CHAPTER 93: 5 STAR VOID WARRIOR

After lecturing Michael and his students, Nash returned to his room.

But instead of diving straight into the Dark Plane, he took a look at the resources sent to him.

The Basic Virtual Pods, Elemental Crystals, Dark Potion, and the Soul Absorption Manual.

"So this is an elemental crystal..."

Picking one up close, he felt purer, milder void energy radiating from it.

Not only that, the energy it held was ten times stronger than a void crystal.

He estimated that using these elemental crystals for training was almost as good as using merits from the dark plane.

Of course, merits were still more cost-effective.

Merits were only about 50% more expensive than void crystals, while elemental crystals cost ten times as much.

Using them to train his body wasn’t worth the loss. It’s better to save them for when he can train his soul.

Turning to the Soul Absorption Manual, Nash began reading, hoping to find a way to use it early.

With his runic system and level of control, he thought he might be able to bypass the 100% saturation rate requirement.

Unfortunately, after reading the entire book, he found no such loophole.

No matter how strong one’s innate soul was, without fortified void energy to shield it, absorbing void energy carelessly was no different from suicide.

Putting the manual aside, Nash picked up the Dark Potion.

"So this is the dark potion I’ve been hearing about..."

Normally, a void warrior could only stay in the Dark Plane for about eight hours.

Because their soul were still fragile, too much exposure to the Dark Plane was extremely harmful.

To counter this, the Dark Potion was developed.

According to the label, drinking one should extend his stay by another eight hours.

"Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time..."

He had already spent six hours on morning training. On top of that, there were documents to take care of, plus his training with William, his schedule was already full.

"Time never seems to be enough..."

Sighing, he put the Dark Potion down and dove into the Dark Plane.

---

After hours of grinding, killing dark beasts, collecting herbs, and selling everything, Nash earned a little over 11,500 merits.

Just as he was about to pack up and return to the real world, Leslie, the representative of the Verdant Group, stopped him in his tracks.

"What? Are you here to tell me the time and place for tomorrow?"

"Yes. We’ll be heading out earlier tomorrow. The meeting point is Gate 3 of the shelter. Make sure you’re on time. Also, do you have a dark potion? This mission might take over a day."

"Over a day? Why so long?"

Because of the limited time a void warrior could spend in the Dark Plane, most battle zones in low-tier shelters were small.

"We can’t be sure we’ll find it in one trip. We might need to circle through several danger zones to locate the perfect herb."

If it were easy to find, she wouldn’t be talking to this shameless herb seller.

"I see. I thought you’d already pinpointed the herb’s location. Seems like you don’t even know which danger zone it’s in."

"Otherwise, why would we need you?"

"Tsk. Are you going to compensate me for the dark potion, too?"

According to the market, the basic dark potion he had cost 100 Nova Credits.

"Of course. We’ll reimburse all consumables you use." Leslie rolled her eyes.

"Haha, good enough. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Just don’t be late."

---

The next day, Nash quickly washed up and skipped his daily training.

After drinking one Dark Potion, he slotted another three into the Basic Virtual Pod, just in case the mission lasted more than a day.

When his consciousness appeared in the Dark Willow Shelter, a familiar voice called out.

"Boss Noir! You finally arrived!" William shouted, clearly excited.

Not knowing exactly when Nash would show up, he had waited several hours in advance.

"I thought you weren’t coming."

"Didn’t you say you had a mission today? How could I not come?"

"Tsk. So clingy. Let’s go, I’ll take you to the meeting spot." Nash clicked his tongue and led the way to the place Leslie had mentioned the day before.

When they arrived, they saw a crowd gathered in a loose circle.

Spotting Leslie among them, Nash walked up.

"Leslie, I’m here. When do we start? Oh, and I brought my friend."

"You’re here... Just wait. Master Lawrence is conducting a trial."

"Master Lawrence? What kind of trial?" Nash asked, glancing at the man in the center, who was dodging and blocking attacks from a group of void warriors.

"He’s leading the mission. A 5-star void warrior with a 500% saturation rate. The trial is for the 3-star warriors to see if they’re qualified to join the team."

While the commission for this mission wasn’t much to Nash, it was worth months of hard work for the other Void Warriors.

Furthermore, joining the team meant not just earning merits, but also a chance to be recruited into the Verdant Group.

For them, this was life-changing.

"I see... looks like we don’t have to worry about safety."

From 3-star to 4-star and beyond, the gap between void warriors grew significantly.

Anyone could reach 3-star with a 100% saturation rate and decent combat ability. But to even have a chance of becoming a 4-star, one needed at least 200%.

As for 5-star warriors, a minimum of 300% saturation rate was required to even qualify for the challenge.

Among them only those with 400–500% saturation rate usually passed.

Having someone so powerful leading the team, even if they encountered waves of 5-star dark beasts, there was nothing to fear.

"Like I told you, we just need you to find the herb. Leave the fighting to the Verdant Group."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Shaking his head, Nash turned to William.

"Go on and take the trial. Looks like they’re also checking combat ability before letting anyone join."

Unlike Nash, who had been specially recruited, William had only joined partway through.

"Then wait for me, Boss. I want to see for myself how strong a 5-star warrior really is..."