Just for this ordinary spectator seat in the game, Brian Carter spent two months’ worth of pocket money. At first glance, this might not seem like much, but if you know that Brian Carter’s father is the president of Tianxing Interstellar Mining Company—the second largest interstellar mining company, only surpassed in scale by the Federal Government’s Tianying Mining Company—and that his mother is the vice president of the Federal First Research Institute, the only woman to ever hold that position, with an annual salary calculated in billions of federal currency... After learning all this, you’ll realize just how enormous Brian Carter’s pocket money must be.

As a cross-galactic simulation game with two hundred billion registered users, three billion concurrent online players, and even listed by the Federal military as part of soldier training, “Blade Tomb” possesses an irresistible and powerful allure.

In “Blade Tomb,” there are two major factions to choose from: the Ancient Martial Arts Domain and the Mecha Domain. Once you pick a domain, you cannot change it. These two factions also represent the two different directions of human development and evolution today, with both conflicts and commonalities.

Brian Carter chose the Ancient Martial Arts Domain, which has always been his greatest passion since childhood. In this interstellar era, the Grand Federation already possesses six colony planets, and together with humanity’s home planet Earth, there are a total of seven habitable planets. As technology has advanced, humanity has realized the necessity of self-enhancement, making ancient martial arts for personal strength and mechas for national power the two core policies of the Grand Federation.

Speaking of ancient martial arts, one must mention one of the Grand Federation’s predecessors, the Huaxia Nation. This ancient country, with its long history, has produced countless talented individuals over thousands of years, creating tens of thousands of unique self-cultivation techniques, all collectively classified as ancient martial arts.

These martial arts techniques come in all forms and have various effects, but most are fundamentally about unlocking human potential and strengthening the frail human body to unimaginable levels in unique ways.

Three hundred years after the founding of the Grand Federation, ancient martial arts became a skill practiced by the entire nation to strengthen both the country and its people. In just a hundred years, thanks to the miraculous effects of ancient martial arts training, the Grand Federation’s hundreds of billions of citizens advanced by more than one level of strength on average. It was precisely because of this that the Earth Grand Federation gained recognition from the highest civilization in the galaxy—the Caesar Empire, a level nine civilization—and was classified as a level five civilization.

Although there are tens of thousands of level five civilizations in the vast galaxy, and in the eyes of higher civilizations, the Earth Grand Federation is just a slightly more advanced but still extremely backward planet compared to barbaric worlds.

But after being recognized as a level five civilization, at least the Earth Grand Federation could obtain more advanced development technologies from the Caesar Empire. Even though these high-end technologies, seen as miracles by Earthlings, were merely outdated research from hundreds of thousands of years ago in the Caesar Empire, they were enough to propel the Earth Grand Federation’s development at a rapid pace.

After this, in less than two hundred years, the Earth Grand Federation successfully developed its own interstellar fleet and even created various types of mechas with astonishing combat power.

With gains come losses. As mechas were born, people gradually began to underestimate the value of ancient martial arts, favoring instead the products of cutting-edge technology—mechas.

Of course, there are still many humans who hold ancient martial arts in the highest esteem, so the dual policy of strengthening the nation through both approaches became an inevitable compromise.

A simulation game like “Blade Tomb,” which is wildly popular across all seven planets, became the absolute beneficiary of this dual policy. In “Blade Tomb,” whether you support ancient martial arts, prefer mechas, or even practice both, it’s all possible. Here, you can experience the intense clash between these two different methods of enhancement.

Which is stronger, ancient martial arts or mechas? You can seek the answer for yourself in “Blade Tomb.”

The final match of the sixth “Blade Tomb” War God Tournament, as in previous years, is still a showdown between the strongest contenders selected from the Ancient Martial Arts and Mecha Domains.

When Brian Carter in the audience saw the top ancient martial arts contender, “Winter Demon,” step into the finals clad in white battle armor, he unhesitatingly let out a hoarse cheer of support. However, his voice was quickly drowned out by the frenzied confessions of countless girls obsessed with “Winter Demon,” this legendary figure of the Ancient Martial Arts Domain.

“Look! He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye! I’m so happy!”

“My white knight, I’d willingly die for you, even if it were right now.”

“My dear Dongdong, I’ll wait for you to win and come marry me riding on a rainbow cloud…”

Brian Carter felt a wave of discomfort at the single-eyelid girl beside him who claimed she wanted “Winter Demon” to marry her riding on a rainbow cloud. Just then, several heart-shaking metallic clangs suddenly rang out—“Clang… clang… clang…”

At the same time, a wave of excited cheers erupted from the Mecha Domain’s audience, because their own mecha battle god had entered the arena.

A black humanoid mecha, about five meters tall, slowly stepped into the field—the Beta-3 model humanoid mecha, one of the most commonly used mechas in “Blade Tomb,” renowned for its stability and ease of use.

In the five-tier mecha classification of “Blade Tomb,” it is listed as bronze grade, far inferior to the top-tier platinum mechas. Whether in mobility, armor, firepower, or even maneuverability, it can only reach one-tenth of a platinum mecha’s capabilities.