Turmoil Before the Competition

"Hey, Half-Body, did you receive the Space’s notification?"

A person wearing half a silver mask, with only his chin and mouth exposed, turned around and looked at his curious companions.

He had blond hair and wore half a gray cloak that wrapped from his front around to his back. Almost instinctively, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.

"Are you kidding? I might be exceptional among the equal-rankers, but how could a Reincarnator who hasn’t even reached Strong-tier qualify for the Title Competition?"

The Reincarnator codenamed Half-Body scratched his head, seeming a little embarrassed.

Seeing him like this, the others burst into laughter as well. Their Team Space was not large, only around sixty square meters, decorated like a wooden tavern.

They were all sprawled over the counter, gulping down cheap rum.

This team, codenamed Team 73966, was a temporary team that had only just survived two missions. Its members had been thrown together temporarily as well. Compared to the group before their last deployment, only two or three familiar faces remained.

The person seated deepest inside, Avatar, had scruffy stubble and messy dirty dreadlocks, his skin dark brown. At a glance, he looked like someone utterly unrelated to cleanliness.

His drunken eyes were bleary, yet he said,

"Stop pretending, Half-Body. You’re so strong, you definitely have a chance of reaching Strong-tier. You’re hiding your strength…"

Old Ba’s words made everyone else laugh again, and they joined in praising Half-Body. After all, this guy’s combat power was indeed unimaginably absurd among newcomers.

They had not seen many people with exceptional combat power, but they believed that anyone who had seen Half-Body fight would understand.

This guy was different. This guy was special!

He was the kind of person whose difference from them was obvious at a glance.

"Half-Body, if you don’t die, you might become a big shot very soon!"

"Just like… His Excellency Mercenary Tao!"

Those words silenced the tavern for a moment. Then everyone began laughing madly. These people had already been tormented badly by fear after encountering those so-called "celestial immortal" monsters in their last mission world.

Their emotions were nearly overflowing now. Any spark of emotion became exaggerated to an absurd degree.

Half-Body’s grin slowly faded. He lowered his head, his eyelids drooping, his gaze so cold it was terrifying.

"Like… Mercenary Tao?!"

"Ha, hahaha, hahaha!"

Half-Body’s manic laughter gradually silenced the others.

Then Half-Body turned and left the common area, heading straight for the Rank Management Office.

Some things could not be waited for. If he kept hiding just to barely stay alive while that person strode forward in great strides—

Then his chances of surviving in the future would only grow lower and lower.

Half-Body, Bai Cangshu’s clone, did not know which numbered clone he was. But judging the original through his own way of thinking, that person would definitely create as many clones as possible and send them into this Space…

That guy was nothing but an animal by nature.

Of course, so was he…

He listened to the rumors from the Slum Area. The so-called "Double-Crown Assembly" had already become the talk of the town. It seemed everyone believed Mercenary Tao and Life of Silence would become the masters of a new super assembly.

Another piece of news that shook the Slum Area was the reappearance of the Reincarnator Show, clad in silver-white armor with twin swords on his back.

Some time had passed since he had participated in the battle between Mad King and Mercenary Tao that caused Japan to sink.

This Reincarnator, once highly regarded by countless people, had finally reappeared safely.

Of course, many now believed this might be some Reincarnator doing cosplay.

Among low- and mid-tier Reincarnators, many had completely become fanatical followers of Mercenary Tao’s violence. They believed that a High-tier Title-holder like Show could not possibly have survived a battle where even Mercenary Tao had suffered serious injuries.

Thus, many believed Show had long since died.

Black Butler frowned. A new round of the Title Competition was about to begin, and his business was no longer limited to serving Mercenary Tao.

Of course, serving Mercenary Tao was indeed still the most important part.

With a thought from Black Butler, messages were sent to several Reincarnators.

"Show’s survival has been confirmed. He has returned to the Space."

As the Infinite Dimensional Space’s biggest short-term event, the Space Title Competition involved many intricacies beyond the imagination of low-level Reincarnators.

Here, apart from the absolute strongest Reincarnators, intelligence was the most important thing.

For example, if one knew which powerful figures were competing for a particular title, those who knew they were not strong enough would naturally withdraw early and compete for other titles instead.

Other than those aiming for the Crown of Supremacy, who carried the aura of it makes no difference who comes, everyone else generally wanted to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

If intelligence allowed them to cleverly discover that a certain high-level title had fewer contestants, they would have a great chance of gaining a transformative improvement.

Of course, because the Space Title Competition was an all-region event rather than one held solely by the East District, the intelligence would inevitably be incomplete.

Perhaps a certain title had few contestants in the East District, while many powerful Reincarnators from other districts were competing for it.

Furthermore, one matter Black Butler and the other Information Brokers paid close attention to was the ownership of the Crown of Supremacy.

The Space possessed twelve Crowns of Supremacy in total. After every Title Competition, the number of Crowns of Supremacy held by the four major districts would change.

This would also indicate, to a certain extent, the current distribution of power among the districts.

Previously, when Reincarnators were weak and unable to exert much influence in the real world, that distinction had not mattered much.

But now, as Reincarnators could directly use their abilities in reality—

Friction between the four major districts had become a future many people foresaw.

The Information Brokers of the East District also worried that cross-district battles would break out in the future. When that happened, no one wanted several more Supreme Experts to appear in the opposing camp.

Therefore, whenever a Reincarnator had a chance to compete for the Crown of Supremacy, Information Brokers would almost always provide some intelligence support, seeking ways to gather information on the other districts.

They would also try their best to avoid title competitions involving particularly powerful individuals.

Although Show did not have much of a chance to compete for the Crown of Supremacy, his potential was excellent. Black Butler still gave several people a warning.

Show’s eyes were bright, as though he had already emerged from the shadow of that battle.

Several members of the Knight & Knight Assembly quickly appeared, leading Show away. They had waited a long time for this genius and hoped to urgently strengthen him at this critical moment.

That way, Show could obtain a high-level title and rise rapidly in the next cycle.

Black Butler swiftly reported the news to Jin Yue’an and the others.

The Heavenly Feast Society synchronized information from inside and outside the Space, ensuring Mercenary Tao received the most comprehensive intelligence support possible.

Of course, Black Butler knew perfectly well that person would not care much about the movements of other Reincarnators.

That person’s strength had now clearly reached the realm of a Supreme Expert.

Black Butler’s only concern was that Mercenary Tao would encounter that Tumi Flower Blooms during the Space Title Competition.

That woman… was terrifying.

Bai Cangshu lay on the beach of an island. Other than the occasional seabird flying by, there was not a single person in sight.

This place was several hundred kilometers from Paradise. Bai Cangshu lay on the beach wearing the latest AR glasses.

A virtual screen floated before him, scrolling through all sorts of information gathered by Heavenly Feast.

Bai Cangshu rapidly skipped over most of the useless, worthless material and stopped directly at the section on top-tier Reincarnators.

Information on top-tier Reincarnators had always been considered confidential. Only recently had various High-tier Reincarnators begun displaying their strength in reality.

Gathering information from reality had instead become far more reliable than gathering it from the Reincarnation Space.

Bai Cangshu saw three Reincarnators marked as suspected holders of the Saint Killer. All were Reincarnators from the West District, with strength around Fierce-tier.

This was what many high-level Reincarnators were most concerned about and interested in now.

That weapon was extremely dangerous. Many people feared encountering it in top-tier title competitions or competitions for Supreme Experts.

Getting instantly defeated by a single shot then would be far too unjust.

Although the Space Title Competition was a "peaceful" mode where death did not occur, the stakes were enormous. Once many top-tier Reincarnators lost and forfeited their top-tier titles, their actual strength would decline drastically.

Before every Space Title Competition, many Reincarnators would deliberately conserve their strength, then shine brilliantly during the event and ultimately become so-called big shots in the next cycle.

There were also many former big shots who, after the competition, became Nobodies once again, ignored by everyone.

Bai Cangshu examined the information and was dissatisfied with most Reincarnators.

This group seemed overly dependent on Title Abilities. They had even made Title Abilities an important part of their own ability-enhancement builds.

"Tsk, what a disgrace. Reincarnators of this generation…"

His tone was mocking, as though he were not a Reincarnator of this generation himself.

Suddenly, Bai Cangshu’s eyes paused. He froze the flowing information before him and saw the image of a woman.

"Tumi Flower Blooms. Supreme Expert. Suspected to be the strongest Supreme Expert. True name unknown. Her real identity is suspected to be a member of the White Bear Royal Family. Rumor has it that in a certain Native World, she successively defeated multiple Supreme Experts, including Great Sun of Finality and Life of Silence…"

Battles between Supreme Experts were extremely infrequent and unlikely. Bai Cangshu had rarely seen records of fights between such people, so every Supreme Expert retained an aura of mystery and power.

In the East District, only Great Sun of Finality and Life of Silence had once caused an enormous disturbance. At the time, it dragged a large number of Title-level Reincarnators and teams into hostile conflict.

It eventually became a major incident that swept from the East District’s First Tier through the Fourth Tier, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred Title-level Reincarnators.

That number even included top-tier Title-level Reincarnators such as Sage Tang Sanzang.

The conflict ultimately ended when The Three Supreme Kings jointly mediated and arranged for the two Supreme Experts to fight directly in a certain world.

The result was that Life of Silence defeated Great Sun of Finality, and the latter surrendered ownership of every Secondary World involved in the conflict.

He then voluntarily withdrew to operate in reality and established the Finality Empire.

Since what Reincarnators could do in the past had been limited, most Supreme Experts had actually been quite mysterious. Conflicts between them were usually conflicts between followers or affiliated teams.

They rarely developed into direct opposition.

The resources of one or two Secondary Worlds could simply be explored elsewhere. Few would fight to the death over them.

But Tumi Flower Blooms was different. This woman was extremely domineering, and her power was unimaginable.

Throughout the West District and North District, two major districts that often intersected, legends of Tumi Flower Blooms circulated everywhere.

Judging solely from those rumors, Tumi Flower Blooms was a legend similar to Mercenary Tao.

She had risen incredibly quickly, and her growth had been almost entirely smooth. Those Reincarnator "seniors" from before had not even managed to hinder her growth much before she surpassed everyone and became a Supreme Expert.

And after becoming a Supreme Expert, she had not settled down like the others. She actively appeared in all kinds of Native Worlds and Secondary Worlds.

She fought every formidable enemy she encountered, then defeated them.

Bai Cangshu browsed those rumors and became curious about the woman with emerald-green eyes.

He had heard her name before, but each time, it had only been mentioned in fragments.

Everyone seemed to think she was unbelievably powerful, the strongest Supreme Expert.

Yet no one could clearly explain what enhancements she possessed, what bloodline she had, or what abilities she used.

Bai Cangshu looked at his own hand. Kaio-ken, this terrifying ability, had been traded to him by her.

Being able to obtain Kaio-ken meant she had definitely entered the world of Dragon Ball. Furthermore, the point in time she entered must have differed from his own, and it had to be an extremely terrifying late stage.

So how had she obtained an ability of that level with the "feeble" strength of Reincarnators today?

And why had she traded Kaio-ken to him?

Bai Cangshu was very curious.

His fingers tapped the air, and ripples spread outward in rings. The sea began bubbling, while the magnetic field turned invisibly, causing changes in celestial phenomena, the atmosphere, and all kinds of natural occurrences.

If he became strong enough, even his every movement could become a natural disaster.

Bai Cangshu speculated about her abilities. He had already unconsciously regarded her as a hypothetical enemy, even though there was no conflict between them…

Within a snow-covered mountain forest, a woman wore blue-and-white armor, her hair covered by thick snow.

Rings of fluctuations behind her spread all the way to the end of the valley.

Suddenly, a group of people appeared out of thin air in the sky. After flickering a few times, they landed on the snow.

"Your Majesty, a new round of the Title Competition is about to begin. Mercenary Tao’s information is here…"

The woman opened her eyes. Her emerald-green gaze fell upon the thick stack of documents, but she only flipped through it twice before giving up.

"He hasn’t awakened complete Heart Light Pulse, and he hasn’t obtained Authority above the seventh rank…"

"Forget it… I’ll wait one more round for him."

The woman sighed, seemingly somewhat disappointed.