MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 1267: Minor Lore

Anthony stared into the sky as the small room he was sitting in was now covered in silence. He was lost in his own thoughts, wondering just how overpowered the people of the Upper Galaxy truly were. After all, someone like Tory already possessed such a ridiculous ability.

’Even the various races possess innate Laws for which they have an extraordinarily high resonance. If only the Null Sect accepted members of other races too, I would have loved to battle them,’ Anthony mused silently to himself.

The Null Sect only accepted people from the Human race, while the entirety of Null City possessed members from numerous other races and clans. Unlike the Lower Acarnis Galaxy, where Humans were looked down upon, such things didn’t happen here. Even so, the Null Sect wanted only Humans.

’Although, according to Jarod, there are sects that accept people from other races,’ Anthony thought to himself as his thoughts churned while he awaited the Challenge Hall Elder.

’Speaking of which, I didn’t really read into the ruler of the Hellinder Realm or the social structure of this Realm,’ Anthony suddenly remembered.

But he didn’t bother standing up and heading to the Heavenly Library again. Instead, he decided to use Thought Conception. With a single thought, a book wove itself into existence, titled ’Minor Hellinder Lore and Divisions.’

With that, Anthony opened the book and began to read. Although he could have the knowledge poured directly into his mind, that was boring most of the time. There was something uniquely satisfying about reading through information at his own pace, allowing each detail to settle naturally within his thoughts.

The Hellinder Realm is considered one of the oldest and largest Realms within the Ecliptica Galaxy. It was so enormous that, even after billions of years, no one in recorded history had explored it all. Rather than being divided into Empires, Kingdoms, or Domains like the Blue Planet, the Hellinder Realm was divided into Grand Regions.

Furthermore, each Grand Region spanned distances so vast that an ordinary cultivator could spend centuries crossing just one of them. Every Grand Region contained countless Cities, a few minor Kingdoms, forests, mountain ranges, oceans, Forbidden Lands, Ancient Ruins, Secret Realms, Dimensional Fractures, and countless other mysterious locations that had yet to be fully understood.

Unlike the Blue Planet, where the various racial Domains were merely separated by forests and ocean, the Hellinder Realm took things several steps further. These Grand Regions were separated by impossible natural barriers, such as endless mountain chains that pierced the heavens, oceans whose depths bent space itself, eternal storms formed from conflicting Laws, abyssal chasms stretching millions of kilometers, and chaotic void zones where reality constantly shifted between stability and collapse.

These natural barriers divided civilizations, making it nearly impossible for an entire race to usurp or claim an entire Grand Region for themselves.

In totality, there were Ten Grand Regions, and beyond them lay unknown number of unexplored, wild, and unimaginably dangerous lands. There were no complete maps of those places, as even Eternal Apex beings often lost their lives exploring these unknown Domains, disappearing without leaving behind even a single trace of their existence.

As the Hellinder Realm possessed over twenty major races, no race could objectively claim an entire territory for itself. A single territory could contain billions of inhabitants, all consisting of various races such as the Kitsune, Yaksha, Oni, Bloodborn, Runeborn, Moonveil, Stormkin, and many others. Walking down the streets of any major territory, one could witness an Asura blacksmith forging a Law Artifact, a Human merchant negotiating with a Kitsune trader, a young Garuda messenger flying overhead with astonishing speed, a Naga scholar teaching Law Theory to eager listeners, or even a Yaksha warrior casually sparring with an Oni in broad daylight.

So, in essence, all races coexisted in one way or another, much like they did within Null City.

Of course, conflicts arose between races from time to time, but such conflicts were no longer determined purely by race. Instead, they were driven by political interests, organizational influence, personal grudges, territorial disputes, and the endless pursuit of greater power.

Anthony turned another page as he continued reading without the slightest change in expression, occasionally sipping his tea as he calmly absorbed the information before him.

In the distant past, eons ago during Olden History, the Hellinder Realm was divided into Racial Kingdoms. Racism was at an all-time high, as every race seemed incapable of tolerating the existence of another. Conflict reached unimaginable heights, and stepping outside one’s own kingdom quite literally meant certain death.

Even if someone were a top-tier powerhouse, they would still be ambushed and overwhelmed by numerous top-tier powerhouses from rival races. Because of these endless racial wars, entire races were eventually wiped out from the Hellinder Realm, leaving behind nothing but forgotten ruins, fragmented histories, and bloodstained legends.

But after countless wars and endless bloodshed, a select few finally came to understand that true power had never been related to whatever bloodline they so desperately clung to. Instead, it was determined by one’s comprehension of Laws and one’s cultivation. In simple terms, personal power surpassed racial heritage.

Thus, the Age of Organizations began as the Racial Kingdom system was gradually abandoned through the natural evolution of civilization, the pursuit of power, and the emergence of countless extraordinary geniuses born amidst the fires of endless war. The old kingdoms slowly faded into history, replaced by organizations that valued strength, talent, and contribution above inherited blood.

Today, nearly every powerful individual belonged to some influential organization, as hardly anyone remained completely unaffiliated with a major force. Examples of these organizations included Great Sects, Ancient Clans, Noble Houses, Merchant Alliances, Assassin Organizations, Law Academies, Beast Taming Pavilions, Alchemy Associations, Artifact Guilds, Mercenary Legions, Formation Palaces, and countless other specialized factions that each pursued power through different means.

Members were accepted based on talent, contributions to the organization, loyalty, character, and future potential, not race.

If everything were determined solely by race, Anthony himself would have been killed on the spot rather than taken as a slave by the Four Great Clans.

Now, the matter of governance.

There was no singular ruling power over an entire Grand Region. No Sect, Clan, House, or Organization could simply step forward and declare that they ruled an entire Grand Region. Throughout history, many ambitious individuals had attempted to conquer an entire Grand Region, for there would always be people driven by limitless ambition.

However, every single one of them ultimately failed. After all, a single Grand Region was comparable in size to the combined mass of several planets from the Acarnis Galaxy. One could only begin to imagine how unimaginably vast the Hellinder Realm truly was based on that comparison alone.

Instead, thousands of organizations fought endlessly for influence. Some ruled over populations they had personally carved out for themselves, much like how Null Nathaniel established Null City through his own strength. Some governed tens or even hundreds of cities, while others controlled vast territories stretching beyond the horizon. Influence constantly shifted as alliances were formed, wars were fought, and new geniuses rose to reshape the balance of power.

Even then, there were countless independent cities and numerous Human Kingdoms that remained outside the direct control of any major organization. From these cities, sects recruited disciples, merchants traveled to conduct business, scholars exchanged knowledge, mercenary groups sought employment.

Many places remained largely unexplored, making discovery one of the greatest driving forces for cultivators, especially those who had reached the limits of their talent in both cultivation and Law comprehension. Eventually, they had no choice but to venture beyond their own Grand Region in search of whatever treasures, inheritances, forgotten civilizations, or unimaginable mysteries lay beyond those impossible natural barriers. After all, discovering even a single extraordinary opportunity could elevate them far beyond their current level of power.

Some simply waited until they began approaching the limits of their lifespan and could no longer extend it before embarking upon such perilous expeditions. Others waited until their strength had begun to decline, hoping to find one final opportunity capable of reversing their fading glory before death eventually claimed them.

Some, like the Eternal Apex beings, wouldn’t even wait at all. Since the Eternal Apex was a state of existence without any subdivisions, entities who reached that level simply stepped beyond the boundaries of their Grand Region without hesitation, treating the unknown as nothing more than another challenge awaiting conquest.

Their mentality was remarkably simple. It was the countless pioneers of the distant past who had risked their lives over and over again to establish these ten Grand Regions, one after another, as the Grand Regions had certainly not appeared out of nowhere. If those ancient predecessors could accomplish such impossible feats, then why couldn’t they strive to do the same? Perhaps not by establishing an entirely new Grand Region, but at the very least by discovering something previously unseen, like a new Law, or carving out yet another path for civilization to follow.

After all, while risking their lives in such a manner invited almost certain death, it also offered rewards of equally unimaginable value.