Military Merit

Lily Dongluo had vented a frustration that had been building for decades during the battle a few days ago, and she was now leisurely sipping fruit wine.

For an Immortal like her, advancing her strength further was extremely difficult, taking far more time than it did for those below the Immortal level. Therefore, she spent most of her time meditating in the Virtual Universe, while living a carefree life in reality.

"Hmm?" She suddenly sensed a fluctuation, tilted her head to glance at the detector, and a hint of a smile appeared in her beautiful eyes. "A little one has actually broken through to the Domain Lord Rank..."

With a slight sweep of her Immortal divine power, she couldn't help but understand, thinking to herself: "So it's this little one; he seems to be a team member under Zhan Qiu, who is under Zhu Ang..."

The battle in the Black Meteor Mountain Range had been a breeze for her as she slaughtered the Mo'er Race Immortal, so she naturally had time to observe the battlefield. During that time, she had seen Bai Muye's performance and left a slight impression on herself.

This was a trivial matter to her, so after casually sending the news to Zhu Ang, she continued to sip her fruit wine, calculating how to find the other Mo'er Race Immortal.

Half a day later, Bai Muye finished his breakthrough. His physical fitness and force were dozens of times stronger than they had been at the Universe Rank 9. Now, combined with his Mixed Domain, he should be able to easily face opponents below the Domain Lord Rank 5.

Just as he was preparing to continue his cultivation, Zhu Ang came to find him.

"I didn't expect you to break through after just one battle. Rare."

There was a hint of a smile on Zhu Ang's face. He had always thought highly of Bai Muye and felt that his breakthrough was only a matter of time, but the speed of Bai Muye's breakthrough was still beyond his expectations.

"I had some insights after the battle and tried it out, not expecting to actually break through..." Bai Muye said, half-truthfully.

"That is also because your accumulation is deep enough; the breakthrough was just a natural result," Zhu Ang pondered for a moment. "Originally, since you've broken through to the Domain Lord Rank, you should be assigned the position of a captain to lead ten Universe Rank soldiers. But as you saw before, our legion is currently not at full strength, so we can only wait until the next recruitment to assign you Universe Rank soldiers. For now, you still need to follow Zhan Qiu. Do you have any objections?"

"My Lord, I have no objections." Bai Muye said indifferently.

Zhan Qiu had a good personality, and they got along quite well. Besides, Bai Muye was here to hone himself; being a captain and acting as a babysitter for Universe Rank soldiers would be boring instead.

"That's good," Zhu Ang nodded with satisfaction. "Actually, there are many cases like yours. Many break through after having insights during a battle. Following your original squad will actually allow you to adapt as quickly as possible and also enhance the squad's strength..."

After offering a few words of encouragement, Zhu Ang brought up something else: "You should have earned quite a bit of Military Merit in the last battle, right?"

"Not much," Bai Muye shook his head slightly. "Just 85..."

He had independently killed more than twenty Universe Rank Mo'er Race members and helped his teammates complete many kills as well. Universe Rank members were not divided by levels; killing one Universe Rank soldier was worth 1 Military Merit.

Once at the Domain Lord Rank, the Military Merit was much higher: an ordinary Domain Lord was worth 1,000 Military Merit, and an elite Domain Lord was worth 10,000. Of course, they couldn't compare to World Lords; an ordinary World Lord was worth 100,000, an elite World Lord 1,000,000, and a World Lord General 10,000,000.

If one could kill a World Lord like Zhu Ang, they would receive 10,000,000 Military Merit, equivalent to 10,000,000 Universe Rank soldiers.

If only counting the Universe Rank kills, it might have been 35 Military Merit, but the Virtual Universe system had actually allocated him 50 Military Merit for the Domain Lord Rank kill that Zhan Qiu had finished off, which was quite generous.

"Not satisfied with 85 Military Merit?" Zhu Ang shook his head slightly. "Do you know how many people like you, at the Universe Rank, have 0 Military Merit on their first time on the battlefield? And how many lose their lives in their first battle..."

"Our legion is considered good because our commander is powerful," Zhu Ang said with a hint of pride. "We World Lords and the Domain Lords below are all battle-hardened, so our casualties are relatively low each time. Even that time decades ago when we were surrounded by two enemy teams, we were able to retreat unscathed..."

Recalling the past, he said somewhat despondently: "Unlike some other legions, sometimes not many return. If they encounter an encirclement, total annihilation is a common occurrence..."

Bai Muye remained silent.

He had seen from Tan Youming's memories that even with an Immortal like Dongluo who was close to the Marquis level, and a World Lord General like Zhu Ang, there had been several battles where the Dongluo Legion suffered casualties exceeding one-third, not to mention those legions with weaker strength.

"Enough of that," Zhu Ang's expression returned to normal. "I wanted to tell you that while Military Merit is hard to come by, only the Military Merit you spend is truly yours!"

"I understand," Bai Muye nodded. "There is a saying in my hometown: 'The person died, but the money wasn't spent.' It's roughly the same meaning..."

"Exactly, that's the meaning," Zhu Ang laughed. "But there's no way around it now; you need to return to the military camp to exchange Military Merit. I mainly came to see what your needs are... I've seen your previous battles; you used a Grade 3 Thunder Staff. But now that you are a Domain Lord, it's no longer appropriate to use a Grade 3 weapon. Do you have any spare Grade 4 or Grade 5 weapons?"

"No." Bai Muye shook his head. He had been penniless before, and it was only thanks to Samao's help that he didn't even lack the money to register as a citizen.

Later, he had bought a Grade 3 Telepathic Weapon, but he hadn't even had a chance to use it yet, and now it would likely be retired from his equipment sequence and kept as a souvenir.

Zhu Ang reached out and wiped his wrist, and several weapons appeared in the air.

"These are some of my collections over the years, all spoils of war after killing alien World Lords. Although they aren't divine weapons, they are all Grade 5 Force Weapons. Pick one; consider it a congratulatory gift for your breakthrough to the Domain Lord Rank..."

Bai Muye looked at the weapons in the air that were emitting astonishing fluctuations; the pressure on them was far higher than the Grade 3 weapon he was currently using.

"This..."

He hesitated. The value of a Grade 5 Force Weapon was far higher than a Grade 3. In the original story, when Luo Feng obtained those weapons in the World within a World, he only gave Ming Yu one "Sky-Slicing Blade," and he even gave Luo Feng 20 billion Cosmic Coin in cash, admitting it wasn't enough.

And Luo Feng had used those dozens of weapons obtained from the World within a World to get his first pot of gold, which allowed him to purchase the "Yan Shen Weapon" at a later auction.

Even if these weapons weren't as valuable as the Sky-Slicing Blade, they were worth at least several billion Cosmic Coin.

"Why are you dawdling?" Zhu Ang smiled. "These are all low-grade Grade 5. The truly valuable ones were sold by me long ago. These are for my collection, and they were meant to be distributed to those with potential anyway..."

Seeing that Bai Muye remained unmoved, he said helplessly: "How about this, consider it a loan. When we return to the military camp and you exchange for your desired weapon with Military Merit, you can return it to me then..."

"Thank you, My Lord."

Seeing that he had said as much, Bai Muye stopped being coy and looked at the weapons in the air.

These were all long-handled weapons: a long spear, a lance, a barbed weapon similar to a spear but slightly shorter, and a weapon with three points and blades on both sides.

"You used a staff in your previous battles, but unfortunately, I don't have any staff-type weapons here..."

"May I ask, My Lord, what is this weapon called?" Bai Muye pointed to the weapon that resembled a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear and asked.

"This weapon combines the functions of a spear, staff, halberd, and blade; it should suit you well. I don't know the specific name either; you can name it yourself..."

He waved his hand, and the weapon flew in front of Bai Muye.

He took it into his hands and swung it casually, and a wave of air-piercing pressure immediately erupted in the air.

"Good weapon!"

Bai Muye's strength had increased greatly compared to before, and using a Grade 3 weapon could no longer bring out his full potential. Now, with this Grade 5 Force Weapon, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

"As long as it feels right," Zhu Ang laughed as he watched him handle it with fondness. "Then that's settled. Don't feel burdened; the Military Merit from killing one alien Domain Lord is enough to exchange for this weapon... What do you plan to name it?"

"Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear!"