Chapter 1 The Slaying in the Sky Arena Continues

The slaughter in the Sky Arena continued, but Li Ang didn't bother to watch the results. He left the game plaza with Wang Congshan to handle some miscellaneous matters in the real world.

First of all, the infiltration plan of the Doorworld was progressing very smoothly.

The "Count of Monte Cristo," Johnson Goode, with the covert assistance of the Zerg, entered the Imperial capital without a hitch. He was granted an audience with dignitaries and scholars of the Imperial Royal Academy, and he parasitized them.

According to the returned intelligence, there was no concrete evidence of gods existing in the Doorworld at present.

At least, the dignitaries, including the diocesan bishop, the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the Empire's second grand duke, were completely unaware.

Upon learning this, the Zerg continued to accelerate the infiltration, secretly taking over military and political power by controlling important figures of the Empire, and set off toward other overland nations through merchant caravans.

This happened much faster than originally planned, but with the Sima battle imminent, there was no time for a gradual approach.

Secondly, the terminal vending machine, which had finished cooling down, was placed by Li Ang into a script mission world he had visited before.

The world of alchemists.

Due to the instability of teleportation, the terminal vending machine was airdropped directly onto a street in a small town in the Amestris Republic (i.e., the homeland of the alchemist Morgan).

The Amestris Republic is a country of alchemy, with advanced academies dedicated to teaching alchemy, cultivating alchemic talents, and holding annual examinations.

A state alchemist qualification is awarded to a few eligible candidates who pass rigorous tests.

Therefore, even though the terminal vending machine only crashed on the street of a relatively remote town, the townspeople who had received popular science education decided to notify an alchemist in a nearby city that night.

After the alchemist arrived in the town, he immediately tried to study the terminal vending machine.

At this time, Li Ang came forward and talked with the alchemist.

Although Li Ang was not from the Amestris Republic, he had thoroughly studied Morgan's diary, learning intermediate alchemy and some local customs from it.

So, fooling the alchemist was not a problem.

Li Ang pretended to be unfathomable and asked to trade with the alchemist, giving him a large number of novel items he had never heard of.

While shocked and horrified, the other party also considered the terminal vending machine a miraculous object infinitely close to the truth.

(Alchemists firmly believe that there is an ultimate truth in the world. The ultimate truth contains everything and can give alchemists infinite knowledge. The goal of every alchemist's life is to infinitely advance towards the truth.)

Soon, the alchemist sold all the things he could pawn, including his own alchemic creations, alchemic notes, etc., to Li Ang.

Then, he asked the town mayor for help, blocked the scene, evacuated the people, and notified his companions to invite the dean and a group of well-known doctoral scholars from the Alchemist Academy in the Republic's capital.

A group of great alchemists surrounded the terminal vending machine, examining it carefully like experts in a consultation.

Li Ang simply sold a bunch of novel items to these alchemists, and the other party also handed over a large number of alchemy-related books, and answered many of Li Ang's questions without reservation.

In the end, Li Ang gained advanced alchemy information, and the alchemists gained knowledge and items that surpassed the times. Both parties were very satisfied with the results of the transaction.

It would still take some time to upgrade from intermediate to advanced alchemy.

Li Ang returned to the real world. While studying the information, he also went to see Mule.

Mule had gone to America alone some time ago and had only recently returned to the outer sea of Yin City, looking happy.

Li Ang commissioned Mule to help him sell the sundries he received in his inventory and purchase three random items of perfect quality.

That's right, Li Ang planned to upgrade the Mind Power Manual again.

Before he and Amberley, Truth-Side, and others jointly performed the 【Long Night is Coming】 script mission, Li Ang had upgraded the Mind Power Manual Crystal, consuming 【Laughing Mask】 and other three perfect quality items, from beginner to intermediate, unlocking levels 5-7 of psionic power.

As of now, he has learned most of the level 6 mind powers and mastered half of the level 7 mind powers. It was time to make further plans.

With the Sima battle imminent, the prices in the game plaza have soared again.

It took Mule some effort to find three perfect quality items for Li Ang that were still relatively cheap.

Li Ang paid the money, took the goods, thanked Mule, and immediately sacrificed these three perfect items to upgrade the Mind Power Manual Crystal for the third time.

This time, the Mind Power Manual finally became of epic quality, and Li Ang also saw more advanced enchantment-type mind powers.

【Mind Barrier】: Immunity to all mental and emotional effects, immunity to detection and clairvoyance.

【Mind Seed】: Slowly transform the target into another you.

【True Domination】: Reduces the possibility of the dominated resisting your will.

These three are level eight enchantment-type mind powers. True Domination plus Mind Seed can control almost any transcendent whose willpower is inferior to his own, and it is extremely terrifying to cast without any ripples.

【Psionic Erasure】: Erases the psionic powers mastered by the opponent.

【Soulmate】: Permanently share a mind link with another person.

【Illusion】: Cause the target's spirit to enter a flawless fictional world, while causing his real body to slowly die.

【Monster Domination】: Can control any creature, the duration depends on the creature's willpower, no limit.

【Mind Surgery】: Can repair the mental damage suffered by others and impart to him psionic knowledge. Can also possess talents for psionic powers of other factions.

【Enslavement】: Permanently makes the target your slave.

These six are the highest level nine psionic powers of the mind enchantment system. No matter which one, it can exert a terrifying effect.

【Psionic Erasure】 can stand invincible in battles between psionic users, 【Soulmate】 is equivalent to having an extra pair of eyes that ignore distance and time, 【Illusion】 is equivalent to an uncrackable Tsukuyomi, 【Monster Domination】 can even control legendary creatures.

【Mind Surgery】 means being able to increase the level of other psionic users, such as upgrading all Zerg cerebrates to advanced psionic users. It can also allow oneself to perform intermediate and advanced psionic powers of other factions.

And the final Enslavement can unconditionally enslave and control others.

"Manipulating and transforming minds at will. The ninth-level enchantment-type mind power may really be infinitely close to a complete god."

Li Ang opened the refreshed Crystal Manual and took a deep breath.

He considered himself to be quite talented, but when he saw the complicated and obscure records in the book, he still felt a splitting headache.

The further you go, the more difficult and arduous the cultivation of mind power becomes. The cultivation methods in the book also become extremely idealistic, relying almost entirely on one's own comprehension.

"Must have a major insight to master new psionic powers..."

Li Ang closed the book, shook his head, and threw the restless thoughts out of his brain.

The development time available to players is, after all, too short.

Even if Li Ang's cultivation speed is already a thousand miles a day compared to the psionic user cases recorded in the book, he still feels that there is not enough time.

"Take it slow..."

Li Ang followed his habit, multitasking,

While silently tempering his mind and improving his psionic power, he was playing with colorful metal blocks in his hands, releasing alchemy at all times, kneading them into small toys like small radios.

With the Sima battle imminent, Li Ang was making preparations intensively.

In the same cabin, Chai Chai, seeing Li Ang's calm and serious appearance, no longer played with her mobile phone or engaged in her own hobbies.

Instead, she used the faith network to silently supervise the Zerg's expansion plan in the real world, while holding a laptop and collecting information for Li Ang to the best of her ability.

"The test results of the new version of the Sky Arena are out."

Chai Chai, sitting on the sofa, looked at the computer screen and said softly to Li Ang, "In 24 hours, a total of 820 ordinary challengers successfully obtained player qualifications.

Most of them are elite soldiers trained by the Special Affairs Bureau and the European Heavy Industries Group, a few are independent mercenaries, and ordinary people who have nowhere to go and have just swallowed unreliable gene potions.

These people are very strong-willed, withstood the test of the Sky Arena, and contributed wonderful battles.

Among them, almost everyone obtained player qualifications on the fifth floor or higher of the arena."

"Oh?"

Li Ang diverted his mind and raised his eyebrows, "That is to say, it is impossible to obtain player qualifications on the fourth floor and below?

Ordinary people must win at least five games to receive the player qualification reward."

"That's right."

Chai Chai nodded and said, "The first batch of mortal challengers were elite soldiers sent out by major organizations. In this case, their survival rate is still not very good.

The probability of successfully obtaining player qualification is basically not much different from the old days when novice players relied on themselves to survive the first three script missions.

The mortality rate is equally high.

But the benefit is that ordinary people who have successfully advanced through the arduous battles in the Sky Arena will receive more generous rewards, indirectly shortening their growth cycle. This is considered a compensation made by the killing game.

In addition, there are rumors that clones and synthetic beasts cannot be promoted."

Li Ang frowned and said, "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"The European Heavy Industries Group has been secretly developing cloning technology. This time, they also sent a clone team to participate in the Sky Arena battle. However, without exception, they all failed.

The same is true for the synthetic beasts released by the Thousand-Throat Beast and the Demon Scientist Alliance.

It seems that only those who have experienced a part of real life, and are not products directly out of the laboratory, can be recognized by the killing game."

"Is that so."

Li Ang nodded. This was no different from his guess.

Synthetic beasts like the Zerg's worker bees, which have no self-will, are not qualified for promotion,

But the Zerg cerebrates, which have rich emotions and independent minds, should be able to pass the implicit test.

Li Ang casually said, "There are more than 800 new players on the first day. Calculated over a year, there are about 300,000. Within a reasonable range.

By the way, is there any movement on the side of the ancient gods?"

"Not for the time being."

Chai Chai shook her head, "After the version update instructions came out, the Special Affairs Bureau directly dispatched mobile task forces to confiscate and seal most of the temples and Taoist temples outside the city building, and blocked folk beliefs.

However, so far, there does not seem to be a large-scale change related to faith gods, such as the Corpse Bite King.

The same is true in Ri Island and other places."

"No movement..."

Li Ang nodded slowly. He himself was a member of the path of faith and conferring gods.

Although he didn't know whether those ancient gods were still in hibernation, or whether they got up late and didn't reach the awakening trigger, no change was the best change.

"There are now nearly 500 million people who have moved to the Special Affairs Bureau's Doorworld.

And the Special Affairs Bureau is working overtime to投放可控的模因武器 (tóufàng kěkòng de mómǔ wǔqì, deploying controllable memetic weapons) in human gathering areas to make ordinary people forget the names and legends of the gods.

Even if the East Asian gods revive, the harm is not as great as before."

Li Ang thought silently for a while,

Finally, he stood up from the chair, directly logged into the game plaza, and signed up to participate in this Sima battle.

————

A month later, Pacific Ocean.

The warships of various countries are still berthed at sea, surrounding the island, forming a semicircle.

Civilian ships loaded with goods and personnel continue to sail to the island. The island, which was once a barren reef beach, has now built floating island platforms and floating island docks.

In the past month,

People have been登岛 (dēng dǎo, landing on the island) one after another, trying to get what they want from the white giant tower.

Professional soldiers, mercenaries, ambitious people who are dissatisfied with the status quo, people who have nothing to remember in their lives and seek death, self-proclaimed powerful psionic users...

The governments of various countries did not deliberately stop them.

After all, all successful challengers will be the wealth of human civilization.

However, on this day, there were particularly many people登岛 (dēng dǎo, landing on the island).

Staff wearing the Watchers Guild badge, carrying newly developed recording machines, entered the white giant tower with a group of mercenaries and sat in the slightly crowded auditorium.

Today is the day when the Sima battle preliminaries officially begin, and no one wants to miss it.

"It's finally starting..."

"It's a pity, I still couldn't be promoted to Lv25. I can only sit in the stands and watch the performance."

"I'm so nervous. I don't know what miracles will appear in a few days."

In the fully packed auditorium, there was a burst of noise,

Most of the personnel were divided into several camps and sat separately according to their mutual understanding.

Special Affairs Bureau, Global Supernatural Alliance, European Heavy Industries, American Military Industrial Complex...

In the space of the first floor of the Sky Arena alone, there were hundreds of thousands of people sitting,

And there are far more than this, hundreds of millions of people, watching the ultra-clear images of the scene through the live broadcast system built by the Watchers Guild.

It can be said that no competition, ceremony, or ritual in human history has attracted so much attention as it does now.