Star Dou Battle Network, Ladder Tournament!

Returning to the Spirit Pagoda, Meng Xinghe took the elevator straight to the observation restaurant on one of the upper floors.

It was already mealtime, and after looking at all the food pictures Gu Yuena had sent him, he had genuinely worked up an appetite. As a result, he ordered far more dishes than usual.

A bowl of appetizing sour plum soup, a plate of assorted fruit, a cup of coconut milk pudding, a dish of crystal shrimp, a plate of sweet-and-sour spare ribs, a braised fish, a basket of crab roe soup dumplings, and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

Finally, white rice, the staple food, was available in unlimited portions.

He picked up a spoonful of sour plum soup and brought it to his mouth. It was cool upon entry, with just the right balance of sweetness and tartness. It truly deserved its reputation as the perfect summer treat for cooling off and satisfying cravings. After the first sip, he could not resist taking a second.

Sip after sip, the bowl of sour plum soup was soon empty.

"Good food really is impossible to stop eating!"

Meng Xinghe picked up a shrimp with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. Savoring its fresh, delicious flavor, he could now understand why Gu Yuena was so obsessed with food.

There was no particularly complicated reason—just two words: delicious!

Although Gu Yuena had lived for a very long time, longer even than the history of humanity on Douluo Planet, she had spent all that time asleep. The current her was not fundamentally different from a human little girl.

Children had zero resistance to delicious food, and Gu Yuena, who was only "six years old," was naturally no exception.

At the same time, compared to human children, Gu Yuena possessed one obvious advantage when it came to eating—the appetite and digestive ability of a dragon.

With that advantage, Gu Yuena could sample all kinds of delicious food without restraint. The more she ate, however, the deeper she fell into it.

Gu Yuena has a huge appetite, but mine isn't small either... Meng Xinghe thought.

The gods of Ancient Greece held banquets that lasted centuries. Other than eating, all they did at those feasts was "eat." Their appetites were practically bottomless, yet no matter how much they consumed, they could maintain perfect figures.

Eat endlessly without gaining weight, drink a thousand cups without getting drunk.

These two divine abilities, which ordinary people could only dream of, were merely the most basic skills for the gods of Ancient Greece.

With his Heavenly God Bloodline, his true appetite was naturally not small. If he truly let himself go, Gu Yuena might not be able to out-eat him.

After finishing his lavish lunch, Meng Xinghe returned to his room.

His room was located on the second-highest floor of the East Sea Spirit Pagoda. It covered more than four hundred square meters and contained far more than just a bedroom; there was also a living room, a study, a cultivation room, and more.

Upon returning, Meng Xinghe headed straight for the cultivation room. His gaze landed on a metallic pod in the corner, brimming with a futuristic technological aesthetic.

Do not misunderstand—this was not the metal pod connected to the Ascension Platform. It had another name—the Star Dou Pod.

In the original work, there had been a soul technology called the "Star Dou Battle Network," and the soul device used to connect to it was called a Star Dou Pod.

The Star Dou Battle Network, or "Star Network" for short, was a virtual world similar to the Ascension Platform, except it did not possess the function of evolving Soul Spirits.

Soul Masters could enter through a Star Dou Pod and make use of a wide variety of functions within that virtual world.

In this timeline, due to Meng Xinghe, the Star Dou Battle Network had appeared several centuries ahead of schedule, and its technology was far more mature than in the original work.

The maturity of the technology also meant that Star Dou Pods were not nearly as expensive as they had been in the original work.

Under normal circumstances, an ordinary Soul Ancestor could afford to purchase a Star Dou Pod outright.

Soul Masters who lacked the funds to buy one could also use Star Dou Pods in public places to access the Star Network, such as Soul Master Academies, Soul Master Associations...

The widespread adoption of Star Dou Pods had also made the Star Network immensely popular throughout the entire Douluo Federation over the past several centuries.

Among the Star Network's many features, the one that drew the most attention was undoubtedly the "Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament."

The Star Network Ladder Ranking Tournament, or "Ladder Tournament" for short, matched opponents through the system for one-on-one duels between Soul Masters.

The Ladder Tournament used a points system and divided participants into ten ranks based on their points.

Rank One: 0–100 points

Rank Two: 101–200 points

Rank Three: 201–300 points

Rank Four: 301–400 points

Rank Five: 401–500 points

Rank Six: 501–600 points

Rank Seven: 601–700 points

Rank Eight: 701–800 points

Rank Nine: 801–900 points

Rank Ten: 901–1000 points

Soul Masters entering the Ladder Tournament started with zero points. After each match, based on the points of both sides, the winner gained 1–10 points while the loser lost 1–10 points.

Upon reaching the upper limit of their current rank, they qualified to begin a Promotion Tournament.

The Soul Master would challenge a randomly generated Soul Master Projection. Victory allowed them to break through the point limit and advance to the next rank, while defeat deducted 10 points.

The Soul Master Projections in Promotion Tournaments differed in strength according to rank.

For the promotion from Rank One to Rank Two, the Soul Master Projection possessed the strength of a standard Soul Grandmaster slightly above level twenty.

For the promotion from Rank Two to Rank Three, the Soul Master Projection possessed the strength of a standard Soul Elder slightly above level thirty.

For the promotion from Rank Three to Rank Four, the Soul Master Projection possessed the strength of a standard Soul Ancestor slightly above level forty.

And so on, until the promotion from Rank Eight to Rank Nine, where the Soul Master Projection possessed the strength of a standard Titled Douluo slightly above level ninety.

The promotion from Rank Nine to Rank Ten was different. Its Soul Master Projection possessed the strength of a level ninety-six Super Douluo.

In addition, the Douluo Federation officially established three major rankings based on Ladder Tournament standings:

Continental Power Rankings!

Young Genius Rankings!

Young Prodigy Rankings!

The top one hundred Soul Masters in Ladder Tournament points were listed on the Continental Power Rankings.

Soul Masters over eighteen and under thirty, ranked among the top one hundred and eight in points, were listed on the Young Genius Rankings.

Soul Masters under eighteen, ranked among the top one hundred and eight in points, were listed on the Young Prodigy Rankings.

Among them, the Young Genius Rankings and Young Prodigy Rankings were collectively known as the Youth Prodigy Rankings. They were further divided into the Dragon Rankings and Tiger Rankings according to placement.

Of the one hundred and eight talented individuals on the lists, the top thirty-six were on the Dragon Rankings, while the remaining seventy-two were on the Tiger Rankings.

This time, the Young Prodigy Rankings had been established by the Federation authorities. To make the list, one had to rely on one's own strength and compete in the Ladder Tournament against all Soul Masters under eighteen throughout the Federation for one of the one hundred and eight spots.

Thus, the Young Prodigy Rankings could finally raise its arms and shout, "I'm no longer some trashy obscure wild ranking nobody has ever heard of!"

The Ladder Tournament used one-on-one duels, which seemed somewhat unfair to auxiliary-type Soul Masters, including food-type and healing-type Soul Masters.

However, Douluo Continent was fundamentally a world where the strong preyed upon the weak, where strength was revered above all else.

The lofty status of auxiliary-type Soul Masters was founded on their ability to assist combat-type Soul Masters, not on any innate nobility.

For auxiliary-type Soul Masters, the present was the best era compared to the past.

If Soul Tools that granted auxiliary-type Soul Masters combat power did not count as their own strength, but rather as external power—

Then, because of the Soul Spirit Contract, Soul Spirits capable of combat were power that belonged to the Soul Masters themselves.

Therefore, with Soul Spirits, auxiliary-type Soul Masters were not completely without combat capability.

Over the past several centuries, quite a few auxiliary-type Soul Masters had achieved high rankings in the Ladder Tournament.

For example, Ya Li, the current Holy Spirit Douluo and Pope of the Holy Spirit Cult, had entered the top one hundred of the Ladder Tournament as a healing-type Soul Master and was listed on the Continental Power Rankings!