(⊙o⊙)
Meng Lei was stunned.
Higher-level planes and worlds? Advanced lifeforms that far surpass the Saint Domain?
“Higher-level... Far surpass...”
Meng Lei licked his lips. Even though he was very reluctant to admit it, he had to say it—he was indeed tempted.
Based on the trend in the past, the stronger the lifeform, the more precious and valuable the items they dropped were.
Didn’t everyone see? Even a strand of leg hair that a Saint Domain dropped could contain Laws of Nature fragment within.
In that case, what kind of things would powerful lifeforms that far surpassed the Saint Domain drop?
Just the thought of it alone was terribly tempting.
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled a little, and then he gave a couple of dry coughs and asked, “System, what about Brutal Plunder? What can this function do?”
“Brutal Plunder: An unconventional pickup function! It can forcibly pick up any object on the target lifeform, including but not limited to Wealth, Bloodlines, Vitality, Spiritual Power, Laws of Nature Comprehension, Divine Weapons...”
“What the heck? This is such a crazy function, too!”
Meng Lei took a deep breath and remarked, “Picking up by force? Isn’t that just plundering? But hehe, I like it.
“System, is this function chargeable?”
The system replied coldly, “Brutal Plunder is also a chargeable function. The usage fee for this function is determined according to how strong the target of plunder is, as well as the value of the object to be plundered!”
“So, it depends on how strong the target of plunder is and how valuable the object to be plundered is...”
Meng Lei nodded lightly. “It does sound relatively more reasonable. But going by this sh*tty system’s unscrupulous and ruthless nature, if I do encounter something that I really want to plunder, it probably wouldn’t be cheap, either.
“Forget it. We’ll leave this for now.” Meng Lei shook his head. “System, call up the stats interface for me to take a look.”
Whoosh!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <50%>, Fire Demon bloodline <45%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>)
Wealth: 1.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Saint Domain (1,069,879,108/100 billion)
Spirit: Ninth-Grade Magician (1,388,760/1,000,000,000)
Magic Power: Ninth-Grade Magician (968,678/1,000,000,000)
Laws of Nature: Fire-elemental (0.2%)
“The interface has undergone a pretty big change, hasn’t it?”
Meng Lei checked out the stats interface, finding it very new and novel. At the same time, several questions also popped up in his mind.
“System, what do the percentage counts after each of the three bloodlines mean?”
“They represent the degree of assimilation in the host’s body!”
“Degree of assimilation? I see. Does the appearance of these numbers mean that I can also raise the degree of assimilation by redeeming credit in the future?”
“Yes, host!”
“I see, so that’s how it is.
“Tsk, tsk. 50%, 45%, 10%... Eh? Is the Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline’s degree of assimilation that low? It’s only 10%. Looks like there’s still a lot of room for further development for this bloodline.”
Meng Lei continued browsing down the interface.
Wealth: 1.35... Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?
“System, wasn’t the measurement unit for Wealth gold coins? Why has it changed to Laws of Nature Origin Crystals?”
“Laws of Nature Origin Crystals—a type of rare crystal that contains laws of nature within, and also the currency in circulation among Saint Domains!
“Exchange ratio: 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal = 10 billion gold coins!”
“Oh, I see. It’s similar to the ratio used when elevating my laws of nature comprehension via credit redemption. It also requires 10 billion gold coins to elevate it by 1%.”
He continued reading downward...
Physical Body Constitution...
“What the hell! 100 billion? The Saint Domain upper limit is actually 100 billion points!
“What a scam! Doesn’t that mean that if I rely solely on credit redemption to break through to the cultivation realms above Saint Domain, I would need to save up... 1 trillion gold coins?
“One trillion gold coins... I’m gonna faint! Where am I going to get that kind of money?!”
Meng Lei felt a pressing urge to curse and swear.
A few dozen billion gold coins weren’t that out of reach; by killing a few Saint Domain Magical Beasts, he would be able to more or less put together that amount of money. But one trillion gold coins... That equated to 100 Saint Domain Magical Beasts!
Where was he supposed to find that many Saint Domain Magical Beasts to hunt and kill?
“A long road ahead... There’s a long road ahead!”
Meng Lei felt immense pressure at once.
“Improving the degree of assimilation for bloodlines requires money.
“Enhancing my Physical Body Constitution, Spiritual Power, and Magic Power also requires money.
“Improving the degree of comprehension for laws of nature requires money, too.
“Money, money, money! How much do I only have, currently?”
Meng Lei’s gaze swept across the Wealth attribute—he only had 1.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals now. In other words, 13.5 billion gold coins. What could this bit of money achieve?
It wasn’t enough!
It was far, far from being enough!
It wasn’t enough to do anything at all!
“This is the first time I’ve realized that I’m actually that poor. But...”
Meng Lei flipped himself off the bed. A shrewd glint flickered in his eyes. “10 billion gold coins is enough for me to use Limitless Pickup once, though.”
As the saying went, “Curiosity killed the cat.”
That was exactly Meng Lei’s current situation.
Even though he knew that Limitless Pickup only picked up things at random and that with so many planes and worlds out there, whether or not it could pick up anything good or useful was hard to say, he really wanted to give it a go.
Higher-level planes and worlds!
Lifeforms that far surpassed the Saint Domains!
What if... What if he picked up a treasure?
“How about... I give it a go?”
Meng Lei’s breathing was rather quick. Then, he suddenly gnashed his teeth and barked, “System, I want to use the Limitless Pickup function!”
The system asked coldly, “1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal will be charged for the usage of this function. May I know if you’d like to use it?”
“Yes!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly decreased by 1 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, leaving him only 0.35 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal now.
“I’ve totally become a pauper now.”
Meng Lei clenched his fists as he stared at his Wealth attribute that had only a fraction remaining now. Then, nervous anticipation began to fill him.
“Good stuff! You must pick up something good! If you pick up a piece of trash, I’ll suffer a huge loss!”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host. You’ve obtained the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
(⊙_⊙)
“The Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline!?”
Chapter 138: Lucky Breakthrough, Handsome Rewards
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The moment the sun rose the next morning, Fatty Hart arrived outside Meng Lei’s condominium and shouted loudly, “Are you up yet, old bro?”
A short while later, Meng Lei walked out of the condominium wearing a brand-new magic robe.
“What are you shouting so loudly for early in the morning?” Meng Lei asked dryly.
“Heh
e! Aren’t you setting off for the Imperial City today? I’m here to see you off!”
Fatty Hart let out a chuckle. Then, all of a sudden, he stared at Meng Lei with puzzlement in his eyes.
“What are you looking at?” Meng Lei glared at the fat fellow.
“Old bro, why do you feel kinda different?”
Fatty Hart circled around Meng Lei and commented in puzzlement, “It’s just different somehow. As for what exactly has changed, I can’t really pinpoint it for now. It just feels kinda strange.”
“You must have drunk too much last night!”
Meng Lei let out a laugh, and then he changed the topic. “Let’s go. We’ll go to the president’s office and meet up with the president and the others first.”
“Alright!”
When they arrived at the president’s office, President Fred, the few other vice-presidents, and other academy leaders were already waiting there. Mr. Dirk was also present among the ranks.
“Good morning, President.”
“Good morning, Academy Leaders.
“Good morning, Mr. Dirk.”
The academy leaders nodded at him with smiles on their faces and looks of approval in their eyes. However, President Fred’s eyes suddenly bore into Meng Lei, and he asked in shock, “Meng Lei, you’ve broken through to Saint Domain?”
“What!?”
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. All of them turned to Meng Lei, their eyes full of astonishment, incredulity, disbelief, and so on.
In particular, Mr. Dirk and Fatty Hart looked as though they had seen a ghost as they stared at Meng Lei.
Meng Lei... He has broken through to Saint Domain?
“I received some unexpected gains after the battles yesterday and had the good fortune of breaking through,” replied Meng Lei. He didn’t deny it. Besides, there was no way he could hide something like this anyway.
Perhaps he might be able to conceal breakthroughs in spiritual power and magic power, but he couldn’t hide his body’s breakthrough to the Saint Domain realm at all. Veteran Saint Domains like President Fred could see the signs with just a glance from them.
“Unexpected gains? Good fortune of breaking through?
An astonished President Fred’s mouth fell agape. Despite knowing that Meng Lei had already begun to grasp the laws of nature and that he was a shoo-in for the Saint Domain realm, who would have expected that he would break through so soon?
Didn’t they say that his various attributes hadn’t been cultivated to their peak yet?
Didn’t they say that he would need another period of time before he could break through to Saint Domain?
Why? Why was it that he had already broken through over the passage of just a night?
“You’ve really become a Saint Domain?”
When they heard Meng Lei personally admitting to it, everyone—the academy leaders, Mr. Dirk, and Fatty Hart—was greatly shocked and beyond horrified.
In particular, Mr. Dirk’s expression was exceptionally exciting—while there were astonishment and disbelief on his face, he also couldn’t help himself from giving a wry smile.
How long had it been? Just how long had it only been?
That little Third-Grade Magician back then had already become a Saint Domain while he, his Ninth-Grade Great Magician teacher, was still standing where he was.
Was there really such a huge gap between one and another?
“Although I’m finding myself somewhat in disbelief, this is great!” After President Fred calmed down, he couldn’t stop marveling. “With Meng Lei around, the Fire Dragon Magic Academy will definitely shine brilliantly in the exchange competition and avenge ourselves this time! Hahaha!”
“The president is right! In the past few exchange competitions, all the contestants that the Fire Dragon Kingdom had sent had all suffered a crushing defeat, and the competitions had ended so badly for us! This time...”
All the academy leaders were in great spirits, each and every one of them heartened and full of vigor. Their eyes were full of admiration and great expectations as they gazed at Meng Lei.
Of course, there was no lack of reverence and ingratiation, too.
Only a small handful of the academy leaders were Saint Domains, and the vast majority of them were ninth-grade experts.
The Saint Domains admired Meng Lei, but the ninth-grade experts would need to look up to him now.
Ninth-Grade!
Saint Domain!
It was just the difference of a single grade, but it made the distinction between heaven and earth.
...
All the contestants made their way over one after another.
This time, among the qualifying contestants from Fire Dragon Magic Academy, were two seniors that had deferred their graduation, four community experts that had joined the academy at the last moment, and Meng Lei himself.
There were a total of seven of them.
“Everyone’s here now. Follow me to the royal palace for the assembly!”
With a wave from President Fred, the academy carriage rose into the air and flew in the direction of the palace with Meng Lei and the others on board.
As the most luxurious and extravagant building complex with the largest scale and occupying the biggest amount of land in Fire Dragon capital city, the royal palace comprised almost 100 palaces of different sizes that came together to form an enormous palace community!.
“Lord Fred, please come with me.”
The academy carriage landed at the royal palace’s entrance. Then, under the lead of a palace guard, they arrived at a plaza where an enormous Dragon God statue stood tall and proud, mighty and extraordinary.
“O’ Dragon God above!”
“O’ Dragon God above!”
With President Fred in the lead, everyone prayed and bowed to the Dragon God statue before they headed toward a corner of the plaza, where King Flit the 66th and Queen Diana were already awaiting.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!”
“Greetings, Your Majesty1!”
Everyone bowed in greeting.
“You may rise!”
Everyone else from the other academies also arrived at about the same time.
“Everyone, the exchange competition is about to begin. All of you will represent your respective academies and us, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, to participate in the empire-wide exchange competition. I hope you can shine brightly in the competition and bring honor and glory to your academies and the kingdom!”
Flit the 66th said encouragingly, “I hereby promise that those that show exceptional performance and achieve excellent results in the exchange competition shall be bestowed handsome rewards!
“Someone, read the royal decree!”
A senator stepped forward upon the summons. While holding a golden scroll in his hands, he began to read, “By royal decree, His Majesty the King has ordered that those who rank in the top three positions of the exchange competition shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Marquis, bestowed a plot of land measuring five hectares, and permission to enter the kingdom’s treasury to select three artifacts for themselves at will.
“Those who rank in the top ten positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of an Earl, bestowed a plot of land measuring 2.5 hectares, and permission to enter the kingdom’s treasury to select one artifact for themselves at will.
“Those who rank in the top twenty positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Viscount and bestowed a plot of land measuring 0.5 hectares.
“Those who rank in the top fifty positions shall be conferred a life peerage title of a Baron and bestowed a plot of land measuring 0.05 hectares.”
Upon the end of the royal decree, the senator stepped back in line.
A smiling Flit the 66th said, “Everyone, all of you are the outstanding young talents of my Fire Dragon Kingdom. I have high hopes for all of you. Do not let me down!”
“Long live the King!”
“May glory ever be with us!”
> “Long live the King!”
“May glory ever be with us!”
All the contestants vowed aloud.
“Wonderful!” Flit the 66th nodded in satisfaction. “Since that’s the case, I shall leave the rest of the matter in everyone’s hands. I await good news in the capital city from all of you!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
...
There were a total of six teachers leading the teams for the exchange competition. All six of them were academy presidents, and President Fred was one of them.
“The journey to the Imperial City is a long one this time. We’ll need to spend five days on the road. We can either take the magic ferry or the empire special express, but after the six of us old fellows’ discussion, we’ve decided to take the Floating Beast.”
“The Floating Beast?”
Meng Lei perked up.
The Floating Beast was a Seventh-Grade Wind-Elemental Magical Beast. Although it boasted a huge size, it had a mild temperament and was very easy to tame.
Added to this the Floating Beast’s extreme patience, as long as it was fed, it would be able to sustain long hours of flight while ferrying a heavy load. Therefore, it was known as the best aerial Magical Beast when it came to long-distance travel.
“The magic ferry and the empire special express is undoubtedly more comfortable, but we cultivators wander the universe and spend the nights in the open. Comfort... is not to be coveted. The journey itself is a form of cultivation!”
Under the six academy presidents’ lead, everyone arrived at the Floating Beast Plaza, where several enormous behemoths stood tall and straight.
With a height of 30 meters, a body length that reached an astonishing 70 meters, and an extremely flat, wide, and spacious back, they were the Floating Beasts!
Chapter 139: A Great Bird Riding The Wind, Soaring Freely In the Sky
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In Meng Lei’s eyes, the Floating Beast bore a striking resemblance to the whales on Earth. With their flat and level, smooth and round pillar-shaped body; a flat, fleshy, wide, and spacious back; and a whale-like tail...
There were only two words to describe it—how alike!
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