Chapter 58 : Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Ancient Inheritance! The Battlefield Opens! (Two Chapters Combined—4,000 Characters)
“You know him?”
Seeing Fu Wanjun staring fixedly at Ye Ze, Zhu Xiao, who was still brimming with fighting spirit, could not help asking curiously.
The usually cold and aloof Fu Wanjun could not help twitching his brow at that moment.
I know him, but he probably does not know me...
He and Ye Ze had only crossed paths once, but the sense of pressure the latter had left on him was simply too terrifying.
Still, he thought, I am young. There will always be chances for me to surpass him in the future.
But right now...
The special training camp was about to begin, so how was he supposed to face that monster?
Fu Wanjun and Song Qiaoqiao exchanged a glance, then suddenly thought of something, their expressions shifting.
“Right! A ‘high-level’ Class User like him will definitely suppress his strength when dealing with trainees like us, right?”
Song Qiaoqiao nodded excitedly.
In their minds, Ye Ze, who could kill a Fiend General, was unquestionably some high-level Class User from the military!
“If he suppresses his strength to the first or second advancement, then we do not have to be afraid!”
At that thought, Fu Wanjun finally felt much calmer.
Of course, if he knew that Ye Ze was still at zero advancement right now, who knew what he would think...
...
Elsewhere, inside the monitoring station used to observe the dungeon, Wan Feipeng stood together with two middle-aged men of roughly his age.
One of them wore gold-rimmed glasses, with a well-proportioned, slender build and an elegant, refined manner of dress.
The other wore the dark standard uniform of the Demon Suppression Army, with deep-set eyes and a steady, composed presence.
They were none other than Wu Ming, the head of East China, and Wei Zheng, the head of Central China—two of the most powerful figures in all of China.
Yet at that moment, the two of them were laughing loudly at Wan Feipeng with no regard for appearances at all.
It was practically an annual tradition.
“Hahaha! Our ‘Hunter King’ really dared to come again this year!”
“You fight every year, and lose every year!”
“You just have to prove that you can cultivate talent!”
Wan Feipeng shot the two of them a look. “What I want to prove is that Linyuan City has talent too!”
A smile tugged irresistibly at the corners of Wu Ming’s mouth beneath his gold-rimmed glasses. His tone was perfectly ordinary, yet when it came out of his mouth, it somehow carried an unmistakable edge of mockery.
“You mean the one you forced into the special training camp last year, only for him to be eliminated in half an hour?”
Every time Wan Feipeng heard Wu Ming speak, he felt like punching someone.
On the other side, Wei Zheng patted him on the shoulder and advised him in a tone of earnest consolation:
“Talent is not something you can force.”
“But hey, this year he really did step in dogshit and get lucky for once!”
Wu Ming smiled and teased Wan Feipeng, “Come on, tell us. Which team did you put Ye Ze on?”
The trainees in the special training camp were all split into teams of five, but the exact team arrangements were decided by the trainees themselves.
Wu Ming did not know the details.
But he knew one thing: with Wan Feipeng’s personality, there was no way he would not have made Ye Ze come to the special training camp!
Wan Feipeng said nothing, but the smile at the corners of his mouth could not quite be suppressed.
It was the kind of smile one wore right before springing a trick on a friend.
The monitoring division where the three of them stood was as large as an airport departure lounge. At its center stood the monitoring sand table used to observe the dungeon’s contents, as well as projections of each trainee gathered at the dungeon entrance.
But after looking over the projections, Wu Ming still did not spot Ye Ze.
The smile on Wan Feipeng’s lips lifted even further.
Wei Zheng said slowly, “I have heard it too. Linyuan City has produced someone rather good at grinding group dungeons.”
“But do not forget—those who draw more attention before the special training camp starts will also face more targeting!”
The instant he heard those words, Wan Feipeng’s smile froze.
His thoughts immediately turned chaotic.
Damn it, that would be going too far!
He had confidence in Ye Ze, but the other geniuses were not made of clay either. If Ye Ze were ganged up on by several of them at once, he might really end up suffering badly.
When they saw Wan Feipeng go still, the other two burst into laughter again.
But in truth, from a certain angle, Wan Feipeng was worrying too much.
Across the entire special training camp, there were barely any people who both recognized and had actually seen Ye Ze.
At most, there were only Fu Wanjun and Song Qiaoqiao from South China, and Bai Wei from East China. Of course, in Bai Wei’s case, what he felt was more battle intent than familiarity.
Other than those three, there was only one more person who was fairly familiar with Ye Ze...
“Ye Ze! Why are you here?”
Ye Ze had been waiting for the dungeon to open in utter boredom when he suddenly heard someone calling him from nearby.
He turned his head and saw a short-haired girl a little over one point six meters tall, with a pair of youthful legs visible below her pleated skirt.
She wore a white athletic top that made her skin look even fairer and more delicate, while a trace of complicated emotion floated across her small, delicate face.
“Liu Anran?”
Seeing the bright and lively girl in front of him, Ye Ze could not help smiling.
“Weren’t you specially recruited by headquarters for training? Do you have to attend the special training camp too?”
Headquarters, located in Central China, was the highest administrative center in China, and it also provided focused training for certain exceptional geniuses from all across the country.
And the girl before him, who could practically be called Ye Ze’s childhood friend, was one of the people specially recruited this year.
The short-haired girl, Liu Anran, explained casually:
“There may be some kind of Ancient Inheritance reward in this dungeon. It is very special, so headquarters sent me here...”
“No, wait. Why do I need to report any of this to you?!”
As if suddenly remembering something, she glared at Ye Ze, her expression turning openly petulant.
Truth be told, her feelings toward Ye Ze were rather complicated.
In Ye Ze’s words, it was simply...
“You are still angry?”
“Because I stole your man?”
Ye Ze’s face was full of teasing amusement.
It was as though he was especially energized whenever he got the chance to tease her.
Liu Anran’s anger flared instantly. Her clear eyes widened, and she gritted her teeth like a little cat about to bite someone.
“What do you mean, my man?”
“Say that clearly. That was my dad!”
That was right. Liu Anran was Liu Boyan’s daughter, his biological daughter.
Although she really was his daughter, after retiring from the army, Liu Boyan had spent a great deal of effort taking care of Ye Ze, the son of one of his former comrades-in-arms.
Back when Liu Anran was little, she had once truly felt that Ye Ze had stolen her father away.
Although she was older now and could understand her father’s actions, every time she saw Ye Ze, she still got a little annoyed!
Especially because Ye Ze’s humanities grades had been absurdly good in the past.
Liu Boyan had always used Ye Ze as an example when lecturing Liu Anran, leaving her completely unable to lift her head.
That only made her even angrier!
“Forget it. There is nothing to say to you!”
Liu Anran gave a huffy snort and turned to leave,
not giving Ye Ze another chance to say a single word.
“Heh...”
Ye Ze could not help chuckling softly again.
At the same time, he found himself thinking back to what Liu Anran had said...
An Ancient Inheritance inside the dungeon?
Not only had he never heard of such a thing, there was not even a single record of it in the history textbooks.
At his side, Hu Ming immediately sidled over the moment he saw Liu Anran leave.
“Damn, brother! You know Liu Anran?”
“They say she is one of the hottest favorites to win the whole special training camp this year! The little goddess specially recruited by headquarters in Central China!”
“A specially recruited Class User like that will at least become a fifth-rank powerhouse in the future!”
“Do you know what class she has? They say even headquarters has placed it under special secrecy...”
Of course Ye Ze knew Liu Anran’s class.
The reason headquarters had specially recruited and trained her was precisely because what Liu Anran had awakened was a Hidden Class Card that was rare even on a global scale!
—Space Warlock!
As a Hidden Class, it was even more precious and rarer than a rare class. In terms of potential, it could rank in at least the top twenty in the entire country.
But Ye Ze had no intention of revealing that to anyone else, especially not to a loudmouth like Hu Ming.
Otherwise, once the special training camp ended, the whole country would probably know about it.
At that moment, a broadcast suddenly rang out across the plaza by the dungeon entrance:
“All special training camp members, please form your own teams.”
“The special training camp dungeon—Ancient Battlefield—will open in thirty minutes!”
The announcement repeated three times.
Yet in that short span of time, teams of five had already been assembled at the dungeon entrance with great speed.
Clearly, the trainees’ teams had all been decided long ago.
No one had waited until they reached the dungeon entrance to start forming teams.
Especially among the leading trainees from each region, not only had they long since formed teams, but the strength of their teammates was likewise formidable.
Very soon, all the teams split into five columns.
They were: East China, South China, Central China, West China, and North China.
Inside the monitoring room, Wu Ming looked over all the trainees who had already formed teams, then turned toward Wan Feipeng with a puzzled expression.
“Where exactly did you hide Ye Ze?”
Each region had four five-man teams, making a total of one hundred people. Yet with Wu Ming’s fifth-rank mental power, he still had not found Ye Ze.
At that, even Wei Zheng grew curious.
Meanwhile, Wan Feipeng’s triumphant grin only widened.
“What does it matter to you?”
At that moment, several more administrators, along with personnel from the military and headquarters, entered the monitoring division.
Aside from those high-ranking figures, there were also dedicated data clerks responsible for recording and evaluating the trainees’ performance.
After all, beyond the rewards of this single event, the special training camp was even more important for determining future cultivation directions.
Beside the monitoring sand table, the five regional heads had all gathered.
Although Wan Feipeng was not a regional head, neither his status nor his position, not to mention his sixth-rank strength, was in any way inferior to theirs.
“Wei-ge, aren’t you going to tell us about this inheritance reward?”
“Yeah, Wei-ge, what kind of ‘Ancient Inheritance’ is so secret that even we have to be kept in the dark?”
The heads of West China and South China, one male and one female, could not help asking at that moment.
Even they had only found out about this year’s “Ancient Inheritance” yesterday.
Wei Zheng, who oversaw both the dungeon and the special training camp, only smiled faintly and said:
“While researching the Ancient Battlefield dungeon, we discovered traces of some inheritance left behind from a Transcendent Era more than a thousand years ago...”
“Of course, whether anyone is even qualified to obtain that inheritance is another matter entirely.”
“For all we know, even the first-place finisher in this dungeon may not have the chance to inherit it.”
Hearing that, the female head of South China asked in confusion:
“Wei-ge, didn’t the Transcendent Era begin only a little over fifty years ago? Where would a thousand-year inheritance come from?”
The Transcendent Era was the new epoch formally defined after Blue Star entered the age of universal class awakenings.
It also marked Blue Star’s entry into a completely new era.
But that had only been a little over fifty years ago.
At that moment, the head of West China said thoughtfully, “Could it be...”
“That’s right. It did not come from the transcendent power of our world.”
Wei Zheng nodded. “It came from a world that had already been destroyed by the Abyss.”
“In fact, this dungeon—Ancient Battlefield—may very well be the very place where that world fought its final battle against the Fiends...”
“Only, in the end, it still ended in defeat.”
“Even the entire world itself was shattered by the Abyss, and the World Fragments left behind drifted here and became the Dungeon Core.”
At those words, the entire monitoring division erupted in a chorus of sharp intakes of breath.
The amount of information contained in those few sentences was simply staggering!
An inheritance from another world, and from a transcendent world that had developed over more than a thousand years, would absolutely be far stronger than the level of power they currently possessed!
If a Blue Star that had only entered the transcendent age for fifty years obtained the inheritance of a world with over a thousand years of transcendent development—
then whoever obtained that inheritance might well possess the power to stand above the entire world in the future!
One could say that such a person would become one of China’s strategic weapons.
But there was also a terrifying question:
If even a transcendent world that had developed for over a thousand years had been shattered by the Abyss—
then what about Blue Star...
No one dared think further.
For more than ten years now, the Demon Suppression Army had kept the Fiends suppressed at the Abyss Frontier, which had once given everyone a great deal of confidence.
But now, it seemed that everything had become uncertain again.
Seeing the looks on everyone’s faces, Wei Zheng smiled and waved his hand.
“There is no need to think too much about it for now.”
“What I have said is only speculation based on a few traces. Its accuracy still needs to be verified!”
Although he said that, everyone present was intelligent enough to understand that Wei Zheng was simply trying to reassure them.
He was the head of Central China, the number one figure at headquarters...
If he was willing to say all this in public, then he was at least eighty percent certain already.
Still, dwelling on such a matter right now really was too early.
Wu Ming also spoke up to ease the atmosphere.
“In that case, then it is all the more important that East China takes first place.”
“In your dreams. South China this year is no weaker than anyone else!”
“West China’s goal this year is to surpass Central China...”
As the various regional heads discussed among themselves,
they all looked toward the projections of the regional trainee teams.
On the left side of the projection were the details of each region’s teams, sorted by average team level from highest to lowest:
West China Team One — Captain Zhu Xiao, Class: Beastblood Warrior.
Central China Team One — Captain Duan Tianchen, Class: Confidential.
East China Team One — Captain Bai Wei, Class: Spellblade.
South China Team One — Captain Fu Wanjun, Class: Thunderblade.
North China Team One — Captain Chu He, Class: Confidential.
Central China Team Two — Captain Liu Anran...
————
“Old Wei, isn’t it a bit much to keep several of these classes confidential?”
Wan Feipeng questioned bluntly.
But Wei Zheng only spread his hands and replied, “No helping it. Hidden Classes.”
A Hidden Class represented uniqueness, and it could not be detected through ordinary means.
The special training camp also tacitly permitted this and would not proactively expose Hidden Classes. After all, confronting unknown abilities was also an important part of future battlefields.
Wan Feipeng quietly edged backward without a word and used his phone to snap a picture of the screen...
Then sent it to Ye Ze...
However, that shameless little act had already been noticed long ago.
No one bothered with him.
Because gathering information on one’s opponents was something that should have been done before the battle ever started.
Who waited until the last minute like this brute to sharpen his spear?
...
“Beep...”
When he saw the message Wan Feipeng had sent him, Ye Ze was speechless.
“I already know all this...”
Was that not wasted effort?
Even those Hidden Classes marked confidential had already been seen through by Ye Ze.
Under Eye of Insight, there were no secrets!
At that moment, the dungeon entrance began to churn like a vortex, releasing mana outward.
The countless ancient runes around the portal began to shine...
In an instant, all the trainees qualified for the special training camp, along with the instructors including Ye Ze, disappeared without a trace.
【Dungeon - Ancient Battlefield is now open!】