Time flowed by, and in a blink of an eye, over seventy years had passed.
During these seventy-plus years, Ender diligently Cultivated, focusing on the Wood Origin Law and Green Vine Pillar.
For him, a young man who had just entered the Molten Rock Secret Realm at the age of twenty, over seventy years of Cultivation was too long, and during this period, his contact with his family significantly decreased.
World Master Molten Rock had initially made a request to Ender: if he failed to achieve a top one thousand ranking in the current Pinnacle Genius Battle, he would need to Cultivate for another five thousand years and participate in the next Pinnacle Genius Battle!
For Ender, who had Cultivated for less than a hundred years, five thousand years was too long!
He desperately needed time; whether it was to work towards resurrecting his elder brother or to acquire sufficient Cultivation resources for his family, he needed time to grow stronger. He did not have five thousand years to waste.
Therefore, he worked extremely hard during these seventy-plus years. His comprehension of the Wood Origin Law had long since entered the introductory stage, even approaching the comprehension level.
He could normally unleash the Endless Vine in the Original Universe with the Green Vine Pillar, and even in the Virtual Universe, he could barely use it, making his strength terrifyingly powerful.
According to World Master Molten Rock and World Master Azure Wood, he could steadily advance into the top one thousand of the Pinnacle Genius Battle, and there was a considerable probability of entering the top ten.
...
In a plaza within the Molten Rock Island, Molten Rock Secret Realm, in the Virtual Universe.
"It's finally here, the Pinnacle Genius Battle!" Ender looked up at the sky, where an incredibly massive black proclamation with glowing edges hung.
On this entirely black proclamation, there were characters emitting dazzling white light.
"Pinnacle Genius Battle"
"Once every ten thousand years!"
"About to commence!"
"Jointly organized by the Virtual Universe Company and all Universe Countries!"
"Are you a Genius? Can't find an opponent of the same level and rank? Then participate in the 'Pinnacle Genius Battle'! Here, countless Geniuses from numerous Universe Countries across the entire Universe will engage in fierce battles!"
"For details, please visit the 'Virtual Universe Network' official website via your virtual assistant."
Looking at the massive proclamation in the sky, Ender muttered to himself, "So this is the Pinnacle Genius Battle that is organized by the Virtual Universe Company."
Although he knew the details of the Pinnacle Genius Battle, he still wanted to observe it, as he wasn't sure if the Genius Battle's process had changed.
Through his intelligent spirit, he entered the 'Virtual Universe Network', and Ender checked the detailed process of the Pinnacle Genius Battle, finding that there were no changes.
"It's still divided into two stages: the Universe Country selections and the Pinnacle finals," he thought. "The Universe Country selections include world preliminary eliminations and arena battles."
The world preliminary elimination round in the Universe Country selections was brutal. All Geniuses who signed up from a Universe Country were divided into 100 worlds. Only the top 1001 from each world would advance to the next stage, while everyone else would be eliminated!
From 100 worlds, 1001 people were selected from each world, meaning a total of one hundred thousand and one hundred people were selected from all worlds.
Among them, the first place from each world directly secured a spot in the top 1000 of that Universe Country, while the other one hundred thousand people had to participate in arena battles to compete for the remaining 900 spots. The competition was also quite brutal.
"In the world preliminary elimination round, it's best if I can get first place. If not, I'll have to waste some time participating in the arena battles, securing a spot through free-for-alls and one-on-one matches."
Ender was confident about getting into the top 1000 of the Ganwu Universe Country, but directly securing a spot through the world preliminary elimination round was not an absolute certainty. This was because to get first place among billions of people in a world, not only was strength important, but also good luck.
If he was lucky enough to consecutively kill several Powerhouses with high ranking points, he might be able to get first place in the world. However, if the Powerhouses he killed had average ranking points, then it would be very difficult to get first place in the world.
"Hey! Ender." A red-haired man greeted, "You're here too."
Ender glanced at the red-haired man who greeted him and said, "Lanka, it's you."
Lanka was a core member of the Molten Rock Secret Realm, whom he had met during his seventy-plus years of diligent Cultivation. They had a good relationship and were friends.
"I've waited for over a thousand years, and the Pinnacle Genius Battle has finally arrived," Lanka said with some excitement. "If I can achieve a good ranking in this Pinnacle Genius Battle and join the five Leviathans of Humanity, I might have a chance to become Immortal in the future."
"Indeed," Ender nodded, then changed the subject, "But it's not easy to achieve a good ranking. The Ganwu Universe Country has tens of thousands of Starfields, thousands of subordinate countries, plus directly administered territories. There are too many Geniuses, and the competition is fierce."
"Yes! There are too many Geniuses, and the competition is extremely fierce," Lanka nodded in agreement, then said, "Actually, my requirements aren't high. As long as I can enter the Ganwu Dojo or some Immortal forces, my chances of becoming Immortal in the future will be much higher."
Listening to Lanka, Ender understood that he clearly regarded the Molten Rock Empire as a stepping stone to attract the attention of other major forces in the Pinnacle Genius Battle, which was his true goal.
He also understood his thoughts, as his own ideas were quite similar. World Master Molten Rock apparently knew the thoughts of those Geniuses in the Molten Rock Secret Realm and did not prevent them from leaving; otherwise, he would have signed contracts to restrict them long ago.
"Let's sign up first." A light screen appeared in front of Lanka, and upon seeing the number of registered participants, he immediately exclaimed, "How long has it been, and so many people have already signed up!"
Upon hearing this, a light screen appeared in front of Ender. He opened the official website of the Virtual Universe Company, ready to register.
At the top of the light screen, there was a number that refreshed every few seconds, and this number was the total number of registered participants in the Ganwu Universe Country.
2,148,578,234!
This was the first number Ender saw when he opened the Virtual Universe Company's official website, and a few seconds later, the number jumped to 2,199,623,123!
"There are indeed a lot of registered participants; it's almost 2.2 billion now," Ender said, quickly filling in his information and then clicking the "Register" button.
As he clicked the "Register" button, the light screen changed, and then a piece of Universal language text appeared on it.
"Beep!"
"Scan complete, Stellar Ninth Order Spiritual Master, registration approved."
After more than seventy years of Cultivation, coupled with frequent use of nutrient capsules to replenish energy, Ender's Gene Energy had reached Stellar Ninth Order, and his Spiritual Force was naturally at the Pinnacle of Stellar Ninth Order.
"Many people don't even know that the registration channel has opened yet. There will be even more people in a few days," Lanka said after completing his registration. "I heard from someone who participated in the previous Genius Battle that the number of registered participants in the Ganwu Universe Country for the last Genius Battle was close to eight hundred billion!"
"Eight hundred billion participants," Ender said helplessly, "Averaged across one hundred worlds, each world has eight billion people competing for 1001 spots. That's truly insane."
"Indeed!" Lanka nodded in agreement, "Truly insane!"
...
The registration period for the Pinnacle Genius Battle was one month. After registration closed, the Virtual Universe Company would spend one month on preparatory work, and on the last day of that month, countless forces would conduct pre-competition mobilization!