Guen

"Faster! A little faster!"

A red-haired, ape-like man anxiously watched the screen and urged on the cute boy-like AI.

"Speed increased to sublight velocity. Approaching entry into the Dark Universe..."

"10..."

"9..."

"Faster! Hurry!" Ape-man Kolong's eyes were full of desperate urgency, and beads of sweat glistened across his forehead.

"Kolong..." The beautiful woman beside him held a child in her arms and reached out to take Kolong's hand. Their fingers clasped tightly together.

"Ina, I'm sorry. I, I..." Kolong was filled with remorse.

He was a Nord. Among the Ape-man race, he was not especially powerful. Upon reaching adulthood, he had only been an Apprentice Level 6. But Kolong had extraordinary talent, and through his own efforts, he had reached Planetary Level 6 in just twenty years.

That was nothing to be proud of when measured against the entire universe.

Still, Kolong was satisfied. Although his talent was considered quite good among the Nord, the Nord were still rather weak when compared to the entire Ape-man race.

Apprentice, Planetary, Star, Universe...

For someone who had reached only Apprentice Level 6 as an adult, he was quite content with how much his efforts had earned him.

But he had fallen in love with Ina, a Kano and an enemy of the Nord.

Interracial marriages were perfectly normal in the universe, but marriage between two enemy races was forbidden. Yet fate had played a cruel joke on them. He and Ina had fallen deeply in love, and even had a child. With no other choice, they had taken a desperate risk, stolen a spaceship from their clan, and eloped.

But in the end, their actions had been exposed. Brother Baron, who had always looked out for Kolong, had personally led a squad to capture him.

Every member of the squad was a Star-level expert!

Ina tightened her grip on Kolong's hand and nestled against him. "Kolong, look. Isn't he sleeping so soundly?"

Even with danger closing in, the child in their swaddling clothes breathed evenly, sleeping soundly and seemingly unaffected by the tense atmosphere.

My child.

Kolong gazed at the little one, determination in his eyes.

"Ina, I promise you. Our child and I—we'll be all right. We'll be together."

Ina nodded with a smile. "I believe you."

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"Preparing for a jump. We have entered the Dark Universe."

The AI on the screen delivered its announcement.

The spaceship shuddered, and the scenery outside the window turned dark and hazy.

They had entered the Dark Universe.

Once a ship reached the speed of light, it could enter the Dark Universe, where it was possible to travel faster than light.

"Full speed ahead!" Kolong's face lit up, and he immediately issued the command to the AI.

"Estimated time to reach maximum speed of 2.5 times light speed: 20 seconds. Please prepare."

"Warning, warning. Unknown spaceship detected behind us. Awaiting new instructions."

"Warning, warning. Unknown spaceship detected behind us. Awaiting new instructions."

A dark green spaceship appeared on the screen, closing in at a speed greater than Kolong's ship.

"It's the clan's escort ship!" Kolong's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Even the weak Deno could easily assemble an escort squad of Star-level members, and the captain would be even stronger.

But then the ship behind them shuddered, its speed plummeting until it gradually came to a stop. It was immediately kicked out of the Dark Universe.

Only objects traveling faster than light could enter the Dark Universe. Anything that came to a stop would be kicked out and returned to the original universe.

It had stopped!

Kolong could hardly believe it. Then he exchanged a look with Ina, and they both smiled with relief—genuine relief.

Just then, the spaceship began to shake violently, as if it had suffered some kind of devastating blow. "Warning" alarms blared nonstop in the control room. The ship was forced out of the Dark Universe, and as it returned to the Original Universe, it plunged straight into a wormhole.

"My god!"

Kolong and Ina stared in stunned disbelief, holding each other tightly as they shielded their child between them.

Inside the dark green spaceship.

"Bang!"

Baron, the red-haired ape-man leading the group, angrily slammed his fist onto the control panel.

"Damn it! Why did it have to break down now, just as we were about to catch them? What the hell is the maintenance crew doing? They can't even handle something this simple. When we get back to the clan, I'll file a complaint against them!" Baron's face was livid.

"Captain, should we keep after them?" someone asked quietly.

"Keep after them?" Baron glared at him. "How? Hurry up and call the clan to send a spaceship to pick us up. Besides, he's only a Planetary-level nobody. We'll make up some excuse when we get back and say they crashed. The clan won't make an issue of it."

"Yes."

Baron watched his subordinates get to work, then allowed himself a subtle smile. "Kolong, this is all I can do for you."

A Planetary-level man had stolen a spaceship?

And managed to escape pursuit?

As if.

"En'er's going to the Jungle Trial today, and you're not even nervous?" Ina glared at Kolong, who was still practicing martial arts in the courtyard, and scolded him in frustration.

Kolong shook his head. "With the two of us teaching him, En'er will be just fine. Have some faith in him."

Twenty years ago, their spaceship had accidentally entered a wormhole. The distance it spanned had been astonishing. They had traveled from one High-level Universe Nation to another.

No ordinary wormhole could span such a distance.

Although Kolong and Ina knew this, they said nothing about it, especially since the wormhole had soon disappeared.

They had simply settled on a Life Planet near the wormhole. After all, they didn't have enough energy to travel any great distance.

Who would have thought that although the planet was a Natural Planet, it was teeming with life? The various factions formed by its inhabitants held a Jungle Trial every five years. Those who passed could attain a higher status and learn more advanced cultivation techniques.

"Besides, this planet may be fairly developed, but its strongest fighters are only at Star Level, and there are five of them! Those Planetary-level fighters have never even left the planet to see the universe. How could they compare to us? With the two of us teaching him, should we really worry that En'er won't pass?"

Kolong asked.

Ina relaxed a little. Both she and her husband were Planetary-level fighters—one was Planetary Level 6, the other Planetary Level 3.

Guen, their son, had been deliberately trained by them from birth and had now reached Tier 7 Apprentice. He was certainly capable, but as his mother, she couldn't help worrying.

As the two of them were talking, a red-haired man came out of the house and called out, "Father, Mother, I heard everything. Don't worry. I'll come back from this Jungle Trial with first place and show you both!"

The red-haired man was, of course, Guen.

His father, Kolong, was a Nord, and his entire body was covered in red hair.

His mother was Kano, born with a faint green Diamond pattern between her brows.

Guen had inherited some of their features: red hair and a pale greenish-white Diamond pattern between his brows. He was powerfully built, and his bright, alert eyes kept sweeping over his surroundings, as if he were ready to pick a fight with someone at any moment.

That was the Ape-man's combative nature at work.

"I don't care about you taking first place. Just come back safe after passing the trial," Ina said sternly.

"I know, I know. Father, Mother, I'm off!" Guen said with a cheeky grin. He went out through the courtyard gate and leapt onto a beast resembling a wild boar. It was a Horned Boar Beast, native to this planet. It wasn't much of a fighter, and it wasn't especially fast, but it had incredible stamina. It could run day and night before showing the slightest sign of fatigue, making it the most popular riding beast.

Ina sighed repeatedly as she watched Guen disappear into the mountains.

Unaware of his mother's worries, Guen rode through the mountains, breathing in the fresh air and feeling his spirits lift.

"I don't know why my parents insist on living out here in the mountains instead of moving to town. Every time, I have to spend more than half an hour crossing these mountains. At least the ferocious beasts here have been cleared out, leaving only ordinary wild animals. Otherwise, it would take me even longer to get to town."

Ferocious beasts, like human cultivators, possessed strength beyond that of ordinary creatures.

They were huge and immensely strong, with exceptional speed and reflexes. Even human cultivators could easily die beneath a ferocious beast's claws.

"I heard this Jungle Trial has top-tier Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts, too—Green-eyed Purple Wolf Lions and Six-headed Poison Pythons. They're all famous beasts. If I can kill one during the trial, I'm sure to take first place."

At the thought, Guen's blood began to boil. He could hardly wait to fly straight to town.