The Universal Genius Battle: A Display of Heaven-Defying Talent
The system popped up a new notification.
"New mission issued. Mission objective: Participate in the Azure Human Alliance's Universal Genius Battle and achieve a top 10,000 ranking in the under-20 age group."
"Task Reward: Temporarily increase Comprehension by 100 times for seven days (cannot be stacked simultaneously), can be activated at any time, additional rewards to be unlocked."
Mission deadline: Three months.
Chen Du stared at the line of text, his pupils shrinking slightly.
Comprehension is temporarily increased by 100 times, lasting for seven days.
This reward is more significant than all previous rewards combined.
He suppressed his turbulent emotions and quickly searched through Lin Du's memories for information about the Universal Genius Battle.
The Azure Human Alliance's Universal Genius Battle, held once every five hundred years, is the grandest Martial Dao event in the entire Human Alliance.
The competition is divided into two groups: the youth group requires participants to be under 500 years old, and the junior group requires participants to be under 20 years old. The competition is highly prestigious.
Young people under the age of twenty, even those who have only reached the Earth Martial Warrior Realm, are already top talents on their respective planets.
The top 10,000 in each junior group are highly sought after by various forces, receiving unimaginable resources.
It can be said that the top 10,000 in the junior group will be the backbone of the entire Azure Human Alliance for the next 500 years.
He stood up and walked towards his homeroom Teacher Wang.
Teacher Wang was still staring blankly at the big screen when he saw Chen Du approach. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Chen Du said, "Teacher Wang, I want to sign up for the Universal Genius Battle. I'll sign up for both the junior and youth groups."
Teacher Wang was stunned for two seconds, then his eyes widened. "What did you say? The youth group? How old are you? Only martial artists under 500 years old can participate in the youth group, and the junior group is for those under 20. What are you doing signing up for the youth group, a senior high school student?"
"I'll register for both," Chen Du said calmly. "I want to place in the junior group, and I want to try the youth group as well."
Teacher Wang's lips moved, but in the end she only gave him a deep look before turning and walking towards the principal's office.
Half an hour later, the news reached the principal.
The principal's surname is Zhou. He is an elderly man in his sixties. It is said that he was a martial arts graduate in his youth, but later retired due to injury and switched to education.
He had Chen Du summoned to his office, scrutinized him for a while, and then slowly asked, "Do you know what the Universal Genius Battle's means?"
Lin Du nodded.
Principal Zhou sighed, took out a yellowed booklet from the drawer, and turned to one of the pages. "The Universal Genius Battle is held once every five hundred years. Do you know that the Azure Human Alliance now rules over eight thousand eighty-eight star systems, colonizes over one hundred million inhabited planets, and has a population exceeding fifty trillion trillion?"
Each year, the number of applicants for the junior group alone exceeds 10 billion, representing billions of people from billions of planets, each one a top talent from their respective regions.
Those who can make it into the top 10,000 are monsters among monsters, more than one in a billion.
He paused, turned to another page, and his gaze became even more serious. "As for the youth group, the number of applicants is more than a thousand times that of the junior group. If you select the top 10,000 out of a trillion people, any one of them could easily beat the so-called number one in the city at your age."
Not to mention those prodigies, who grew up immersed in Star Marrow, their mentors being incredibly powerful figures!
He closed the booklet, placed it on the table, and looked Chen Du in the eye. "If you want to sign up, I won't stop you, but you need to know that the registration fee isn't cheap, and once you participate, if you lose, you lose. There's no second chance. Are you sure?"
Chen Du nodded. "Confirmed."
Principal Zhou remained silent for a while before finally picking up the communicator on the table and dialing the City Martial Dao Association number. "Old Chen, I have a student here who wants to sign up for the Universal Genius Battle. Yes, he's signing up for both groups. His name is Lin Du."
When the news spread, the Third Middle School was in an uproar.
Within half a day of Principal Zhou making that call, the entire school's teachers and students knew about it.
Lin Du, a student in the senior year martial arts exam class, who was an unknown middle-to-lower-tier student just seven days ago, is now not only signing up for the Universal Genius Battle, but also for both the junior and youth groups.
Everyone was talking about it—in the classrooms, in the hallways, and in the cafeteria.
Some thought he was crazy, some thought he was arrogant and ignorant, and some even had a feeling that this genius who got perfect scores twice in a row might actually make a splash at that once-in-five-hundred-years event.
Chen Du sat in the classroom, oblivious to the noise outside.
He looked down at his hands, where the faint Dao Resonance was still slowly flowing.
That evening, Chen Du returned to Lin Du's small student apartment.
A single bed, a metal desk, and several sticky notes on the wall counting down to the martial arts exam.
He sat at the table, took out a pair of silver-gray streamlined headbands from the drawer, and put them on his head according to Lin Du's memory.
This is the Spirit Realm Access Device, the most basic and widely used super neural network terminal of the Azure Human Alliance.
Spirit Realm a virtual world covering 8,888 star fields. Every citizen registers a unique account from birth, and almost everything—shopping, socializing, learning, training, taking exams, and reading news—is done within it.
Chen Du closed his eyes, his consciousness gently drawn in. When he opened them again, he found himself in a pure white space.
A semi-transparent light screen floats in front of me, displaying account information, friend lists, message notifications, and more, all neatly arranged.
He scrolled to the public notice board, where the top post was an official announcement pinned to the top, with the title displayed in large gold text.
Official Announcement of the 87th Azure Human Alliance Universal Genius Battle
He opened the announcement and read it word by word.
This year's Genius Battle is divided into two groups: the Youth Group, which is limited to martial artists under the age of 500, with a registration fee of 10,000 Star Coins.
Junior Group: Limited to martial artists under the age of 20. Registration fee: 1,000 Star Coins.
Registration is open now and will close in three months.
The competition will be held simultaneously in the Spirit Realm and the real star field. The preliminary rounds will be held in the Spirit Realm, and the semi-finals and subsequent rounds will be held in the real star field.
The top 10,000 in the junior group will receive the qualification to become a core member of one of the three major factions of the Azure Humans.
The three major powers are: the "Heavenly Strategy Manor" which controls the military power of the Human Alliance, the "Martial Ancestor Hall" which manages the highest Martial Dao inheritance of the Human Alliance, and the "Heavenly Secrets Pavilion" which controls the highest technology and intelligence of the Human Alliance.
These three are the true pillars of the Azure Human Alliance. Being able to enter the core of any one of them means standing above hundreds of millions of people.
The top 10,000 in the youth group will receive the same rewards: core membership in one of the three major powers, plus entry into the "Martial Ancestor Secret Realm".
Chen Du's gaze lingered on the words "Martial Ancestor Secret Realm" for a moment.
That is the place of inheritance left behind by the First Martial Ancestor!
He continued reading, and at the end of the announcement was a list of previous rankings and a map showing the distribution of participating planets.
The map is covered with countless dots of light, and contestants have registered in almost every corner where humans live.
The planet where Lin Du was located was just a tiny, almost invisible dot on the map.
He closed the announcement and went back to the registration page.
Three months later, he will stand on that one-in-a-million stage under the name Lin Du.
And his name will soon spread from this insignificant planet to all 8,880 star systems.