Same race as us, but the people from Pinocchini seem to have gotten all the luck.

That made Logan a bit jealous. He looked at Natalia and frowned. "So why did they invite Bell in the first place?"

Natalia shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you should go with them and see if the new humans are as wild in bed as they say."

Logan picked up the sarcasm in her words and awkwardly shook his head. "I prefer the natural, no-additives kind."

Natalia stepped up to him and gave him a hard hit. "Then fight well. Beat that woman and bring her back for questioning."

Logan looked at the pitying looks from Sophia and Lucia and sighed helplessly.

The match finally reached the afternoon, and it was finally Logan's turn to go on.

As the last player of the group stage, everyone was waiting for him to show off.

But to everyone's disappointment, Logan's opponents all gave up without a fight.

Even Logan didn't expect this outcome. "Come on, fight me already!"

As a result, Logan became the fastest winner in the internal war, even faster than fake Gwen.

To prevent this from happening again, the organizers added a new rule: no surrender before three minutes in the elimination round.

Logan agreed with the rule. After all, the audience paid to watch, and he couldn't just sit there.

So, in the elimination rounds, he treated the matches like a show.

For opponents he could have beaten in one move, he made them last five minutes.

For those he could have summoned his familiars to surround, he only let one familiar fight.

Even to keep things interesting, he specifically brought out his Seductive Mermaid army. As soon as they appeared, their looks and figures made the audience wide awake.

Some guests even secretly approached Sophia and Lucia, asking where they could buy a Seductive Mermaid as their own familiar.

This request made the two girls both laugh and sigh at the same time. But they knew Logan's personality well—he would never sell his beautiful familiars. So they had to reluctantly turn down the crazy guests.

In the end, when Sophia and Lucia counted up, they had turned down over 10 trillion federation credits in less than three hours. That made them both feel really hurt.

The internal battle was now reaching its final stage. Standing across from Logan was none other than Nel, playing the fake Gwen.

Logan had been watching Nel's fighting style the whole time. What confused him was that she didn't use any familiars—she fought with just her body.

Against any opponent, whether it was a giant beast, a fierce beast, or a wild animal, she took them down with her bare hands. Every punch and kick would break her opponent's familiar's bones and tear their muscles apart.

At the same time, discussions about Gwen in the Human Federation almost hit the number two spot on the popularity chart.

Everyone was now fascinated by this small but super-powerful girl.

Nel stood across from Logan, stretching her body and smiling as she greeted him: "Come on, tell me the truth—why did you fight so weakly just now? Did you get paid?"

"Paid?" Logan blinked. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

When Logan didn't admit it, Nel stepped closer and gave him a quick elbow to the shoulder. She whispered, "You could have taken those guys in one hit, but you dragged it out like a show. Did they pay you?"

Logan blinked. "Wow, you're really something. I never thought of that!"

Nel then kicked Logan hard. He managed to shift the force, sending her flying into the air.

Using her Mental Power to speak telepathically, she said, "Don't tell me you didn't bet. Everyone knows you'd win. Now the bets outside are all about how long it'll take you to finish the fight."

She then leapt back in front of Logan, hooked her arm around his shoulder, and smiled. "What do you say? Let's set up a deal and make a quick fortune together."

Logan gave her a look. "Did you bet?"

Nel pushed him again with her Mental Power, saying, "Of course I did. It's not easy, you know. I came here on a mission, and the higher-ups don't give me any money. If I don't make some extra cash, I'll be broke."

She then pulled at her top, letting her chest bounce a bit. "By the way, your clothes are really good. Much better than the styles in Pinocchini. I bought a few thousand bras."

Logan frowned when he heard how much she spent. "You just said you were broke."

Nel shrugged, looking indifferent. "I really am broke. I borrowed money just to buy all these clothes."

Logan twitched his lips. "So you don't plan to pay it back?"

Nel grinned. "I borrowed it with my own skills. Why should I pay it back?"

Logan frowned. "Then why did you come looking for me?"

Nel saw that Logan was now taking it seriously, so she stopped what she was doing and said with a smile, "Join our Fourth Exploration Team. We need people like you—Transcendents."

Hearing the word "Transcendents" again, Logan frowned. "But you said everyone in Pinocchini is an Transcendents."

Nel smiled. "Not as many as you think. Even in Pinocchini, only a few people can reach the Second-stage Transcendents."

"Plus, Pinocchini has a big problem right now. Since a hundred years ago, the number of baby girls has been way higher than baby boys."

"By today, the number of male babies born each year is less than a hundred. You should know what that means."

Logan heard the news and muttered under his breath: "Damn it."

Then he came up with a strange idea. "Wait, did you invite Bell to join Pinocchini just to have him go back and... breed with you?"

Snap!

Nel snapped her fingers and laughed. "You're not far off. But you'd better stop thinking that way. Pinocchini's society isn't like that. There's no such thing as one man with many wives."

Logan shrugged. "Just kidding."

Nel walked up to Logan, opened her familiar space, and released a huge golden-winged dragon.

Logan saw the shining golden scales in the sky and frowned. "Golden wyvern. A rare A-level monster."

Nel smiled. "You really know your stuff. Now, bring out your familiar and let it hold the line. We can talk while they fight."

Logan nodded and immediately released his Dragon Commander.

Ashen Dragon vs. Golden Wyvern. The two smaller dragons were evenly matched.

Nel looked at the Dragon Commander and raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. "So you robbed The Black Church, and even managed to take over their Ashen Dragon commander?"

Logan gave a neutral expression, not confirming or denying.

Nel saw this and explained what a true Transcendents was like. "Do you think you're just a regular human?"

"But I have to tell you, you've already changed. Strictly speaking, you're not a normal human. And you can't accept the Fire Seed of humans to become a Saint."

When Logan heard this, his eyes widened. He looked at Nel with a fierce expression. "Do you have proof? Let me see it."

Nel pointed at her own temple, then at Logan's head, and smiled. "The proof is simple. Our souls are much stronger than regular humans. That's the most basic difference between new humans and regular humans."

"You've always thought that physical features are what set new humans apart from regular humans. That's completely wrong."

"Among new humans, one third of the newborns look just like regular humans. Only the soul is the real difference."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "So that's your judgment?"

Nel nodded with a smile. "Of course. Your Soul Sea is even stronger than mine."

Hearing that, Logan felt a sudden spark of thought. He quickly remembered that pioneer who had once devoted himself to exploring the whole Lost World — [Ron].

"Maybe your judgment is wrong. I have my own luck. The reason my Soul Sea is so big is more because of outside help," Logan said without hiding the truth.

He believed more in effort and results than in talent.

But Nel didn't change her mind. She stayed firm. "You're wrong. You've always thought your power came from hard work and luck. That's your biggest mistake."

At that, Nel projected her Soul Sea into Logan's mind.

Soon, Logan was drawn to the structure inside her Soul Sea. It looked like a multi-layered pagoda, supporting each other but also standing on its own.

Though it was complicated, its size was still nothing compared to Logan's Soul Sea.

"You see? My Soul Sea is just unique in structure, but it can't match yours at all. I don't want to expand it — it's already my soul's limit," Nel said, a hint of sadness on her face.

Then she looked at Logan and smiled. "Also, we've already found out about your background. You're an orphan. Have you ever wondered where your parents are? What they did for a living?"

Logan scratched his head. He hadn't really thought about these things before.

As a person from another world, he didn't care much about that. But now that Nel brought it up, he was actually curious. "What did you find out?"

Nel smiled and handed him a badge. "Eighteen years ago, there was a rebellion in Pinocchini. Many people died. A golden family was wiped out by human federation killers. This is their badge. Anyone from that family who drips blood into it will be turned golden by the badge's power."

…

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