Unknown Star Domain, Heavenly Court Calendar Year 96.
After nearly a century of conquest, Su Mu, ruler of the Cyber Heavenly Court, had finally conquered the entire starfield and made it his own territory.
It was also in that year that the entire starfield was officially renamed the Heavenly Court Starfield!
Under Heavenly Court rule, Ancestral Star.
Cosmic Star Gate, South Heaven Gate.
Today was the day the entire Ancestral Star selected its heavenly soldiers.
Countless youths who had distinguished themselves on Ancestral Star crossed the star gate under the guidance of the royal guard Yang Jian, boarded Transport Ships, and headed for the Heavenly Court they had long dreamed of.
After an unknown amount of time, the Transport Ships began to slow, and the youths inside finally caught sight of the Heavenly Court's true appearance.
Through the Transport Ship windows, they first saw specks of red light forming several red patterns, quietly suspended in space.
Only when the Transport Ships drew closer to those red patterns did they see what those specks of red light truly were.
Each speck was a silver warship with a red Energy Shield activated!
"I-I know what this is!"
"This should be the Vermilion Bird Fleet, one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions Battleship Fleet under Heavenly Venerate Su Mu!"
"I saw it in the records before. Only the Vermilion Bird Fleet has red Energy Shields!"
At the sight of the magnificent scene outside, a refined-looking young man in the crowd suddenly spoke up in realization.
As soon as he spoke, all the youths aboard the Transport Ships began discussing it excitedly.
"Really? This is the Vermilion Bird Fleet? I heard it's a legendary fleet that occupied an entire hostile star system in just half a day!"
"That's right! And I heard that the tens of thousands of soldiers in the Vermilion Bird Fleet are all at the level of Third-generation Super Soldiers! Even its seven commanders have already reached Level 1 Divine Body!"
"Damn! Is that for real? If it is, getting posted to the Vermilion Bird Fleet would be like striking gold!"
"Don't say that! You need to have some ambition. The Twenty-Eight Mansions Battleships may be strong, but under Heavenly Venerate Su Mu, they're only among the lower-ranking fleets! I think I could serve on an even more advanced warship!"
As the youths chatted, the Transport Ships slowly entered the Vermilion Bird Fleet's rear Hangar Barracks.
Once the Transport Ships came to a complete stop, electronic synthesized voices rang out from within them.
"Optimizing the internal hangar environment. Do not disembark!"
"Optimizing the internal hangar environment. Do not disembark!"
"Optimizing the internal hangar environment. Do not disembark!"
Since these youths had yet to pass the heavenly soldier selection and could not adapt to the complex environment of space at all, the hangar needed to create a safe environment for them.
Unless something unexpected happened, they could only remain in this Hangar Barracks until they had fully completed their training.
"Hangar environment optimization complete! Disembarkation is now permitted!"
The hangar worked swiftly. In just a few seconds, it had optimized the entire environment into one suitable for human survival.
As the prompt sounded, Yang Jian opened the Transport Ship's hatch and leaped to the other end of the hangar.
The moment Yang Jian landed, an alluring woman led a squad of soldiers out through the door at the other end of the hangar to greet him.
"Protector Yang Jian." Liu Qing dipped slightly and offered a salute.
Although Liu Qing was one of the commanders in the Vermilion Bird Fleet, her status was still far beneath Yang Jian's.
Looking at Liu Qing as she saluted him, Yang Jian said calmly, "This batch consists of the candidates selected from Ancestral Star."
"Oh? Is this all of them? There don't seem to be many." Liu Qing looked past Yang Jian at the youths behind him with enticing eyes.
"Heavenly Venerate has ordered that this year's selections will all be used to expand the new fleet, so nearly every one of them was chosen from ten thousand. Having this many is enough." Yang Jian looked at Liu Qing and spoke slowly.
"Alright, I'll leave this batch to you for now. I still need to report back to Heavenly Venerate as soon as possible."
Liu Qing gave a soft "Mm." "Please go ahead, Protector Yang Jian."
However, just as Yang Jian entered the Small South Heaven Gate and passed through the wormhole to the Lingxiao Warship to meet Su Mu, an enormous Blue Screen slowly unfolded across the entire sky above the Heavenly Court.
It was not only the Heavenly Court. Nearly every civilization in the entire Super God Universe saw a Blue Screen hanging above its own civilization.
Cyber Heavenly Court, Lingxiao Warship.
Lingxiao Palace.
As the palace where the ruler of the Heavenly Court resided, the entire Lingxiao Palace had been built on a colossal scale, nearly as large as a city.
The imposing, futuristic gates were inlaid with rare treasures offered up from countless star systems!
Any one of these items, if placed outside, would have been enough to trigger a war between star systems!
Yet here at the Lingxiao Palace, they could only serve as decorations adorning the gates!
Beyond the gates lay a Steel Corridor forged through various technologies!
Several Small South Heaven Gates stood quietly within the corridor. Behind them lay connections to the various major fleets, allowing them to travel to the Lingxiao Palace for deliberations.
Past the corridor was where the Heavenly Venerate's throne stood.
Compared with the stern, rugged technological atmosphere outside, the furnishings around the Heavenly Venerate's throne were remarkably simple. Aside from the magnificent throne and necessary facilities, there was nothing else in the great hall.
Yet it was precisely this simple arrangement that highlighted the solemnity and dignity of this place of deliberation!
Seated on the throne, Su Mu narrowed his eyes at the Blue Screen that had suddenly appeared in the sky and said to the royal guard Nezha below, "Nezha, go find out what that Blue Screen in the sky is."
"If circumstances allow, bring that Blue Screen back to me."
"Yes!"
After receiving Su Mu's order, Nezha first saluted, then turned and left the Lingxiao Palace.
At the same time Nezha left, ripples spread across the light screen hanging in space.
When the ripples faded, a line of text slowly appeared on the screen.
[Cosmic Civilization Power Ranking!]
"Hmm?" Seeing the words displayed on the screen, Su Mu let out a soft sound from his throne.
Su Mu had not expected the Ranking System he had seen in novels in his previous life to appear here.
After a brief moment of thought, Su Mu composed himself and asked the system in his mind, "System, do you know what this Ranking System is about?"
[Detecting the cause of the Ranking System's appearance] [Please wait, Host!] [Detection successful!] [Based on detection data and analysis, the Ranking System was naturally born from this universe.] [The Host may also understand it as the incarnation of this universe's will.]
"An incarnation of the universe's will?"
Listening to the system's explanation, Su Mu murmured softly, then looked back at the Blue Screen with a thoughtful expression.
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