Their Hunting Ground

With Teregal's warning, Tang Chuan had long been prepared for this situation.

He was not too flustered now. After all, his strength spoke for itself.

Tang Chuan said to Quintessa, "Tell me about it."

Quintessa began from the start. "Just before dawn yesterday, a spacecraft from an advanced civilization appeared in orbit around Heka Star 18 and secretly dropped two landing pods onto the surface.

By the time the Heckarians reacted and found the landing pods, they were already empty.

Then, over the course of a day, eighty-six people died—people from all walks of life, of every gender and age.

The upper ranks of Heka Star had now realized that this was a 'species invasion.' Based on the characteristics of that high-civilization spacecraft in space, they learned that the visitors were Star Hunters.

As was customary, no matter how the Heckarians tried to negotiate, every signal they sent vanished without a trace. Star Hunters never considered communicating with their 'prey' while hunting."

Tang Chuan became interested. "Tell me more about these Star Hunters. How strong are they?"

Quintessa nodded. "Star Hunters are a civilization far more advanced than the Heckarians. Not only is their civilization on a higher level, their individual strength is also extremely formidable.

"But do not worry, Master. I have already infiltrated their ship's internal systems and discovered that this is merely an advancement assessment for low-level warriors. The one overseeing it is only a Fourth Cosmic Speed lifeform that is not particularly powerful.

"As for their assessment, that involves the Star Hunters' cultural inheritance and biological instincts. They worship 'hunting.' When a new generation is about to come of age, they divide them according to certain rules and place them on planets suited to their level of power for a coming-of-age trial.

"The so-called coming-of-age trial is a contest between two members of the new generation. On the planet where they are placed, they must hunt a certain quota of living creatures. The victor may return to their home planet and undergo a coming-of-age coronation ceremony.

"The failed party, however, is not qualified to participate in the adult ceremony. They can only survive on that planet for one stellar year before a ship comes to retrieve them.

"However, with no supplies and enemies everywhere, only an extremely small number of failures can endure for a year and leave safely."

Tang Chuan more or less understood after hearing that, and he could accept it. After all, there were too many races in the Main Universe. Any kind of mindset could be considered normal, right?

Something occurred to him, and he asked Quintessa, "Still, something doesn't seem right. Your civilization is practically shitting on other people's heads. You kill people, dust yourselves off, and leave. Even if you leave behind a loser, most civilizations wouldn't dare do anything to them, would they?"

Quintessa shook her head and replied, "The reason only a tiny number of failures survive that year is because the Star Hunters have promised that anyone who finds and kills the failed participant within that year will not only avoid punishment, but will be rewarded.

"Thus, fueled by hatred and rewards, the chosen hunting ground will often spend an entire year hunting the failed participant with all its might.

"That is the meaning of the assessment. To die in battle is, to them, the highest honor."

Listening to Quintessa's explanation, Tang Chuan came back to himself. "This... sounds familiar. Isn't it somewhat like Azure Star's Steel Blood Warriors?"

Quintessa tilted her head. "They are only somewhat similar. Star Hunters are far stronger than Steel Blood Warriors, and because they possess the ability to 'devour useful genes,' they can devour more than five types of genes in their lifetime. Therefore, their appearances and powers vary enormously."

Tang Chuan was still puzzled. "Didn't you say that advanced civilizations in the Main Universe are all extremely orderly? Then why can Star Hunters simply pick any planet as a hunting site? Wouldn't a higher civilization punish them?"

Quintessa explained, "Strictly speaking, they do not simply choose any planet. Their hunting grounds undergo rigorous selection.

"Moreover, there are quite a few races in the Main Universe that worship hunting, some of which even have deities among them!

"Thus, civilizations and species like the Star Hunters and the Sai Ya People formed a vast organization known as the Hunter Race Alliance.

"Following rules established by deities, this great alliance has strict hunting regulations. Either they purchase planets and raise powerful creatures there themselves, turning them into hunting grounds.

"Or they select a planet according to certain rules as a hunting site, designate specific zones, limit casualties, and conduct their hunts without destroying the social structure of intelligent civilization.

"And they compensate the families of the dead several dozen times over, according to that planet's compensation laws.

"There is no helping it. The Hunter Race Alliance's rules and regulations are protected by several deities.

"This is a cultural inheritance engraved in their genes. If it were forcibly suppressed, provoking a backlash from the Hunter Race Alliance, the casualties and unrest caused would be far beyond this minor amount.

"It would become a catastrophe sweeping across several starfields."

After hearing all that, Tang Chuan still found it fairly understandable.

Indeed, sometimes one had to adapt to local conditions. More importantly, the Hunter Race Alliance possessed deities, and not merely one or two of them.

You could not suppress every hunting civilization while also forcibly erasing the bloodline instincts of deities, could you?

So this arrangement seemed fairly good already.

It would not cause the hunted civilization to collapse, and it would even provide compensation dozens of times over afterward.

If you were still unwilling, then when the Hunter Race deities threw a tantrum, all life across an entire starfield could be wiped out. The outcome would only be hundreds of millions of times more tragic.

Tang Chuan finally asked, "Right, you said this was a basic Star Hunter assessment. It can't possibly pose any threat to me, can it?"

Quintessa smiled. "Of course not. Before the second treatment, you definitely would not have been their match. But now, you can completely crush them. Please rest assured."

Tang Chuan did not ask any further questions. Instead, he said, "Then there is nothing to worry about. Once Heka Star's crisis is over and the Canghuang Continent is completely unified, we can consider our next stop. I suddenly feel like I can more or less accept the bizarre appearances of aliens now."

Quintessa blinked. "All right. Actually, that is because your life level has changed. Imperceptibly, you have shed the aesthetic prejudices you had as an Azure Star person."

"Is that so..."

Tang Chuan murmured to himself.

Will I eventually become like Meatball, able to regard only the Supreme Main Gods as my own kind?

Probably not, right?

Who knew?

Tang Chuan did not dwell on that unanswerable question. He immersed himself in his Divine Core and clearly sensed more abundant, more devout Power of Faith pouring into him from an unseen dimension.

Like Jingwei filling the sea, except it won through sheer abundance and continuity, constantly filling the vast, endless Divine Core.

He then turned his gaze toward the Canghuang Continent.

The Eagle Empire and the Sun Empire there were already locked in a fierce battle.