Chapter 1022: Reporting BackThe Yeluo chieftain asked curiously, "What exactly do you want to learn about?"
"The technology employed by the death spirits."
"I heard from Sun Mengmeng and the others that the death spirits are an extremely strong race in this realm. If you've brought the spoils of war back personally, your majesty, they must be of immense value."
Zhang Lie nodded. "Indeed. If we can replicate their research, we'll be able to gain combat strength on the level of multiple superior kings."
"Just what are these spoils?" the Yeluo chieftain asked, his curiosity piqued. "May I have a look?" Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Zhang Lie nodded. "Very well. What I brought back is relatively large, so we'll have to step out of the laboratory."
The Yeluo chieftain nodded. "Of course!"
Zhang Lie and the Yeluo chieftain stepped outside and walked to a relatively large patch of empty land. Zhang Lie then summoned the death spirit battleships that he had collected from the battlefield.
He pointed at the largest battleship. "This is the death spirits' flagship, and the most valuable of the spoils I collected. It can transform into a mecha in battle, with explosive strength beyond that of a superior king."
The Yeluo chieftain laughed wryly. "I apologize, your majesty, but I'm unable to help you. I only have some modest level of knowledge about herbalism and potioneering, and I've never seen the likes of these battleships before."
"I understand, Chieftain, but I'm curious if you're aware of anyone who might know anything about such battleships."
The Yeluo chieftain thought for a moment. "I'll summon anyone who might be able to help, but please don't expect much, your majesty. As far as I'm aware, none of them have a deep understanding of this field."
Zhang Lie replied, "It's not urgent. Although it's very likely that we'll have to face superior worlds in battle in the future, it's not an issue we need to deal with immediately—and we wouldn't be able to transform research knowledge into more of these ships instantly, at any rate."
The Yeluo chieftain bowed and retreated. "In that case, let me talk to those experts I know right away."
Zhang Lie nodded. He would still have to return to the Milky Way and make his report to Hong Tianqi.
He stepped through space and appeared right before the humans' teleportation apparatus, which brought him back to the Zenith Dojo on Earth.
The Zenith Dojo hadn't changed much since last he saw it. After all, only a few days had passed in Earth's time. Nothing much could have happened to the Zenith Dojo in the meantime, especially given that it was under China's protection.
Zhang Lie called Hong Tianqi up with his transceiver, but Hong Tianqi failed to pick up the call. Zhang Lie waited—three minutes later, Hong Tianqi called him back. "Are you calling about the war against the death spirits?"
Zhang Lie nodded. "You guessed?"
Hong Tianqi asked, "How's the situation?"
Zhang Lie explained briefly what had happened.
Hong Tianqi sighed. "Superior worlds and the death spirit king—to think there was so much in the third realm that I never encountered, even though I believed I did well for myself."
Zhang Lie shrugged. "It's only normal. Humans and aliens from the Milky Way alike have treated these three thousand worlds like nothing more than a sideshow."
There were a massive number of aliens in the Milky Way, far more than were in the three thousand worlds themselves, but only a subset of all hunters was ever able to make it into the third realm.
Most of the weaker hunters were weeded out in the first and second realms; if there were ten trillion hunters who had made it into the first realm, then maybe a trillion would eventually get to the second—but no more than a million would make it into the third.
These were just rough numbers—there were lots of hunters entering the first realm, but only a rare few made it into the third.
After all, overcoming the threshold between the first and second realm was no mean feat. It would take a few years to do so in general, and that between the second and third might even take decades.
A trillion hunters of the Milky Way sounded like quite a lot, but they were nothing in comparison to the worlds of the third realm. A single large world might have a few hundred million inhabitants, and there were at least five hundred large worlds among the three thousand—not to mention the far larger superior worlds, or the countless medium-sized and small worlds.
Zhang Lie continued, "At that point, the aliens of the Milky Way and humans could hardly hope to cause any significant impact among the three thousand worlds."
After all, the existence of disaster-grade lifeforms was yet unknown, and no one had heard of limit-breaking potions. The hunters of the Milky Way had been far weaker, and the humans weaker still. The humans of the past would have wondered if the humans of the present were from another species entirely, such was the difference in power between them.
Of course, the most important difference was the presence of Zhang Lie, who had ushered the hunters of the Milky Way toward the threshold of a superior world.
Just what benefits had Zhang Lie brought them?
First, the human hunters and warlords now resided in the superior draconian world, and the human hunters had some say in the governance of the world.
Zhang Lie's actions had undoubtedly elevated the hunters of the Milky Way.
Hong Tianqi sighed in gratification. "I can't believe it. You juniors are doing far better than us seniors—the echelons of strength that we were never able to reach, all of you have. You've made a name for yourself in the third realm and its history."
Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "It was simply a war that shook the realm, nothing more. It isn't as though I haven't participated in one such already—I started one once."
Hong Tianqi recalled that the other man he was speaking to was Zhang Lie, the grand unifier of the second realm, who had changed the fate of mankind there. Calling him the hero of humanity was an understatement.
His actions in the second realm had shaken it to its foundations, and while the mythical war of the third realm might have been eye-opening for most, it was nothing major for Zhang Lie.
Hong Tianqi asked, "At any rate, is the war between the death spirits and the rest of the superior worlds over now?"
"Of course. I ended it personally."
Hong Tianqi praised, "Incredible. The fighters led by the other superior worlds were all largely decimated, but yours survived mostly unscathed.
Zhang Lie, you truly are remarkable. After all, you were the king of the second realm..."
"No, it wasn't me. I was just fighting at the front—the one who saved all the troops was Hong Xi!"