Appearance (Normal update time resumes tomorrow)

July 31, 2056, 11:38 PM.

Even though the outside world was already blanketed in stars, the Dimensional Space remained shrouded in its silent, eerie, gray-white backdrop.

Luo Zhe sat cross-legged in the center of the Dimensional Space. With each breath, the icy energy—saturated with cosmic power—flowed through his five hearts and into his body. It was quickly refined by his cells into Genetic Energy, coursing through his limbs and bones, leaving Luo Zhe with a sensation of warmth.

His previously exhausted body felt as if it were soaking in a hot spring, leaving him feeling so comfortable he almost went limp.

The "Five Hearts Towards Heaven" Genetic Energy Cultivation Method—the most primitive technique, one that even the world's strongest warriors had to reference—truly possessed extraordinary efficacy.

Throughout July, while one month passed in the outside world, ten full months had elapsed within the Dimensional Space.

Because he worried that staying in the Dimensional Space for too long might cause imperceptible damage to his body, and because Luo Zhe discovered that the efficiency of cultivating Genetic Energy was highest during the first two hours of each entry, he kept his sessions brief.

Unless necessary, Luo Zhe only entered the Dimensional Space to cultivate for two hours each night after finishing his blade technique and movement training.

However, because the amount of cosmic energy Luo Zhe absorbed per unit of time in the Dimensional Space was far greater than what he could absorb outside, and because his body was under significant load after long hours of blade training, the results of his daily cultivation throughout July were even better than in June.

Two days ago, Luo Zhe's punch strength had already broken through 8,000kg, and his neural reaction test had achieved an excellent rating at the Junior Warlord level.

In other words, purely in terms of strength, Luo Zhe was already a genuine Warlord-level warrior.

However, in the warrior circle, evaluating a warrior's true strength wasn't just about personal power; it also depended on one's combat record.

Take Luo Feng, for example. Based on the strength he currently displayed, he should be considered an Intermediate Fighter. But after he passed the actual combat assessment tomorrow, his warrior profile would still list him as a Junior Fighter! Only after he hunted enough monsters—and sufficiently powerful ones—to meet the requirements for an Intermediate Fighter would he be officially classified as such.

After all, some people had better physical fitness, some had better blade or movement techniques, and others possessed various tricks. Judging strength solely by physical stats was inevitably biased. Besides... even if there was a massive disparity in physical fitness, someone physically weaker could still kill someone stronger!

"No matter how high your kung fu is, you're still afraid of a kitchen knife! No matter how good your martial arts are, one brick will take you down!" This saying wasn't just talk.

Furthermore, the most obvious example was a special existence among warriors: the Spirit Reader!

Spirit Readers were born with extremely powerful spiritual force. It was just that when they were children, their bodies couldn't withstand such potent power, so it remained hidden within their sea of consciousness. As their physical fitness grew and reached a certain threshold, their spiritual force would manifest!

The stronger the physical fitness, the more spiritual force one could withstand!

Warriors were divided into Fighter (Junior, Intermediate, Senior), Warlord (Junior, Intermediate, Senior), and God of War (Junior, Intermediate, Senior) levels—a total of nine ranks.

A Spirit Reader's physical fitness was generally two levels lower than their spiritual force. That is to say, if their body was at the Junior Fighter level, their spiritual force was usually at the Senior Fighter level! If their body was at the Intermediate Fighter level, their spiritual force was at the Junior Warlord level!

So, if a Spirit Reader was a Junior Warlord, even if their physical fitness was only at the Junior Warlord level, would you dare bet your life that their strength was only at the Junior Warlord level?

Obviously not!

Therefore, the only standard for strength evaluation recognized globally was one's combat record!

Of course, nothing in this world was strictly black and white.

If a wealthy heir only had the strength of a Senior Fighter but hired several Senior Warlords to help him kill two High-level Warlord-class monsters, and then used those two monsters for his own combat record assessment, he could obtain the title of Senior Warlord despite only having the strength of a Senior Fighter.

When he first started cultivating, Luo Zhe felt as if every cell in his body was starving, greedily devouring the newly refined Genetic Energy.

But as time passed, Luo Zhe's breathing became increasingly steady and long, the intervals between breaths growing wider. It was clear that every cell in his body was gradually becoming saturated, as if they were full and could no longer take in any more.

"Hoo! Haa!"

Slowly exhaling a breath of stale air, Luo Zhe opened his eyes again. His body had already returned to the second-floor training hall, and he could feel that his stamina had recovered significantly.

He looked up at the clock on the wall; the hour hand was pointing at twelve. It was midnight.

"The warrior combat assessment is tomorrow, so I need to get some good rest tonight." He stood up, pulled open the glass door, and entered his bedroom to sleep.

Early on the morning of August 1st, Luo Zhe and Luo Feng set out early. Led by Qiu Yi, a warrior under the Limit Dojo, they joined over thirty other prospective warriors, including Yang Wu, and headed to the train station.

"Clack-clack—clack-clack—"

The friction of the train moving rapidly was faint, but the carriage was filled with noise. The carriage was a fully enclosed structure with no windows to see the outside. A figure appeared on the large screen in every carriage.

Inside, the many prospective warriors sat earnestly, looking up at the screen just like students watching a blackboard during class.

"Greetings, prospective warriors, future warriors. I am from the HR Alliance." The middle-aged man on the screen was broadcasting his speech. "I believe you have all heard of the HR Alliance! The most powerful group in the world, the wealthiest group, the group with the most warriors! You are likely also familiar with another name for our HR Alliance—the Underground Alliance!"

The prospective warriors in the carriage gradually quieted down.

Luo Feng and Yang Wu sat side by side, while Luo Zhe sat alone opposite them. They were all looking up at the screen.

"Luo Zhe, Madman, you know about the Underground Alliance, right?" Yang Wu chuckled. "They're the big spenders! The wealthiest group in the world, richer than any national government."

Luo Zhe, sitting opposite, waved his hand without speaking, his eyes still fixed on the middle-aged man on the screen. He felt the man's appearance was somewhat familiar. Right, he looked like he was stamped from the same mold as his instructor, Tong Yang.

"I know."

Luo Feng, sitting beside him, smiled. He wasn't a shut-in like Luo Zhe; having lived in the Bright Moon Residential Area for nearly a month, he had long since learned a lot of basic information from the warriors in the neighborhood.

Before the Great Nirvana period, countries like the United States and various European nations had powerful families behind them controlling political parties. These families—the Morgans, the Rockefellers, the Onassises, and so on—had once controlled more than half of the world's massive wealth.

However, when the Great Nirvana period arrived, many small countries perished under monster attacks, and even the major powers were overwhelmed, leading to unprecedentedly strong government control through their militaries. At that time, some of the world's ancient and powerful families, fearing suppression by government forces, joined hands to form the HR Alliance—the Human Rights Alliance.