142: I woke up at planetary level?

*Yawn—*

Qiao Yu slowly woke up within the soft internal structure of the level 3 fungal nest. Although he had felt sleepy during previous nest upgrades, it wasn't like this time, where he couldn't control his drowsiness at all; he might as well have been in a coma.

"My physical fitness was at the level of an Intermediate War God, and my Psycher Master Rank had already reached Invincible War God. The next step in advancement would be the Planetary Level. Was this uncontrollable exhaustion because I've already reached the Planetary Level?"

Qiao Yu thought curiously and began attempting to fly through the air purely by controlling himself. However, when Qiao Yu struck a Superman-like flying pose, nothing changed.

"Eh? What's going on?"

Qiao Yu wasn't particularly clear about the changes happening to his body; it seemed like there was a change, yet also like there wasn't.

"System, why didn't my strength increase along with the fungal nest upgrade?"

Qiao Yu asked the System.

[Responding to host: This fungal nest upgrade primarily focused on expanding the host's physical capacity, allowing the host's body to withstand more cosmic energy and power. The energy required for the Realm upgrade has been accumulated within the level 3 fungal nest. The host can upgrade their Realm at any time according to their will.]

"So that means I can reach the Planetary Level whenever I want."

Qiao Yu nodded, fairly satisfied with the System's response. At least it hadn't embezzled the energy meant for his upgrade to the Planetary Level.

"Breaking through the Realm at will, huh? That's fine. I don't know if there are strength limits within the Ancient Civilization Ruins. If I couldn't enter the trial in Ancient Civilization Ruins No. 9 because my strength was too high, that would be quite a loss."

After all, Ancient Civilization Ruins No. 9 was a trial ground Hu Yanbo used to test Earth's Martial Artists. If the Martial Artists' strength was too far beyond the bracket, what would be the point of the trial? He might as well just hand over the rewards.

*Boom!*

Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed across the horizon, instantly putting Qiao Yu on high alert.

"What happened?"

Qiao Yu was currently inside the level 3 fungal nest beneath Taihu Lake and didn't know what was happening outside.

This loud bang sounded like something exploding. Could something have happened while he was asleep?

Qiao Yu quickly mobilized the fungal nest's vision within the city and looked toward the location where the sound originated.

He saw that the buildings surrounding the city were all pitch black; there was nothing. It seemed the incident wasn't inside the city, but in the Wilderness Area.

"Could it be infighting between King-level Monsters?"

Qiao Yu immediately condensed a Fungus Flying Monster to check the situation. As soon as the Fungus Monster soared into the air, it saw a massive mushroom cloud in the distance.

"Holy crap? A nuclear blast? Such a huge mushroom cloud?"

The Fungus Monster's eyes widened in total disbelief.

Was it because he had driven these King-level Monsters to a mental breakdown over the past few days? Or had they already encroached on human living space while expanding their Domains, leading to a nuclear strike?

Qiao Yu was completely in the dark about this. He hadn't expected so much to happen while he just slept for a dozen or so hours.

Qiao Yu continued to control the flying monster toward the mushroom cloud. The closer it got, the more intense the heat waves felt.

It was only April, and with the continuous light rain, the temperature had been cool. Yet, he could feel the heat from the explosion evaporating the moisture in the air into steam.

The Fungus Flying Monster lowered its altitude, and only then did he see the densely packed monsters in the surrounding Wilderness Area, along with human Martial Artists wrapped entirely in black clothing.

"This is?"

Qiao Yu's eyes widened as he pulled the vision closer, confirming that those fighting the monsters on the ground were indeed human Martial Artists.

And looking at the material of their clothes, it was clearly the black god set. Were every single one of them Gods of War?

"This many? There must be several hundred of them?"

In the area where Qiao Yu was, hundreds of War God Martial Artists were surrounding and suppressing a King-level Monster's nest. Since other areas were far away, he didn't know the exact numbers there.

However, Qiao Yu could guess that it was impossible for only this many people to have been deployed.

Based on his previous experience being investigated by the authorities, the War God Palace must have deployed so many people because he had caused some kind of trouble again, allowing the officials to detect an anomaly.

After another round of investigation and research, they likely concluded it might pose a threat to humanity.

Qiao Yu estimated that the authorities had linked his actions with these King-level Monsters. It was most likely because the Fungus Monsters had assimilated all the low-level monsters in the vicinity, causing an abnormal gathering of ordinary and King-level Monsters that made the officials nervous. Thinking this, Qiao Yu figured it out.

As the culprit, he felt no guilt whatsoever, only finding it amusing.

A small move on his part had provoked the War God Palace to deploy more than half its personnel for a suppression campaign. How could that not be exciting? It was the greatest recognition of his strength.

Qiao Yu continued to observe the battle below. With hundreds of veteran Martial Artists wearing the black god set on the field, the battle could only be described as one-sided.

After several hours of working together, the level of coordination between the Gods of War had grown higher and higher. It was already difficult for average Lord-level Monsters to damage the War God teams through sheer numbers alone.

Usually, one person was responsible for drawing aggro while several others were responsible for quick kills, cooperating with seamless chemistry.

Just as Qiao Yu was enjoying the show, a chilling sensation was transmitted from the Fungus Monster back to Qiao Yu inside the level 3 fungal nest.

Qiao Yu hastily looked back, only to be met—or rather, for the Fungus Flying Monster to be met—with a vicious slash from a bald man. The Fungus Monster instantly experienced the same treatment the Flame Spitter had received during its execution, its body split in two.

Although the Fungus Monster was split in two, it didn't die from it; it just could no longer continue flying.

Thunder God guessed that this flying monster was likely sent from a certain area to scout the situation. If it were allowed to return and report early, it might cause monsters from that area to come help or flee in advance.

Although he didn't know which specific area it was from, he would just kill them all. Regardless, all monsters deserved to die.

Through the perspective of the falling flying monster, Qiao Yu saw that the one who had split it in two was none other than Thunder God—his master in name only. Aside from giving him a full set of Secret Manuals, Thunder God hadn't fulfilled any other duties expected in a master-disciple relationship.

However, Qiao Yu hadn't expected much anyway. If it hadn't been for his desire to quickly become stronger through Thunder God, he wouldn't have gone along with Thunder God's wishes to become his disciple.

It could only be said that there was a reason Thunder God didn't take disciples. In nearly half a year, not only had he never checked in, but this cheap master probably hadn't even remembered him until now.

At this thought, an interesting idea suddenly popped into Qiao Yu's head. Why not try letting the Fungus Monster army compete against the many Gods of War from the War God Palace and Thunder God? He could also test exactly how strong he was now.