The building had seven rooms, each with their names affixed. Bu Wentian vanished in a flash of light.

The hunters entered their own rooms. The decor was sparse and ugly, but functional and spacious. There was a bathroom and a large bed. After Zhang Lit showered, he noticed that a large desk in the common area had been filled with all sorts of food. Sun Mengmeng held out a bottle of white fluid. "This is what you wanted, Captain!"

It was the metamorphosis potion that Zhang Lie had wanted. Sun Xiaowu asked, "Right, what did all of you take as your reward?"

Fang Yi smiled mysteriously. "You'll see."

Yang Ze said, "I wanted to augment my spatial affinity. The elder gave me a treasure map, telling me that what I wanted lay within. Let's go check it out after the Galactic Rising Stars Cup."

The others all nodded. After finishing the high-quality genetic lifeform food, the hunters all retired to their rooms, where the members of Team Zenith began their special training. Zhang Lie had intended to participate, but after breaking three sets of Bu Wentian's training gear, he was escorted out.

Bu Wentian pleaded, "I can't train you, so stop ruining my equipment! This isn't cheap."

Zhang Lie had no choice but to avoid participating. He headed out to have a chat with Li Qianlin.

Li Qianlin had no issue being in the airship on her own. Zhang Lie asked Bu Wentian for a few books, which he handed to Li Qianlin. After a short chat, he returned to his room. The dozen or so days passed quickly, and the Galactic Rising Stars Cup was right about to begin.

After the intense special training from Bu Wentian's high-tech training equipment, the members of Team Zenith had all grown visibly stronger.

Bu Wentian explained, "The qualifiers for the Galactic Rising Stars Cup will take place in the form of arena duels, which you've all already experienced in the trial. Based on your assigned number, you'll be sent to different arenas. Win three times to ascend; lose twice and be disqualified. That said, just one loss might disqualify you."

"Why?" Sun Xiaowu asked.

Bu Wentian replied, "Do you remember what I told you yesterday?""What do you mean?"

"You'll be sent to a projected space, and all damage taken will be directly reflected on your soul. Dying in that space will cause significant mental trauma, the sort that takes years to recover from."

Zhang Lie frowned. "Being injured in that projected space will lead to injuries in reality, too?"

Bu Wentian shook his head. "No external injuries, but you can suffer mental ones. Small wounds won't make a difference, but major injuries could cause damage to your psyche at a roughly three-to-one ratio, say. If you incur sufficient mental damage, you'll be sent out of the projection immediately, without being able to return. As a result, if you feel as though you're about to lose, you should surrender immediately."

Everyone nodded.

Bu Wentian continued, "That said, it's very difficult to make such a judgment in the heat of battle, so all of you need to be prepared for the worst."

The hunters all understood this point.

"In the Cup, there are two things you'll have to pay particular attention to, a race and an... existence that seems like an alien race. The race you'll have to take note of is the Splitsilver race."

Sun Xiaowu asked, "Are the members of this race particularly strong?"

Bu Wentian shook his head. "Not strong, but rather despicable."

Everyone seemed surprised.

Bu Wentian explained, "The Splitsilvers are widely recognized to be unethical. They're willing to do anything to seize victory. They're far more vicious than you might expect, and they've been known for these sorts of deeds during every iteration of the cup. Their favorite approach is to use external hacks. If I recall correctly, my first opponent was from the Splitsilver race."

Everyone thought back to the sixth trial and the silvery-white figure they had taken down.

Bu Wentian continued, "I use 'external hacks' literally, not metaphorically."

Sun Xiaowu frowned. "Hold on, this game, no, this virtual reality can be hacked?"

Bu Wentian replied, "Certainly not. The virtual reality has what is essentially its own antivirus system, and the realm has its own will, which serves a similar role as game administrators. Any who are discovered to be using an unauthorized external appliance will have their qualifications stripped and their psyche severely injured, but the Splitsilver race somehow has the ability to bypass this restriction.""How?" Sun Xiaowu asked.

Bu Wentian replied, "Ever since they successfully took advantage of this ability during the first Galactic Rising Stars Cup, they've been using it ever since. Their first hacks were a void targeting hack and a fleeing hack."

Zhang Lie recalled how, during the fight against the silvery-white figure, a group of figures had been reciting some sort of strange scripture, which suppressed his abilities.

Sun Xiaowu recalled that experience as well. He gaped. "I thought that was a racial ability!"

Yang Ze added, "I thought the same."

Bu Wentian rolled his eyes. "External support is expressly forbidden in the arena.

The Splitsilvers are taking advantage of the connection between the arena and the spectators' stands in some complicated manner I'm not fully aware of. The arena and spectators' stands are like two separate spaces linked via virtual reality. In the virtual world, a link tethers them together, and the Splitsilvers take advantage of this link to develop all sorts of hacks."

Zhang Lie replied, "I understand this void targeting hack now, but what's this about a fleeing hack?"

Bu Wentian replied, "When a member of that race is unable to fight, they'll attempt to flee via other members of their race from the audience stands. You saw that happen during the trial, didn't you?"

Zhang Lie frowned. "Does that count as a hack?"

To Zhang Lie, it seemed as though two members from the audience had hopped onto the arena and dragged away the fallen competitor.

"This is indeed against the rules," Bu Wentian confirmed. "The Splitsilver race is making use of some unknown loophole to bypass it, resulting in what you saw."Zhang Lie shrugged. "Regardless, this all seems very strange."

Bu Wentian continued, "The first match exploited a loophole. The second match, both combatants exhausted themselves. The third match, well, I don't have to say more."

Who wanted to dwell on their failures?

Sun Xiaowu seemed perplexed. "What's the point of escaping?"

Bu Wentian replied, "As I said, you'll be sent to a projected space, and all damage taken will be directly reflected on your soul. Dying in that space will cause significant mental trauma. This fleeing hack is to prevent this sort of situation from happening. It's a rather limited hack, so others turned a blind eye, but the void targeting hack was banned after its first use."