Adaptation

"Welcome back, Master."

As soon as he stepped inside, the residence's intelligent butler greeted him at just the right moment.

Li Dui took a few strides to the big sofa and sprawled across it.

He'd just walked all the way back to his residence from the Healing Hall, a journey of several thousand kilometers. As a top human genius, he wasn't exactly tired. It was just that the mental strain had been a bit much. He'd been afraid someone might notice something was off about him. Fortunately, he'd hardly run into anyone along the way. Those he did encounter had all been in a hurry and hadn't had time to pay him any attention.

It was a good thing his predecessor had chosen a residence near the city gate. If he'd picked one close to the City Lord Mansion, Li Dui had no idea how long it would've taken him to walk back.

What? You're asking why he hadn't flown back and had walked instead?

He hadn't dared to fly.

He couldn't help it. He'd never flown before.

As it happened, Li Dui had fallen asleep in the Healing Pod. He'd slept for nearly five days straight. His injuries had completely healed, and he still hadn't woken up.

Old Man Mu, the one in charge, wasn't about to indulge him. He'd hauled Li Dui out of the Healing Pod and sent him packing.

Li Dui had thought about trying out what it felt like to fly. But he was genuinely afraid he'd go "Whee—SMACK!" and crash into a wall. If someone asked what had happened, he wouldn't even know how to explain it.

"Ahhh..." Li Dui stretched out his arms and legs and let out a long yawn.

He'd slept for five days straight. After all that time, his soul seemed to have blended quite well with this body. At least, when he made ordinary movements, nothing felt wrong at all. But if anyone asked whether he had complete control over it, even Li Dui wouldn't believe it. He'd been an ordinary person, and now he was suddenly a Star Rank warrior. Had he really adapted all at once? Could he cultivate and fight just like any other Star Rank warrior?

How could that be?

And that was with his predecessor being nowhere near as talented as the top-ranked participants in the Genius Battle, and not having broken through to Universe Rank even after all this time. Otherwise, it would've been even harder for Li Dui to master this body.

Even though they were all geniuses ranked in the top thousand of the Genius Battle, the difference between them was beyond measure.

Take Luo Feng's cohort, for example. Bolan, who ranked first, passed the sixth level of the Heavenly Bridge thirty years after entering Chaos City. Luo Feng had passed the fifth.

But what about everyone else? In an ordinary cohort of geniuses, no more than ten could pass the third level. Only around a hundred could pass the second. Most people could pass only the first level of the Heavenly Bridge.

His predecessor had originally planned to hunt a few Chaos Beasts, use their Chaos True Spirits to improve his soul, and then break through.

Who could've known he'd die in the process, letting Li Dui take over his body?

Li Dui planned to stay holed up in his residence until he could control this body without giving himself away.

"Xiao Le, connect me to the Virtual Universe."

Li Dui gave his Auxiliary Intelligence an order.

Everything went dark. When the light returned, Li Dui was sitting in the study of his private residence in the Virtual Universe.

The study was decorated to suit an Earthling's taste.

Thanks to his predecessor's memories, Li Dui felt completely at home here.

This was Raging Waves Island, the Virtual Headquarters of the Giant Axe Martial Arena.

Their cohort's Genius Battle should have been hosted by the Virtual Universe Company. But for some reason, not long before the competition began, it was switched to the Giant Axe Martial Arena.

Later, after Li Dui made the top thousand and became a genius in a peripheral secret realm, he heard a rumor. The Venerable originally chosen to host the competition had been unable to fulfill his duties for some unknown reason.

For some reason, the higher-ups had then asked the Venerable who hosted the previous competition to host another cohort.

The Genius Battle and the Stronger Battle had always been hosted in turn by the Giant Axe Martial Arena and the Virtual Universe Company. Occasionally, one of them hosted several in a row. It wasn't a matter of principle, and it wasn't especially rare in history.

The Giant Axe Martial Arena also had four secret realms for cultivating geniuses: the God Origin Secret Realm, Mad Axe Secret Realm, War Axe Secret Realm, and Battle Axe Secret Realm.

They corresponded to the Virtual Universe Company's Original Secret Realm, Primordial Secret Realm, Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, and Doomsday Secret Realm.

The two powers offered their geniuses roughly the same benefits and status. Their cultivation styles differed only slightly.

Generally speaking, the Giant Axe Martial Arena's approach was more aggressive and more brutal.

On Raging Waves Island, members of the Battle Axe Secret Realm each had their own residence. It was about two li long and one li wide, with all the necessary facilities.

Li Dui headed out of the study, planning to go to the training room and work on himself. He thought this might be a way to speed up his adaptation to the body.

The Virtual Universe was incredibly powerful. The countless races of the Primal Universe all envied humanity for possessing this precious resource. Training here was almost no different from training in reality.

"Your Highness."

The study wasn't far from the training room. On the way, two young women who were cleaning saw Li Dui and bowed slightly in unison, greeting him respectfully.

Li Dui smiled and nodded without saying anything.

Every member of the Battle Axe Secret Realm had ten service staff assigned to their residence to handle all its daily tasks. They were ordinary members of the Giant Axe Martial Arena, not part of the Core Layer.

When he reached the training room, he had the intelligent assistant expand it to ten kilometers by ten kilometers. The room had originally measured just five hundred meters by five hundred meters, which was barely enough for ordinary practice. Today, Li Dui wanted to try all sorts of things, so that much space seemed too small.

Expanding the training room cost money. Fortunately, the price wasn't too high, and he didn't particularly care about the expense. The bonus for entering the Battle Axe Secret Realm had been ten Hunyuan Units. His predecessor had given a small portion of it to his family and hadn't spent much of the rest.

Drawing a deep breath, Li Dui circulated the Origin Force inside him. The miniature star in his dantian exerted a repulsive force, and his body wobbled as it lifted off the ground.

He did his best to control his body as he slowly picked up speed.

Li Dui didn't know how to describe the feeling. If he had to put it into words, it was probably freedom. Distance no longer felt like an obstacle, and the sky no longer seemed like a limit.

A joy rose up from deep within him.

For no particular reason, he looked forward to growing stronger, step by step, and taking in the sights from ever greater heights.

Up, down, left, right, left, right, B, A...

Anyway, he flew around, turning and weaving in all sorts of directions. Once he got tired of flying, he stopped and went through various basic exercises using his predecessor's training methods. Now and then, he even tried to use the Combat Secret Techniques his predecessor knew.

A cultivator's time was the least valuable thing there was.

Before he knew it, more than two months had passed.

Li Dui had made huge strides over those two months. He'd almost completely mastered his body. At least in the Virtual Universe, as long as he wasn't fighting anyone, he was confident nobody could tell that anything was wrong with him.

As for fighting someone, well...

It wasn't impossible, but he'd be terrible at it.

He'd simulated fighting himself in the training room. He had to admit, his predecessor had lived for over three hundred years and worked his way up to the Battle Axe Secret Realm on his own. His combat ability was no joke. Killing him was as easy as slaughtering a chicken. It really had been one slash per death, one death per slash.

Li Dui had died so many times he'd lost count. He had to remember, after all, that the Virtual Universe simulated pain. Even death felt real. Eventually, he had no choice but to accept the truth and order practice opponents from the Virtual Universe.

He started with the most ordinary kind: a first-level Planet Rank opponent. That training dummy had even managed to slash him once before Li Dui finally hacked it to death.

What? You're asking why his predecessor had used a blade too?

After Luo Feng's Genius Battle, eight out of ten Earthlings who practiced martial arts used blades.

As for Li Dui, his predecessor had already laid the groundwork for using a blade. He didn't mind using one either. So that was that.

He'd hacked his way up from first-level Planet Rank. Now, against training dummies around fifth-level Star Rank who had Domains but no laws, Li Dui could win, though only with great difficulty. He won one out of every five fights.

The main problem was that his combat awareness was too poor. There were too many things a warrior had to keep track of during a fight: attacking, defending, dodging, using a Domain, applying laws, creating openings, seizing opportunities, pressing an advantage, enduring when at a disadvantage, and so on. It was impossible to explain it all in a couple of sentences.

For someone who'd been an ordinary person, achieving this much in such a short time was already impressive.

Of course, the biggest reason for his progress was that he had his predecessor's experience to draw on. Li Dui was simply learning and absorbing it.

On the virtual mountaintop in the training room, Li Dui turned his gaze away from the distant view and took a swig of wine. Then he let out a satisfied sigh. Keeping busy made him feel fulfilled, so he'd rarely stopped training these past few days.

Because the moment he stopped, thoughts of the world he'd left behind would come rushing back, tearing at his heart. His parents, his family, his friends. After this farewell, he might never see them again for all eternity.

Of course, what he missed most were his parents. His soul had crossed over here. Back in his original world, there was probably nothing left but a cold corpse. His parents must be heartbroken. At least he had a younger brother who could keep them company.

He took another sip and drained the bottle.

Loneliness was another problem Li Dui had to face.

"Xiao Le, search for a person in Chaos City named Luliduo."

Now that he could face people again, it was time to thank Miss Luliduo, who had helped him out.

"Yes, Master. Searching now."

The Auxiliary Intelligence spoke cheerfully.

Soon, Luliduo's profile appeared on the virtual screen in front of Li Dui. It was very brief, listing only her name, race, identity, strength, and when she'd joined the Virtual Universe Company's Core Layer, among other things.

That was all. There was also a button to add her Virtual Universe ID. Not even a photo.

That was already thanks to Li Dui being a core member of the Giant Axe Martial Arena and having a certain level of access. Ordinary people didn't have this privilege.

"Jieluo Race? Huh? Was she in the same cohort as Luo Feng? I've never heard her name before.

"She's a Domain Lord, but she's only passed the sixth level of the Heavenly Bridge. That's a little weak. It doesn't seem like the usual standard for the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm. She must've just broken through to Domain Lord and immediately applied to cultivate in Chaos City."

Li Dui pondered to himself.

He clicked the button to add her Virtual Universe ID. He could choose to send the request by video, voice, or text.

He chose voice.

"Miss Luliduo. I'm the guy you rescued at the city gate last time. My name's Li Dui. I was wondering if I could come thank you in person when it's convenient for you. If meeting in Chaos City doesn't work, we could meet in the Virtual Universe instead. Please accept my request when you get this. Thanks."

Sent... successfully.

"A-Le, search for the Jieluo Race."

Li Dui wanted to see what they looked like, so he could be prepared and avoid offending her when they met.

This time, he found more information. The Jieluo Race was a powerful race from the Boyu Universe Kingdom, with considerable influence there. The profile went on with information about many of the race's powerful members, its assets, its specialties, and the grudges between it and various powers and races. Li Dui ignored all of that. He was mainly there to see what they looked like.

He looked at the three-dimensional image. The Jieluo Race looked almost identical to Earthlings. The only difference was a set of secret runes on either side of their bodies, as well as on their hands and legs. The runes looked a little like abstract, writhing dragons. All the dragon heads pointed down, while their tails pointed up. The two on the body had their heads at the waist and their tails extending up to the chin.

Perfect.

Li Dui was relieved. Ape-men, werewolves, people with eight eyes or six legs—they were all members of the Human Race, and he didn't discriminate against anyone for their looks. But it was still most comforting when someone looked like him.

Actually, Earthlings' appearance was quite common among Cosmic Humans.

After resting, Li Dui stood up. He was just about to order another training dummy for a fight when the housekeeper, a maid at the residence, contacted him.

They usually didn't interrupt his training, so there had to be a reason.

He answered, and the maid's respectful voice came through. "Your Highness. Your Highness Hong and Your Highness Thor are here to visit."

"Show them to the reception room. I'll be right there."