"How much is this Beast Spirit Codex actually worth?" Xia Fei asked.
"If it were a star-tier manual, it would have sold for at least 5 billion star coins. But this is a rare beast-type special manual and shouldn't be less than 10 billion star coins." Phantom said dully.
"10 billion!" Xia Fei exclaimed, "Heavens! That means my personal wealth has already exceeded 10 billion star coins!"
Xia Fei's bank account had 420 million star coins as of now. If he included these precious items, his personal wealth was now at 13.1 billion star coins!
With such great wealth, Xia Fei was now genuinely the most wealthy person in the entire federation!
They said that wealth could change a person, but Xia Fei wasn't really much different from before. Even though his wealth was in billions, he was still wearing ordinary clothes, smoking the cheapest Hongtashan, and eating large bowls of zhajiang noodles.
(TL note: Zhajiang noodles are noodles with soybean paste.)
"This secret manual might be very valuable, but you can't sell it. Star-tier secret manuals would first have to be appraised and approved by the Pan-Human Alliance before it could be sold. It is impossible for the seller to conceal their identity, after all, secret manuals are rare. Putting the price aside, if the secret manual is fake, it will cause a cultivator to receive a sudden backlash, resulting in permanent disability or even death."
"If you tell someone else that you have a star-tier secret manual with your current cultivation rank, the final outcome will be extremely unfavorable to you. Without sufficient strength, you must not reveal anything about this secret manual to anyone." Phantom stated.
Xia Fei nodded as he understood Phantom's meaning. The universe was cluttered with dangers; if a minor character like Xia Fei weren't careful, he might just be crushed into smithereens.
"I might not be able to sell it, but having this codex is still a delightful thing." Xia Fei said.
He lit up a cigarette and opened up the laptop in his room to check his MSN email.
Adjudicator Union's email was placed right at the top, and this was specially arranged by the email service provider. It was a sign of respect for the Adjudicator Union.
"Hello, the Adjudicator Union's assessment shall be conducted in Australia this time. The assessment shall be on the 1st of December. The assessment has been approved by the Adjudicator Union's headquarters, and the grade of the assessment has been increased from Safe to Crisis. For relevant information, please visit the Adjudicator Union's website. If you wish to participate in this assessment, please visit the Adjudicator Union's Earth Branch website to carry out the second confirmation."
Xia Fei frowned. "Phantom, the Adjudicator Union's assessment has been upgraded from Safe to Crisis. What does it mean?"
"Crisis! The Adjudicator Union will be conducting a Crisis assessment?!" Phantom was extremely stirred up.
Xia Fei read out the contents of the email again as Phantom revealed a strange smile.
"The Adjudicator Union's assessment is separated into three grades. Safe, Crisis, and Brutal. Safe grade assessments forbade participants from murder. Otherwise, they would be captured by the Adjudicator Union. It means that participants might be injured, but their lives wouldn't be in danger."
"As for Crisis grade assessments, one would need to sign a life and death agreement. If the participant dies, the Adjudicator Union wouldn't be responsible. Participants are allowed to kill as they please and don't have to assume any responsibility for other participants' death. According to statistical data for recent years, Crisis assessments have a death rate of 25% to 50%." Phantom explained.
"A death rate of 25% to 50%!? Killing is permitted!" Xia Fei was exceedingly astonished. This was just an assessment, but close to half of the people would be dead? This was simply an assessment of death!
"Then, what about Brutal assessments?" Xia Fei asked.
"The Brutal grade assessment is even more bloody. It is specially prepared as an honorary battlefield for experts. It has been 30 years since the last one took place. Furthermore, even if the Brutal assessment is conducted, it will be at the headquarters. It can't be hosted at the secluded Endaro Star Region. I remember the previous Brutal assessment had a death rate of 95%."
Xia Fei was speechless. "Is it even an assessment? Isn't the same as suicide?"
Phantom chuckled mysteriously, "The Adjudicator Union has minimal recruitment slots every year. That is why each assessment would attract a large group of Ability Users to register. Think about it, if tens of thousands of Ability Users fight together, wouldn't their lives be at risk?"
"However, do you know about the best part of Crisis assessments?" Phantom asked mysteriously.
Xia Fei shook his head.
"Those who are victorious in the Crisis assessment shall be able to enter the Heaven Execution Training Camp," Phantom said.
"Heaven Execution Training Camp? What is that?" Xia Fei asked while being astonished.
"The Adjudicator Union will set up a Heaven Execution Training Camp in each star region. It is also known as the elite training base. The training camp has the best facilities, the best mentors, and the best medicinal ingredients."
When Phantom said three 'bests' at once, his voice was obviously excited. It seemed like this Heaven Execution Training Camp was a very incredible place.
"Those who can enter the Heaven Execution Training Camp are all cream of the crop. If one successfully graduates from the Heaven Execution Training Camp, they will receive the title of Silver Adjudicator and have the chance to enter the Adjudicator Union's core department. There will also have the chance to obtain the legendary top-class cultivation techniques and medicinal ingredients."
The Adjudicators were sorted into Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond ranks. The higher the rank, the better the privileges and the better the respect. To be able to skip the Bronze rank and receive the Silver Adjudicator title was enough to show how much importance the Adjudicator Union placed on the Heaven Execution Training Camp.
"Let alone regular people, even some of the descendants of those major clans would be desperate to squeeze into the Heaven Execution Training Camp. After all, as long as one entered that place, it was the same as stepping onto the path towards becoming a super expert. It has a great and deep impact on the life of an expert."
Phantom was speaking with such excitement that his saliva was splattered all over. His tone was obviously saying how much he thought highly of the Heaven Execution Training Camp.
Phantom paused for a moment and said, "In fact, all those things that I said earlier aren't the things that people were most envious of. In the outside world, there was a rumor that Heaven Execution Training Camp contained the secret of the Adjudicator Union!"
Xia Fei was slightly startled. "What secret?"
"The Power of Origin!" Phantom said in an immense tone, "The Power of Origin is a mysterious power. Apart from the Adjudicator Union's core chiefs, no one knows about the Power of Origin. But it is certain that once someone receives the Power of Origin, their cultivation would increase drastically. No spirit medicine in the world compares with the effects of the Power of Origin."
"If you can enter the Heaven Execution Training Camp, you will have a chance to access this Power of Origin. From then, you will immediately become a true expert!" Phantom's eyes released a bright radiance as he said in a serious tone.
"A true expert!" Xia Fei was overwhelmed by emotions. There was an ancient saying, 'A real man should be able to support both Heaven and Earth and be able to oversee the entire world!'
But in this era, the saying had to be changed. 'A true expert should be able to oversee the entire universe!'
"I have decided that I must participate in this Adjudicator assessment!" Xia Fei said in a solemn tone.
After opening the Adjudicator Union Earth Branch's website, Xia Fei read the latest news regarding the ranks of abilities.
After tens of thousands of years of research and experiments, the system to determine a Special Ability User's rank had been confirmed. From now on, the special ability would unanimously use the number of ripples in the seventh brain region to determine the rank.
If the number of ripples were within 10, it was the Primary Star Light rank, if it were within 20, it would be the Intermediate Star Light rank, and so on.
The seventh brain region's ripple was a mystical phenomenon, and all Ability Users' seventh brain region would have a certain number of ripples. The higher the cultivation, the higher the number of ripples.
Special Ability Users had diverse types of abilities, and their combat strength would vary. There were some Primary Star Light ranked Ability Users who could defeat Star Base ranked Ability Users with ease. There were some who had reached the Star Base rank but were still unable to defeat Star Light ranked users.
It had always been a headache for everyone to determine the rank of a Special Ability User. They didn't have distinct characteristics like the Strength or Speed Ability Users that could be tested by their physical strength or movement speed. Special Ability Users didn't have an effective method of testing as there were too many different types of special abilities, making it too complicated.
It might still be unfair to determine the rank by the number of ripples in the brain region, but it was a basic judgment for the Special Ability Users' cultivation rank. It was much better than being confused.
Just take this assessment, for example. It originally stated that all Special Ability Users could participate, but what if there were an Ability User who had already reached the legendary rank? If a legendary ranked Special Ability User were to contest with Star Base ranked users, wouldn't the outcome be obvious?
Xia Fei merely took a quick glance and didn't pay particular attention to this information. After all, he was a Speed Ability User and wasn't a Special Ability User.
After clicking on the confirmation page, he noticed there wasn't a single name in the column for Earth participants, as it was still very spacious.
However, below the column, in the non-Earth participants, there were hundreds of pages!
"84,911!" Xia Fei looked at the total count and was astonished. Furthermore, the number was still increasing as it seemed like it was going to cross the 100,000-mark.
Hundred thousand Ability Users contesting for three slots.
The intensity of the competition was simply outrageous!
Phantom chuckled. "There are truly a lot of participants this time. Can your government handle so many Ability Users on Earth?"
Xia Fei gritted his teeth and entered his name before clicking hard on the mouse.
The screen flashed quickly.
The Earth participants column finally had one name and was no longer empty.
It was a very simple name that was easy to read.
Xia Fei!