Planet Fortress

Inside the Realm Lord's World on Canglan Star.

Luo Feng and the other four were quickly clearing the battlefield. "Haha, as expected of an elite from Hundred Tiger Tower's younger generation, this young girl actually used an intelligent optical computer. I won't need to buy one now; I'll just use this!" Lei Shen was quite pleased. Luo Feng used a 'sentient AI' that surpassed intelligent optical computers, Hong used an intelligent optical computer, while Lei Shen had only used an auxiliary optical computer before.

"And a spatial ring."

"And a psychic weapon."

"These six Ninth-tier Star Travellers combined couldn't match the number of treasures this young girl possessed." Tienan River moved quickly, sweeping up all the valuable items.

Among the six Ninth-tier Star Travellers, three were psychic masters and three were warriors.

However, their skill level was similar to the Nuolanshan Guard, so they were considered cannon fodder at the Hundred Tiger Tower, assigned this time to protect the two elites.

"Aogu, this flying psychic weapon is yours."

"Tienan River, pick whichever origin weapon you like."

"As for this spatial ring..." Luo Feng's gaze swept over Lei Shen, Aogu, and Tienan River. Lei Shen immediately called out, "Let me see that spatial ring first! The one I use is the smallest size." Among the five members of the team, Luo Feng and Hong already had spatial rings. Lei Shen had bought his own.

It was the smallest kind available.

"Haha, it really is bigger than my spatial ring!" Lei Shen was overjoyed.

...

Lei Shen, Tienan River, and Aogu adjusted their equipment. Afterward, the group quickly left the battle site and only stopped when they reached the foot of a mountain a thousand li away.

"Next, we should go look for the Wind-Horn Stone," Luo Feng said, looking at everyone.

"The Wind-Horn Stone is only found in one place in the Realm Lord's World: the 'Wind-Thunder Canyon,' the core area of the Thunder World." Hong looked at the screen on his arm guard, tapping it lightly as he observed, "From here to Wind-Thunder Canyon, the distance is over 300,000 kilometers. Even if the journey goes smoothly, it will take nearly a month to arrive."

300,000 kilometers.

In the Realm Lord's World, firstly, the gravity is too strong, and secondly, Luo Feng and the others cannot fly at maximum speed. So, relying on Babata's warnings, even on the smoothest days, they only advance about 10,000 kilometers. It will still take a month to arrive.

"The groups of Horned Iron Rhinos, in the few places they inhabit in this Realm Lord's World, are all far from the core region."

"No matter where we go to hunt Horned Iron Rhinos, we'll still have to make our way to Wind-Thunder Canyon in the end," Lei Shen said, frowning. "The Cosmic Mercenary Alliance clearly intends for us to traverse half the Realm Lord's World with this mission arrangement."

The Realm Lord's World naturally holds many threats.

Traversing half the Realm Lord's World... will definitely be a series of life-or-death crises. Even with warning systems, they aren't of much use against some natural threats.

"This is a trial, an elimination," Luo Feng said, shaking his head. "The Cosmic Mercenary Alliance aims to weed out the unqualified. If one can't even pass this stage, they won't be fit for cosmic adventures later on."

"Hmm," Hong nodded. "From our current location to Wind-Thunder Canyon in the core region of the Realm Lord's World, there are three paths. Everyone, take a look and see which one we should take."

"These three paths..." Lei Shen looked at the map on the screen. "They're all quite dangerous."

"The first path," Luo Feng said.

On the first path, there are slightly more fierce beasts, but fewer natural threats. Of course... that's only relative to the other two paths.

"Alright then, the first one," Hong nodded.

"Then let's go!" Lei Shen said directly.

...

Luo Feng's team began their longest journey yet in the Realm Lord's World. They didn't dare fly high in the air, as that would simply attract fierce beasts, a suicidal act.

...

The Realm Lord's World is both heaven and hell.

For many adventurers and mercenaries, an undeveloped Realm Lord's World is a treasure trove—a paradise! Yet, it's also fraught with peril, where a single misstep can lead to death. Still... a vast number of adventurers and cosmic mercenaries flock to it. As for this 'Thunder World,' it was extensively explored long ago and now merely serves as a tool for assessing apprentice mercenaries.

"Bastard!"

Beside a thorny thicket in the Longsuo Mountain Range, Qiu Yu gripped his giant battle saber with one hand, gritting his teeth.

Thinking of his female companion's venomous voice before her death, and the Ninth-tier Star Traveller corpses beneath that seemingly 'beautiful' blue saber glow, Qiu Yu was filled with both rage and terror, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. This was his first time entering the Realm Lord's World.

In the past, as a genius, he, along with many other geniuses, was meticulously cultivated by the Hundred Tiger Tower, establishing a solid foundation.

Though the training was arduous, it wasn't life-threatening.

But this time...

"I almost died, almost died!!!" Qiu Yu's heart surged. In the past, he had been full of imagination for the future, and he had killed before. But when he faced death himself... he discovered that he was utterly terrified of it.

"The instructor said fear isn't wrong, but one must remain calm. Fear is also a kind of power, a power that can make the body evolve."

"Calm down, calm down." Qiu Yu gradually calmed down. He glanced at the bodyguard beside him and ordered, "Keep watch around me. I'm going into the Virtual Universe."

"Yes," the bodyguard respectfully replied.

...

The Hundred Tiger Tower had issued orders to these young elites entering the Realm Lord's World for the Cosmic Apprentice Mercenary assessment. Every day, they had to send an email to their supervisor via the Virtual Universe Network! If a companion died, it also had to be stated in the email.

As long as an email was sent, it meant the member was still alive!

...

Virtual Universe Network, Black Dragon Mountain Island.

A fat man, covered in flab with two curved horns on his head, lay on a chair. A screen floated before him. "Beep!" An email appeared on the screen.

"Another email reporting they're still alive. Open it," the fat man said slowly.

The email opened automatically.

The fat man read slowly, but then suddenly stood up, staring at the email in shock: "This Eighth Squad only has two people left alive? And a Two-Star Elite died?" The fat man immediately sent communication requests to the other seven members of the Eighth Squad.

As expected... there was no reply.

The Hundred Tiger Tower generally assigned bodyguards based on the importance of the young generation's geniuses. For example, a squad of ten might have five young geniuses and five bodyguards. Other squads might have one young genius and nine bodyguards. This Eighth Squad originally had eight bodyguards and two young geniuses.

One bodyguard had already died previously.

Clearly... the Eighth Squad was considered a relatively important one. For the Hundred Tiger Tower, losing a Third-tier Elite was already painful, and losing a Two-Star Elite was even more so. If a First-tier Elite were lost, they would practically jump with rage! As for Special-tier Elites... the Hundred Tiger Tower rarely encountered one.

Such peerless geniuses were rare and hard to come by.

...

In the cosmic starry sky.

The fat man opened his eyes. Through the external virtual display, he saw a colossal object in the distant starry sky: "I'm almost at headquarters anyway, so I'll report this in person." That colossal object was a planet! More precisely, it was a planet seemingly cast from alloy. This was the headquarters of the Hundred Tiger Tower—

Black Tiger Star.

This Black Tiger Star was, at its core, a massive planet fortress! Entirely black, the planet was riddled with deep, winding passages leading directly into its interior. Its surface was covered with thick cannon barrels capable of obliterating a D-grade spaceship with a single shot, along with numerous other weapons like magnetic railguns and large laser cannons.

Across the entire planet, some areas occasionally emitted a faint blue light.

Spaceships, covering the sky and earth like countless locusts, sometimes flew in great numbers through the deep passages into the planet's interior. At other times, large numbers of spaceships flew out from those deep passages.

At a glance, almost all those spaceships were at least C-grade, with even D-grade spaceships present, and occasionally E-grade ships could be seen!

The overwhelming number of spaceships was like a swarm of locusts.

Yet the planet fortress, a colossal entity, constantly swallowed and disgorged vast numbers of spaceships. This place was the headquarters of the 'Hundred Tiger Tower,' one of the four great cosmic organizations of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire! Many Realm Lord-level powerhouses were permanently stationed here. The entire planet was a fortress, transformed from an ordinary mineral planet at an astronomical cost.

A planet fortress!

...

"Beep."

The spaceship carrying the fat man, following the tractor beam signal from the planet fortress, flew into one of the many deep passages on Black Tiger Star's surface. From space, these deep passages appeared tiny and inconspicuous, but only upon closer approach would one realize that each passage was over a hundred kilometers wide.

The spaceship entered the deep passage.

"Hmm, new devices installed?" The fat man carefully examined the inner walls on both sides of the deep passage. More dark, centipede-like alloy frames were embedded in the walls than before.

A moment later.

After the spaceship docked in the docking bay, the fat man, clad in a blue robe, walked along a wide corridor where 'sky and white clouds' were virtually projected on both sides. At first glance, hundreds of people could be seen in this corridor, almost all wearing blue robes. Only two wore white robes, and both had Two-Star Mercenary Medals pinned to their chests.

"Greetings, sirs," the fat man quickly saluted as he passed the two white-robed individuals.

Everyone else in the corridor did the same.

At the Hundred Tiger Tower...

Blue robes represented Universe-level cultivators! And some individuals holding extremely important positions. The fat man was only a Star Traveller, but due to his significant authority, he was qualified to wear a blue robe.

White robes represented Domain Lords and a very small number of high-ranking officials.

Black robes were exclusively for Realm Lords.

As for Undying Beings?

Even if Undying Beings had been born in the history of the Hundred Tiger Tower, such beings would likely have long since gone to the Ganwu Universe Nation or other places. For Undying Beings... the Black Dragon Mountain Empire was a pond too small to contain them!

In any case, the Hundred Tiger Tower, Black Cloud Society, North Dragon City, and Three Axe Mountain—these four great cosmic organizations were absolute behemoths within the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, with deep foundations and a multitude of Universe-level powerhouses under their command! Even the imperial royal family was unwilling to provoke them. The sheer number of spaceships constantly coming and going from the Hundred Tiger Tower headquarters alone was testament to their power.