This was a battle sword shaped spaceship, approximately 600 metres long, 100 metres wide, and nearly 100 metres thick. It was entirely pitch black. Even when facing this spaceship, one could vaguely sense an ancient aura from it, as if it had existed for an extremely long time in the river of time.
The cold wind blew, and snowflakes drifted through the air.
Amidst the falling snow, Luo Feng walked towards the ancient spaceship.
“Guyan Stone Mother, this is an F-class spaceship forged from Guyan Stone Mother.” Babata’s astonished voice sounded in his sea of consciousness.
“I know it’s an F-class spaceship.” Luo Feng replied mentally. At the same time, he looked ahead. A group of people flew out from the cabin door. Leading them was a lean, hawk-nosed old man who looked almost identical to an Earth human. He wore black battle clothes, had short, sharp hair, a smile on his face, and a snowflake-shaped mark between his eyebrows.
The faint sense of control over heaven and earth made Luo Feng realise that this person was a Domain Lord who had received recognition from the origin laws of the universe.
“Sha Wu pays his respects to His Highness!” The lean old man bowed slightly.
“Greetings, Your Highness!”
The group of Domain Lords and Universe-level beings behind him bowed respectfully to Luo Feng.
“His Highness?” Luo Feng was stunned.
“It seems His Highness still doesn’t know about many things.” The lean old man smiled. “Your Highness, let’s board the spaceship first. It will take three years to reach the company’s headquarters in the entire universe from here, so we cannot waste time.”
“Mm.” Luo Feng nodded.
Under the respectful escort of the group, he flew into this F-class spaceship.
The interior space of the spaceship was enormous. The entire battle sword spaceship’s ‘hilt’ was the main section of the spaceship’s power cabin, while some other cabins occupied almost the entire lower level of the spaceship.
At this moment, Luo Feng was in an extremely spacious and luxurious hall on the upper level of the spaceship, 300 metres long and 60 metres wide.
Comfortable sofas, fragrant fine wine and rare spiritual fruits had already been prepared, while beautiful maids stood behind them, waiting for orders at any time.
“Your Highness, please sit.” The lean old man smiled.
Luo Feng then sat opposite the lean old man.
“This place is quite nice.” Luo Feng nodded as he looked around. “This F-class spaceship is entirely forged from Guyan Stone Mother. It is a treasure!”
“Your Highness has a good eye.” The lean old man’s smile grew even wider. “This is an F6-grade metal, Guyan Stone Mother. The edges of the spaceship have been specially reinforced and infused with origin laws, making them incomparably sharp. Once the spaceship reaches a high enough speed, it can directly pierce through a planet, passing completely through it without its speed being greatly affected.”
Luo Feng nodded.
Just like the Yun Mo Planet ship, in terms of materials, the Yun Mo Planet ship was actually even stronger.
“Mr Sha Wu, why do you call me Your Highness?” Luo Feng asked in confusion.
“It seems His Highness has many questions.” The lean old man smiled. “Let me introduce myself first. I am Sha Wu, a Domain Lord within the ‘Apocalypse Secret Realm’, one of the core layers of the Virtual Universe Company.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
The Apocalypse Secret Realm?
The last of the four secret realms. In fact, the names of the four secret realms were easy to understand. Suppose the evolution of a world begins as an original, unified whole, which is called ‘Primal’. It then gradually takes shape and enters the ‘Absolute Beginning’ stage. Eventually, it forms a vast world, which is ‘Heaven and Earth’. When it is about to decline and be destroyed, it naturally becomes ‘Apocalypse’.
Primal, Absolute Beginning, Heaven and Earth, Apocalypse. They seemed to represent the process of a world’s evolution.
“Our Virtual Universe Company’s core members are very few.” The lean old man smiled. “Normally, there are three ways to become a core member. The first is through competitions such as the Genius Battle and the Stronger Battle, where the most outstanding geniuses in the entire universe are selected. The second is through outstanding talents cultivated internally by the Virtual Universe Company itself. The third is that a small number of Domain Lords can be recruited.”
“A small number of Domain Lords?” Luo Feng was stunned.
Domain Lords did not even have the qualifications to become core members.
“Mm.” The lean old man nodded. “Because ordinary Domain Lords have no hope of breaking through to become Immortal beings. Some have not even received recognition from the origin laws. Why would the company value them or recruit them? After all, there are simply too many Domain Lords within the company.”
Luo Feng could not help nodding.
Indeed. There were already millions of Domain Lords in the Ganwu Universe Country alone. What about the Virtual Universe Company, one of the five giants? A hundred times as many as a universe country? Or even more?
“Only true elites and true strong experts can become core members.” The lean old man smiled. “As for why I call you Your Highness… among the four secret realms of the core layer, the Apocalypse Secret Realm is the outermost. Core members of the Apocalypse Secret Realm, when meeting members of the three secret realms above it, must address anyone below the Immortal level as ‘Your Highness’!”
“And Your Highness, you have entered the ‘Absolute Beginning Secret Realm’, so your status is even higher.” The lean old man smiled. “Furthermore, ordinary subordinates who are not part of the core layer must also address core members below the Immortal level as ‘Your Highness’.”
“Oh.” Luo Feng nodded slightly.
Your Highness?
In the universe, this was generally a respectful title for princes and royal heirs. Clearly, the members of the Virtual Universe Company’s core layer who were below the Immortal level were treated like princes and heirs, because they were expected to become super powerhouses in the future. In terms of status, they were far above the princes of those universe countries. Many of those princes would never have any hope of inheriting the throne for their entire lives.
“Your Highness, let’s enter the Virtual Universe together.” The lean old man smiled. “I’ll take you into the Virtual Universe Company’s virtual headquarters.”
“Oh?” Luo Feng’s eyes lit up.
The spaceship had already entered the dark universe, and its speed continued to increase, reaching nearly 20 times the speed of light. It then continued travelling through the dark universe at this constant speed.
Luo Feng first went into the most comfortable and luxurious resting room in the spaceship, then his consciousness entered the Virtual Universe Network.
……
Now that Luo Feng’s identity was that of a core member, his virtual assistant, Babata, had automatically gained a new function. Once he entered the Virtual Universe, he could directly teleport to a special plane within the Virtual Universe.
“Teleport!”
Whoosh!
Luo Feng disappeared from the Nine Star Bay residential area on Black Dragon Mountain Island.
……
Virtual Headquarters Plane.
This was a suspended mountain peak surrounded by clouds and mist. The mountain was incomparably enormous, even larger than an ordinary planet in reality.
A figure suddenly appeared on a bluestone road on the mountain. It was Luo Feng.
“Hmm?” Luo Feng looked around.
There were many people in the distance along the street, as well as rows of buildings. Farther to the left were beautiful villas.
“Your Highness.” A figure ran over from the distance. It was Sha Wu.
“Mr Sha Wu.” Luo Feng smiled and called out.
“Your Highness.” The lean old man smiled. “This entire plane is our Virtual Universe Company’s ‘Virtual Headquarters’. In fact, compared with the headquarters in reality, the virtual headquarters is even livelier. After all, many important figures cannot possibly remain at the physical headquarters all the time.”
“Mm.” Luo Feng nodded.
“Come.”
The lean old man led Luo Feng around. “This mountain peak floating amidst the clouds and mist is called ‘Rain Realm Mountain’. Rain Realm Mountain has a diameter of approximately 89,000 kilometres.”
“So large?” Luo Feng was shocked.
Earth’s diameter was only a little over 10,000 kilometres. This single mountain had a diameter nearly seven times that of Earth.
“Of course it has to be large. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough space for many cultivation grounds.” The lean old man smiled. “The entire Rain Realm Mountain is divided into five areas. They are the ‘Primal Area’, ‘Absolute Beginning Area’, ‘Heaven and Earth Area’, ‘Apocalypse Area’ and ‘Public Area’. These five areas are all roughly the same size.”
“The Primal Area has no more than 120 people.”
“The Absolute Beginning Area has roughly a thousand people.”
“The Heaven and Earth Area has around ten thousand people.”
“As for the Apocalypse Area, it has tens of millions of people.” The lean old man said. “As for the Public Area, it contains commerce, entertainment and other things. People from all four areas can enter the ‘Public Area’. By the way… Your Highness, members of the Primal Area, Absolute Beginning Area, Heaven and Earth Area and Apocalypse Area cannot enter the other areas.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly, then asked in confusion, “You said the five areas are roughly the same size, yet the Primal Area has fewer than 120 people, while the Apocalypse Area has tens of millions?”
“This is status.”
The lean old man sighed. “When the headquarters selects some elites to enter the core layer, they all enter the Apocalypse Area. Some outstanding Domain Lords who are recruited also enter the Apocalypse Area! Most participants in previous Genius Battles and Stronger Battles are also in the Apocalypse Area… This is why the Apocalypse Area has the largest population. Housing in the Apocalypse Area consists of rows of high-rise buildings, with each person receiving an apartment.”
“In the Heaven and Earth Area, everyone gets their own villa.”
“In the Absolute Beginning Area, members can have their own exclusive cultivation grounds and exclusive study areas. It is already considered extremely luxurious.”
“As for the Primal Area, there are no more than 120 people in total. An enormous luxurious estate with a diameter of more than 1,000 kilometres has basically been built for them. The estate contains all kinds of cultivation facilities, Immortal teachers who reside there permanently, large numbers of servants to attend to them, and even many sparring partners who can be summoned at any time.” The lean old man’s eyes were filled with envy.
Luo Feng was stunned.
The difference in benefits and treatment was simply too great. The Apocalypse Area had people living in apartment blocks, the Heaven and Earth Area had villas, and the Absolute Beginning Area was essentially a manor. As for the Primal Area… Good heavens, they had built a manor more than 1,000 kilometres in diameter for a single person. Could that even be called a manor? It was larger than an entire province on Earth before the Great Nirvana Period! It was practically a kingdom! There were even Immortal beings stationed there specifically?
“There are no more than 120 people in the Primal Area, and fewer than 100 of them are Domain Lords. Every one of those Domain Lords would be considered a truly invincible existence among Domain Lords if placed anywhere in the universe.” The lean old man smiled. “Every one of them is a true elite of our company. It is not strange for them to receive such treatment.”
Under Sha Wu’s guidance, Luo Feng gained a general understanding of the entire Rain Realm Mountain. This was where the members below the Immortal level of the Virtual Universe Company’s core layer were gathered.
……
Standing on a steep mountain rock, the lean old man pointed towards an enormous island in the distance, shrouded in clouds and surrounded by bolts of lightning.
“Look, that is Thunder Island, also known as ‘Immortal Island’. It is a hundred or even a thousand times larger than Rain Realm Mountain. Almost all of the Virtual Universe Company’s Immortal beings generally live there. If Rain Realm Mountain is the gathering place and cultivation ground for core members below the Immortal level, then Thunder Island is the true gathering place of powerful experts, the gathering place of Immortal beings.”
“Mm.” Luo Feng looked at Thunder Island within the clouds and nodded slightly.
That place could be considered one of the holy lands of the entire human race in the universe.
“Your Highness, I’ll take you to the Absolute Beginning Area. Of course, I can only take you to the outside of the Absolute Beginning Area.” The lean old man smiled. “Although the benefits of the Absolute Beginning Area are slightly inferior to those of the ‘Primal Area’, they are still the second highest. Once you receive your assigned residence, you’ll understand why countless people want to get in. There are only a little over a thousand places in the Absolute Beginning Area. On average, there is only one place for each universe country.”
“Absolute Beginning Area, here I come!” Luo Feng was also filled with anticipation.