Chapter 1 The Spirit Transformation Ritual

The Spirit Transformation Ritual was underway, and on a distant black mountain peak, the Ten Kings of the Underworld stood, gazing up at Han Xiao and his group in the sky, their eyes focused on the Transforming Otherworlder.

"Humph, Black Star has roped in another newbie," sneered Igonnax, the aloof Ninth King, arms crossed.

"Why isn't this newbie resisting? Could he have joined willingly? I thought he'd get a beating like Ninth and Tenth before accepting his fate," the almost invisible Fourth King chimed in teasingly.

Tenth King Dirron's eye twitched, his face a mask of coldness.

He had eventually been "taught" to accept his fate. Enduring endless torment was worse than enjoying limited freedom. He could only hope that Black Star would keep his promise in the future, release him from his Spirit identity, and allow him to resurrect normally.

"Humph, I don't care if this newbie joined willingly, I'm going to teach him the rules."

Igonnax scoffed.

Having been beaten into submission himself, he didn't want to see later recruits joining the Underworld so easily.

Sorokin adjusted his vision, clearly observing the scene in the distance. His eyebrow rose, a playful expression on his face.

"I doubt you'll be teaching him anything. This time, a formidable guy has arrived."

"How formidable? Stronger than me?" Dirron interjected blandly.

"You?" Sorokin turned, scanned him up and down, and chuckled. "You probably couldn't even handle one of his hands."

Dirron was immediately displeased. "We're all peak Beyond Grade A. Is he stronger than Black Star? If he was that strong, why would he join the Underworld?"

Sorokin merely smiled.

He was from the same era as the Otherworlder, unlike the others, who didn't recognize him. He alone understood how powerful the Otherworlder would be when combined with the Underworld's mechanisms.

"However..." Sorokin changed his tone, amusement in his voice, "Even if he is powerful, he's still ranked below us. He's now the Eleventh King."

On the other side, Han Xiao also noticed the movements of the Ten Kings of the Underworld. He glanced over, a smirk playing on his lips.

The Ten Kings of the Underworld had now evolved into the Lightning Eleven. He had finally gathered enough for a football team.

However, the Otherworlder was compliant because Han Xiao was stronger. It didn't mean he would act the same way toward others. He wasn't someone who easily submitted to others. Making him obediently be the Eleventh King wouldn't be easy.

After a while, the Spirit Transformation Ritual was finally complete. The Otherworlder reopened his eyes, felt the Spirit's existence, and nodded in appreciation.

"The fusion of life and death forces creates a perfectly harmonious structure. This is an ultimate manipulation of power, taking a different path. The Underworld can be called a cosmic wonder. The two sisters in history were truly astonishing. Even if I were to develop these two abilities, I'm not sure I could do better than them."

"Humph."

Hela didn't like others using that lecturing tone with her. However, since the other party was, after all, the "God of Power," an absolute master in the field of power, she didn't say anything, merely huffing to express her slight dissatisfaction.

At that moment, the Ten Kings of the Underworld, seeing the ritual complete, gathered around, preparing to meet the newbie. Sorokin took the lead in greeting him.

"Yo, look who it is? I thought you'd be locked in a dark prison forever. What happened? Did they release you, and you became a member of the Underworld?"

"Sorokin, you're here too?"

The Otherworlder's eyes swept over.

"Hehe, looks like you've been locked up for too long. You have no idea what's happened in recent years." Sorokin shrugged, pointing to the Spirits beside him. "Let me introduce you. These seven joined the Underworld during the Exploration Era, and these two are from history, resurrected by Black Star. All of them are at peak Beyond Grade A. We are all Kings of the Underworld..."

"Resurrected?" The Otherworlder's eyes flashed with interest. He turned to look at Han Xiao, smiling. "Looks like you've been doing a lot of things in the nearly a hundred years I've been in prison."

"What else? Did you think I was just lazing around all these years?" Han Xiao shook his head. "In the last hundred years, the interstellar situation has changed a lot. Find Sorokin to learn about these things. You know each other anyway, he'll be happy to introduce you."

"That's right, as long as you owe me one Promise Coin... Don't give me that confused look. Come, come, let me introduce you to the Underworld's currency first..."

Sorokin was enthusiastic, eager to promote the financial system he created.

But before he could even start, Dirron interrupted him, narrowing his eyes as he sized up the Otherworlder.

"Haven't asked your name yet. What are you called?"

The Otherworlder turned to look at him. "You don't need to know my name. Just call me Otherworlder."

"Meaning?"

"God of Power."

Dirron laughed sarcastically. "How many powerful espers in history didn't dare call themselves that? Eleventh King, are you worthy of that name?"

"Eleventh King?" The Otherworlder raised an eyebrow, counting the people in front of him. He immediately realized that they were ranked in order of joining.

"You disagree?" Dirron sneered.

"If we were still alive, you'd be dead by now." The Otherworlder said calmly. As a feared thug, he wasn't someone with a good temper.

"Alright, let's fight. Sorokin says you're very strong. I'd like to see how you'd kill me."

Dirron sneered. He kept Sorokin's words in mind. He just didn't believe it.

Anyway, now that everyone was an undying Spirit, they could fight if they were unhappy. Who was afraid of who?

Han Xiao couldn't help but glance at him. He didn't find it strange. Dirron had a foul mouth and had the ability to taunt people. He liked to provoke people. After accepting the identity of a Spirit, this guy had no worries. It was as if he had been liberated. His foul mouth had intensified, and he could taunt people at will. His personality was flying high.

As Spirits, without Aurora giving them life force, no one could do anything. Dirron probably enjoyed the fact that people hated him but couldn't do anything about it.

"What do you say?" The Otherworlder turned to look at Han Xiao.

"In that case, Aurora and I will temporarily give you bodies. You can re-rank, with strength as the basis." Hela's eyes lit up. She loved watching others fight and immediately made the decision.

"I agree." Sorokin's eyes lit up.

Although he wasn't the strongest of the Spirit Kings, he was definitely in the top ranks. At least he wouldn't have to be the Eighth King anymore.

"Not bad, just what I wanted." Dirron sneered, pointing at the Otherworlder. "I hope you can satisfy me."

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll use you to celebrate my rebirth."

The Otherworlder paused, then turned to look at Evans, saying lightly, "I'll demonstrate this ability's fighting style for you this time. Watch carefully and learn."

Evans immediately perked up.

Not long after, Aurora was called over by Hela to create bodies for the many Spirit Kings, almost draining her dry.

Han Xiao took the group to the main universe, finding a desolate cosmic belt as a battlefield.

Three days later, the eleven who had returned to their Spirit forms returned to the Underworld, not saying a word about the battle, only silently rearranging the seats.

The Otherworlder parachuted into the position of Big Brother, Dirron became the Second King, Sorokin became the Third King, Igonnax the Fourth King, and so on.

Although the first and second were only one position apart, there was a gap in combat power. As a spectator of the entire process, Han Xiao saw what the Otherworlder in his prime was like. He was much stronger than he had been in life. Beating Dirron was like playing. Only 'overwhelming' could describe their battle.

In Han Xiao's opinion, perhaps only he in the entire universe could steadily defeat him. At most, others could only draw. The Otherworlder, without any burdens, feared no one but him.

And Urnos's win rate was even lower than Hyperion's. Even if his energy level was higher, he might not be a match for the Otherworlder... After all, he was an esper. As long as he was touched by [Power Silence], he would basically be half-cooled.

...

On the other side, the Three Great Civilizations' joint conference room.

The three leaders had just finished a meeting and were sorting out documents when Louis remembered something and looked at Mabrus, asking curiously, "How did your transaction with Black Star go? I heard that Gord has returned?"

Mabrus paused, slowly nodding.

The Head of the Arcane Church narrowed his eyes, slowly saying, "So, Gord was really captured by Black Star. How did your empire handle it?"

"...Still investigating the inside story. You don't need to worry about the details."

Mabrus shook his head.

Seeing this, the two guessed that the empire had probably been defeated by Black Star, and they couldn't help but smile secretly.

The Head of the Arcane Church coughed and said lightly, "Black Star's wings are full, so don't worry about him for now. In any case, we have welcomed back an extraordinary potential direct line Beyond Grade A. He will definitely become an important pillar of our individual strength in the future. Congratulations on getting a new pillar of the country. Train Gord well."

Because he had an Urnos at home who was preparing to advance to the Super level, the Head of the Arcane Church was very generous at this time. He didn't care that the empire had regained Gord. Moreover, from the perspective of the Three Great Civilizations, this was a common good thing.

Hearing this, Mabrus's heart twitched.

Others thought that Gord was still the extremely dangerous esper with unlimited potential. It was ironic that they were congratulating him on getting a potential stock. He felt bad.

Mabrus didn't want the two to know that the empire had made a losing deal this time, exchanging the Otherworlder for a cripple, so he had to force himself to endure this bad breath, pulling out a stiff smile, his balls aching.

...

The border of the Flickering World.

Giant engineering ships cruised in space, and planet-level mining devices wrapped around planets, carrying out destructive mining, draining the star cores, crushing the planets, decomposing them into various substances, and flowing into giant storage compartments, like a swarm of locusts sweeping across the sky, leaving only barrenness wherever they went.

Several star clusters on the border of the Flickering World were originally resource-rich areas, but now, under the destructive mining of the Three Great Civilizations, they were gradually transforming into barren cosmic belts, being transformed into a strategic depth area to meet the future impact of the World Tree. All valuable resources were packed and taken away, with a scorched-earth policy, leaving nothing for the World Tree.

At this moment, on the edge of the mining area, a small imperial fleet was escorting an ordinary spaceship with the Black Star Army logo away.

In the spaceship, Meat Bun was sorting out the materials collected on this trip. The players around him all had the Meat Bun Studio ID prefix, all of whom were employees of Meat Bun.

"It's a pity that the empire doesn't allow us to go deep into the mining area for visits. This time, we only collected some scraps, not enough to make a video explaining the Three Great Civilizations' war preparations..."

Meat Bun sighed, not very satisfied with the harvest.

"Be content. The Three Great Civilizations have made an exception by agreeing to let us see the edge area."

The personal assistant, Wheat, curled his lips.

Now, most of the players were participating in harassment battles on the front line, but Meat Bun didn't always stay on the front line. Because it was all battle reports, it was inconvenient to make videos. He keenly felt that the changes in the rear were more valuable to dig, so he took a group of studio employees back to the explored universe to collect news everywhere.

Before long, Meat Bun set his sights on the Black Star training base and the Three Great Civilizations' war preparations, but outsiders were not allowed to enter the training base, so he had to come and observe the latter.

Meat Bun had a relatively good relationship with some departments of the Three Great Civilizations. First, the accounts under the studio were all charm-added points, specializing in building good relationships with all kinds of people; second, Meat Bun kept promoting himself and pulled in many players as endorsements, letting the Three Great Civilizations know that he had a special influence in the Undying group, becoming the exclusive media of the Undying; third, he had the special reporter status of the Black Star Army. The studio was affiliated to the army's intelligence department, belonging to the officially recognized branch, and had a news license.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Three Great Civilizations, Meat Bun represented the special intelligence personnel of the Black Star Army Undying group, and had some face, being able to talk business and cooperation with various forces as a player... This was also the practice of some guilds. With so many conveniences, the business of Meat Bun Studio was booming.

He submitted a visit application to the Three Great Civilizations. After some negotiation, Meat Bun and others were finally granted permission to come to the edge of this border mining area to take a look, but the harvest was not as expected, and they were now on their way back.

"What should I do? Although there is no shortage of materials now, they are all clichés. I need sensational news!"

Meat Bun pulled his hair, his face full of distress.

At this moment, a chat notification suddenly popped up on the forum. An employee sent a private chat, very excited.

"Boss, I have a major discovery. This time's material will definitely scare you into premature ejaculation!"

Meat Bun looked at his ID, remembering that this was the small director in charge of news materials in the empire area, and his spirits were lifted.

"Stop talking nonsense, tell me quickly, what did you find!"

"This is a message that a young man under my command learned from an imperial logistics officer. It is said that not long ago, Black Star went to kill the Otherworlder, showed power beyond Beyond Grade A, and handed over Gord..."

The small director spoke eloquently, not knowing the transaction between Black Star and the empire, only talking about the superficial behavior at that time, but this was enough to shock Meat Bun.

"Is this news true?!" Meat Bun felt his bladder tighten.

"Then I don't know. My employee has a very good relationship with that imperial officer. Anyway, he learned it from that person's mouth. It is said that this officer was at the scene!"

"Well done, the activity funds of these years have not been spent in vain!" Meat Bun excitedly slammed the table.

His studio was now quite large, and he arranged regional branches in some major forces, letting employees specially make friends with the personnel of various departments of these major forces, adding all charm attributes to build good relationships, and had been investing funds to form intelligence networks, occasionally learning insider information from these people.

Of course, with his personal assets, he couldn't spread such a large stall. There were also sponsors behind it.

And the biggest sponsor was Black Star himself. Meat Bun thought that Han Xiao's favorability towards him was high enough, so he got the funding investment, and had been complacent.

This time's insider information was the biggest news he had ever obtained. Although he didn't know the reason, just the two things that Black Star broke through Beyond Grade A and Gord's disappearance were related to Black Star were enough for him to make a video with highlights.

Even if it was just a rumor, the gimmick was enough to attract attention.

Meat Bun made a decisive decision and slammed the table hard.

"Send the materials over quickly. The video must be launched within three days. You have to squeeze out your livers for me. I'm going to be popular again!"