Chapter 270

It was precisely because he had experienced the difference between a dimensional plane and a small world firsthand that Lu Li discovered he had held many misconceptions about the Card Realm and the Ancient Battlefield—two very special places.

That is to say, neither the Card Realm nor the Ancient Battlefield were likely as simple as mere dimensional planes; they were existences one level higher, reaching the level of a small world!

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

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

Although there was only a one-level difference between the two, this gap was impossible to bridge.

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 support the normal operation of the plane; beyond that, no matter how much energy there is, it holds no meaning.

At most, under specific rules, it can be converted into various resources. This is why, despite the vast amount of time that has passed since the dimensional planes attached themselves to the Magic Card civilization, the resources within them have not yet been exhausted.

Unless the energy of a dimensional plane is insufficient to support its operation, but by that time, it would mean the dimensional plane is about to collapse.

But a small world is different.

In a small world, once the energy satisfies the premise of normal operation, the excess energy is used for expansion.

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

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

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

If one wants to reach the standard for promotion to a world, one shouldn't even dream of it without ten thousand years of time.

For example, the Card Realm!

Countless ages have passed since the founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom created the Card Realm. Even if it only expands by a fraction every century, the scale of the Card Realm has now reached a terrifying and unimaginable level.

It is precisely because the Card Realm is in a state of constant expansion that, after so many years, the Magic Card masters of the Ancient Kingdom have been unable to fully explore everything within it.

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 Realm passes through another long stretch of time, it will eventually have the opportunity to be promoted to a true world.

At that time, the Card Realm will also become independent from the Magic Card civilization and become a new world. Even the Ancient Kingdom will enjoy immense benefits.

"This founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom truly played a brilliant hand." Thinking of this, even Lu Li couldn't help but be momentarily dazed.

In the past, he wouldn't have thought of so much, nor would he have guessed so much, but having acquired a small world of his own, Lu Li roughly guessed the intention of the Ancient Kingdom's founding Supreme in creating the Card Realm.

"However, although I am a step behind the other party, I also possess a small world. The further promotion of the Eternal Land is only a matter of time!"

Although he marveled at the ideas of the Ancient Kingdom's founding Supreme, Lu Li himself was not inferior; he did not feel that he was any worse than the other party in terms of hardware.

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

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

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

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

And the fact that Taiyang Zhu Zhao was constantly extracting energy from the body of the Star Eater was perhaps to maintain the existence of the Ancient Battlefield.

Or rather, it was to accelerate the expansion of the Ancient Battlefield, shortening the time it took for the Ancient Battlefield to be promoted from a small world to a true world.

And the reason for doing this was also to guard against the day when the extraterrestrial fierce beasts would launch a full-scale invasion.

At that time, the Ancient Battlefield might become the front line for resisting the extraterrestrial fierce beasts!

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

If the Ancient Battlefield is the front line for resisting extraterrestrial fierce beasts, then the Card Realm might be the final line of defense.

If that is truly the case, then Lu Li had to express that the founding Supreme was indeed worthy of the title! He was also the first top-tier powerhouse in the history of the Magic Card civilization to establish an empire; such vision far surpassed later generations.

However, to be 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—this founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom truly took the art of "fleecing" to an extreme.

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

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

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

At that time, perhaps he would also have unexpected gains.

507. The Extreme of Fleecing

"You know about the Ancient Battlefield?" Raising an eyebrow, a flash of surprise crossed Taiyang 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 great academies and even won the final victory; naturally, you would know of the Ancient Battlefield's existence. And as the winner of the tournament, you must possess the credentials to enter the Ancient Battlefield."

Originally, Taiyang Zhu Zhao didn't pay much attention to these things, nor would she waste too 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 and expand the Ancient Battlefield; she didn't have the energy to spare on such trivial details.

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

"However, I didn't expect you to guess the Ancient Battlefield directly. It seems you have many more little schemes than I thought." Thinking of this, Taiyang Zhu Zhao smiled even more brilliantly, while simultaneously moving closer to Lu Li.

The distance between the two was 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 tug-of-war here?

Seeing Taiyang Zhu Zhao's lack of inhibition regarding their contact, Lu Li couldn't help but feel puzzled; he felt he had met his match this time.

Could it be that he actually had an attribute of being countered by "dull-witted" types? This certainly wasn't a good thing.

"Actually, you didn't guess wrong; this is indeed the Ancient Battlefield." Taiyang Zhu Zhao ignored the thoughts in Lu Li's mind. With a slightly excited 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 Youying usually came here, and now an outsider like Lu Li had rarely appeared, Taiyang Zhu Zhao felt that if she didn't take this opportunity to say a few more words, she didn't know when someone would come to keep her company again.

Through the image, one could see the entire Ancient Battlefield area scaled down by Taiyang Zhu Zhao. After being scaled down, the overall look of the Ancient Battlefield was like a huge funnel.

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

Taiyang Zhu Zhao was extracting the Star Eater's power from here, covering and diffusing it to every area of the Ancient Battlefield to maintain its existence and push it to continuously expand outward.

"The original space of the Ancient Battlefield was not as vast as it is now." Taiyang Zhu Zhao directly grabbed Lu Li's arm, her enthusiasm growing higher and higher: "However, over these 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 Zhu Zhao also showed an excitement different from her usual self.

But thinking about it, it made sense. Although this was the Ancient Battlefield and Magic Card masters came here to train from time to time, clearly, these Magic Card masters were unable to reach this area where the Star Eater was imprisoned, nor could they reach Taiyang Zhu Zhao.

And Taiyang Zhu Zhao would not let people enter or leave this core area of the Ancient Battlefield at will.

Even Lu Li had only been transmitted to this area through the card that Taiyin Youying had given to Gongshu Zhengqing, and it wasn't a physical transmission, but a soul transmission.

"The original intention for the existence of the Ancient Battlefield was to allow Magic Card masters who intended to enter the extraterrestrial regions to adapt to battles with extraterrestrial fierce beasts in advance."

"However, as time passed, it gradually evolved into a front-line battlefield where Magic Card masters and extraterrestrial fierce beasts clash."

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as just adapting to battles with extraterrestrial fierce 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 fierce beasts.

But no matter where the Magic Card masters came from, they were all in a state of high tension, their eyes scanning their surroundings at all times, as if guarding against enemies that might 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 regions in the entire Magic Card civilization; black gates could appear here anytime, anywhere, without warning.

Through these black gates, extraterrestrial fierce beasts could appear in any area of the Ancient Battlefield at any time. Even more powerful extraterrestrial fierce beasts could directly kill their way in from the outermost periphery of the Ancient Battlefield.

If the Magic Card masters in the Ancient Battlefield were not careful, they would very likely be ambushed by these elusive extraterrestrial fierce 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, even the Magic Card masters themselves, they would subconsciously attribute this pressure to the high-pressure environment.

But in reality, it was not so. The pressure these Magic Card masters felt came from deeper factors.

"If I haven't guessed wrong, the pressure of the Star Eater is being distributed equally throughout the entire Ancient Battlefield by you through special means."

"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 with extraterrestrial fierce beasts in advance; more importantly, it is actually to let them adapt in advance to the pressure possessed by an existence that exceeds specifications like the Star Eater!"

If it were just to seal and study the Star Eater, there was actually no need to suppress the Star Eater in the Ancient Battlefield. Lu Li felt that with the means possessed by the 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 the energy from the Star Eater to maintain the existence of the Ancient Battlefield, expanding its space, and shortening the time required for it to be promoted to a true world.

This was one of the purposes of the founding Supreme of the Ancient Kingdom, and the other purpose, which was Lu Li's guess just now, was to let the Magic Card masters who entered the Ancient Battlefield adapt in advance to the pressure of an existence that exceeds specifications like the Star Eater.

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

If they could not adapt to the pressure of the extraterrestrial fierce beasts in advance, then let alone counterattacking and fighting, whether they could stand firm in front of the massive number of extraterrestrial fierce beasts would be a problem.

508. Are You Secretly Meeting 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 best use of it.

If he were to waste such a precious resource, Lu Li himself wouldn't let himself off.

However, there was one point: extracting the Star Eater's energy didn't actually 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 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 massive amount of energy within its body.