I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

"so hard."

Xue Jing bit down hard on the meat in his mouth, chewing for a while until his cheeks ached, before he could barely chew the meat.

"The taste is weird too."

For some reason, the dragon meat has a sour, astringent taste, similar to that of plants.

"Forget it, I'm not eating it. It's garbage."

He flicked his Futu Blade, shaking off all the dirt with a powerful motion, and then sheathed the blade.

He then took out a compressed biscuit from his backpack and ate it.

The person reflected in the water, who had been squatting down and hugging their knees in self-isolation, couldn't help but speak up when they saw Xue Jing eating so leisurely:

Why do you look so unconcerned?

"We're going to be stuck in this border area forever..."

Xue Jing glanced at it, smiled, and said:

"You don't seem to have much faith in me."

The person in the mirror paused for a moment, then spoke:

“It’s not that I don’t have confidence in you… Your ability to hunt such a high-risk dragon species alone is enough to prove that you are quite capable.”

"But pure-blooded dragons are different. The terror of those creatures is unlike any other dragon species you've ever encountered."

“That is a ‘real dragon’.”

The person in the mirror spoke in a very serious tone.

"Among all the creatures of the borderlands, excluding a few special individuals, they are the race closest to 'gods'!"

It looked up at Xue Jing from its reflection in the water.

"You are very young. To have the strength to defeat a high-danger dragon at this age is truly remarkable. In the more than two hundred years since I was born, I have seen countless genius humans. There are very few people who can compare with you at the same age. I have only seen forty or fifty people stronger than you."

Xue Jing complained, "Isn't this a pretty large quantity?"

The person in the mirror glared at him: "Don't interrupt."

"I've lived for over two hundred years. In that long time, there have been countless great figures recorded in history books. There are far fewer people who can compare to you, or even surpass you!"

Xue Jing stroked his chin: "Now that you say it like that, I feel much better."

The person in the mirror crossed his arms and said, "But even for a genius like you, wanting to kill a pure-blooded dragon, even a young pure-blooded dragon, is just wishful thinking."

"Just the 'Dragon Thunder' that all pure-blooded dragons can wield, along with their powerful bodies, would be difficult for you to deal with, not to mention that their core organs also possess unique abilities."

"If it is an ability that is exceptionally suited for combat, its level of danger will increase several notches."

Xue Jing smiled and said, "We should at least give it a try."

The person in the mirror tilted their head: "Judging from your expression, you don't seem to be blindly confident that you can defeat a pure-blooded dragon... Do you have some other advantage?"

Xue Jing said, "Of course there is, you'll see when the time comes..."

Then, he changed the subject, "By the way, you can only stay in the water? That's very inconvenient."

The person in the mirror: "I can enter any 'mirror' that can reflect light."

Its gaze fell on the black bracelet on Xue Jing's wrist.

That was a recording bracelet that Dr. Shen gave him. The surface material was very similar to a black mobile phone screen, very smooth, and could be used as a mirror, so it could be considered a 'mirror'.

The figure in the mirror disappeared from its reflection in the water, and the next moment, its voice came from Xue Jing's bracelet.

"As long as the two 'mirrors' can reflect each other, I can move freely between them."

"I'll stay here from now on."

Xue Jing stretched out his hand and glanced at the black bracelet.

His image was reflected on the smooth black surface of the bracelet. Because the bracelet was bent, the mirror was a convex mirror, which made Xue Jing's image look somewhat distorted.

The little boy-like figure in the mirror is sitting on his shoulder, his body also somewhat distorted due to the convex shape.

"Although I don't know what you're relying on, let's treat a dead ant as a live ant and see what you can do."

Xue Jing corrected, "It's like trying to revive a dead horse."

The person in the mirror pouted and said, "Of course I know. Can't you tell I'm just being clever? You're such a young person, yet you're so rigid."

Xue Jing raised an eyebrow: "It feels rather strange to be told this by someone your age."

The person in the mirror snorted: "I am not like you humans. My emotions are not controlled by the hormones secreted by my body. No matter how old I get, I will not grow old. Neither my body nor my mind will."

Hearing this, Xue Jing became somewhat curious.

He asked, "By the way, how do you divine relics perceive yourselves? Do you see yourselves as 'children of God'?"

Upon hearing this, the person in the mirror stretched out his hand, shook his index finger, and said, "No, the so-called divine relic is just a concept that you humans have arbitrarily imposed on me. In fact, I do not recognize it."

"After the death of God, his blood was scattered throughout the world and resided in all things, thus giving birth to divine relics... This is the most mainstream theory among humankind at present, but we 'divine relics' have no related memories."

"For example, when I was born, I was just like you human babies, ignorant and clueless. I observed you humans in the mirror for a long time before I gradually learned your language and formed some knowledge."

"As far as I'm concerned, I don't consider myself to be anything 'left behind by God,' but rather a special life form that was born by chance."

The person in the mirror spoke, then changed the subject:

"However, although I do not believe that I have any relationship with God, you humans are right about one thing."

“We, these ‘divine relics,’ are indeed of the same kind.”

Xue Jing asked curiously, "Oh? How so?"

The person in the mirror pondered for a moment, then said:

"It's a vague, instinctive feeling. We 'divine relics' can sense that there's a strange hierarchical relationship between ourselves and each other."

"You humans rank the relics of the gods based on this to a large extent."

"For example, the Mirror World belongs to the 'top tier' among us."

Xue Jing asked in confusion, "What exactly is the difference? Superior and inferior?"

The person in the mirror replied, "Of course there is. Whenever our abilities conflict with each other, the divine relic of the lower level will be covered by the divine relic of the higher level."

"For example, right now, I clearly possess the conceptual-level ability to move between all mirrors. Theoretically speaking, the [Mirror World] is a mirror reflecting the present world, so I should be able to move freely between the Mirror World and the present world."

"But in fact, I am completely unable to leave... This is because the Mirror World is above me, and its abilities cover my abilities."

The person in the mirror glanced at the glasses Xue Jing was wearing.

"The ability of your glasses is to reduce presence. I can vaguely sense that it is very low in the divine relic... If there is a divine relic above it that amplifies presence on you, then the ability of these glasses will be covered up and rendered ineffective."

Xue Jing nodded and exclaimed, "There's such a thing as divine relics; I've learned something new."

He took off the [GOD-1280 - Ordinary Glasses].

In an instant, the suppressed, intense presence suddenly burst forth from him as if it had exploded.

Caught off guard, the person in the mirror was momentarily dizzy from the swaying.

He was stunned for a while, carefully examined Xue Jing's appearance, nodded, and pondered, "I see."

"No wonder that little girl Wu Youqing was in such a hurry, even lying to me and tricking me into coming to this border area to inform you."

"Now that I see what you look like, I finally understand."

"Hmph, so she's just a mere teenage girl. I overestimated her."

The person in the mirror spoke with a hint of mockery and ridicule.

Xue Jing understood what it meant. He smiled and said, "You must have misunderstood."

"The Wu Youqing I know is not a superficial woman whose judgment is influenced by lust."

“She values ​​me a lot… but it must be for other reasons.”

The person in the mirror stared at him for a while, smiled, and said noncommittally, "Is that so..."

"Let's stop this small talk. What are your plans next?"

Xue Jing stood up, stretched, and took out a map of dragon species distribution from the backpack held by the Shadowflame Crow next to him, spreading it out.

"Some preparations need to be made before dealing with pure-blooded dragons."

His finger traced over the remaining red dots on the map.

"First, trim all its feathers."

……

after one day.

"Roar--!!"

Amidst a mournful dragon roar, a colossal dragon, its body covered in hard armor, collapsed to the ground with a deafening crash.

The immense weight caused the ground to tremble.

Xue Jing squatted on the neck of the armored dragon and pulled the Futu Blade, which was burning with black flames, from the dragon's neck.

"呲-"

[Slaying a special creature possessing divinity grants +232 divinity]

[Possessing Divinity: 1324]

Xue Jing glanced at the panel, wiped the sweat from his face, and nodded:

"It's done."

The person in the mirror inside the black bracelet clicked their tongue in astonishment:

"They actually wiped out almost all the dragons in the entire border region..."

"Your strength... is still beyond my expectations."

"While it's still impossible to deal with a pure-blooded dragon, I admit that you are indeed among the most talented humans I've ever seen... second only to some monsters that defy common sense."

Xue Jing smiled and said, "The result is still within the range of 'normal people'. It seems I still have to keep working hard."