Astral Pet Store (WN)

Boom!

The entire continent was trembling. A magnificent power relocated the ten vast regions to combine them.

Outside of the continent was a boundless sea.

The audience witnessing this was shocked. The Ascendant State power was truly horrifying!

It seemed that Ascendants could easily change a world or destroy it!

"This is the Ascendant State!"

"No wonder it's called the Ascendant State. They have indeed ascended!"

"Aren't they just like the mythical gods? Gods once said 'let there be light,' and there was light. Gods said 'let there be continents,' and continents came to be…"

"Unimaginable…"

Not just the ordinary people, all the Star Lords were both awed and respectful.

It was the level they craved to achieve!

A new round of challenges began after the ten regions were combined.

According to the rules and information previously released by the authorities, everybody knew that the previous winners would fight each other on that merged continent!

This time, ninety percent of them would be eliminated!

A thousand winners would be left in the end to compete for the top hundred!

This was a cruel and harsh elimination. The previous fifteen rounds were fair and ordered in comparison. A chaotic battle would ensue!

Even the strong geniuses would be knocked out in advance if they were attacked collectively!

Not just the combat ability, but also the connections, the ability to hide, and other comprehensive abilities would be tested!

After all, the geniuses that would emerge victorious couldn't simply be strong individuals. They were expected to travel the universe and explore dangerous mysterious realms later on.

Would there be fairness in those places?

They wouldn't get to survive if they weren't able to fend for themselves!

A Star Lord stepped up and recited the rules. Many more Star Lords emerged in front of the winners, followed by Star State assistants who held boxes of badges.

"Everybody is given an identity badge in the survival battle; you can rob others of their identity badges. Every badge equals one point. You'll pass the test if you're still alive in the end with at least ten points!

"The duration of this test will be 180 federal hours!

"Everybody, please line up and accept your identity badge."

"As I expected, nine thousand people will be eliminated this time!"

"Maybe more, if the contestants are tough enough."

Nobody disagreed with the rules, which had been in practice for many years.

The audience watching the stream were quite anxious; some had even placed bets on their favorite players. The contestants could be strong during the individual matches, but anything could happen in that chaotic battle.

"Finally, we're getting serious!"

"It's time to clear the garbage."

Some of the geniuses stretched their arms with a cold demeanor in the waiting area; they were satisfied with the rules.

Everybody claimed their identity badges soon after.

The badges were silver colored; each with the name of the contestant. They were made of special materials and covered with a special power.

Su Ping, however, detected the power of faith in his badge.

However, the pattern of that power seemed to have been slightly altered; it protected the badge so well that he probably couldn't damage it even if he punched it.

"Now, enter the regions!"

After a Star Lord's announcement, a dense fog arose and enshrouded the entire continent, making it impossible to see the mountains and rivers.

Channels appeared in every region to allow everybody to enter.

Su Ping was about to enter. He tried putting the badge in his storage, only to find that the power that covered the badge was preventing it from being kept in another space.

Su Ping's eyes glittered. He suddenly realized that his badge would probably release signals at some point to intensify the battles.

Just like they said, the battle was getting serious.

Whoosh!

All of a sudden, two people dashed over; they were Claesabe and Ibetaluna. Once they were closer, Claesabe said, "Brother Su, can we come along?"

Ibetaluna looked at Su Ping hopefully too.

Both of them were strong, confident of making it to the top hundred in the individual matches. However, they would probably fail soon if other academies ganged up on them.

"Okay."

Su Ping glanced at them. Without turning them down, he said, "But I won't ensure your safety if things get dangerous."

They looked at each other, and Claesabe quickly said, "Brother Su, don't worry. We won't hold you back. Just abandon us if there's any danger you can't cope with."

He thought that he would have no choice except to surrender if anyone could threaten Su Ping.

Ibetaluna thought the same; she didn't argue.

Su Ping didn't say anything else after their response, simply entering the same channel together.

Somewhere farther away, a few students of the Amir Royal Academy had gathered around Oasis Dragon King too. All of them looked at Oasis Gray after they saw Su Ping enter.

"Let's get in there too."

Oasis Gray's eyes flashed. He flew to another channel; even though the continent had been obscured by the fog, he unconsciously hoped to keep a distance from Su Ping.

Although reluctant to admit his weakness, he didn't want to lose in that important match.

Somewhere else, the young man who carried a wooden sword also noticed the channel that Su Ping had used. He frowned, then chose to enter through another channel.

At the same time—Holy King and Queen of the Seas, with another group of students of their academy, hesitated for a moment after seeing Su Ping's direction and also chose another channel.

"We could join hands and fight him, but it's not like we have to," whispered Queen of the Seas.

"Let's leave him to the end," agreed Holy King.

He could crush anyone else in the contest if he joined hands with his nemesis Queen of the Seas this time; they could even take care of Dragon Emperor and the Sword God's heir. However, it would be better to not fight a guy with Ascendant State potential.

"Humph!"

Far in the distance, Dragon Emperor noticed the movements done by Su Ping and the others. He snorted and led the students of the Dragon Tomb Academy to another direction.

Some among the audience noticed the different directions taken by the five academies but ignored Su Ping altogether. They thought that the five academies had chosen to keep a safe distance from each other because of mutual wariness.

Such a strategy provoked a heated discussion afterwards.

Soon, all the contestants had entered the continent and the survival countdown began.

The fog in the continent was dispersed, revealing the true situation of the continent.

The fog was released to prevent the contestants who arrived early from taking advantageous positions and attacking those who entered later. All of it was meant to ensure fairness.

Hai Tuo flew back to the temple and said with a smile, "It has begun."

Both You Ying and Huan Lieshen observed the continent calmly.

Everyones' actions were clearly streamed by the media once the fog was gone.

However, new territories had been added to the continent during the merging. There were dark cracks that looked like deeper spaces in some areas, and red mists that blocked the senses in other parts.

There were also many Star State beasts which had been added to the mix.

Those beasts were currently running amok on the continent. They had just been uncaged, so they were obviously excited after seeing the vast plains.

"So many Star State beasts! They're horrifying!"

"This is not a contest, it's a slaughter!"

"It's challenging enough to fight those beasts, and they have to resist attacks from the other contestants too. This truly is a demanding test!"

The audience watching the stream was worried and excited.

Su Ping and his companions stood in midair in a certain part of the continent. He scanned the environment once the fog was lifted; it had the ability to block his senses.

He expanded his perception scope and found that his senses were also being limited. The fog was already gone, but his detection scope had been reduced by dozens of times; he could barely detect anything further than what his naked eye could see.

Of course, it was partly because he had a much better eyesight than other people in his level did.

Of course, this sensory limitation was not normal.

"Just as I expected, our senses are being restricted."

"They want us to fight each other blindfolded!"

Both Claesabe and Ibetaluna tried spreading out their senses; they couldn't help but look around, as they couldn't detect anything in the far distance.

"We don't have a lot of time. Let's find the others," said Su Ping.

Since some people were bound to be eliminated; it would be for the best if he was the one doing it.

"Wouldn't it be too dangerous if we just wander around?" Claesabe was slightly worried.

"I saw a lot of people teaming up before we entered; some teams have a hundred members. They want to finish off the other contestants before they fight each other."

"Even if we stay here, we would still meet them sooner or later. We can always run if we can't beat them," said Su Ping.

Claesabe was rendered speechless and could only give Su Ping a bitter smile.

Ibetaluna said, "I agree. Competition is inevitable. Even if we hide until the end, we will still fail if we don't have enough points; we can always escape if we run into a large gang."

Claesabe chose to keep silent after hearing that. He also knew that Su Ping had the final say among the three of them.

"Let's go then," said Su Ping.

If he had to run for their lives, he believed that he was faster than most people, so he wasn't afraid.

Once they were about to move, Su Ping suddenly saw a few men dashing over. He stopped and said, "Someone's coming. Prepare to rob them."

Both Claesabe and Ibetaluna were astonished; they looked at the place where Su Ping was looking. They soon saw other contestants. Both of them were shocked, as they spotted the targets almost two seconds after Su Ping did.

Considering the targets' speed, Su Ping's range of perception was obviously much larger!

"Are we going to just rob them?" asked Claesabe.

They hadn't seen the targets clearly yet. What if they were bad a**es?

However, the moment the idea occurred to him, he suddenly realized that Su Ping himself was a bada**!

All bad a**es were domineering; they would simply rob whoever they saw!

"Rob them!"

Ibetaluna, however, quickly took action. She launched an attack as soon as she saw the targets clearly.

She noticed that the targets weren't the tough figures she knew. She instantly took action as a way to show her value.

Claesabe was stunned for a moment when she attacked relentlessly. Then, he quickly dropped his irrelevant thoughts and also charged at the newcomers.

He couldn't be eclipsed by a woman anyway.

The targets noticed them as they marched forward, realizing that it was no good. However, running away would be more dangerous, as it would attract the attention of more enemies.

"Damn it, it's Fist King, one of the top ten in the popularity ranking!"

"He really is! We're truly unlucky!"

"Should we just surrender our identity badges and rob others later?"

The strangers who were ready to fight looked awful when they saw that Su Ping was standing still.

Su Ping had only fought ten rounds but he defeated every opponent with one punch; this had made him a popular figure. He was obviously much stronger than the other geniuses.

Su Ping also had two lackeys by his side, which meant that they didn't have the advantage in numbers either.

Claesabe had already reached them while they were considering. They fought furiously since they no longer had time to surrender.

"Come on out."

Su Ping didn't take direct action; he simply summoned the Inferno Dragon.

The Inferno Dragon flew out and followed Claesabe under Su Ping's command.

The dragon roared and tore the void apart with law-covered claws.

Claesabe and Ibetaluna were both surprised that Su Ping had directly summoned his strongest pet. They had previously seen Su Ping defeat the Dragon Devil with that pet, which was even stronger than them!

Boom!

Claesabe and Ibetaluna seized the opportunity to defeat the targets while leveraging the Inferno Dragon's deterrence. But then, right when they were about to launch deadly attacks, a mysterious power transported those contestants away; their identity badges were left floating in midair.

"They've been eliminated."

Claesabe knew the rules; he looked at the high sky where the Ascendant State experts were watching.

The continent was covered with the power of the Ascendant State. Contestants would be relocated when death was certain. At the same time, they would lose their identity badge and qualification.

Su Ping wasn't surprised by the battle ending that quickly, but then he suddenly frowned and looked at a certain corner.

"Someone else is coming."