Emberlight World

Dong Yu Star was a powerful Life Planet ranked among the top hundred in prosperity across the entire Eternal Starfield.

At the Dong Yu Star slave market.

Qi Yuan, Old Wu, and six other Guards at Star Traveller Tier 7 and Tier 8 followed behind Hugo, browsing the compounds of one slave merchant group after another.

At present, among Hugo's subordinates, only Old Wu had reached Star Traveller Tier 9.

The other six Guards consisted of two at Star Traveller Tier 8 and four at Star Traveller Tier 7.

As for Qi Yuan, with an ample supply of Dragon Vein Fruit, he had unexpectedly broken through again the day before their departure, successfully advancing to Star Traveller Tier 7!

In one year, he had gone from Star Traveller Tier 4 to Star Traveller Tier 7!

The moment Hugo learned the news, he had nearly thought that his and Qi Yuan's identities had been switched!

As a direct descendant of the Ortega Family, he possessed the vast wealth generated by Lei Bao Star every year.

Over the past year, he had used who knew how many expensive treasures, such as B9-grade Nutrient Fluid, yet had only barely risen from Star Traveller Tier 1 to the verge of breaking through to Star Traveller Tier 3.

Yet Qi Yuan, a native slave he had bought on a whim, received only a small amount of Wood Sap Crystals and Earth Soul Liquid each month as cultivation resources, but had broken through three stages in a row and soared all the way to Star Traveller Tier 7!

With Star Traveller Tier 7 cultivation and the support of his domain, Qi Yuan could now be regarded as a top-tier Star Traveller Tier 9 warrior!

Compared to that, it would perhaps make more sense to say that Qi Yuan was the master while Hugo was the native slave!

One Star Traveller Tier 9, two Star Traveller Tier 8s, and five Star Traveller Tier 7s, including Qi Yuan, a Star Traveller Tier 7 who had comprehended the Thunder Domain!

If such a lineup were placed in an ordinary star system, it would likely be enough to sweep through the entire system!

However, they were heading to the incomparably dangerous Lord of Domain World!

Within the Lord of Domain World, there were no telling how many Star Traveller Tier 9 experts among the competitors taking the Apprentice Mercenary Assessment, not to mention the dangers inherent to the Lord of Domain World itself.

One careless misstep, and they might be buried forever in the Lord of Domain World, unable to return.

For the sake of safety, Hugo had decided to buy several more powerful Star Traveller Tier 9 slaves before entering the assessment world.

To make this decision possible, he had not only sold the Third-Grade Mid-Level Psionic Weapon he had won from the Seventh Prince of the Eternal Empire last time.

He had also mortgaged the one-hundred-year mining rights to Lei Bao Star and taken out a massive loan of thirty billion Eternal Coins!

With such a huge sum of cash on hand, Hugo was truly flush with money. The moment he opened his mouth, he asked whether they had any Star Traveller Tier 9 slaves who had mastered a domain.

However, when he heard the price quoted by the slave traders, his high spirits instantly collapsed!

"What the hell? That expensive? Are you messing with me? Do I look like I'm worth that much money?!"

"Can't afford it. I'm out, I'm out."

Very quickly, Hugo honestly lowered his sights to ordinary Star Traveller Tier 9 slaves.

"Four Zhalin Race Star Traveller Tier 9 warriors and two Wuxia Race Star Traveller Tier 9 Psychic Masters."

After lowering his standards, Hugo swiftly selected the goods he wanted this time.

The Zhalin Race was a special race whose entire bodies, including their cheeks, were covered in savage black scales. They resembled humanoid pangolins somewhat. Their strength and defense were both extremely formidable, making them highly suitable as close guards.

The two Wuxia Race members, who had human bodies but strange heads resembling those of birds or beasts, were natural-born Psychic Masters.

After the newly purchased slaves had been handed over, Qi Yuan quietly used the system's function to inspect their "aptitude."

To his surprise, one of the Wuxia Race slaves had a base return multiplier of twenty-nine times!

Qi Yuan had followed Hugo to Lanka Star and had secretly used the system's function to observe quite a few people.

Yet aside from Hugo and the Seventh Prince of the Eternal Empire, whose base return multipliers had exceeded thirty times, he had not seen anyone else who could reach thirty times.

Other Star Traveller Tier 9s were generally around eighteen or nineteen times, with the occasional one exceeding twenty.

Yet this Wuxia Race slave's base return multiplier had reached a full twenty-nine times!

Although he had not crossed the threshold of thirty times, he still far exceeded the average level of ordinary Star Traveller cultivators!

Was Hugo just lucky, or did he really have some special eye for recognizing talent? It'd be a waste if he didn't buy lottery tickets with that luck.

After completing the slave transfer procedures, Hugo's group went to the Universe Mercenary Alliance branch on Dong Yu Star to register as adventurers and apply for the Apprentice Mercenary Assessment.

Only then did they board their spacecraft and fly toward Tai Shi Star, where the mission world was located.

Inside the spacecraft, Hugo and the others quickly read through the contents of this Apprentice Mercenary Assessment.

The assessment was largely similar to the one Luo Feng and the others had participated in in the original story.

"Enter the Emberlight World on Tai Shi Star, obtain the venom stinger of one Ghost Face Scorpion and three Aurora Stones, then hand them to the assessment staff at the exit to complete the mission."

The Emberlight World was a Small World created hundreds of millions of years ago by the renowned Emberlight Lord of Domain.

Later, after the Emberlight Lord of Domain fell, the Small World was transformed by the Universe Mercenary Alliance into a venue for the Apprentice Mercenary Assessment.

The content of this assessment was to enter the Emberlight World and complete tests involving the two types of tasks: "killing" and "exploration."

"The venom stinger of a Ghost Face Scorpion can be obtained by killing a Ghost Face Scorpion in the Brilliant Stone Wasteland."

"Aurora Stones are strange crystals rich in the unique energy of the Emberlight World. They must be obtained from the Aurora Corridor region."

"The environment inside the Aurora Corridor is too complex. Who knows how much time we'll waste there? We'll first go to the Brilliant Stone Wasteland to hunt Ghost Face Scorpions, then head to the Aurora Corridor after completing the mission."

Based on the information they had gathered, Hugo and the others quickly formulated their next course of action.

At the same time, in a room at an inn not far from the entrance to the assessment world on Tai Shi Star, a group of people waited anxiously.

"San Yan, is the information reliable? How long have we been squatting here? We still haven't seen the target."

A burly figure dressed in standard black Battle Armor, with four arms, spoke to his companion through telepathy.

"This Tai Shi Star is way too damn expensive. The room alone has already cost me over a million Eternal Coins. I don't even know if I can get reimbursed later."

The companion he called San Yan did not even raise his eyelids as he replied coolly, "It's a mission assigned by the boss. If you have a problem, go ask him!"

"Fuck, I wouldn't dare go to the boss and make him unhappy."

The Four Arms figure gave an awkward smile, then cautiously transmitted, "Hey, I'm telling you, this mission target has quite an extraordinary identity. He must be carrying plenty of good stuff. When the time comes, the two of us—"

Before he could finish, San Yan, who had been looking into the distance, suddenly froze before instantly rising to his feet!

"Get ready. The target has arrived!"

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