Chapter 694: Hub of the Middle Domain
Max found himself standing in a vast, bluish corridor that seemed to stretch into infinity, its walls pulsing faintly with veins of glowing runes, like circuits carved into stone.
The floor beneath his feet gleamed like polished obsidian, smooth and reflective, yet inscribed with ancient patterns—mandalas, divine beasts, and celestial formations—all glowing dimly with shifting hues of silver and blue.
Above him, the ceiling curved like the inside of a temple dome, but it shimmered with energy fields and light projections showing records of battles, past champions, and ranking lists floating like ghostly inscriptions in the air.
Statues of ancient warriors—some cloaked in modern battle suits, others in flowing robes with long swords or spirit staffs—lined the walls in silence, each one radiating a silent pressure, as if watching the hall's visitors.
Floating platforms drifted across invisible rails in the air above, taking participants to their designated areas.
At the far end of the hall stood a massive gateway shaped like an arch of starlight, humming with layered formation arrays—this was the entrance to the real battlefield, where strength was the only law.
The blend of sleek futuristic design and sacred ancient mysticism created an overwhelming sense of awe.
Max took it all in quietly, his heart pounding with both excitement and anticipation.
This… was the Battle Realm.
"It's quite different from the one in the Lower Domain," Max muttered, his voice low with awe, eyes locked on the massive gateway that stood imposingly at the far end of the colossal hall.
That single gateway radiated with a quiet yet intimidating pressure, clearly the entrance for official battles—perhaps where one could challenge or be challenged in the pursuit of genius rankings.
But what truly overwhelmed him wasn't just that gateway. It was the sheer number of smaller portals scattered throughout the hall. They lined the walls like stars around a moon, each one softly glowing with a faint blue light. There were so many of them, he couldn't even begin to count.
And it wasn't just the portals—the sheer size of the hall itself was staggering. It stretched out in all directions like the interior of a grand temple built for gods, the ceiling high above vanishing into darkness, the edges so distant that those smaller portals looked like nothing more than tiny flickering lights, mere blue dots to his eyes.
Max couldn't help but feel dwarfed in front of such grandeur, a reminder of how vast the Middle Domain's resources truly were compared to the Lower Domain.
"How should I initiate my battles?" Max muttered under his breath, his eyes scanning the vast, bustling expanse of the Battle Hall.
The place was massive, far larger than what he'd seen back in the Lower Domain. The sheer scale of it made him feel small for a moment, though that feeling passed quickly. But what did nag at him was the thought of having to walk all the way to the end of the massive hall where the large golden gateway stood—the place from where official challenges were issued and registered.
If that was the only way to initiate a battle here, then it was going to be a hassle.
The Battle Realm in the Lower Domain at least had private chambers and automated summoning nodes for challenges. Here, everything looked more… primal.
The crowd didn't help either. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the enormous hall, moving like tides—some alone, cloaked in their own silence, while others traveled in groups, chatting, mocking, or searching for opponents.
And while Max's white mask did catch a few passing glances—mostly curious, some cautious—it didn't cause any stir. Hiding one's identity here was as normal as breathing in battle realm. Many of the participants had reasons to stay anonymous.
Some wanted to just enjoy their battles, some wanted to practice their techniques while battling others, while some didn't want to offend any large forces and so they had their reasons to stay anonymous. That much was clear.
In the end, Max tapped on his holowatch, his fingers moving quickly as he pulled up the detailed instructions regarding the battle realm in the Middle Domain.
At first, he read casually, thinking it would just be another place to fight and train like all the others he'd seen before. But the more he read, the more his expression changed. A few minutes later, his eyes widened, and his mouth slightly parted in shock.
This place... it wasn't just a battlefield. It was something far more than that. The instructions explained how the battle realm worked—how it organized ranked fights, simulations, and tournaments—but buried deeper in the text were details that revealed its true purpose.
It was the central hub of the entire Middle Domain. A massive, interconnected system that linked all the thousand regions scattered across the domain into one unified space. It wasn't just about competition—it was about access, communication, opportunity.
Everyone came here. Every genius, every power, every force, all converging through this realm. In a way, it served as the beating heart of the Middle Domain, and Max had only just begun to grasp its significance.
It turned out that every single region in the Middle Domain—whether it was governed by the Seven Overlord Forces, the mighty Four God Nations, or any of the thousand other regions—had a colossal black cube placed somewhere within it.
These mysterious cubes weren't just decorative monuments or symbols of power. They were gateways. Each one was directly linked to the Battle Realm.
An expert could enter the Battle Realm through any of these black cubes, no matter where they were. And the most shocking part? Once inside the Battle Realm, a person could travel to any region they desired.
Every region in the Middle Domain was interconnected through this single realm, making it not just a battlefield, but a vast network that allowed instant traversal between regions.
If Max wanted to visit the Bluewind Region, for example, all he had to do was step into the Battle Realm and walk through the portal that led to the black cube stationed in that region—no flying ships, no days-long travel, just a few steps.
It was that simple, that convenient. And because of this incredible function, the Battle Realm wasn't just famous—it was one of the most popular, most crowded, and most important places in the entire world. Everyone used it. Everyone needed it.
"It's truly fascinating." Max muttered sighing realizing why the Middle Domain was countless times stronger than the Lower Domain.