355: The importance of ranking (2nd update 3k words)

Black Le met Lin Yang's gaze without flinching, and said frankly, "People from the Great Universe Country won't trade with us, people from ordinary universes. And this condition, to be honest, they wouldn't even consider it. As for universes with similar strength, they don't have the ability to guarantee an extra person's successful advancement. So..."

"So you came to me?" Lin Yang chuckled.

The people from the Great Universe Country didn't care for it, so they came to him?

"Ahem, Lin Yang, please don't misunderstand. I presume you also come from an extraordinary background. It's just that you are currently fighting alone, which is why I took the liberty to bring it up. Of course, if you are unwilling, then just pretend I never said anything," Black Le quickly explained.

Lin Yang smiled again and asked, "Black Le, are the active substances you can provide all of the same characteristic, or...?"

"This... they are mixed."

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Black Le's face: "It's not that easy to gather so many active substances of the same characteristic."

"Alright." Lin Yang immediately understood why guy didn't look for others to cooperate with.

Aside from the objective reasons Black Le just mentioned, another reason was that all the active substances he offered had different characteristics.

If others wanted to use them, they would have to find channels to exchange them for active substances suitable for their own characteristics.

But for exchanges, as far as Lin Yang knew, not only were the channels few, but they also required a considerable extra fee.

Especially merchants in the black market, who were all profit-driven, the extra fees for exchange were even higher.

Of course, one could also exchange active substances suitable for their own characteristics with others who had needs, but if the quantity was too small, it wouldn't even be worth the cost of a single cross-universe transaction.

So, in terms of quantity, these mixed active substances were a bit awkward.

However, if all these active substances were of the same characteristic, their value could easily be several times higher.

After all, a few scattered active substances couldn't increase much Extraordinary activity, but if these hundreds, especially those fifty medium-grade active substances, were all of the same characteristic, then they would be much more useful.

They might even allow an ordinary Extraordinary Warrior to fuse with Extraordinary matter once more.

The type and characteristic of active substances, as well as their quality, greatly affected their value.

But then again, if all these active substances were of the same characteristic, Black Le probably wouldn't have approached him; there would surely be powerful universes willing to cooperate.

Everything has two sides.

Lin Yang was brainstorming, and Black Le, seeing his silence, thought he was a bit unwilling, so he immediately said,

"Naturally, we also know that exchanging for active substances of the same characteristic is troublesome. So, if you are willing to cooperate, we are willing to offer an additional ten medium-grade active substances as a service fee for the exchange."

"Uh, ten more?" Lin Yang was stunned.

He hadn't spoken just now not because he was unwilling, but because for him, any active substance could be absorbed.

He just didn't expect that his momentary contemplation would lead Black Le to proactively add ten more.

This... "Yes, Lin Yang."

Black Le nodded.

"This is also our limit. For ordinary universes like ours, it took a long time to accumulate this many active substances."

"Oh..." Lin Yang murmured, then nodded and said, "Since you are so sincere, then I wish us a pleasant cooperation."

He agreed to cooperate.

He wouldn't refuse such a good offer.

If it were someone else, they might have to consider the hassle of exchange, but he didn't need to.

He could directly absorb any active substance.

Black Le was immediately overjoyed and excitedly said, "Thank you, Lin Yang, happy cooperation!"

Lin Yang was a bit puzzled by this: "Black Le, in terms of the value of active substances alone, it's almost comparable to the material rewards given for advancing to the Second Stage of the Cosmic Competition. Is it really necessary for you to do this?"

"Of course it's necessary!"

Black Le immediately gave a bitter smile: "Lin Yang, you come from an extraordinary background and don't know how important the ranking of the Cosmic Competition is to ordinary universes like ours."

"How important?" Lin Yang asked calmly.

This guy mistakenly thought he had a background, so he might as well let him continue to misunderstand. There was no harm in getting more information now.

"Alas, for us ordinary universes attached to the Universe Alliance, some resources and technologies can only be obtained through the Universe Alliance."

Black Le explained:

"Because we ourselves do not have the strength to acquire those resources and technologies, but those resources and technologies are crucial for the development and advancement of cosmic civilization. Therefore, we must do our utmost to seize any opportunity to obtain them."

"And the Cosmic Competition, in a way, is one of the standards by which the Universe Alliance judges whether a universe has potential and is worth investing in, and this standard carries a very high weight."

"It is said that the Universe Alliance believes that if a universe does not have many outstanding young successors, it is very prone to generational gaps, and thus it is not worth the Universe Alliance increasing investment and providing more resource tilt. Instead, it will allocate more resources to those universes with more outstanding young successors."

"As for this evaluation standard, it is usually determined by the Cosmic Competition ranking. Therefore, the Cosmic Competition ranking is very important for most universes, as it concerns the acquisition of resources and technical support for decades until the next Cosmic Competition begins."

At this point, Black Le paused, sighed, and said, "Even a single rank improvement can lead to more resource tilt and technical support. If we advance to the Second Stage, it will be even more, both in terms of quality and quantity, far exceeding the First Stage."

"Not to mention the post-competition contention. If we consistently rank at the bottom, we will not only lose the Universe Alliance's resource tilt but also be plundered of a large amount of resources during the post-competition contention phase, which will only make us weaker and weaker."

"The strong get stronger, and the weak get weaker. Therefore, some universes will even go to great lengths in certain critical competition years, even at a loss, to seek help from some advanced universes to achieve the highest possible ranking."

"..."

Black Le spoke a lot in one breath, and Lin Yang listened with a sigh.

This was indeed cruel enough.

"It sounds like the Universe Alliance places a lot of emphasis on nurturing new talent?"

Then, Lin Yang asked.

"More or less."

Black Le nodded.

"What if a genius appears in a certain universe during a non-Cosmic Competition period, but is at a disadvantage due to insufficient resources for cultivation and inability to participate?" Lin Yang asked again.

He had asked the White Fatty Old Man this question before.

The White Fatty Old Man's answer at the time was that the other party could only blame their bad luck.

He now wanted to corroborate it again.

Black Le heard this, smiled, and said, "Then this so-called genius can only blame their bad luck. The Universe Alliance places great importance on luck. If they are born in a non-competition year and in a weak universe, then it can only be said that this so-called genius is not blessed by fortune. The Universe Alliance generally doesn't care about such unlucky geniuses."

"The Universe Alliance values luck that much?" This time Lin Yang was truly surprised.

The extent to which the Universe Alliance valued luck was actually so exaggerated?

"Yes, but I don't know the specific reason. Anyway, if the situation you mentioned occurs, and that genius is blessed with luck, the early stages might be a bit difficult, but they will still have a chance to shine later. If they are completely buried, it means they truly have bad luck, and the Universe Alliance won't care about such people."

Black Le also sighed endlessly:

"For the Universe Alliance, there will never be a shortage of lucky geniuses, let alone those who are out of luck. The Universe Alliance doesn't lack unlucky geniuses."

"..." Lin Yang was silent for a moment.

Black Le's answer was largely similar to the White Fatty Old Man's previous answer.

Both pointed to the Universe Alliance's great emphasis on the ethereal concept of luck.

This was quite interesting.

"The Universe Alliance places so much importance on a person's luck. What secret does it hold?"

Your Excellency Lin Yang's heart was filled with curiosity.

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, do you have any other questions? If not, shall we sign the contract?"

Black Le saw Lin Yang silently, waited for a while, and then couldn't help but ask.

"No, let's sign it." Lin Yang shook his head.

"Alright." Black Le's spirits immediately lifted.

The so-called contract was to ensure that neither party would take money without fulfilling their obligations.

In the contract, Lin Yang also added a clause: if the free-for-all battle was particularly intense, and he himself found it difficult to advance, he could not guarantee 100% that he would bring that competitor along.

Black Le readily agreed to this, merely stating that he would do his best.

Once the contract terms were agreed upon, they immediately became effective on the Universe Alliance's contract system.

Black Le was also straightforward, directly prepaying the active substances.

At the same time, he informed Lin Yang about their competitor's situation and called the competitor to meet Lin Yang.

The competitor who needed Lin Yang to advance with him was named — Time.

"Time? A name with quite a meaning." Your Excellency Lin Yang muttered.

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, I've long heard of your great name. I am honored to be able to fight alongside you this time."

Time was very polite, immediately praising him.

The other nine competitors also expressed in unison that they would do their best to buy more time for the two of them.

Lin Yang waved his hand: "Let's fight side by side, no need to be so polite. We still have some time, let's conserve our energy first."

Chatting can also be very tiring... Just as Lin Yang and Black Le reached an agreement, several other universe heads, who had intelligence networks in Neutral Universe No. 6, saw him talking so cordially with Black Le. One by one, they approached, wanting to get acquainted with him first to facilitate future discussions.

Lin Yang dealt with them for a while, then simply entered the competition zone early to avoid them.

As soon as he entered, Time and the others followed him in, spreading out around him, centering him, and encircling him.

Seeing this, other universe heads on the stands who were familiar with Black Le couldn't help but turn to look at Black Le, exclaiming,

"Black Le, what's going on? Your people are going all out to protect him? Have you successfully invited him to fight for your universe?"

The other universe heads were all shocked. Lin Yang had explicitly rejected their invitations before, but now he was participating with Black Le's people.

This made them unable to help but overthink.

Black Le, however, merely wore an enigmatic smile and calmly uttered two words: "Guess!"

"..."

The other universe heads immediately looked at each other... One day later.

"Attention, all competitors, the First Stage of the Cosmic Competition, Universe Arena, will officially begin in five minutes. Please prepare for battle!"

A crisp electronic voice suddenly echoed throughout the entire competition zone.

Lin Yang, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, instantly opened them, his gaze shining brightly.

"The Cosmic Competition has finally begun!"

... — —

The second 3000-character chapter is here. Today's update consists of two 3000-character chapters, totaling 6000 characters.

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