1598 Volcanic Eruption

On the 402nd day after entering the secret realm, the ground shook in a roar.

Bird fled and the animals ran. Alex turned to look in the distance and saw a large mountain spew out lava high into the sky. A thick plume of smoke rose high into the sky, lightning crackling from it as if the heavens themselves were angry.

"What was that?" Shan Wangjiu, who had been busy practicing his sword, turned to look in that direction.

"A volcano erupted," Alex said. "I've never before seen such a sight."

He slowly flew to the sky. Not just him, but everyone did the same. 

Wangjiu stopped practicing and started watching the sky as it was filled with dark clouds. Many other people were surprised by the suddenness of the situation as well.

"It's in the west," Wangjiu said softly. "Should we go check?"

"I already did," Alex said, turning to look at the young man. "Your spiritual sense doesn't extend as far, does it?"

Shan Wangjiu could only shake his head in horror. He couldn't believe how Alex could see that far. It was over a hundred kilometers away easily. He could only shake his head to get rid of the thought.

There were many things weird with Alex and just one more of it made no difference anymore.

"Why would a volcano erupt so suddenly?" he asked. "I would've expected some rumblings before it did so, but there was nothing."

"It didn't," Alex said quickly. "Zhao Boqin and someone I have never seen before are fighting there. They caused the volcano to explode."

"Zhao Boqin?" the young man turned toward Alex, confused.

"A member of the Talon legion," Alex said. "With Saint Transformation 4th realm cultivation base."

The young man gasped in disbelief. "There was someone that strong in the secret realm?" he asked.

"There is," Alex said. "What I'm more surprised by is that there is someone in here that hasn't lost to him immediately."

Alex could see the ongoing fight not just with his senses, but also his eyes. At a distance of nearly 120 kilometers, Zhao Boqin used a spear to fight a woman with long black hair, with bangs covering all of her forehead to her eyes.

"Fight me like a Legionnaire, Hongxi," Zhao Boqin shouted as he shot a golden dragon through his spear. "Stop running away."

The woman disappeared into the sky above her, hidden in the mist. There she masked herself, fighting back against the golden dragon.

Alex was curious about what was going on. He was more curious that she was another legionnaire. 'Her cultivation base,' he thought. Somehow he was sensing Saint Transformation 2nd realm. 

'That shouldn't be right,' he thought. 'How could she survive against him if that was the case?'

But his mind immediately spewed out the possibility. 'She's fighting against someone stronger than herself,' he thought. Even amongst players, this was something special. Only a select few had it, and they could improve their prowess by a certain few realms.

Skipping a realm or two using Dao or certain techniques to improve one's strength of output was normal. But having it be so in everyday life was very, very special.

Some could only do so with a single realm, but there was one man he had met who could skip nearly 3 realms.

Alex couldn't tell if this girl was completely skipping 2 realms or not, but she was close. She was on the defensive in the battle against Zhao Boqin, rarely attacking back, if only to make more distance between the two of them.

Zhao Boqin roared at that and charged even stronger.

'I didn't think he was someone with such a high temper,' Alex thought.

The battle lasted a little longer, but the two fighters left his area of spiritual sense, so he couldn't see them any longer.

"They're gone," Alex said. But the ashen sky remained. Ash would fall from the sky soon enough and cover the ground in soot. 

"Let us move too," Alex said. "I saw a few people in that direction. We can see if they are willing to fight."

Shan Wangjiu said nothing but nodded. 

Even as they walked, the sky grew red with the sun itself appearing as such. The volcanic eruption was large enough that the ash would soon cover most of the secret realm.

"We're going toward the volcano?" the young man asked after seeing what direction they were walking toward.

"I wasn't intending to," Alex said. "A group of them just happened to be there. But since we are going in that direction, I might as well make use of it. Volcanic soot contains quite a bit of nutrition, so I should gather some."

The young man simply made a sound of agreeing.

As they walked, Alex saw a man walking in the same direction.

"Another fight?" Shan Wangjiu spoke directly into Alex's mind.

"I don't know," Alex replied. "Let's wait and see."

As they continued walking, it became clear soon enough that the two of them were walking in the same direction, and most likely to the same destination as well.

The man arrived close to them and recognized Alex. "Your Majesty," he said softly, his face changing an expression that Alex wasn't sure he witnessed correctly. Even if he did, he did not know what he witnessed.

He recalled the man vaguely as one of the people who fought against him and won. That was very early on though, so the young man wasn't that strong at all. Just Saint Soul 7th realm in cultivation base.

"Greetings, brother," Alex spoke back to him. 

"May I ask what you're doing here, Your Majesty?" the young man asked. "Are you two like a group or something?"

"Not exactly," Alex said. "He just likes following me."

Shan Wangjiu shrugged as that was in a way the truth.

"Oh," the man responded. "I'm on my way to see if there are people I can fight. Do you want to join me? 3 gives it a much higher chance."

Alex thought for a bit and shrugged. 

"Sure."

There was no point in not joining.

Each person got 3 rejections each day, and if they rejected a challenge, they wouldn't get rejected again. As such, having 3 or more people made it invaluable to find people to fight and not get a Loss in one's account.

There was a day Alex had received a loss like that. It was only a week ago, and they had found no one in their journey who wanted to fight him. Everyone rejected and in the end, Alex decided to take the loss for that.

Shan Wangjiu wanted to take the loss, but Alex could tell that the young man didn't have much longer to stay here if he continued losing. So, he took one for him.

If 4 people were together, one could go to a particular group and challenge everyone until their rejections ran out. Then they could fight.

Alex had learned that over 3 months ago after fighting a group of 5 individuals. 

3 wasn't as good as 4 was, but it was better than 2 for sure.

They arrived next to the group some hour later and found nearly 20 people gathered there.