Chapter 1172: Chapter 171: The Tournament Begins
The slaughter in the Sky Arena continued, but Li Ang couldn’t be bothered to watch the outcome. He walked away from Game Square with Wang Congshan and returned to the real world to handle some trivial matters.
Firstly, the infiltration plan for The Portal World was going very smoothly,
That "Count of Monte Cristo" Johnson Good, with secret assistance from the Bug Nest, entered the imperial capital unscathed to meet with dignitaries and scholars from the Imperial Royal Science Academy and successfully infiltrated and parasitized them.
Judging from the intelligence received, The Portal World indeed lacks any concrete evidence of existing deities,
At the very least, the Parish Bishop, the head of the Royal Science Academy, and the Empire’s second-largest Duke, among others, had no idea.
Upon learning this, the Bug Nest accelerated the infiltration process, controlling key imperial figures and secretly taking over military and political power,
And through merchant caravans, began moving towards other neighboring countries.
This timeline was actually much quicker than the original plan, but with the battle of Si Ming impending, there was no time for a gradual approach.
Secondly, the cooled terminal vending machine was deployed by Li Ang into a script task world he had visited before.
The world of Alchemists.
Due to the instability of transportation, the terminal vending machine was directly airdropped onto a street in a small town in the Amestris Republic (the homeland of Alchemist Morgan).
The Amestris Republic is a nation of Alchemy, with dedicated advanced academies teaching Alchemy to cultivate talent, holding exams annually,
Issuing licenses to those few who pass the rigorous tests to become National Alchemists.
Therefore, even though the terminal vending machine landed on the street of a relatively remote small town, the local townspeople, who were well-informed, decided to report it overnight to an Alchemist in a nearby city.
The Alchemist rushed to the town and immediately attempted to research the terminal vending machine,
And at this time, Li Ang stepped in to converse with the Alchemist.
Although Li Ang wasn’t from the Amestris Republic, he had deeply studied Morgan’s diary, learning intermediate Alchemy and gaining some knowledge of local customs.
So, fooling the Alchemist was not much of an issue.
Li Ang, acting mysterious and profound, proposed a trade with the Alchemist, offering many unheard-of novel items.
The counterpart, shocked and awed, regarded the terminal vending machine as a miraculous item infinitely close to ultimate truth.
(Alchemists firmly believe in the existence of ultimate truth in the world. The ultimate truth encompasses everything and can grant Alchemists infinite knowledge. Each Alchemist’s life goal is to pursue this truth infinitely.)
Soon, the Alchemist sold all he could pawn,
Including his alchemical creations and notes,
To Li Ang.
Then he asked the town mayor for help to seal off the site, evacuate the populace,
And notify his companions, heading to the Republic’s Alchemist Academy in the capital for the academy head and several renowned doctorates.
A multitude of great Alchemists, like a panel of medical experts, carefully scrutinized the terminal vending machine.
Li Ang straightforwardly sold a pile of novel items to these Alchemists, who in turn, handed over a wealth of alchemical books and answered all of Li Ang’s questions thoroughly.
Ultimately, Li Ang obtained advanced Alchemy data, while the Alchemists acquired knowledge and items beyond the era, both satisfied with the trade outcome.
To elevate intermediate Alchemy to an advanced level, some time was still required,
Li Ang returned to the real world, aside from researching materials, he also went to find Mule.
A while ago, Mule had gone alone to the United States. He only recently returned to the offshore of Yin City, looking to be in a good mood.
Li Ang commissioned Mule to help sell off sundries accumulated in his item storage and purchase three perfect-quality random artifacts.
Yes, Li Ang intended to upgrade the Psychic Ability Manual once again.
Before the joint script task [The Long Night is Coming] with Amber, Side Truth, and others, Li Ang upgraded the Psychic Ability Crystal Guidebook,
Using up items like the [Laughing Mask] and two other perfect-quality artifacts to promote it from primary to intermediate, unlocking 5th to 7th-level Spiritual Energy.
As of now, Li Ang had already completed most of the 6th-level psychic abilities and mastered half of the 7th-level psychic abilities, it was time to make further plans.
With the battle of Si Ming impending, commodity prices in Game Square saw a new round of skyrockets,
Mule took some effort to find three reasonably priced perfect-quality artifacts for Li Ang.
Li Ang paid, took the goods, thanked Mule, and immediately sacrificed the three perfect artifacts to perform the third upgrade for the Psychic Ability Crystal Guidebook.
This time, the Psychic Ability Manual finally evolved into an epic quality,
And Li Ang saw the more advanced enchantment system psychic abilities.
[Mind Barrier]: Immune to all mental emotional effects, immune to detection and remote viewing.
[Mind Seed]: Gradually turn the subject into another you.
[True Domination Spell]: Reduces the possibility of subjects resisting your will.
These three are 8th-level enchantment system psychic abilities, True Domination Spell combined with Mind Seed can almost control any Transcendent with weaker willpower than yourself, and they can be performed without a ripple, extremely terrifying.
[Erase Psychic Power]: Erase the opponent’s mastered spiritual energy.
[Knowing Spell]: Share a perpetual telepathic link with another person.
[Illusion Spell]: Trap the subject’s mind in a flawless fictitious world, while their real body gradually dies.
[Monster Control Spell]: Can control any creature, duration depends on the creature’s willpower, with no upper limit.
[Mind Surgery]: Can repair others’ mental damage and impart psychic knowledge to them. Also allows possessing talents of other psychic factions’ middle and high-level abilities.
[Slavery Spell]: Permanently make the subject your slave.
These six are the 9th-level highest-grade enchantment system psychic abilities, each capable of demonstrating terrifyingly unrivaled effects.
[Erase Psychic Power] enables standing invincible in psychic battles, [Knowing Spell] equals having another pair of eyes ignoring time and space, [Illusion Spell] is equivalent to an unbreakable lunar defilement, [Monster Control Spell] can even control legendary creatures.
[Mind Surgery] signifies the ability to upgrade other psychics’ levels, like promoting all Bug Nest Brainworms to high-level psychics. It also allows oneself to perform mid and high-level abilities of other psychic branches.
And the final Slavery Spell can unconditionally enslave and control others.
"To toy with and transform minds at whim. The 9th-level enchantment system psychic abilities may really be infinitely close to becoming a complete god."
Li Ang opened the newly transformed crystal manual and took a deep breath.
He considered himself somewhat talented, but upon seeing the complex and arcane recordings in the book, he couldn’t help but feel a splitting headache.
The further he progressed, the tougher and more demanding the cultivation of psychic abilities became, with the practice methods in the book turning extremely idealistic, relying almost entirely on personal comprehension.
"It requires major insights to grasp new abilities..."
Li Ang closed the book, shook his head, and cast away his anxious thoughts from his mind.
The developmental time available to players remains too short.
Even though Li Ang’s cultivation speed was already advancing by leaps and bounds compared to psychic cases documented in books, he still felt pressed for time.
"Take it slow..."
Li Ang, following his habit, multitasked,
While silently tempering his mind, enhancing his Spiritual Energy,
he toyed with the colorful metal pieces in his hand, constantly releasing Alchemy to mold them into small wireless toys.
With the Destiny Battle approaching, Li Ang was busily preparing,
In the same cabin, seeing Li Ang’s serious and calm demeanor, Chaichai stopped playing on his phone or engaging in his hobbies,
but instead used the Faith Network to silently supervise the Bug Nest’s expansion plan in the real world, while holding a laptop to assist Li Ang in gathering intelligence.
"The test results of the new version of Sky Arena are out,"
sitting on the sofa, Chaichai looked at the computer screen, and whispered to Li Ang: "Over 820 ordinary challengers successfully obtained player qualifications within 24 hours.
Most of them are elite soldiers trained by the Special Affairs Bureau and the European Heavy Industry Group, a few are independent mercenaries, and some are ordinary people who had no choice but to take unreliable Genetic Elixirs.
These individuals have strong willpower, enduring the test of Sky Arena, offering spectacular battles,
almost all of them gained player qualifications on the fifth floor or above of the arena."
"Oh?"
Li Ang divided his attention and raised an eyebrow, saying: "So it’s impossible to gain player qualifications below the fifth floor?
Ordinary people must win at least five battles to receive the player qualification reward."
"That’s right."
Chaichai nodded and said: "The first batch of Mortal Challengers were expert soldiers from major organizations, yet their survival rate still doesn’t look good.
The success rate of obtaining player qualification is similar to the past when novice players survived the first three script missions on their own.
The death rate is equally high.
However, the advantage is that through the rigorous combat in the Sky Arena, regular individuals who succeed in advancing receive richer rewards, indirectly shortening their growth period, compensating for the killing game’s harshness.
Additionally, there’s gossip that says Cloned Humans and Chimeric Beasts can’t advance."
Li Ang frowned, asking: "Hm? What do you mean?"
"The European Heavy Industry Group has been secretly developing cloning technology, and they’ve sent a team of clones to participate in the Sky Arena battles this time. However, they all failed without exception.
It’s the same with the Chimeric Beasts released by the Beast of Thousand Throats and the Demon Scientist Alliance.
It seems only those who have experienced some part of real life, not directly from a lab, are recognized by the killing game."
"Is that so."
Li Ang nodded, consistent with his expectations.
A Chimeric Beast like the Soldier Bee with no self-awareness doesn’t qualify to advance,
whereas a Bug Nest Brain Worm with rich emotions and independent intelligence should pass the invisible test.
Li Ang casually remarked: "With over 800 new players on the first day, over a year there would be about 300,000. It’s within a reasonable range.
By the way, any sign from the ancient deities?"
"Not currently."
Chaichai shook his head, "After the version update explanation was released, the Special Affairs Bureau immediately dispatched a Mobile Detachment to seize and seal most of the temples and shrines outside the city buildings, blocking folk beliefs.
But so far, it doesn’t seem like there are large-scale mutations related to the Faith Gods like the Sibi King.
The same is happening in the Japan Islands."
"No sign huh..."
Li Ang slowly nodded, as he was himself on the path of Divine Enthronement,
Although unsure whether those ancient deities are still in slumber,
or if they overslept and missed their awakening moment,
no change is the best change.
"Currently, nearly 500 million people have been relocated to the Portal World by the Special Affairs Bureau.
And the Special Affairs Bureau is working overtime in human gathering areas, deploying controllable Meme Weapons to make ordinary people forget the names and folklore of the deities.
Even if the East Asian deities revive, the threat won’t be as significant as before."
Li Ang pondered silently for a while,
Then finally stood up from the chair, directly logged into the Game Square, and signed up for the upcoming Destiny Battle.
————
One month later, Pacific Ocean.
Warships from various countries continued to anchor at sea, surrounding the island, forming a semicircle.
Civilian vessels loaded with goods and personnel continually sailed to the island, which was previously just a barren reef, that now had a floating island platform and dock built.
Over the past month,
People continually boarded the island, attempting to obtain what they wanted from the white giant tower.
Professional soldiers, mercenaries, ambitious people dissatisfied with the status quo, those with nothing to lose in life seeking death, those confident in their abilities...
Governments from various countries did not intentionally block them,
After all, every successful challenger would be the wealth of human civilization.
However, more people than ever boarded the island this day,
Staff wearing Watcher’s Guild medals, carrying newly developed recording machines,
along with a group of mercenaries, entered the white giant tower, occupying the slightly crowded audience seats.
Today marked the official start of the Destiny Battle preliminaries, no one wanted to miss it.
"It’s finally starting..."
"What a pity, I still couldn’t advance to Lv25, only watching the performance from the stands."
"So tense, I wonder what miracles will occur over the next few days."
The packed audience was filled with voices of excitement,
Most people grouped into camps by mutual understanding, sitting separately.
The Special Affairs Bureau, Global Occult Coalition, European Heavy Industry, American Military-Industrial Complex...
Only in the Sky Arena’s first floor, there were tens of thousands of people seated,
and far more were watching the scene through the Watcher’s Guild’s live broadcasting system.
It can be said that no historical contest or celebration in human history was as notable as this moment.
