War Worlds

Genma cleared his throat before he spoke. "First, allow me to explain what a war world is. The battle with the insectoids has been going on here since before the system existed in fact, you will find out here in the boundless expanse of space , there are countless races and factions all vying for supremacy and fighting with their lives on the line all with the same goal, to raise the strongest experts and to ascend to the upper layer. That action for races that aren't us humans has a significant meaning that you will learn when you are enrolled in the academy."

"Not to mention that the more war you wage, the more forces you can subjugate and the more resources you can take for yourself to then raise even more experts increasing the chance that one of them can step into the ranks of demigods and move up. Now back to what I was saying about insectoids, they are the giant mana wielding insects that you saw upon your arrival here and also they are the originators of the zombie parasite, an evolution that in the past hundred or so years has proven dangerous for humanity."

"Thanks to the wars that rages across the different worlds, there are some worlds that the academy has designated War Worlds, they exist as hotbeds of resources that are constantly fought over, leaving them in a state of near constant war, these planets are blood baths no matter where they lay. There are different levels to them as well, which include factors of what races are here and what resources can be gained."

"As to how we got here, I can only blame unfortunate luck, some type of treasure was birthed on this planet right as we passed which caused the mana of the planet to drastically increase which in turn increased its gravitational pull which would have been no issue if at the same time the forces fighting here noticed us and an expert shot us out of the sky." Rowan nodded to show his understanding of everything that had gotten them to this point. "So after the ship is repaired we can't just leave can we? We have to deal with whoever was capable of shooting you down when you got here?"

Genma confirmed with a sigh, "The only issue is that I don't know who or what had done it, unluckily for us that as humans we are public enemy number one, that was just an advanced force from both sides." Rowan looked at him confused "Wait what do you mean both sides? I thought you just said it was insectoids and zombies and the zombie parasite is just an evolution of the insectoids?" Genma tapped a console and a bottle and two glasses revealed itself from a side cabinet where he then poured and handed one to Rowan before sitting back down.

"I apologize for not fully explaining, mind the history lesson, so originally the insectoids evolved to give birth to the first parasite queen who would in turn give birth to zombies but the zombies that evolved past a certain point realized that not only would they get an undying body out of this but that they would be able to gain the racial benefits of human bloodlines at the same time. They then told the original insectoids that they were superior about fifty years ago , and they have been at war ever since, though they will very easily put those differences aside for the sake of killing humans, to them we are treasure troves. The regular insectoids can consume us like we are tonics to increase their cultivation and zombies will sometimes capture gifted individuals and personally insert a parasite into them and turn them into one of their forces."

The issue is that both races have an obscene spawn rate, not even speaking of their ability to evolve to deal with adversity. All in all, in the past hundred years, they have become the two most feared forces on our layer, the insectoids and the zombies." With that, he downed his glass and winced while Rowan downed his as well. The burn from it was more soothing than painful as he savored the different flavors that he tasted. It wasn't anything to write home about, though. He turned back to Genma "Alright so to leave, one of us needs to be able to kill a demigod on a world where we are surrounded by enemies, with no supplies or anything else? Did I get all of that right?" Genma looked sullen as he downed another glass and poured another for Rowan and nodded in assent. "In layman's terms, we are up shit's creek without a paddle."

Rowan stood up and stretched. "The academy, all I had to be was over level 50 and rank five to qualify, correct? There is no limit on what my cultivation is right?" Genma's eyes seemed to light up at Rowan's words. "Yea, anything past that point is up to your individual talents. I think the highest among you will be rank 7. Your cultivation speed is by no means normal. The system has changed so that levels represent the stage of a cultivation, and while mana can in fact still be gained from enemies as exp its value has diminished, so more emphasis is placed on personally cultivating.

That was something that Rowan did know about, because while it was in fact a change to the system, it was a change that he suggested. The exp system in fact works off of his masters' laws of devouring, but in turn it made it so that some experts would have less pure mana, so Rowan told Empry about filtering it and then it could be used as a boost. Rowan started going through a whole host of stretches while Genma drank quietly to the side on his own until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Rowan, why are you stretching for? Did you not just hear anything we talked about, then allow me to elaborate even further? The grades of War worlds is on a scale based on the highest tier of enemy there. In the case of a planet with a demigod existence, the limit any being on this layer can reach." Genma said all of that with a huff and a puff as his face had grown ruddy from the alcohol that he had consumed. Rowan smiled at Genma, who was drunk and wallowing.

"Yea, but you and Feng still being alive gives away two things. The first is that, despite sending forces after you it wasn't enough of a priority to send any big shots so no biggy there and the second thing is that even if the enemy on the other side of this is in fact a demigod, then they must be on the weaker side because otherwise they wouldn't have just damaged the ship, they would have torn you out the sky and swatted you like the fly they see you as. Therefore that means your only responsibility right now is to buy me and Feng some time." Rowan looked at him and kind of cocked his head to the side with a silly grin.

"Come on you know damn well that was funny, not even a chuckle or anything?" Genma just sat there looking somewhat dejected. "It's no real time to laugh young man, I was distraught enough thinking that I've gotten both my apprentice and myself killed and now instead of just the two of us, I will now die with the weight of the lives of you and your friends as well." Rowan finally sighed while the full force of his cultivation bore down on the command room. He was currently boosted from the souls from the previous fight which meant that truthfully right now both of his stats simply were over 2000, he could kill any being within two ranks of him with a flick of his finger currently, and that was just right now. The pressure astounded Genma and sobered him in the same breath.

"I have no intention of dying here, old man. I've got other plans and no intention of just kicking the bucket because of some shitty odds. If I'm being honest, I'm unbearably excited. I was just lamenting over the fact that my homeworld had no challenges and now you've offered such a great one. If the system thought this would be a challenge to me, then it would have issued a quest. It didn't because this was simply within my ability."

Rowan had not received a single quest since the update not because the system wasn;t giving them out any more but with his masters training he would be hard pressed by most things unless they were from the same place as his master. He simply needed to cultivate and polish his battle abilities until he became a demigod and then he could follow through with the real quest he had, ending the leader of the necromancer association. He turned back to Genma, "Buy me three days of time to break through and then I'll go out and claim the life of this demigod myself, and while im at it, why not wipe out a planet of scourges hopefully by then ill be able to see what more I can do with all of these souls.