The Great Domain Conference was a tumultuous affair, leaving many Oasis powerhouses deeply astonished.
Was their Falling Star Great Domain… actually this formidable?
The Falling Star Caverns had existed for only a few hundred years since its inception, a nascent Great Domain on the periphery of the Twisted Realm. Similar to them were the neighboring Sighing Mountain Range Great Domain and the Land of Buried Bones Great Domain.
The Land of Buried Bones boasted a super-oasis, "Pale Graveyard," but its strength paled in comparison to Falling Star City, with only one Mythical Crownholder in residence.
The Sighing Mountain Range was even more lackluster. Their 'Great Domain Overlord,' "End of Days," though also possessing a Mythical presence, had yet to achieve super-oasis status.
In contrast, their Falling Star Great Domain, even excluding the meteoric rise of the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild, had two Mythical presences from Falling Star City, one from Steel City, one from Sword Flower City, and one from the Black Stone Alliance – a total of five Mythical beings! If the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild were included, the number of Mythical beings would be close to double digits.
Hiss! Truly terrifying!
Their Falling Star Great Domain, so terrifying… no, so mighty!
The neighboring Sighing Mountain Range and Land of Buried Bones were not even fit to carry their shoes.
But wait…
An Oasis powerhouse fell into contemplation. If their Falling Star Great Domain's newly ascended Mythicals could be hidden so deeply, could other Great Domains not do the same?
The scale of an oasis was undeniable; it was either large or small. However, if a powerful individual were fortunate enough to break through to the Mythical realm and intentionally concealed it, they truly had no means to discover it.
Thinking this way, might Pale Graveyard not be hiding a second or third Mythical? Perhaps they only openly displayed one.
Wait, if that were the case, wouldn't Falling Star City possess not just two Mythicals, but four, five, six, or seven?
Might this Crownholder Bolarzem on become enraged and, with a slam of his table, have several Mythicals appear around him?
The powerhouses from the Great Oases and Elite Oases let their imaginations run wild. They cautiously glanced around, then cautiously shifted their gaze to Crownholder Bolarzem, standing on the high platform.
Bolarzem's expression was unreadable, his heart filled with unspoken words!
This was truly not that mysterious!
Or perhaps, times had changed? Was breaking through to the Mythical realm no longer as difficult as it once was?
If Bolarzem possessed a skill like 'Mind Stealing,' allowing him to capture the thoughts of the powerhouses present as they soared on the wings of their imaginations, he likely wouldn't have been able to maintain his composure.
Seven Mythical beings? Did they truly regard Mythical beings as common as cabbage!
It wasn't that they didn't want to hide their strength, to have more trump cards for survival in times of crisis, but they needed the surplus Mythicals to hide in the first place!
Moreover, he had been a Mythical for over a hundred years. How could he have remained in hiding for so long? He was a great Mythical!
Bolarzem's thoughts drifted, and he remained silent.
The Lord of Steel City gazed at the other two newly ascended Mythicals, also silent, lost in thought.
Unlike those short-sighted Oasis powerhouses who only let their imaginations run wild, he, having emerged from a super-oasis himself, only recently broke through to the Mythical realm. He understood the inherent difficulty.
Even if Dean Rose and the First Tower Lord had ascended by luck, it was still based on effort and talent.
Without exerting their utmost, without sufficient talent, that sliver of luck would not descend.
Indeed, they were too good at hiding.
He observed the two women exchange glances for a while, seemingly sharing a moment of 'mutual appreciation.' He could surmise that Dean Rose and the First Tower Lord were as surprised by each other's ascensions as he was when two more Mythicals appeared after he revealed his own.
And these two Mythicals seemed…
"Dean Rose and the First Tower Lord do not quite agree with Falling Star City taking the lead. They lean more towards the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild… On the surface, it appears that Sword Flower City and the Black Stone Alliance have closer cooperation with the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild, but if one thinks deeper, could it be that their ascent to the Mythical realm is related to the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild?"
When this thought emerged, the Lord of Steel City was startled but then dismissed his conjecture.
How was that possible? If the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild had the ability to significantly increase the success rate of Mythical ascensions, wouldn't they reach the heavens? Even 'Pure Divine Radiance,' a powerful treasure, only offered a slight increase in awakening and ascension rates. Moreover, the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild could not possibly possess many treasures like Pure Divine Radiance.
Even if, for the sake of argument, the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild possessed the ability to help others break through to the Mythical realm, why would they choose outsiders like Dean Rose and the First Tower Lord instead of their own people?
As far as he knew, there were several top-tier Six-Awakened individuals within the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild.
After much deliberation and ruling out all impossible options, the Lord of Steel City could only arrive at the most reasonable conclusion: Dean Rose and the First Tower Lord were too deeply hidden!
And it seemed they had secretly reached some agreements with the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild.
With this realization, the Lord of Steel City felt that the agreements between his own faction and Falling Star City would need… reconsideration.
He needed to observe the prevailing winds further.
The Falling Star Great Domain Conference, which had lasted for several days, drew to a close. Delegations from various oases began to depart.
Bolarzem gazed at the now empty conference venue, stroking his chin and pondering.
The Great Domain Conference had not been entirely disrupted; it proceeded normally and concluded as scheduled. Falling Star City had also signed cooperation agreements with several oases.
However, the achievements of the Great Domain Summit fell far short of his expectations.
"Father, how should we proceed with our plan next?"
An elder, appearing much older than Bolarzem, bowed his head and asked in a low voice.
Bolarzem replied, "The Blazing Fire Merchant Guild is indeed not to be underestimated, but we have not failed either."
He spread out a map of the Great Domain, gazing at it and pondering for a long while before continuing, "The Blazing Fire Merchant Guild has strength but lacks foundations. Even if they have allied with Sword Flower City and the Black Stone Alliance, their exploration of the entire Great Domain and the information they possess is far inferior to ours."
"Furthermore, they lack a strong mid-tier force. Some plans that Falling Star City can implement, the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild cannot. This is their weakness."
"Then what about us…?"
"The plan proceeds as scheduled. We must not only avoid interference from the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild but also accelerate our pace. This Great Domain Conference has seen several oases sign agreements for in-depth cooperation with us. Since that is the case, we will allocate resources to show those who are wavering the benefits of cooperating with Falling Star City."
…
…
Fang You already had a clear direction for his vision of "promoting the common development of various oases in the Falling Star Great Domain and jointly building a harmonious Great Domain."
He had several plans:
The Great Domain Express Network Plan;
The Great Domain Resource Point Blossoming Plan; and so on.
They differed from Falling Star City.
Falling Star City was a large enterprise with its own network of informants and deployable forces in many parts of the Great Domain. Therefore, in most cases, Falling Star City disdained cooperation with Great Oases. They could easily accomplish what they wanted on their own.
Their Blazing Fire Merchant Guild, however, had strength but lacked foundations. Cooperating with the four Great Oases was precisely how they could complement each other and prosper together.
However, compared to Falling Star City, the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild's competitiveness was indeed a notch lower.
"Firstly, the map of the Falling Star Great Domain in my hand is extremely rudimentary, even more so than that of many Great Oases, making it difficult to avoid certain dangerous or deathly terrains."
For example, the existence of a rule-based anomaly in a particular area would render it a forbidden zone with no survivors, which must be avoided during trade.
However, most oases possessed very crude maps, as exploring unknown territories was an extremely dangerous undertaking, with each corner of a map often representing the sacrifices of many explorers.
For an established Great Oasis like Sword Flower City, there were only a handful of truly safe routes. One of them was the route from Sword Flower City to the Starlight Fortress.
With such routes, not only was the risk during trade significantly reduced, but a substantial amount of time was also saved.
Specifically, without a route map, even with a Six-Awakened expert leading the way, it would take at least one to two months to grope their way to Starlight Fortress. However, with a top-tier safe route map, they could reach Starlight Fortress in seven to eight days.
However, a route map was not considered safe simply because it had been traversed once or twice without encountering major dangers.
That was far from sufficient.
Slight deviations in location, variations in personnel numbers, differences in timing, changes in environment, and so on, could all become variables leading to danger.
Therefore, it took time and powerful individuals to explore a route that could accommodate 'normal-spec teams' for long-distance travel.
In contrast to Falling Star City, although their Prosperity Fire organization was inferior in the number of warriors, they were stronger in terms of peak Mythical power, with ample Mythical combat strength to deploy.
If Mythicals were used as escorts? That was naturally out of the question, but assigning tasks to Mythicals like Xing Jinglei, who was short on money, or Ilosi, who was idle, to chart routes, he felt was entirely feasible.
Not only that, but they also possessed the epic skill 'Phantom Clone,' which could allow one Mythical combatant to be utilized as several in terms of exploration, maximizing their strength and drawing maps most efficiently.
With this thought, Fang You immediately instructed Xiao Huan to devise a feasible plan at once.
"Do we need to dispatch more intelligence personnel to Falling Star City?"
On the interface, the signboard girl Xiao Huan popped out a piece of cardboard and a pen. Holding the pen, she scribbled and drew on the cardboard, and in the blink of an eye, a task of over a thousand characters was presented to Fang You.
Finally, she pointed to the symbol representing Falling Star City on the map and tilted her head, asking.
Currently, 50% of the Prosperity Fire organization's intelligence strength was allocated to the Scarlet Moon Faction, another 35% was invested in the Shattered Sea region, and the remaining 15% was distributed throughout the Falling Star Great Domain.
With the already limited intelligence resources further dispersed, only a handful of intelligence personnel remained in each region, barely any.
If not for Qian Mian shouldering half the burden of the intelligence department, the Prosperity Fire's intelligence capabilities would be quite fragile.
After all,
Intelligence personnel were not easy to cultivate. In addition to talent and strength, they needed to meet various quality requirements, such as the actor's self-cultivation, facial micro-expression management, information screening and utilization, and a sufficiently strong mindset.
"No, regarding Falling Star City, we just need to ensure that information can be obtained in a timely manner."
He paused and then said, "Remember, we cooperate with these oases because both sides can achieve mutual benefit and promote the faster development of the entire Great Domain, not to suppress Falling Star City."
"Now, the emergence of the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild has caused Falling Star City to feel pressure and make some changes, which may not be a bad thing."
"Therefore, what we need to do is to show Falling Star City and other Great Oases the benefits of cooperating with our Blazing Fire Merchant Guild, and demonstrate tangible mutual benefit."
Fang You mused.
The Great Domain Express Network and other strategies still required groundwork, but the conditions for one of them, the resource point construction plan, were met, and it could begin.
This was because they possessed the "Mist-Dispelling Bonfire" building.
At the same time, they were also engaged in a more covert cooperation with Sword Flower City and the Black Stone Alliance.
– The Guest Student Training Plan.
In the past, guest students were combat personnel from the mysterious departments of various countries. Now, with the establishment of the Blue Star Alliance and the launch of the global training camp plan, young people from various countries and bases who met the criteria could enter the training camp for study after passing the assessment. There was no longer such a thing as guest students.
But now there was.
The organization would, depending on the situation, grant Sword Flower City and the Black Stone Alliance a certain number of exchange and study slots.
New 'freshmen' had arrived, so how could the training camp stagnate?
…
…
More than a year had passed since the establishment of the Blue Star Alliance.
In this year, the Blue Star had undergone earth-shattering changes, not only reflected in the basic training camps spread across the globe, nor solely in the awakened individuals seen everywhere on the streets, but also in…
"Beep beep—"
High above, trains whizzed past like silver dragons weaving through the towering buildings, casting fleeting shadows, a truly magnificent sight.
These were not flying trains.
Below these speeding trains were even more spectacular 'Mushu tracks.' These semi-transparent, thick root systems spread between the main base city and several satellite cities, forming tracks capable of supporting the passage of trains.
This was a fusion of the mystical and the technological.
In addition, one could occasionally see triangular aircraft speeding through the air; those were true mystical creations. However, even when flying within cities, aircraft had to obey traffic rules, and pilots needed to possess aircraft pilot licenses.
Gazing at the magnificent base city before them, the Sword Flower trio, who had just returned from working outside, were filled with awe.
"It's different again."
"Yes, we've only been out working for a month, and this Water Marsh City has changed again. It changes too fast!"
"Do Blue Star people constantly engage in construction? Do they feel uncomfortable if they don't build infrastructure?"
"Who knows? But this city is truly magnificent. Who would have imagined such a giant city standing in an outer realm?"
The Sword Flower trio were elites from the Sword Academy, the War Song Academy, and the Rose Academy.
Initially, they had stayed on Blue Star to liaign with the Blue Star Alliance on behalf of Sword Flower City. However, their experiences over the past year had been mostly:
Working, working, working, having fun, working, having fun, working, working, working.
As representatives of Sword Flower City stationed on Blue Star, they had not done much of their official duties, but instead had become laborers for Blue Star.
Thinking this, the three faces were strangely twisted. They did not feel sadness or anger at becoming laborers; it was simply that… the Blue Star Alliance paid too much.
But there was a little guilt, guilt towards their own dean.
"After all, we didn't have much official work, and we were idle. From another perspective, by working, we could understand Blue Star more deeply… Doesn't that sound reasonable?"
"Yes, it's very reasonable."
"But thinking about the fact that above has secured a spot for us in the training camp, my conscience aches a little."
Their work term was not yet over. They had returned early this time. This was because important figures from above had dispatched them to study at the Prosperity Fire Training Camp as guest students.
"But speaking of which, why would the Dean want us to go to that training camp for further studies? We are elites who graduated from our respective academies, and we have graduated for several years already."
The War Song elite picked up a can of happy water, twisted it open, and after taking a few gulps, continued, "Not only that, but the three of us haven't been idle while working on Blue Star this year. Our strength has not only improved slightly, but we have also earned enough wealth to purchase a Fourth-Awakening ritual."
"Yes, if we could not return to Sword Flower City yet, the three of us might already be Non-Human level powerhouses. I admit there are many strong individuals on Blue Star, but what kind of place is the training camp? It's a place to train new students. Even if we are not powerhouses, we are certainly not new students, are we?"
The Rose elite also nodded.
After the two spoke, they both looked at the elite from the Sword Academy, 'Ji Hui.' Ji Hui elder brother was not only the strongest, most diligent, and hardest-working among them but also the most intelligent.
This elite with a resolute expression, carrying a sword on his back, pondered for a moment and said,
"The adults above must have their reasons for doing this. We will carry out the mission as usual.
"I speculate that Dean might want us to observe and learn from Blue Star's advanced training methods. After all, Blue Star being able to produce so many strong individuals cannot be attributed solely to talent; they must have something to learn from.
"Besides, no matter what, we have to enter the Prosperity Fire Training Camp. Since that's the case, why should we overthink? When we get there, we will probably understand."
…
The Sword Flower trio only made a brief stop in Water Marsh Base City before taking an airship to the 'Prosperity Fire Elite Training Camp' located deep in the Pacific Ocean.
It was rumored to be the place where Blue Star cultivated elite students.
But elite students were still students; they were the true elite warriors. They had not only graduated with excellent scores from their respective academies but had also honed their skills for several years. How could they be compared to newcomers?
Although they thought this, they did not show any impatience, as it was a mission from important figures. The elites from Rose and War Song Academies could only speculate that their mission might be to observe and learn training methods, rather than to study themselves… But why wasn't this clearly explained when the mission was assigned from above?
With doubts and a hint of curiosity, the airship they were on slowly descended.
The three, holding their student advancement certificates, disembarked from the airship and set foot on the island of the Elite Training Camp.
As soon as they stepped onto the island, a refreshing breeze brushed against their faces, invigorating them.
Compared to the base city with its towering buildings, this Elite Training Camp did not appear as grand at first glance. Instead, it was planted with many luxuriant plants whose names they couldn't recall, and they vaguely felt that these plants were extraordinary.
The group followed the guide towards the interior of the training camp, preparing to complete their identity documents and collect their essential student supplies.
Along the way, they could see many people in student attire hurrying along, looking as if they were pressed for time.
Seeing the trio's apparent confusion, the guide smiled and said, "Because the training camp's workload is very heavy, and there is a ranking reward mechanism, many students seize every moment of available time and dare not waste even a little."
The Sword Flower trio suddenly understood.
It was no wonder that Blue Star frequently produced strong individuals; the training atmosphere here was truly impressive… But how did they create such a diligent atmosphere?
Even Ji Hui, the most diligent among the three, could not force himself to cultivate during his free time.
The guide shook his head slightly, "These students are not the most dedicated yet. The real 'top rollers' even utilize their travel time. Look there."
Not far away, two students, not wearing regular student uniforms but a set of dark green tight-fitting training suits, were traveling while doing handstands.
Moreover, they were not supporting themselves with their palms but with just one finger.
It seemed they were also wearing weighted equipment.
"That's right, they are wearing Type-2 Weighted Training Suits."
As they spoke, these two 'top rollers' doing handstands rushed past them in a flash, stirring up a gust of wind that made them tremble.
In their momentary daze, Ji Hui found that the figures of these two had already disappeared from their sight, their speed being remarkably fast.
"Look over there again."
Following the guide's pointing finger, Ji Hui saw another 'top roller.'
This student was controlling a flying sword the size of a door panel, flying at an altitude of ten meters above the ground. Piled on the door panel sword beside him were thick books, and in his hand, he held one, constantly flipping pages. Even with the wind blowing relentlessly, this 'top roller' did not frown, only staring intently at the textbook, muttering:
"There is no time to waste. Today, I must learn the extraction and refinement of these 36 medicinal herbs."
The howling wind carried away the 'top roller's' murmurs and ruffled the elegant hairstyles of the Sword Flower trio.
They paid it no mind.
They only felt bewildered.
Around them, a 'top roller' would occasionally flash by. Seeing more and more of them, the Sword Flower trio became increasingly silent, feeling utterly out of place in the entire training camp. Weren't the students of Prosperity Fire too excessively driven? It was terrifyingly so!
The War Song elite gulped down his happy water, his chest heaving. He was trembling.
This kind of drive, he couldn't achieve this kind of drive!
Ji Hui, the elite from the Sword Academy, clenched his fists, a feeling of unwillingness to admit defeat rising in his heart. Suddenly, as if recalling something, he frowned and stopped in his tracks, repeatedly recalling the 'top rollers' who had just passed by them.
Weighted handstand running 'top roller.'
Flying sword reading 'top roller.'
Meditation floating 'top roller.'
Wait!
Ji Hui realized a problem, a very crucial problem! The strength of these students seemed… seemed… no matter how they looked, they didn't seem weak!
He concentrated his attention, observing the muscle changes of the surrounding students and capturing their auras. His entire body trembled.
Three-Awakened! Three-Awakened! Three-Awakened! Four-Awakened! Four-Awakened!
Four-Awakened were everywhere, Three-Awakened were like dogs!
This, this…
He stared wide-eyed, looking blankly at the guide.
Perhaps having received many such people, the guide read the meaning in his eyes.
"Actually, above the 'top rollers,' we also have 'Emperor Rollers' and 'Emperor Emperors.' As long as you live here for a period of time, you will gradually get used to and integrate."
Sword Flower Trio: "???"
Blue Star students are this terrifying, or2~!