High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 521: Chapter 325: You Are Li Wen?

The next second, he found himself inside a magnificent palace hall.

Looking around, he saw Ares, Isabel, Naraku, Raymond, and the other geniuses from the imperial stars. They were all clearly there to register for the event as soon as possible.

”Haha, Li Wen, I knew you’d be here!” Ares strode over, laughing. A fighting spirit blazed in his gold-colored eyes. ”See that golden ranking board?”

Li Wen nodded. ”I saw the board as soon as I came in. It’s quite the spectacle. I just haven’t found the registration link yet.”

”Registration link?” Ares grinned as if he had expected this.

”No need to rush. As is tradition, the Source Net always releases the announcement and the ranking board first to build hype and let the news spread after registration officially opens.

The actual registration portal won’t appear on every Virtual Cosmos user interface until it refreshes at exactly noon, Alka Star time. It’s still early.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

”I see.” Li Wen understood now. ’The right information is so important,’ he thought to himself.

Even with the Star Pivot to help him search, he would have wasted a lot of time if Ares hadn’t explained this unwritten rule.

The group then began to excitedly discuss the upcoming Genius Battle.

The conversation revolved around potential opponents, the empire’s seeded contestants, past glorious achievements, and the incredibly tempting, generous rewards.

Isabel sat quietly to one side, her gaze occasionally drifting to Li Wen.

Naraku, Raymond, and the others were full of curiosity about Li Wen. How far could this guy from a junior-level empire, who had created one miracle after another, go in the Genius Battle?

「Time trickled by as they chatted.」

With nearly four hours to go until noon, no one wanted to just wait around.

They all agreed to meet up again after registering, then teleported away to use the time to adjust their condition or take care of other matters.

Li Wen also returned to the real world.

Time was precious. Without delay, he immediately used the Star Pivot to book another session at the Time Tower inside the Source Net’s Alka Star branch.

He planned to use the time acceleration in the final hours before registration, racing against the clock to stabilize his newly attained Saint Realm physique and try to further comprehend the Time Law...

Under the Time Tower’s acceleration, four hours was but a fleeting moment for Li Wen in his much longer period of comprehending the Law.

When the Alka Star standard time struck precisely twelve o’clock, Li Wen exited the Time Tower’s training room on schedule and reconnected his consciousness to the Virtual Cosmos.

With his current Primordial Spirit Realm, handling simple tasks in the Virtual Cosmos was far from requiring his full consciousness.

So at this moment, a part of Li Wen’s consciousness entered the Virtual Cosmos, while in reality, his body returned to Villa 11 in Zone B.

「In the Virtual Cosmos.」

Light coalesced, and Li Wen appeared directly in his courtyard room in the Virtual Cosmos.

This time, he didn’t need to search. An extremely conspicuous virtual link button, labeled ”Cosmic Peak Genius Battle Registration Portal,” was hovering right in the center of his personal light screen, emanating a strong presence.

’So efficient,’ Li Wen praised inwardly as he clicked the link with a thought.

A simple yet formal registration page opened.

There wasn’t much information to fill out, mainly just basic items like name and affiliated empire or faction.

Li Wen directly authorized the Star Pivot. The personal registration page instantly refreshed, and all his information was auto-filled, perfectly accurate.

A line of large text appeared: [Are you sure you want to submit your registration information?]

”Confirm,” Li Wen affirmed with his mind.

[BEEP! Congratulations, Li Wen, you have successfully registered for the ’Cosmic Peak Genius Battle’! May you shine brightly on the journey ahead!]

A golden confirmation message popped up.

At the same time, at the bottom of the registration page, the real-time count of registered participants, which had initially read ”0,” began to skyrocket at a jaw-dropping speed!

One hundred million... one billion... five billion... ten billion...

In just a few seconds, the number had already surpassed the ten billion mark, and the length of the number string was still visibly growing with no signs of slowing down.

This terrifying rate of increase was a direct testament to just how massive the pool of geniuses attracted by this human-cosmos-spanning event truly was!

The competition, right from the moment of registration, was already incredibly fierce.

Just as the successful registration prompt faded, a new message, bearing the official Source Net authentication seal, was sent directly to Li Wen’s personal terminal:

[Esteemed contestant Li Wen:]

[You have successfully registered for the ’Cosmic Peak Genius Battle.’ As you have broken through to the Saint Realm and your physical body has undergone a life-level transition, to accurately verify your eligibility (bone age ≤ 200), please proceed to the following address for an in-person bone age verification before the registration deadline:]

[Alka Star • Source Net Branch • Core Area • Life Information Verification Center (Coordinates: XXXX.XXXX)]

[Note: Contestants who fail to complete the bone age verification or whose verification does not meet the requirements will have their registration status revoked.]

’As I expected, I have to go in person.’ Li Wen was not surprised by this.

Before his body entered the Saint Realm, the Virtual Cosmos’s optical computer scans were sufficient to determine his bone age accurately.

However, a Saint Realm body already possessed the initial characteristics of a Law, especially since his body contained the Dao Seed of the supreme Time Law.

This caused extreme interference with conventional scans, making it necessary to use the more advanced, specialized equipment in the Source Net’s core area to perform a deep-level inspection for an accurate reading.

Without any delay, Li Wen immediately logged out of the Virtual Cosmos, his consciousness returning to reality.

He walked out of the villa, got his bearings, and transformed into a streak of light, speeding toward the coordinates of the Source Net branch’s core area provided in the message.

...

Li Wen soon arrived at the Life Information Verification Center in the Source Net branch’s core area.