Chapter 1288 The Two Week Period
"Your point?" Lily got interested in such conversation as she attentively waited for my answer.
"In any apocalypse, only six races are allowed," I slowly explained, "putting aside the Hescos, they should have five other races, not ten."
"That…"
"What do you mean?"
"They could have brought other races from their homelands, right?"
They started to tell different opinions and show various responses as I remained calm.
"That might be possible," the last one to speak out was that jerk, the big jerk, the jumper. And he had a point in what he said indeed, "but they might also have merged another world with theirs, and brought that world's race to their world."
"This…" even the jumper was taken aback by what he said, "can they do that?"
I forgot that they didn't know about the new rules about our apocalypse trial. "The Hescos added already three worlds here, and that made this overall contest's rules change…"
I started to explain what the new scorching ground rules were. When they understood what I said, the spearhead asked in much doubt:
"Does that mean they already controlled two worlds? How can this be?"
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"If they wanted, they could pour endless resources and forces on these two worlds," I couldn't think of any other possible explanation than this, "and they can do it!"
This was the big difference between me and them. I got no backing or rich history, yet they had that. They could spend extravagantly and without any regret or even thinking about loss.
They weren't like me, always thinking and calculating about what I should and shouldn't do. If they wanted, they could spend what I'd spend in my entire life on a whim over these two worlds.
If they got an endless stream of warriors to help, lots of artefacts and treasures, mass destruction weapons and gears, they could easily control not only two worlds, but more if they wanted.
They could even not spend anything, and use their name and little wealth to buy the help of a few strong races in these two worlds and make them work with their forces out there to dominate the two worlds.
They could do many things I couldn't. And that was because they were the Hescos.
"So we have no way to stop them!" Alex weakly said, but I slowly shook my head.
"They plan to merge with more worlds while we are absent. So it's better if we went into the remaining worlds and got their plan foiled," I firmly said before adding, "they merged with one world. So we have five more to invade. Get the men ready, I'm going to open our portal right away!"
If they wanted to play this way, then I'd happily join them in such madness.
They wanted to take the two week period to merge with these worlds. If I let them have it their way, then I'd face a huge trouble at that final battle.
They had to be stopped. And that two weeks' duration wasn't just a buffer period for them alone. They could arrange things out, and I also could do the same.
[Sorry, but you can't gain access to this world] however the first ticket I used resulted in such a weird message. And then another one followed when I tried to access the same world again using the same ticket.
[This world is already under the process of merging. Estimate time for the merge to finish is: ten days! You can't gain access to that world until this period is over]
"First ticket led me to the final battle world, and the second ticket led me to the world they were merging with… What luck!" I inwardly sighed before using the same ticket to gain access to the third world.
[Sorry, but you can't gain access to this world]
[This world is already under the process of merging. Estimate time for the merge to finish is: ten days! You can't gain access to that world until this period is over]
But again I got the same messages in front of my eyes! I blinked twice, reread the content of the two messages over ten times to make sure I wasn't seeing things wrongly.
I checked the world I tried to access and became sure it was a third different world than the other two.
"Dammit!" This kept happening for the next two worlds as well. These damn Hescos managed to claim five worlds under their control, and were merging the five together!
Yet the last two worlds weren't under their control yet. "Get ready, send enough armies in these two worlds and let them barricade the damn portal zone. If they had to use a hundred armies out there then be it!"
I got frustrated over this. These Hescos were more brutal than I initially thought.
They managed to claim five different worlds under their banners. And they must be aiming for the last two as well.
I'd prefer to throw away a hundred army in return for preventing them from taking control over these two worlds. This might not be quite helping, but I hoped I'd use the same tactics they tried to use over me at these two worlds.
They got plans to merge seven worlds together it seemed. And that made losing two worlds for them inacceptable result.
pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 So they'd try everything they had to crush my forces at these two worlds and claim total control over them. If that was the case, then it was better to use these two worlds to grind their formidable forces and allied races, greatly weakening their forces in the process.
My forces didn't need to attack except at the initial phase. Then all they got to do was to defend. If they built enough forts and traps out there, fortified the entire zones with forces, zombies, and even weapons from the research department, then it was possible to take away tons of the Hescos armies without losing too much.
Chapter 1289 Gaining Artefacts!
Such an exchange was good in my eyes. If they wanted to play dirty, then I'd also play along with them.
The two zones my forces appeared at were just the same like the old worlds I helped to crush before. And that similarity made me feel a little odd.
Were they planning to merge with more than just these seven? Were they also eyeing the other seven worlds? Damn!
"Leave out instructions that if the seven last words got attacked, more armies will respond at once," I said to Lily before finally leaving Earth and going to the second Earth world.
I wanted to gather up all the items and wealth inside the paragon inventories. At the same time, I wanted to go and visit the research department.
The Hescos paragons had no other choice but to comply with me. And when I inspected my gains from them, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Seven artefacts! Seven! I thought I'd only get that gear sealing, space sealing, and brutal offensive artefacts only.
But to my surprise, they got four more artefacts in their hands that they didn't use before.
One artefact would unleash a fierce trap in a certain zone. The size and fierceness of that trap depended entirely on one's energy poured into that artefact that looked like a tripod.
It would have brought endless trouble to me and my forces if that paragon tried to use it. I didn't know why he refrained from using it, but I stored it inside my inventory with the intention of using it later on at the golden quest and that last epic battle.
Another one aimed to augment the strength of forces in a fixed region. The amount of boost gained and the size of that effect depended also on the energy used.
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It was just the reverse of what spearhead's ability would do. It was like my healing sacrifice effect, yet it focused on strength.
The third artefact used to bring out hallucination to a certain person. It might not be that useful, but if I ever faced a strong foe then this one would be quite handy.
The fourth and last one came as a surprise to me.
"A gravity modifying artefact... Interesting!" This one aimed to manipulate gravity by increasing or decreasing it.
I thought about all the flying Hescos and flying enemies who kept causing me endless trouble, and this little baby here would be the nemesis of such forces.
I knew why the paragon didn't risk using this one. If he ever dared to do it, then he'd also affect his side's flying forces in the middle of such a fierce effect.
Like the previous artefacts, the size and the magnitude of changing depended entirely over the energy used to activate it.
In addition to that, the duration of this little baby's effect would last as long as I kept my energy pouring into it.
For someone else, this might be a troublesome piece of gear. But to me it was priceless and a piece of cake to use it.
Using energy? Humph! I lack nothing like an endless supply of energy coming from my bones!
This artefact was in the shape of a weird board, looking like a chess board but with diagonal diamond shaped spots alternating between red and silver colours.
To use it, I just had to inject my energy into it while holding it like holding a serving plate. I tried and the red spots flared up because I wanted to increase the gravity. And when I thought about lowering the gravity, the silver ones shone brightly instead.
When I lowered the gravity, I was surprised to watch myself float in the air. It looked like I was able to fly without the need to use any other gear or trick.
"Awesome!" Having such valuable treasure added another crucial card up my sleeve.
I stored it carefully after patting on it like it was my most precious treasure in the world.
I got to admit, these Hescos were indeed wealthy! Just from the useless paragons I got they gave me such a rich harvest.
The artefacts weren't the only big thing I got from them, I also found nice gears like three floating fortresses and a couple of heavy swords, and other useful gear.
I decided to give those to my team. In addition to that, there was an endless supply of coins, stat points, energy crystals, and other resources like ores and even potions.
These folks were really wealthy. And seeing all this harvest made me wonder about the hatred they got from their race to not use most of these in my battle against them.
I also thought about another possibility. If the Hescos were this extravagant to support their weak folks with such gears and artefacts, how about the ones leading their armies at the final battle?
For the first time ever, I started to grow excited about that upcoming battle.
It wasn't just a battle to decide the final winner in this entire apocalyptic trial, but I also had a rare chance to raise up my entire elite strength to another whole level.
Feeling excited about my gains, I moved towards the research department zone. There I met up with the five leaders and got a brief meeting about what they achieved so far.
Since last time I visited them and the department was heading on the right track. They kept inventing more awesome weapons, modifying the old human arsenal, and adding new concepts and innovations in the meantime.
I saw long ranged rockets that could be equipped with what old Gan described as a mass destruction bomb.
From the words of those of the MIT, this bomb was a modification of the old and antique nuclear weapons of my humans.
These bombs were costly in making, but they were enough to devastate an entire region spanning for one hundred mile radius.
It had such scary areas of damage, but it also came with many side effects.
Chapter 1290 I Want All Of Them!
First these bombs needed to gain momentum before releasing their fierce effect. So it was suited to be equipped over long ranged missiles so they could gain the desired momentum and speed.
Another side effect was that it was so deadly to clear out the entire region including the portals and any cities and towns.
So when used, I shouldn't expect anything to gain from that region.
At the same time, these bombs left behind a lethal effect that'd last for weeks. So after releasing them over a region, I should forget about any plans of reoccupying it.
In brief, it was the true embodiment of what a mass destruction weapon should be.
Aside from these long ranged missiles that would cover up thousands of miles before landing and the mass destruction weapons, there were lots of new interesting toys they made.
One of these was a modification of the mines to be able to be used against aquatic forces and also aerial ones.
The aerial bombs would float in the air, freely move while getting a sort of camouflage with the world around to be not recognised easily.
It was a deadly weapon if used in the middle of chaotic battles. At the same time, it held a risk against my forces as well.
In addition to these mines, they developed new tanks and marching mini-fortresses that could hold tens of thousands of forces in a tower like structure and move fast enough to evade any far ranged attacks.
Seeing these towers made me grin evilly. Each tower had ten levels, with tons of big guns and interesting toys installed all over these layers.
There were many ground weapons they either developed, modified, or innovated. But what took my instant attention was these flying balloons.
Seeing them made me remember an old poster I once saw in the records. I saw such balloons in the records describing an old human great war. And the balloons flying in the air right now look like them.
But they were huge! My balloons couldn't be described just as being balloons, but mobile aerial fortresses!
They got shields surrounding them for protection. At the same time, the upper part of each balloon was modified to be like an airport, with many planes and fighters parked over there and ready to take off.
As for the weapons installed in this huge flying metallic beast, there were everything the research department invented.
And the most eye catchy thing was that huge cannon extending and taking over the bottom layer of this balloon.
From its look, I could tell it was able to fire devastating missiles and shells for a very long range. And the ammunition released by them would be quite deadly.
As for the helis, planes, and fighters, they made more versions and invented something that looked like a sci-fi ufos.
"I want all the towers and balloons you made so far," I said with shining eyes, "in addition to half of everything else you made so far."
To me, these two weapons were considered strategic and with immense value. They weren't just strong and deadly, they also were versatile and could adapt to different battles and situations.
No matter what the golden quest was, I was more confident than before after having these two killers on my side.
"Sorry lord, but all of these are just newly built," old Gan looked embarrassed while exchanging looks with the four around, "we only have these few ready."
"Hmm..." I thought about the time left and said, "I still have what's equal to thirty days here before going out on a big adventure. So make sure to make as much as you can before that date, got it?"
I had at least half a day left back on Earth. After calculating the time difference value in the pocket world and second Earth world, then I had thirty days left before setting for the golden quest adventure.
This was one of the mighty effects of having such heaven defying ability by my side. In thirty days, many things could happen.
"Sure, we will do our best," old Gan and others felt more relieved by this. I expected much from them anyway.
I left after saying a few encouraging words to them. They did a great job already and I wasn't stingy in my praise.
I returned back to Earth directly, and waited there while watching the ongoing battles everywhere.
The worlds we already invaded before had things going easier than the last two worlds. The last two worlds were showing fierce resistance, more than any world we invaded aside from the two Hescos worlds.
These last two worlds showed an endless supply of forces, and mine didn't act shy in response.
They used everything! Even the zombie orbs were put to use out there. The zombie addition helped in greatly stabilising the situation. And my forces weren't losing despite the huge pressure they were facing.
As I got time, I paid a visit to the two worlds and used my pillar's shields to store up energy and release them. I helped in crushing many cities and towns' shields, helping my forces to take the upper hand in the initial clash going on there.
But I knew this help was limited. After all, there were tons of cities and towns in each world. Not to mention the endless supply of armies that seemed like the entire world was gathered up here to fight us.
This time I felt the difference in their arrangements. Before, I'd fight a single race in each world. But right now I was fighting five races combined.
They united their efforts and formed such colossal armies to fight us. As I saw five in each world, I instantly concluded that the sixth race was the Hescos. And they were sitting at the back while watching what was going on here.
That meant they planned to truly merge with these two worlds. In addition to that, if they felt they'd lose their grasp here, they wouldn't hesitate to show themselves and join the ongoing fights.
Chapter 1291 They Are Coming!
When I returned back to Earth in between my travels into these two worlds, I made sure to warn Lily about that point.
She asked for warriors, attracting my attention to this point that I totally missed.
I took out a great number of warriors and spread them all over the capital region and beyond. Things looked a bit chaotic but I didn't care at all. I left behind enough stat crystals in mountain sized gatherings and let my warriors consume them.
As I kept jumping in between the two worlds, releasing my shields, fierce offensive attacks, gathering up bones, and helping my forces out there if needed by using my techniques, I kept releasing more warriors after the old ones upgraded themselves and replenished the lost stat crystals.
My gains from these crystals were still going on from the battles at the two worlds out there. In addition to the bones, I kept taking out half of their inventories as well.
These races weren't as rich as the Hescos, but they added many items to my inventory. I also allowed my twenty selected elites to go there and collect more rewards as well.
In brief, I tried to make the best use of the limited time I had.
But time awaited for no one. Soon the one day time limit was about to be over.
I didn't hesitate and went back to the pocket world where I gained all the weapons and ammunition they made for me.
Using the benefit of the time difference, they managed to make up many of each weapon, making my smile from ear to ear.
Once I returned back to Earth, there was less than one hour left for the upcoming golden quest to start.
I did everything in my power to increase my odds in the upcoming quest. At the same time, I tried to fortify my kingdom here to my best abilities.
Just before the golden quest would start by almost thirty minutes, I got a sudden message from someone I hadn't spoken to for a long time.
[Be ready, the Hescos forces stationed here left and they are heading towards you!]
It was a message from Wryly, and I couldn't tell if he was alone or still being watched. So I directly asked him.
[They all left] he sent to answer my doubts, [But don't expect anything from my race. We are being pressured by them]
[I got that. Thanks for the head up warning] I sent to him. As I expected, the Hescos would start moving and try to target my kingdom when I was absent.
"Spread out the word, the Hescos are on the move," once I confirmed the news from Wryly, I turned around and said to Lily, "they are going to hit us soon once we leave this world."
"Those damn bastards!" the jumper shouted in rage, "they didn't dare to come when I was here! They are a bunch of cowards!"
I didn't know if he was really regretting not facing them or not. But to be honest, I felt quite relieved he wasn't going to face them.
Or else we'd be cursed by his insane bad luck!
"I warned the generals leading the forces at the borders," Lily acted in a more capable way. She didn't waste time complaining or something like that.
"Good," I nodded, "make sure they will be in touch with the research department. They are making great weapons out there and they'll come into play in this defensive war," I said, and Lily nodded in understanding.
"As for the zombie orbs..." I turned to look at the orbs gathered up. I already bound them with my blood and activated them. I planned to take one thousand of these, but there were almost ten thousand here.
The ones brought over from that sand world of the jumper were much more than I expected. I decided to take half when I saw such a large number, but now I decided to leave most to the forces here.
"Make sure the supply coming from the other worlds is constant. Make use of these orbs to form an inner defensive line if we lose the outer region."
"Sure. By the way, do you know which direction they are coming from?" she asked, and I paused for a minute before answering her:
"Make your preparations that we are going to be hit from all sides," this might seem a bad answer, but it was what I'd expect from my enemies.
If I was in their shoes, then the moment I decided to move my hidden forces here, I'd make sure I'd move them in a way to put my forces in a great disadvantage.
So it was better to prepare for the worst than getting surprised by our enemies.
I watched Lily getting busy in the remaining minutes while the entire world around was filled with abnormal movements.
The armies stationed here seemed to know what to do. Part of them was left here to reinforce the forces scattered all over the world, and the rest went towards the area of portals.
As for me, I collected my zombie orbs and warriors. I left behind enough stat crystals just in case my forces here needed the help of the seven stars race in this big war.
I knew that the Hescos were forced on this move. And I was the one who did that to them and myself.
My interference at the two last worlds put more pressure over them. It seemed they desperately needed these two worlds, or they got enraged by my actions.
So they started to move out here to place more pressure over my forces. They might aim towards exhausting my forces and prevent many to go and support my forces at the last two worlds.
Or perhaps they just wanted to take a piece of me in return for what I did to them. In any case, this war was about to befall us, and I hoped my preparations and forces here would be enough to stop them.
Chapter 1292 You Are Targeted!
I estimated to be away for two straight weeks. It wasn't a long time, but it was also enough for many disasters to happen.
And just as I was watching everyone around moving or preparing to move, I got the message of the system.
[Get ready! The portal to the golden quest place will be opened in less than five minutes]
[Once opened, the portal will only allow for the one with the golden quest ticket and up to twenty of his entrusted people to pass through it]
[Once opened, the portal will be left for ten minutes before closing up!]
[The portal will appear in your homeland world. Make sure to be there before its appearance]
[If missed, there is no way to join it]
[You'll get all the details about this quest and its goals when arriving there]
[Good luck!]
I received these messages in a row before they kept flashing in front of my eyes for three times. Then they vanished, and I felt strange heavy pressure over my shoulders.
And when I sucked in a cold air of breath, I received a bizarre message from someone who kept himself silent for a long time.
[Be ready, the upcoming adventure won't be that easy!]
"Sith?!!! Long time no see, man!"
[I'm a god and not a mortal being like you!] he seemed to get stirred up by what I just said, [and I'm a god! That means I'm quite busy!]
"Don't tell me you were chasing those god ladies from other shrines!" I laughed as I teased him before returning to the main topic, "why are you warning me? Is there someone pulling out strings from behind the shadows?"
[There is something many started to notice about you recently] he said such mysterious words before adding, [If you made one choice, the choice you and I know you are going to make, then expect something bad to happen]
His words made me instantly frown. What he mentioned was that I'd have a selection from many options, and one of them would be related to the world of angels.
"If so, then I won't hesitate to go there," I didn't say the name of the angels as he refrained from doing so.
For some reason, it seemed risky to do so, even for someone like him.
[Good lad] he sent such weird comment, [But be prepared, many will try to stop you from succeeding]
"Can you tell more about the upcoming quest?" as he said these words, it meant he already knew about what I was going to face.
[It's no use, you have no time to do anything anyway] he refused to say a thing, [Besides, no matter what, I'm confident that you'll be able to succeed]
I didn't like his way of talking! If he knew something, why was he acting this mysterious then?
I thought about pursuing more info from him, yet I didn't. After all there was no time for me to do anything else but to arrange everyone and be ready for the portal to appear.
"Get around me!" I suddenly shouted. The twenty people who were chosen were standing next to me since my last return and were ready.
"Is it happening?" Isabella asked first, and I slowly nodded.
I wasn't in the mood to speak with anyone right now to be honest. Sith's sudden appearance startled my calm self and toppled everything I planned to.
I thought I was going to be given a simple task, but it seemed there would be some sort of many options to select from and I'd find the world of the angels or something related to them out there.
I couldn't tell exactly what I should expect, but I had my guesses. And all of them weren't that great.
The first thing I thought about was the nature of such a list. What type of list would allow me and others to go towards a closed circuit time loop? Especially something that went on and on for aeons of years like the one of the angels?
The first explanation would be that everyone would select from a list different from others, and these lists would depend on one's potential and abilities.
For example, I was efficient in time. And so I'd find things related to time in my list.
However, such a possibility wasn't realistic.
From what I got, everyone in the golden quest was going to get the same type of quest or the same list to select his adventure from.
That meant this list was fixed, and that list already had the time looped world of the angels.
But then the words of the old man rang in my head when I thought about that. How did that old man know about such a list and the presence of his people in it from such a time in the future?
Did he meet up with someone who took part in such quests and told him about this list? Or did he use some sort of future telling abilities and knew about what was going to happen?
I couldn't tell! And my lack of information was something I didn't like.
And if that list got that time loop world in it, what kind of list would that be? Would it contain access to such inaccessible worlds? Would I find my second Earth world one day there as well?
Such a possibility made sense and made me quite frightened by it. If one day I found invaders coming into that world, then bad things would happen.
I never took the safety of my world to be threatened or something. My second Earth world was like a safe haven to me, the thought of it getting attacked never crossed my mind before.
But now I realise how naive I really was! There was no place in the universe that system couldn't reach.
"I have to start taking this matter quite seriously then," I softly muttered to myself while a golden swirlpool suddenly appeared in front of me.
Chapter 1293 I Missed One Thing!!!
And then something flashed from my inventory and vanished inside that swirlpool. Without the need to check, it was my golden quest ticket.
"It's here," I slowly said, "let's go!"
No matter what awaited me there, I was ready to face it!
I had to admit, I always thought about the Hescos and their allied races in that golden quest.
I never expected old enemies to the angels to set their gazes on me and place much importance over my participation.
Were those old grudges that deep? I couldn't tell. I still had the same belief that whoever did that to the old man's race weren't people from this universe, but people belonging to those mysterious forces.
Even if they used the people of the other universe to do such a thing, they'd still be the ones who instigated such a thing.
Losing all the races who were efficient in time and place powers wasn't a simple coincidence. And the angels from Sith's mouth were ones who were brilliant at both powers.
They were dangerous in the eyes of those mysterious folks, and I got to know soon enough why that was.
If they wanted to come, then be it. I wasn't friends to begin with. Not to mention I already had a clash with them.
It seemed since that time, they started to deeply dig everything related to me. Even the Hescos couldn't tell I got a world with time elements in it. But these people knew.
If the Hescos knew about the existence of such heaven defying abilities in my worlds, then I'd have suspected the interference of those people with them.
But they seemed to be quite cautious, not to stir any doubt inside me. If not for the timely warning of Sith, I would have never known about their presence and danger until it'd be too late.
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When I gave it a little thought while waiting for that swirlpool to stop its expansion, I realised there was something fishy going on here.
Even Sith didn't know about the content of the golden quests until it was too late. So how come such people knew about that?
From Sith's words, they already were aware of such a possibility for a long time already. They prepared many plans, and none of them looked good to me it seemed.
I didn't care about any of these plans. If I met a mountain, I'd blow it up, if I was stopped by a world, I'd simply control it all and become its sole lord.
And with such a mindset, I led my chariot into this portal.
However the next instant something blocked my path, preventing me from getting inside.
"What? Don't tell me they even did something to the portal!" I frowned before I soon got my answer.
[Sorry! But you can't bring more than twenty individuals with you!]
"What?!!!" I was shocked, turned around and counted my people on my chariot.
There were twenty people standing there, the same twenty chosen before.
"I got twenty in my chariot!" I said to myself, not expecting any response from the system. Yet I got a response.
[You have twenty-one individuals in your ride. Please remove one in a ten minute period and then try again!]
"Twenty-one… Don't tell me…!!!"
All of sudden I realised what was going on here. In the middle of such chaos and stress, I totally forgot about someone; Hilary!
Since my last meeting with her and seeing her dual personality and I decided to lock her up. Since then I have lived on a hectic rollercoaster, jumping from the frying pan to the middle of the fire!
And now the system considered her as one of my fellows!
I never expected that!!!
Even when I thought about everything, I totally missed her. And now I had to make up my mind about her in less than ten minutes.
Either I should leave her behind and take the twenty I already selected, or I'd just go towards keeping her by my side and let someone leave this group.
"Sorry for that, but you can't come with us!" Despite it being so unfair, I would never risk setting this time bomb loose in the middle of my kingdom!
Not when I was going to be away from here, not when there were many dangers lurking around my kingdom, not when the time was this critical and the future of my entire race, my kingdom, and even myself was hanged by a thread.
I couldn't let such a volatile element free in the middle of all this. So even if it was a bit unfair, I couldn't let her disembark my chariot and had to let someone else do it.
I selected one of the generals Lily selected randomly. She selected eleven generals, and they were considered the top of my generals.
Each and every single one of them was selected based on a strict criterion Lily placed before. She took my words into consideration in the letter, selecting all veteran generals out of my list of generals.
And when I suddenly said that, that dude seemed confused.
"I leave the safety and future of my kingdom in your hands," to make up for him, I moved and patted on his shoulders, giving him such warm and heavy words.
"I… I…" he stuttered, and I couldn't help but add:
"Sorry about that, but there is already one more person here. You are a good one, and so you're going to lead my forces here as a commanding general during my absence."
I knew that Lily selected a group of capable generals to act as a leading council to my forces here.
So on the spot, I appointed him as the leading general of that entire council, and frankly speaking, to my forces as well.
It was a great honour, and tremendous responsibility as well.
"Joshua, you can do it," Lily didn't know what happened, but she showed support for my decision at such a time.
Chapter 1294 The Golden Quest Selection Platform
She didn't need to ask anything to know that some sort of an unforeseen coincidence happened here and forced my hand.
"Don't worry my lord, I'll make you proud of me," he took two steps to the back, bowing deeply to me.
He was one of the Hector race generals, the ones I claimed during the frenetic battle a long time ago against that king, "I'll do everything in my power to try and secure the lands of the lord. I will also try my best to claim my stolen homeland."
I couldn't see through him totally, but he seemed quite pumped up towards his lost continent. That continent was his homeland it seemed, and now that homeland was controlled by the zombies.
And he seemed to hate that deep to the bones.
"Good lad," I copied the way Sith spoke with me here and patted him thrice before watching him leave.
Even after saying all this, on his face I felt like he was a bit sad. I still sucked at reading the Hector race faces which were covered with scales. But at least I could tell he wasn't that happy about this.
"What happened?" watching him leave, Lily couldn't help but ask.
"It's Hilary," and my simple answer was enough to make everyone close up to me here get what happened.
"Let's go," I took a deep breath and threw what happened here behind my back before finally leading my chariot through that portal.
This time nothing stood in my path and my chariot got into that swirlpool portal like it was nothing. The next moment, a bright golden light flashed and filled my vision, blocking me from seeing anything.
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I knew I was getting teleported to some place. And that process took an unknown period of time before I finally was able to see it once again.
When I could see the area around me, I found out that I was all alone. There wasn't anyone on my team, not even my chariot.
I was standing on top of a golden platform, one that brought memories of the platform I saw when I met with Sith before.
I looked around. The platform extended for almost a few hundred metres around, then the world vanished under a thick veil of white fog that masked anything beyond.
Just when I tried to move and check this entire platform, a message suddenly popped in front of my eyes, stopping me in my tracks.
[Welcome to the golden quest selection platform]
[Please be patient. We are waiting for the other contestants to arrive before we'd start]
Other contestants? I heard and read that word and couldn't help but frown.
Were we going to be gathered here in one place? And for what?
For a moment there I thought we were going to fight before I noticed the description of this platform; the selection platform.
What were we going to select exactly here? Of course our next quests! But why did the system come together like that?
Before I could think of an answer to that question, and just as I was feeling weird to always be the first one to arrive in such big events just like what happened in my class quest, many flashes of light appeared all over the place.
I thought only a few were going to take part in this quest. Yet from the blinding pillars of golden lights that appeared all around me, I knew there were too many of us!
At least fifty were here! How come there was such a big number of elites in my apocalypse trial?
And the moment these pillars appeared, and before I could even see through the golden light curtains, I felt some sort of hidden force binding me to my place motionless and then a pillar of golden light befell over my head without warning.
I ended up in the same pillar of light like others. And now I am sure about my earlier guess.
"We won't be able to see who took part in this quest, nor will we be able to know who selected what," I slowly muttered, feeling for the first time little satisfaction from the system arrangement.
This time the system acted fair and tried to protect the identities of those taking part in this quest. Which meant only one thing; the system placed great importance on such events.
But why?
[Welcome to all of you to the golden quest selection platform] and when I was thinking about that question, the soft female voice echoed in my head, cutting off my line of thoughts.
[Right now, one hundred elite contestants joined this round of golden quests. You all came from ongoing twenty apocalyptic trial zones. And we hope you can succeed in your next quest]
"Twenty apocalyptic trials?! Damn! I never saw this coming!!" I was totally shocked by the number of people competing with me here, not to mention the number of apocalyptic trials they came from.
I thought the golden quests would run on my current apocalyptic trial worlds and races. Yet when I thought about how important the system higher ups placed on this kind of quest, it made quite sense.
"It seems these folks are taking this golden quest quite seriously," I muttered before the next words of that mysterious lady rang again in my mind.
[Right now you are going to see a list of twenty missions. Select one of them as your goal in this quest]
The next moment, a long list appeared in front of my eyes. I thought the list would include the names of places we were going at, and the missions required to be accomplished next to each name.
But what I found was something entirely different! The list was made out of pages, twenty to be exact. Each page contained information about the places we were going to select.
Each page had not only the basic information about these places, but long paragraphs about the history, races, the nature of that world, and the main risks involved in each world.
Chapter 1295 Weird Things
Yes, worlds! Each page contained the name of a race who was imprisoned in one world. And our tasks were always the same; rescue that race and bring them back from their prison!
"What's going on?" seeing this made me wonder about the real goal of the system higher ups.
And before I'd read anything, the female voice came again:
[You got one day to read through everything and carefully select your missions]
[Each person will select one mission. And that selection can't be revoked or changed no matter what!]
[Please note: More than one person will select the same mission. And during the quest, it's up to those in that mission to decide if they wanted to work together or against each other]
[Please note: After making the selection, the list will be updated with the names of those selected each mission, their races, backgrounds, main traits, main achievements, and means of contact]
[Please note: Despite all of you going to different places, it's still a single competition here. The winner of this golden quest will be determined by the first one to execute his mission first]
[Please note: You can contact people working in other places if you want to]
[Please note: You have no allocated time limit to do your tasks. But the time passing in your real world will pass at a slower rate. The most time you'll stay here will be the end of your current main quests back home. So be aware of that. The rate of time passing is one to a hundred ratio]
[Good luck champs!]
I memorised all of these messages and felt more puzzled about that.
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"If the higher ups wanted to save all of them, why would they use such a method then?" This was the first dilemma that popped up in my head.
If the system higher ups wanted to save these races, then instead of finishing off the competition once one did his task, it was better to use a ranking method instead.
The ones who finished earlier than others would end up in higher ranks and get more rewards.
This way, the system would end up saving all of these races in the end. And it wouldn't need any other contestants or golden quests.
Something seemed fishy here.
Either there was a high possibility for us to face great dangers, and these missions are impossible to complete from the start. Or the system had to pay a hefty price to allow all of us to take part in all of these missions at the same time.
So once one did his job, others would leave to save the energy and resources of the system and its higher ups.
If the former scenario was the right one, then it'd explain a lot of things.
For example, if we were going to compete against each other as this quest implied, why would the system's female person suggest the possibility of contacting each other?
And that wasn't just limited to one world! Which meant the dangers we would face were shared among many worlds as well.
So by contacting each other, we'd end up sharing up the pressure and helping one of us to succeed.
In brief, if that was the case here, then the system wanted us not to compete. In fact, it wanted us to cooperate and try to make someone succeed in their task.
What was the real goal of the system from all of this? The more I thought about it, the more I felt this golden quest thing was just a cover up for some grand scheme.
However I knew I lacked lots of information and secrets about such matters. And I didn't harbour much hope for learning such things easily nor fast.
I am currently weak! Even if I was a lord in my world, a hegemon in my apocalyptic trial, I couldn't compare to any of the big or even decently strong races in the entire universe.
One day I'd reach a stage where I'd learn all these secrets. One day I'd reach such a stage, I swore!
Then I shifted my attention towards the list itself.
I took a fast glance before and noticed it was talking about worlds and races entrapped into them.
However when I attentively read through it, I noticed many other things.
First next to each race was a ranking of danger, and most of the ranks were grave danger!
All of these list worlds were ranked like that except for three. And these three took my full attention the moment I ran through their content.
The first race was called the jumpers! Just reading that name made my eyes go all wide. When I read through their description, my heart became heavier.
"That's weird... Very weird! I know the jumper is a human being! And the one who gave him this ability came from the angels! But how come there is such a race in the universe?!!"
The race had the same ability as my jumper. And they were trapped inside a closed space world where they'd live for one hundred years before a great disaster would befall them and they'd die.
Then before their death they'd return back in time, relive through all this again while having their memories from before.
This was just the same as my jumper's ability! The only difference was that these folks kept jumping back for ninety-nine years each single time!
This number piqued my interest the moment I read it. It was the same as what the old man did to me back then. Yet he told me this ability was granted to him by someone, and that person was Hilary!
Was Hilary part of the jumper? Or did she get part of their ability by accident? I thought we both were considered time travellers or something.
But the similarity here was shocking and quite scary!
The much scarier thing was the fact that despite reliving through the past while holding onto their memories, they couldn't break free from their devastated fate no matter what!
Chapter 1296 The God And Jumper Races
According to the list, these folks kept jumping back in time more than ten thousand times! That meant they lived through such a circle without gaining a chance to break free from this curse!
"Wait a second… No one can live through ninety-nine years…" I paused when I realised this.
The jumper's ability would allow him to jump back in time while having the same age, abilities, memories, and everything else.
So if they had to live for ninety-nine years each time they jumped, wouldn't they die out of old age?
The only explanation was that every time they jumped, they'd mate together and produce a new generation.
And that new generation would be the one who'd witness such disaster, ending up repeating such cycle!
That made quite sense! This way, it'd be hard to teach everyone what others felt and experienced. Even if they used memory beads and records, they'd still miss many things.
Not to mention there was a huge difference between living the sh*t and describing it to others!
I witnessed such a thing personally and so I could tell where the crux of this problem lay.
When I returned back in time, I thought I was mighty and invincible thanks to my knowledge from the future. However when I lived through the apocalypse, I discovered what I knew was literally nothing!
Aside from a few moments such memories and knowledge helped, most of the time I had to depend entirely on myself to survive through everything I faced.
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If that also happened to this race, then it'd explain how they lived for such long cycles, repeated the same disaster for ten thousand times and didn't manage to break through that yet.
And that also meant the dangers out there were out of imagination!
I jumped over this race page and went towards the next one with a heavy mind and burdened thoughts.
The second race had a name that made me feel more shocked! The moment I read it, I totally forgot about all the disturbed thoughts I had from the previous race.
"The god race? Are they related to gods or are they related to the fallen gods I had?"
I knew both, but couldn't honestly say that I knew the god race. The gods were quite mysterious in my eyes. They were veiled with many secrets and their abilities and origins were a mystery to me.
Yet I never thought they'd come from a race like myself! I always thought they were legendary figures who ascended the mortal realm and became immortals.
I even thought that one day I'd end up being a god like them if I kept living the life I had right now.
As for my fallen gods, I knew many things about them. Yet their origins were always related to the same origins of the fallen races in the universe.
I always thought they came from an ancient race who got hammered heavily by the mysterious enemy and ended up losing most of their former power, fame, prestige, position, and even their race members!
I hurriedly read through the content of that race's quest, and then I got the answers to my questions.
"So they are the ancestors of the existing gods in our universe? Damn! I never thought the shrines came originally from such races and were considered family shrines there!!!"
This was quite shocking news to me! This race lived on receiving blessings from other races, giving others support in form of wealth, items, strength, and even advice in return for blessings.
Such support had the name of sponsorship, and any race member who had such support could contact that god even from worlds apart!
That was shockingly similar to what was in the current universe! Yet these gods lived in shrines, never showed themselves quite easily, gave others blessings and support in the form of sponsorship.
Yet I never heard about the presence of blessings. I knew about the blessing points I'd get from them, but never expected such a relationship would give the gods blessing as well.
What was the benefit and use of these blessings then? Would they use these as food and water? Or to upgrade their ranks, powers, and live longer perhaps?
The document in front of my eyes wasn't that detailed about everything related to these gods. In fact, it placed more importance on their current situation, the dangers they were facing, the same dangers anyone selecting this mission would face.
According to the information listed here, I got that this god race was living inside a black hole.
Nothing could go in there and survive! And no one could come out from it without facing great dangers!
It looked like the same situation in my singular world. Yet my world wasn't facing such great danger like that world of the god race.
The god race's world was already moving closer to the heart of that black hole. According to that list's description, the god race developed a technique where they had to gather up most of their race members and keep pouring their energy to keep their world sustained in a slightly safe zone from that dangerous spot.
Yet that wasn't enough! Some sort of disaster was happening to their world from time to time, killing many members of their race and making it impossible to fully pull that world away from the imminent danger eyeing them.
At the same time, they tried to search and look for ways to leave this world safely. Yet they failed! No matter what, that world was considered as their graveyard. And every generation was barely able to keep their world away from the heart of that black hole by hair breadth.
When I read through the content of that document, I couldn't help but feel weird.
The previous jumper's world was always facing a disaster that they couldn't escape from. And this world of gods was also facing the same kind of disaster.
There was no clear description of the kind of these disasters. And for a reason, I grew suspicious that all these disasters were caused by the same origin.
Chapter 1297 Lethal Level Of Danger
When I linked the hidden intentions of the system to this, I got more confident in my guess. What was going on to these two worlds wasn't natural at all! And it was made by the same foes, and I swore they were the same ones who were trying to get rid of our universe, and other universes as well.
When I thought deeper about it, I noticed that in each race page I read through before, there was the same sort of disaster happening out there.
"So… All of this is linked…" It was quite shocking but it was the only logical explanation I could get. If they were all linked together to the same origin, then by working together we could succeed.
"That means the real mission isn't just related to saving any of these worlds, but to try and weaken the hold of that hidden power over these races. If that's true, then with each golden quest, the system's higher ups hope to bring considerable damage to these people… That's interesting…"
If that was true, then where would such hidden evil force exist?
I thought about going back and re-studying all of these worlds and quests again. But when I considered such a thing, I found out how naive it was.
Such force would never be located inside any world… If I was them, I'd situate myself somewhere near all, close to all, but couldn't be easily reached from any world or anyone.
Hmm… It suddenly turned into a hunting adventure!
So despite the system trying to make it look like it was a competitive quest, it was in reality a hunting adventure.
And to win this, I had to either go with the system's clear intentions and try to save one race, or aim for a more difficult goal and try to free all of these races at the same time by taking that cancer source out.
"If a prey hides itself so deep and well, then the best way to hunt it down is by trying to lure it out…"
I intended to go for the far impossible goal and try to take the enemy behind all this down!
I knew by logic, I should aim towards clearing one world. The risks alone were quite high at any single quest of these.
But I had different goals than just achieving a more than perfect score in this test.
In my eyes, this was a good chance to get to know more about such hidden enemies.
My war with that enemy already started. They have been setting their gazes on me since then. And I was kept all this time in the shadows.
And right now I was going to face them up, as I decided already to select the world of the angels; the last remaining world!
So if I was going to fight them in the end, then why should I aim towards a mediocre goal of just conquering them in one world and free the angels from their misery?
If things went right, then I'd be able to see what they were capable of. And then I'd make more preparations to get rid of them later on.
In addition to that, something told me if I saved one race, that race would end up serving me and joining my kingdom.
What made me think so was the lack of information about any rewards from this quest. All that was mentioned at the end of the list was the way to get out and concede.
So if there was no mention of any reward, the saved race would be the reward!
I also experienced that when I saved the seven stars race. They joined my kingdom and served me. Despite that it was partially thanks to Stephen, but in the end they became mine.
If I managed to get all the races here under my control, then I'd be more confident in my future.
My current situation in the apocalyptic trial wasn't that stable yet. But in the worst case scenario, I'd lose control over a bunch of worlds, and the Hescos would take control over them.
Then another final battle would erupt, or perhaps a series of deadly battles. Either way, my chances wouldn't plummet even if I lost the upcoming grand battle.
My aim wasn't just down my feet. I was looking beyond that, when I'd gain control over my apocalyptic trial, merging all the worlds under Earth world control, and began my journey towards the vast universe.
Having these races would be the real backbone of my kingdom and human race towards surviving the harsh universe.
The greatest risk would come from none other than the Hescos. Even if the hidden enemies wanted me dead, they had to scheme for a long time before doing that.
Yet the Hescos didn't need any time at all!
If I managed to crush their forces here, and I would, then the rift between the two of us would grow deeper and wider.
They couldn't do much to me right now thanks to the protection of the system and the apocalypse. But that protection would be gone the moment the apocalyptic trial would come to an end.
By then, nothing would stop them from invading my Earth world and getting me and everything I struggled to obtain and build crushed under their might and ferocity.
Even if the Toranks stepped in to help, I'd suffer immense losses, ending up losing too much than I could handle.
Such loss would push me back many steps behind. Instead of walking forward towards being a mighty and formidable figure in the universe, I'd end up being weak and unable to even protect myself.
Taking such a risk was a must. As long as I was here, why would I try to act safe when I'd end up in immense danger anyway?
The level of threat measured by the system for the last two quests was the same; lethal danger level!
Chapter 1298 Negotiations
As for how to lure these enemies out, I already got an idea about what to do. However, to do it, I had to get the help from the system, and also if possible the help from other contestants participating with me.
The last world was the one I originally came here for; the angel world!
The content of the disaster they were facing was the same. They were trapped inside a closed time loop that they couldn't come out from.
The main difference between this and the other quests in the list was that this race was facing the threatening danger already in the quest. They were in an all out war against a mysterious enemy, and they kept losing at the end.
The world ended by the death of everyone and the destruction of the entire planet before time would reset and things would return to the climax point of such a clash.
And for the danger level, it was a very terrifying one; very lethal danger level. The system didn't just get satisfied by writing down such words as it added. Also it wasn't advised for anyone to select this one as trying to get out from that world was denied by the time loop cycle.
I recalled what Sith once told me. Those with time abilities had the power to go in and out from such time looped disasters.
With my time ability that I got from the old man, such danger wouldn't affect me. Plus I was planning to do something huge this time!
"It's time for negotiation then," as I made up my mind, I didn't hesitate and said out loud: "I want to propose something in regard to this quest."
[You can speak freely, human Hye!]
As I expected, the one responsible for this quest was the system higher ups and not the cold female system voice that spoke earlier.
"I want to select more than one world to save," I slowly said.
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[The rules are clear. They aren't just to limit you, but also to protect you and others' safety!]
I knew this was the case from the start. The system higher ups wanted to save these races, but they seemed to be limited by something or some sort of power.
So they limited access to just one world to make sure we weren't facing great risks for naught.
"I know," I admitted such a fact out loud, "but I want not only to save one world, but everyone."
[This… Didn't you read the list and papers in it? Didn't you read the description and understand them or what?]
That system higher up seemed to be quite surprised by my request. And yet his words didn't manage to shake me off.
"I read them quite well," I slowly said, "and I got the real goal behind all this. I want to help you get rid of that enemy."
[That…] I knew if I wanted to get what I wanted, I had to be bold and declare my intentions loud and clear.
"I want to save everyone, but I know my limits. I frankly can't do such a thing alone. So I need a little help here."
[Why are you doing this?] the system higher up didn't follow my line of words and instead he asked what puzzled him the most.
"They already put a mark on top of my head," I didn't try to give a meaningless reason or something, "so if I'm going to fight them, why shall I just fight them with my hands tied behind my back?"
[Hmm… I have to say that we, the system and those who control it, can't meddle in this by any means]
"I don't want you to do anything like that," I got what he meant by his words. As I guessed, the system was already forcing itself here while paying a hefty price for this.
I didn't depend on the system's help in my plans. If I ever did, then I'd have ended up quite disappointed.
[Then what do you want? Taking part in more than one world quest isn't something hard to do. However I have to tell you this in advance, the first step is for you to go into a secluded part of these worlds and try to build up your forces first]
I finally got something in advance! I grinned evilly. I recalled what Isac asked to do before, and couldn't help but feel more reassured.
I tried to make preparations for every possible scenario I'd face, including turning common people into warrior tokens and storing them inside my inventory.
In addition to that, I already amassed tons of resources. Not only did I do that, but all of my team did as well.
After all the inventory of many we claimed got resources. Not to mention resources we got from the second Earth world, either dug out from there or being sent by Silverlining from before.
So if the task needed us to take a barren piece of land and build our base on it, it wouldn't pose a problem to me.
"I still want to do it," what he said didn't change my mind. I still wanted to go through my plan.
[Then tell me what do you want?]
I already secured my first request, which was gaining access to more than one world.
"I want other contestants to start aiming towards the same goal we all here wanted!"
I didn't directly say what I wanted, but I was sure that dude out there got my hidden meaning.
[This… What do you exactly want?]
"Come on! Do you want me to say it out loud? Fine! I want those people to stop getting the wrong idea from this quest. Instead of fighting among ourselves, it's better for all of us to work together."
[But like this the main goal of this quest will be lost! We need a winner to be determined, and that's the only way to keep such access path open]
Chapter 1299 Checking Things Out
Oh, so they weren't just getting limited by that enemy as I thought, but they were also following some set of rules.
"Fine! Then change the rules of the entire quest…" I paused before seriously adding, "in exchange for working together, you'll record everyone's accomplishments and make an updated ranking system of the entire twenty ones taking part in this quest."
[But…]
I didn't wait for him to continue his words as I hurriedly added:
"Like this, the winner will be the one who gets on top of everyone. It's up to you as to how you shall distribute the rewards among us."
[We have only rewards for one winner!]
"Come on! Don't take me for a fool or something. How old do you think I am? The reward is the race we are going to rescue. And as we are going to save everyone, then there are enough rewards for everyone."
[There are only twenty races for one hundred people. Even if you lost half of your number, and that's totally expected, the number of races won't suffice!]
"There is enough for everyone," I evilly grinned, "you can either promise entire races for the first five ranks, and the rest can share the remaining races in between themselves. Or you can decide a certain percentage for the top five, with the first one getting half of all races rescued from this quest."
[Aren't you acting too greedy?]
"I'm the one daring enough to take such a step, so indeed I deserve much better than everyone else, right?"
Did he think I'd feel shy or ashamed if he said such words? He was underestimating the level of my shamelessness!
[Hmm… Let me think about it and consult others]
"I have to say," I knew what he was going to do, "if the reward wasn't that enticing, then forget about me taking such a risk."
I wouldn't risk my life like this for a mediocre reward. If he wanted my full support in this, he had to show sincerity.
I needed their help, but they also needed mine. It was a mutual situation where we all would get benefits out of it together.
If they tried to act smart, cut down the rewards of the first place as I expected, then they'd end up quite disappointed.
I volunteered to take such a risk, and I worked up my mind to pull such a grand plan. If my efforts weren't going to be properly rewarded, then I'd just aim for one world.
[Don't worry, we aren't that stingy!]
Of course you were! I didn't forget the pain of collecting one hundred million souls for the help from them back then.
I learnt my lesson from dealing with that dude from before. And I didn't plan to risk my life for nothing worthy.
As that dude left, I had nothing else to do but to think about my next step.
I learnt from him that the first move would be to be part of that world. If I guessed it right, then that part would be allocated by whatever rules governing these worlds.
If so, then I'd not expect to arrive at a totally barren place.
"If I read through the lines right, then after gaining access to these places, we'll have a buffer time of peace before an all out war would start…"
I kept thinking deeply about this. If they were going to give us these pieces of land, then that meant a big war would erupt afterwards.
That offer wasn't just out of generosity. They wanted us to be more prepared for the upcoming challenges.
I read through the information provided in that list again. For a reason, there was no mention of what kind of disaster happening in all the worlds except for the last one; the angelic world.
That world had the clear phrase of an all out brutal war going on from the start. As for others, they just said there was some sort of a disaster going to happen there without delving into any information regarding what type of disaster it was.
Was it natural or man made? Of course they were made by that enemy!
If a disaster befell over such worlds with mighty and formidable races, then that meant the disaster was unstoppable.
"I have to expect the worst then…" I was lost in thought. From my encounters with the Hescos, I learnt how deadly a strong race could be.
Reading the word disaster would make anyone jump into the natural ones. However what was going to happen out there wasn't natural ones, but a disaster in the form of unstoppable armies.
So I'd better expect a situation where killing tons wouldn't make a difference, and having tons on my side wouldn't make any difference as well.
"That's why they targeted me from the start… I now get it!" I was thinking all this time that the reason those enemies targeted me was because of my time ability.
But it seemed this wasn't the sole reason behind such a decision to hunt me down. I had my techniques, and in such situations, I was the one who was going to be unstoppable!
I had nothing much to think about during that day period. So I started to examine a few important things regarding different elements of my strength.
First and foremost important was the warrior tokens.
I left behind tons of people and forces to enter the den of warriors and turn into my tokens.
To detect that was simply hard. My inventory was full of tons of warriors and tokens.
If I wanted to quickly test the effectiveness of this connection then I had to select a warrior token that I had little of or didn't have any at all.
And luckily there were such kinds of tokens that I could track the zombies!
Loran's people just joined this move late. And I never had zombie tokens before. So the number of tokens of that race were already too low, enabling me to easily observe them.
Chapter 1300 Getting More Than I Wanted
During the first hour, nothing happened. I counted these tokens, and they were nine hundred and ninety-nine. Only one was missing to complete one thousand.
As I waited for one long hour, I thought the link was severed and the worst case scenario happened.
Even if I was at the other worlds, I still got the connection going. So it wasn't impacted by my presence away from my Earth world, or second Earth world.
But after one hour, I finally noticed the increase of a hundred tokens in one go!
"Phew! It's still working, thank god!" I didn't know if I'd meet up with zombies in these worlds or not. But I was now sure the connection was still there, and more warriors and common people would be added to my inventory.
The number of zombies was the lowest in the entire token collection I had. That was mainly because I asked for a small number to begin with. Not to mention there were too many out there trying to get into that den of warriors of mine.
"Good! I'm now sure the connection with my second world is intact. Now it's time to check other things..."
The second thing I checked was the functions of the market. I didn't depend that much on the market recently, but it was still a helpful feature that I didn't want to lose.
Not to mention my team members would still use the market.
"It's working," I tested and found that I could access and purchase or sell anything.
[Dude, are you here?] Next in my list came the connection with Silverlining.
I knew they planned to observe my performance out there. However I also wanted to be sure the connection with him was still there.
Who knew, I might need help out there from him or his race.
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[Did you already start? I'm sitting here with many sovereigns and waiting for the image to get clear]
Hearing his words made me bitterly smile. At the time when I was going to risk my life, these folks were sitting in ease back at their homes, enjoying the show of my suffering and struggle.
What luck!
[There is still many hours before the start of the quest]
[Oh! Then do you need anything?]
I contacted him just to make sure the connection was there and stable. But when he asked me this, I couldn't help but have different thoughts.
[Any warriors you can get me can help] I paused before adding, [I also need resources, materials used for constructions. If you got any useful defensive blueprints, big and deadly siege weapons, then send them as well. Don't forget to send me tons of the stat crystals as well as energy crystals]
[Sure! But why the materials and these blueprints?]
[I can't tell] I was sure I could now tell anyone about the content of the golden quests. But I decided to keep my tongue and not say anything.
I wanted to leave this entire quest as a big surprise to them. Besides, I couldn't tell if the enemy had eyes over my conversation with the system higher up or had eyes in the system higher up circle or not.
But for sure they got eyes and ears at all the big races in the universe. If I said anything, then I might risk exposing my intentions to them.
Let them get surprised by my sudden actions as well.
[Ok, I'll do my best and prepare as much as I can. By the way, when do you want these?]
[I have less than half a day before the start of the quest] I said in rough estimation, giving him a few hours to get delayed without affecting my plans, [And I want these items on a regular basis if you can. If I wanted anything else, I'll let you know]
[Cool! I'll start preparing the things you asked for then]
I smiled while closing the chat with him. As long as I'd buy more things from him, then no matter how dire my situation became, I was sure I'd be able to get over it.
Besides, if these sovereigns saw me facing a deadly situation or something, perhaps they'd release the frozen reward and let me make the best use out of it.
So I got everything working perfectly fine. Even my connection with the Silverlining was working.
All I got to do now was to just wait for the system higher ups to make up their minds. I didn't know what was at stake here for them to support such a plan of mine.
They just needed to let me and others loose, tweak a few things here and there, and decide on a good reward for the first rank.
Without the need to wait for the end result, the first position would be mine.
I was the one who devised the entire plan. At the same time, I was the most ready one to face many enemies in different worlds without much pressure.
Not to mention I was the only one knowing about the presence of the hidden enemy, and had the ability and experience to defeat them.
The system higher ups indeed took their time and didn't return to me with anything until there was less than half an hour left.
[We discussed what you proposed]
He simply sent this to me.
"And?" I knew that you were discussing what I said, dude! Just cut the chase and tell me the real deal.
[We agreed to follow up with your plan] he said before adding, [As for the rewards, we decided to give you the priority to select five races to join you without any regard to your position in the end]
Dude, who were you bluffing? I was going to come first without doubt!
"Thanks for your consideration," but in the end I got what I wanted. I didn't end up having the chance to get one race, but five!
[You deserve this. But that on the basis your plan really works]
"It will," I confidently said, "you just have to make others comply and work together."
Chapter 1301 There Is A Catch!
[We already updated the conditions and details of this round of the golden quests] He said such a thing despite me not getting any notification at all.
It seemed he realised what I was thinking about, so he added, [I'm here to personally inform you with the details]
"Thanks again," I now realise why I didn't get any notification about such changes before.
[Right now you are going to be transferred to a new place. According to the old rules, you should have appeared at one location. But as you wanted access to all worlds, you are free to select all the number of locations related to the twenty quests as you wish]
"That means I'll get access to twenty separate places, or they'll get merged together?" I needed to get a clear answer regarding this point.
[You got twenty team members, right? You can appoint one to each place to do what you needed]
"Oh… Can't I just use teleportation gears to link these places together?" I didn't like the idea he just proposed. I had twenty members indeed, yet none of them was enough to handle such an immense task.
[Sure, you can also do that] he agreed, [But if so, you'll need to jump between these places one at a time. You'll lose some time doing this]
"Better lose a few at first than losing too much later on," I didn't get what he meant by that, "But how can I gain access to these places if I selected one of them first? Will you establish a teleportation device there for me to use or what?"
[I told you already, we can't meddle with anything regarding these quests]
"Then…" If I wouldn't get teleported to each place, then how was I going to install such teleportation devices then?
[I already told you, you'll be teleported to one place then after waiting there for a period of time, a choice will appear to you to select more places to access]
"Ah, I see…" I now realised what he meant by wasting my time in doing this. It seemed there was a limitation over such a choice.
Once I gained access to one place, I'd stick there for a fixed period of time. So the question here was: "How long do I need to wait before accessing another place?"
[At least one week]
"That… That's too much…" I didn't like such an answer, "tell me, can I still get in touch with my people once I scattered them over these places?"
[Sure, there is no interference with the system functions, including the channel relations and contract relations]
"And good relations?" I asked, "the god sponsoring us, can we still get in contact with them?"
[Like normal]
"Good!"
[If you tried to use the teleportation twin devices then it won't work] he seemed to read through my mind, [You need to visit the places you want to install these teleportation devices at]
"I know," I evilly grinned, "and I got a way to solve this. Anyway, thanks again for all this help."
He indeed helped me a lot. Without the knowledge he told me at the end, I'd have to figure things out on my own.
[We are waiting for your brilliant performance. Good luck!]
I knew he honestly hoped for it this time.
I waited for the moment the one day period would come to an end.
It might be a problem for anyone else, but linking these twenty places wasn't going to be that hard.
I felt great relief about the market function still working at this moment. As I waited, I bought many twin devices to get them installed all over the twenty places.
I hated to be limited by anything, especially that week buffer time. If I had to wait for one week at each place, then by visiting the last place, at least five months would pass.
That was a very long time indeed. And in the end, I'd be forced to select places over others, not working over the entire twenty quests in total.
That would greatly impact my plans about luring out my enemies.
I bought a few hundred of these devices just in case. And after doing that, I finally heard the notifications from the system.
[The golden quest waiting period is over!]
[Please get ready to be teleported towards the places you desire]
[Please select your quest world]
A list of twenty places appeared next in front of me. I didn't hesitate to mark all of them.
[You selected twenty worlds to gain access to]
[You are competing over twenty quests]
[The final rank you'll get will depend on the number of points you'll gain through your performance]
[Please appoint one or more of your team members to the worlds you want to gain access to]
[Please note: You and your team members will be moved first to a preparation zone for each selected world]
[Your stay there will last for one year]
[You can't gain access to any world related to these zones, but you can face dangers there]
[Please note: Once selected, you can't change your choice]
I read through all this and found something that higher up missed.
The period of waiting there was as long as one year. That was good enough to make me build strong bases all over these places.
However there was a catch!
I couldn't gain access to any of the twenty worlds, but I'd still get attacked!
The equal of facing dangers was to face the armies of the hidden enemy.
That meant during the one year period, I'd be forced to fight such an enemy without gaining any access to the sealed twenty worlds.
So winning wouldn't impact anything related to these quests. Besides, the enemy could spy on us during this period.
If he smelled something fishy like what I planned to do, then they'd keep sending their forces to try and stop me.
"I should get prepared for lots of fighting then…" I wasn't afraid of getting into such an intense situation. However that meant the progress of building up these bases would be greatly affected.
Chapter 1302 Gathering Everyone Up
It didn't matter that much to know about this early on or right now. I had no control over what was going to happen, and knowing a bit earlier wouldn't have helped me that much.
I jumped over this point and started to appoint my team members over the twenty worlds. Of course I'd never let Hilary go, and I filled up the last remaining spot in that list.
The names of my team appeared in front of my eyes and I simply and randomly allocated each to one world.
[The selection is completed]
[The final list of participants will be available after one week]
[You have a safe period of one month. During which, not a single enemy will step into your zones]
[Good luck champ!]
The previous swirlpool appeared again and this time I didn't hesitate to pass through it.
The golden light flashed and blinded my eyes like before. Then after some time, I found myself standing in the middle of a totally ruined world.
"Tsk! Even when coming all the way here, the apocalypse has to leave behind its fingerprint," I shook my head as I examined the world around me.
That piece of land was vast. I thought it'd be limited in size, but even from my current high altitude, I couldn't see the end of it.
That meant this land was at least over one thousand miles in radius, and I felt it was much wider than that.
I appeared on top of my chariot, like I never left that platform at all. I looked around and found myself all alone. All the others must have been sent to their designated locations.
[Attention! You are now in a zone that's controlled by me. You will get a piece of device for teleportation. Install them at your places and wait for my arrival]
I sent this message copy and paste to everyone in my team. I knew they got tons of questions, and I planned to first get this task done before explaining everything to all.
As for how I'd send them the other half of that twin device, it was easy.
Before coming here, I made those new to the team as members in my channel. I didn't just limit this to my twenty team members, but also to all the members of the general council and also many generals leading different armies in the kingdom.
I made this as an arrangement to keep an eye on things happening back at my kingdom if my channel was still functioning.
And to my luck it was!
Using the link of my channel with everyone, I sent one half of these devices over while installing the other at the spot.
I solved this problem in such a simple way. In a few moments, the devices got connected with their other halves, and started to open their portals.
"What's going on?"
"What happens here?"
"What shall we do?"
"Lord, what are your orders?"
As I went to other places, I was welcomed by tons of these questions. However I didn't answer any and just started installing more portals in each place.
I didn't want to just link the twenty places together to one spot, but I planned to link everywhere together. Like this, and if the need ever demanded, I could send out forces from any place to support another.
"Come with me," that was all that I said to anyone I met from my elite team. When I finished linking all places together in a grand network, I returned back to the first place I started from.
"The situation is as follows..." I started to tell them everything related to this adventure, skipping important parts like my role in changing out the rules, or even mentioning anything related to that hidden enemy or my grand plan.
I was sure my every move was watched closely by this enemy. So it'd be bad if I ended up delivering such information about my scheme on such a golden plate.
"That means we are going to build forts in each place?" Isac was the first to speak up, and she got the crux of our task right now quite correctly and fast.
That was expected. After all, I planned to leave such work over to her.
"I already have tons of resources, and you also have much," I said, and before Isac would object, I added, "you can use the warriors for now to do the task in addition to the growing number of workers joining my inventory."
"These resources won't suffice!" she jumped over her answered questions to another dilemma.
"I'm already working to solve this," I paused, "as for others, we have a one month safe period. Make the best use of this time and help Isac in her task."
"Are we going to the angelic world?" The jumper seemed to care only about this point. And I already mentioned the name of the angels in the many races we were going to visit.
"Sure, they are in the list," I nodded in confirmation. If not for his mask, I was sure I'd see a look of delight and excitement over his face.
But I never expected his next question.
"Which place of these is connected to their world?" he paused, and when my face slightly changed, he added, "you said that each place is connected to one world, right?"
"That's correct, but I don't know which belongs to which," I was honest here, "however after one year, the barriers blocking our connection with the world will be gone. By then we will be able to tell."
He remained silent, and I stopped caring for him for now.
He had to take control over himself much better than that. I knew he waited for a long time, and we were already this close from going there and meeting up with his man.
As for the jumper race, I decided to keep this issue as a secret for now. I didn't know what relation he had with such a race, and couldn't tell how he'd react.