First Battle

In the deep, silent Dark Universe, a D-grade spaceship flew toward a certain destination at twice the speed of light.

Luoluobai Muye was assigned to a standard cabin. Opponents in death matches are kept confidential before the fight, so it was impossible for him to study his opponent in advance.

As for equipment like weapons and battle armor, they would only be issued to him after arriving at the designated location for this death match.

Nine days later, the ship landed at the specified coordinates on a yellowish-brown planet.

There were no trees, no oceans, only endless rolling sand dunes—a world of pure desert, where super-storms ravaged the entire planet.

On the tenth day, with the arrival of the Domain Lord Rank supervisor, the death match was about to begin.

"Put on your armor, take your weapon," Bastian said, pointing to the ship's hatch, "Luoluobai Muye, go and slay your opponent!"

In the Virtual Universe, there was a specially created plane. Within this space, a massive river spanned the entire expanse, with islands floating above it; each island served as an arena.

At this moment, Arena 06372 was packed to capacity.

"This death match is about to begin. Please place your bets quickly..."

A grand voice resonated throughout the entire arena.

"Luoluobai Muye to win, odds 1:1.67; Sweep to win, odds 1:1.38; if both perish together, odds 1:1.95..."

"Three minutes remaining for betting..."

"Alright, betting is now closed."

"This death match begins immediately. The location is a Yellow Sand Planet with incredible gravity, situated in the Yellow Leaf Star Sector of the Wild Peak Universe Kingdom..."

The arena began to darken, and a yellowish-brown planet appeared in the center. As it zoomed in, the planet's surface showed howling winds whipping up sand that filled the sky. Under the intense gravity, every grain of sand was exceptionally hard; if an ordinary Planet Rank were in such an environment, their flesh and bones would be eroded away layer by layer in no time.

The view zoomed in, and two faint figures approached each other from opposite directions.

A figure nearly two meters tall, holding a long staff, gradually became clear. He had a standard human face with sharp, rugged features. Beneath his short hair, his black-and-white eyes held a cold gaze that seemed capable of piercing through a person's soul.

The other figure approached, lean and thin, holding a blade in one hand and a shield in the other, with a white disk about a meter in diameter circling his side.

"Luoluobai Muye, 921 wins, Universe Rank level 5 fighter, Fourth-Order Lightning Domain. Based on previous death matches, he excels in staff techniques..."

"Sweep, 794 wins, Universe Rank level 5 Psychic, Fourth-Order Wind Domain. He uses a Third-Order Telepathic Weapon, the Moon Disk, which carries 108 crescent-shaped blades. Its power is formidable, and his blade and shield techniques as a fighter are also top-tier..."

This information had been made public before the betting began. Looking at the odds, it was clear that the Giant Axe Arena favored Sweep. At the same rank, Psychics generally held a clear advantage over fighters, and Sweep's own combat prowess as a fighter was not low either.

"Don't look at Luoluobai Muye's 921 wins; facing Sweep, he'll likely end his death match journey here..." many spectators in the stands thought to themselves.

Clad in black battle armor, Luoluobai Muye looked at his opponent not far away and took a deep breath. This was his first true battle since transmigrating, and he could not afford to fail—

If he did not win, he would die!

When they were within ten kilometers of each other, both simultaneously exploded with speed, charging toward one another. The speed of Universe Rank combatants was immense; they entered close-quarters range in the blink of an eye.

But faster still was Sweep's telepathic weapon. When they were less than a thousand meters apart, the Moon Disk in front of him shattered, and 108 crescent blades swarmed toward Luoluobai Muye from various angles, speeds, and devious trajectories.

Long before they closed the distance, both had unleashed their domains. The silver-white Lightning Domain and the pale-cyan Wind Domain, both Fourth-Order, clashed, appearing evenly matched.

However, the Wind Domain emphasized agility, while the Lightning Domain was exceptionally explosive. As soon as the nimble crescent blades entered the Lightning Domain, the lightning around Luoluobai Muye instantly boiled.

With Sweep's telepathic amplitude of less than 50, he could not precisely control all 108 blades; he relied more on the law-based secret patterns inscribed on the telepathic weapon.

Once trapped in the Lightning Domain, all the blades faltered. More than half of them slowed down significantly, while the remaining fifty or so continued to fly nimbly along strange trajectories with little change in speed.

Luoluobai Muye gripped the center of his Thunder Staff with his right hand and twisted his wrist. The long staff began to spin, dragging the surrounding yellow sand with it. The sand was sent flying, only to be easily sliced into even finer particles by the crescent blades.

The sound of clashing metal rang out incessantly. Luoluobai Muye's hands seemed to blur into phantoms, turning into countless rotating limbs. With his wrist as the center, the long staff transformed into a propeller of sorts, protecting his front, back, left, right, top, and bottom with impenetrable defense.

The advantage of a Psychic lies in the ability to control telepathic weapons for long-range attacks, and the higher the telepathic amplitude, the more weapons they can control with greater precision. However, there is an upper limit to the power of each individual weapon.

Although a fighter cannot control as many weapons as a Psychic, they have their own advantage: their force-amplification amplitude is applied to a single weapon.

Just like in the original story when Luo Feng first emerged from Ruins No. 9, his telepathic amplitude was 16 times, allowing him to control 16 flying knives simultaneously. Each knife had an attack power of 500,000 kilograms, but when they all struck Li Yao at once, the power could stack to 8 million kilograms.

However, if some were dodged and they couldn't strike simultaneously, each knife's attack power was only 500,000 kilograms. If Li Yao also had an attack power of 500,000 kilograms and a force-amplification amplitude of 5 times, he could use 2.5 million kilograms to counter the 500,000 kilograms, and the lethality of the flying knives would be obvious.

Luoluobai Muye's situation was the same. Although he faced an attack from nearly 50 crescent blades, his force-amplification amplitude exceeded 40, and his footwork was extremely strong; it was impossible for his opponent to land dozens of blades on him at the same time.

The long staff provided a flawless defense. Luoluobai Muye knew that the only way for a fighter to defeat a Psychic was to close the distance.

Every crescent blade that struck the long staff was knocked away, but the other blades continued the siege, giving the deflected blades time to rejoin the attack.

As the long staff swung, the wind from the staff carved deep furrows into the sandy ground.

With the crescent blades pinning him down, Luoluobai Muye couldn't increase his speed, but he was steadily closing in on his opponent.

However, Sweep also understood that as a Psychic, his combat ability as a fighter was far inferior to his telepathic means. Since he was hovering in the air without being pinned down, he simply retreated one meter for every meter Luoluobai Muye advanced. The two maintained a distance that allowed Sweep to exert the maximum power of his telepathic weapon without letting Luoluobai Muye get close.

In the Virtual Universe arena, some spectators in the stands were cheering for Sweep, others for Luoluobai Muye, but most were laughing and chatting.

"Sweep's telepathic amplitude is decent, and a Fourth-Order domain is quite strong for the Universe Rank. No wonder he's achieved nearly eight hundred victories..." a burly man with purple eyes said to his sharp-nosed companion.

"This Luoluobai Muye's staff technique is truly smooth and fluid. With so many blades, not a single one has managed to break through his defensive circle from start to finish..." the Hook Nose replied.

"That's a load of nonsense. If a single blade had broken through, Luoluobai Muye would be dead already..." the Purple Eyes gave him a look.

"Haha, true enough. But if things continue like this, Luoluobai Muye will eventually make a mistake. That's why they say Psychics are nearly invincible against those of the same rank..."

The two commented recklessly in the spectator stands. A nearby audience member looked over with annoyance, but upon seeing the "Universe One-Star Mercenary" badges on their chests, he turned his head away in frustration.

Just as the two were about to continue their commentary, a sudden exclamation came from beside them:

"Holy crap! Luoluobai Muye is about to explode..."