The Genius Tournament had ended. Both the lofty Venerable Plain Robe and the 1,008 mighty undying beings had left. Even now, Lu Yan'an and the other thousand geniuses still didn't know Venerable Plain Robe's title.
Just as Lu Yan'an and the others were about to log off and leave, the staff nearby called out, "Please don't leave just yet. We still have a few things to discuss with you regarding your trip to Virtual Universe Company's Universal Headquarters."
Everyone present exchanged confused glances, unsure what was going on. Their confusion lasted until they were brought to the second-floor conference room of Central Plaza's Restaurant No. 2.
The staff asked them to provide their exact planetary addresses. Virtual Universe Company would arrange a dedicated spaceship for each of them to take them to its headquarters.
This was to ensure that the geniuses from every Universe Country would reach the headquarters on the same day. The company calculated the best arrangements based on their different locations and the spaceships at its disposal.
Lu Yan'an picked up a pen and paper and wrote down, "Ganwu Universe Country, Black Dragon Mountain Star Sector, Qiu Long Planet."
Around him, the thousand young people from various Universe Countries were also filling out their forms.
Once the Virtual Universe System had collected the data, it estimated that the entire journey would take about three years.
The farthest distance was 1.5 billion light-years. Making the trip in just three years was simply incredible.
That was because Virtual Universe Company, one of the Human Race's top powers, had arranged F-class spaceships for every genius! Just what did an F-class spaceship mean? The best ship Lu Yan'an currently owned was the Tianfeng-series Heritage Spaceship, which he'd previously used for travel. It was still docked at Qiu Long Planet.
The Tianfeng-series ships were only D-class spaceships, worth roughly ten to twenty billion Universe Coins. An ordinary E-class ship cost around one Hunyuan Unit, while even the E-class peak ships used by undying beings cost only a few hundred Hunyuan Units. In the original story, Hu Yanbo's Yunmo Star Ship was an F-class spaceship, and its construction alone had cost 3.6 million Hunyuan Units!
What was more, Virtual Universe Company's F-class ships were special models made in-house, with technology far more advanced than the F-class ships of the various Universe Countries.
They were sending out a thousand such F-class spaceships at once. There was no other reason for it—they simply wanted to show off how rich they were.
After all the data had been collected, the staff on-site announced that the Genius Tournament prizes would be transferred directly into their respective accounts. They were asked to check that they had received them. As the overall champion, Lu Yan'an had earned a place in the Original Secret Realm, along with an extra 10,000 Hunyuan Units in prize money!
With that, in Lord Shen's eyes, Lu Yan'an had gone from a poor peasant living on relief to a wealthy landlord! The kind who'd gotten rich overnight!
One by one, people disappeared from the conference room as they logged off. By the time the last person had left, the room had returned to its former emptiness.
The spaceship was about 800 meters long, 200 meters wide, and nearly 120 meters thick. Its sharp, swordlike shape was pitch-black all over. Even standing in front of it, one could faintly sense an ancient, weathered aura, as if it had existed for a very long time.
Lu Yan'an emerged from the clouds and walked up to the ancient, weathered ship.
"Void Stone Marrow. This F-class spaceship was forged from Void Stone Marrow," Lord Shen explained in his mind.
Lord Shen had learned that Lu Yan'an would be going to Virtual Universe Company's headquarters. Since it was an undying being, its true body couldn't accompany Lu Yan'an to the Initial Universe! So it had specially split off a trace of its consciousness and transferred it into an Intelligent Life to assist Lu Yan'an with his cultivation in the Initial Universe. Lord Shen had originally been an Intelligent Life itself, so this was an old hand at such things.
"It just looks old and weathered to me. Other than that, I don't see what makes it special," Lu Yan'an replied silently, pursing his lips.
"You really don't know how to appreciate a treasure. Void Stone Marrow is a special mineral from the void. Ships forged from it can reach much higher speeds! This ship may not look much bigger than ours, but it can go dozens of times faster!"
Lord Shen hurriedly explained. "Add in the cost of its technology, and I couldn't afford this treasure even if I sold myself!" Lord Shen sounded rather wistful.
Just then, a group of people flew out of the hatch ahead. Leading them was an Ape-man Race elder who looked almost identical to an Earthling. He wore a crimson battle suit and had short, close-cropped hair. His smile was warm and welcoming, and a lightning mark sat between his brows. The casual way he wielded Space Control made it clear to Lu Yan'an that he was a World Lord acknowledged by the Universe Origin Law.
"Lei Xiao pays his respects to Your Highness!" The Ape-man Race elder bowed slightly. Even with his aura restrained, the faintly leaking power of thunder was enough to make one shudder.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
Behind Lei Xiao, a group of ordinary World Lords and Domain Lords bowed respectfully to Lu Yan'an.
Among the Virtual Universe Company's four Core Layer secret realms, the Endless Secret Realm was the outermost. Core Members of the Endless Secret Realm had to address members of the other three secret realms as "Your Highness" if those members were below the undying level!
Likewise, ordinary members who weren't part of the Core Layer had to address Core Members below the undying level as "Your Highness"!
Lu Yan'an nodded slightly and didn't waste any time. Surrounded by the others, he boarded the spaceship.
The spaceship's interior was spacious. The "hilt" of the warship housed the main rooms of its engine compartment, while other rooms filled much of the lower level. Though the ship looked ancient on the outside, its interior was a different world!
At that moment, Lu Yan'an was escorted into an extravagant hall on the upper deck. It was 300 meters long and 60 meters wide. Fine wine and rare spirit fruits had been laid out before him, and beautiful maids stood by, ready to serve!
Lu Yan'an sat across from the Ape-man Race elder.
The elder introduced himself first. "Your Highness, I am Lei Xiao, a World Lord acknowledged by the Thunder Origin Law. I'm responsible for protecting you on your journey to Virtual Universe Company's headquarters."
Lu Yan'an nodded slightly, clasped his hands, and said with a smile, "I'll be relying on you for your protection on this journey!"
"Your Highness, there's no need to say that," Lei Xiao replied with a smile. "It's my duty."
"I assume Your Highness hasn't visited our Virtual Universe Company's virtual headquarters before. Why not come with me into the Virtual Universe for a look?"
Lu Yan'an's eyes lit up.
He was naturally extremely curious about Virtual Universe Company's virtual headquarters from the original story. It would also be where he spent most of his time in the Virtual Universe in the future, so he was very interested.
The spaceship continued to accelerate through the Dark Universe, eventually settling into a steady speed of forty times the speed of light.
The Intelligent Life "Lord Shen" suddenly received a new permission. Once Lu Yan'an entered the Virtual Universe, he could be sent directly to a special plane within it—the Virtual Headquarters Plane.
It was a mountain suspended in a sea of clouds, larger than an ordinary planet in the real world. Lu Yan'an suddenly appeared on a street.
Lei Xiao appeared in front of him shortly afterward. "Your Highness!"
"The mountain suspended in the clouds before you is called 'Yu Xiang Mountain.' It's about 89,000 kilometers in diameter."
Lei Xiao took him on a tour of Yu Xiang Mountain.
Lu Yan'an nodded. Yu Xiang Mountain was truly enormous. Yuan Planet, after all, was only a little over ten thousand kilometers in diameter.
"Yu Xiang Mountain is divided into five districts," Lei Xiao said with a smile. "The Original District, Tai Chu District, Heaven and Earth District, Endless District, and Public District. All five districts are about the same size."
"There aren't many people in the Original District or Tai Chu District. Including Your Highness, the Original District currently has fewer than ten people, and the Tai Chu District has only just passed a hundred, even with the participants from this Genius Tournament!"
"Wait, Lei Xiao. Isn't this the first Genius Tournament? How did all these people in the secret realms get in?" Lu Yan'an asked curiously.
The Ape-man elder smiled. "Your Highness, Virtual Universe Company has its own set of standards for evaluating geniuses. Those who meet them naturally advance! And the company has been training talent all along. It's just that the Genius Tournament wasn't the selection method before!"
Lu Yan'an nodded. That explanation made sense. "Please continue," he said with a smile.
"The Heaven and Earth District has a little over a thousand people."
"And the Endless District has over a million!" Lei Xiao continued. "As for the Public District, that's where you'll find commerce and entertainment. Members from all four districts can enter the Public District, but members of each district are forbidden from entering the others."
The five districts were about the same size, yet the Endless District had over a million people, while the Original District had fewer than ten.
That was the status of the Original Secret Realm! And that was Lu Yan'an's status now!
Before you continue