“How is it?” Abner asked me. I smiled confidently, “No problem, I’ll have it done in ten seconds!”

“Really?” Abner laughed happily and said, “Looks like Marcus and Hogan didn’t recommend the wrong person to me after all. But don’t get too cocky!”

I took out my documents from under my arm and handed them to him—these were just tested yesterday and haven’t been released to the public yet. Abner glanced over my documents, slapped his thigh, and shouted, “Great! Hunter Reed, you’re even better than Hogan. Maybe in the future you could even compete with Marcus for the title of Demon King!”

I quickly said, “No, no, I wouldn’t dare dream of that… Wait, isn’t Marcus already the Demon King?”

“Not yet…” Abner explained, “According to the rules, the Demon King competition only happens once per quarter. There are already a lot of people ahead of him—every top fighter wants to be the Demon King, and since he started late, he’s at the back of the line… But it won’t be long. Maybe he’ll become the Demon King before you even become a top fighter!”

I asked him, “How’s his record?”

Abner said with great satisfaction, “Excellent, unbelievably good—For his first match, I originally arranged for him to fight ‘Piranha’ Blake. That guy can squat five hundred, bench two hundred sixty, and kick four times per second—Normally, I’d set up some easy matches for new fighters, so they can gradually get used to the competition—but Marcus absolutely refused to fight, insisting I find him a stronger opponent. You know, I got a little annoyed and switched him to ‘Shortfin Shark’ Robert. That guy is a real expert—squats six hundred, benches three hundred, five kicks per second—As soon as the contract was signed, I regretted it, but there was no turning back. I never expected that on Robert’s first kick, Marcus would go up and break his right leg with a single kick, and with the second kick, he smashed his head!”

Abner excitedly patted my shoulder and said, “You know, the whole arena went dead silent—everyone was stunned! The famous ‘Shortfin Shark’ Robert was killed by an unknown rookie in less than ten seconds. You have to know, Robert was also a strong contender for the next Demon King! The next day, the news was everywhere, all saying that Marcus was the undisputed heir to the next Demon King title!”

He grimaced, “It’s all because of those damn rules—the Demon King’s schedule has been fully booked for ages!”

Chapter Eight

Our destination this time, the planet Slaite, is located in the Ector Nebula. It’s one of the more economically developed planets nearby, and among the neighboring nebulae, it’s considered quite advanced. It’s thirteen days’ journey from our departure point, the planet Maloka. It feels great to be on the ship; after all, I grew up on a pirate ship, and after three years of living on planets, being back on board immediately gave me a sense of familiarity.

For the next few days, I stayed in the cabin, continuing my training. One day, Abner came to find me:

“Hunter Reed, every fighter has a cool nickname. What kind of nickname do you want?”

“Nickname?” I tilted my head and thought, “What kind of nickname do you think is good?”

I didn’t have any experience, so I could only ask for advice.

Abner thought for a moment and said, “Of course, it has to be cool, something intimidating… Hmm, let me think, how about ‘Iron Crocodile’?”

“Iron Crocodile?” I considered it, “Sure, that sounds fine.”

Abner nodded, “Good, come with me, I’ll publish your information.”

Before a boxing match, information is usually released on the Universal Infinite Internet half a month in advance. This mainly includes match previews, then the profiles of both fighters, and after that, the odds from various betting companies.

The current principle of the Universal Infinite Internet is infinite interconnection. There are still distances and privacy spaces on the internet, but the resources and breadth have truly reached infinity.

Back in the first year of the Space Era, someone predicted the end of the space age internet, because no medium’s transmission speed could satisfy data transfer across such vast distances—a single byte of information, sent from one planet to another, could take decades using the old infinite transmission methods!

But soon, a netizen named Infinite No-Gap posted a famous article online, refuting this view. He proposed his own vision for the Universal Infinite Internet: after humanity began large-scale space development, a new mode of travel would inevitably be discovered. With current travel methods, large-scale space development and long-distance space travel would be severely hindered by time, so a new way of travel was bound to appear. Based on this, he designed the internet of the space age, integrating resource sharing, data transmission, cosmic communication, and other uses into a new generation of the Universal Infinite Internet.

In the third year of the Space Era, hyperspace was discovered. This hyperspace is an inconceivable, indescribable thing—it is neither space nor time, neither matter nor energy, existing somewhere between nothingness and reality; even its discoverers couldn’t explain what it actually was.

However, through hyperspace, spaceships can instantly jump across light-year distances! Of course, the price of jump devices is unimaginably high, and not every pilot can use them.