Chen Yuan: Intermediate War God!

"Junior Brother Chen Yuan has helped me a great deal... How about this, I'll play host tonight and take you to the main district to relax?" Yu Qinglan proposed, then immediately added, "Of course, I mean proper, decent entertainment."

"I appreciate the invitation, Senior Sister Yu, but the timing is unfortunate." Chen Yuan shook his head with a smile, "I am about to request leave for a long trip, so I'm afraid I won't have time to attend."

"Is that so? What a pity." Yu Qinglan quietly observed Chen Yuan's expression, blinked, and tactfully refrained from pressing further.

Chen Yuan then bid farewell to Yu Qinglan, returned to his attic to pack his belongings, and took the opportunity to dial the number provided in his contract.

"...That is correct, my Combat Power Amplitude has reached '25', meeting the requirements of the third clause of the contract." Chen Yuan said into the phone while packing the necessary items into his backpack.

The other end of the line fell into an unusually long silence, seemingly filled with shock and confusion, as Chen Yuan keenly heard phrases like "Are you sure?" and "Check it carefully" coming from the phone.

Finally, the martial arts gym staff seemed to have verified his current results, and the tone of the reply rose with excitement: "Verification complete. Your Combat Power Amplitude has reached '25', satisfying the conditions of the third clause. Congratulations, student Chen Yuan!"

"The contract rewards will be delivered to the Training Camp within one hour," the voice on the phone continued. "Please inform us of the type of Spirit of Vegetation you require, as well as the specifications for your Force weapon."

"For the Spirit of Vegetation, I need a variety that can boost my strength, at least enough to help me break through to an Intermediate War God. As for the Force weapon's design, something similar to the Streamer Type 1 combat sword will suffice, and the Force attribute should be compatible with Wind Artistic Conception." Chen Yuan paused here, then added, "Oh, and if possible, please do not choose the 'Millennium Willow Heart'."

The voice on the phone replied immediately: "Understood, that has been recorded. Regarding the Spirit of Vegetation, the requirements are to boost strength and exclude the Willow Heart. The item that fits these criteria is the 'Millennium Iron Birch Marrow', a wood marrow produced by the Millennium Iron Birch Tree, which possesses the ability to enhance strength and physical toughness."

"Additionally, the Force weapon must be custom-made on an outer planet. It is expected to take two to three months to arrive, and the specific time will be notified separately."

"Understood." Chen Yuan replied, and then he heard the other party hang up the phone.

An hour later, Chen Yuan went out and returned to the attic carrying a briefcase, then headed into the basement.

Opening the briefcase, he found that it contained only two wooden boxes.

Chen Yuan opened the slightly larger box to find a silver bracer inside. After picking up the manual next to it and reading it, he understood that this silver bracer was the "Auxiliary Optical Brain" awarded to him by the gym.

"With this Auxiliary Optical Brain, I can log into the real Virtual Universe?" Chen Yuan picked up the device, examined it with curiosity, then put it back and opened the other box. "I'll look at the Virtual Universe later; it's more important to consume the Spirit of Vegetation and boost my strength first."

The second wooden box was lined with shock-absorbent foam, with a milky-white crystal embedded in the center.

"So this is the 'Millennium Iron Birch Marrow'? I don't recall if this appeared in the original story; I have no impression of it." Chen Yuan took out the white crystal and found the manual in the box.

"The consumption method is the same as the Willow Heart because they both belong to the tree heart category?" After reading the manual, Chen Yuan picked up his SS-Grade Streamer Sword and struck the white crystal.

Bang! The white crystal shattered upon impact. Chen Yuan quickly brought it to his mouth and swallowed all of the milky-white liquid.

A moment later, Chen Yuan's body began to react as the medicinal power of the Iron Birch Marrow took effect.

Unlike the Dragon Blood, the enhancement from the Spirit of Vegetation was very gentle. There was no pain in his body at all; on the contrary, Chen Yuan felt extremely comfortable.

"Perfect, while my body is undergoing this transformation, I might as well enter the Virtual Universe." Chen Yuan picked up the Auxiliary Optical Brain, strapped it to his left arm, and activated it.

The Auxiliary Optical Brain flashed with a silvery-white light, and clear Earth text appeared on it: "Auxiliary Optical Brain activated. Initiating ownership registration... Confirmed, 'Chen Yuan' bound as owner."

Chen Yuan smiled slightly and commanded, "Optical Brain, connect to the 'Virtual Universe'."

"Received. Connecting to the Virtual Universe."

"Connecting to the Virtual Universe..." Suddenly, a grand and majestic voice echoed in his ears.

Then, Chen Yuan's vision went black. When he observed his surroundings again, he had arrived in a new world.

This was an ancient city where the streets were paved with large slabs of rock. Pedestrians of all different appearances walked to and fro; they were of various races, and the vast majority wore simple gray clothing with a small sprite on their shoulders.

Whoosh! Chen Yuan's figure suddenly appeared on the street, drawing the attention of a few people, but after a brief glance, they ignored him entirely.

Chen Yuan looked at the wide streets, the diverse pedestrians, and his own attire—like most people, he was wearing simple gray clothes, and he also had a fist-sized, cyan-green sprite on his shoulder.

"Is this the Virtual Universe?" Chen Yuan felt the surrounding environment was incredibly real, far more so than the Trial Tower.

He noticed the sprite on his shoulder and tried asking, "Are you my Auxiliary Optical Brain?"

"Yes, Master. I am your Auxiliary Optical Brain, intelligent unit No. 01989." The sprite's voice resonated directly in his mind.

"No. 01989, that's your name? Too troublesome." Chen Yuan thought for a moment. "You're all cyan-green, let's just call you 'Wind Sprite'."

"Name updated. Intelligent unit 'Wind Sprite' at your service, Master." The Wind Sprite replied.

"Wind Sprite, check my current location and account information." Chen Yuan remembered that his third reward included a Black God Set, but because it was a duplicate, the gym had converted it into cosmic currency.

This made Chen Yuan curious: how much was a Tier 1 Force combat suit worth? Could it be converted into Silver Blue Coins, or perhaps Black Dragon Coins?

Following Chen Yuan's command, a light screen appeared before him. It was a map of the Virtual Universe, and his current location was on the edge of the Ganwu Continent—Black Dragon Mountain Island.

"So it really is Black Dragon Mountain." Chen Yuan nodded slightly, then shifted his gaze to the edge of the light screen, where his basic information was displayed.

Chen Yuan: Genetic Energy (Apprentice Level 7)

Remaining Currency: 50,000 (Black Dragon Coins)

The good news was that the Force combat suit had been sold for the relatively high-value Black Dragon Coins. The bad news was that there were only 50,000 of them.

"50,000, huh... not a lot, but not a little either." Chen Yuan smacked his lips. But on second thought, this Force combat suit was merely standard equipment for Planetary Level martial artists. Considering the sheer number of Planetary Level martial artists, he felt that getting 50,000 for it was actually quite good.

After all, this was the currency of a medium-level cosmic civilization. If converted into the currency of a low-level cosmic civilization, such as Silver Blue Coins, it would be worth at least sixty or seventy million!

And compared to current Earth currency, the value of Silver Blue Coins was beyond measure. As a low-level cosmic civilization, the "Silver Blue Empire" directly controlled eight major star systems, including the Milky Way.

The Milky Way alone contained over 210,000 life-bearing planets. If one didn't count Luo Feng and his two companions, Earth was as weak as an ant compared to the scale of the Silver Blue Empire.

Of course, due to Luo Feng's existence, Earth's status had been rising steadily, but it had only been a short time, and Earth's currency was still far behind the Silver Blue Coin.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Chen Yuan closed the light screen and wandered around the street. This place was truly vast; Chen Yuan walked for two hours without even finishing one street.

He had seen plenty of items, but the treasures that caught his eye were far beyond what he could afford, so he could only satisfy his curiosity by looking.

Furthermore, Chen Yuan did not know how to speak the Universal Language, so he had to rely on his Smart Optical Computer to translate whenever he entered a shop to communicate with others.

Chen Yuan clearly sensed that the people in the shops became noticeably contemptuous and disdainful once they realized he could not speak the Universal Language, and it wasn't long before they chased him away.

After wandering around for two hours without spending a single cent of his 50,000 Black Dragon Coins and receiving plenty of eye-rolls, Chen Yuan made up his mind to find time to learn the Universal Language, then with a thought, he logged out of the Virtual Universe.

This was because his physical enhancement had finally concluded.

Upon returning to reality, Chen Yuan immediately opened his status panel and focused his gaze upon it.

Strength: 168,550 kg

Realm: Intermediate War God

Seeing these figures, the corners of Chen Yuan's mouth slowly curled upward.