Chapter 1020 – Imperial Power

“Elise?” Shi Feng reacted skeptically to Lunar River’s answer.

Shi Feng knew Elise well. She was Demon’s Gate’s strongest chosen one and among the earliest experts to make a name for herself in the Continental Championship. Afterward, her reputation even grew to match that of Daystar, the Arbiter of Death. At the rate she grew, she could even reach the same height as the Three Absolutes in his previous life.

Nonetheless, Shi Feng found it hard to believe Elise could be stronger than Soul Hunter.

Setting aside the difference in combat standards, Soul Hunter would leave Elise in the dust in equipment standards alone.

After all, the Blood Drinker Set not only provided more Basic Attributes than the Flame God Set but also didn’t have as stringent of a use condition. Even though Soul Hunter had yet to unlock the Blood Drinker Set’s full potential, it still provided him with more Basic Attributes than the average Divine Set.

If Elise wanted to surpass Soul Hunter in Basic Attributes, she’d have to obtain either the fully unlocked version of one of the four lower-ranked Great Divine Sets or the legendary First Great Divine Set—Aurora.

The Aurora Set!

Even in Shi Feng’s previous life, little information was available on the Aurora Set. It was last seen over a millennium ago, and players’ chances of finding it were almost nil.

As for the four lower-ranked Great Divine Sets, Zero Wing currently possessed the Flame God Set and still had functioning pieces of the Eternal Set, so neither of these two Great Divine Sets could be in Elise’s possession. As for the two other Great Divine Sets, even Shi Feng didn’t have any clues about them, as they had gone missing over a century ago. Hence, it should also be nigh-impossible for Elise or Demon’s Gate to have obtained them.

At Shi Feng’s skepticism, Lunar River chuckled and said, “Guild Leader Black Flame, although I don’t know exactly how strong Elise was previously, I can tell you that she is currently the apple of Demon’s Gate’s and the Nebula Consortium’s eye. Even Soul Hunter has chosen to be her follower.”

“Soul Hunter is her follower?” Lunar River’s words shocked Shi Feng. “Is she very special?”

In God’s Domain, players would never become followers unless they were willing to submit themselves to another player. If Elise could get Soul Hunter to become her follower, she had to have something that convinced him to submit to her. Otherwise, he’d only be wasting his time by becoming her follower.

“Of course,” Lunar River said, smiling. “Have you heard of the Hundred Race Battlefield before?”

“I’ve heard of it.” Shi Feng nodded. “It resembles the Crucible of the Ancients and is a good place to obtain Promotion Land Scrolls.”

“Indeed. However, Promotion Land Scrolls aren’t the only things the Hundred Race Battlefield has to offer,” Lunar River said. After a slight pause, she continued, “It is also a place for players to join greater powers. More specifically, the Hundred Race Battlefield is a testing ground for greater powers to assess potential recruits.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, I’m sure you know that becoming a royal power isn’t the finish line for a power, right? It’s just that the strongest powers among the human race, the Crystallian race, and the Holy Race are royal powers. Beyond royal powers are imperial powers[1], and powers that seek to reach that standard must command at least two Tier 7 players.

“However, despite the vastness of God’s Domain, few players have ever advanced to Tier 7. Because of this, there might not be even a single imperial power out of several dozen Greater God’s Domains. Fortunately, the Hundred Race Battlefield we’ve landed in has multiple imperial powers. If Tier 6 players like ourselves could join one of these imperial powers, we would have a much better chance of advancing to Tier 7.”

“Are you saying Elise passed the test of an imperial power?” Shi Feng came to a sudden realization at Lunar River’s words.

There was no lack of examples of geniuses from weaker powers joining stronger powers in the human race’s Greater God’s Domain, so he wasn’t too surprised to hear of stronger alien powers recruiting geniuses from the human race. After all, the Main God System didn’t dictate that players of different races should be hostile to one another. It was just that there was no penalty system implemented for killing alien players.

“No, Elise didn’t take any imperial power’s test but rather got approached by one,” Lunar River said, envy flashing in her eyes. “Elise is now a core member of said imperial power. This is also why Demon’s Gate could develop so rapidly, and the Nebula Consortium would provide its full support to Demon’s Gate. Her situation is similar to the Fist Emperor you offended.”

“Fist Emperor is also a member of an imperial power?” Shi Feng suddenly understood why Jun Tiankuo would say that Fist Emperor had a background so powerful not even the Holy Race’s royal powers dared to provoke him.

It turned out that Fist Emperor hailed from an imperial power. Moreover, he likely wasn’t just a normal member of said imperial power. In that case, it was only natural the Holy Race’s royal powers dared not provoke him. On the contrary, powers capable of sending players to the Hundred Race Battlefield would do their best to fawn over him so their members could have an easier time there.

After recovering from his surprise, Shi Feng looked at Lunar River and asked, “Miss Lunar, I doubt you told me all this just to chat with me, right?”

He and Lunar River were acquaintances at best. Information on the Hundred Race Battlefield was incredibly precious. Even if she were to sell it for a high price, plenty of powers would buy it. He refused to believe she would give him this information for no reason.

“You are a sensible person, Guild Leader Black Flame,” Lunar River said, her lips curving up slightly. “The next Hundred Race Battlefield will happen soon, and I hope to secure a good placement there. However, my current Divine Artifacts are insufficient for that purpose. As this primordial ruin drops Level 250-plus Fragmented Divine Artifact Forging Designs, I hope to get a share of the Twilight Fortress.

“Now that you are a Tier 7 combatant, few powers can outcompete Zero Wing in securing the Twilight Fortress’s Twilight Tokens. If Zero Wing and King’s Paradise join forces, even with Demon’s Gate, the Seven Luminaries Alliance, and the Eternal Chamber of Commerce as our opponents, we can secure at least 40% of the Twilight Fortress’s shares. Rest assured, I don’t want much. I only need a 5% share.”

“A 5% share?” Shi Feng scrutinized Lunar River for a moment. Then, he nodded and said, “Zero Wing is fine with this arrangement, but I want full command over our forces.”

Although Lunar River had concealed much of her information, Shi Feng could tell she had reached the sixth-floor standard. On top of that, she was also an Overlimit expert. King’s Paradise was no ordinary pseudo-apex power, either. The ten Level 245-plus experts fully equipped with Divine Artifacts standing behind her proved this. King’s Paradise could already match some of the weaker human apex powers in equipment standards. Thus, it wasn’t a loss for Zero Wing to partner with King’s Paradise.

“No problem,” Lunar River agreed without hesitation.

After establishing their partnership, Shi Feng and Lunar River discussed how they would compete for Twilight Tokens. As their discussion took place, three hours quickly passed, and the first light struck the walls of the Twilight Fortress.

Before the players in the Twilight Fortress could admire this first ray of sunshine, numerous black dots appeared on the horizon, eclipsing the sun and plunging the fortress into darkness once more. When the players saw this, they all gasped.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

“Everyone, gather up! The Holy Race is attacking!”