Battle of Prodigies

The night sky was clear and the stars shone brightly as Ross Child's Coming-of-age ceremony began as scheduled.

The largest square on the entire planet, Squire Square, was also booked by the Child Family, and the lights around the square illuminated the entire area as if it were daytime.

Although the banquet required invitations, Gu Ding Team had not received one and encountered no obstacles upon entry. The guards merely glared at them but still stepped aside.

Looking at the vast square and the various exquisite decorations, Liliath couldn't help but exclaim, "It really is quite grand, but the more confident a family is, the less likely they are to make their coming -Coming-of-age ceremony so extravagant."

Indeed, compared to the Harris Family, the Child Family is at best a nouveau riche from the countryside, with little cultural heritage.

"Gu Ding, when do we make our move?" Elsa seemed eager to try. Since learning the Overlapping Force from the Sea Emperor, she hadn't had a chance to show off her skills.

"Of course, it was at the most exciting part of the banquet," Gu Ding didn't see Ross Child, the main character, at the banquet, but there were indeed quite a few powerful figures there.

"There are sixteen demigods, twenty-eight individuals with Thirteenth-Order Gene Body, and over a hundred individuals with Twelfth Order or higher genetic bodies," the Sea Emperor quickly provided the statistics. "However, with that divine position in hand, apart from the demigod from the Child Family, others are unlikely to attack us. But we cannot underestimate our opponents because of this; no one knows what other tricks Ross Child has up his sleeve. He can be considered an expert in strategy, and he may have other pawns in his game."

"Unless he can summon a god, he is destined to lose." Gu Ding admitted that Ross was a smart man, but absolute dominance in strength cannot be resolved by brains alone.

About half an hour later, when almost everyone had arrived, James, as the clan leader, stepped onto the temporary stage set up in the center of the square.

"I'm very happy that everyone could come to my son's Coming-of-age ceremony today. I'd like to start by raising a toast to everyone..."

After some pleasantries, James began to recount some amusing anecdotes from Ross's childhood on stage, while Ross stood below the stage, smiling faintly and remaining silent.

James's stories weren't about the famous achievements of a genius on a particular day, but rather about everyday details and the embarrassing things ordinary kids do. Many chuckled, and James would occasionally glance at Ross, seemingly hoping he'd change his mind and abandon his obsessive pursuit of ambition. But Ross remained completely unresponsive, as if the person in the story wasn't him at all.

More than half an hour later, James finally invited Ross onto the stage. He sighed helplessly and walked off the stage, knowing that everything was beyond repair.

Ross strode onto the stage, his black suit still impeccably clean, without a single wrinkle. A brown striped tie, paired with a white shirt, made him look very sharp.

Once on stage, he went straight to the point, "In ancient times, the most primitive Coming-of-age ceremony for humans was not a feast, but a hunt. Only a boy who hunted a sufficiently powerful prey could be truly recognized by the other members and become a true adult. So, today I am also prepared to use this ceremony to announce to the whole world that I am an adult. And my hunting target has arrived here today. He is— the Four-Star Prodigy, Gu Ding!"

Everyone was stunned by these words; most hadn't expected things to develop this way. Just two days prior, Gu Ding had proven he possessed the strength to defeat a peak-level Thirteenth-Order Gene Body martial artist. And now, Ross Child, was challenging Gu Ding.

This scene was immediately captured on video.

Gu Ding slowly walked onto the stage, meeting Ross's gaze. He seemed completely unsurprised that Ross would challenge him. "I'll give you one last chance: apologize! Otherwise, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Didn't I give you the answer at noon?" Ross's lips still curled slightly. "Since you didn't understand, I'll repeat it again—I'm not going to apologize."

"Since that's the case, then go to hell and reflect on your actions!" Gu Ding said, summoning his Bronze Level weapon. The twelve layers of Limitless Body Technique, berserk mode, Advanced Iron Block, and Martial Dao Force Field were activated simultaneously, instantly boosting his Combat Strength to its peak.

Gu Ding appeared directly in front of Ross, his right hand clenched into a fist, and Steel Fist carrying golden energy was unleashed wildly, like a comet streaking across the night sky, smashing down towards Ross's face.

"Gu Ding, actually, I'm a Seventh Order Gene Body, just like you. Do you know why I challenged you?" Ross showed no nervousness whatsoever; instead, a smirk played on his lips as he continued, "Because I'm a prodigy, just like you, but I'm Five-Star Prodigy! You can fight Thirteenth-Order Gene Body, right? But Thirteenth-Order Gene Body are simply destined to be crushed by me! I'm making challenging you my first battle; once I defeat you, countless people will know my name..."

As Ross spoke, he extended his left hand, which instantly transformed into a massive, blood-red palm, directly intercepting Gu Ding's deadly punch. Then, his other hand also turned blood-red, pressing down on Gu Ding's chest. Gu Ding was sent flying backward as if struck by a tremendous force.

Then, Ross's entire body began to change drastically, transforming from a handsome young man into a gigantic red giant. This giant was even taller than Bigge and Robert, and his forearms alone were significantly thicker Bigge's breasts. Ross's clothes were torn, revealing his naked body. Everyone could see that his entire body was bright red, as if his skin had been peeled off, exposing the blood-red muscle fibers. His eyes were completely black, with no whites or irises visible. Some even noticed that Ross in this state had lost his gender. All the organs that allowed one to identify his gender had completely disappeared.

"Gu Ding, did you see that? This is my true Combat Strength..." Ross's voice sounded like three or four vocal cords were working together, giving people a strange and peculiar feeling.

Liliath looked in the direction where Gu Ding had fallen, slightly worried. With her current eyesight, she could already capture the fighting movements of the two, but after what had just happened, she really wasn't sure how badly Gu Ding was injured.

But Bigge's expression didn't change much, which reassured Liliath somewhat. Tagore stared at Ross with a strange look in his eyes. Robert also saw the situation between the two, but he didn't make any move.

"This guy's power increases so much after transforming!" Elsa was more interested in Ross's transformation. "But why does this power feel a bit... strange?"

"You're not mistaken, it's Brute Force Beast from the Purgatory Plane." Tagore jumped onto Elsa's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "This guy must have extracted the genes of Brute Force Beast and then modified his own genes. In a place like the Basic Plane, only people who have dealt with creatures from the Purgatory Plane can recognize it."

"Is the Brute Force Beast very powerful?" Elsa couldn't help but ask.

"While true Brute Force Beast are merely cannon fodder in purgatory, it's nearly impossible to find a powerhouse who can rival them in the Basic Plane. This is because Brute Force Beast are born with demigod-level Combat Strength, and upon reaching adulthood, they directly possess the Combat Strength of Low-rank God," Tagore explained.

"I've heard my Old Dad mention the Purgatory Plane. He said it's an even more terrifying and extremely dangerous place than the Abyssal Plane. He once went to the Third Level, but he was attacked by a very powerful insect and barely managed to escape." Elsa was actually quite fascinated by that kind of place; she found it hard to believe that her Old Dad could ever be defeated.

"Your Old Dad is already very powerful. Low-rank God have virtually no chance of surviving when they encounter that guy." After saying this, Tagore remained silent and turned to look at the battlefield.

Gu Ding scrambled to his feet from the ruins. He had quickly activated an Attraction and Repulsion Force effect on himself after the attack, increasing his defense tenfold.

Originally, with the twentyfold enhancement of the high-grade iron block, his defense had already reached 10 billion points. With another tenfold increase, his defense directly exceeded one trillion, easily blocking Ross's attack.

Although Ross was only at the peak of the Seventh Order Gene Body, and theoretically, the basic attack power of a normal peak seventh-tier individual is 10,000 points, Ross was a five-star level prodigy. His basic Combat Strength exceeded that of an ordinary person by ten thousand times, reaching a strength of 100 million points. Adding the 8,000-fold increase in Combat Strength after transformation, his Combat Strength reached a staggering 800 billion points. This Combat Strength was already incredibly terrifying, because a martial artist who had just entered the demigod realm typically only had Combat Strength of 100 billion points.

Gu Ding also heard the Sea Emperor's voice.

"Gu Ding, this guy implanted the genes of the Brute Force Beast into his body, gaining the ability to transform into the Brute Force Beast. After transforming, the Brute Force Beast's attack power increases significantly, and its defense power also increases accordingly. Even if you apply the effect of Attraction and Repulsion Force to yourself, with your current attack power, it is almost impossible to defeat him by force. The only way is to attack his weakness."

"Brute Force Beast usually have their weak points on the back of their necks, but I just scanned his body and found that he has moved the weak point upwards to the back of his head. Because of the hair covering it, this weak point is even harder to spot. The weakness of Brute Force Beast is very obvious; the defense of the back of its neck is less than one percent of that of its skin. Even if this guy improves this situation, it can't be improved much, because the gene template he used is that of Brute Force Beast. At most, he can only make some minor modifications; he can't completely eliminate this flaw."

"Thanks, Sea Emperor. I'll take care of him quickly and easily." Gu Ding slowly emerged from the ruins. (To be continued.)