Chapter 242: The Awakening Of Money Power
Inside the lounge of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s hall master.
“I wonder if this semi-finished version can extract the memory inheritance.”
Lin Qi watched Chen Ya leave the room, then could not help but tap to select the extraction of Chen Ya’s Star Energy Construct Secret Method.
Regarding the semi-finished Star Energy Construct Secret Method mastered by Chen Ya, he was genuinely surprised. After all, the Star Energy Construct Secret Method recorded on the silver-black metal plate belonged to the geniuses of the Star Energy Civilization, and even among them, very few could learn it.
Relying on their infinite resurrection ability, players could freely study the Star Energy Construct Secret Method, but he had no idea when they might succeed. He only felt it would take a considerable amount of time.
Now, for Chen Ya to learn it in such a short time, even if it was only a semi-finished version, was of great significance to him. After all, extraordinary lifeforms had clearly surpassed ordinary creatures in terms of life level. Although they had not yet reached the level of high-dimensional lifeforms, the improvement to strength was a qualitative change.
This change in life level directly raised the upper limit of martial artists by a large margin.
The upper limit of a normal Organ Refining Realm martial artist’s strength was about four thousand kilograms, but after becoming an extraordinary lifeform, the upper limit instantly became fifteen thousand kilograms. Though both were Organ Refining Realm martial artists, their strength was on completely different levels.
It could be said that Chen Ya, who had entered a transcendent state, had actual physical fitness that utterly crushed him by several streets.
If he could learn it, then even when facing a powerhouse at the City Lord’s level, he should at least have the strength to fight, greatly improving his survival ability.
The only question was whether the semi-finished secret method cultivated by a player could be extracted. After all, the players’ modifications to the original method meant it could no longer be considered the original secret method. Just like player-created martial skills, he could not extract those.
If the semi-finished Star Energy Construct Secret Method could not be extracted, then he could only slowly explore it on his own in the future.
Ding!
System: Congratulations to the host. Star Energy Construct Secret Method （ semi-finished ） entry-level 4%.
“It worked?” Lin Qi stared blankly for a moment at the system prompt at the bottom of his vision, not expecting that even a semi-finished version could be extracted.
Just as Lin Qi was rejoicing, a tide-like flood of memory poured into his brain and was etched into its deepest parts. Only after more than twenty seconds did the headache gradually fade.
“No wonder it is a semi-finished product. It actually uses Type 2 Energy Potions to substitute for energy ore, barely pushing the constructed cells to the extreme limit they can bear, but because the amount of energy is still insufficient, it cannot be fully burned to undergo qualitative change into a high-dimensional lifeform, and can only become an extraordinary lifeform.”
Looking at Chen Ya’s memories, Lin Qi somewhat understood why she had cultivated a semi-finished version and could not become a high-dimensional lifeform.
He had to admit Chen Ya’s method was very clever, and unexpectedly, this clever workaround had actually succeeded.
Of course, this success was only half a success.
According to what the Star Energy Civilization described, once the Star Energy Construct was completed, one would directly undergo metamorphosis into a high-dimensional lifeform. It was just like the Body Strengthening Secret Technique: once learned, the body’s strength would remain fixed at the enhanced level.
However, with Chen Ya’s clever workaround, after burning the energy, because it was not enough, she only became half a high-dimensional lifeform, possibly not even half. Therefore, there was no way to maintain the stability of her body. After her body’s energy was exhausted, she would automatically revert to her original life level.
“Being unable to maintain the extraordinary lifeform state stably is a problem. It seems we will have to carefully test how long it can be sustained. Otherwise, even as a trump card, it will become a time bomb.”
After finishing all the memories, Lin Qi did not rush to cultivate. Instead, he turned his gaze to the advanced martial arts hall roulette wheel in the system.
Previously, the martial arts hall roulette rewards ranged from one star to four stars, and the probability of drawing high-star rewards was ridiculously low. The chance of a Two-star Reward alone was only nine percent, not even one-tenth. As for the blue Three-star reward, he had only drawn it once by luck, and it had been a club, plus it took a thousand people for a single draw. It was truly a rip-off.
The advanced martial arts hall roulette wheel before him was clearly much better. Although the draw requirement had risen from one thousand to three thousand people for one chance, there was no longer any One Star reward. The rewards started from two stars and went all the way up to orange five-star, which meant the minimum was a Two-star Reward. The chance to draw a blue Three-star reward was as high as nine percent, and the Four-star Reward was no longer the previous 1 percent, but 9 percent.
“Good thing I kept saving up and did not pull the normal roulette these past few days. Otherwise I would have taken a big loss now.”
Lin Qi glanced at the number of new disciples added in the past few days, which had already reached 28,These were all disciples selected through rigorous screening, with talent and strength far beyond those from before.
If it were not for considering the martial arts hall’s current resources and management, which had forced him to raise the assessment difficulty, this number could have been two or three times higher.
“Adding in the previous disciples, I can manage one ten-pull.”
Without hesitation, Lin Qi directly redeemed ten draw chances, using up all the disciples recruited over these days in one go.
In an instant, the huge advanced martial arts hall roulette wheel in Lin Qi’s mind began spinning rapidly, and he kept calling out to stop it.
System: Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Two-star Reward: one Large Sausage.
System: Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Two-star Reward: one Big Banana.
System: Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Two-star Reward: one Big Banana.
……
System: Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Two-star Reward: one Big Banana.
After ten consecutive draws, Lin Qi was dumbfounded.
All the rewards were Two-star Rewards, and they were either Large Sausages or Big Bananas. What was the system trying to do?
Of course, he had to admit that the rewarded Big Bananas were indeed good items.
Memory Big Banana: after eating it, brain calculation ability is increased by 500%, lasting six hours. For each additional one eaten within that time, calculation ability is increased by an extra 100%, up to a maximum total of 1000%.
It could be said that as long as a martial artist ate a Memory Big Banana, they would experience astonishing improvement in learning martial skills. After all, martial skill study carried danger; the more advanced the martial skill, the greater the danger. If it could be simulated and deduced in the mind, it would undoubtedly reduce a lot of risk. If the simulated deduction was strong enough, directly substituting for actual practice would not be impossible.
“With so many Big Bananas, I wonder if Dona wants them.” Looking at the seven Big Bananas in the system storage warehouse, Lin Qi was for a moment unsure how to handle them.
The Memory Big Banana was meaningless to players. Personally experiencing martial skills in practice was best. But giving them to martial arts hall disciples would be too extravagant. After all, it took three thousand people for one, and using them on disciples made his heart ache.
Just as Lin Qi was thinking about how to persuade Dona, this local tyrant woman, to purchase the Big Bananas he had, Dona contacted him.
“Hall Master Lin, is everything alright on your side? I just sensed a very powerful life aura, but after I searched the martial arts hall for a while, I found that aura had disappeared,” Dona asked.
“I am fine here. The life aura you sensed was just caused by a martial arts hall disciple learning a secret method.” Lin Qi smiled and did not hide it.
After becoming an extraordinary lifeform, Chen Ya’s life aura could be sensed by any martial artist whose five senses were not overly dull. With so many people in the martial arts hall, it was impossible to conceal it. Intentionally hiding it would instead cause unnecessary suspicion.
“So it was a martial arts hall disciple. That puts my mind at ease.” Dona did not press further after hearing this. Every faction had its own secrets, especially regarding various martial skills and secret methods. The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s origins were mysterious and clearly not as simple as it seemed, so having such a secret method was not strange. She then continued, “By the way, Hall Master Lin, I just finished cracking Fred’s smart watch.”
“You cracked it?” Lin Qi looked at Dona on the screen with some surprise.
He had originally given up, since Dona had first said one day would be enough, but when she actually started, she discovered that Fred’s smart watch was extremely difficult to crack.
On reflection, it made sense. Fred, a genius of the Domain City, working as an assassin for the Red Moon Merchant Guild and daring to wear his smart watch during missions without fear of losing it in battle, clearly believed no one could casually crack it.
He did not expect Dona to have actually done it.
“Although I cracked it, once it was cracked, the smart watch activated its self-destruct program,” Dona said regretfully. “The entire smart watch burned out. I only had time to send over the messages Fred received in the past few days.”
“That is already good enough. After all, that is something from Domain City.” Lin Qi was not too surprised and curiously asked, “In those few days, was there any important information related to Domain City?”
“There was indeed important information, but not much to do with Domain City itself.” Dona shook her head, then forwarded the received messages to Lin Qi. “This time, Fred left Domain City because he accepted a task related to some Outer Domain Force. Read it yourself. Remember to delete it after. If some powerful hacker tracks this information and reports it to people from Domain City, it could be fatal.”
“An Outer Domain Force?” Lin Qi, somewhat curious, opened the messages Dona had sent.
He had lived in the Wushan Region for some time, and now that he had become the vice City Lord of the City of Light Chasing, his increased permissions let him know much more than before.
However, regarding matters outside the domain, even in the City of Light Chasing’s database, there was very little recorded. He only knew of a few surrounding areas, and as for the situations in those areas, not a single word was written.
Although he did not understand why this was the case, he could guess that it was deliberate by certain people, very likely by Domain City itself, which did not want others to know about things outside the domain.
Now, having information about outer regions from Fred’s side was an unexpected surprise.
After Lin Qi read through all the information, his brows furrowed slightly.
“The ambition of Star Tower City is huge. They not only plan to use this monster tide to take the City of Light Chasing, but have also formed a cooperation with Outer Domain Forces.” Lin Qi was full of shock as he read the Domain City mission details.
Although there was not much content, it was clear that several major powerful races in Star Tower City intended to launch a City War following the outbreak of the monster tide, to eliminate the major powerful races in the City of Light Chasing, including the City Lord, and replace them with their own.
Domain City did not care about these matters. It only ordered Fred and others to investigate the cooperation between Star Tower City and the Outer Domain Forces.
“No wonder Star Tower City has been causing trouble in towns everywhere recently. Their true target is the City of Light Chasing.”
Lin Qi suddenly realized. Previously, the towns near Star Tower City that were close to the City of Light Chasing had all been disrupted by people sent from Star Tower City, obstructing the transport of supplies. At first, he thought relations between the two cities had simply worsened, but now it seemed it was all preparation to seize the City of Light Chasing.
As for City Wars within the domain, they had occurred many times over the past decades. As long as they did not massacre civilians and vagrants, Domain City never interfered.
The City of Light Chasing itself had changed hands twice in the past hundred years. The current Three-eyed Tribe controlling the city had seized it back then by launching a City War.
Now a City Lord-level existence had appeared in Star Tower City as well, so they wished to replace the current Three-eyed Tribe of the City of Light Chasing.
Domain City, however, felt that this newly risen City Lord-level existence in Star Tower City was somewhat strange and very likely connected to Outer Domain Forces.
“No wonder the City Lord so quickly ordered me to be vice City Lord, without any process or procedures. So that is the reason.”
“It seems I must also make preparations early on my side.”
Lin Qi then deleted the messages, took out some Type 2 Energy Potions from the warehouse, and began cultivating the Star Energy Construct Secret Method.
If he had not known another round of City War was about to start, that would be one thing. But now that he knew, he had to improve his strength as quickly as possible. After all, once the two cities went to war, as vice City Lord he would definitely be dragged in. Without sufficient strength, his only option would be to flee into the deep mountains and forests.
While Lin Qi was cultivating the Star Energy Construct Secret Method, the super rich players logging off one after another were acting like madmen, either contacting each other to jointly purchase quantum supercomputers or renting quantum supercomputers.
In a short time, quantum supercomputers, which had not been highly regarded on the market, suddenly became extremely popular. Quite a few manufacturers of quantum supercomputers quietly started investigating what was going on.
One large business deal that they might not see in an entire year was now being approached by over a dozen large companies and enterprises placing orders. And they were not planning to buy just one unit, but several, which was truly strange.
“What did you say? These people are ordering quantum supercomputers to play games?”
“That is right, boss. I investigated carefully. They all said it is for playing games, and they come from many different industries with no clear connection, so they likely are not lying.”
“Immediately go find out exactly which game they are playing and see whether we can cooperate.”
After inquiring, several manufacturers producing quantum supercomputers became extremely curious about this game the super rich players were playing. They had seen plenty of super rich players spend money like water in various virtual games, hundreds of millions a year was not rare.
But they had never seen people spending tens of billions specifically to buy quantum supercomputers just to play a game. Usually only virtual game companies themselves bought such machines, and the vast majority did not even need quantum supercomputers, let alone buy them for gaming.
Meanwhile, at the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, in just two days, one terrifying life aura after another suddenly appeared throughout the hall. Among those who successfully cultivated the Star Energy Construct Secret Method were even newcomers who had only recently become apprentices.
This made many new players look on with both envy and jealousy.
They had originally thought it was just empty hype from the game manufacturer, but now it was obvious this was a genuine fast-track promotion channel opened for pay-to-win players. It was just that this way of spending was not something ordinary people could afford.
Of course, it was truly worth it. After all, who could refuse such a handsome transformation sequence? It was like becoming a superhero in real life. Just watching it looked explosively cool, every frame a work of art.
Unfortunately, they did not have that kind of money. Otherwise, they would be spending crazily too.
In a dense forest in the Mountain of the Dead.
Having already mastered the Star Energy Construct Secret Method, Fang Zhen, Chen Ya, and Li Ranxing were following behind Dark Judgment, whose strength had reached the Beginner Martial Artist level, swiftly traversing through the forest.
“Judgment, are you sure you are not mistaken? There really is a transport convoy here?” Fang Zhen could not help asking.
Since arriving at the new map, they had explored many places. Aside from monsters, it was all monsters. It was hard to imagine a transport convoy appearing in such a place.
“Yes. I accidentally discovered some tracks in the forest earlier and waited. To my surprise, people really showed up, and not just a few. It is very likely the Smiling Skull the Master of the Pavilion mentioned,” Dark Judgment said excitedly. “But my strength is not enough. I need all of you to act.”
“Alright. If it is real, you will definitely get your share of the benefits,” Fang Zhen nodded.
Shortly after the three followed him, they heard the sounds of an earth-shaking battle from about a kilometer ahead. A fully armed team of Bone Forging Realm guards was actually chasing a woman.
This woman had golden hair and two long silver-gray horns on her head. Anyone who saw her would be moved by her beauty at first glance. But at this moment, one of her arms was broken and useless. With only one remaining hand, she was entangled in battle with a team of Bone Forging Realm Experts and was clearly at an absolute disadvantage.
