Seeing Maier off, Xu Que's lips curled into a sly smile. He felt it was finally time to take action.
After all, acquiring such a vast amount of materials must have come at a steep price. From Maier's troubled expression earlier, it was clear that the strain was immense.
What Xu Que didn't know, however, was that the Chisfield family had nearly emptied their coffers for these materials, even sacrificing their last five B-class territories to gather the resources needed for procurement.
Yet, Xu Que didn't rush into forging equipment. His primary concern was still the people around Lacey and the Chisfield family members in M Country.
"Should I assassinate them quietly?"
He immediately shook his head. Although the current situation might favor him, the consequences would be catastrophic—far beyond what he could bear.
"Ah, if only someone could tell me how to get my hands on those lists…"
For the first time, Xu Que felt at a loss, painfully aware of his solitude in this battle.
"Well, I guess I'll just take it one step at a time."
He rose and approached the forge, resuming his weapon-crafting duties. But crafting weapons now was almost a meditative act for him, a task he could perform effortlessly while his mind wandered.
The rhythmic clanging of hammer on metal transported his thoughts back to what Cooley's remnant soul had shared the previous night.
This universe, it seemed, was far more vast and unfathomable than Xu Que had imagined.
Cooley, after all, was merely a being altered by the gods—barely qualified to be called an Old God. By his own admission, he lacked a "Divine Heart" and thus didn't truly belong among the ranks of Old Gods.
Through Cooley's explanations, Xu Que had come to understand the hierarchy of divine power. S-class beings were akin to sun gods, while those above them—Super S-class—towered over the Old Gods. True gods, in Xu Que's estimation, were likely SS-class, with demon gods surpassing them as SSS-class. And beyond even that, there might be beings classified as SR, entities entirely beyond comprehension.
As for the Celestial God Clan, Cooley had never encountered such beings, but he confirmed their existence. However, he insisted that the Celestial God Clan wasn't the pinnacle of the universe's power. Long ago, over a million years in fact, Cooley had overheard gods speak of an even more terrifying force beyond them.
For beings like Cooley, planets like Blue Star were mere trial grounds. If the inhabitants of Blue Star were annihilated, a great entity would eventually devour the intelligent essence of the planet itself.
From Cooley's fragmented memories, Xu Que learned that planets like Blue Star had faced extinction countless times—over ten thousand, to be precise. Never had such a world successfully resisted the gods. Their ultimate fate was always the same: obliteration.
Though Xu Que couldn't be sure if he would live to witness such an event, he now knew for certain that S-class rifts harbored sealed Old Gods—twelve of them, to be exact.
His gaze shifted to the cooldown timer on the **"Torturous Angel Essence"**.
If only he could ask those two questions again. But alas, there was no chance to rewind the clock.
"A hundred and twenty hours left… How long!" Xu Que muttered, glancing at the exclamation mark in the upper corner of his interface.
Normal people wouldn't have this exclamation mark, but ever since Xu Que had acquired two interconnected territories, it had appeared with a thirty-day countdown: a notification for the Sky Abyss Entry Test.
With less than half a month left, Xu Que felt utterly swamped. The sheer number of tasks piling up left him feeling overwhelmed.
"Damn it, I really need reinforcements now!" he grumbled, pounding a blade blank with renewed force.
---
Meanwhile, in Hezhou's southern sector of a dimensional space, Ye Gou and Duan Jiude moved stealthily through a dense forest.
Duan Jiude glanced back at the twenty-odd C-class alien creatures trailing them. "Dog Bro, isn't this enough?"
"Not even close," Ye Gou replied with a grin. "The boss said we both need rigorous training—especially you."
Duan Jiude's mouth twitched. Who would have thought that the friend who had once gifted him weapons was the boss of this eccentric powerhouse standing before him?
"Life's full of surprises… like sausage stuffed with sausage," Duan Jiude muttered to himself.
As they dashed toward a forest pool, the number of creatures chasing them swelled to over forty.
Duan Jiude felt despair. Facing this many monsters head-on was suicidal. Even Ye Gou seemed reluctant, though his pride left him no choice but to keep going.
"The pool's just ahead. We'll split up there. You hold off those twenty magic-eye wolves; I'll take care of the ones up front," Ye Gou instructed, slashing a brilliant sword arc behind them.
Duan Jiude was speechless. He was only C-class, and now expected to stall twenty-two wolves? Was this some kind of cosmic joke?
As the sharp sound of an exploding sword arc filled the air, Duan Jiude gritted his teeth, gripping his reflective water blade tightly.
"Horizontal Slash!" he roared, the blade's shimmering arc slicing into the pack of wolves.
Though his techniques were rudimentary, the blade's attributes allowed him to kill two of the beasts in one strike.
"Impressive! The boss sure knows how to pick his people," Ye Gou said with a wide grin. "See you on the other side!"
Duan Jiude rolled his eyes but kept running, slashing whenever possible.
By the time Ye Gou reached the opposite bank, only two golden-striped leopards remained on his side. But when he glanced at Duan Jiude's progress, he nearly choked.
"Why are there so many left?"
Duan Jiude barked back, "I'm only C-class! Surviving against twenty-two magic-eye wolves is already a miracle!"
Ye Gou smirked, reluctantly acknowledging the truth. He himself wouldn't have fared better at C-class.
Just as he prepared to help Duan Jiude finish off the remaining wolves, a deep roar echoed from the forest depths.
"Damn it! What now?" Ye Gou muttered, looking toward the source of the sound.
"Stop staring and help me!" Duan Jiude shouted, exasperated.
Before Ye Gou could respond, the forest behind them erupted with the sound of trees snapping. His face darkened.
"Move!" he bellowed.
Instinctively, Duan Jiude leaped aside, moments before Ye Gou unleashed two consecutive sword strikes into the woods.
"Run! It's a boss!" Ye Gou shouted as he bolted.
Hearing the word "boss," Duan Jiude didn't hesitate, his spirit energy surging into his legs as he sprinted past Ye Gou in a flash.
"Damn it!" Ye Gou cursed, glancing back at the approaching shadow before following suit.
Ten minutes later, the two collapsed in a heap, gasping for air.
"What was that thing?" Duan Jiude managed to ask between breaths.
"No idea. All I saw was black fur," Ye Gou replied, waving dismissively.
Duan Jiude groaned. This guy was clearly unreliable.
Before they could catch their breath, another deafening roar sounded behind them.
"Crap! It's still coming?" Duan Jiude exclaimed.
"Obviously. Keep running!" Ye Gou growled, downing a stamina potion before breaking into another sprint.
Grumbling, Duan Jiude followed suit, silently cursing their predicament.