Han Sen wasn’t surprised by the appearance of the door behind the cogwheels. Instead, he let himself be pulled through.

This was a necessary part of the process of becoming a King. Whenever a King cla.s.s creature successfully kickstarted their self-universe cogwheel, they were given permission to enter the geno universe core area.

No one had ever been able to determine the exact nature of the core area. Some said that it was actually a special xenogeneic gene. Others claimed that it was a location within the geno hall. There were many other guesses, but no matter which theory was more popular at the moment, there was never any evidence to support one claim over another.

For now, there was only one thing that everyone agreed on: the core area could be accessed through the self-universe cogwheel once someone ascended to King cla.s.s.

When your cogwheel began spinning for the first time, you would be pulled into the universal core area. Just like Han Sen was being pulled in now.

His body flew into the blinding light s.h.i.+ning through the door, and when his vision returned, he found himself to be standing inside a palace built of some ancient metal.

This palace was a strange patchwork structure. The entire place was composed of differently-sized cogwheels. The walls, floors, and roof were all like this. And the wheels were fitted so tightly together that there were no visible seams.

Every cogwheel was spinning at a different speed. Some moved so quickly that they blurred, whereas others were so slow that their movement was almost imperceptible. Rhythmic tick-tock sounds filled the palace, similar to the sounds that a mechanical watch might produce.

Han Sen didn’t have time for sightseeing, though, because his body was still hosting the powers of the Sacred Blood Statue and the Nine-Tailed Fox. Leveling up to King cla.s.s hadn’t proved enough to destroy those energies.

Han Sen suddenly decided to use The Story of Genes. He wanted to see if he could use the Sacred Blood Statue and Nine-Tailed Fox power to push The Story of Genes self-universe cogwheel.

That was hoping for too much, though. The Sacred Blood Statue and the Nine-Tailed Fox’s power wasn’t enough to push the self-universe cogwheel of The Story of Genes. As Han Sen tried to use them, their powers subsided and eventually vanished. In the end, they disappeared.

Han Sen checked out his own body, just to be sure, but he didn’t find any trace of them within him. Then, he looked back at the palace.

The cogwheels were in constant motion like the gears of a watch. But unlike a watch, the palace had no needles to tell time. Instead, there were just more teeth. The more teeth a cogwheel had, the slower it spun. The fewer teeth a cogwheel had, the faster it went. Watching the clocks was strangely mesmerizing, almost lulling. It was like being in a palace full of clocks.

Han Sen’s body was hanging in midair. When his feet touched a cogwheel on the floor, the cogwheel accelerated. The change in speed swept out through the connected cogwheels, and soon the entire palace was humming with greater energy. The dimension of the place was twisted disconcertingly. A few moments later, the door of the palace opened, revealing a starscape beyond.

Han Sen’s body was currently safely ensconced in his Dongxuan Armor. He walked out of the universal core palace and looked up at the myriad of stars. Upon closer observation, however, he realized that what he had first taken for stars were actually scary King creatures.

When Han Sen stepped out of the universal core palace, the whirring sound of the palace’s cogwheels disappeared.

Han Sen knew he could summon the universal core palace whenever he wanted by pus.h.i.+ng his self-universe cogwheel.

But this was the first time Han Sen had entered the universal core area, and he didn’t want to leave yet. He wanted to look around for himself and see if this place was just as the legends described it.

Suddenly, a light shot past Han Sen, vanis.h.i.+ng behind him. Then it reappeared a while later, swinging around so it could head straight for him.

Han Sen was suddenly worried. Entering the universal core area required at least King cla.s.s power, but deified elites could access this place as well. Han Sen was just a first-tier King, so he knew that he needed to be careful.

The star came to a stop in front of Han Sen. Now that Han Sen could get a better look at it, he realized that it was Dragon Eight of the Dragon. He was King cla.s.s, as well.

“Dollar.” Dragon Eight looked at Han Sen with fiery eyes.

When Han Sen joined the battles of the geno scroll, he fought as Dollar. There, he wore his Dongxuan Armor. Therefore, Han Sen rarely wore it when he wasn’t using his Dollar ident.i.ty. He didn’t want to expose the fact that he and Dollar were the same person.

After the Dongxuan Sutra evolved twice, the Dongxuan Armor’s appearance had changed radically. Now, the Dongxuan Armor was solid black, so dark that it lacked any semblance of light. Any light that landed on it would disappear instantly. It someone looked at Han Sen from afar, he would seem like a black shadow hanging in the air.

Han Sen hadn’t expected someone to recognize him as Dollar just because of the Dongxuan Armor.

Since he was recognized, though, Han Sen made no effort to deny the claim. He looked at Dragon Eight and said, “Dragon Eight?”

“You remember me? Good.” The fire of insanity in Dragon Eight’s eyes blazed even higher. He had lost to Dollar in one of the geno scroll battles. He hadn’t gotten over his loss, and he had been researching better ways to fight Dollar ever since.

But he had been unable to find Dollar. He didn’t expect to find him there, of all places. He opened his gold area and doused Han Sen in the light. With an arrogant smirk, he said, “This time, I am going to beat you. Release your area.”

“Dragon Eight, what are you doing?” As Han Sen answered, a few more lights arrived. They were Kings of the Dragon. Han Sen even identified one of them as Dragon One.

Han Sen was shocked. Dragon One must have been half-deified by now, and he wasn’t the only powerful Dragon who had come. If they all attacked Han Sen together, things would definitely go badly for him.

“Big Dragon, he is Dollar!” Dragon Eight snarled, still staring at Han Sen.

“Dollar?” asked Dragon One and the others in surprise. Dollar’s performance in the geno scroll had been truly remarkable, even to them.

But Dollar hadn’t become an obsession for them the way he had for Dragon Eight. And they hadn’t been able to recognize him, initially. After a while, though, they started to believe the claim.

“You really are Dollar?” Dragon One asked Han Sen uncertainly.

“So, what? Does it matter if I am or not?” Han Sen responded smoothly.

“I know that I’m right. He is Dollar! The rest of you need to stay back, because he is mine!” Dragon Eight bared his teeth in a rictus grin. “Dollar, open your area. Let me see if you are as strong as you were before.”

“That is unnecessary,” Han Sen said, gathering power in his finger as he spoke. He sent a coin flying toward Dragon Eight.

“Don’t ever underestimate me!” Dragon Eight shouted, and his gold area became solid. It transformed into an old golden chest, trapping the coin inside it.

Dong!

The golden chest fell under the power of the coin, but it didn’t draw closer to Dragon Eight.

“What a powerful metal area!” Han Sen complimented his opponent.

Dragon Eight’s area allowed him to generate metal and make things solid. If Dragon Eight wanted to, he could seal Han Sen within the golden area.

It was similar to Nine-Headed Bird’s coffin suppression, but Dragon Eight’s area wasn’t just for sealing foes.