Multiverse Skill System

Page 505

This could be considered a brute-force approach, but ultimately it still used forces within the school's rules.

Yi Shuihan's territory expanded fourfold, reaching five times its original size. If he were angry, he would be fully qualified to become an earl, but he had no such intention. Instead, he started to fuss over the competition.

First, he secretly searched his own territory, spending about a month investigating. He left all other matters in his territory to his maid, Hill, completely shirking his responsibilities as a boss.

"It won't be that easy after all!"

After a month, Yi Shuihan hadn't found a single clue. Even though he knew it wouldn't be that simple, he still felt somewhat disappointed.

Since there was no such thing in his own territory, he had no choice but to look in the territories of other nobles, even if doing so would arouse the vigilance of other nobles or even cause them to deliberately cover up the news. Yi Shuihan had no other option.

On one hand, he searched for opportunities himself, and on the other hand, Yi Shuihan also set his sights on those chambers of commerce, since those who run chambers of commerce travel all over the country and are well-informed.

To be honest, Yi Shuihan's method wasn't particularly clever; it was a common approach that anyone who wasn't an idiot could come up with. It was rather disappointing for those who had expected to see Yi Shuihan engage in high-IQ reasoning.

While Yi Shuihan was slowly searching for her marked prey, the other contestants were making varying progress.

There are fast and slow competitions because each participant's status upon entering is different, which introduces a degree of randomness. Good participants have a high status from the start, making it easier for them to compete.

For example, one could become a king and have tens of thousands of people do his bidding with a single command.

Becoming a nobleman or even a king is a relatively good start, but there are also worse starts, such as becoming a commoner. Because you don't have the status of a nobleman, you need to build your own army, which is even worse for those who are not strong enough to conquer the world.

Of course, the most tragic thing is to become the prey hunted by the dream of nobility. This competition world is not just for humans, and a large part of the contestants are not human. Some are given human identities so that other humans cannot see their true forms, while others are given non-human identities directly.

Those with superhuman strength are prey for nobles to enhance their power; nobles have always enjoyed hunting down powerful non-humans.

The source of power for the nobles' bloodline is these non-human beings; the stronger the non-human beings they hunt, the stronger the power they gain.

Becoming a non-human means facing the hunting of nobles on one hand, and finding marked prey on the other. It is arguably the most difficult thing to do. After all, the hearts of those who are not of our kind are easily swayed. If a human is strong, the stronger they are, the more they will be respected and the more they will try to find ways to become stronger. But if a non-human is strong, the more people will want to kill them in order to gain power.

Viscount Yi Shuihan's start was actually quite good among the many contestants. If you observe carefully, you can find that the contestants who performed very well in the first stage also got better identities in the second stage, although it's not absolute.

In the second round, participants of the human race actually have an advantage, as humans are far less likely to be assigned to non-human races than those who were not originally human.

......

Ultimately, the second stage was less difficult, and most participants were able to complete it. The participants explored this dungeon world in various creative ways.

Some climbed the tech tree, using technology to replace human labor in hunting; some started revolutions, launching a vigorous liberation movement; some developed churches, using faith to win people over; some developed assassin organizations, with each commission consisting of various secretive information; and so on...

For the spectators, this second stage is very interesting and entertaining. They can also gather information from the participants' actions to prepare for recruiting them in the future.

Students are always leaving school, and many of them haven't yet joined any major factions, so they can be recruited.

The campus competition is a stage to showcase one's abilities. While strength is the most important factor, other aspects are also important when the strengths are similar.

Interpersonal skills, judgment in the face of accidents, execution ability, overall perspective, and whether one is humane, among other things.

Different strokes for different folks. Some forces prefer those who are ruthless and decisive, while others prefer those with a saintly personality, and still others specifically seek out those with a twisted personality!

Of course, all of this has little to do with Yi Shuihan, or rather, it has little to do with those students who aspire to transcend the True Saint and become the Chaos Emperor.

A True Saint can only say that he can gain a foothold in the myriad realms, but he doesn't have much autonomy. If he doesn't find a backer, unless he is willing to stay in one place, it will be difficult for him to get by. Only by becoming a Chaos Emperor can he be independent and not have to consider other things too much.

The instance world is still very large, with at least a dozen countries, and its total area is comparable to Earth. In addition, the transportation speed is not fast, and information is difficult to transmit. Most people still use horses as the means of transportation. It takes a month to travel through a single country. This is only for a direct route. If you really investigate, it will take even longer.

So the second phase took quite a long time. It wasn't until the third year that Yi Shuihan finally found the prey's trail, and then it took another month to finally kill it, thus completing the second phase.

When Yi Shuihan emerged from the instance world, only a few thousand people had completed the quest. It would probably take another ten years or more for everyone to finish the second phase.

In fact, Yi Shuihan could have done it faster, but he was a bit lazy and unwilling to search for the whole thing by himself, nor was he willing to solve the problem with violence.

"Hey buddy, do you have a moment?"

After finishing the second phase, Yi Shuihan planned to return to his King's Peak to watch the game with the girls, but a human student called out to him.

"What's up?"

"Here's the thing, I have a task here, and we're short-handed right now, so I'd like to find some help. I saw your performance in the competition, and I'm planning to invite you. Don't worry, the task is very simple, doesn't take much time, and the reward is very generous. It definitely won't affect your upcoming competition."

"find someone else!"

It would be strange if such a good thing didn't have problems! Yi Shuihan decisively refused.

Chapter 1297, I won't accept missions involving ten thousand boundary points.

Yi Shuihan's answer surprised the man in front of him. He hadn't expected Yi Shuihan to refuse so decisively, without even asking for details.

"Please don't misunderstand, I really didn't mean anything by it. Can you let me explain the details before you make a decision?"

To make his argument more convincing, the man took out his ID card and showed his information to Yi Shuihan.

"That way you won't have to worry about not being able to find me if there's a problem. You can also ask other people about me. I know quite a few people at school, so you can easily find out what kind of person I am."

There's some truth to what he said. Most people would probably go along with him and fall into his trap. Yi Shuihan's reaction was very direct. He said "Oh," took a step to the right, and passed by the man.

"Hey, wait a minute, let me finish! Here's the thing, we've discovered a special spiritual herb. There's a wild beast guarding it, and we need to kill the beast to get the herb. We've already found someone, but something unexpected happened, so we're looking for someone to take their place. If you're willing to go, the whole process will take about a year, and you'll gain a thousand boundary points. That's a thousand boundary points, and you haven't even taken any action."

A thousand boundary points—that's really quite a lot. Even Yi Shuihan had to admit that he felt a fleeting moment of excitement. To exchange a year for a thousand boundary points—this was an incredible windfall.

"Don't worry, as long as you have the strength of the sixth level of the Tower of Babel, you can complete the mission easily. It's just about going to a place and working together to kill a divine beast. I've also found other companions. Here's the information."

They're very well prepared! Yi Shuihan glanced at them; they looked quite professional, so he figured these companions were probably real too. But the more normal everything seemed, the less Yi Shuihan believed them.

If he didn't give a sufficiently convincing reason, he figured the other party wouldn't give up easily. Realizing this, Yi Shuihan stopped in his tracks.

"So you've decided to join?"

The man smiled, thinking that Yi Shuihan had finally been moved.

"I'll say it again, I refuse. As for the reason, well, you think you can get me to do something for a thousand boundary points? That's a bit too low. Ten thousand boundary points would be more like it. I don't accept any missions below ten thousand boundary points. It's just demeaning myself."

"You won't accept any missions below the 10,000 threshold?"

The man stared blankly at Yi Shuihan, wanting to say a thousand words, but ultimately remained silent. Yi Shuihan continued walking, and the man didn't follow. What could he say if he did? Yi Shuihan's meaning was already clear: he wasn't interested in the pie in his hand!

After Yi Shuihan walked away, two Winged Clan members appeared beside the man. One was Fu Ye, and the other was Fu Zhan.

"Xiang Feng, how did it go? Did he agree?"

Fu Ye asked excitedly.

The truth was pretty much what Yi Shuihan had thought. There was a problem; it was actually a conspiracy against him. If Yi Shuihan agreed, they would take him out of the school and then find a place to ambush and kill him.

"Failed?"

Fu Zhan was much calmer. Before Xiang Feng could answer, he had already noticed and was somewhat surprised.

In fact, this tactic is a bit old, but it works very well! A thousand thresholds are enough to make people take risks and lose their minds.

If Yi Shuihan had even the slightest thought, she would fall into the trap. Xiang Feng was someone Fu Zhan specifically found. They had only met once before and had no contact with each other. Moreover, just as Xiang Feng himself said, his character was highly regarded within the human race. As long as Yi Shuihan investigated, she would easily believe Xiang Feng.

The 1000 Boundary Points are real, but they weren't given to Yi Shuihan. Instead, they were given to Xiang Feng and several other students as payment for killing Yi Shuihan, not as a spiritual medicine.

"Lord Fuzhan, I didn't expect things to develop like this. Do you know what he just said?"

"What did he say?"

Fu Zhan didn't ask, but Fu Ye immediately did, as he was also very curious.

He said he wouldn't accept any missions below 10,000 points, because that would be demeaning to himself.

"..."

Fu Ye stared in disbelief, and Fu Zhan's eyes widened slightly as well. He knew that a thousand boundary points were not a small number for Fu Zhan; he only had a few thousand boundary points at the moment.

Fu Zhan has never done a mission with 10,000 boundary points. Only the top few dozen monsters in the school are qualified to do missions of that level. At Fu Zhan's level, he usually only accepts missions with a few hundred boundary points. If it exceeds a thousand, he has to risk his life. He has a bright future and will not risk it before he is in dire straits. As for missions with tens of thousands of boundary points, Fu Zhan is simply not capable of completing them. If he accepts one, he will probably die.

"That kid is just putting on an act. With his strength, how could he possibly be stronger than Brother Fu Zhan? Even Brother Fu Zhan wouldn't dare to say that."

Fu Ye said with a disdainful look. He didn't believe that Yi Shuihan was that strong. Even when Fu Zhan said that Yi Shuihan had the strength of an emperor, he was somewhat skeptical.

"Whether it's pretense or not, since this kid isn't falling for it, let's keep waiting! If he runs into me in the school competition, I can take the opportunity to get rid of him. Then no one will be able to save him. I hope he's stronger."

"In that case, you've done your job, even if you didn't succeed. You've put in the effort, so here's 50 points as a reward for your hard work."

"Thank you, Lord Fuzhan."

The 50 threshold points are only five percent of the agreed-upon 1000 threshold points, but the matter wasn't accomplished; it was just a matter of exchanging a few words. Xiang Feng was still very happy, feeling that Fu Zhan was quite generous.

This move to win over the hearts and minds of the people was done very naturally, and it seems to have achieved good results.

Fu Ye, who was standing to the side, was a little envious. 50 boundary points was a small amount of money for him. He wished he could accept the 50 boundary points on Xiang Feng's behalf.

Compared to Fu Zhanxian, Fu Ye's vision is ultimately too narrow. If it were him, even with a limit point, he wouldn't give it like that. He would probably be in a very good mood if he gave it 1 limit point.

Chapter 1298, 100,000 into 50,000

The second phase lasted for 11 years, and finally the third phase has arrived. In fact, the first two phases can be called elimination rounds, or even exhibition matches.

Those who don't make it to the third stage don't even qualify to have their names remembered, since only the 100,000 participants who reach the third stage are eligible to be listed on the school's leaderboard.

In the third phase, the school finally refrained from coming up with any strange methods and instead held the most solemn one-on-one arena competition, although the arena might be a bit too large.

Since everyone here is a True Saint, and they have a strong sense of time, the battle is scheduled to last for one month. If a winner is still not decided after one month, a referee will determine the victor based on a comprehensive assessment of both sides' circumstances.

With hundreds of billions of viewers, even if divided into 50,000 arenas, each arena would still have 200,000 viewers, not counting those watching from outside the arena. There would be no shortage of attention.

Moreover, as the competition progresses, the faster the fights are over, the more the audience will move to the rings where the fights are still going on. In short, the more people watch as the competition progresses.

In the first month, the top 50,000 will be selected, and in the second month, the top 25,000 will be selected. After that, the school will select 10,000 participants as seeded players. Half of the remaining 15,000 participants will be eliminated, and the remaining 7,500 will be qualified to challenge the seeded players. Those who succeed in the challenge can enter the fourth stage.

Given the school's strength and resources, the selected seed players are highly accurate, especially since it's the Chaos Emperor who's making the selections. In the end, the number of players who actually succeed in the challenge is probably not many, maybe not even one.

Saying it's an opportunity to challenge is really just a way to appease those who weren't selected as seeded contestants. Otherwise, those who weren't selected would feel resentful. Even if you know you might not be able to do something, you'll always feel unwilling to give up if you haven't actually tried.

Yi Shuihan's luck was average. The first opponent he encountered was not weak among the 100,000 contestants below him. To be honest, if he hadn't met Yi Shuihan, he would have had a great chance of becoming one of the top 50,000, possessing the strength of an ordinary emperor.

"Good luck, it seems I'm destined to advance easily."

Upon seeing Yi Shuihan, Miro Adams of the Crystal Clan smiled. As a veteran of the Multiverse United High School, he had been at the school for over seven million years and had participated in the campus competition four times. He knew almost everyone stronger than him and had an impression of those of similar ability. Before the competition began, he had conducted a special investigation and preparation. Obviously, Yi Shuihan had not come into his sights, which meant that Yi Shuihan would not pose a threat to him.

That's true. Any senior student who has been in the school for millions of years wouldn't care about a freshman who has only been in the school for less than 200,000 years. In fact, anyone who hasn't been in the school for millions of years is considered a freshman. So, for senior students like Milo...

Milo only knew one name from Yi Shuihan's class: the one who came in first place in the Newcomer Secret Realm. He had no recollection of Yi Shuihan or this third-place finisher.

"Relax, you're still young. You've made it into the top 100,000 this time, so you should consider this a success. I believe that after a few million years of honing your skills, you'll have the opportunity to climb even higher. You should be able to become one of the top 50,000, top 10,000, or even top 1,000, just like me in the future."

Milo's goal in this competition was to break into the top 10,000, which was a considerable challenge for him. As for Yi Shuihan, although he did not think Yi Shuihan was stronger than him, he acknowledged Yi Shuihan's talent. He was millions of years old, while Yi Shuihan was hundreds of thousands of years old, and there was still a significant difference in their life force. He could see that Yi Shuihan was much younger than him, and he still felt that Yi Shuihan might be able to reach a higher level than him in the future.

Even so, Milo only thought that Yi Shuihan might be qualified to break into the top 1,000. This was a complete underestimation of Yi Shuihan. He participated in the competition for the rewards, and the best rewards were at least in the top 100, or even the top 10.

"I'm not nervous at all, okay? Where did you get the idea that I'm nervous? And what's with you putting on this senior-like act? It would be even more embarrassing if I easily defeated him. Should I try to defeat him in a slightly gentler way?"

Yi Shuihan was somewhat amused and exasperated by Milo's words, inwardly cursing.

"Come on, give it your all, and I'll give you a little pointer so you don't come away empty-handed."

As the battle was declared to have begun, Milo spoke to Yi Shuihan in a very relaxed manner, his expression and posture casual.

"Go all out? You really dare to say that!"

Yi Shuihan was debating whether to use one or two parts of his strength when Milo's words nearly made him choke.

"What's wrong? Don't space out! It's lucky this is just a competition, and you're only facing me. If you were really facing an enemy, you wouldn't be able to act like this. Even if you can't win, you have to show your spirit. You absolutely cannot compromise on the surface. That way, the opponent won't be able to see your strength. If they encounter someone indecisive, you can buy them a lot of time."

Miro was speaking eloquently, displaying a great deal of seniority.

"Why don't you make the first move? I'm afraid it will be over as soon as I make my move."

I really don't want to keep putting up with Milo's nagging, but I don't want to just kill him outright either. After all, Milo is still a kind-hearted person.

"I'm afraid it will end as soon as you make a move. Don't worry, I said I would give you some pointers so you won't lose too quickly."

Milo completely failed to grasp Yi Shuihan's meaning.

Alright, Yi Shuihan didn't want to spell things out. Since that was the case, they could only settle things with their fists. He figured Milo would understand Yi Shuihan's true meaning after feeling his power.

The power of the Thunder Path on the seventh floor of the Tower of Babel was only the tip of the iceberg, as a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck Milo directly.

"Hey, not bad, I feel like I'm in danger!"

Even now, Milo is still somewhat confused. Despite his body's warning signs, he still doesn't believe the attack can harm him.

As a result, Milo was struck by lightning and paralyzed. If Yi Shuihan hadn't held back, that lightning strike would have been enough to send him off the field.

This sudden thunderbolt completely woke Milo up, and in an instant, Yi Shuihan's perception of him rose from that of a novice to that of a seasoned veteran on the same level as him.

Chapter 1299, Father Emperor

"Hahaha, this is hilarious! I told you this guy was going to get slapped in the face by the Great God Taiyi, and he's definitely been slapped in the face! Look at him!"

His expression was, as expected, one of utter bewilderment!

"Great God Taiyi is also someone from my prehistoric world. How could his strength possibly be comparable to Taiyi's? I feel that Great God Taiyi's strength has not even been fully displayed yet."

"First, only the number one is worthy of the title of God Taiyi. I look forward to God Taiyi's performance in the future."