"That's enough."
Lu Sheng finished examining his own condition. He twisted his neck, moved his limbs slightly, and his body emitted a series of soft popping sounds.
"The specifics can only be seen in actual combat. Then let's find a suitable opponent for a real battle..."
After his breakthrough, Sheng's only opponent was the Lord of Oblivion. But he was level 14, and the difference in strength between them was too great to be of much reference value. To better understand his current strength, he needed to find someone to fight again. Fortunately, the Dream Space Universe was never short of strong individuals, regardless of type or strength.
"What kind of opponent should I find to test my skills against?"
Sheng mobilized the power of the universe's origin, unfolded a map of the distribution of strong individuals in the cosmic starry sky, and began to search randomly.
While searching, his eyes suddenly lit up. His gaze locked onto the profile of a powerful individual, a glint slowly appearing in his eyes.
"This one seems perfect. Moreover, the law powers he possesses falls within the scope of the foundational martial arts I need to upgrade after my advancement to level 12. Yes, it's decided, it's him!"
Having made up his mind, Lu Sheng vanished from his spot in an instant.
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On a major planet at the center of the Polo star region, a small, light gray, sleek spaceship slowly landed at Star Dock 07. The hatch opened, and two figures, one tall and one short, emerged from the ship. The taller one was a peculiar person, over three meters tall, his entire body, except for his eyes, appearing as if composed of countless blocks of black granite.
Beside the stone-like figure was a standard-looking human youth. Approximately twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with fair skin and a handsome face.
Saya stared blankly at the bustling yet orderly starship dock before him, ships coming and going. Although only four cosmic months had passed since his departure, he felt a profound sense of disorientation, as if he had come back from a another world. Well, he did.
"Is this your home region?" Tang Dun asked in a deep voice beside him.
Saya snapped out of his daze and forced a smile, replying, "Yes. Dear Tang Dun, on behalf of the entire Polo star region, I welcome you. Now, please enjoy our retirement vacation."
"I hope so," Tang Dun muttered, glancing past Saya towards what was behind him.
Saya froze, turning to follow his gaze. A group of impeccably dressed interstellar officials and a large group of reporters were rushing towards them.
"Our hero! On behalf of all the citizens of the star region, I warmly welcome our hero home!"
Before he even reached him, Saya saw the red-skinned political leader greet him with open arms and a beaming smile. Saya's gaze darkened slightly. Almost all citizen in the entire Polo star region knew him. He was the highest-ranking official in the star region, the Speaker of the region's Federal House of Representatives.
Saya's remembered him very well. He knew that this smiling, impeccably dressed man before him was, in essence, an utterly treacherous villain.
His own forced choice to go to the interdimensional battlefield was due to constant pressure from those within his family who were eager for his death. This esteemed Speaker Hobert stood in the middle... He certainly put in a lot of effort. No doubt about it.
Hobert must have some kind of agreement with those people, probably at the expense of some of the Lylesas family's interests. After all, the family's combat suit business spans four surrounding star sectors, its value so immense that it's not surprising that even the Speaker of a star region's House of Representatives would be tempted.
While knowing that the other party secretly hoped for his death, he had to feign joy, excitement, and overwhelming enthusiasm to welcome him. Hobert's behavior made Saya feel nauseous. At that moment, Hobert had already reached him and opened his arms to embrace him tightly.
"Welcome back, Saya Lylesas!"
Hobert's eyes were full of sincerity, and a touch of fatherly relief. He put an arm around Saya's shoulder, he turned to face the cameras and journalists—reporters for The Polo Times and other interstellar medias—and he loudly announced:
"Ladies and gentlemen, can you believe it? Just months ago, our Earl Lylesas, without telling anyone, boldly boarded a recruitment ship bound for the interdimensional battlefield to fight terrifying alien creatures. I was utterly incredulous when I heard the news! But something a hundred times more unbelievable happened today. Our Earl Lylesas, after enduring months of cosmic warfare, has returned alive! And with a medal for outstanding service in the Hundred Great Battlefield. He is our hero! Let us cheer for the name Saya Lylesas!"
Hobert's impromptu speech brought the small welcoming party to a fever pitch. Countless cameras clicked furiously at Saya. It must be said that when a level 12 martial arts expert so generously uses all his martial arts skills in his speech, the words spoken are quite infectious. Everyone present was swept up in Hobert's emotions.
If it weren't for the series of events in the interdimensional battlefield [where emotions had been so easily tampered with], Saya felt he might have genuinely believed that Hobert truly admired and liked him.
After the brief welcoming ceremony, Hobert invited Saya and Tang Dun to dinner.
He explained that the city hall had prepared a grand celebratory banquet for them and looked forward to his presence. Saya, however, firmly declined Hobert's invitation, citing important matters, and quickly left with Tang Dun, avoiding the swarm of interstellar reporters.
Watching Saya and Tang Dun flee quickly after being chased by the reporters, Hobert's previously amiable smile quickly darkened.
"Notify the Lylesas family." Hobert coldly instructed his secretary
"Tell them their meticulously planned, flawlessly executed scheme has failed. Their young master has returned safely as a heroic veteran of the interdimensional battlefield. He also has a level 12 bodyguard by his side. Tell them to sort this out as quickly as possible; I'm not going to clean up their mess."
"Yes." The secretary nodded and quickly turned to make the arrangements.
-
Half a cosmic hour later, Saya and Tang Dun had left the star dock on the main planet of the Polo star region and they were now in a retro bar on another planet.
"Tang Dun, don't be fooled by Hobert's appearance and words. He's an absolute, treacherous villain."
Saya, holding a bottle of Starlight beer, spoke seriously to the stone man. Tang Dun gulped down a large keg of beer, letting out a long, satisfied burp. He wiped his mouth and then said in a muffled voice, "I never listen to single word politicians say. Especially when they say it in front of so many people."
"That's good."
Saya breathed a slight sigh of relief. His biggest worry was that Tang Dun would be swayed by Hobart. After Lu Sheng left, Saya ultimately chose to heed his advice and leave the battlefield.
Although he didn't know why Tang Dun had inexplicably come with him, Saya couldn't deny feeling rather relieved, because outside the battlefield the only power he could have hoped to rely on so far was the utmost power of God.
"Tang Dun is a Level 12 powerhouse. With him around, those people shouldn't dare to make any rash moves against me for a while." Saya thought to himself.
But this is only temporary safety. With their power and resources, they were even able to find a level 12 expert—Huang Ji—to kill him within the interdimensional Battlefield. Now that he was outside the battlefield, they had even more options.
"I must do it! I must find a way out before they react and ensure my safety," Saya told himself resolutely. But he still had no clue how.
"Hey buddy,"
Tang Dun, after downing another keg of beer, gently nudged Saya's arm and asked, "Did we come here just to drink?"
"Of course not."
Saya shook his head, "We're waiting for someone, someone very important to me."
Saya paused, his expression complex, and softly added, "If I'm important enough to her too… she should come, right?"
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Translation notes by dhoo
There's some humor and casual situations in this chapter. It's a nice change, being back to real life after 50 chapters in the interdimensional strange battlefieled. We don't get to see how things are going on planet Pregnancy yet, but seeing Saya and Tang Dun hanging out in a bar is good, it's nice to not focus solely on the main character.
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Lord of Oblivion (x2)
遺忘之主 (trad. idem), yíwàng zhī zhǔ: 遺忘 to forget 之 of 主 owner, master, emperor, etc.
The level 14 alien beast commander who fought Mokodo and Lu Sheng in the previous arc.
37 occurrences in chapters 550, 553 (x2), 557, 565, 566, 571 (x2), 574 (x5), 576, 577 (x14), 580 (x2), 581 (x2), 583 (x2), 585, 588, 604
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The Polo star region (x6), aka Polar or Baltic star region
波罗星区 (trad.波羅星區), bō luó xīng qū: 波罗 paramita (Buddhism), pineapple 星 star 区 region
The star region where Saya and Sarl come from.
14 occurrences in chapters 535, 536 (x2), 581 (x6), 582, 586, 590, 593 (x2)
The Polo Times
A kind of interstellar New York Times, I guess.
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Hobert (x14)
霍伯特, huò bó tè ["hoo-oh boo-oh tuh"]: 霍 quickly, surname Huò, 伯 uncle, senior, surname Bó 特 surname Te
Speaker Hobert is the highest ranking official in the Polo star region, like Speaker Dunlop in the Yamu star region (see chapter 530). But Dunlop seemed to be a decent politician while Hobert is apparently a corrupt politician. There are many options to write his name: Hoo'oboo'ot', Hoo'obot, Hobbot, Hobert... not that it doesn't seem inspired from "hobbit" (哈比, hā bǐ).
27 occurrences in chapters 581 (x14), 582 (x2), 590 (x9), 593 (x2)
Mr. Speaker
议长大人 (trad. 議長大人), yìzhǎng dàrén: 议长 speaker, 大人 daren (big person), an honoriifiic used to address older people
5 occurrences in chapters 581 (x2), 590 (x2), 593
esteemed Speaker Hobert
霍伯特议长大人 (trad. 霍伯特議長大人), huò bó tè yìzhǎng dàrén: 霍伯特 Hobert 议长 chairman 大人 daren
3 occurrences in chapters 581, 590 (x2)
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the utmost power of God
裏宙領, lǐ zhòu lǐng: 裏/裡 in/inside/etc., 宙 eon (part of 宇宙 universe), 領 neck/leader
only 1 occurrence, chapter 581
As I stated before, since Chinese characters usually have several meanings and can be used as names or as sounds—phonetically. Here, it is said that Saya could rely on 裏宙領, Lǐ Zhòulǐng..? I'm lost with this sentence. I guess possible translations/interpretations could include "leader for eternity" or "inner universe leader", and since Saya has no reason to know the universe leader or the Serpentine galaxy leader (his personal story takes place in one given star region, Polo, located in the Hundred Great star district made of 100+ star regions, itself located in that galaxy made of at least hundreds of star districts... and he went to the Hundred Great interdimensional battlefield as a recruit). So, for now I'll assume that the meaning was more symbolic and translate it as God. Also, the author wrote 十力, shí lì: 十 ten, utmost 力 power
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Huang Ji
One of the martial artists in the group of recruits going to the interdimensional battlefield, in the previous arc, alongside Lu Sheng, Saya Lylesas, Tang Dun and Sarl. A level 12 killer hired by the Lylesas family, see chapter 578.
38 occurrences in chapters 533 (x2), 539 (x2), 540 (x4), 541, 544, 578 (x22), 579 (x5), 581 [last occurence, farewell Huang Ji]