Chapter 1 The Beginning

The bright moon hung high, and the evening breeze was gentle.

Groups of students strolled leisurely after dinner, and couples whispered sweet nothings, creating an atmosphere of freedom and relaxation.

Zhou Jing, however, was in no mood to join them. He hurried back to his dorm, closed the door, and eagerly reopened his panel, his eyes full of excitement.

It had been over half a year since the connection with the Otherworld was severed, leaving him eagerly awaiting its return.

Now, finally, he was connected to a new Star Realm, allowing him to traverse the Star Realm once more.

"The Exploration Bureau's identified Star Realm convergence period is still a month and a half away, but my panel has entered the convergence period ahead of schedule. This proves that the plane's gravitational threshold required for my panel to initiate Star Realm traversal is superior to the main world's traversal device. I can initiate traversal earlier than the explorers, and for a period of time, I won't be disturbed…"

Zhou Jing was overjoyed. Although he had suspected this for some time, he was still happy to see his judgment proven true.

Although the explorers' guideline is to not excessively interfere with the development of a plane's civilization, which is a good idea in theory, after his experiences in the Otherworld, Zhou Jing didn't have high expectations for the extent to which the explorers would adhere to this guideline.

As long as the explorers entered the plane, he would have to consider their presence to some extent, which would feel very different. Traversing ahead of them would obviously give him a period of undisturbed activity, allowing him to seize the initiative no matter what he did.

Of course, he had already decided to join the Exploration Bureau in the future, so the explorers couldn't be considered enemies… But as a Star Realm Apostle walking the world, he would always have to stir up trouble in order to "clear the game," and conflicts were inevitable.

'But it's too early to think about that. I'll deal with it when it happens and improvise then.'

Zhou Jing sat cross-legged on his bed, pondering to himself.

This time, unlike his first traversal, he wasn't completely clueless about the Star Realm he was about to enter.

He had already obtained basic information about the new Star Realm from Shen Xinqin's Exploration Bureau科普 (kēpǔ, science popularization) course.

This time, the Exploration Bureau had named the plane "Plane D19." This type of name was a temporary designation, meaning that the main world hadn't yet determined an official name for the plane.

Naming a plane with a designation usually meant that its civilization had many similarities to other planes, and the main world hadn't yet discovered any characteristic features of the plane's civilization. Additionally, it meant that the plane was considered a "low-value plane" by the main world.

For example, the "Otherworld Civilization Plane" was named because, regardless of how the regime evolved,异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts) were always the most prominent feature, and the civilization's technology tree had become associated with异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts).

However, "Plane D19" lacked this characteristic.

It was an ancient world in a mature agricultural civilization stage. Its political structure was mainly feudal dynasties, and it had multiple national regimes. Although its level of civilization was higher than that of the异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts) civilization, it lacked any apparent extraordinary power.

There was more than one plane with a similar situation. Even if the names of the countries, regimes, and cultures were different, regimes would change over time, making them unsuitable for naming. Therefore, a designation would usually be used until a characteristic was discovered, and then the name would be changed.

—This was the case for most planes. They only acquired official names after multiple convergences and explorations. This was a normal phenomenon.

It was worth mentioning that the national and civilization cultures of many planes had similarities. This had always been one of the Exploration Bureau's key research projects. They believed that some unknown factor was causing different planes to develop similar cultural forms.

Therefore, the Exploration Bureau constructed a "Plane Cultural System" as a criterion for judgment. Using the historical and cultural forms of various countries in the main world as coordinates, they located similar cultural forms in various plane countries… For example, those close to the 赤度共和国 (Chìdù Gònghéguó, Red Republic) included "震旦文化 (Zhèndàn Wénhuà, Aurora Culture)," "诸华文化 (Zhūhuá Wénhuà, All-China Culture)," and so on.

According to the Plane Cultural System, the mainstream countries of "Plane D19" were close to the 赤度共和国 (Chìdù Gònghéguó, Red Republic) in terms of cultural form.

According to the data, the main world had only converged with "Plane D19" once and hadn't discovered any extraordinary power. Only some martial arts of ordinary people circulated in the military and occasionally appeared among the common people.

Ordinary people who practiced them would only become stronger and more agile. There were only signs of "martial arts budding," which couldn't be considered extraordinary. In the main world's evaluation, it didn't even qualify as a "low-martial world."

…However, this was all data from the last convergence.

Now that the main world was converging with "Plane D19" for the second time, much time had passed, and no one knew how it had evolved. This was the intelligence that the explorers needed to gather.

"Even if eras change and regimes change, the geography and history of this world won't easily change. This is my intelligence advantage."

Zhou Jing felt satisfied. This was the benefit of the explorer科普 (kēpǔ, science popularization) course. Although it was just a rough overview, it gave him enough knowledge of the new Star Realm he was about to enter.

He wasn't too surprised that the past intelligence showed that the new Star Realm didn't have any apparent extraordinary power. After all, the main world had converged with too many planes, and not every world had extraordinary power.

Although he might not be able to obtain a new extraordinary system from the new Star Realm this time, as long as he could deploy Star Realm Apostles, he could activate cultivation acceleration, which could be used to cultivate the martial arts system inherited from the main world with half the effort.

As long as it had this effect, it wouldn't be a loss. This was Zhou Jing's main need at the moment.

—Moreover, "Plane D19" had evolved for many years and might have developed an extraordinary system. He would explore it when the time came.

"However, the biggest problem now is that my two apostle slots are already used, so I can't create a new apostle…"

Zhou Jing looked at the panel information and felt a headache.

The upper limit of the number of apostle slots was the number of Eternal Apostles +1. He currently only had two apostle slots.

These two slots were occupied by Jason and Bill, respectively, and they were both left in the disconnected Otherworld… Unless one of them died, he wouldn't be able to create a new Star Realm Apostle.

But these two bastards were really good at staying alive, and they were still holding on!

According to the科普 (kēpǔ, science popularization) course, after a Star Realm was disconnected, the flow of time would change, possibly becoming faster or slower.

Since the two apostles hadn't died yet, it meant that the flow of time in the Otherworld shouldn't have become too fast, probably not like when it was connected, when one day was roughly equal to a month.

The only thing Zhou Jing could currently do was to consume one of his Eternal Apostle's rebirth opportunities to retrieve Jason.

As for Bill, that idiot who courted death, he hadn't been converted into an Eternal Apostle yet and could only wait for him to die on his own. Zhou Jing couldn't do anything about it.

"Do I really have to retrieve Jason? I feel like I'm losing out…"

Zhou Jing scratched his head.

Eternal Apostles had no upper limit on placement income. They could earn money no matter how long they were placed, but it was definitely not as good as the prospects of exploring a new Star Realm.

Therefore, he definitely had to free up an apostle slot, that was certain.

However, Bill dying would be more profitable than actively retrieving Jason.

After all, Bill hadn't completed his "clearance settlement," so his placement income had an upper limit. After reaching the upper limit, the longer he was placed, the more resources were wasted.

Moreover, with Bill's talent in wizardry, he could only unlock the "Wind Spirit" to the third level at most. No matter how hard he practiced, he couldn't break through the limitations of his talent. This was his limit.

Placing Bill for a long time could increase the evaluation of his "clearance settlement," but it wasn't suitable to occupy this apostle slot all the time.

Therefore, Zhou Jing didn't want Bill to continue living at all at this time. He only hoped that he would die soon.

"Sigh, Bill, what the hell are you doing? When are you going to die…"

Zhou Jing scratched his head helplessly.

…

Otherworld.

Terra Calendar, year 48.

Since the various tribes became independent several years ago, the imperial royal family had been repeatedly attacked from all sides in their expeditions. The large Terra Empire seemed to disintegrate overnight after fruitless campaigns.

Various tribes divided the territory, and the once unified imperial territory was split into more than a dozen distinct tribal autonomous territories.

The Terra Empire was not destroyed. The royal family retreated to Tarn City and several surrounding cities, quietly licking their wounds.

For some reason, the other tribes did not pursue further, acquiescing to the current power structure and recuperating.

The flames of war ceased, and everything seemed to return to calm.

But everyone knew that this was only temporary peace. The royal family would not let it go, and the various tribes that had once supported each other seemed to have different thoughts, and their attitude toward the alliance had become ambiguous.

In addition, after several years of promotion, the mild异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion改良 (gǎiliáng, improved) by Master Bill had basically replaced the original version and become the mainstream异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion.

Although the strengthening effect was weak, the number of异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) warriors had greatly increased.

However, due to the limitations of the workshop's production capacity, the mild异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion was given priority to the military. The various tribes focused on strengthening their military strength, and the royal family was no exception. They were frantically engaged in an arms race and did not dare to stop.

In the past few years, far fewer异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potions were used among the people than before. As the异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts) disasters became more rampant and the hunters suffered heavy losses, the异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts) hunter industry not only did not grow but became much more depressed.

During the years of continuous war, villages and towns everywhere built fortified manors to resist the attacks of rioting soldiers and the invasion of异兽 (yìshòu, exotic beasts), but many villages still disappeared, and a large number of villagers migrated to towns. There were fewer and fewer villages in the wilderness.

A large amount of farmland was abandoned and uncultivated, resulting in a year-by-year shortage of food, and famine swept the country.

The various tribes had no choice but to follow the imperial system, recruiting hunters to maintain territorial security and ensure agricultural production, but the situation did not improve much, and poverty and hunger were rampant.

Due to the changes in the world in the past few years, the people's views on Bill had also become complicated.

Bill developed a new type of异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion, and his achievements could not be concealed. He was a well-deserved potion master, but he became the fuse of the civil strife because he betrayed the royal family.

Many people did not know the inside story and could only blame Bill for ruining their peaceful lives, which gave him a mixed reputation among the people.

However, after Bill defected, he seemed to disappear from the world, and there was no news of him. No one knew where he went.

The royal family and the various tribes had not made any improvements to the异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion in the past few years.

After analyzing various signs, many people believed that Bill was probably dead. They did not know whether to feel sorry or happy.

…

In a remote mountain valley, a large camp was located here, with people coming and going.

This was Roman's secret base.

In the center of the camp was a conspicuous felt tent, heavily guarded on all sides, and no idlers were allowed to approach. It was like protection and imprisonment.

Roman dragged his fat body and paced to the front of the tent, using his eyes to question the guards.

A guard leaned forward and whispered, "Sir, he didn't want to go out today either."

"Hmm."

Roman nodded, motioned for the guards to leave, and then lifted the curtain and walked into the tent himself.

What came into view was a complete set of potion preparation tables and a figure who was configuring a potion. It was Bill.

Bill's movements were extremely skilled, and Roman saw it in his eyes, but he couldn't be happy at all.

In the past few years, Bill had not developed any new potions. He had only been preparing potions according to the existing recipes day after day. Although the quality of the finished product was excellent, it was not what Roman wanted.

Now that the new style of异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion had spread throughout the world, there were more and more potion masters who were proficient in the recipe. Roman was not short of a manufacturer who followed the recipe. He liked Bill's research and innovation ability and wanted to continue to improve the异血 (yìxuè, exotic blood) potion, but Bill had not had any new results so far.

Moreover, Bill had become more and more taciturn in the past few years, and he had very little communication with him. Roman still remembered Bill's enthusiasm and talkativeness at the beginning, and the current changes were quite abnormal.

In addition, Bill was also a staff member, but he had not made any suggestions in the past few years. Even if he was subjected to increasingly strict supervision, there was no reaction.

Roman was really unsure of Bill's thoughts. Over the years, he had become quite wary, and the relationship had undergone subtle changes.

However, everyone was still in a cooperative relationship, and there was no intention to turn against each other. He still allowed Bill to lead the potion development work and still had hope.

Various thoughts turned in his mind, Roman reluctantly pulled out a smile, and said, "Is there any progress today?"

"No."

Bill did not turn his head back, and his tone was without any fluctuation.

"Well… how is your witchcraft practice?"

"So-so." Bill was sparing with his words.

Roman waited for a while, and seeing that Bill did not intend to continue chatting, he had to cough and say the main thing, "I will be leaving for a trip in the next few days. Marco will temporarily take my place to issue orders. I am here to inform you."

"You can go in peace." Bill replied casually.

That didn't sound like good words…

Roman was helpless. He turned and left, beckoning for the guards to come over to continue guarding this place.

He walked back to the main tent on the other side, summoned his confidant Marco, and instructed, "I will be negotiating with some tribes this time. You must manage the camp well, close the valley, and bury the traces."

Marco nodded.

Roman thought of something, his eyes flashed, and he said in a deep voice, "Also, keep an eye on Bill. If he has any unusual movements, take him down immediately."

Marco asked in confusion, "Sir, Bill has always been very peaceful. Are you too wary of him?"

"He is indeed very peaceful. In the past few years, he seems to be a person without any desires, but this is likely his disguise, used to confuse me and numb me. I can't see what he is thinking at all."

Roman frowned.

The reason why he was so wary was that Bill was also a wizard, and he personally taught him witchcraft without telling anyone.

With this extraordinary power, he did not believe that Bill was content with the status quo and would inevitably pursue something.

In the beginning, Bill dared to betray the royal family at the risk of freedom, but in the past few years, he had stayed peacefully in the camp, not leaving an inch. This performance made Bill look like a lurking lone wolf, who was plotting something big. Roman did not dare to not defend against it.

Thinking of this, a cold light flashed in Roman's eyes, and he said, "If Bill tries to escape, you can mobilize the暗卫 (ànwèi, hidden guards) to kill him!"

Marco was taken aback, but seeing the cold color in Roman's eyes, he nodded solemnly, "I understand, don't worry!"

Roman nodded and called in other confidants to assign tasks.

After arranging everything, Roman took a group of people and left.

…

The mountains were misty, humid, and cold.

Day had passed, and the night sky hung high.

The valley was shrouded in darkness. Except for the sentries, everyone in the camp returned to their tents to rest. There was no light coming out, and it was unusually quiet.

At the same time, in the forest outside the valley,

An unknown number of men in black were slowly surrounding the camp, silently.