Beastmaster of the Ages

Subconsciously, Tianming treated her like he would one of the boys, and there was no longer a need to hold back. They were only one shoulder hug away from being best friends.

"Are you stupid? If there was no reward, why would so many people join this? Haven't you heard about how important this Astralium Seeking event is as you climbed up? Many top geniuses from the Mysterium Cluster intentionally didn't progress from the fourth level for this particular iteration of the event! Some even stayed here for a year or two," Bai Feng said.

"I'm asking now, aren't I? Senior, please enlighten this inexperienced junior," Tianming said.

"Fine! You really are a blank sheet of paper, albeit a rather cute one. With your looks, it'd be ideal if you were female!"

"Ahem...." Tianming felt a little shy about being called cute for the first time.

"Actually, the past events of the fourth level were also Astralium Seekings, but this time around, a special absolute lobby was set up to gather disciples under thirty who managed to reach the fourth level. We'll be competing with each other to see who stands on top! The ones in the top ten will be allowed to head to the fifth level and be heavily rewarded! The Astralium Seeking's venue is based on an actual astralcrypt, and we'll be able to obtain the actual treasures found in that very crypt in real life through the challenges!" Her eyes were filled with longing for the rewards.

"Will there be divine astralships that ship the rewards to us?" So far, Tianming had only obtained techniques and the like from the Astraldome, none of which were too useful for him. The Violetglory Star itself had many such techniques.

"The rewards of the top ten will be shipped to you from the Mysterium Cluster, yes. Naturally, that also comes with opportunities for you to be scouted and brought to the Mysterium Cluster. That way, you'd be doing your home star proud and might even be able to bring it protection and many other benefits from the larger factions."

"I see...." In other words, it would be like how the Azuresoul Palace was in the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect's sphere of influence. Anywhere with people and factions would see such complex interrelations between the hierarchy. That was the same from the smallest of towns to the largest of stars. The higher one went, the faster the water flowed downward.

Tianming pondered it and thought, "That's troubling. I don't really want to leave."

"Wow, someone's confident about winning already." Bai Feng didn't know how to react to his bold assumption.

"A little confidence never hurt anyone," Tianming said with an awkward chuckle. He didn't care too much for the treasures or rewards of the Astralium Seeking. All he needed to do was to prove himself to the imperium and be given the manna imperius.

At that moment, Bai Feng said in a more shaken voice, "Normally, there'll be competitions among the best geniuses on the fourth level from time to time. But the rewards for first place this time around is too alluring, so much so that it even drew the best of the best from the three Skyway Stars."

"What could be so tempting as to draw all of them in?"

"The strongest type of divine artifact the astralscape has ever known: a grade-nine divine artifact! Not even many sovereigns have such an artifact!"

"Holy shit!" That was far from the answer he expected. "Equipment that even most sovereigns don't possess?"

"That's right."

"Wow, just wow...." His expectations had once more been surpassed. Not even the Violetglory Star and Orderia had a single treasure of that caliber, yet they were going to have a chance to get one at the fourth level of the Tranquil Battlefield.

"It's crazy, right? Someone at the ninth level even got awarded a whole divine astralship. That's even crazier. Perhaps only a divine astralship could possibly rival a grade-nine artifact in terms of value."

"Amazing." Tianming shot her a thumbs-up, all the while reminding himself of how lucky he was to have the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb.

"Even so, no amount of desire will do anything. That treasure is something the mysterians provide, and this is nothing but a charade for them to pass it on to their descendants. We're just here to join the festivities. Every time there's such an event, it's no surprise that the top ten spots will all be mysterians, so it's highly unlikely that divine astralships will even be needed to ship the rewards in the first place."

"I guess that makes sense." It would be quite wasteful to spend a few years just to send a reward. The fact that they even offered it up as a reward in the first place probably meant that the expensive and time-consuming shipping wouldn't be necessary, since the victors would certainly be from those deific-class worlds. The rest were only there to give the event an air of legitimacy and to spread the word. Even so, that didn't stop people from dreaming they stood a chance to rise to the top.

"What's the weapon called?" Tianming asked.

"I think it's called the Grand-Orient Sword," Bai Feng said.

Tianming felt like he was slapped in the face and stopped walking. "Did I mishear that?"

"The Grand-Orient Sword? It's a grade-nine divine artifact that they dug out from the actual astralcrypt at Astralium. Thanks to its ancient history, it's also called a primordial artifact. It's really terrifying. Apparently, it's able to easily crush any grade-eight divine artifact and is considered the king of all swords in the astralscape. It ranks pretty high among grade-nine divine artifacts, or so they say," Bai Feng said with resigned yearning.

Her resignation came from the fact that she knew it was meant to be obtained by the mysterians alone. The event was held so that the talented young descendants of the elites would prove themselves with their own abilities. Only the most worthy among them would be allowed to gain that treasure. Those who weren't in the Mysterium Cluster would never stand a chance in the first place. In fact, all ten of the best rewards were prepared specifically for the chosen ones.

"Have you seen the Grand-Orient Sword?" Tianming asked.

"Of course not. An artifact of that grade is kept hidden, even in a deific-class world. Only a few have had the luxury of seeing it. Since its discovery, the Grand-Orient Sword has been sealed and is only being brought out now to be handed down to a lucky young mysterian. It's said that the mysterians only recently managed to break its seal ."

"I see." Tianming had two main concerns, the first being the identical name to his sword, and the second being whether Astralium was connected to the Primordial God-Emperor. Perhaps that grade-nine Grand-Orient Sword was even a part of his sword. If it is, that means even if I'm lucky enough to win it, I'll be in grave danger. There's no way I'll be able to stay where I am after obtaining it. Bai Feng also said that the mysterians have no precedent of taking in foreign blood, either, as they consider themselves to be the strongest race in the astralscape.

The conclusion he came to was that there was little to no chance he would be able to obtain such a primordial artifact, let alone keep it, no matter how tempting the thought may be. Even if he did, he would have to dip his toes into the Mysterium Cluster one way or another. Not to mention, he didn't know how far away he even was from the cluster! What if it took a decade for them to bring the sword to him, then another decade for them to bring him to the cluster? What could happen during that time? The possibilities were hard to envision with how wide the astralscape was; it was far wider than the lower layers of the astralscape that made up the sky of the Welkin plane.

"We're almost there. Let's get acquainted with the others," Bai Feng said.

"Alright." For now, the top rewards of the Astralium Seeking were far and away out of reach, so the only thing he could do was go step by step. He didn't even know the rules of the event, yet. How would the elimination of nearly two thousand people even work out to select the strongest and most talented? How would they even be ranked?

"By the way, what's your cultivation level and combat strength? I'm trying to assign you a role based on that," Bai Feng said. Before Tianming could say anything, she continued, "You have to note that everyone here are the best of the best and able to fight a few levels higher than their own on average. They could even be stronger than seniors of the same level as they are."

Tianming was all too clear about that. He had noticed that while he could fight people six levels above him in reality, five or fewer would probably be his limit in the Astraldome. Faced with Ye Chen who had five sovereign beasts, that gap became even smaller. No doubt, there would also be those among the contestants here who had as much talent as Ye Chen, but an even better upbringing and cultivation environment. Xiao, for instance, was a third-level solarian by the age of nineteen, only four levels above Tianming, yet he'd had to use his full power and his fusion move along with the power of the Frozen Glasstree to defeat him. Though, granted, that was without his totems and lifebound beasts.

In other words, he couldn't use his old ways to judge an opponent's strength. They could easily be as powerful as second or third-level solarians. Even so, he knew that he probably had the most talent among them, given his nine totems and five lifebound beasts. If there was anyone that could fight the most levels above their own, it would be him.