Desolate Era Book 26, Chapter 27 - Six Strata

Those who chose the other options were all escorted off by the four black-armored retainers. As for those who chose to attempt the Astral Islands, they were escorted by the silver-armored duo.
Actually, it wasn’t really ‘escorting’. They were simply dragged straight into an estate-treasure.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The silver-armored man and woman flew off the mountain peak and towards a different part of the Brightshore Kingdom. They physically flew because it was impossible to teleport within the Brightshore Kingdom; flying was the only option! The flight would take quite a few days.
The eleventh day of their journey.
“Eh? I sense a disturbance.” Ji Ning and thirty thousand-plus cultivators and Aberrants were still within the estate-world. Ning could suddenly sense that his three Mirrorsnow Paintings were resonating with something far off in the distance. “Is there another Mirrorsnow Painting within the Brightshore Kingdom? I wonder if this is the one I need.”
After the silver-armored duo flew past this region, a strange alien lifeform with green reptilian skin suddenly emerged from the waters of the lake below. The creature raised his head to stare towards the skies, locating the silver-armored duo which was now billions of kilometers away. When the creature saw the silver armor, his face changed. “Was that a Mirrorsnow Painting? Those two major powers come from the Twelve Palaces. It should be carried by one of the World-level cultivators they abducted and are now escorting. Damn. I’ve already left the Astral Islands. There’s no way back.”
……
Although Ning could sense the Mirrorsnow Painting, there was nothing he could do. In the end, they all spent more than a month and a half in the estate-world.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, all the cultivators and Aberrants were teleported out of the estate-world.
“Where am I?” Ning and the others all stared curiously at their surroundings.
Before them was an enormous dark abyss that devoured all light, making it impossible for any of them to see to the bottom of this abyss.
Directly above the abyss hovered a series of islands, each of which was merely three hundred meters or so in size. There were hundreds of thousands of these levitating islands! The dense cluster hung there in midair, continuously swiveling as they did so. Some were higher in the air than the others.
The bottom stratum held more than 99% of the islands. Ning estimated that there had to be more than three hundred thousand islands there!
The second stratum held roughly twenty thousand islands.
The third stratum held three thousand islands.
The fourth stratum held a hundred islands.
The fifth stratum held merely twelve islands.
The sixth stratum was the highest stratum, and it held only a single island!
“These are the Astral Islands.” The silver-armored man pointed at the levitating islands. “Every single Astral Island has a World-level cultivator!”
“Every one?” Ning could hear the others all murmuring. That meant more than three hundred thousand World-level cultivators were gathered here.
“The cultivators of the Astral Islands can only be promoted when they challenge cultivators on the same stratum or a higher stratum,” the silver-armored man said. “If you can gain ten consecutive victories against someone of the same level as you, you’ll be promoted to the next higher island. Win ten more times in a row, and you’ll be promoted once again. If you lose so much as a single fight… if you are lucky you will survive, but you’ll still be demoted by one level.”
Everyone’s faces turned pale.
Ning stared at the levitating islands. He finally understood what these levitating islands truly represented. The only island on the sixth stratum held a cultivator who had defeated at least ten of the cultivators on the fifth stratum before advancing to the sixth stratum. After doing so… others might challenge him, but he would have no one else to challenge.
“Dare I ask, what must we do to become citizens of the Brightshore Kingdom?” A cultivator spoke out right away.
“Don’t be impatient.” The silver-armored man smiled. “Choosing the Astral Islands was actually the best choice. Those who chose to become slaves have lost their futures, while those who went into the mines shall be there for a thousand chaos cycles. I’m amazed anyone would even consider those two choices. I really wonder what the hell they were thinking. As for those who chose the bugbeast nests… they probably doubted themselves and their level of strength, which was why they chose to test their luck.”
The silver-armored man looked at them. “All of you here, however, possess self-confidence and determination. You chose the path that has a 1% rate of survival.”
The silver-armored man continued, “You’ll engage in multiple duels here on the Astral Islands. If you want to become a citizen of the Brightshore Kingdom, the answer is actually quite a simple one. So long as you can acquire a complete legacy, you’ll become a citizen of the Brightshore Kingdom.”
“Acquire a complete legacy?” All of the cultivators and Aberrants present were puzzled.
“Right. Each time you defeat a foe on the Astral Islands, you’ll gain a legacy heirloom which they possess,” The silver-armored man said. “For example, a legacy created by a powerful Heartforce Cultivator might have been spread across 3600 legacy treasures. If you can gain all 3600 pieces and piece together the complete legacy, you’ll be able to become a citizen of the Brightshore Kingdom.”
“A heartforce legacy?” Everyone present, Ning included, was shaken and excited.
How could a legacy described as something created by a ‘powerful Heartforce cultivator’ by this mighty Daolord possibly be a simple one? It must be understood that there were a number of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who were skilled in heartforce, but there were very few World-level cultivators of heartforce. As for Samsara Daolords who possessed heartforce? They were even more rare.
“Naturally. But of course, any such heartforce legacy would be spread across 3600 different treasures. This would be considered one of the most truly top-tier legacies. There are many other legacies that are merely spread out across a thousand legacy treasures. There are also some that are spread across five hundred or two hundred treasures. Once you reach the Astral Islands, you’ll easily be able to detect which legacy treasure is located on which island, and you can go challenge the person who has what you want. But of course, that’s only if you are qualified to request the duel. The sole cultivator on the sixth stratum, for example, isn’t qualified to challenge anyone. He has to wait for others to challenge him.
“In short! If you can piece together a complete legacy, you can request permission to leave and become a citizen of the Brightshore Kingdom. If you piece together two complete legacies, you absolutely must depart.”
The silver-armored man suddenly laughed. “But of course, you can always do what that person on the sixth stratum has done. He acquired a complete legacy, lost a few pieces of it on purpose, then won a second complete legacy, then lost a few more pieces of it… and as a result, he slowly built up a library of eight different legacies.”
“What?”
“You can do that?”
Ning and the others were instantly rendered speechless.
If you pieced together one legacy, you could leave. If you pieced together two, you had to leave. There was actually a loophole?!
“The Astral Islands hold a total of ninety-nine mighty legacies, all of which are incredibly powerful.” The silver-armored man laughed. “It is incredibly hard for ordinary citizens of the Brightshore Kingdom to gain access to such powerful legacies. However, ninety-nine priceless legacies are present here at the Astral Islands. Unfortunately, they are spread across many different treasures. If you are strong enough, go forth and defeat the other cultivators and seize their treasures.”
The silver-armored man continued, “Remember this! Every day, you are only permitted to engage in a single duel. If you go a full month without a single legacy treasure to your name, you will be put to death. Thus, there’s no way you can avoid battle and just relax.”
Ning and the others immediately understood.
The losers would have their legacy treasures be seized! If they didn’t have so much as a single legacy treasure, the other cultivators wouldn’t even bother with them, resulting in them living unmolested lives. However... the Brightshore Kingdom did not wish for this to happen. If you didn’t have so much as a single legacy treasure for more than a month, you would perish!
The Brightshore Kingdom would put you to death!
The other World-level cultivators would also try to kill you!
The closer you got to acquiring a full legacy treasure set, the more difficult things would become. For example, if you had 199 legacy treasures and needed just one more, other cultivators might take an interest in you and try to kill you and take everything you had.
“Those who wish to try for the truly top-tier legacies will have an even higher chance of death. Those who go for somewhat weaker legacies will have lower casualties.” Ning understood this principle.
“This is a place of both great danger as well as great opportunity. Ninety-nine legacies! Haha, in the Endless Territories you’d risk your life countless times over without getting a chance at such a legacy. Here, every single one of you has a chance! In fact, you can do the same thing which this guy is doing?” The silver-robed man pointed at the the cultivator on the sixth level. “This one has already pieced together eight legacies. If you are strong enough, you can do the same.”
“But of course, you’ll need to be careful as well. Don’t end up dying.” The silver-armored man suddenly raised his voice. “Old fellow, create another 31091 astral islands.”
“Mm.” A deep voice rang out from within the dark abyss.
Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of stars began to suddenly arise from within that pitch-black abyss.