Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

As they watched the Flying Dragon Troops flee for their lives, aside from stupefaction, everyone also felt like all their anger had been worked off.

Those fellows carrying the “elite troops” t.i.tle were a bunch of bandits from head to toe—greedy and ugly.

This wasn't the first or second time that everyone had wanted to teach them a lesson. Unfortunately, they simply weren't powerful enough, so they could only watch helplessly as they acted all bossy and arrogant.

However, their wish had finally come true today.

Meng Lei had frightened the Flying Dragon Troops so badly that they fled for their lives and thoroughly disgraced themselves with just a few words. How satisfying!

“The ant tide has finally been exterminated!”

Ol' Amos twisted his beard as he looked down upon the charred lands. He heaved a long sigh of relief and said, “You've made a huge contribution in this matter, boy. Who knows, you might just earn yourself the t.i.tle of an Earl!”

However, he didn't receive any response—the place around him was all quiet.

Ol' Amos' brows furrowed slightly, and he couldn't resist looking at Meng Lei—only to discover that the boy was currently grinning like a fool. His grin stretched pretty much all the way past his ears, making him look like an old 38-year-old widow who had just had a night rendezvous—simply overjoyed!

At once, Ol' Amos became displeased, and he chastised him loudly, “What are you acting all crazy for again, brat?!”

Meng Lei jumped in shock, and he couldn't help but grumble, “What are you being so loud for, Ol' President? You gave me a shock!”

“What's that silly grin for? Look at how thrilled you are!”

Ol' Amos glared at Meng Lei.

“Hehe, it's a secret!”

Meng Lei grinned at him in response, and then, his gaze returned to his Wealth again. As he looked at those bright, dazzling numbers and the bunch of zeros at the back, Meng Lei felt as if he had just eaten honey…

Sweet!

Wealth: 7,539,721,863 gold coins

7.5 billion!

A whole 7.5 billion!

What kind of astronomical figure was that?

However, the most important thing here was… He was only 2.5 billion away from the 10 billion milestone!

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This meant that Meng Lei only needed to earn another 2.5 billion gold coins, and he would be able to break through the ninth-grade limits to step into another realm… The Saint Domain!

2.5 billion? Was it very difficult to achieve? No, no, not at all!

It was very simple because… 6.5 billion gold coins were resting on the charred expanse of land right beneath his feet. To be more accurate, 650,000 magic cores!

“Collect them all! And sell them all!

“And I'll be able to summon the divine dragon1!

“Wahahaha…”

Meng Lei burst into loud Ren Woxing1-style laughter and nosedived toward the ground. His spiritual power spread outward like tidal waves and enveloped the whole area within 1,000 meters of where he was.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoos.h.!.+

All the magic cores moved by themselves and broke through the surface of the ground like potatoes. Then, they vanished after being sent into his spatial rings.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoos.h.!.+

Everywhere he flew by, he collected all the magic cores.

Meng Lei was just like a hardworking little bee diligently collecting magic cores. The sight made Fatty Hart and the others standing on top of the city walls salivate.

“A single magic core is worth up to 10,000 gold coins!” Fatty Hart's eyes had even turned red. “Old bro must have killed at least… 100,000 Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants just now, right? Hiss! That's 1 billion gold coins!”

“1 billion?”

A s.h.i.+ver went through everyone, and they almost wet themselves.

That was 1 billion gold coins! 1 billion!

No one could spend all of that, even in their entire lifetime!

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Meng Lei's speed was very fast, but even so, he still spent more than three hours before he finally managed to collect all the magic cores.

As for the concrete number of magic cores there were, he didn't bother counting. In any case, there were a lot of them, so many that he was close to running out of s.p.a.ce. Even Ol' Amos' spatial magic device was almost full.

“Horses don't bulk up without feeding at night, and people don't get rich without unexpected windfalls. Our forefathers really don't lie.”

It was only then that a satisfied Meng Lei returned to the city, where his eyes met Fatty Hart's, whose eyes were filled with so much jealousy that he was practically mad. “Huhu! 1 billion gold coins! This fatty here is so jealous that I'm becoming distorted from envy!”

“Fatty, have you gone mad?”

Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart's chubby face, which felt fleshy to the touch. The texture felt pretty good!

“Juxian Restaurant! We must go to Juxian Restaurant when the new term starts!” Fatty Hart clutched Meng Lei's collar and shouted hysterically, “Once isn't enough! You must treat me a few more times… No! Every day! You can only offer a wee bit of comfort to my wounded soul by treating me to meals at Juxian Restaurant every day!

“Huhuhu, 1 billion gold coins! If I had that much money, I would sleep on a mountain of gold every day and stuff myself silly every day…”

Meng Lei rolled his eyes. He finally understood now—that guy was actually jealous of him!

If you knew that I actually have 10 billion gold coins now, would you become so jealous that you'd immediately kill yourself by eating sh*t? 

Probably… Yes?

“That boy…”

Dirk Norway, Abbe, and Tanna were also looking at Meng Lei with extremely complex emotions. The penniless boy from the mountains that had reported at the academy half a year ago wearing coa.r.s.e sackcloth had already become this strong?

“Meng Lei, you deserve the biggest credit in the defense against the ant tide this time!” Marchioness Cesia had a look of approval all over her face as she said, “I will definitely report this truthfully to the king and request that he rewards you handsomely!”

“You're…”

A bewildered Meng Lei looked at the female Green Dragon Person in front of him.

“Meng Lei, this is Marchioness Cesia, the guarding general of North River Pa.s.s,” said Dirk Norway hastily as he introduced Marchioness Cesia. “She's also the number one female general of Fire Dragon Kingdom!”

“So it's Marchioness Cesia! I've heard so much about you!”

Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.

“It's just a bit of insignificant acclaim that's not worth mentioning!” Marchioness Cesia waved and said, “On the contrary, it's you, Meng Lei, that has exterminated the ant tide with just a flick of your wrist. After this battle, your name will definitely awe and stun the kingdom. You'll become a hero known in every household throughout the kingdom!”

“Marchioness Cesia, you're too kind!”

Meng Lei smiled at her but didn't take her words seriously. Things like fame and all that weren't important; they weren't even as practical as a few gold coins or a few magic cores.

At the sight of this, astonishment and uncertainty couldn't help but secretly come over Marchioness Cesia. After making such a huge contribution, the kingdom would definitely bestow upon him handsome rewards. Yet he was actually so calm, placid, and composed about it—his disposition wasn't like a 15-year-old teenage boy's at all!

After that, Meng Lei chatted a while more with the others before he got ready to bid farewell and leave. Little Gold was still in the Magical Beast Forest, so he had to hurry and bring it back with him.

“What a shame!” Marchioness Cesia lamented with a sigh, “And here I was, thinking of holding a celebratory banquet to express my grat.i.tude to the hero credited with guarding the city. I didn't think that you'd have other matters at hand.”

“Defending against the ant tide is something within my duty and obligation. How can I claim credit for it?” replied Meng Lei with a smile.

Then, he bade farewell to Dirk Norway and the others before finally saying to Hart, “Fatty, I'm counting on you to sell the magic cores!”

“Leave it to me!” Fatty Hart patted his chest and promised, “I'll definitely get it done perfectly!”

“Thanks!”

Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart on the shoulder. Then, he hopped onto the magic carpet, left the North River Pa.s.s city gate tower, and flew toward the Magical Beast Forest.

An hour later, he finally found Little Gold's hiding place. However, the little fellow wasn't in a good spot at the moment because… It had run into trouble!

Over a dozen grayish-white spiders surrounded it on all sides. Woven all around it was even a black spider web that had completely sealed off all of its escape routes.

There was nowhere in and nowhere out.

Little Gold was like a tiny little kitten surrounded by a herd of elephants. It trembled and shook like a leaf—weak, helpless, and pitiful…

Krak, krak, krak…

The gigantic spiders were over 10-meters-long and had eight spear-like silver legs covered in steel needle-like fine hairs. They gave off a terrible stink, filling people with fear and causing their scalps to go numb.

“Underground Cave Magical Spiders! These are Underground Cave Magical Spiders!” Meng Lei's eyes flickered with a chilly glint. “They've actually pursued all the way here. These guys are seriously persistent!”

“Little Gold is the ant monarch. How would the Underground Cave Magical Spiders possibly let it off that easily?” Ol' Amos shook his head and sighed. “Had it been anyone else, they would also want to completely eradicate the enemy for peace of mind. What a pitiful child!”

Meng Lei bent his fingers and flicked them multiple times in succession. Over a dozen fire spears shot outward from thin air and pierced through the Underground Cave Magical Spiders' heads in an instant, impaling them to death on the spot.

At the sight of this, Little Gold couldn't help but shake all over. It was only then that it finally noticed Meng Lei. It was overcome by surprise and joy at once.

“Ding! Dropped item discovered. Will you pick it up?”

“Yes, pick it up!”

“Ding! a.s.similation successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Golden G.o.ds-Slaying Ant bloodline!”

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