Virtual Universe

With Black Dragon Empire citizenship, opening an account was straightforward.

After paying 17 Ganwu coins, all procedures were completed.

“Sir, the 10 anonymous accounts have been bound to these 10 sensor helmets. Here is your change. Thank you for your patronage,” the receptionist smiled. Luo Feng casually placed the 10 sensor helmets directly into his space ring. As Babata had previously instructed—it was acceptable to display a space ring on Qiulong Star!

However, he had to ensure his space ring appeared to be only 10 meters in length, width, and height, and never store anything exceeding that volume.

After all...

Space storage items came in different grades. For someone who could ride a Black Dragon ship and have Silver Guards as bodyguards, possessing a small storage space item was perfectly normal. Of course, a space ring like Luo Feng’s, which was 'over 600 meters long, over 500 meters wide, and over 100 meters high,' was an absolute luxury item. If its true nature were known, it could very well cost him his life.

Luo Feng carried priceless treasures like the Yunmo Star ship, the corpse of an Immortal-level expert, and various weapons. The Crimson Mixed Copper Fragment and his space ring were also incredibly valuable.

A single strand of hair from an expert like the Yunmo Star Master was more powerful than the Qiulong Star Domain Lord!

One could imagine the terrifying consequences if Luo Feng, the 'Yunmo Star successor,' dared to expose his true treasures.

...

In Qiulong City, inside a casual restaurant, although the decor was novel, many things were quite similar to Earth. Even on different planets, humans shared many commonalities, such as 'desiring privacy' and 'wanting respect.' Ancient Earth's taverns had private rooms, and modern Earth's restaurants still had private rooms! On this incredibly developed Qiulong Star, restaurants also offered highly private rooms.

Naturally... the price was a notch higher.

“Alright, you may leave,” Luo Feng ordered a strange fruit juice and dismissed the server.

“Sir, please press this button if you need anything,” the server smiled, walked away, and closed the door.

Click!

Luo Feng actively locked the private room door from the inside and commanded his two Silver Guards to protect him.

“Babata, enter the Virtual Universe,” Luo Feng instructed.

“Haha, I’ve been looking forward to this day!” Babata was extremely excited. After opening the account, he immediately wanted to enter the Virtual Universe, but entering it required one's consciousness to leave the body. Although Luo Feng could multitask now, he didn't yet possess the ability to 'split his consciousness.' Therefore, he needed to find a safe place.

...

“Connecting to Virtual Universe...”

A deep, vast voice echoed in Luo Feng’s consciousness.

Luo Feng’s consciousness was plunged into darkness.

...

This was an ancient city, its streets paved with large, cut-stone slabs. The pedestrians on the streets, though strange in appearance, varied in height, and diverse in race, mostly wore simple gray clothes, and each had a small sprite on their shoulder.

Swish!

Suddenly, a person appeared in the flow of people on the street—it was Luo Feng. Luo Feng wore simple gray clothes, and perched on his shoulder was a 'demon Babata' no bigger than a fist. Babata also wore a uniform green outfit, looking incredibly cute, like a small sprite.

“This, this is the Virtual Universe Network?”

Luo Feng stood on the street, looking at the crowd, somewhat stunned.

“Of course,” Babata’s voice sounded in Luo Feng’s mind. “We are currently on a 'Black Dragon Mountain Island' at the edge of the 'Ganwu Continent' in the Virtual Universe.”

“Island?” Luo Feng blinked.

“Everyone within the Black Dragon Mountain Empire’s territory who connects to the Virtual Universe Network will appear directly on 'Black Dragon Mountain Island,'” Babata explained. “Although it’s called an island, the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield has over eight thousand star systems, and countless planets with a massive number of people online. So, the area of this island is even larger than any single planet in the real universe.”

Luo Feng was amazed.

“Everyone who enters the Virtual Universe has a 'virtual assistant,'” Babata said. “That’s the 'small sprite' on everyone’s shoulder.”

“The intelligence level of a virtual assistant depends on whether the user is using a 'sensor helmet,' 'auxiliary optical computer,' 'intelligent optical computer,' or 'intelligent lifeform.' For example, the sprites formed by sensor helmets don’t think at all; they only give simple answers. They only act when you command them,” Babata explained.

Luo Feng nodded slightly.

“In the Virtual Universe, you can chat remotely with friends. You can also pay to teleport and meet in the Virtual Universe,” Babata explained. “And things like 'stocks and futures' can also be traded in the Virtual Universe.”

“You can bind your bank account.”

“You can learn martial arts here!”

“You can place orders and conduct transactions here.”

“You can play virtual games. These are 100% simulated virtual games, identical to reality. Virtual games also come in many types... It’s safe to say, there’s nothing you can’t imagine that game providers can’t create.”

“Games, gourmet food, beauties, finance, trading, martial arts competitions, learning... everything!” Babata exclaimed. “The Virtual Universe is a market far vaster than any single planet. It gathers all the human elites in the universe, and what cannot be achieved in reality can be achieved here.”

“Some people treat virtual games as reality, playing for hundreds or even thousands of years, marrying and having children within the game. Of course, the prerequisite is... you have money to play the game! After all, most virtual game players pay to play; those who earn money are a tiny, tiny minority.”

Luo Feng was astonished.

It was too vast!

Compared to the real universe, the Virtual Universe was incredibly prosperous and appealing!

“However, virtual is virtual, after all,” Babata said seriously. “No matter how long you stay in the Virtual Universe, it won’t help your body cultivate! For powerful individuals, the Virtual Universe is merely a convenient channel. You can use it to meet and communicate with many like-minded experts.”

“You can buy and sell many things that are unavailable locally.”

“But if you spend all your time in the Virtual Universe, or even playing virtual games, unless you have no pressure, no ambition, and money to squander, most will end tragically!” Babata warned solemnly.

He clearly understood the allure of virtual games, so he had to remind Luo Feng.

“Of course, playing some interactive cultivation games, or single-player cultivation games, similar to your Earth’s 'Trial Tower,' is acceptable,” Babata added.

“Trial Tower?” Luo Feng was speechless.

Was that even a game?

It was pure grueling training.

“Babata, check the metal combinations needed for the Golden Horned Beast, and also the metal combinations for cultivating 'Original Body World,'” Luo Feng asked mentally. In the Virtual Universe, mental communication with Babata was very safe. The 'Virtual Universe Company' claimed to never monitor anyone’s information and never leak anyone’s data.

These two absolutes were the fundamental cornerstones of the Virtual Universe Company’s existence.

“Luo Feng, for a Stellar-level Golden Horned Beast to devour metals, the best metal combination is 325 types of B-grade pure metals, which can increase the growth rate of its inner world by 89 times... Hmm, I’ve already gathered information on these 325 metals; they are all available for sale in the universe!” Babata quickly found all the information.

“How much would it cost, roughly?” Luo Feng asked immediately.

89 times!

From Stellar-level Tier 1 to Universe-level Tier 1, the slowest progression was 100 years. If he used that metal combination for devouring, he could enter the 'Universe-level' in just over a year.

Universe-level experts were big figures even on a planet like Qiulong Star.

In the Milky Way Galaxy, they were local emperors whose words carried immense weight.

“A year’s supply would cost over 60 billion Black Dragon dollars,” Babata said.

“Why so much? A ton of B-grade Profound Iron Essence only costs 9 Black Dragon dollars! Although it’s a metal combination, it’s more potent. But even if it’s tens of thousands of tons a year, how could it be over 60 billion?” Luo Feng couldn’t help but ask. Tens of thousands of tons of Profound Iron Essence would only be a few million Black Dragon dollars.

“Luo Feng, your thinking is flawed!”

“While A-grade metals are cheaper than B-grade, B-grade cheaper than C-grade, and C-grade cheaper than D-grade... this is generally true. But there are still some very special metals,” Babata explained. “For example, the C-grade metal 'Silver' is the Silver used to create Silver Guards!”

“One Silver Guard consumes about one ton of Silver.”

“One ton of C-grade Uranium-Yttrium is only a little over 3,000 Black Dragon dollars.”

“But do you know how much one Silver Guard costs?” Babata countered.

Luo Feng was stunned.

Right, the reaction of Gaosheng and those official department personnel when they saw the Silver Guards... clearly, Silver Guards were very expensive! Otherwise, they wouldn’t care so much.

“One Silver Guard is priced at 280 million Black Dragon dollars! One ton of Silver metal costs 160 million Black Dragon dollars. That’s far, far more expensive than Uranium-Yttrium, which is also C-grade,” Babata said. “It’s precisely because Silver metal is special and rare that its price is incredibly high! More expensive than many D-grade metals.”

“And among the 325 B-grade metal combinations needed for your 'inner world's' growth, three types have 'space attributes' and are primary materials for manufacturing space-storage items. That’s why they are quite expensive, coupled with the massive quantity you need,” Babata explained.

Luo Feng gave a bitter, helpless smile.

They were primary materials for manufacturing space rings and other items; how could they be cheap?

And he needed to devour hundreds of tons daily, consuming that much in a year?

60 billion Black Dragon dollars wasn’t expensive for what it was!

But he didn’t have the money!

900 Ganwu coins were only equivalent to 900,000 Black Dragon dollars. The massive figure of over 60 billion was... too distant.

“Of course, there are other metal combinations, much cheaper. But you still can’t afford them,” Babata said. “For example, there’s a metal combination that costs a little over 10 billion a year and increases cultivation speed by 39 times. There’s also one that costs over 3 billion Black Dragon dollars a year, increasing cultivation speed by 20 times. And one that costs over 100 million a year, increasing cultivation speed by 5 times.”

The Golden Horned Beast had trouble finding metals.

But as a human, finding metals was much easier. In the 'Virtual Universe,' what couldn’t be bought?

However—

It still cost money!

“The Golden Horned Beast eats too much, tons and tons every day,” Luo Feng felt immense heartache.

“As for the metal combinations needed for 'Original Body World,' they are even more expensive... you shouldn’t even think about them for now,” Babata stated directly.

Luo Feng pushed these thoughts aside and asked his second important question: “Babata, if I want to claim Earth under my name, to become Earth’s Lord! What are the conditions?” The best way to prevent people from other planets from selling Earth and enslaving its inhabitants was for him to become Earth’s Lord!

Recognized by Imperial Law! Then no one could seize a planet that already had an owner!

“Become Earth’s Lord? Let me check...” Babata blinked.