Chapter 39: The Limit
After finalizing the plan, Shenfu was the first to leave. He couldn't stay away from the Sanctuary City for too long; the place had just been severely damaged by the Scarlet Faction and urgently needed him back to stabilize the situation.
Zuiyasi and Wude also left one after another. One was preparing the various tools needed, while the other was responsible for fabricating scenes, such as Caesar's planned residence and the memories of the surrounding neighbors.
This was one of Wude's two core abilities as a trickster. His strongest power was to transform enemies or matter from three dimensions into two dimensions. The remaining ability was a contract-type ability, which had two branches: contract signing and contract memory.
This ability wasn't a crude memory alteration. Instead, it first extracted the target's memories, then cut out the segment that needed modification. This segment was used to form a Contract Memory Paper, which, inscribed with the new information, replaced the original memory.
For example, if the target's original memory was, "Today I went to have a sumptuous lunch," then on the Contract Memory Paper, one would write, "Neighbor, Caesar." After placing this paper back into the blank space left by the cut memory, the target's memory would automatically complete itself as: "Today I went to have a sumptuous lunch and met my old neighbor Caesar."
Su Xiao wasn't the only one who had acquired new abilities. His other "good teammates" had also mastered various means. As a result, even though Su Xiao's strength was increasing rapidly, he never felt that his "good teammates'" abilities were falling behind. On the contrary, the abilities of these few "good teammates" often left him quite astonished.
Su Xiao checked the map on his terminal. A red dot was moving on it, representing the Scarlet Firstborn.
The plan's process wasn't complicated. The Scarlet Firstborn was heading to the Sanctuary City. He had barely survived the Nightmare Blood Shadow earlier. Although his injuries were about sixty to seventy percent healed, he still carried the unique aura of the Nightmare.
As soon as the Scarlet Firstborn arrived at the Sanctuary City, he might be detected by the Star Devourer, who was recuperating there. Even if he wasn't detected, Shenfu would make sure the Star Devourer noticed. After that, things would be easy.
The Star Devourer had no subordinates in the Lightless Temple. Shenfu and the priests below him were actually followers of the Eternal Dark Lord. Under these circumstances, the Star Devourer had only two choices: go find the Scarlet Firstborn himself, or find a relatively trustworthy person to drag the Scarlet Firstborn out.
This person would most likely be Shenfu. Even if it wasn't, it didn't matter. If the Star Devourer truly had a trusted subordinate, then it would be Zuiyasi's turn to step in. The Parasitic Marrow Worm was sufficient for this situation; it altered cognition, essentially manipulating the subconscious.
The famous doctor who healed the Scarlet Firstborn was, of course, Caesar in disguise. Afterwards, Caesar would help treat the Star Devourer.
In the early stages of this plan, Su Xiao didn't need to be involved. He came to a Law-Destroying Teleportation Array in the basement of the workshop, which corresponded to the Mother Nest.
With a bang, the teleportation array activated. When the spatial mist dissipated, the scent of rain-soaked earth from the Mother Nest drifted into his nostrils. Although most parts of the insect nest were covered in mucus, it was surprisingly clean, preventing bacterial growth and keeping cell fluids from easily decaying or spoiling.
Arriving at Jila's nesting chamber, as soon as he entered, Su Xiao saw Jila in front of a mixing table he had used before, intently fiddling with something. Seeing this, he was quite surprised, not expecting Jila to start studying alchemy.
Looking closer, Su Xiao saw Jila turn off the constant-temperature flame, then skillfully flipped the filter container holding freshly fried potato chips, ensuring the seasoning was evenly distributed on every chip. She picked one up, took a crunchy bite to taste it, and then, satisfied, ate the whole thing.
"..."
Su Xiao glanced at the alchemy books nearby. Clearly, Jila wasn't interested in alchemy.
A moment later, Su Xiao finished listening to the report from the leader-level Demon Beast, Abaddon, about the recent situation. He learned that the situation in the Wild Overgrowth Lands was unstable, with the world-destroying entities there frequently fighting each other.
Furthermore, the Silver Queen's Nest located underground had mined a total of 108 units of Living Ore. After absorption by their Mother Nest, they could obtain a total of 1,080,000 points of Bio-Energy.
This seemed like a lot, but if used to cultivate Demon Flame Dragons, it could only produce 36,000 of them. In other worlds, this number of Demon Flame Dragons would be an invincible force. But in this world, such a number wasn't particularly formidable.
Therefore, relying on the Silver Queen's mining for Bio-Energy could only serve as startup capital. To truly develop the scale and level of the insect race, they had to wage war against world-destroying races. That was how the Demon Insect Race worked; they grew stronger through battle.
Choosing the right opponent was the key. According to reconnaissance by their special insect unit, the Shadow Fang, the world-destroying races in the Wild Overgrowth Lands could be divided into three tiers.
First was the Calamity Tier. This level was terrifying in the outside world, but in the Eternal Light World, it was the weakest level of world-destroying race, hence designated as the Third Echelon.
Representative races of the Third Echelon included: Rot Worms, Undead Clans, Moon Serpent Clan, Aberrant Demons, Bloodthirsty Clan, Mad Blood Hounds, Filth Giants, Cursed Tribes, Sea Demons, etc.
The Third Echelon had the most races, and their strength varied greatly. Over ninety percent of them were banished here by people who inherited the Moon Wolf's secret arts, with few being imprisoned here by the Ancestral Law Destroyers. The Mad Blood Hounds were one of the latter.
Although the Mad Blood Hounds were only a Third Echelon world-destroying race, they were very difficult to deal with. As long as resources were sufficient, these Mad Blood Hounds could rapidly split. Furthermore, if they were cut in two during an attack, the two severed halves would quickly regenerate into two separate entities, leading to a situation where the more you fought, the more there were.
Stronger than the Calamity Tier was the Annihilation Tier. World-destroying races at this level were not to be underestimated. They were not only hard to eliminate but also came at a great cost to seal. This was the Second Echelon of world-destroying races.
Representative races of the Second Echelon included: Star-Crabs, Wild Overgrowth Clan, Deep Sea Evil Spirits (all located in the Sand Sea).
Above the Second Echelon was the strongest, the Erosion Tier, which was the First Echelon.
There was only one race in the First Echelon of this world: the Erosion.
The reason the Erosion was so terrifying was that it had evolved the characteristic of being able to devour extreme natural elements. The result was that the Erosion race not only became stronger but also had a greatly increased upper limit.
As things stood, no race in the entire Wild Overgrowth Lands dared to disturb the Erosion during its dormant period, even though everyone knew it would eventually awaken. Once it did, a catastrophe would befall this place.
There were many enemies in the Wild Overgrowth Lands. Su Xiao planned to have Jila first find an opponent from the Third Echelon. This was to test the enemy's strength and their own combat power, and also to use the Fungal Carpet to absorb Soul Energy, which could then be converted into Evolution Points through the Mother Nest.
The current race level of the Demon Insect Race was Lv.95. To reach a level where they could contend with the Erosion, they needed to raise the race level to Lv.100, thereby awakening the ultimate insect race ability.
Raising the race level from Lv.95 to Lv.100 required a full 2100 Evolution Points. Even if they completely wiped out all the Third Echelon world-destroying races in this world, it wouldn't be enough. Only by defeating around two Second Echelon world-destroying races on top of that would it be possible.
Besides this, there was another very important matter. In the previous world progress, Su Xiao had used a large number of Evolution Points to raise the Demon Insect Race's level from Lv.70 to Lv.95. Upon entering this world and after Jila established a complete Mother Nest, this level increase brought another benefit: a special energy within the Mother Nest that could permanently strengthen insect units.
This special energy could be called Enhancement Points. Its function was to increase the strength cap of insect units like Demon Beasts, Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Behemoths. Calculated in standard units, the special energy currently stored in the Mother Nest amounted to 25 Enhancement Points. This meant for every 1 level of race level gained, they received 1 Enhancement Point.
In the Wind Sea Continent, their Mother Nest was incomplete and couldn't mass-produce units, so this potential wasn't awakened. The 25 Enhancement Points obtained now were exceptionally precious. Unlike Evolution Points, they could only gain 5 more later. Therefore, choosing which insect unit to enhance required careful consideration.
Su Xiao looked at Jila, who was sitting on the back of an elite Demon Beast, swinging her little legs and eating potato chips. He decided not to ask for the insect queen's opinion. If he got angry listening to her, it wouldn't be like when Jila was little and he could spank her if she was disobedient. Now, the leader-level Demon Beast, leader-level Worker Scorpion, and leader-level Shadow Fang were all standing by.
With a total of 25 Enhancement Points, Su Xiao invested 2 points into the Demon Beasts, 3 points into the Titan Behemoths, and the remaining 20 points all into the Demon Flame Dragons.
Once this enhancement began, the special energy within the Mother Nest merged into the egg-laying tissue, starting to strengthen the initial genes of the Demon Beasts, Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Behemoths.
The reason he invested so much in the Demon Flame Dragons was that this insect unit could fight, tank, and fly. Its Dragonflame ensured large-scale destructive power, making it the best means to deal with world-destroying races, especially the Star-Crabs and the Erosion, which might rely entirely on Dragonflame.
The enhancement took over 6 hours to complete. Su Xiao opened the Mother Nest list to check and found that the enhancement costs for the Demon Beasts, Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Behemoths had all changed significantly.
Elite Worker Scorpion: 1 Bio-Energy can cultivate 2000.
Brutal Cannon Turret: 200 Bio-Energy per turret.
Elite Demon Beast: 8 Bio-Energy each (was 4 each).
Shadow Fang: 150 Bio-Energy each.
Demon Flame Dragon: 600 Bio-Energy each (was 30 each).
Titan Behemoth: 3000 Bio-Energy each (was 1000 each).
The consumption of Bio-Energy directly reflected the capabilities of the insect units. For combat insects, the more expensive, the stronger. For functional insects, the more expensive, the higher the ability judgment. For example, the Shadow Fang remained in a constant stealth state; the stronger its initial genes, the higher its stealth judgment.
Su Xiao instructed Jila to use the existing 1,080,000 Bio-Energy to cultivate 1800 Demon Flame Dragons through the Mother Nest, and then use these Demon Flame Dragons to wage war against the Third Echelon world-destroying race, the Moon Serpent Clan.
Su Xiao's task for Jila was: first, defeat the neighboring Moon Serpent Clan; after eliminating this enemy, move on to the Rot Worms; then the Bloodthirsty Clan; then the Cursed Tribes; then the Sea Demons; and finally, the Aberrant Demons.
There were a total of six world-destroying races. Only after Jila had eliminated all these enemies would she be considered to have reached a passing level. After that, she would need to deal with the more troublesome Third Echelon world-destroying races.
For this level of engagement, Su Xiao planned to let Jila handle it alone, not even providing the effects of the War Lord title. If the Demon Insect Race, having grown to its current level, still couldn't handle the Third Echelon world-destroying races, then even with the title bonus later, they wouldn't be able to deal with the Second Echelon world-destroying races, let alone the Erosion.
After arranging these matters, Su Xiao used the teleportation array to leave the Mother Nest and return to the workshop in Black Iron City. Soon after, he received a notification that he had gained 0.12 points of World Prestige. This meant Jila had already started fighting the Moon Serpent Clan.
The Prestige gained from killing a single Moon Serpent was very small, but many a little makes a mickle. As for whether he would miss any dropped chests, Su Xiao wasn't worried. Sometimes, even killing a small boss didn't drop a chest, let alone the minor monsters of a world-destroying race.
Su Xiao activated his Hunter's Mark and was about to open his title list when, the next second, the Prestige gain notifications began to flood the screen. After searching for a moment, he muted the Prestige gain prompts.
He had just bought 12 attribute-less Nine-Star titles from A Duo'er. This made one wonder how much World Prestige A Duo'er had obtained to open so many titles and synthesize over a dozen Nine-Star titles.
Of course, there was another possibility: when A Duo'er opened title chests, she often got Six-Star, Seven-Star, or even Eight-Star chests. Calculated that way, it wouldn't require that much World Prestige.
It wasn't impossible. Su Xiao vaguely remembered that in the Treeborn World, A Duo'er had personally said: 'Isn't it normal to get an Immortal-grade equipment from a Holy Spirit-grade chest?'
Epic < Holy Spirit < Immortal < Origin.
Su Xiao didn't agree with A Duo'er's statement. His experience had always been that getting an Epic-grade equipment from a Holy Spirit-grade chest was normal.
Opening the title list, Su Xiao placed the Nine-Star title [Deep Blue Shadow] in the center of the Title Fusion Disc. Five empty slots appeared around it. He took out 5 Nine-Star titles and, with a few crisp clicks, filled the five auxiliary title slots.
[Proceed with this Limit Fusion?]
[All Nine-Star titles can undergo a maximum of 5 Limit Fusions.]
[Remaining Limit Fusion attempts: 5/5 times.]
[This is the first Limit Fusion. Success rate: 100%.]
Su Xiao selected Fusion. The intense heat radiating from the Title Fusion Disc made him instinctively raise his left hand to shield his face and turn his head slightly. As the heat in front grew more intense, he manipulated the Fusion Disc to move further away.
Observing the Title Fusion Disc now, it was covered in magma-like patterns. The central [Deep Blue Shadow] title was glowing fiery red. The title energy from the 5 auxiliary titles was continuously being extracted and gathered onto the [Deep Blue Shadow] title.
Su Xiao sat in quiet meditation. A few hours later, he felt the fluctuations from the Title Fusion Disc in front become intense. Opening his eyes, he saw the title on the disc emitting a brilliant azure light.
With a muffled bang, a wave of energy spread from the Title Fusion Disc as its starting point. The azure light scattered in all directions before gradually dissipating into the air. Looking at the Title Fusion Disc now, it had cooled down.
Su Xiao manipulated the Title Fusion Disc to come closer and removed the [Deep Blue Shadow] title from it.
[[Deep Blue Shadow] (Nine-Star Title) has completed this Fusion.]
[You have achieved the Title Achievement: Pursuit of the Extreme.]
[You will receive the following Achievement Rewards.]