High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 520: Chapter 324: Cosmic Peak Genius Battle (2)

’The Cosmic Peak Genius Battle, held once every millennium, is hosted by the Source Net... The last one was exactly a thousand years ago. It seems the news is true.’

In the meditation room of Villa 11, Area B, Li Wen sat cross-legged, his consciousness immersed in the Virtual Cosmos network.

His powerful Primordial Spirit, like a precision photonic computer, instantly processed the massive streams of information sent by the Star Pivot.

Official announcements, historical records, video clips from past tournaments... All key intelligence about the ”Cosmic Peak Genius Battle” was clearly imprinted upon his sea of consciousness.

After confirming everything, his consciousness quickly delved into several of the most popular discussion forums in the cosmos.

As expected, the news had already swept through like a cosmic storm, with countless posts refreshing constantly:

”SHOCKING NEWS! Registration for the Cosmic Peak Genius Battle officially opens tomorrow!!” (Pinned Hot Post)

”Let’s go, everyone! Registration is tomorrow! Anyone with a bone age under 200, get on it! Miss this and you’ll have to wait another thousand years!” (Instantly surpassed 10,000 replies)

”Tsk, I wonder how many monsters will crawl out of the woodwork for this one. The thought is both despairing and exciting.”

”The entire universe! Geniuses from every human territory competing on the same stage! This is a true clash of titans! Just imagining it gets my blood pumping!”

”Sigh, what a shame. My 200th birthday was just a month ago... a perfect miss. Feels like I missed out on an entire era.” (Reply below: Dude, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not even a Venerable. You’d just be cannon fodder. Just sit back and enjoy the livestream!)

”The registration requirements might be low, but to actually get far, you’d probably have to at least be a ranked contender in a high-tier empire, right?”

The torrent of information surged, but Li Wen’s mind precisely captured every keyword related to the tournament.

”Registration opens tomorrow?” he murmured, his eyes instantly flaring with a brilliant light.

It was an irrepressible desire!

This desire wasn’t simply to make a name for himself and stand in the cosmic spotlight.

It was for experience points!

A massive amount of experience points, enough for his Martial Dao class to hit max level in a short period of time!

’The Ultimate Fighting Pit? Sure, one championship match after another provides experience, but the efficiency is too low... It’s just a drop in the bucket.’

Li Wen’s thoughts raced as he compared the two methods. ’This is a Cosmic Level super-tournament. The number of participants will be in the hundreds of millions, if not billions.

According to the rules of the game in my past life, the larger the scale of the event, the more participants there are, and the higher the final ranking achieved,

the more astronomical the one-time experience point reward will be!

Even if the system has a cap on experience gain, the total amount this genius battle can provide will far exceed what I could get from fighting in the pits for ten, or even a hundred years.’

’This Cosmic Peak Genius Battle... is my ultimate hope for maxing out my Martial Dao class level in a short time.’

This thought sent ripples through Li Wen’s mind.

Suppressing his excitement, Li Wen focused his gaze on the detailed rules of the previous tournament displayed by the Star Pivot.

The entire genius battle was divided into two major stages: the preliminaries and the finals.

The preliminary stage was held independently by ten thousand high-tier empires.

Participants were limited to all eligible citizens within the territory of that specific high-tier empire.

First Stage of the Preliminaries.

All registered participants would be evenly distributed across one thousand independent virtual battlefields.

Within each battlefield, countless geniuses would engage in a massive, indiscriminate, free-for-all battle.

Only the top one hundred from each battlefield would advance.

This meant that over 99.99% of the participants would be eliminated in the first stage alone!

In the end, only one hundred thousand people would advance to the second stage of the preliminaries.

More importantly, at the end of this stage, the specific rankings of the one hundred thousand who advanced would be published!

Then came the second stage of the preliminaries.

The one hundred thousand elites who fought their way out of their respective empire’s bloody battles would be gathered in one place.

They would then compete in an even more intense and brutal contest.

The final goal was to determine the one thousand who would be qualified to participate in the final cosmic championship.

At that time, the specific rankings of the one thousand elites representing the highest level of the empire would be announced once again.

’One hundred thousand rankings from the first stage... one thousand rankings from the second stage...’ Li Wen’s gaze continued to move down the screen.

’These two large-scale ranking announcements... each one means a massive amount of experience points.’

Li Wen could almost see the experience points flooding his system panel.

’The higher my rank, the more experience I get! The more experience I get, the faster my Martial Dao class level will increase!

The all-around attribute explosion from leveling up will make my actual combat power even stronger!’

A snowballing, positive feedback loop formed perfectly in his mind.

’A continuous cycle of reinforcement... until... I push my Martial Dao class to max level in one fell swoop!’

”And this...” Li Wen took a deep breath. ”Is just one of the most direct benefits the Martial Daoist system brings me in this genius battle!”

His gaze fell upon the list of rewards for the final stage, displayed by the Star Pivot.

All sorts of rare materials, top-tier Secret Techniques, Immortal legacies... The dazzling array was enough to drive any genius mad.

However, one reward, in particular, completely captured his attention.

Final Ranking in the Top 1,000—granted the status of [Core Member of the Source Net].

’Core Member of the Source Net!!’

Those six words represented far more than just a supreme halo of honor and a prominent status above billions of living beings.

They represented—resources!

Top-tier resources sufficient to support him all the way from the Star Lord Realm to the Immortal Realm, and even beyond!

This was the fundamental guarantee he so desperately needed right now.

In the quiet, dimly lit meditation room of the villa, only the faint glow from the Star Pivot’s interface outlined Li Wen’s straight-backed silhouette.

He slowly withdrew from the Virtual Cosmos network.

His consciousness returned to reality.

In the darkness, only his eyes shone, bright as two stars.

Their light pierced through the darkness before him, as if he could already see the battlefield that was to come.

”One month...”

His deep voice echoed in the silence.

...

「The night passed in a flash.」

At eight o’clock sharp the next day, everyone with access to the Virtual Cosmos simultaneously received an official notification from the Source Net.

It announced the official start of the millennial ”Cosmic Peak Genius Battle”!

The news instantly set the entire human domain ablaze.

Countless young geniuses across galaxies, Star Domains, and empires erupted with excitement.

Whether they were heirs of reclusive clans, Princes of super-empires, or monstrous prodigies who had risen from nothing, all eyes were now focused on this event, their blood pumping with anticipation.

Li Wen was sitting cross-legged in the meditation room of Villa 11, Area B, having just finished a round of basic breathing exercises, when the Star Pivot’s voice sounded in his sea of consciousness:

”Master, important mass message from the Source Net: Registration for the ’Cosmic Peak Genius Battle’ is now open.”

With a single thought and without a hint of hesitation, he immersed his consciousness in the Virtual Cosmos.

Amid a flow of light, Li Wen’s figure appeared in the minimalist courtyard he had purchased in the Virtual Cosmos.

The moment he appeared, a deafening wave of noise washed in from outside the courtyard walls.

It was the collective gasps and discussions of countless people.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and looked up.

The sky of the Virtual Cosmos seemed to have been torn apart by an invisible giant hand.

A colossal, golden leaderboard stretched across the horizon, descending with an aura of pressure and anticipation that made one’s heart race.

On the street, a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd stared up at the leaderboard that symbolized the beginning of a glorious journey, their chatter roaring like a tsunami:

”It’s starting! It’s finally starting! After a thousand years of waiting!”

”I’m definitely going to fight my way into the empire’s top million this time!”

”Look! The leaderboard is up! I heard that once registration closes and the preliminaries begin, names will appear on it by region!”

”I wonder who will top the Alka Empire’s regional leaderboard this time?”

”I heard a monster who uses Space Law appeared in the neighboring empire...”

Li Wen’s gaze lingered on the stunning leaderboard for a moment before he refocused and quickly searched for the registration portal on his personal terminal’s interface.

However, after scouring the notification bar and the Source Net’s internal portals, he found no trace of a registration link aside from the mass message and the golden leaderboard in the sky.

This made him frown slightly.

”Master, you’ve received a spatial transport invitation. It’s from Ares Titan,” the Star Pivot’s timely prompt sounded.

”Accept transport,” Li Wen said, understanding dawning on him.

He was new to the Imperial Capital Star and had limited knowledge of the finer details of such a top-tier event, far less than well-connected imperial prodigies like Ares.

’Good timing. I’ll go ask him.’

A white light flashed, and Li Wen’s virtual avatar vanished from the courtyard.