Chapter 3

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Li Qishui brought Mo Xiaobai to the entrance of an office. The door of the office was open, and there were three people inside.

Li Qishui knocked on the door, and the three people turned and looked over.

“Director Hong, I brought Mo Xiaobai,” Li Qishui said to the middle-aged man that was slightly plump and had sparse curly gray hair on his head.

This was the director of teaching affairs for their school, Hong Shi. He was a Force Warrior at the peak of two force points.

Hong Shi nodded. There was a kind smile on his slightly plump face. “Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Li.”

Li Qishui smiled, and replied, “It’s my job. I will pass Mo Xiaobai to you now.”

After he finished speaking, he nodded at Mo Xiaobai and signaled him to enter the room. Then, he turned and left.

Mo Xiaobai walked into the office, and looked at the two people at the side.

One was a beautiful and refined elf with long green hair, while the other was a young male night spirit who was tall and skinny.

Mo Xiaobai knew both of them. The young elf lady was called Lin Mengyu, and she was the second in Moonlight Secondary. The young night spirit man was called Meng You, and he was the third in school.

Mo Xiaobai was the first.

This time, they were the only ones participating in the elites’ trial.

After Mo Xiaobai came in, Hong Shi smiled, and said, “Alright, everyone is here.”

He glanced at Mo Xiaobai and the other two students as he continued, “This time, our school is trying something new for the elites’ trial. You should know the exact details. If there’s no problem, we can leave now.”

The students shook their heads.

“No problem.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Hong Shi nodded.

Hong Shi brought the three students to the training arena first, and asked them to choose their weapons and armor.

Mo Xiaobai wasn’t a Force Warrior yet, so he could only use normal weapons. He chose a sharp long sword made of refined iron.

As for his armor, he chose a suit of armor made from the skin of a graystone wolf. It was able to withstand the attack of a level one graystone wolf so that you wouldn’t die on the spot.

After choosing their items, Hong Shi led them to board the school bus, and they drove out of school.

***

The school bus drove through the center of Pingxi Town and came to the outskirts. In the end, the bus stopped outside a black building.

Hong Shi said, “We’re here. Hurry up and get down.”

The three students hurriedly followed Hong Shi down the school bus.

After they alighted, Mo Xiaobai raised his head and looked at the black building.

The black building was made entirely out of black steel. The door was around 10 meters in height and width. The entire building was approximately a few thousand meters wide and tall. It looked enormous.

On top of the entrance, there was a plaque made of metal. The words “Graystone Hill Expedition Center” were written on it.

There were many people in the expedition center. All of them were wearing leather armor or metal armor and carrying weapons in their hands. They entered the door of the expedition center in groups or alone.

There were adventurers coming out of the expedition center too. Some of them had smiles on their faces, while others were filled with sorrow.

While Mo Xiaobai was observing the adventurers walking around them, Hong Shi opened his mouth. “This is the building of the Graystone Hill Expedition Center. The entrance to graystone hill is inside.”

The three students all turned excited.

“Okay, follow me in.”

***

Hong Shi brought the three students through the entrance. There was a huge round-shaped hall inside.

The hall was packed with people. There were even more people inside than outside.

Mo Xiaobai looked around him curiously.

There was a row of counters at one side of the hall. Some adventurers were lining up to settle administrative matters.

Directly opposite the entrance of the hall, there was another door. A huge number of adventurers were walking in and out of the door.

Mo Xiaobai saw an adventurer being carried out by his comrades. One of his arms had been cut off, and he was howling in pain.

Then, another team of staff wearing white uniforms dashed over and put him on a stretcher. They hurriedly carried him away.

The other adventurers at the side didn’t change their expressions at all when they saw this. They continued laughing and speaking to each other as per normal.

Mo Xiaobai felt goosebumps on his scalp. Lin Mengyu, who was beside him, turned pale, and Meng You’s face twitched a little.

“These people are really unconcerned…”

Mo Xiaobai heard Meng You muttering to himself.

Hong Shi glanced at his students when he heard this, and said, “Getting hurt is normal for an adventurer. You will get used to this slowly.

“Okay, I will go and buy the tickets. You will wait for me here.”

Hong Shi started walking towards a counter with a line.

After Hong Shi left, Lin Mengyu sighed loudly. Her voice was filled with anticipation as she said, “We will be entering the hollow realm soon. I hope that I can get a force technique stone crystal!”

Meng You scoffed, “You’re thinking too much. Force technique crystals are rare. Where do you plan to look for them? I just wish that I can find one or two force technique crystal remnants. One force technique crystal remnant is worth 10,000 dollars… It will be great if I can find some spirit herbs too.”

There was yearning in his expression.

Lin Mengyu was unhappy that Meng You broke her beautiful dream. She pouted and looked at Mo Xiaobai.

“Mo Xiaobai, what do you think? You are the most powerful among us. You should have the most gains too.”

Mo Xiaobai smiled. “I’m not much stronger than you. Graystone hill is very dangerous to me too… Also, luck is very important in the hollow realm. It will affect your harvest.”

Lin Mengyu nodded. “That’s true. Luck is indeed important.”

Meng You didn’t refute Lin Mengyu. Instead, he said in an envious tone, “I heard that someone killed an ordinary first-rank one-star graystone wolf at the graystone hill. In the end, he looted an elite-level force technique stone crystal from the wolf.”

“…” Mo Xiaobai.

“…” Lin Mengyu.

The two of them showed a look of disbelief.

Lin Mengyu furiously said, “This person is a public enemy! Why is he so lucky!”

Mo Xiaobai and Meng You nodded in agreement.

Mo Xiaobai was envious too. If he could, he wanted to be this kind of public enemy too.

***

Very soon, Hong Shi came back with a smile. He was holding a white token in his hand.

“Okay, follow me.”

Hong Shi led the three of them through the door inside the hall.

Behind the door was a huge room a few hundred meters in circumference.

Right at the end of the room, there was a silver-white light door.

A layer of metal railings surrounded the silver-white light door. Only two passageways were opened up.

Outside the passageway, a group of staff wearing cerulean uniforms was guarding it.

The adventurers handed over their tokens to the staff, and the staff would inspect the tokens. Then, the adventurers were allowed to cross the railings.

After that, the adventurers would walk into the silver-white light door and disappear.

There were also some adventurers coming out from the other side of the light door.

Mo Xiaobai, Lin Mengyu, and Meng You looked at this scene in astonishment.

Hong Shi smiled, and explained to them, “This is the entrance of hollow realm.”

Mo Xiaobai looked at the entrance, and curiously asked, “Director Hong, is hollow realm really not on Cerulean Star?”

Hong Shi nodded. “Yes. It’s in another space. We can’t confirm where it is exactly. Some powerful warriors felt that this space is connected to our Cerulean Star, but it’s not in our universe.”

Meng You couldn’t help but ask, “Is there really another universe?”

Hong Shi’s pupils were shining. “Based on ancient literature, devils are not creatures born in our universe. Devils are present in many hollow realms. Some powerful warriors think that the hollow realm is a special space that links our universe with the devils’ universe.”

When he noticed that the three students still wanted to continue asking, Hong Shi opened his mouth, and said, “Alright, regarding these questions, you will have lessons answering them after you enter the force institutions. It’s almost our turn soon.”

Mo Xiaobai still had many questions in his mind, but he also realized that it was almost their turn. He had no choice but to suppress his curiosity.

The staff inspected the tokens very quickly. They just needed to swipe the tokens on a strange device. The device would beep, and the adventurers were allowed to pass.

Very soon, Hong Shi and the three students passed through the inspection, and went behind the railings.

Mo Xiaobai looked at the light door of the hollow realm from up close. He noticed that the silver-white light door seemed to contain many rays of light. It looked extremely mysterious.

He followed behind Hong Shi and walked towards the light door. His heart was pounding a little quickly.

This was his first time traveling through the light door to the hollow realm.

Hong Shi walked in. Waves started appearing on the light door, just like on the surface of a lake when a stone was thrown in it. Then, Hong Shi disappeared.

Mo Xiaobai felt his lips turning dry. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He was a little nervous since this was his first time going to the hollow realm.

He closed his eyes and stepped through the light door.

Mo Xiaobai felt his body turning cold. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he had come to a plaza.

There were many other adventurers in the plaza too. Director Hong was not far away in front of him. He was smiling at him.

The light door was behind him. He came from the light door.

The strange lines of white light were still surrounding him. 50 meters around him, there were lines of white light everywhere.

From the moment he left his house, Mo Xiaobai would look at the white lights occasionally. In the end, he realized that the lines of white light didn’t move.

Also, other people couldn’t see these lines at all.

They still existed even after he entered the hollow realm?

Would this illusion follow him for life?

Mo Xiaobai felt his teeth hurting.

At this moment, Hong Shi’s voice came from afar. “Xiaobai, come over here quickly. Don’t block the way.”

Mo Xiaobai regained his senses and raised his head. He saw Hong Shi waving at him.

He hurriedly walked over.

The light in the door started moving again. Meng You and Lin Mengyu walked in consecutively.

The two of them looked a little pale. Their gazes were flickering, and nervousness could be seen from their expressions.

They looked around them. When they saw Mo Xiaobai and Hong Shi, they walked over quickly.

Hong Shi smiled and consoled them when he noticed that all three of them were slightly pale. “This is your first time entering the hollow realm, so it’s normal to be a little nervous. You just need to come here a few more times.”

The three students exchanged glances. Lin Mengyu stuck out her tongue. “It’s indeed a little scary.”

Meng You nodded. “That’s right. When I came in, I was a little afraid that I would be gone.”

Mo Xiaobai nodded.

It was the first time, so it was alright to feel anxious.

Hong Shi opened his mouth. “This is our base in the graystone hill hollow realm. The function of this place is similar to the expedition center. It sells items and allows you to accept missions and treatment. There are residences here too. The entrance ticket to the hollow realm is expensive. Hence, many adventurers will choose to stay here for a period of time every time they come so that they won’t make a loss…”

Hong Shi introduced them to the base of the adventurers while he led them out of the plaza.