This Star Ring was formed by the dust of the starry sky and countless meteorites, emanating a cold, silvery-white radiance.
At the center of the Star Ring was a massive green planet, its diameter, to the naked eye, likely twice that of Pandora-35.
The warship circled above the Star Ring and arrived above the planet.
The trainees unbuckled their safety belts, stood up, and gazed through the portholes at what was most likely their destination for this journey.
At that moment, the broadcast sounded again.
“The final assessment is about to begin. All trainees, please proceed to the Landing Bay to prepare.”
As the announcement ended.
Another tightly closed hatch in the lounge slowly opened.
No one hesitated; everyone immediately picked up their luggage and entered the hatch with their teammates.
Twisting and turning through the dim corridor for quite some time, they finally arrived at the so-called Landing Bay from the broadcast.
Thousands of capsule-shaped Landing Pods, like bullets in a magazine, stood upright in neat rows within the room.
The sight was utterly astonishing.
Hiss!
The sound of pressure releasing slowly rose.
Warning lights on the wall glowed red and beeped.
One by one, the Landing Pods opened, and a visible white mist instantly drifted to ankle height.
Clearly, this was the means for everyone to head to the Origin Planet—a one-way ticket with no return.
Watching the other trainees enter their Landing Pods, Lin Zhen tightened his backpack and took a deep breath.
“Let’s go.”
“Can two people fit in this thing? Or will we be able to control the direction ourselves when the time comes?” Kaos walked up to a Landing Pod and tapped it twice with his knuckles.
“This is a single-person Landing Pod.” Yun Che rolled his eyes at him.
“I don’t think we can control the direction. It’s more convenient for the camp to scatter us this way.” Lin Zhen had half his body inside the Landing Pod, one hand gripping the door frame as he turned to speak.
“But…”
He pointed at the metal tag on his chest and smiled without a word, then turned and stepped into the Landing Pod.
Yun Ruoxi and the others all understood what Lin Zhen meant, stroking the signal transmitters on their bodies.
One after another, they entered the nearby Landing Pods as well.
Hiss!
The pod doors automatically closed and sealed tightly.
The space inside the Landing Pod wasn’t cramped, probably because they anticipated that the occupants would be bringing a lot of gear.
Yun Ruoxi glanced around and crossed her legs as she sat down in the chair, casually fastening her seatbelt.
「Nice legs prprpr」
「Cool and dashing Little Xi is looking great too」
「So Loli Xi is already history? No, I don’t want that」
「Mature Sister Xi is the way to go」
After all the trainees entered their Landing Pods, the lights in the room instantly dimmed.
Only the vivid red indicator lights continued to blink.
Then.
A shrill alarm sounded within the chamber, and one Landing Pod after another shot out of the warship along the pipes like bullets, plunging toward the green planet below at terrifying speed.
Rumble!
The Landing Pods pierced straight into the Origin Planet’s atmosphere, instantly erupting into blazing flames under fierce friction.
In an instant.
Tens of thousands of fireballs streaked across the sky.
It was as if a splendid, dazzling rain of meteors had fallen, tearing open the night of the Origin Planet and setting it alight.
At the same time.
In the lush jungle on the surface.
A humanoid creature with emerald-green skin and pointed ears.
The sharp wooden blade in his hand, just about to swing down, froze mid-air as he subconsciously looked up.
His deep purple eyes were filled with astonishment.
“The Fire God is angry?”
While he muttered to himself.
The other humanoid creature beneath him—almost identical, except for its yellow skin—suddenly twisted, forcibly breaking free from his hold.
Stumbling to his feet, he dashed into the depths of the jungle.
“Damn ground bug!”
The green-skinned man cursed, turned into a blur of green, and chased after him, both vanishing into the depths of the jungle.
「Looks a bit like an elf, but with some goblin blood mixed in」
「So spicy」
「Everything is spicy, that’s only going to ruin you」
In the sky.
As the fire meteors pierced through the atmosphere and friction abated, that glaring light gradually faded.
At the same time, the Landing Pods scattered across the globe, vanishing into the night as they descended toward the surface.
Coincidentally, one of the Landing Pods was headed straight for the jungle where those two humanoid creatures were.
Buzz!
When the pod was still a kilometer from the ground, its thrusters reversed, slowing its descent.
Finally, it landed steadily in a clearing within the woods.
With the hiss of pressure release, a somewhat bulky figure stepped out of the pod.
Wearing a high-collared jacket over a suit of black scale-armored iron, and carrying a massive backpack.
The one who landed here was none other than Lin Zhen.
He stepped down from the Landing Pod, vigilantly scanning his surroundings, when suddenly a suitcase flew out from within the pod.
The youth nimbly dodged to the side, and as the suitcase passed his ear, it came to a halt just ahead of him, then slowly drifted back.
He lifted his chin slightly, and the suitcase opened on its own, revealing three items inside:
A wristwatch, a heavy analyzer with an antenna, and a smooth, pitch-black metal sphere.
Lin Zhen picked up the watch, examined it for a while, and found it couldn’t be activated unless worn, so he had no choice but to put it on.
As soon as he put on the watch, a blue holographic projection appeared.
“Binding complete. Trainee identity confirmed: A Zhen, Pandora-35 War Camp Trainee, Rank 14.”
Thanks to his outstanding performance in the Squad Battle, Lin Zhen’s ranking jumped directly from ninety-ninth to forty-ninth, a considerable leap.
But what truly shot his ranking into the top twenty was the perfect Awakening six months ago.
That perfect Awakening allowed him to synthesize Star Energy Metal, enabling him to easily break through the defenses of every trainee except Yun Ruoxi and Mo Yuan, boosting his combat strength dramatically.
The blue projection displayed a close-up of Lin Zhen, and then a line of text refreshed below:
“Assessment Task: Obtain the Star Core born from Samira-21 of the Origin Planet.”
“Task Duration: Two Imperial Months”
“To ensure the assessment proceeds smoothly, you have been provided with a personal terminal watch, a Star Core Detector—which can detect Star Core signals within a kilometer—and a Mimicry Device.”
“If you fail to obtain the Star Core within the time limit, or press the emergency button on the watch, the task will be considered failed.”
There’s even an emergency button this time?
Lin Zhen raised his right hand and searched the watch, eventually finding a mechanical button on the side.
The button required more than a dozen turns to fully unlock before it could be pressed, clearly designed to prevent accidental activation.
Lin Zhen reread the task requirements, shut off the projection, and fell into deep thought.
“So, this assessment lasts two months…”
Two months wasn’t particularly long or short compared to previous assessments.
However, considering that he had to search for a Star Core on this planet, which was much larger than Pandora-35…
In a mission like this, even more impossible than searching for a needle in the ocean.
Even with the detector provided by the Saint Hand Association, this amount of time still seemed woefully insufficient.
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