The Young Giant Axe

Everyone tacitly scrambled for the Blue Fruits closest to them. Energy fluctuations suddenly erupted across the clearing, forming invisible vortices of air.

The Machine Race expert shifted slightly, and silver metallic energy radiated from his body with a faint pressure of laws, freezing the surrounding air. In an instant, he swept to the branches and carried off several fruits. The other adventurers did not dare rush forward to compete with him.

A streak of silver light flashed past from the side. It was a cicada-wing-thin flying sword, controlled by the psychic power of a Stellar-level spiritualist. Though launched later, it arrived first, precisely sweeping away the three largest Blue Fruits on the branches, their icy patterns the most brilliant. Clearly, this had been planned in advance.

Golden Horn cursed under his breath, drove his legs forward, and charged at full speed toward the area where the Blue Fruits were most densely packed.

His speed could only be considered average among the crowd. By the time he arrived, the Blue Fruits on the ground had already been mostly divided up, leaving only two smaller ones lying alone among the gravel.

Golden Horn reached out with a claw and grabbed one of them.

Almost at the same instant, a massive battle axe cleaved in from another direction. It was not aimed at him, however, but precisely scooped up the last Blue Fruit and flung it high into the air. A Human Race youth carrying a giant axe rushed out from the side, grabbed the Blue Fruit in midair, and landed steadily.

Golden Horn glanced sideways. The Human Race youth looked no more than seventeen or eighteen. He was broad and powerfully built, with short black hair, but his gaze was as sharp as a blade. The battle axe on his back was even wider than his body. Dried dark-red blood stained the edge of its blade, faintly exuding a fierce aura of blood and metal. It had clearly drunk the blood of many powerful warriors.

Stellar level, fifth order. Golden Horn assessed the other's cultivation. He was two orders higher than himself, but his aura was extraordinarily condensed. He was clearly no ordinary Stellar-level fifth-order warrior.

But Golden Horn was not afraid. The Golden Horned Beast's tenfold genetic level was enough to erase that gap. If they truly fought, he would most likely win.

Their gazes met briefly, and both read the same judgment in each other's eyes: not an easy target, no need to clash head-on.

Neither made the first move, but that did not mean others would hold back.

Several adventurers who had arrived later had not gotten even one Blue Fruit, and their eyes had turned red. One Stellar-level warrior roared and pounced directly at Golden Horn, followed by another warrior and a Planetary-level spiritualist.

Golden Horn snorted coldly and advanced instead of retreating.

His body-refining secret technique activated instantly. A half-inch-thick golden membrane appeared over the surface of his black scales, energy flowing beneath it like a river of stars as his defense surged. He neither dodged nor evaded, taking the warrior's full-force strike head-on. The opponent's weapon struck his scales and left only a shallow white mark.

At the same time, Golden Horn's right claw had already slammed out.

"Get lost!" His low growl carried an energy shockwave that struck directly at the opponent's mind.

With a muffled boom, the Stellar-level warrior was like someone struck by a meteor. His chest caved in, blood sprayed from his mouth, and he flew back dozens of meters before smashing through a large tree.

Before the other warrior could react, Golden Horn's tail had already swept across and struck his waist. With a crack, the man screamed and was flung sideways, rolling several times across the ground before he could no longer get up.

The Planetary-level spiritualist turned deathly pale at the sight and fled at once.

Golden Horn did not pursue. They were only a few ants, not worth wasting his strength on.

On the other side, the youth carrying the giant axe had also run into trouble. Two Stellar-level warriors attacked him from the left and right. One wielded a saber, the other a spear, and they coordinated seamlessly, both surrounded by faint traces of wind-element laws.

The youth remained expressionless as he drew the giant axe from his back. A dark-red domain instantly spread out, extending thirty feet from him. Within the domain, the air seemed to solidify, and the wind-element laws were forcibly suppressed.

"Boom!"

With one downward swing, dark-red axe light surged forth, carrying the power of the domain. The saber-wielding warrior raised his blade to block, but before the axe light even reached him, the refined steel saber snapped in two with a crack. The warrior's palm split open and blood poured out as the impact sent him flying backward. He crashed heavily into a large tree and spewed blood wildly.

The spear-wielding warrior had already gone pale. His spear had barely been thrust out when he was caught by the aftershock of the axe light and hurled dozens of meters away. After getting back up, he fled without looking back, vomiting blood as he ran.

The youth put away his giant axe without any change in expression, as though he had merely done something insignificant.

The battle ended quickly, and the battlefield was cleared in an instant.

The Machine Race warrior and the spiritualist in green robes, who had seized the fruits first, had long since departed. After witnessing Golden Horn and the youth's terrifying strength, the adventurers who had failed to obtain anything did not dare linger either. They all turned toward the depths of the forest to search for other Blue Fruit Trees.

Golden Horn shook the dust from his scales and looked at the youth.

Recalling the invisible force field that had surged around the youth when he swung his axe, Golden Horn was secretly startled. That had been a domain. To possess a domain at the Stellar level, and one with such a considerable range... this fellow's talent was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

The other party happened to look over as well, his gaze indifferent, as though he had no intention of talking.

Seeing no one nearby, Golden Horn considered it. He had only just entered the secret realm and knew nothing about its resources, dangers, or factions. This youth was clearly an experienced adventurer. If he could gather useful information from him, it would greatly benefit his future actions.

He took out two small Blue Fruits he had collected earlier from his internal space, tossed them lightly in his claw, and held them out.

The youth's gaze was immediately drawn to them. A hint of confusion appeared in his eyes as he asked in the universal language, "What does this mean?"

"Can I ask you for some information? This is the payment." Golden Horn gave what he believed was a friendly smile.

A smile actually appeared at the corner of the youth's otherwise cold face. "Of course." Before his words had even faded, he swiftly took the two fruits and casually stored them in the spatial belt at his waist.

The two walked beneath a thick ancient tree and sat facing each other in its shade.

Golden Horn spoke first. "My name is Golden Horn. What is yours?"

"Giant Axe," the youth answered briefly.

Golden Horn looked at the giant axe on his back and suspected that this Human Race youth had named himself after his weapon. But it did not matter. A name was only a label, just as he was currently called Golden Horn.

"These Blue Fruits are a resource unique to the Void Vortex Domain." Giant Axe cleared his throat and began explaining.

"They have two core values. First, they can rapidly replenish origin energy and improve cultivation efficiency.

Second, they contain a trace of law aura. It may be a common law such as space, metal, or earth, allowing warriors to comprehend laws and grasp domains in advance, laying the foundation for breaking through to the Universe level."

He paused, then added, "The value of Blue Fruits is determined by their size and the purity of their laws. The larger they are, the richer their law aura and the greater their value. Even these two small ones you just gave me could easily be exchanged for ten Planetary-level ninth-order slaves on any trade planet where all races mingle, such as Myriad Monster Star."

Golden Horn's eyes brightened slightly. Then what about fruits of the size they had fought over just now?

"They can be exchanged for ten Stellar-level first- to third-order slaves." Giant Axe's tone did not change. "High-level labor is scarce in the universe. Stellar-level slaves are commonly used for dangerous mining operations and border battles, so their price remains high."

Golden Horn was still unfamiliar with prices in the universe, so he asked, "Are slaves that valuable? If exchanged for copper metal, how much could they get?"

"Copper?" Giant Axe froze for a moment, then explained, "Copper is a basic mineral resource in the universe. Its reserves are extremely vast, but it is widely used. The two small fruits you gave me could probably be exchanged for the entire copper ore reserves of a medium-sized planet."

Golden Horn silently committed that to memory, gaining a more intuitive understanding of the value of Blue Fruits.