Chapter 42: The Fate of an Ordinary Genius

"If not for you, Master, stopping me from breaking through to the Cosmic level, I could never have joined the core layer of the Virtual Universe Corporation, let alone become Immortal!" Hoges said with deep gratitude.

After participating in his first Peak Talent Battle, though he failed to enter the top thousand across the universe, he quickly reached the peak of the Stellar level and was ready to break through to the Cosmic level at any moment.

However, after becoming his disciple, Lu Qingshan told him to remain at the Stellar peak for a while longer and compete in the next Peak Talent Battle five thousand years later.

As many of his contemporaries broke through to the Cosmic level and ventured across the universe, Hoges had once doubted Lu Qingshan’s instructions.

But fortunately, he ultimately followed Lu Qingshan’s advice and waited for the next Peak Talent Battle, then directly entered the Endtime Secret Realm within the Virtual Universe Corporation’s core layer, and from then on, soared to new heights!

Just by becoming a member of the Endtime Secret Realm, he immediately received a reward of ten Hunyuan units—enough to rival the entire fortune of an ordinary Domain Lord—let alone the numerous benefits that followed as a core member of the Virtual Universe Corporation.

Now, after millions of years, most of the talents who were once Hoges’s contemporaries have perished; only a tiny few still struggle in the Domain Lord realm for resources, and those who broke through to Immortality are exceedingly rare.

This proves that becoming Lu Qingshan’s disciple back then was undoubtedly a stroke of great fortune.

Even though Hoges’s current strength has long surpassed Lu Qingshan’s, he still holds immense respect for him!

"Hoges, your becoming Immortal is primarily due to your own extraordinary talent and insight!"

Lu Qingshan smiled and said: "Among all the disciples I’ve taken over the years, you are the only one who has become Immortal!"

"Master, the Trial Tower challenge has begun!"

Hoges reminded him, then waved his hand, and before Lu Qingshan appeared scenes of numerous talents battling within the Trial Tower.

These challenge scenes are normally not broadcast to the outside world; most people in the universe can only see ranking changes.

But since both Lu Qingshan and Hoges are Immortal deities under the Virtual Universe Corporation, they naturally have the authority to view the Trial Tower’s internal battles.

In fact, the Virtual Universe Corporation granted them this authority so they might have the chance to select suitable disciples.

After all, besides the top thousand talents who can join the core layer, other talents are still quite excellent—if an Immortal deity takes them as disciples, their chances of becoming powerful in the future naturally increase.

Lu Qingshan casually scanned through the scenes of several top-ranked talents, then calmly asked: "Hoges, do you know of any particularly outstanding talents in this year’s battle?"

Upon hearing Lu Qingshan’s question, Hoges quickly replied: "Master, I did gather some data beforehand, but this year’s Talent Battle seems rather ordinary—the strongest among them have barely crossed the threshold of Space or Time Fundamental Laws. Still, we can’t rule out that some are holding back their strength!"

Among the batch of talents who joined the Virtual Universe Corporation alongside Hoges, one had held back his strength before the final, then decisively defeated all others at the last moment to win first place and enter the Original Secret Realm.

Unfortunately, that prodigy, who once had the potential to become a King-level Immortal, ultimately perished at the hands of an alien powerhouse on the Outer Battlefield!

"What about outstanding talents from our Yanfeng Universe Nation?" Lu Qingshan asked again.

"None."

Hoges shook his head: "In fact, over the past tens of thousands of years, I’ve wanted to take on a few disciples and train them properly, so I’ve paid more attention to the Talent Battle and the Stronger Battle. But this year, even our Yanfeng Universe Nation’s strongest candidate is unlikely to break into the top thousand across the universe!"

"There is one young man who has entered the Lightning Fundamental Law threshold in less than a hundred years of cultivation, but he’s from the Yanfeng Universe Nation’s imperial family and already became a disciple of a King-level Immortal—he’d certainly look down on a mere Immortal Military Lord like me!"

"Hoges, you underestimate yourself!"

Lu Qingshan, watching the talents battle inside the Trial Tower, said: "With your insight and talent, if you just keep cultivating harder, becoming a King-level Immortal shouldn’t be difficult."

"Master, you really overestimate your disciple!"

Hoges smiled bitterly: "Ever since I broke through to Immortality tens of thousands of years ago, my understanding of the Time Fundamental Law has completely stalled—I’ve made zero progress in tens of thousands of years!"

"If I’d known this, I should’ve stayed longer in the Domain Lord stage—maybe I could’ve broken through directly as a King-level Immortal!"

In truth, before his breakthrough, Hoges knew that understanding Fundamental Laws would slow down after becoming Immortal.

But back then, he had been stuck on the Fourteenth Level of the Heaven-Bridging Bridge for a long time, so he decided to break through to Immortality.

He never expected that after becoming Immortal, his rate of understanding Fundamental Laws dropped to less than one percent of what it was in the Domain Lord stage—and only then did he regret it.

"My greatest wish now is to refine my secret technique as much as possible, striving to elevate it to the peak level!"

Hoges added: "Once my secret technique reaches the peak level, my strength will rank among the top in the High Military Lord tier!"

"Besides that, I’m trying to accumulate wealth so I might one day purchase powerful mechanical race weapons—and, like you, Master, train a few disciples myself!"

Hearing this, Lu Qingshan couldn’t help but feel a pang of reflection.

If he hadn’t joined the Multiverse Chat Group, his future would have been exactly as Hoges described.

At best, he might’ve invested in Luo Feng when he rose to prominence, just to make his own future life among the Human Clan more comfortable.

Fortunately, with the Multiverse Chat Group now existing, he could still try to strive once more!

Over the next few days, Lu Qingshan watched the final round of the Talent Battle alongside Hoges, but after realizing this year’s battle was no different from past ones and finding no suitable disciples, they quickly lost interest.

Hoges returned his awareness to reality and resumed his assigned duties, while Lu Qingshan soon bid farewell to his family and set off in his spaceship toward the Virtual Universe Corporation’s headquarters.

After all, his thousand-year leave was ending, and he needed to report to the Virtual Universe Corporation.

(End of Chapter)