Chapter 529 - 328: Unpresentable

Chapter 529: Chapter 328: Unpresentable

A dull thud echoed, followed by the sickening crunch of shattering bone.

The tall man’s burly body arched violently. Before he could even scream, his entire chest was completely pierced by an indescribable force.

The ferocious power erupted from his back, sending a visible ripple through the air behind him.

The massive, spiked club in his hand slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

His tall body crumpled limply to the ground, the light in his eyes rapidly dimming and fading away.

In the next moment, his body dissolved into countless motes of light, vanishing completely within the world of giant trees.

[Opponent killed. Points +1]

[Current Points: 2]

[Current Rank: 7,412,589]

Li Wen’s points instantly changed from "1" to "2".

His rank shot up like a rocket, jumping from the bottom of the pile beyond the eight billion mark to within the top eight million.

"This is insane," Li Wen murmured, gazing at the jumping numbers on the virtual panel. ’How long has it even been? Over seven million people have already been eliminated.’

After this brief reflection, however, Li Wen wasn’t in a hurry to hunt for more kills and points.

’It’s still too early. The first stage lasts a full month.’ Li Wen’s gaze swept across the vast, primitive world of giant trees as he made his decision.

’Rather than waste effort hunting for inefficient targets now, I’d better spend a few days perfecting my Primordial Spirit defense Secret Technique. I need to be fully prepared for the tough battles that might come later.’

He sat down cross-legged right where he was, his body naturally levitating about six inches off the ground.

Deep within his sea of consciousness, Wish Power began to flow and weave in a regular pattern.

A Star Lord Level Primordial Spirit defense Secret Technique called "Star-Source Barrier" was rapidly taking shape.

This Secret Technique was one he had redeemed from the Source Net, and it was currently the defensive method best suited to his own attributes.

In truth, within the entire Alka Empire, individuals who reached the Star Lord Level before the age of two hundred were as rare as a phoenix’s feather. Those who specialized in the Primordial Spirit, the Primordial Spirit Star Lords, were even rarer.

In this early stage, the probability of him encountering an expert of the same level in this thousand-person world was almost zero.

But Li Wen was habitually cautious. He knew that the universe was vast and full of wonders, and that any carelessness could lead to irreversible doom.

Besides, the efficiency of earning points was too low in the early stages; killing one person only yielded one point.

Therefore, calmly constructing his defenses was undoubtedly the best choice.

...

As Li Wen focused his mind, immersing himself in the construction of his Secret Technique to sharpen his defensive shield for the hunts to come...

...in the vast viewing space built for spectators within the Virtual Cosmos, outside the thousand "thousand-person worlds," the atmosphere was already electric, like a boiling Star Sea.

With a terrifying number of participants in the trillions, even the officials of the Source Net couldn’t possibly broadcast every battle in real-time.

For the first stage’s "thousand-person world" free-for-all, they had implemented a smart-filtered broadcast system.

Each thousand-person world corresponded to a massive, independent viewing space.

In the center of the space floated a gigantic screen that stretched across the sky, so vast its edges were almost out of sight.

The screen was precisely divided into exactly one hundred real-time broadcast windows.

At this moment, the hundreds of windows were like rapidly flipping pages, their images switching at high speed.

Some windows showed fierce jungle skirmishes, with blades flashing and energy beams exploding, the roars of battle unending;

Others displayed careful stealth and meticulously laid traps, a world of hidden dangers;

There were even those who seized precious moments of respite, practicing their Secret Techniques against the clock in corners they deemed safe...

Each window was like a living scroll.

It displayed different combat strategies, methods of survival, and the myriad facets of human nature under the pressure of life and death.

...

「Meanwhile.」

In the community sector of the Virtual Cosmos designated for the nascent Lain Empire, a fanatical wave of searching for Li Wen was sweeping through every corner like a storm.

"Has anyone found Li Wen?"

"I’m watching the rankings and broadcast for World 87. Haven’t found him yet."

"The top 100 list for World 52 just refreshed! Nothing! Still no sign of Li Wen’s name!"

"Everyone split up! We’ll search world by world!"

Countless citizens of the Lain Empire, whether they knew Li Wen personally or not...

...were now filled with a vicarious sense of pride and excitement, spontaneously flocking to the viewing spaces of the various districts.

Their passion was pure and fiery, all because that name represented the glory of Lain.

Ever since a year ago, when Li Wen had reached the eighth level of the Heaven-Reaching Tower at the shocking bone age of forty...

...his name had become the pride and symbol of the entire nascent Lain Empire.

He was the peerless genius representing the Lain Empire on this vast cosmic stage!

His very existence had made the name "Lain Empire"—once obscure within the Moluo Empire and even wider Star Domains—resound many times louder.

At this moment, to cheer for Li Wen was to cheer for their homeland.

It was to fight for the glory that belonged to the people of Lain.

Finally, amidst the anxious search by countless people, a piece of news exploded on the Lain Empire’s most popular social media platform:

"FOUND HIM!!! IN WORLD 13!!! LI WEN IS IN WORLD 13!!!"

Immediately following, a clear screenshot of a virtual panel was instantly pushed to the top of the trending charts and shared at a viral pace:

[World 13 Real-Time Point Rankings (Partial)]

[...]

[7,412,589. Li Wen (Source Net Internal Member, Lain Empire)

Points: 2

Status: Alive]

[...]

Below the screenshot, the line that had been deliberately circled showed Li Wen’s rank, name, nationality, points, and most importantly, his "Alive" status.

"World 13! Li Wen is in World 13!"

"Coordinates locked! World 13 viewing area! Brothers and sisters of Lain, teleport over now!!"

"Lock onto World 13’s central screen! A hundred windows, quick! Find which window Li Wen appears in!"

The news spread like wildfire, instantly igniting the passion of every spectator from the Lain Empire.

Massive crowds began teleporting to the dedicated viewing space for World 13.

Countless gazes, filled with fervent hope and pride, were locked onto the giant screen ahead, which was split into a hundred frames.

They searched intently, waiting for the figure who represented the hope of the Lain Empire—Li Wen—to appear in one of those windows.

Watched by countless compatriots, Li Wen’s Cosmic Level journey had officially begun in this primordial, giant-tree-filled World No. 13.

「Three days passed in a flash.」

However, these three days proved to be somewhat agonizing for the countless citizens of the Lain Empire.

The reason was that Li Wen, the person they were watching, had seen his rank drop instead of rise.

It had fallen from the several-million mark where they first found him, all the way down into the hundreds of millions.

Fortunately, Li Wen’s past achievements and his status as a Source Net internal member allowed the people of the Lain Empire to keep their faith in him.

For the time being, no one had appeared online to question or insult Li Wen.

"Li Wen’s points haven’t changed, which proves he just hasn’t made a move yet. It doesn’t matter if his rank drops for now," many people commented online.

"Right, right, that must be it. With Li Wen’s strength, it’s impossible for his points and rank to be this low. He’s probably just cultivating."

"This is the smart move. Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the work of chopping wood."

...

In the World 13 viewing space, besides the citizens of the Lain Empire, there were countless others who had come to support the geniuses from their own empires.

"Hahaha, Sheng Mos truly is the number one genius of our Tyrone Empire! He’s already in third place!" a boisterous spectator shouted, waving a virtual flag and pointing to a shining name on the leaderboard.

"Yeah, and his points aren’t far behind second place. Maybe he can really make it into the top thousand of the Alka District," his companion agreed, their eyes full of pride.

"Those Source Net internal members don’t seem so special, do they? A lot of them are ranked behind Sheng Mos," another person from the Tyrone Empire sneered, gesturing at the screen.

"Those ones are the good ones. There’s a Source Net internal member named Li Wen who’s ranked in the hundreds of millions."

A biting voice chimed in, coming from a spectator dressed in robes embroidered with star patterns.

"Is that for real? A Source Net internal member ranked in the hundreds of millions?" a woman next to him asked in surprise.

"Of course it’s true! Three days have passed, and his points are still at 2. If you ask me, his reputation is completely undeserved. I heard he’s from some nascent empire. As expected, he can’t compete on the big stage," the man jeered, drawing a wave of laughter from those around him.

...

In another corner, a group of spectators from the Holy Radiance Race of the Huiyao Star Domain were staring nervously at the screen.

Their genius, Keynes Huiyao, had barely managed to squeeze into a rank of just over one thousand, and his points were only increasing slowly.

"Come on, Keynes! You’re about to break into the top thousand!" an old man said, clenching his fists.