Universe Trainee Mercenary

Thunder World, at the edge of the Death Desert.

The surrounding yellow sand was pushed away by an invisible force, forming an Absolute Domain a hundred meters in diameter.

Within that domain, all light vanished. The deep black flames and howling hurricane merged perfectly, forming a true domain of death. Inside it, Su Zhe was fighting a vicious beast!

"Roar—!"

It was a Star Level Nine vicious beast, over thirty meters long and covered in dark purple scales, resembling a giant lizard: a Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard.

The Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard spat out a large amount of venom, enough to corrode alloys. Yet before it could touch Su Zhe, the black flames that filled the domain annihilated and devoured it.

Whoosh!

The scales the Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard took pride in were like paper before Su Zhe.

The blade wreathed in black, flowing flames swept across—

"Flowing Fire Blade: Fourth Form!"

A Force Amplitude of thirty-six times was relatively high even among Star Levels. With that strike, he precisely swept past the Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard's thick neck and severed its head.

A large amount of foul-smelling, deep purple blood sprayed out, only to be devoured by the Void Devouring Flame in an instant!

As the Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard's head hit the ground, its death was confirmed.

Su Zhe's right arm transformed into countless fine black-red threads of blood, burrowing straight into the severed neck of the Purple-Scaled Poison Lizard to devour its flesh and blood.

The massive beast's body withered and vanished at a visible rate, until not even a scrap remained.

[Devoured a Star Level Nine vicious beast; gained 655,360 Devour Points]

[Devour Points converted: 65 Devour Coins (digits after the decimal point discarded)]

[Current Devour Coins: 3198]

[Warrior level increased: Star Level Nine]

[Psychic level increased: Star Level Seven]

The cold notifications flashed before Su Zhe's eyes.

The Blacklight Virus, Void Devouring Flame, and Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art.

All three devouring abilities had activated at once, consuming the beast until not even a scrap remained. Every bit of its power had been put to perfect use. Even its unique venom ability had been inherited by Su Zhe!

Feeling the power surging within him, Su Zhe withdrew his domain. There were no living creatures left within a radius of twenty thousand meters.

After two months of killing with almost no rest, Su Zhe had finally reached Star Level Nine!

During that time, he had faced a few life-or-death situations. For instance, he'd run into people from major powers taking the Universe Trainee Mercenary Assessment, accompanied by a huge group of Star Level Nine fighters. Su Zhe couldn't tell whether they were there to train or just to have fun.

If Su Zhe hadn't run whenever the situation looked bad, even he would have died facing dozens or hundreds of Star Level Nine fighters.

Fortunately, after holding out for two months, he'd reached Star Level Nine.

Though, to be fair, most of that time had been spent searching for enemies and running away. He hadn't spent much of it fighting.

Over the past two months, countless vicious beasts and adventurers had died at Su Zhe's hands.

The weapons and armor he'd acquired, along with the Space Rings and the materials from the vicious beasts, added up to a fortune.

It couldn't compare to the wealth of the World within a World, but Su Zhe was satisfied. He'd have more than enough to buy a spaceship and return the Black Dragon Spaceship to Luo Feng.

Thinking this, Su Zhe opened his status panel—

[Name]: Su Zhe

[Warrior Level]: Star Level Nine

[Psychic Level]: Star Level Seven

[Bloodline]: Blacklight Virus

[Technique]: Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art

[Abilities]: Devouring, Void Devouring Flame

[Laws]: Domain of Fire (Second Level), Domain of Wind (First Level), Conception of Water (Perfection), Conception of Thunder (Perfection), Conception of Earth (Perfection)...

[Items]:...

[Devour Coins]: 3198 (1,000,000)

On the panel, all the many abilities listed under "Abilities" had been replaced by Devouring. That was only natural, since those abilities, though powerful, had all stemmed from devouring.

From now on, it seemed only truly independent abilities would appear on the panel.

"It's time to leave," Su Zhe said to himself.

He took one last look at this World of World Lords. There was no point in staying any longer. At Star Level Nine, breaking through to Universe Level here would be too difficult. It was better to leave soon and use the resources he'd gained here to improve himself.

The exit from Thunder World.

Su Zhe soon arrived. Passing through a doorway, he returned to the villa on Canglan Star, where several Universe Mercenary Alliance staff members were standing guard at the entrance.

The staff members sat around listlessly, occasionally looking up to see if any adventurers had come out.

The Universe Trainee Mercenary Assessment wasn't especially difficult, but it could still eliminate a large number of Star Level fighters. Those who overestimated themselves, in particular, often learned a painful lesson as soon as they entered Thunder World.

Nearby, some adventurers were lined up, waiting to enter Thunder World.

As soon as Su Zhe appeared, one of the staff members immediately walked over.

"Hand over the mission items."

Ignoring the eyes around him, Su Zhe took the mission items from his Space Ring—three Wind Horn Stones and a Single-Horned Iron Rhino's horn—and calmly handed them over.

The staff member took the items and quickly scanned them with a device to verify them.

"Three Wind Horn Stones, confirmed. One Single-Horned Iron Rhino horn, confirmed."

The staff member's voice held no emotion. It was rare for someone to complete the assessment alone, but he'd worked here long enough to have seen it happen plenty of times.

He quickly tapped a few commands into the device, then handed Su Zhe a badge bearing the emblem of the Universe Mercenary Alliance.

"Congratulations. From this moment on, you're a Universe Trainee Mercenary."

The staff member continued, "You'll receive an email in the Virtual Universe explaining matters related to the Universe Mercenary Alliance. You can also accept missions and earn rewards through the alliance in the Virtual Universe."

"All right."

Su Zhe nodded and casually put away the badge.

A Universe Trainee Mercenary!

Becoming a Universe Trainee Mercenary was only the first step.

It was already November 2061. The Genius Tournament would begin in 2066.

Although Su Zhe didn't plan to enter the Genius Tournament, he didn't want to be outdone by Luo Feng, either.

"Xiao Yu, help me check my email."

Su Zhe sent a strand of his consciousness into the Virtual Universe and asked Xiao Yu to help him check the email from the Universe Mercenary Alliance.

The email wasn't long. It briefly introduced the structure of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, how new mercenaries could accept missions and earn rewards, and what happened if they failed a mission...

When he reached the end of the email, Su Zhe was dumbfounded.

"The Universe Mercenary Alliance... has an assessment for elite members?"

"Star Level fighters who grasp a trace of an Origin Law can become elite members of the Universe Mercenary Alliance?"

Su Zhe hadn't expected the promotion requirements for the Universe Mercenary Alliance to be written right there in the email!

But it did seem reasonable.

At the Virtual Universe Company, Hong and Thunder God had been invited to become elite members after grasping a Domain at Planetary Level. Luo Feng had received an invitation even though he hadn't grasped one. The Universe Mercenary Alliance was a mixed bag, so its requirements were bound to be simpler.