Chapter 129: The Undisputed First Place

Bolan stared at the countless Luo Yuans surrounding him, utterly unable to tell which one was the real body. His eyes held nothing but shock and despair. Always proud, even somewhat arrogant, Bolan could not believe that there was actually a prodigy stronger than himself. Yet today, Luo Yuan had shattered his pride completely, leaving even his heart shaken.

Seeing Bolan’s reaction, Luo Yuan smiled. Without holding back, he immediately unleashed his Myriad Illusory Bodies and subjected Bolan to a merciless beating. He did not stop until Bolan’s true body was reduced to a cloud of blood mist.

The battles among the top five proceeded one after another, and soon the final rankings were announced.

Luo Yuan had won all four of his matches, taking first place without dispute!

Bolan had won three matches and lost one, earning second place!

Rong Jun, Wu Ka, and Qian Shui took third, fourth, and fifth place respectively.

…

The thousand geniuses and 1,008 powerful Immortal beings all stood in the central square, listening to the purple-scaled man in the azure battle robe.

“First and second place.”

“Third through tenth.”

“Eleventh through one hundredth.”

“One hundred and first through one thousandth.”

“These four tiers have all been selected, corresponding respectively to the quotas for the Primal Secret Realm, the Absolute Beginning Secret Realm, the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, and the Apocalypse Secret Realm. The current selection battle for the pinnacle geniuses of humanity throughout the universe has now come to a perfect conclusion.” The purple-scaled man in the azure battle robe smiled. “Your generation has been exceptionally outstanding. I believe that after dozens or even hundreds of eras, many of you will become renowned throughout the entire universe.”

“Soon, someone will contact you and take you to the Universal Headquarters of my Virtual Universe Company. You will assemble there before heading to the Primal Universe.”

“From this day forward, your paths will no longer be ordinary.”

“Our Virtual Universe Company will do everything in its power to assist you. As for whether you become supreme beings renowned throughout the universe, ordinary experts, or perish halfway along the road, that will depend entirely on yourselves. Work hard. Your journey as experts has only just begun!” The voice of the purple-scaled man in the azure battle robe echoed in everyone’s mind.

This year’s genius battle had officially come to an end!

Once the genius battle ended, even the lofty Nine Sword Venerable and the 1,008 powerful Immortal beings departed immediately.

Luo Yuan and the other thousand young people, however, remained behind because a staff member nearby called out, “Please do not leave yet. We still have a few matters to discuss regarding your journey to the Universal Headquarters of the Virtual Universe Company.”

A moment later.

In the conference room on the second floor of Restaurant No. 2 in the central square, Luo Yuan and the other thousand people were seated.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mana.” A smiling man approximately two meters and sixty-seven centimeters tall stood at the front of the conference room. His neck was covered in mottled patterns. He smiled and said, “Since our Virtual Universe Company will be arranging spaceships to pick each of you up, please write your precise planetary address on the paper in front of you so that we can come and collect you.”

Luo Yuan picked up the pen and paper before him and began to write:

Ganwu Universe Country, Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, Milky Way, Bailan Star.

Luo Feng wrote the same address. They had discussed this long ago. To protect Earth, all real-world dealings and communications with outside forces were generally conducted on Bailan Star, which was not far from Earth.

The thousand young people from numerous universe countries all began writing.

“Is that really necessary? Just tell us where to assemble. We can fly there ourselves.”

“Exactly. There’s no need for you to come pick us up. What a hassle.”

Several people called out from the crowd.

Mana smiled from the platform. “The journey will pass through many universe countries and cover an extremely vast distance. Moreover, most civilian spaceships travel very slowly through the Dark Universe. It would take an incredibly long time to reach the Universal Headquarters of our company. To save everyone time, our Virtual Universe Company will naturally arrange the finest spaceships to come and collect you.”

“Of the thousand people present, the one farthest from the Universal Headquarters of our Virtual Universe Company is approximately 1.5 billion light-years away.” Mana smiled. “The distance ratio between the Dark Universe and the Original Universe is one to 10.081 million. Even traveling through the Dark Universe at the speed of light would require roughly 150 years to arrive.”

Silence!

The previously lively conference room fell completely quiet.

One hundred and fifty years?

“My heavens, 150 years?” exclaimed a beastman youth with a head resembling that of a lion, seated in a corner. “The longest space voyage I’ve ever taken lasted only a little over two months. Traveling for 150 years…”

The universe was simply too vast. And this was only a starfield!

Beep!

“Data collection complete.”

Strands of colored light fell onto the papers in front of everyone. A screen then appeared at the front of the conference room. It displayed a gigantic stellar map alongside a series of complicated numbers and symbols.

After glancing at it, Mana turned toward the thousand people below and smiled. “The addresses you provided have all been recorded. Based on the different locations of the thousand of you and the spaceships available to us, we have calculated the optimal transportation plan.”

“How long will it take?”

“How long will we have to fly before reaching the Universal Headquarters?” Quite a few people below could not help asking.

Luo Yuan also looked toward Mana on the platform.

“Since everyone is located at a different distance, the spaceships assigned to you will travel at different speeds. However, we can guarantee that all of you will arrive at headquarters on the same day.” Mana smiled. “The journey will take approximately three years.”

“Our Virtual Universe Company has arranged F-class spaceships for every one of you.” Mana smiled from the platform. “And these are not ordinary F-class spaceships that can easily be purchased. They are… special F-class models produced internally by our Virtual Universe Company, with technological capabilities far surpassing those of the F-class spaceships belonging to the various universe countries.”

Silence.

Mute astonishment.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

The owner of Yun Mo Planet, Hu Yan Bo, had expended countless resources merely to obtain a single F-class Yun Mo Planet ship. Many Immortal beings could not afford one, which was enough to demonstrate just how expensive and precious F-class spaceships were.

Many starfield-level empires, such as the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, did not possess even a single F-class spacecraft throughout their entire territory.

Yet the Virtual Universe Company had casually dispatched a thousand F-class spaceships.

“That’s incredible,” Luo Yuan could not help muttering.

“Let me inform you of one more matter.” Mana smiled from the platform. “The rewards for the top thousand of this genius battle are now being distributed. Once you return, you will be able to check your accounts.”

“For now, you may all disperse and return. In a little while, our Virtual Universe Company will send each of you a private message informing you of the exact time of your pickup. Please be ready at the locations you provided. Otherwise, we may not be able to find you.”

Mana smiled. “In the meantime, spend some time with your families and friends. Before long, all of you will be leaving your home worlds for an extended period.”

The lively conference room suddenly fell quiet.

They would be leaving their home worlds for an extended period. This journey to the Universal Headquarters of the Virtual Universe Company would take three years even with the company dispatching precious F-class spaceships specifically to collect them.

One could not help but admit that, before the vastness of the universe, even the time spent merely traveling along the road was astonishingly long.

One figure after another vanished from the conference room as everyone departed.

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