Military Merit

Lily Dongluo had vented decades of pent-up rage in the battle a few days ago. Now she was leisurely sipping fruit wine.

For an immortal like her, advancing her strength was incredibly difficult. It took far longer than it did for those below the immortal level, so she spent most of her time comprehending the laws in the Virtual Universe, while enjoying a carefree life in reality.

"Hmm?" She suddenly sensed a disturbance and glanced at her Detector. A faint smile touched her beautiful eyes. "Someone's broken through to Domain Lord Rank..."

A sweep of Immortal Divine Power was all it took for her to understand. So it's that little fellow. He seems to be one of Zhan Qiu's men, and Zhan Qiu serves under Zhu Ang...

During the battle in the Black Meteor Mountain Range, she had fought the Mo'er Race immortal with ease, naturally finding time to observe the battle. She'd also seen Bai Muye's performance, which had left a slight impression on her.

It was a trivial matter to her. She casually sent the news to Zhu Ang, then continued sipping her fruit wine, pondering how to find another Mo'er Race immortal.

Half a day later, Bai Muye finished his breakthrough. His physical strength and Origin Energy were dozens of times greater than when he'd been at the ninth tier of Universe Rank. With his Mixed Domain, he should now be able to handle opponents below the fifth tier of Domain Lord Rank with ease.

Just as he was about to continue cultivating, Zhu Ang came to see him.

"I didn't expect you to break through after just one battle. That's quite rare."

Zhu Ang wore a faint smile. He'd thought highly of Bai Muye from the start and had believed his breakthrough was only a matter of time, but Bai Muye had advanced sooner than he'd expected.

"I had some insights after the battle. I tried it out, and didn't expect to break through..." Bai Muye said, half-truthfully.

"That's because you'd built up enough strength. Your breakthrough was only a matter of time," Zhu Ang said thoughtfully. "Normally, once you reached Domain Lord Rank, I'd assign you as a squad leader and give you ten Universe Rank soldiers. But you've already seen that our legion is still understaffed. We'll have to wait until the next round of recruits before we can assign Universe Rank soldiers to you. For now, you'll have to stay with Zhan Qiu. Any objections?"

"Sir, I have none," Bai Muye said indifferently.

Zhan Qiu had a good personality, and he was easy to get along with. Besides, Bai Muye was here to temper himself. Being a squad leader and babysitting a group of Universe Rank soldiers would be pointless.

"Good." Zhu Ang nodded in satisfaction. "You're not the only one in this situation. Plenty of people have gained insights and broken through after a battle. Staying with their original squads actually helps them adjust more quickly and strengthens the squad..."

After a few words of encouragement, Zhu Ang changed the subject. "You must have earned quite a bit of Military Merit in the last battle, right?"

"Not much," Bai Muye said, shaking his head slightly. "Only 85..."

He'd killed more than twenty Mo'er Race fighters at Universe Rank on his own, and helped his teammates finish off quite a few more. Universe Rank fighters weren't distinguished by tier; killing one earned 1 Military Merit.

At Domain Lord Rank, the rewards were much higher: 1,000 Military Merit for an ordinary Domain Lord, and 10,000 for an elite one. Of course, that was nothing compared to a World Lord: an ordinary one was worth 100,000, an elite one a million, and a World Lord General ten million.

Killing a World Lord like Zhu Ang would earn someone ten million Military Merit—equivalent to killing ten million Universe Rank fighters.

If only his Universe Rank kills were counted, Bai Muye might have earned only 35 Military Merit. But later, when Zhan Qiu killed that Domain Lord, the Virtual Universe System had awarded Bai Muye 50 Military Merit. It had been remarkably generous.

"You're not satisfied with 85 Military Merit?" Zhu Ang shook his head slightly. "Do you know how many fighters like you earn zero Military Merit on their first battlefield deployment? And how many lose their lives in their very first battle?"

"Our legion is fortunate to have Army Lord Dongluo, whose strength is formidable," Zhu Ang said with a hint of pride. "Those of us at World Lord Rank, along with the Domain Lords under us, have all seen countless battles. That's why our casualties are relatively low. Even when two Alien Race squads surrounded us decades ago, we still managed to withdraw intact..."

He recalled the past, his expression turning somber. "Some other legions aren't so lucky. Sometimes, barely anyone makes it back. If they're surrounded, it's not unusual for the entire legion to be wiped out..."

Bai Muye fell silent.

He'd seen it in Tan Youming's memories. Even with Dongluo, an immortal close to Marquis, and Zhu Ang, a World Lord General, the Dongluo Legion had suffered casualties exceeding a third in several battles. Legions with less strength had it even worse.

"Enough of that," Zhu Ang said, his expression returning to normal. "I just wanted to tell you that Military Merit is hard to come by, but only the Military Merit you spend is truly yours!"

"I understand." Bai Muye nodded. "There's a saying where I come from: 'You die with your money unspent.' It means about the same thing..."

"Exactly." Zhu Ang laughed. "But for now, there's no way around it. You have to return to the camp to exchange your Military Merit. I mainly came to see what you might need... I watched your previous battle. You were using a Tier 3 Thunder Staff, but now that you've reached Domain Lord Rank, a Tier 3 weapon isn't suitable anymore. Do you have a spare fourth- or fifth-tier weapon?"

"No." Bai Muye shook his head. He'd been completely broke before, and it was only thanks to Samao's help that he'd even had enough to register as a citizen.

Later, he'd bought a Tier 3 Telekinetic Weapon, but hadn't even gotten the chance to use it. Now it would probably have to be retired from his arsenal and kept as a memento.

Zhu Ang brushed a hand across his wrist, and several weapons appeared in the air.

"These are some items I've collected over the years. They're all spoils taken from Alien Race World Lords. They may not be divine weapons, but they're all Fifth-Order Force Weapons. Pick one as a congratulatory gift for reaching Domain Lord Rank..."

Bai Muye looked at the weapons hovering in the air, each radiating an astonishing aura. Their pressure far surpassed that of the Tier 3 weapon he currently used.

"This..."

He hesitated. Fifth-Order Force Weapons were worth far more than third-tier ones. In the original story, when Luo Feng obtained weapons in the World within a World, he'd given Ming Yu just one Void-Slicing Blade, and Ming Yu had still paid him 20 billion Cosmic Coins in cash, saying outright that it wasn't enough.

With the dozens of weapons he'd obtained in the World within a World, Luo Feng had earned his first fortune. That was what allowed him to buy the Yan Shen Armament at a later auction.

Even if these weapons weren't worth as much as the Void-Slicing Blade, each would still cost at least several billion Cosmic Coins.

"Why are you hesitating?" Zhu Ang smiled. "They're all low-grade fifth-tier weapons. I sold off the ones that were truly valuable long ago. I kept these partly as a collection, but they were also meant to be given to promising people..."

Seeing that Bai Muye still wouldn't take one, Zhu Ang said helplessly, "How about this? Consider it a loan. Once we're back at camp, you can exchange your Military Merit for the weapon you want and return this one to me..."

"Thank you, sir."

Since Zhu Ang had put it that way, Bai Muye stopped hesitating and looked over the weapons in the air.

They were all long weapons: a spear, a lance, a slightly shorter spear-like weapon with a hook, and a long weapon with three points and blades along both sides.

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

"May I ask what this weapon is called?" Bai Muye asked, pointing to the weapon shaped like a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear.

"This weapon can be used as a spear, staff, halberd, or blade. It should suit you. I don't know its proper name, though, so you can give it one yourself..."

He swept out his hand, and the weapon flew over to Bai Muye.

Bai Muye caught it and gave it a casual swing. The air immediately rang with a sharp, ripping whoosh.

"What a fine weapon!"

Bai Muye was far stronger than before, and his Tier 3 weapon could no longer bring out his full strength. Now that he had this Fifth-Order Force Weapon, he was like a tiger with wings.

"As long as it feels right in your hands." Zhu Ang saw how reluctant Bai Muye was to put it down and laughed. "Then it's settled. Don't feel indebted to me. The Military Merit for killing one Alien Race Domain Lord is enough to exchange for a weapon like this... What are you going to call it?"

"The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear!"