Chapter 572 — Mission & Opportunity

Although Liora had never met this person before, it wasn’t difficult for her to guess his identity.

After all, the method she had used to arrive here had come from him.

War God—the famous Awakener who served as the Dean of the War Academy.

Rumor had it that he had reached Rank 10 long ago and stood among the strongest humans throughout the Federation.

Now that she saw him in person, Liora could confirm that those rumors contained a trace of truth.

She had encountered several Rank 10 Awakeners during her journey through the Blood Forest Realm.

However, only a handful could compare to the War God in terms of strength.

As for those who surpassed him, only the Human Emperor came to mind.

Judging from the countless corpses floating inside this vast expanse, the War God was considered a powerhouse even among Rank 10 Awakeners.

At the very least, he was powerful enough to slay opponents of the same Rank.

Countless thoughts flashed through Liora’s mind, though less than a moment had passed in the real world.

Meeting the War God’s gaze and sensing a pair of eyes that seemed capable of piercing through her disguise to examine her true nature, Liora offered him a respectful nod.

On the surface, she deliberately appeared confused, imitating how an ordinary student would react.

"I don’t know how I should address Your Excellency?", she asked.

The War God smiled faintly and waved his hand.

"Haha. There is no reason for such formalities.", he chuckled softly.

"In a sense, you can also be considered my student. After all, I am nominally the teacher of every student within the War Academy."

"If you wish, you may call me ’Teacher’, or simply address me by my title—War God."

Hearing these words, Liora nodded once more.

The tension in her posture seemed to ease slightly, though she still maintained the nervousness one would naturally display when standing before a Rank 10 powerhouse.

"Teacher, may I ask why you’ve summoned me here..."

Before she could finish, the War God interrupted her again.

"Don’t worry. It’s not anything bad. If anything, it is a good thing for you.", he prefaced his words, as though trying to comfort her.

After a brief pause, he continued:

"In fact, I’ve been paying attention to you for quite some time now."

"Ever since you challenged the Blood Arena and became the Guardian of multiple arenas, I began observing you."

"Back then, I even intended to accept you as my personal student.", he shook his head with some regret.

"Unfortunately, your Trial began soon after, and then this war erupted."

"Now, I’m afraid that the opportunity has already passed."

Towards the back, his tone became slightly mysterious.

His eyes rested upon Liora, seemingly capable of seeing through her secrets.

Rank 7. That was the strength he sensed hidden within her body.

Although Liora was attempting to "conceal" it, such concealment was meaningless before someone of his level.

A momentary flicker of surprise flashed through the War God’s eyes.

Perhaps no one would have ever expected that a first-year student, and a person who had awakened less than half a year ago, would manage to become a World Lord so soon.

Even within the Cosmic Universe, such a level of strength was enough to enter the ranks of true experts.

It was more than sufficient to become a professor at a Super Academy or serve as a general on one of the many extraterrestrial battlefields.

"When that person praised your potential before, I remained somewhat skeptical."

"After all, possessing extraordinary talent and truly growing to live up to that are two very different things."

"Now, it seems that you’ve proven them correct. Your journey in the Blood Forest Realm must have yielded quite an extraordinary harvest."

The War God smiled.

Naturally, he assumed Liora had encountered some tremendous opportunity within the secret realm.

In fact, this was the only thing that could explain the improvement of her Rank.

And Liora had no intention of correcting him.

If anything, this was exactly what she wanted to see.

It was also why she had deliberately maintained the aura of a Rank 7 Awakener.

Any stronger, and people would inevitably grow suspicious. Any weaker and she would find it impossible to integrate into the circle of powerful Awakeners.

The two silently observed one another, each harboring their own secret thoughts.

In the end, it was the War God who chose to break the silence.

"Anyway, I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here. The reason is simple: I wish to entrust you with a mission."

"Of course, from another perspective, you can regard it as an opportunity."

The War God’s vague wording made Liora secretly roll her eyes.

However, from everything he had said so far, she realized one thing: the decision to assign her this mission had not been his alone.

The "other person" he had previously mentioned was almost certainly involved.

"Is it Anna?", Liora made an educated guess, though she didn’t say anything.

She kept her thoughts to herself, quietly waiting for the War God to continue.

Fortunately, he didn’t keep her waiting long.

This time, he abandoned the vague explanations and got straight to the point.

"I’m sure you’ve already heard about the war between the four Apex Civilizations. You’ve likely also realized that the situation on the extraterrestrial battlefields has deteriorated considerably."

"However, as is the case with all things, danger and opportunity often go hand in hand."

"The current situation is no exception."

As he spoke, the War God casually waved his hand.

The space before him rippled in response, and a vast three-dimensional map materialized, formed from translucent pale-blue light.

The map was divided into four sections, each with its own unique color.

White represented humanity. Red stood for the demons.

Black signified Zerg’s territory, while blue was for the Mechanical Race.

Between the four civilizations stretched several colorless lines, weaving together like a web across the map.

They were the extraterrestrial battlefields, where most of the battles had occurred over the past millions of years.

At the same time, they were exactly what the War God wanted to speak about.

He raised his finger and pointed toward one of them.

More specifically, he drew her attention to a battlefield located on the opposite side of the War Academy.

"This is where your mission lies. In the extraterrestrial Battlefield XC33XTI. There..."