Swallowing the Stars Starts with the Brewing Master

Chapter 221 The Fifth Battlefield: Building Your Own Elite Squad
"To be able to cultivate to this level within the universe is already extremely impressive."

Heiwen gave a bitter smile and sighed, "I have fought on the battlefield outside the domain for tens of thousands of years, and I have exhausted all my potential. I am only a high-level immortal military lord."

"It seems I'll never be able to break through to become a Marquis Immortal in this lifetime."

“However…” Heiwen looked at Chuhe, “Xuanming, this is your first time entering the extraterritorial battlefield. As a new recruit, you already have the strength of a high-level immortal military lord. With further training, you have a good chance of becoming a marquis.”

Chu He, however, appeared quite calm.

Although specific strength is determined by the virtual universe system, for Chu He, with the Beast God Armor concealing his aura and the assistance of the Thousand Vine Star-Eating Grass, he can choose whichever he wants within the realm of World Lord and King.

The reason for choosing the Immortal Military Lord title instead of a Marquis or King title was not only to conceal his identity, but more importantly, to obtain a military merit quota that could be completed quickly.

The military has its own rules.

Anyone arriving at this extraterritorial battlefield for the first time, regardless of who they are, is required to accumulate military merits. They cannot move freely until they have earned a sufficient number of merits.

Only after accumulating enough military merits can one gain the freedom to choose.

At that time, you can choose to "retire," "exchange for treasures," or "continue fighting," etc.

What Chuhe was thinking was to quickly accumulate enough military merits and then move around freely.

While hunting immortals to experiment with brewing, he also refined his swordsmanship based on the "Heavenly Frost Sword Technique" and the "Suspended Mirror."

For ordinary Realm Lord warriors, the amount of military merit is generally between 100 million and 1000 million.

The military merits of elite realm masters are generally set between 1000 million and 1 million.

The cost of a World Lord General is between 10 million and 1 billion.

The value of an ordinary immortal military lord is between 100 billion and 10 billion.

The maximum amount of military merit for a high-ranking immortal military leader, as set by Chuhe, is 1000 billion.

Chu He had just read the message transmitted from the virtual universe; his military merits amounted to exactly one hundred billion.

The military merits of a high-ranking immortal military lord have already reached 100 billion. If one is judged to be ennobled, accumulating enough military merits will be extremely difficult...

That would be incredibly difficult!
In terms of combat power alone, the difference between a peak Immortal Army Lord and a low-level Marquis is minimal. However, in terms of the difficulty of defeating them, the difference is a thousandfold or even ten thousandfold.

The biggest difference lies in—immortality!
Just like the mission that the Virtual Universe Company assigned to Chu He back then, in order to kill a newly appointed Immortal God [Wan Ze], they directly dispatched a small team from the Feng Xiao Clan led by an Immortal King...

This shows just how difficult it is!
Of course, with the powerful treasure, the Shocking Calamity Blade, and having passed the 18th level of the Heavenly Bridge and reached the level of understanding of the laws of the King, he was fully capable of killing a Marquis-level Immortal.

However, since you're in the military and can't fully utilize your abilities, it's better to play it safe.

In fact, even Chu He, who was ranked as a high-level immortal military lord, felt somewhat helpless.

One hundred billion military merits...

Based on the calculation that killing one peak Immortal Army Lord grants 1 billion military merits, 100 billion military merits would require killing 100 peak Immortal Army Lords!

That's too much trouble.

Seeing that Xuanming didn't want to say more, Heiwen didn't ask any more questions.

The two returned to the square together.

At this point, the granting of permissions in the square has also ended.

Eighty-six Realm Lords, nine thousand eighty-five Domain Lords, and sixty-four Universe-level beings stood neatly before the two.

"The authority granting ceremony is now complete." Black Pattern's grand voice echoed in the ears of tens of thousands of space warriors.

"Now, all of you follow me. You will all be teleported to the extraterrestrial battlefield."

"The tribal wars were massive in scale, with a total of eleven battlefields! They were called extraterritorial battlefields precisely because these battlefields were all located outside of our human territory."

"Next, you will be heading to the fifth battlefield."

"As expected, it's the fifth battlefield." Chu He's expression remained unchanged.

Before he arrived, he had already searched for the next teleportation location of the Snow Dragon Star Base.

After all, the teacher directly assigned him to the vicinity of Xuejiao Star, one of the eight major logistics bases, so it's hard to say there weren't other arrangements.

Each logistics base typically activates in sequence to transport new recruits to specific extraterritorial battlefields.

This time it's the fifth battlefield, the next time it's the sixth battlefield, and the time after that it's the seventh battlefield...

And so on and on.

The cost of opening the teleportation channel is a minor issue; the real issue is the replenishment of new recruits in the outer battlefield.

Even with his current immortal status, he still has to follow the rules of the military and can't just go to whichever battlefield he wants!

Chu He briefly recalled: "The fifth battlefield had an average mortality rate of 96.8%, ranking sixth among the eleven battlefields outside the region, which was just in the middle."

"I wonder if there's any special meaning behind the teacher arranging for me to come to this fifth battlefield, or if he just picked one randomly?"

"In the original story, Luo Feng went to the Seventh Battlefield, right? It's a pity he couldn't experience the magnificence of the Star Tower up close..."

Tens of thousands of warriors followed Heiwen and Chuhe into a huge hall.

This great hall is thousands of kilometers in diameter, and inside the enormous hall are 11 huge spatial water curtain-like passageways.

“This is the spatial passage to the Fifth Battlefield.” Black Pattern walked to one of the water curtains. “The Fifth Battlefield is a cosmic secret realm with a maximum diameter of about 100 million light-years.”

"Of course, after billions of years of slaughter, the danger of this cosmic secret realm itself has been weakened to the extreme. The main threat still comes from alien enemies."

"There are 108 military bases on the fifth battlefield. You have now been teleported to base number 065."

Looking up, Chuhe saw that the water curtain was a kilometer wide and a kilometer high.

"Good luck, Xuanming!" Heiwen looked at Chuhe and said goodbye, "When you come back from your retirement, remember to find me for a drink."

Chu He smiled, looked at the water curtain, and without saying anything, stepped into it.

After him, the realm lords, domain lords, and cosmic warriors went in one by one.

They were all inside very quickly.

After entering the spatial passage behind the water curtain, Chu He quickly arrived at the transit station of the Divine Kingdom.

Then, they entered the space passage again from this divine kingdom transit station, and time and space changed before their eyes, bringing them to another place.

Extraterritorial battlefield, Fifth Battlefield, Battalion Base No. 065.

"The new recruits have arrived?"

"Hurry up, get up and get to work, new recruits have arrived."

"Huh? So early this time?"

"I just checked the military system records, and there were Immortal God recruits in the same batch. This batch was only a few days ahead of schedule!"

"Huh? A new recruit of the Immortal Gods?"

Shouts rang out one after another.

Chu He immediately saw more than a dozen soldiers in white armor approaching, with an immortal deity in white robes at the very front.

The immortal in white robes, with flames flickering in his eyes, smiled and said, "New recruits, welcome to the Fifth Battlefield, Base 065." "Next, the Realm Lords, Domain Lords, and Universe-level beings will depart with these three."

The immortal in white robes tapped his finger and swiftly designated three leaders.

The treatment of new recruits at the Cosmic Level, Domain Lord, and World Lord levels is naturally quite different on the extraterritorial battlefield.

The cosmic-level beings and domain lords could only join the army and fight against the alien forces under the leadership of the immortal gods.

In addition to following the army, realm lords can also form or join realm lord squads, elite squads, and so on.

They can gain greater freedom and have the hope of earning more military merits.

Of course, the level of danger is also correspondingly higher.

Soon, all the new recruits followed the guides into three different passages.

The immortal in white robes then strode forward and came to Chu He.

"Haha, I didn't expect this! This time, our 065th Barracks base has received a new recruit who is an immortal god!"

"And he's a high-ranking immortal military lord!"

"I remember... the last time I encountered something similar was more than 50 epochs ago, right? Now, that person has already been ennobled!"

Immortal God recruits are already rare, but high-level Immortal Army Lord recruits... are even rarer!

"So long? Then I'll take your good wishes!" Chu He touched the black horn on his head and laughed heartily.

"Haha." The white-robed immortal god also laughed happily, leading Chu He into a spacious hall.

An immortal god recruit, and a high-level immortal military lord recruit at that, such extraordinary talent deserves to be treated this way.

"Based on the army system prompts, I'll call you [Xuanming] as well." In the hall, the white-robed immortal god said with a smile, "As an immortal god, you have three combat styles after joining the army."

"The first option is to join one of my elite squads in the 065th Barracks."

"The so-called ace squad is a squad led by an immortal king, and composed entirely of immortal gods."

"However, our human faction doesn't have many King-level powerhouses still active on this fifth battlefield, and our elite squad only has three members, all of whom have been cooperating for a long time. If you want to join, I'm afraid..."

"Let's get straight to the next part," Chu He waved his hand.

He knew about this elite squad.

In the original novel, Luo Feng encountered an elite squad composed of immortal beings from other races, but he managed to avoid a fight.

Such elite squads are basically only for immortals who know each other well, so it's practically impossible for a new recruit like him to join.

Moreover, Chuhe didn't want to stay under the nose of an immortal king all day long.

“Well, let’s talk about the second one then.” The white-robed immortal nodded, not taking it seriously.

"The second option is that you can choose to lead an army consisting of 100 World Lords, 1000 Domain Lords, and 1 Universe-level warriors."

"Your mission is to lead this army to fight on the battlefield outside the region. When you encounter powerful alien races, you will deal with the immortals among them, and your army will fight against the alien army."

"Choosing the second option, being willing to lead and protect the army, will grant an additional 50% bonus when military merits are accumulated."

"For example, when you are leading an army, you can get 1.5 million military merits for killing ordinary immortal gods."

"Besides that, when leading an army, you don't need to protect them. You only need to deal with the immortal gods of the alien races and prevent them from slaughtering."

"No, no." Chu He waved his hand again.

He didn't come to the extraterritorial battlefield to earn military merits. That extra 50% of military merits might be extremely valuable in the eyes of other immortal gods, but in Chu He's eyes, it was nothing.

“Alright.” The immortal in white robes nodded, not at all surprised by Chu He’s decision.

This second option has a bit of a "nanny" feel to it, and many immortal gods feel that it is a rather troublesome task.

"That leaves only the third option: to form your own elite squad."

"You choose all the members of the elite squad, so the squads vary in strength and the range of their operations. How things turn out depends on your skills."

“Right now, there are quite a few elite squads in my 065 barracks base selecting new World Lord recruits. You can join them.”

"Choosing this option means that military merits are accumulated normally, and we need to be careful not to make the squad's mortality rate too high."

"Build it ourselves?" Chu He became interested.

The captain of an elite squad must indeed be an immortal deity. For example, in the original novel, the elite squad that Luo Feng joined was formed by an immortal.

If he forms his own squad, he will be the strongest member of that squad!

Although it seems to combine all the drawbacks of the first two options...

For example, killing an ordinary Immortal Lord alone only increases military merit by 1 million. If you team up with others, the military merit will be split, and you will only receive a portion of it.

For example, it is also necessary to ensure that the mortality rate of the realm lords under its command is not too high, which is somewhat like being a "nanny".

However, in terms of freedom, it far surpasses the first two options.

The ability to freely explore designated locations alone completely outclasses the other two options.

"This is it!" Chu He made up his mind and asked, "So, how do I recruit team members?"

"Okay, sure." The white-robed immortal nodded and recorded and uploaded Chu He's choice.

Most immortal gods would choose this option, and that's how those elite squads were formed.

"Your choice has been recorded in the military control system. The military system will send you the latest star map of the Fifth Battlefield through the virtual universe shortly. Please pay attention to receiving it."

Immediately afterwards, the immortal in white robes looked up and ordered, "Proceed with the projection."

Suddenly, a three-dimensional virtual projection appeared on the ceiling of the hall, forming a star map that was displayed between the two people.

The star map of the entire Fifth Battlefield is extremely complex, with numerous special zones, each surrounded by text markings.

The immortal in white robes pointed at the star map and laughed, "Look at these. These billions of low-level regions have very few strong individuals. They are generally the areas where realm lords and domain lords operate."

"And here, in these tens of thousands of locations, there are many teams led by realm lords, and quite a few teams led by immortal gods, but only a handful are at the marquis level."

“These tens of thousands of locations should be the most suitable for you.”

"Of course, you can also choose one of those millions of low-level areas, but the accumulation of military merits will be much slower."

After Chu He confirmed that he had received the star map, the white-robed immortal continued:

"Now, I have sent your information to the military system, and all the realm lords still in this military base can see it. If they are interested, they will send you an email through the military system, and you can make your own choice then."

"Alternatively, you can also go to the Realm Lord's camp along that passage to recruit them yourself. There are still hundreds of thousands of Realm Lord soldiers at the Realm Lord's camp, and many of them should not be planning to follow the legion."

"Understood, thank you." Chu He bowed in thanks, then transformed into a streak of light and flew along the passage towards the Realm Lord's camp.

A moment later, we arrived at an elegantly decorated hall with tens of millions of seats.

Chu He glanced around and indeed saw hundreds of thousands of realm lords gathered here.

(End of this chapter)