second drum of the fifth row.

This time Zhao Luo didn't hit it as hard as before instead he only raised his arms high enough to reach his head level before bringing the drumsticks in his hands to hit the drumhead.

'Boom.'

Another sound attack appeared inside his head like a typhoon.

Zhao Luo was now grabbing his head. Even though it was like hell inside his mind, Zhao Luo couldn't give up after coming this close to the drums.

'Boom.'

'Boom.'

'Boom.'

After the sound echoed three times, Zhao Luo's handsome face was now red as a tomato.

'Shwaa~'

The second drum glowed for a moment showing that Zhao Luo had passed the stage.

'It's like someone was throwing grenades inside my head.'

Zhao Luo complained as he cried about the confrontation.

The disciples could notice Zhao Luo's predicament because of his actions after beating the drum and the color of his face.

"Tip, Tip."

Beads of sweat dropped on the ring floor as Zhao Luo walked towards the third drum.

While looking at Zhao Luo, Feng Mei, and Yan looked hurt. They hadn't seen Zhao Luo in such a state before. 

"Brother~."

Feng Mei cried out with her cute voice.

Whereas Yan was still silent with tears in her eyes.

'I am a man. I can't cry right now.'

Yan thought as she was actually 'Brother Yan' right now.

Zhao Luo moved to the third drum.

Everything repeated the same way as the last time on the second drum.

Then to the fourth drum.

Zhao Luo went through the same painful experience again.

The drums glowed for a moment showing that he had passed both times.

'Hah.'

Zhao Luo was now like a walking sea of sweat as he moved towards the fifth drum.

His shoulders were dropping because of being mentally tired after the sound attacks that reverberated in his head breaking his mind again and again.

Zhao Luo stood against the last drum of the fifth row with his eyes half-closed.

"Hahaha."

Zhao Luo laughed through his clenched teeth.

He looked even more mesmerizing under these roughed-up conditions than before.

Zhao Luo laughed cause he could see his victory right before his eyes.

He just had to strike the drum.

To do that Zhao Luo grabbed the drumsticks once again and raised his arms to his head level which was already hard for him to do.

With all the strength that Zhao Luo could muster, he hit the last drum with the drumsticks in his hand.

'Here it comes.'

Zhao Luo thought.

'Boom.'

Zhao Luo could once again hear the sound of the drum in his head.

'What?'

Zhao Luo was shocked because this time even though the sound was the same as the last four times, there was a melodious tone hidden in it.

Like a rejuvenation spell taking over him, Zhao Luo felt as if all of his fatigue started disappearing.

'My body...'

Zhao Luo's body was being filled with strength as the sound started echoing again and again.

It didn't stop at just three echoes and kept on resounding till Zhao Luo started feeling so powerful that all of the tiredness that had accumulated inside his body since last night had disappeared.

'Huff.'

Zhao Luo took a deep breath as the drum started glowing.

The glow didn't vanish this time but instead absorbed Zhao Luo's consciousness.

"What..."

The shocked Zhao Luo said as he appeared in a vast world with the azure sky as its roof, leaving his body outside on stand-by mode.