System: Replicating The Heavens

Alex gave the Wood Essence Seed to Anya because he could see the desire to have this treasure in her eyes. Although she didn't help him much in killing the flower monster, at least she didn't run away in the face of danger and tried to free him from the stomach of the giant flower.

As for the Wood Essence Seed, he'll simply duplicate it.

[Consumed 300,000 Energy Points. Duplication Successful. Congratulations to the Originator for obtaining the Wood Essence Seed.]

[Wood Essence Seed: It is born after the death of a special plant-type demonic beast. Wood Essence Seed could only help a martial warrior increase their affinity with wood, it can also heal any kind of injury as long as that martial warrior is below Spirit Origin Stage. It can also increase the grade of cultivation talent, at the same time, there is a small probability of obtaining the Wood Essence Bloodline of Profound Grade.]

Reading the information about the Wood Essence Seed, Alex nodded his head in amazement. It is no wonder why Anya was showing such a desire to get the Wood Essence Seed. It is also no wonder why those demonic cultivators were attracted to it and wanted to obtain the seed at all costs.

Fortunately, Alex has a system that helped him duplicate the Wood Essence Seed, otherwise, after giving the seed away, he wouldn't have been able to learn about its features and what it is capable of, not to mention duplicating it.

And in the future, when he would have heard about it from somewhere or someone, only regret would have remained in his heart.

With the system in his pocket, not only did he give Anya the Wood Essence Seed and strengthened the friendship bonds between the two of them, but he also duplicated it and didn't suffer any loss.

Of course, it cost him 300,000 Energy Points which was not low.

"Let's continue moving forward!" Alex took a deep breath and said.

"There is no need!" Anya shook her head, causing Alex to frown. He thought in his heart, does Anya want to escape now that she had gotten the Wood Essence Seed?

Maybe, Anya had seen through Alex's inner thought, she explained, "Don't get me wrong. I said there is no need to go anywhere because it is about the time the Secret Realm will close and we'll be teleported out."

"Eh?" Alex was surprised. He didn't expect the time to return has come. But he frowned the next moment and asked, "How do you know we are about to teleport out?"

"Of course, I know. Don't forget my identity!" Anya said with a bashful smile on her face.

"So that's how it is!" Alex nodded his head and understood. Then he again asked with a frown, "However, what I don't understand is how could those demonic cultivators stay inside the Secret Realm for however long they want?"

"That... I also don't know. They must be relying on some sort of treasure to stay inside the Secret Realm. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to stay inside the Secret Realm. No one can stay inside the Secret Realm without any limit of days."

Alex nodded and was about to ask something when he suddenly felt an extremely strong surge of energy swirling around the entire Secret Realm. This was only the First Layer of the Secret Realm, Alex had not found the entrance to the Second Layer. So, he could only say the strong surge of energy was swirling in the entire First Layer, as for if it was the same for the Second Layer or not, he couldn't say.

Suddenly, the sky darkened as black clouds appeared, stopping the light from passing through. The First Layer of the Secret Realm darkened completely.

Suddenly, the cloud rumbled without any lightning and started separating slowly, revealing a huge hole with a diameter of more than a hundred meters. The hole was black, but it suddenly illuminated with light as if it was the sun, brightening up the entire First Layer of Secret Realm.

Yes, the light coming from this hundred meters of the light source was enough to brighten the entire First Layer of the Secret Realm. One can think how shockingly bright the source of light actually was at this moment.

It was so bright that forced everyone to close their eyes. After a short moment, they suddenly felt an unassailable energy entering running on their skins before entering their bodies. They were stunned for a moment before their bodies suddenly relaxed. For some reason, their bodies instinctively let their guard down and let the energy enter their bodies.

When they felt everything has ended, they opened their eyes and saw themselves standing on the Third Floor of the Triangular-shaped Tower.

The First Elder was still standing with Andre, waiting for everyone's return from the tower. Alex was shocked to find out that only one day has passed outside even though he had spent more than half a month inside the Secret Realm. Such a time gap between the Secret Realm and the Original World made Alex wonder in amazement about how marvelous the Secret Realm actually is.

Doesn't it mean that those damn Demonic Cultivators were the ones leeching off the benefits given by the Secret Realm for many years already, and in the original world, only a few days have passed?

After everyone opened their eyes, they were shocked to see their numbers were less than half now. More than a hundred disciples have entered the Secret Realm, however, only about fifty disciples returned.

The first elder frowned because the loss of disciples this time was much more than the previous few times. He thought in his heart, "There really is something strange about the Secret Realm. It is becoming more and more strange over time. What is going on inside there?"

On the other hand, Anya hurriedly ran off after returning from the Secret Realm. She went to meet her master to inform him about the demonic cultivators and the village of those damn bastards who hunted down her and Alex for many days inside the Secret Realm.

The first elder was surprised but didn't stop her. He looked at the rest of the disciples and said, "Everyone, hand over the demonic cores in your hands so that I can give you the points you deserve. The top ten will advance to the Second Round and compete."

Everyone started handing over the demonic cores in their hands. After they were given the points, they would choose whether to exchange the demonic cores for contribution points or not. If they chose to exchange for contribution points, the First Elder will add the contribution points they deserve to their identity token.

Very soon, it was Alex's number. He went forward and gave the First Elder all the demonic cores he had. He did not need these demonic cores, for his cultivation was enough to not need these demonic cores in his hand.

The First Elder revealed a trace of surprise when he saw how many demonic cores were in Alex's hands. However, he had also heard the name of Alex, so he was not that surprised.

Alex had not given many thoughts to hunting down the demonic beasts, so he didn't have many demonic cores, however, there were still enough in his hand to rank him in the top five.

Alex exchanged all the demonic cores for contribution points. With these contribution points, he thought of exchanging something valuable from the Treasure House of the Floating Cloud Academy.

Talking about the Treasure House, it was only opened for Inner Disciples and Core Disciples of the Floating Cloud Academy. Other than them, no one else could enter.

It is said that there are many treasures inside the Treasure House. If Alex had a chance, he would like to duplicate as many treasures as he could.

After everyone was done, the First Elder took a deep breath and was about to say something when his expression suddenly froze. It was not only him, even Andre who was standing beside him had his expression freeze for a moment. Then both of their expressions turned cold.

After a few moments, the First Elder said, "We have one more person who has yet to bring the demonic cores for point counting, so we'll stop here for now. The Second Round of the Competition will start three days later. We'll announce the names of ten disciples qualified to participate in the second round of the competition tomorrow."

"Dismiss!"

The disciples started discussing as this has never happened before. The second round would always start the next day after the end of the first round.

While conversating, they left one by one.

Alex frowned then he relaxed the next moment. He understood what must have happened just now. Anya must have informed the Academy Leader and the Academy Leader must have informed other elders and core disciples through sound transmission.

This must also be the reason why Andre's expression also changed just now.