The dwarves tried to resist the stampede with their weapons but they discovered that the beasts were highly stimuted and seemed like they were not afraid of the dwarves.

  The Thebes’ army behind the stampede did not expect that their small tactic was working. They did not waste their opportunity and charged toward the encampment.

  A roaring noise could be heard as the Rex Riders moved in tandem with the Pterosaur Riders followed by the Throwers.

  The dwarves’ formation was broken since the beast stampede was hindering them greatly. They could only shoot a few times before they were surrounded by the stampede. Some of the dwarves were running away while the rest of them resisted bitterly.

  They managed to shoot down some but the overwhelming number of the beasts still moved to their location.

  They knew that the enemy was using this for their advantage but they were a step too te. They had no choice but to retreat to the rift. The rift was also an entrance for the civilization at the first and second rank to invade the other pnet.

  With no choice, the dwarves’ army moved to the entrance where they would regroup and counterattack.

  Then the dwarves saw the Rex Riders coming to them. They changed their shooting direction since the enemy had appeared. They shot the Rex but the Rex kept moving. It seemed that the injury from being shot made the beast enraged more.

  The Rex Rider was using both the forest terrain to cover themselves from the flintlocks shooting as well as the beast stampede.

  The advantage of the long-range weapon of the dwarf race was now obvious. They could only grit their teeth and face the incoming enemies.

  But they did not expect that the resistance of the dwarves could be quite good. Just as they stepped to the periphery of the encampment, explosion occurred and that caused them to momentarily paused.

  “What…is this?” Chi You, the leader of the Rex Riders from the Qiang tribe did not expect such a thing to occur. It felt like his eardrum was shaking violently as he felt some forces from the explosion. He also smelled something strange in his nose.

  “Keep charging! Don’t let the enemies regroup!” he shouted quickly to encourage the rest of the men who were shocked.

  “Kill!” from the sky the Pterosaur Riders shouted because this was the chance to avenge their fallen comrade! That grudge would not be easily forgotten.

  The csh happened in the blink of an eye and dozens of Dwarves were injured if not straight-up killed. The Pterosaur Riders were diving while the rider threw off his stone spear. The Rex Rider was rampaging through the encampment as the Thrower gave them support.

  All of them were in a state of frenzy as they wanted to annihite the intruder. Loud noises from the shooting of the flintlocks were covered by the roar of the beast as the Dwarves lost their ground and slowly retreated to the rift.

  Until the st retreating dwarf entered the rift, the human army surrounded the rift and stayed still. They did not want to rashly enter the rift.

  “What now?” they had never come this far in a rge-scale battle so they had to consider things before proceeding further.

  “Someone has to go and scout. They have to be the best.”

  “Me! I can do it!” someone raised their hand and waved it passionately. It turned out to be one of the men from Kudungga tribe.

  “Meno! Are you sure you can do it?” Chi You as the leader of the Rex Rider was not sure of his capability and asked.

  “It will be fine if it is him. I can vouch for him if you are doubtful.” Kudungga replied calmly. He nodded to Meno signaling his permission. Meno then walked to the rift before he disappeared from the sight of the army.

  Dian who could see this from his Pnet Master space frowned as he could barely see the perspective of the other side’s pnet through Meno. It was as if the entire pnet was covered with a fog that prevented him from knowing the situation on the other Pnet Master’s pnet.

  ‘The other side is not surrendering despite the losses of the civilization’s forces. Is it because the other side has a trump card or something else?’

  Dian thought as he was watching the fog of war cleared with Meno exploring the surroundings of the rift.

  Meno moved around but did not go further as it was enemy territory. He returned to Dian’s pnet side and reported everything to the three representatives.

  “We have to go there now. We don’t know whether they are truly defeated or just going on a defensive strategy. Besides, the rift is not disappearing either. It is not here before the Star Battle but during the battle, it will not disappear if one of the participants is not in the win condition.” The three representatives said to their respective people.

  Dian reyed the information to the three representatives because the other Pnet Master decided to drag things out. He reyed some rules of the Star Battle as well as the hypothetical scenario of the Star Battle.

  Then they marched through the rift, arriving at the other’s side of the rift and prepare themselves for the pursuit as well as a decisive battle. As for the Pterosaur Riders, they were the very first to enter the rift so that the human army could scout things.

  After that was the Rex Rider before the Thrower entered the rift, in that order.

  As the Pterosaur Riders started to fly up to the sky once again, Dian’s third-person perspective of the other’s pnet became clearer. Then one of the Pterosaur Riders discovered the sign of activity from fifty kilometers away from the rift.

  Not only that but a bck smoke rose up from that location which made it easier for the humans to know that something was there.

  A siren could be heard from that pce. When you saw the pce from the sky, you could discover that the structure was built circurly with a statue at the center of the cycle. The buildings were built around the statue as well as the pathway and the simple drainage.

  All the avaible dwarves were on alert as they saw the expedition forces return in a very sorry state.

  The human army on the other hand was gathering at the rift, preparing their counteroffensive. They did not move further because of their ck of information regarding their enemies' armament.

  Considering that this could be the stronghold of their enemy, the three representatives could not rex and prepared to march there at the earliest report about the location.

  Finally, the Pterosaur Riders went down and reported the current situation. They could only do this once so they had to make it count.

  “All-out assault. We cannot dey any longer as the scouts said that the enemy is likely to strengthen their position. March forward, everyone!” Kudungga clenched his hand and raised it up. The army moved toward the dwarves’ location.

  Meanwhile, Dian saw something interesting in the dwarves’ location. The statue which the scout had seen earlier was familiar to Dian. Well, more like Dian actually saw the figure of the statue in front of him right now.

  He was inside the Pnet Master space right now, an independent space specifically created for the convenience of the Pnet Master.

  Opposite of him was the figure just like the dwarf race he had seen but with more simir feelings as himself. The Pnet Master of the opposite side had appeared and now they were facing each other.

  Dian asked the question he wanted to ask earlier, “Why do you not give up? That was probably the best army your civilization has gathered and now they are much weaker.”

  The Pnet Master was silent. But from Dian’s perspective, he was shaking.

  “Is it because you ‘cannot’ surrender instead of not willing?” Dian proposed one possibility in which the Pnet Master would not give up under these circumstances.

  For Dian, the result of the Star Battle had turned in his favor. Most of the dwarves’ army had been wiped out by the combination of the stampede and the human army. As for the remnant, they could not pose much threat but destroying a budding civilization was something Dian felt like he should avoid if possible.

  Seeing the opposing Pnet Master, Dian was sure about the condition of the loser. It was bad enough that the Pnet Master rather resist to the bitter end than end the Star Battle.

  And as expected, the final struggles of the dwarves were futile. The tragic scene was watched by Dian but the other Pnet Master only trembled, like holding onto something that would disappear at any moment.

  But a surprise happened as the human race decided not to wipe out the dwarf race. To the human army, the more advanced technology captured their interest. They wanted to learn it through the surviving dwarves but a problem arose.

  The surviving dwarves were scared yet also resentful because their hometown was destroyed by the one even inferior to them in technology.

  “What should we do? What is Father God's suggestion?” Chi You asked this because he did not know for sure about the surviving dwarves. Because the Star Battle was announced directly by Father God, they knew that Father god maybe had some opinion about this.

  Kudungga also thought the same. That was why the human army gathered the surviving dwarves in the middle of their hometown where a statue stood.

  From the dwarves, the human army learned that the statue was the depiction of the Dwarven God. Currently in the human army, some started to believe in the figure of their Father God. Seeing this inspired them.

  Dian wanted to send the three representatives some instructions regarding what to do forward but then the other Pnet Master spoke for the first time.

  “I…lose.” The figure then fell down listlessly. Dian noticed something on his window panel.

  [The Star Battle of the first rank for the first time has concluded]

  [Congratutions to the Pnet Master, winning the first rank Star Battle]

  [Settlement is in progress…]

  “Haha…despite my preparation, I still lost to some unknown race.” The Pnet Master sighed before he stared at Dian. Dian returned his gaze and found that the dwarf’s eyes were filled with determination.

  “I will accept my loss. Just do it quick!”

  [Settlement complete! The loser will be at the mercy and discretion of the winner]

  [You have obtained 2000 energy points]

  [Warning! The loser’s pnet is being assimited with the winner’s pnet. Please utilize your control as a Pnet Master so that your pnet will not fall into chaos!]

  Dian realized the issue immediately and used his supreme control over his pnet to be able to absorb another pnet. He also notified about the matter of the pnet's situation to the three representatives.

  The human race as well as the dwarf race then moved toward the rift where they could move to the safer side.

  It was because the pnet that was being assimited would be the nourishment for the winner.

  After that, Dian perceived that the pnet on the opposite side started to wither away. It slowly shrank bit by bit. While that happened, the human army along with the dwarves’ survivors had already moved to the human pnet.

  “Now, how to deal with you.” Dian looked at the Pnet Master who fell down on his butt. Then he said, “Tell me about yourself first.”

  The Pnet Master who had lost then slowly stood up. He looked back at Dian and introduced himself.

  “I am Leif. Since I lost my first Star Battle, I will be at your discretion. You…can do whatever you want with me.” Leif lowered his head.

  “I see. For now, tell me about the news you have acquired from the Universe Market.”

  -

  In the Universe Market.

  Leif and Dian were there for a reason. According to Leif’s expnation, there were several pces in the Universe Market that could be of use to the Pnet Master. As for how the Universe Council could achieve all of this, Dian did not know.

  But he cared about the development of his pnet and also his civilization.

  “Master, this pce is the one where I buy the Card Auxiry Ability from,” Leif said as the two of them arrived at the nine-story pagoda, decorated with gold as well as luxurious ornaments.

  As for Card Auxiry Ability, it was actually the equipment prepared for the Pnet Master to be used during their Star Battle or other occasions.

  “Is that so?” Dian cocked his head. He was a bit amazed but he could not know whether the pagoda was aesthetically beautiful or not. All he knew was that many Pnet Masters visited this pce.

  “Let’s enter and see what card will be suitable for Master.” Leif led the way inside the pagoda. The moment they entered the pagoda, their sight was covered by numerous rows of cards staked like a tower.

  Some of the cards were flying while the others were staying still, unresponsive.

  “So many cards…” Dian was surprised to see so many cards in one pce. He knew that the Auxiry Pagoda was one of the facilities avaible for Pnet Master to use but the size of it all made him wondering the size of the Universe Council itself.

  “Hello, how can I help you?” the moment the two of them arrived at the receptionist, the one currently in charge saw them and asked with a smile.

  From Dian’s perspective, the receptionist’s physical form was actually a humanoid fox. With a face simir to his human race with some characteristics of the fox animal.

  “I want to buy some F-level cards.” Dian said his needs as he currently cked some cards to be used during important moments.

  “Here is a list of the F-level cards for your perusal.” The receptionist then wiped something like a window panel and waved her hand toward him. Dian suddenly saw a window panel pop up in front of his eyes.

  He could see a lot of F-level cards for him to buy. But he was not sure what he needed. He could only remember the deficit of his human race's weakness and tried to mitigate that weakness or elevate their strength.

  “Hmm…” Dian kept looking at the window panel and scrolled through the many cards he saw. Then he saw something interesting as well as the one that Leif had used.

  [Card Name: Fog of War

  Card Level: F-level

  Price:100 energy points]

  [Card Name: Insight

  Card Level: F-level

  Price: 50 energy points]

  The effect of the Fog of War was to create a fog of war for the opponent’s Pnet Master so that they could not see from their third-person perspective of the user’s pnet. Leif loses to Dian despite seeing Dian’s pnet situation was due to the fact that the stampede was fast and wide.

  If Dian had this card back then, not even Leif could know his human army’s movement. Only by using his civilization’s exploration ability could the fog of war be lifted.

  The second one was actually the one who would passively support the civilization to gain additional insight into their endeavor. It was just a small increase so the price was within the reasonable range of the F-level card.

  “I want to buy these two.” Dian selected the two cards and swept his hand toward the receptionist.

  Her face then slightly changed in surprise as she did not expect that the Pnet Master in front of her would choose one standard card and one very unpopur card.

  But as a professional, she quickly returned to her warm smile as she confirmed the purchase of the two cards. Dian then confirmed that the two cards were now in his Pnet Master inventory.

  “Thank you for your purchase. Come here again.”

  As the receptionist said that, Dian and Leif had already turned around and left the Auxiry Pagoda. Dian could not wait to apply the cards to his pnet. The two returned to the Pnet Master space as they went out from the Universe Market.

  Dian saw on his personal pnet window that he could apply four cards at one time. He immediately let the two F-level cards enter the card slot and activate their effects.

  “Master…” Leif was the first one to break the silence. He continued, “…what will happen to our race?”

  “That my fellow, is why I am returning as fast as I can.” Dian replied immediately after Leif asked.

  Then he directed his eyes toward his pnet. Only one thing remains, though.

  “Right, what do you think of my pnet?”

  “It is a blue pnet filled with various lifeforms. What is the name of your pnet?” Leif asked and Dian remained silent this time.

  Dian was speechless because he did forget to name his pnet despite growing it from where it was just a small celestial body. He thought hard and deliberate for the name of his pnet.

  “Cerulean Pnet.” Dian finally uttered the name of his pnet. Leif nodded despite feeling that the situation had become strange.