Chapter 1125

*: On the return flight, Lin An kept playing with the card in his hand.

A few pieces of equipment and props were piled on the table in front of him.

He was in a good mood; the progress of the cards he had gathered this time was only 9% away from directly promoting to the title Fourth Stage.

The prerequisite is to strengthen one's strength to the peak of Third Stage and to complete the last two tasks.

Strengthening one's strength is not difficult; for card holders, completing a task brings a corresponding strength increase. Take Xiao Peng as an example: if he hadn't died, after this outing he would also be a high-level Third Stage, which can be described as effortless.

The two tasks are respectively to complete special tasks corresponding to attributes, with the reward being a strength increase to the peak of Third Stage.

The second task is quite interesting.

"【Ladder】: Recruit one hundred Third Stage Awakened Ones and gain their followership."

"Task reward: Promote to the title Fourth Stage."

Upon seeing this task, Lin An keenly realized that this was the most dangerous and difficult one among the series of card tasks.

One hundred Third Stage Awakened Ones—at this stage, aside from the Capital Military Region being able to gather them, other military regions, including major private forces, basically have no chance to muster that many.

Before the second round of trials opens, this condition basically cannot be met.

As for gaining followership...

What exactly counts as gaining followership—beating these Third Stage into submission, or making them serve as underlings?

Lin An gave a light chuckle, feeling that the system really was playing a trick even on the final task.

Anyone who can mix up to Third Stage Awakened One is a proud powerhouse; who would willingly take a lower position? To finish this task early and win people's hearts by the end of the second trial, one would inevitably have to reveal true strength.

But once strength is exposed, anyone will suspect where that power comes from; if a few deep-thinking Third Stage investigate, they'll likely uncover clues.

Leaving other matters aside, I myself have been guessed at by various forces before, and many of them even developed greedy thoughts.

Moreover, Chu An initially judged at a glance that he could only be that strong if he had activated a 'cheat'.

Once suspected, investigating the past, someone might just guess the truth.

By then, not to mention winning some people as followers, under the watch of wolves all around, just not having one's cards snatched would be considered good.

In such a situation, the only way is to beat them into submission—beat them until no one dares to harbor greed; but do these people dare? Can they do it?

Furthermore, Lin An discovered a common trait from the two card holders: they simply dare not take risks to increase their strength.

These people basically bring a small group and develop silently; they won't accept any high-difficulty tasks other than card-related ones unless absolutely necessary.

Taking Xiao Peng and the previously deceased Third Stage as examples, although these two had card-granted rewards, their strength was merely that—at most a bit stronger than an ordinary Third Stage. Lin An could easily guess that they hardly ever went into dungeons outside of tasks, let alone actively hunt Mutants.

Their strength relies entirely on card rewards.

Worried that others might discover they have cards, these people probably also dare not openly acquire resources, resulting in their basic attributes not being high.

Unlike Lin An, who began extorting the globe from Second Stage onward, practically looting several major war zones.

These card holders hardly dare to face any danger.

From Xiao Peng's careful scouting before entering a dungeon and preparing tools in advance, it seems he wouldn't act on a card task unless fully prepared.

But thinking about it, that's normal.

Lin An asked himself: if he had also gotten a card from the start, he would probably have just hunkered down to develop.

Build a base? Or repeatedly risk death to enter high-difficulty dungeons?

Impossible! Just lie down and become Fourth Stage! With such temptation, who would still bother to work? As long as one's mind is normal, they'd probably hide away; those with a bit of ambition might still take the initiative to do a few tasks. If one fears death, they likely wouldn't 'go out' until the final task.

After a simple deduction, Lin An also understood why the Fourth Stage beings from his past life emerged so slowly.

He could even imagine how these card holders, when forced to do the final task, would feel terrified and anxious. Once the news leaked, any Third Stage would likely hunt them down. Without surprise, the card holders of his past life probably had few who held onto their cards until the end.

After realizing this, Lin An's heart felt half relieved, half sighing.

He had actually been hesitating whether to use the card to promote, since the earlier one reaches Fourth Stage, the higher the safety.

If a Fourth Stage were to appear in the theater confrontation, or during this period, he would estimate that he would become a target of pursuit.

At present, no one dares to target him, because he is the openly strongest in the world.

But if that weren't the case, or if he simply had Fourth Stage thoughts, trouble would be great. After all, everyone knows how luxurious Lin An's resources and equipment are—it's practically a walking treasure trove!

Now it seems this worry can be completely ignored.

It is estimated that other card holders wanting to reach Fourth Stage would have to wait at least a month. Of course, it's not ruled out that someone in the official forces of several major countries obtained a card. However, the difficulty of such regional cards probably wouldn't be low either; whether they can complete the final step remains a question.

"Relying on oneself to reach Fourth Stage, however you look at it, would be somewhat stronger than using the card.."

Having made up his mind, Lin An no longer thought further.

He didn't believe there were free lunches in this world, especially from the system. From the information he now holds, it can be seen that after choosing a title, the rules come built-in. If the title's built-in rules were junk—say, one resists thermal weapons, another needs no breathing—upon reaching Fourth Stage, he'd be furious...

For Mutants, thermal weapon resistance might still be useful, but for Awakened Ones, it's practically useless—useless to the point of being useless.

Unless one plans to become humanity's enemy, idly gnawing on a nuclear bomb for fun.

Having thought this through, Lin An simply handed the cards to Zhang Tie.

He had already decided: two cards, one for Zhang Tie, one for Gao Tian. If the Soviet Union could still find another, he intended to keep it for Jing Tian or Wen Ya.

He didn't consider Mo Ling; in fact, Mo Ling isn't even an Awakened One, so there's no question of stages. The way to increase strength seems only to slowly absorb deathly qi, or else to draw deathly power from strange entities.

Compared to Mo Ling's original talent, Lin An couldn't help but sigh.

Before, at least killing Awakened Ones could level up; now, who knows when the next stage will be reachable. However, Lin An always feels that Mo Ling's next stage might undergo an unexpected huge change.

After all... that is the Necromancer Lord..