Cosmic Professional Gladiator

“I wonder why the mission space was delayed until now,” Li Miaomiao mused. “Jingming, what do you think the mission space will be?”

“From the name, it should be giving us missions?” Xu Jingming answered.

“It shouldn’t be that simple,” Li Miaomiao said in thought. She looked at the time and immediately got up to walk to the bedroom. “Let’s not chat here. Let’s quickly log in.”

Xu Jingming got up as well, and the two entered the bedroom. They lay on the bed and wore their VR headsets.

“I keep having the feeling that the mission space will be a huge surprise.” Li Miaomiao turned her head to look at Xu Jingming, who was lying beside her.

“We’ll know in a while.” Xu Jingming smiled and gently touched the virtual headset. Metals inside the headset stuck to his scalp, causing his scalp to tingle slightly before his consciousness rapidly sank.

******

On the mountaintop in his virtual world’s personal space.

Xu Jingming sat in the living room leisurely and opened his personal interface. The mission space was still gray and couldn’t be opened, but an opening countdown appeared.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3… 2… 1! After Xu Jingming watched the countdown finish, the mission space could be opened just like the combat space.

“Enter.” Xu Jingming tapped lightly and headed straight for the mission space.

At this moment, countless people around the world tapped into the mission space in the virtual world.

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming appeared high in the sky overlooking a world.

This is the mission space? Xu Jingming looked down at the ground.

The land was vast, and more than 99% of the area was covered in black mist. Only the central area could be seen clearly—there was a towering tower.

Xu Jingming plummeted like a meteor and landed in front of the tower.

This tower has to be a few thousand meters tall. Even the tallest building in reality isn’t that ridiculous. Xu Jingming looked up at the tower in shock.

It towered above any real mountain in his memory.

Xu Jingming walked alone to the main door of the tower.

Text began to appear on the wall beside the tower’s main door. “First Personal Mission: Clear the Cosmos Tower.

“The Cosmos Tower has a total of seven floors.”

“The top 100 people who clear Level 3 will enter the Cosmos Ranking, and their names and nationalities will be displayed on the ranking. First place will receive 500 million Earth dollars, while second place to tenth place will receive 100 million Earth dollars. From 11th to 100th place, the prize money will be 10 million Earth dollars.”

“The rewards for the fourth and fifth levels are equivalent to the third level.”

“The rewards for the sixth and seventh levels are unknown (not public).”

“Everyone can attempt the Cosmos Tower an infinite number of times.”

Xu Jingming looked at these words and thought to himself, Challenging the Cosmos Tower is the first personal mission. This means that there might be a second and third personal mission in the future, and it might even be a team mission.

However, the prize money is quite a lot. It’s even more than the World Martial Arts Tournament’s prize money. Xu Jingming was quite tempted.

The World Martial Arts Tournament’s champion received 500 million in cash, but the runner-up only received 100 million. The prize money kept plummeting after third place, and those in the group stages received only consolation prizes. Meanwhile, the prize money for the third level—from second place to tenth place—was 100 million. There was even a prize reward of 10 million for everyone up until 100th place.

…

A global public ranking? Won’t it be obvious who’s world champion and world number two? In Japan, a long-haired man in dark-red robes looked at the Japanese text on the Cosmos Tower’s wall with a glint in his eyes.

…

Experts from all over the world and different eras are all gathered. If a comprehensive list of the top 100 in the world can be produced, there’s no need for any further bickering. A bald man looked at the Russian on the tower wall. I can also prove to the world that I’m the world’s strongest human!

…

“Even the nationality will be shown. Experts from all over the world will definitely fight tooth and nail for it. Moreover, the prize money is so plentiful.”

“500 million? 100 million? Even the minimum of 10 million will make me rich. Just throwing it in the bank will give me hundreds of thousands in interest annually.”

“That’s so much money. If I can get it, I can pay off my loan!”

“Let’s quickly enter and give it a try. Perhaps a miracle will happen?”

“The Earth Alliance is amazing. It’s giving out so much prize money!”

“It’s up for grabs whilst stocks last! Let’s go!”

“I’m first!”

Countless people around the world broke into a frenzy when they saw the words on the Cosmos Tower’s wall. They swarmed into the tower—Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, Lei Yunfang, Gao Chong, Yang Qingshuo, and so on.

******

The first level of the Cosmos Tower was a vast grassland.

A figure landed—it was none other than Xu Jingming—and a blurry light enveloped him.

“Xu Jingming, please choose your weapon and equipment,” a voice said.

Xu Jingming tapped the interface with great familiarity. He donned dark-red armor and held a spear in his hand.

In team combat, dual shields could sometimes be of greater use when cooperating with teammates, but if he was to kill the enemy by himself, just one spear was better. Without the dual shields, the weight he carried would be a lot lower.

Whoosh. 

After choosing his equipment, gray wolves appeared in the distance. More than 100 gray wolves lurked in the grass, staring at Xu Jingming as they approached.

A pack of wolves? Xu Jingming held his spear and observed. These gray wolves are more than two meters long, and their shoulders span about 1.2 meters tall. From the looks of it, their agility far exceeds that of actual wolf packs. That’s right—ordinary wolves are too weak against evolved humans.

The wolf pack closed in and very naturally dispersed to form an encirclement.

“Howl—”

With the alpha wolf’s howl, the gray wolves finally charged forward. Their figures were faintly discernible in the lush grass, and they were extremely fast.

Their eyes were cold and filled with killing intent.

“Are you here to help me practice my spearmanship?” Xu Jingming smiled and took the initiative to step forward. In just a few steps, his speed increased, and his figure turned into a blur as he ran.

Roar!

The moment both parties approached each other, a total of six gray wolves lunged forward.

Pu! Pu! Pu!

The spear in Xu Jingming’s hand moved and produced a flurry of afterimages. Almost instantly, the spear seemed to split into six!

The six vanguard wolves seemed to have their bodies stabbed at the same time as they tumbled to the side weakly.

They’re much weaker than my virtual bandits. They probably only have 200 basic combat strength? Xu Jingming thought. At the same time, he held his spear and rampaged through the wolf pack. Wherever he passed, spear after spear flashed as gray wolves fell to the ground.

With the size of these gray wolves, only eight of them could attack him at the same time.

With Xu Jingming’s speed, he could finish them all off with a single strike. If they separately attacked in packs of three to five, they were a piece of cake.

In about 30 seconds, all that was left of the massive wolf pack were two lucky gray wolves. The two gray wolves were so frightened that they whimpered softly and fled into the distance.

“You have cleared the first level. Prepare to enter the second level of the Cosmos Tower,” said a voice.

Xu Jingming’s body had also recovered—even the blood on his spear had disappeared.

The first level is really simple, Xu Jingming thought to himself. He suddenly thought of his girlfriend. Perhaps it’s not that friendly to rookies like Miaomiao.

To Li Miaomiao, even a single large gray wolf posed a threat.

With more than a hundred of them ganking? It was too cruel to the newbies!

Whoosh.

The scene in front of Xu Jingming changed—he had arrived at the second floor of the Cosmos Tower.