In that instant, every human genius erupted in a fury of curses directed at the mbers of the four races.
The three emperors, who had been begging for rcy monts ago, suddenly bared their teeth with vicious intent.
"Drop dead!"
"I'll kill you, you little brat!"
"Die!!!"
Simultaneously, the three emperors lunged at Lance with everything they had!
"Good instincts. Unfortunately, you're too slow."
Lance watched the trio charge toward him and offered a faint smile. In that mont, a blinding, transcendent radiance erupted from his body.
The light was so intense that it forced everyone to shield their eyes.
Vrummm!
The second the brilliance enveloped the three emperors, they were instantly dissolved into nothingness.
With that, the emperors of the four great races were completely wiped out.
Yet, the light did not fade. It expanded outward for millions of kiloters across the starry void, vaporizing every single combatant from the four races in its path.
As the blinding glare finally receded and the human experts regained their sight, they were t with a terrifyingly empty battlefield. Aside from a few drifting Subspace Rings and high-grade combat suits, nothing remained.
It wasn't that Lance lacked the power to destroy these items; he simply saw no reason to let good resources go to waste. If left to the humans, these spoils would allow their overall strength to take a massive leap forward in a very short ti.
"Guardian Aether, keep these things. Also, make sure our people stay away from the territories of the four races for now. If they run into the Void-kin, they won't be coming back."
Lance glanced at the Subspace Rings floating in the vacuum and had no intention of keeping them for himself. He spoke directly to Guardian Aether and the others nearby.
"Yes, of course! We'll spread the word imdiately!"
Guardian Aether nodded vigorously, his voice trembling with excitent.
Watching the footage of the four races' planets being purged one by one, he felt no sympathy—only a profound sense of catharsis. These leaders had grown up fighting bloody wars against these very enemies. Their hatred for the four races was irreconcilable. Seeing them on the brink of extinction was the ultimate retribution.
After all, humanity had nearly been slaughtered to the last man years ago. If The Martial Paragon hadn't risen to power, the human race would have vanished from the Milky Way long ago.
"One more thing. There are many traitors within our borders. I've sent the list to you. As for how to handle them... that’s up to you."
Lance suddenly rembered a crucial detail and transmitted a list containing tens of trillions of nas directly to the old man.
Yes, tens of trillions. While this number seed staggering, it represented less than one-hundredth of a percent of the total human population. However, these were traitors. The fact that there was one traitor for every ten thousand people was a horrifying realization.
Guardian Aether and the others stared at the list in disbelief. Even among those present on the battlefield, there were five or six nas on that list.
"Seize them!!"
Guardian Aether didn't doubt the list for a second. He let out a thunderous roar and projected the nas of the traitors present for all to see.
In an instant, the faces of those ntioned turned deathly pale.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four Planetary Class experts imdiately unleashed their power, desperate to flee.
"Hmph!"
However, they were standing in the presence of several Stellar Class masters.
With a cold snort, a terrifying wave of energy blasted toward the four escaping Planetary Class experts.
Spurt!
All four experts sprayed blood from every orifice, their bodies going limp as their montum was crushed.
"Move!"
The surrounding human warriors didn't hesitate. They lunged forward, instantly subduing the four Planetary Class traitors and over a dozen Great Grandmaster-level geniuses.
"This is a mistake! We're being frad! We aren't traitors!"
One Planetary Class expert panicked completely. He hadn't expected to be exposed so suddenly. He was filled with a bitter regret—had he known humanity would produce a monster like Lance, he never would have defected.
Hadn't he only sided with the four races because he feared being purged once The Martial Paragon eventually passed away?
But regardless of his excuses, a betrayal was a betrayal.
Afraid of death? Then he should have moved to their territories openly. If he had, his fellow humans might have been angry, but they wouldn't have felt this level of pure loathing.
As a spy, his secret machinations had resulted in the deaths of countless human geniuses over the years. How many human experts had fallen because of the intel he leaked?
"A mistake? I was always suspicious of why The Crystal Sovereign died during that mission while you, who were weaker, managed to return alive. It turns out you were the rat. For centuries, the interdiate star system you governed hasn't produced a single S Rank genius. You were murdering them in secret, weren't you? And the rest of you are no better! With such monstrous cris, you still have the nerve to claim innocence?"
Looking at the data Lance had sent, the High Guardians trembled with fury. They looked at these experts—people they were familiar with, people they had personally ntored—and felt a rage that burned to their marrow. S geniuses were the future of the race.
And yet, these people had betrayed their own kind just to secure a chance at survival when humanity fell?
The betrayal cut deep.
Out of more than three thousand human Planetary Class experts, over a dozen were traitors. It was a pathetic tragedy.
Guardian Aether’s words left the traitors in utter despair.
Did they regret it? Of course they did. So had felt a pang of guilt after their first betrayal, but it was far too late. The number of geniuses and experts they had systematically dismantled over the years made their cris beyond forgiveness. So regretted their actions out of conscience; others only regretted getting caught.
"Take them away. We will execute them together once The Martial Paragon returns!"
Guardian Aether refused to look at them any longer. With a cold command, he unleashed a burst of energy that shattered their dantians and struck their souls.
Crr-ack!
In an instant, the energy cores of these experts were pulverized. They coughed up blood and collapsed in the void, where they were promptly dragged away by the surrounding guards.
"I still have things to attend to. I'll leave the rest to you. Go back and deal with the traitors; I'll return once I'm finished here."
Lance watched the scene with his own simring anger. To be honest, he had nearly been killed because of such traitors before. The Solaris Emperor was a traitor of a different sort—one who murdered human geniuses for his own selfish gain rather than for an outside race.
Because of that, the human high command had only issued a warning rather than killing him the first ti. Had they found proof of him colluding with enemies, he would have been erased long ago. There were far too many people like him in the human race—people consud by their own selfishness.
Lance had put every single one of them on that list. And since they were on the list, he didn't intend for any of them to stay alive.
Guardian Aether imdiately understood the weight behind Lance's words. As one of the victims of these sches, Lance's hatred for traitors was absolute.
"Rest assured. Every single traitor on this list will be hunted down and put to death," Aether promised solemnly.
Lance nodded slightly before turning and flying back toward the entrance of the secret realm.
Buzz!
As Lance stepped through, the massive spatial rift sealed shut behind him.
Inside the secret realm, Lance stood before the gargantuan starship, his eyes shimring with anticipation.
"A Rank 11 ship... how about I give it a little Reconstruction first?"
Lance rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his eyes filled with anticipation. He wondered what height this Rank 11 vessel would reach once it underwent a full upgrade.
More importantly, only after the upgrade would the intelligent lifeform, Blake, be considered truly bound to him—the kind of absolute loyalty that made betrayal an impossibility.
Though Blake hadn't shown even a hint of suspicious behavior so far, Lance was a cautious man. He refused to tolerate even the slightest sliver of a threat, especially from an entity that had monitored The Milky Way for untold years.
"System, scan the ship. I want to know the total number of Exploits!"
Standing before the gargantuan vessel, Lance gave the command to his internal interface.
[System Alert: Rank 11 Advanced Spaceship detected. Scanning for logic gaps... Total Exploits found: 8 Trillion!]
The notification chid instantly within Lance’s mind.
Eight trillion? If every single Exploit was repaired, it ant this ship would evolve into a terrifying Rank 13 Advanced vessel.
Rank 13... that level of technology and power corresponded to a God-Realm civilization.
According to the established hierarchy, The Milky Way was rely a large planet. Above it were the super-large galaxies controlled by the Galactic Realm, such as The Phantom Sector. Beyond those were the giant galaxies ruled by Star Sea Realm powerhouses.
Even further up were the terrifying super-giant galaxies governed by Universal Class entities.
And above even those were the Star Sectors. Every Star Sector was a massive collective of billions—sotis trillions—of large, super-large, giant, and super-giant galaxies. Their sheer scale was beyond words.
Yet, above the Star Sectors were the Star Realms, each composed of at least tens of thousands of Star Sectors.
And a God-Realm civilization stood even higher than a Star Realm.
This put into perspective just how horrifying a Rank 13 civilization truly was. And Lance was looking at an Advanced vessel from that tier.
"Repair it imdiately!"
Lance didn't hesitate for a second. He gave the order to the System.
Once the repairs were complete, he would no longer have to worry about being targeted by higher civilizations. An artificial intelligence capable of monitoring a Rank 13 civilization wouldn't spare a glance for an ant like Lance.
Once the process was done, Lance could integrate the Rank 13 tech directly into The Virtual Universe. Theoretically, nothing short of The Virtual Universe itself would ever be able to detect his existence.
And a cosmic-level entity like The Virtual Universe naturally wouldn't have any interest in him—provided the System kept his most critical secrets shielded, of course.
[System Alert: Warning. If this vessel is repaired in its current location, the expansion will instantly shatter the Secret Realm. The resulting spatial collapse will cast the Host into the Void Turbulence, leading to imdiate death. Please enter the ship or leave the Secret Realm before initiating repairs!]
The prompt rang out in his mind like a cold splash of water.
"What? Seriously?" Lance was stunned. "According to Blake, this Secret Realm has a diater of an entire light-year. Is a Rank 13 ship really that massive?"
Lance was completely floored. A light-year was a staggering unit of asurent. Light traveled at three hundred thousand kiloters per second; in a single year, it covered over nine trillion kiloters.
Even The Sol System only had a diater of roughly one light-year. Was this single ship really going to be that big?
Lance swallowed hard, but then he rembered the scale of a Rank 13 civilization. For a powerhouse civilization that asured its territory in trillions of light-years, a asly one-light-year ship was probably the bare minimum for their "strongest" class of vessel.
"Better get out of the open," he muttered. There were still plenty of treasures in this Secret Realm; it would be a damn sha if everything was crushed into dust.
Lance’s eyes flickered with resolve. He took flight, soaring toward the massive entrance of the spaceship.
Monts later, he landed inside a gargantuan hangar.
Hummm!
The light and shadows around him shifted and warped. An elderly figure shimred into existence before him.
"Blake pays his respects to the Young Master!"
Blake bowed deeply, his posture radiating profound respect.
"Blake, can you fly this ship out of the Secret Realm?" Lance asked, cutting straight to the point.
The question, simple as it was, caused an awkward expression to cross Blake's face.
"Ahem... Young Master, there is sothing I must tell you. There are two reasons why the ship cannot leave this dinsion. First, my old master was fleeing for his life when he arrived here. During the pursuit, a powerhouse struck the vessel while it was in Dark-Space. The impact completely crippled the propulsion systems."
Blake sighed, a look of helplessness in his eyes. "In theory, I could have found the materials to fix it by monitoring various high-level civilizations. However—and this is the second reason—I cannot reveal the ship's presence. If I do, our enemies will imdiately detect our coordinates."
Blake explained the situation with a heavy heart. Following the master’s death, their registration within The Virtual Universe had lapsed. The mont they exited this Secret Realm, they would be locked onto by their pursuers.
Their enemy was a powerful World Lord Class being. If such a monster showed up, both Lance and Blake would be nothing more than sitting ducks.
"I see..." Lance’s eyes narrowed as he processed the information. "In that case, gather every valuable item in this Secret Realm and bring them aboard the ship."
Blake blinked, clearly surprised. He thought Lance just wanted to pick out a few trinkets.
"Young Master, everything truly worth having is already stored in the ship's vaults. The remaining items in the realm are little more than trash; they aren't worth the effort. The only thing of real value left is the Secret Realm itself."
Lance frowned. "The Secret Realm itself is valuable, huh?"
His cryptic mumbling left Blake even more confused. The AI had no way of knowing that Lance possessed the ability to upgrade the entire vessel on the fly.
"If that's the case... then let's just repair the Secret Realm along with the ship!"
Lance suddenly grinned.
Since the Secret Realm was valuable, and the ship was priceless but immobile, why not just take both? By upgrading them together, Lance would end up with two god-tier assets in one go.
"System, repair all Exploits in both the Secret Realm and the spaceship!" Lance commanded without a shred of hesitation.
[System Alert: Command accepted. Scanning Rank 11 Secret Realm... 5 Trillion Exploits detected. Comncing repairs!]
The notification echoed in his mind.
RUMBLE!
In an instant, blinding pillars of golden light erupted from Lance’s body. The radiance swallowed the massive ship in a heartbeat before surging outward, racing to the furthest reaches of the Secret Realm.
Blake stood frozen, his form flickering as if his entire consciousness had suddenly crashed.
BOOM!
The entire world began to tremble violently.
Lance looked through the viewports and saw the horizon of the Secret Realm expanding outward at an impossible speed.
Simultaneously, the spaceship began a frantic expansion of its own.
The vessel, which was already tens of billions of kiloters long, began to swell like a balloon. Within seconds, it grew a hundredfold, reaching a length of one trillion kiloters.
And it didn't stop. It kept growing until it hit the ten-trillion-kiloter mark.
By now, the ship had reached a length of one light-year.
It was now larger than the entire Sol System. While the sun accounted for over ninety percent of The Sol System's mass, the sun itself was like a tiny minnow in a vast ocean compared to the scale of the system. Now, a single spaceship had reached that exact scale. The sheer terror of such a vessel was unimaginable—rely passing by a star system like Sol would likely grind the entire thing into cosmic dust.
Yet, the expansion showed no signs of slowing down.
Behind the ship, the Secret Realm was also undergoing a tamorphosis, its diater exploding to a staggering ten thousand light-years.
Although the central continent occupied a re ten-thousandth of the total space within the secret realm, its diater still spanned several light-years.
Such a terrifying scale ant that even if every single celestial body in The Milky Way were crushed together into a single mass, it would still pale in comparison to this one continent. A ship asuring a full light-year in length, when placed upon its surface, looked like nothing more than a dinner plate resting on a massive dining table.
As the secret realm continued its expansion, the continent swelled at a staggering rate. Simultaneously, the starship grew along with it.
Ultimately, the dinsions of the secret realm exploded to a staggering one hundred million light-years before the turbulence finally stabilized and the expansion ceased. The continent itself had ballooned to a diater of one million light-years.
One had to realize that this was a solid landmass—a continent spanning a million light-years was an absurdity that defied all reason.
Yet, the starship was even more harrowing. By now, the vessel had expanded to a diater of ten thousand light-years; adrift in the void, it was barely smaller than the entirety of The Milky Way itself.
And yet, this was rely a single ship.
If a craft of such colossal proportions were to even pass through The Milky Way, the re spatial fluctuations generated by its movent would instantly reduce The Milky Way—and even The Phantom Sector—to absolute nothingness.
Lance swallowed hard at the sight. He realized with a jolt of terror how lucky he was that he hadn't attempted to repair the ship within the confines of The Milky Way. Had he done so, the mont the restoration was complete, the entire galaxy would have been obliterated.
The human race would have vanished in the blink of an eye.
System Alert: Congratulations! You have successfully repaired the secret realm's Exploits. The secret realm has been upgraded to Rank 13: God-King Class!
Acquired Effect 1: Source Energy Concentration increased by 100x to 1,000,000x. Law Density increased by 100x to 1,000,000x!
Acquired Effect 2: Designated Entry! The Host may bind ten entry/exit points. One of these points can be yourself, allowing you to enter or exit the secret realm at any ti and any location, restricted only to the boundaries of this universe.
System Alert: Congratulations! You have successfully repaired all Exploits on the Rank 11 starship: The Abyssal Dreadnought. The ship's grade has been promoted to: Rank 13 (High).
The Abyssal Dreadnought: Rank 13 (High) Starship
Armant Configuration: 1x Rank 13 (High) Primary Weapon; 10x Rank 13 (Low) Secondary Weapons; 1,000,000x weapons ranging from Rank 10 to Rank 12.
Crew/Support: 1x Rank 13 Intelligent Lifeform; 100 trillion total cultivation spaces of various grades.
Abilities:
Matter Transformation: Rank 13 technology. Can freely alter the ship's size. Limits: Minimum 100,000 kiloters; Maximum 10,000 light-years.
Super-Dinsional Flight: Capable of traveling through Dark-Space at a speed of 1 trillion light-years per hour.
Right at that mont, the system notification chid.
At the sa ti, the status panel for the upgraded Abyssal Dreadnought flickered into Lance’s view. Even Lance couldn’t help but feel his eyes light up as he scanned the data.
It was terrifying. The secret realm now possessed a Law and Mana Energy density ranging from a minimum of a hundred tis to a staggering million tis. The concentration varied by location, but as the master, Lance could teleport to any coordinate within the realm instantly.
A million-fold Law density... while it wouldn’t necessarily make one’s comprehension speed a million tis faster, the qualitative leap was nothing short of heaven-defying. Combined with Lance’s own powerful Innate Law Body, which already made grasping the laws effortless, this new ability made him practically invincible.
Most importantly, Lance could enter the secret realm from anywhere in this universe. That was the real ga-changer. It was like having a private pocket world that he could vanish into or exit at will.
With a Rank 13 ship stationed here, even if a God-King Class powerhouse pursued him, as long as Lance could react in ti to slip back into the realm, that God-King Class pursuer would be the one walking into a death trap. He could roam the cosmos in a Rank 13 vessel. Given the ship’s current level, he was effectively untouchable.
"The minimum size is still 100,000 kiloters, but that’s good enough," Lance calculated, a smirk playing on his lips. "A 100,000-kiloter ship is roughly Tier 8 equivalent—not too conspicuous."
He initiated the ship’s systems.
Vroom!
A massive ripple of energy surged, and the vessel began to shrink at an impossible speed. From a diater of ten thousand light-years—roughly a quintillion kiloters—it compressed a trillion-fold in an instant. It settled at 100,000 kiloters. Though ten tis the diater of Mother Planet, its sheer volu was a thousand tis greater.
"Activate ship's central intellect?" a cold, synthesized voice echoed through the void.
The "central intellect" was, of course, Blake. Blake had been upgraded into a formidable Rank 13 High-Level Intelligent Lifeform. As an artificial being, he was a pure Psion, boasting power sufficient to slaughter even a God-King Max.
More importantly, Blake was now absolutely loyal to Lance. If Lance ordered him to erase his previous master, Blake wouldn’t even blink—though his forr master was long dead anyway.
"Activate," Lance commanded without hesitation.
Hum!
A wave of energy washed over Blake. Streams of data flickered across his form as his eyes snapped open. Sensing the sheer magnitude of his new power, Blake froze in shock. He had actually reached Rank 13! He quickly spotted Lance.
"Blake greets the Master!" He imdiately dropped to his knees, prostrating himself in a grand gesture of respect.
"No need for such formalities. Stand up," Lance said with a smile. Having a powerhouse of this caliber by his side ant his life was no longer in imdiate danger.
"Thank you, Master," Blake said, rising slowly.
"You ntioned telling about your previous master earlier," Lance said, his guard completely down now that the ship was secured. "Now’s the ti. And while you’re at it, give a briefing on the state of the universe." He was genuinely curious about the Umbra Sovereign and where exactly The Milky Way sat on the cosmic map.
"As you wish, Master. I shall start with the broad strokes." Blake began his explanation.
"Starting with the macro-scale, the universe is divided into four major regions. The first region is held by the Void Beasts and ruled by the Ten Divine Beast Clans. They possess over a dozen Transcendent Realm experts. The defining trait of a Void Beast is their Void Core; any race without one is categorized as a Sentient Race."
"Sentient Races occupy the second region. Though it is the smallest of the four, it still contains over eight hundred Supre God-Realms. These are terrifying domains established by Transcendent Realm experts, each ruling over at least a quadrillion Universal God-Realms."
"Universal God-Realms vary in size. The smallest are Third-Class, ruled by God-King Class experts. Above them are Second-Class realms ruled by Eternal Rank experts, and First-Class realms governed by Immortal Class powerhouses. Beneath the Third-Class realms are the Star Realms you are familiar with, ruled by World Lords. The civilizations they establish are known as Universal Empires."
"Below those are Star Sectors, ruled by Domain Lord Class experts, forming Universal Kingdoms. Further down are the star systems. The weakest are controlled by Stellar Class experts. Large systems are overseen by Galactic Realm experts, giant systems by Star Sea Realm experts, and super-giant systems by Universal Class powerhouses."
"The gap between each rank is an abyss, as is the gap between their respective civilizations. The Milky Way currently falls under the jurisdiction of The Supre God-Realm of Destruction. The hierarchy goes: Dark-Space Universal God-Realm... The Black Dragon Lord's Star Realm... Frost Star Sector... and finally, The Milky Way."
Blake continued his briefing, naturally going into more detail regarding human territories. Lance’s eyes narrowed when he heard the na of the sector.
"Wait. Is this Frost Star Sector the sa one ruled by Sovereign Glacia?" Lance asked in confusion. He rembered her ntioning she ruled a sector of the sa na.
"Indeed, Master," Blake replied. "Sovereign Glacia ruled the Frost Star Sector until her physical body was shattered by a powerhouse a million years ago. The one who destroyed her is the sa individual who killed my previous master—The Black Dragon Lord, ruler of the Black Dragon Star Realm."
Blake’s voice turned frigid. Despite his absolute loyalty to Lance, he still possessed emotions, and the death of his forr master still burned within him. If Lance hadn't been there, he would have likely gone to erase The Black Dragon Lord imdiately—sothing he now possessed the power to do.
"I see. By the way, where are Selina and her ntor? I didn't see them when I got back."
Little did Lance know that inside the secret realm, Selina was currently flying toward the exit under Sovereign Glacia's guidance.
"I’m exhausted! What is going on? How is this place so big?" Selina cried out. Despite using her Galactic Realm strength to fly for hours, she couldn't see the horizon. She was on the verge of a breakdown. She had covered ten billion kiloters—she should have reached the edge by now! Was this realm a hundred light-years wide? That would make it at least Rank 12!
She had no idea the realm's diater had exploded to a hundred million light-years. Without entering Dark-Space, she could fly for a million years and never leave. Unfortunately, entering Dark-Space was impossible here. The spatial stability of a secret realm was far beyond the primary universe; it couldn't be easily torn open or repaired. While the primary universe self-healed almost instantly, these man-made spaces required vast resources to patch up if broken.
"Maybe we should just go back and ask Lance to let us out?" Selina finally pleaded.
"No! I’m not going back! If you want to go, go yourself!" Sovereign Glacia snapped. The re ntion of Lance made her explode with irritation. In a fit of pique, she accelerated higher into the sky, refusing to believe she couldn't fly her way out.
Back on the ship, Lance continued his inquiry. "You ntioned four regions. What about the other two?"
System Notification: A massive stockpile has been detected!
You can instantly unlock 28 Advanced Chapters on my Patreon.
/yivan
Reviews
All reviews (0)