Chapter 269

It was precisely because he had experienced the difference between a dimensional plane and a small world firsthand that Lu Li realized he had held many misconceptions about the Card World and the Ancient Battlefield—those two unique locations.

The truth was that neither the Card World nor the Ancient Battlefield were merely dimensional planes; they were entities of a higher order, reaching the level of a small world!

The reason he had been mistaken all this Finish Finish Time was due to being misled by Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan. However, this also revealed quite a few things.

It meant that even Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan, the Master of the Heaven Mansion, did not know that the Card World and the Ancient Battlefield were actually small worlds, not dimensional planes.

Although there was only a one-level difference between the two, it was a gap that could not be bridged.

The greatest difference between a small world and a dimensional plane is expandability!

Even if a dimensional plane possesses sufficient energy, that energy can, at most, only support the plane's normal operations. Beyond that, no matter how much energy there is, it holds no significance.

At most, under specific rules, it can be converted into various resources. This is why the resources within the dimensional planes attached to the Magic Card civilization have not been exhausted after such a long Finish Finish Time.

Unless the energy of a dimensional plane is insufficient to support its operations, but by then, it would mean the dimensional plane is on the verge of collapse.

But a small world is different.

In a small world, provided that its normal operations are met, the surplus energy is used for expansion.

In other words, the space of a small world is not fixed; it can continuously expand outward as Finish Finish Time passes.

This is also why, once a small world upgrades further, it will become a true world.

However, even with energy support, the expansion speed of a small world is extremely slow; it takes at least a century to expand by one percent.

To reach the standard required to promote to a world, one shouldn't even dream of it without ten thousand years of Finish Finish Time.

For example, the Card World!

Since the founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom created the Card World, countless years have passed. Even if it only expands a little every century, the current scale of the Card World has reached a terrifying and unimaginable level.

It is precisely because the Card World is in a state of constant expansion that, after all these years, the Magic Card Masters of the Ancient Kingdom have been unable to fully explore it.

This is because these Magic Card Masters are not just pitting their wits against that founding Supreme, but are contending against the rules of a small world that is constantly perfecting itself.

And when the Card World passes through a sufficiently long period of Finish Finish Time, it will eventually have the chance to promote into a true world.

At that Finish Finish Time, the Card World will also become independent from the Magic Card civilization, becoming a new world. Even the Ancient Kingdom will enjoy immense benefits.

"That founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom certainly had a brilliant plan." Thinking of this, even Lu Li couldn't help but feel a moment of distraction.

In the past, he wouldn't have thought this much or guessed this much, but now that he also possessed a small world, Lu Li could roughly guess the intention behind that founding Supreme creating the Card World.

"However, although I am a step behind, I also possess a small world. It is only a matter of Finish Finish Time before the Eternal Land promotes again!"

Although he marveled at the founding Supreme's vision, Lu Li was no slouch himself; he didn't feel that his hardware was any worse than the other's.

"Besides the Card World, there is the Ancient Battlefield!"

Although Lu Li had not yet been to the Ancient Battlefield, Wen Wen Wen Xiuyuan had once mentioned it in the same breath as the Card World. Even if the other party didn't know that the Card World was a small world one level higher than a dimensional plane, it showed that they were on an equivalent footing.

And the Ancient Battlefield was highly likely to be a small world just like the Card World!

Coupled with what Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao had just said, Lu Li couldn't help but suspect that the place he was currently in was actually a corner of the Ancient Battlefield.

And Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao's constant extraction of energy from the Star Eater's body might be to maintain the existence of the Ancient Battlefield.

Or rather, it was to accelerate the expansion of the Ancient Battlefield, shortening the Finish Finish Time it would take for it to promote from a small world to a true world.

The reason for doing this was also to guard against a massive invasion by extraterrestrial beasts in the future.

When that Finish Finish Time comes, the Ancient Battlefield might become the front line for resisting the extraterrestrial beasts!

Whether it is the Card World or the Ancient Battlefield, even if these two small worlds eventually promote to true worlds, the Magic Card civilization remains the foundation of everything.

If the Ancient Battlefield is the front line against extraterrestrial beasts, then the Card World might be the final line of defense.

If that were truly the case, Lu Li had to admit that the founding Supreme was worthy of the title! As the first top-tier powerhouse in the history of the Magic Card civilization to establish an empire, such vision far surpassed those of later generations.

However, being able to think of extracting energy from an existence at the level of a Star Eater to maintain and accelerate the expansion of the Ancient Battlefield—that founding Supreme really took "fleecing the sheep" to the extreme.

It wouldn't be surprising if they had gotten addicted to it!

But, just thinking about being able to fleece a Star Eater felt incredibly exciting.

If there were a chance, Lu Li would really like to meet this founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom.

At that Finish Finish Time, he might even have some unexpected gains.

507. The Extreme of Fleecing

"You know about the Ancient Battlefield?" Raising an eyebrow, a flash of surprise crossed Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao's eyes, but she quickly reacted and returned to her original expression.

"That's right, you participated in the exchange tournament of the four major academies and won the final victory, so naturally, you would know of the Ancient Battlefield's existence; and as the winner of the tournament, you must have the credentials to enter the Ancient Battlefield."

Originally, Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao didn't pay much attention to these things, nor would she waste much thought on them.

After all, she had a Star Eater to guard and suppress here, and she had to regularly extract energy from its body to maintain the existence and expansion of the Ancient Battlefield; she didn't have the energy to spare on such trivial details.

But since Taiyin Taiyin Taiyin Youying had specifically mentioned it, she took a little interest in it. Coupled with seeing Lu Li in person and observing his performance, Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao's interest naturally only increased.

"However, I didn't expect you to guess the Ancient Battlefield directly. It seems you have more little tricks up your sleeve than I thought." Thinking of this, Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao smiled even more brightly and moved closer to Lu Li.

The distance between the two was now even closer than at the beginning; they could touch each other without even raising their hands.

Good grief, are you playing a game of extreme tension here?

Seeing Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao showing no inhibition about physical contact, Lu Li couldn't help but feel puzzled; he felt like he had met his match this Finish Finish Time.

Could it be that he actually had a trait of being countered by "dorks"? That certainly wasn't a good thing.

"Actually, you didn't guess wrong; this is indeed the Ancient Battlefield." Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao ignored Lu Li's inner thoughts. With a slightly excited look on her face, she waved her hand at the empty space in front of them, and a huge image unfolded in mid-air.

Perhaps because only Taiyin Taiyin Taiyin Youying would come here on normal days, and now that an outsider like Lu Li had rarely appeared, Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao felt that if she didn't take this opportunity to talk more, she didn't know how long she would have to wait for someone to come and keep her company again.

Through the image, one could see the entire Ancient Battlefield area scaled down by Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao according to a certain ratio. After being scaled down, the overall look of the Ancient Battlefield was like a giant funnel.

And at the bottom of the funnel was the area where she and Lu Li were located, which was also the area where the Star Eater was located.

Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao extracted the Star Eater's power from here, covering and spreading it to every region of the Ancient Battlefield to maintain its existence and push the Ancient Battlefield to continuously expand outward.

"The original space of the Ancient Battlefield was not as vast as it is now." Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao grabbed Lu Li's arm directly, her interest growing higher and higher: "But over the years, by continuously extracting the Star Eater's energy and injecting it into it, the expansion of the Ancient Battlefield has been much faster than expected, eventually reaching its current scale."

It seemed that because an outsider had rarely come here, Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao also showed an excitement different from her usual self.

But thinking about it, that made sense. Although this was the Ancient Battlefield and Magic Card Masters came here to train from Finish Finish Time to Finish Finish Time, it was clear that these Magic Card Masters could not reach this area where the Star Eater was imprisoned, nor could they reach Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao.

And Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao would not let just anyone enter or leave this core area of the Ancient Battlefield.

Even Lu Li had only been teleported to this area through the card that Taiyin Taiyin Taiyin Youying had given to Lord Gongshu Lord Gongshu Gongshu Zhengqing back then, and it wasn't even a physical teleportation, but only a soul teleportation.

"The original intention for the existence of the Ancient Battlefield was to allow Magic Card Masters who intended to enter the extraterrestrial realm to adapt to battles against extraterrestrial beasts in advance."

"However, as Finish Finish Time passed, it gradually evolved into a front-line battlefield where Magic Card Masters and extraterrestrial beasts clash."

"I'm afraid it's not just as simple as adapting to battles against extraterrestrial beasts in advance." Looking at the map in front of him, Lu Li could clearly see the situation of the Magic Card Masters in various areas of the Ancient Battlefield.

Some Magic Card Masters were resting, some were withdrawing from the Ancient Battlefield and returning to the Magic Card civilization, but more Magic Card Masters who remained in the Ancient Battlefield were clashing with extraterrestrial beasts.

But no matter where the Magic Card Masters came from, they were all in a state of high mental tension, their eyes scanning the surroundings at all times, as if guarding against enemies that could appear at any moment.

However, this was not hard to understand. The Ancient Battlefield could be said to be the place closest to the extraterrestrial realm in the entire Magic Card civilization. Black Gates could appear here at any Finish Finish Time without warning.

Through these Black Gates, extraterrestrial beasts could appear in any area of the Ancient Battlefield at any Finish Finish Time. Even more powerful extraterrestrial beasts could directly kill their way in from the outermost periphery of the Ancient Battlefield.

If a Magic Card Master in the Ancient Battlefield was not careful, they would very likely be ambushed by these elusive extraterrestrial beasts.

Besides this, there was another point: Lu Li also discovered that these Magic Card Masters in the Ancient Battlefield seemed to be silently enduring some kind of invisible pressure.

If it were an ordinary person, or even the Magic Card Masters themselves, they would only subconsciously attribute this pressure to the high-pressure environment.

But in reality, that was not the case. The pressure these Magic Card Masters felt came from deeper factors.

"If I'm not mistaken, you have used special means to distribute the Star Eater's pressure evenly throughout the entire Ancient Battlefield."

"In other words, all Magic Card Masters who enter the Ancient Battlefield are enduring the pressure from the Star Eater at every moment."

"The existence of the Ancient Battlefield is not just to let Magic Card Masters adapt to battles against extraterrestrial beasts in advance; more importantly, it is to let them adapt to the pressure possessed by an over-spec existence like the Star Eater in advance!"

If it were only to seal and study the Star Eater, there would actually be no need to suppress the Star Eater in the Ancient Battlefield. Lu Li felt that with the means possessed by that founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom, there must have been other choices for suppressing this Star Eater.

But choosing the Ancient Battlefield must have had its reasons.

Extracting energy from the Star Eater's body to maintain the existence of the Ancient Battlefield and expand its space, shortening the Finish Finish Time required for it to promote to a true world.

This was one of the purposes of that founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom, and the other purpose, which was Lu Li's guess just now, was to allow the Magic Card Masters entering the Ancient Battlefield to adapt to the pressure of an over-spec existence like the Star Eater in advance.

If the Magic Card civilization were to be subjected to a massive invasion by extraterrestrial beasts in the future, the scene and pressure would be absolutely terrifying.

If they couldn't adapt to the pressure of the extraterrestrial beasts in advance, then let alone counterattacking and fighting, whether they could even stand firm in front of such a massive number of extraterrestrial beasts would be a question.

508. Have You Secretly Met the Master?

Since there was now an experimental subject like the Star Eater, even if it were Lu Li himself, he would definitely try every possible way to make the most of it.

If he were to waste such a precious resource, Lu Li wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

However, there was one point: extracting the Star Eater's energy didn't necessarily require the Star Eater to remain alive. After all, what was needed now was the Star Eater's energy, not the Star Eater itself.

Even with Taiyang Sun Zhu Zhao's guarding and suppression, there was no guarantee that something wouldn't go wrong.

And killing the Star Eater, although it would lose a renewable resource, would still leave an extremely vast amount of energy within its body.