Whoosh—
The space before Lin Yuan rippled like water.
Lin Yuan stepped out of the spatial passage, his expression unchanged. He felt nothing unusual.
He looked up and found that he was still in the Central Plaza of the Starry-Sky Fortress.
"Hm?"
Lin Yuan paused, puzzled by the strangely familiar surroundings.
Wasn't the spatial passage supposed to take him into the Minor Astral Realm?
Why did it look as though he was still inside the Starry-Sky Fortress?
"Look up."
Gu Yiyi seemed to have expected his reaction. She smiled.
Look up?
Lin Yuan raised his head, and his expression shifted.
The sky stretched clear for miles. There were no stars, not even a wisp of cloud. It looked like a slab of blue crystal, pure and transparent.
"Why is it daytime?"
They had spent ten hours traveling. It had been dark long ago...
"Wait. Are we already in the Minor Astral Realm?"
Realization struck Lin Yuan. He glanced around at the towering Starry-Sky Fortress, a flicker of astonishment in his eyes.
"There's another Starry-Sky Fortress at the other end of the spatial passage?"
The women of the Goddess Luo Squad smiled without answering. None of them denied it.
Lin Yuan took a deep breath.
He was secretly awed by the sheer extravagance of Human Civilization.
Having a Starry-Sky Fortress guard every Minor Astral Realm was impressive enough. But a pair of fortresses, one on each side of the passage...
"Now that's deep pockets. Truly deep pockets."
A project this vast could hardly be summed up by saying they had money.
Only Human Civilization, having entered the Star-Martial Domain, possessed such power to build and create.
"All for the survival and prosperity of Human Civilization."
Captain Gu said no more and led the group away.
Lin Yuan looked back. More Starry-Sky Warrior squads were arriving one after another, eager to begin their expeditions.
"Once we leave the Starry-Sky Fortress, we'll truly be in another world."
"Draw your weapons. Stay alert at all times."
"One careless moment, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"
The moment they flew out of the Starry-Sky Fortress, the women of the Goddess Luo Squad dropped their cheerful chatter. Their beautiful eyes swept their surroundings as Killing Intent rose from them.
As captain, Gu Shuangshuang stayed close to the two newcomers. She spoke from lessons countless predecessors had learned while surviving and exploring the Minor Astral Realm.
Lin Yuan nodded silently and drew his sword.
Clang—
A flash of deep-blue light cut through the air.
"A Deep-Blue Battle Sword?"
"Not bad, little brother Lin Yuan. You really spared no expense!"
The speaker was Wu Junru, the mature beauty on the squad with an impressive figure. She looked at Lin Yuan's Star-Iron Battle Weapon in surprise.
A Deep-Blue Battle Sword was far from cheap. At twenty Contribution Points—worth twenty million Azure Coins—most newcomers could not bear to spend nearly half their incentive bonus on a weapon.
"It's my main weapon, after all. I'll be counting on it to keep me alive, so of course I picked the best one I could."
Lin Yuan smiled shyly, then glanced at the blood-red sword in Wu Junru's hand with a hint of envy.
"Too bad it still can't compare to your Bloodfang Battle Sword, Sister Junru..."
The Bloodfang Battle Sword was a mid-grade sword with four cloud patterns. Its sharpness and efficiency at amplifying star power far surpassed his Deep-Blue Battle Sword.
Its price, naturally, had soared to one hundred Contribution Points. Without substantial savings, it was out of reach.
"You can't compare them like that. I've had a few more years than you. It's only natural that I've upgraded to a better weapon."
"When I first broke through, I used a Golden Radiance Battle Sword with two cloud patterns. It wasn't even as good as your Deep-Blue Battle Sword..."
Wu Junru gently stroked her sword, a trace of nostalgia on her alluring face.
The grades of Star-Iron Battle Weapons were simple: they depended on the cloud patterns that formed naturally during forging.
The more cloud patterns a weapon had, the better its quality.
Weapons with one to three patterns were low-grade and suited warriors in the First Realm, the Transcendence Realm.
Four to six patterns made a weapon mid-grade, the standard choice for most warriors in the Second Realm, the Starfire Realm.
Seven to nine patterns marked the limit of Star-Iron Battle Weapons. Flawless in quality, they were the pinnacle of Human Civilization's swordsmithing, with prices to match. Ordinary warriors could not afford them.
They were normally used by experts in the Third Realm, the Skyflight Realm.
Most newly advanced warriors like Lin Yuan chose one- or two-pattern weapons. A three-pattern Deep-Blue Battle Sword was already a top-tier, rather extravagant choice.
Wu Junru, meanwhile, was also in the First Realm, yet she could afford a four-pattern Bloodfang Battle Sword. In a way, that showed her strength and wealth were anything but ordinary...
The group flew through the sky.
Once they were roughly a hundred miles from the Starry-Sky Fortress,
Captain Gu ordered everyone to put away their flying devices. They landed and continued on foot.
"The area within a hundred miles is a safe zone cleared by the Starry-Sky Fortress. Few Star Beasts dare enter it, so we can fly quickly at high altitude."
In the vast forest, sunlight pierced the green leaves and scattered into mottled flecks of gold.
The Goddess Luo Squad moved through the woods with light steps, swift as the wind yet barely making a sound.
"In the Minor Astral Realm, the sky is dangerous..."
Captain Gu led the way, with Wu Junru and another voluptuous beauty named Hu Meiniang close behind.
Next came the two newcomers, Gu Yiyi and Lin Yuan, who were also the squad's main charges.
Ye Linlin, Su Ningxue, and Liu Yue'er brought up the rear, keeping watch behind them.
They moved in a one-two-two-three formation, orderly and with clear roles. Wherever trouble appeared, those at the front or back could react at once.
They could either close in from both sides for a decisive kill or, if the fight turned against them, grab Gu Yiyi and Lin Yuan and run...
Professional.
Lin Yuan watched in silence, glad he had chosen the Goddess Luo Squad. He could hardly have asked for better protection.
Mountains rose beyond mountains, their valleys filled with a sea of green forest.
The Minor Astral Realm truly looked different from Azure Star. The air seemed unusually rich in oxygen, and every breath carried dense astral energy that kept him alert.
The mountains and trees alike were enormous.
Peaks a thousand meters high stood everywhere, while trees a hundred meters tall were nothing remarkable.
The sight broadened Lin Yuan's horizons, but it also made him mutter to himself.
"With a prehistoric environment like this, no wonder it can give rise to the legendary Stellar Behemoths..."
They crossed mountains and streams for dozens of miles.
Perhaps because they had left the area protected by the Starry-Sky Fortress, the world around them gradually grew livelier. Earth-shaking beast roars echoed across the sky from time to time.
And at last, Lin Yuan saw a legendary Stellar Behemoth with his own eyes for the first time—
Whoosh!
A gale swept past, slicing through massive trees like blades and sending sand and stones flying. It left devastation in its wake.
At the heart of the gale loomed a colossal creature tens of meters tall.
Its head resembled an alpaca's, while its long body looked like a deer's. All four hooves hovered above the ground as it strolled through the sky on a green gale.
At the center of its forehead, two blue Star Patterns shone against white fur. Brilliant and veiled in starlight, they gave off a vast pulse of star power that seemed to cow everything around it.
A Two-Pattern Star Beast—the Gale Star Deer!
Before you continue