First Battle

Deep in the silent Dark Universe, a D-class spaceship flew in a certain direction at twice the speed of light.

Bai Muye had been assigned an ordinary cabin. His opponent in the life-or-death battle would remain secret until the fight, so he had no way to study his opponent in advance.

As for equipment such as weapons and armor, he would only receive them after arriving at the designated location for the battle.

Nine days later, the spaceship landed at a designated site on a yellow-brown planet.

There were no trees or oceans, only endless stretches of sand dunes. The entire planet was a desert, ravaged by violent storms.

On the tenth day, with the arrival of the Domain Lord Rank official overseeing the battle, the life-or-death match was about to begin.

"Put on your armor and take your weapons." Bastian pointed toward the spaceship's hatch. "Luoluobai Muye, go kill your opponent!"

In the Virtual Universe, there was a specially created Plane Space. A vast river ran through it, with islands floating above its waters. Each island was a Martial Arena.

At that moment, Martial Arena No. 06372 was packed with spectators.

"This life-or-death battle is about to begin. Please place your bets now..."

A booming voice echoed throughout the Martial Arena.

"Luoluobai Muye to win, odds of 1:1.67. Sweep to win, odds of 1:1.38. If both fighters die, odds of 1:1.95..."

"Three minutes remain for betting..."

"All right, betting is now closed."

"This life-or-death battle is about to begin. The location is Yellow Sand Planet, a planet with tremendous gravity in the Yellow Leaf Star Sector of the Wild Peak Universe Kingdom..."

The Martial Arena darkened. A yellow-brown planet appeared at its center, growing larger and larger. Storms howled across its surface, whipping up vast clouds of yellow sand. Under the planet's powerful gravity, every grain was exceptionally hard. An ordinary Planet Rank fighter caught in such conditions would have their flesh and bones worn away by the sand in no time.

The view zoomed in. Two indistinct figures approached each other from opposite directions.

One figure, nearly two meters tall and carrying a long staff, came into focus. He had a distinctly human face and rugged features. Beneath his close-cropped hair, his black-and-white eyes held a cold gaze that seemed able to pierce the soul.

The other figure drew near. He was lean, holding a blade in one hand and a shield in the other, with a white disk about a meter in diameter hovering beside him.

"Luoluobai Muye, 921 wins. A Cosmic Level Fifth Order martial artist with a Fourth-Order Lightning Domain. Judging from his previous life-or-death battles, he specializes in staff techniques..."

"Sweep, 794 wins. A Cosmic Level Fifth Order Psychic with a Fourth-Order Wind Domain. He uses a Tier 3 Telekinetic Weapon, the Moon Disk, which carries 108 crescent-shaped Arc Blades. They pack considerable power, and his blade and shield techniques as a martial artist are also first-rate..."

This information had been made public before betting opened. The odds made it clear that the Giant Axe Arena favored Sweep. At the same rank, Psychics clearly had an advantage over martial artists, and Sweep was no slouch in close combat either.

"Sure, Luoluobai Muye has 921 wins, but against Sweep, his life-or-death battle career is probably about to end..." Many spectators in the stands thought the same.

Bai Muye, clad in black combat armor, watched his opponent nearby and took a deep breath. This was his first real battle since crossing into this world. He could not afford to lose—

Victory, or death!

When they came within ten kilometers of each other, both fighters burst forward at the same time. Cosmic Level speed was astonishing; they closed to melee range in the blink of an eye.

But Sweep's Telekinetic Weapon was even faster. When they were less than a kilometer apart, the Moon Disk in front of him burst apart. Its 108 Arc Blades swarmed toward Bai Muye from every direction, each following a different angle, speed, and tricky trajectory.

Before closing in, both fighters had already activated their Domains. The silvery-white Lightning Domain and pale-green Wind Domain, both Fourth-Order, clashed on equal terms.

But the Wind Domain emphasized agility, while the Lightning Domain was explosively powerful. The moment the agile Arc Blades entered the Lightning Domain, the lightning around Bai Muye surged.

With a Mental Power Amplitude of less than 50, Sweep couldn't precisely control all 108 Arc Blades. He relied more on the Law Secret Patterns engraved on the Telekinetic Weapon.

Once caught in the Lightning Domain, all the Arc Blades slowed. More than half of them lost considerable speed, while the fewer than fifty remaining continued to fly along strange, agile paths with little change in speed.

Bai Muye gripped the middle of the Thunder Staff in his right hand and turned his wrist. The staff spun, sweeping up the yellow sand around him and sending it flying, only for the Arc Blades to slice it effortlessly into finer grains.

A constant clatter rang out. Bai Muye's hands seemed to blur into countless spinning hands. Centered on his wrist, the staff became a mass of propellers, protecting him from every direction—front and back, above and below.

A Psychic's advantage lay in using Telekinetic Weapons to attack from afar. The higher their Mental Power Amplitude, the more weapons they could control and the more precisely they could guide them. But each weapon's power had a limit.

Martial artists couldn't control as many weapons as Psychics, but they had an advantage of their own: their Force Amplitude applied to a single weapon.

Take Luo Feng in the original story, just after he came out of Ruins No. 9. His Mental Power Amplitude was sixteen, so he could control sixteen flying knives at once, each dealing 500,000 kilograms of force. If all of them hit Li Yao at the same time, their force could stack up to eight million kilograms.

But if Li Yao dodged some of them, or they couldn't all hit at once, each knife would still only strike with 500,000 kilograms of force. If Li Yao could likewise strike with 500,000 kilograms of force, but had a Force Amplitude of five, he could bring 2.5 million kilograms of force to bear against each knife's 500,000. The flying knives' effectiveness was easy to imagine.

Bai Muye was in the same situation. Though he faced nearly fifty Arc Blades, his Force Amplitude exceeded 40, and his footwork was superb. He would never give his opponent the chance to hit him with dozens of Arc Blades at once.

His staff formed an impenetrable defense. Bai Muye knew that the only way to defeat a Psychic as a martial artist was to close the distance.

Every Arc Blade knocked aside by his staff flew away, but the others kept attacking, giving the deflected blades time to rejoin the assault.

As the staff whirled, its gusts carved furrow after furrow into the sandy ground.

The Arc Blades kept Bai Muye from building up speed, but he continued to press toward his opponent.

Sweep understood that his martial arts skills were far inferior to his Psychic abilities. Hovering in the air, he had nothing to slow him down. So whenever Bai Muye advanced a meter, Sweep retreated a meter. They maintained a distance that let Sweep draw the full power from his Telekinetic Weapon while keeping Bai Muye from closing in.

In the Virtual Universe's Martial Arena, some spectators cheered Sweep on, others cheered for Bai Muye, and most simply chatted and laughed.

"Sweep's Mental Power Amplitude is decent, and a Fourth-Order Domain is respectable even among Cosmic Rank fighters. No wonder he's won nearly eight hundred battles..." A burly man with Purple Eyes spoke to the sharp-nosed man beside him.

"Luoluobai Muye's staff work is truly smooth and fluid. With that many Arc Blades, not a single one has broken through his defenses..." Hook Nose replied.

"What nonsense. If even one Arc Blade had broken through, Luoluobai Muye would already be dead..." Purple Eyes gave him a 'purple' eye.

"Haha, true enough. But if this goes on, Luoluobai Muye is bound to slip up eventually. They don't say Psychics are nearly invincible against fighters of the same rank for nothing..."

The two commented on the fight without a care, drawing displeased looks from spectators nearby. But when they saw the Universe One-Star Mercenary badges on the men's chests, they turned away with resentful expressions.

The two were about to continue when a startled cry suddenly rang out beside them:

"Holy crap! Luoluobai Muye's about to unleash his power..."