Chapter 387: A Wave of Profit!

As the lion-shaped mechanical beast carrying the difference engine shattered, the steam rules shrouding Grimland began to dissipate.

The residents in the city who had been turned into statues by the influence of the difference engine and the steam rules awoke as if from a dream, resuming their activities; they continued their previous actions, completely unaware that the world had been "paused" for a time.

For the residents outside the Crystal Palace, the steam rules had not brought much impact, but for the visitors inside, the situation appeared extremely eerie.

When everything returned to normal and people began to applaud, they were surprised to find that Olivia on the lecture stage had suddenly become quite disheveled, her clothes covered in dust, her mood shifted from high spirits to dejection, and the crown on her head was nowhere to be found.

It was as if, while no one was paying attention, Olivia had missed a step and fallen off the stage, even rolling on the ground a few times.

If it were only Olivia acting abnormally, that would be easy to explain; perhaps he had been distracted while applauding and hadn't noticed.

But who could tell them why the glass wall of the Crystal Palace facing the square was completely shattered, with a large hole punched through the steel frame?

Surely such a massive disturbance couldn't have gone unnoticed by them as well?

But Olivia had no intention of answering, and the crowd didn't feel comfortable asking, so they could only retreat, faces full of question marks, amidst the evacuation efforts of the Arcane Knights and the secret police.

It wasn't just the plane's natives who were confused; the visiting players were equally unaware of what had happened.

Only Leng Shan, Jianxing, and God's Tongue had vaguely seen what transpired, yet they couldn't be certain.

They had heard the sounds of fighting and rushed toward the noise, only to find upon arrival that a winged lion-shaped mechanical beast was battling a modern mecha.

This scene nearly fried the CPUs that were already sluggish under the influence of the steam rules.

No, where had they been brought to? How did they go straight from the steam age to a sci-fi plane?

What followed was overwhelming steam, and when the steam cleared, they saw Wu Chang, Zhu Li, and Olivia standing before a pile of ruins, discussing something.

The only thing they knew was that there was a mecha, a very powerful mecha.

They surrounded Wu Chang, wanting to ask what had happened, but Wu Chang had no intention of telling them.

With the main quest of the dungeon completed, players could only stay for a very short time; once the time limit was reached, they would be forcibly teleported out of the dungeon.

After asking a few times to no avail, they could only leave the dungeon plane with their doubts.

What exactly happened with the final hidden boss of Steam Phantom and the World Industrial Expo became an unsolved mystery of the Desolate World.

Like the other players, Wu Chang should have been forcibly teleported out of the dungeon when the time limit was reached, but the recognition of Olivia and Zhu Li allowed him to remain in the Steam Phantom dungeon.

"Player has obtained the recognition of the controller of the Desolate—46957 plane. The Desolate—46957 plane has become the player's private plane. The player possesses management authority within this plane; targets not permitted by the player will be unable to enter this plane."

"As the controller, the player is anchored to the Desolate—46957 plane, opening a fixed channel to enter this plane."

"Player has obtained the recognition of the World Will. Any actions taken by the player, including the propagation of faith, will no longer be restricted."

"Detected that the player has obtained temporary management authority over the Desolate World. Areas covered by the player's Divine Kingdom in the reality plane will be under the player's absolute control. The existence of the player and the Divine Kingdom will be in a state of absolute rationality. Unless permitted by the player, no other entities will discover any anomalies."

"Player has obtained the highest level of temporary management authority for the Desolate World; it cannot be further upgraded."

By turning Steam Phantom into a private plane, Wu Chang was able to extend his stay in the plane.

After seeing off the other players and the crowd of visitors from the World Industrial Expo, he came before the wreckage of the lion-shaped mechanical beast and took out the All-Knowing Crystal.

The lion-shaped mechanical beast had integrated the cores of all extraordinary steam engines, including the core of the difference engine, and the Primordial Pivot was hidden within the core of the difference engine; now was the time to recover it.

The All-Knowing Crystal rotated slowly in the air, recovering the Primordial Pivot—which even Wu Chang could not fully perceive—from the wreckage of the mechanical beast.

Although Wu Chang could not perceive the Primordial Pivot, he could guess that the amount of Primordial Pivot contained within the difference engine was certainly not small; after absorbing it, the All-Knowing Crystal entered a "satiated" state.

It had accumulated enough Primordial Pivot within itself; it only needed an opportunity, or some time, to recover a portion of its abilities through the Primordial Pivot.

The All-Knowing Crystal was already this powerful while in a damaged state; Wu Chang looked forward to its performance after it recovered some of its abilities.

After collecting the Primordial Pivot, he took out the Mortal's Poison and began to absorb the erosion power of the dungeon.

Cleared S-rank dungeon, Energy Value +3; S-rank dungeon erosion core, Energy Value +7.

As the dungeon most severely eroded by the abyss in the Desolate World, the abyss erosion power that could be absorbed from an S-rank dungeon was nearly double that of an A-rank dungeon.

Combined with the 15 points of energy accumulated previously, the second round of extraction for the Mortal's Poison brought the cumulative energy to 25/50.

Recalling the first time he activated the Mortal's Poison, he had saved up through many dungeons just to gather the 10 points of energy needed to open it; now, he could gather 10 points of energy just by completing one dungeon.

Time had passed like a white horse galloping past a crack; it felt like not long ago that he could only save one point or so of energy per dungeon clear.

Oh, he hadn't even been in the Abyss Game for a hundred days yet; never mind then.

Steam Phantom was not only an S-rank dungeon but also a Pillar of the Present World; once Wu Chang left the dungeon, the time flow of the Steam Phantom dungeon would synchronize with the real world.

Therefore, Wu Chang and Yu Ailin stayed in the Steam Phantom dungeon for another week after the main quest was completed.

After obtaining plane recognition, Yu Ailin's missionary work was no longer restricted by the plane; her Divine Kingdom spread out from the Grey Church slums, first expanding to the entire East District, and then, with Olivia's support, spreading across all of Grimland at a rapid pace.

During the time Yu Ailin was preaching, Wu Chang helped Olivia with the finishing work in Stilan.

First was the World Industrial Expo; with Stilan's industrial foundation and the assistance of Olivia's steam rules, they repaired eighty percent of the damaged areas of the Crystal Palace in just one night.

As for politics, although Olivia's mechanical world plan had failed, everything done previously had not been in vain; under her strikes, both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party were unable to recover their vitality in the short term.

She also used the World Industrial Expo to completely absorb the expectations of the public.

In terms of politics, she had the support of the new Prime Minister Randy; in terms of divine power, both Yu Ailin and Zhu Li expressed their support for her.

The support of various forces left Stilan with only Olivia's voice; the power she wielded had nearly returned to the era of absolute monarchy.

No one could stop any reforms or bills she wanted to push forward.

By the time Wu Chang was preparing to leave the dungeon, she had already put the change of state religion and the implementation of the "New Factory Act" onto the agenda.

The only fly in the ointment was that Zhu Li, having recognized her own path, had made rapid progress in her mastery of the root power of space and seemed to be leaving the Desolate World to ascend into the Rational World before long.

When Wu Chang heard Zhu Li say that she could hear a voice while praying, attempting to guide her to other planes to manage the church as a Holy Son, he remembered Christine's commission: besides helping Zhu Li solve her troubles, it also included helping Zhu Li complete her ascension.

Judging by what Zhu Li said, it seemed the Apocalypse was severely short of people and needed her to go to the Rational World to manage the overall situation of the Apocalypse.

Although he didn't know why Christine had chosen Zhu Li, Zhu Li's ascension was almost a certainty.

Zhu Li sought out Wu Chang not only to tell him about the anomalies she encountered while praying but also to bring him his hidden side quest reward.

The hidden side quest he had received from Olivia was to clear away the haze of Grimland and at least catch the mastermind behind one of the city's anomalies.

On this task, he hadn't just caught the mastermind behind all the city's anomalies in Grimland; he had even caught Olivia, the biggest mastermind of them all.

Completing the hidden side quest beyond the standard also brought him a special reward.

The reward Zhu Li brought him was a horn.

She said: "Back at the Moonlight Sanatorium, you only repelled the projection of Lyman that was attached to Randy. After that, He forcibly descended a portion of His power to the lower realm through the altar beneath the sanatorium, attempting to launch a sneak attack on you."

"I used the divine artifact granted to me by the True God to shatter Lyman's projection and seal it inside."

"The True God told me that you would like this reward."

Wu Chang took the horn from Zhu Li's hand.

"Item Name: Holy Revelation Horn"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: A divine artifact crafted by the True God of the Apocalypse, Christine. It deals extra damage to Lyman, the main god of the Church of Serenity. It seals a complete strand of Lyman's power within it."

Christine had guessed correctly; Wu Chang was very satisfied with this reward.

He had killed a Lyman avatar possessing a mystic, and that had only earned him one strand of Lyman's power; completing the hidden side quest not only gifted him a strand of Lyman's power directly but also included a Holy Revelation Horn that dealt extra damage to Lyman.

Even if it didn't contain Lyman's power, the fact that it was a divine artifact crafted by Christine specifically to target Lyman made it extremely useful to him.

Once the second Eye of Lyman was used up, he could just take the Holy Revelation Horn and borrow another eye from Lyman. Time flew by, and seeing the Steam Phantom plane gradually getting on the right track, he prepared to leave the dungeon plane.

The Steam Phantom dungeon was only a qualification dungeon; the real big deal was the world dungeon that followed.

It was a morning when he left the Steam Phantom plane, and as usual, Lei Wendun was sitting at Wu Chang's dining table early in the morning, waiting for a free meal.

While dining, Wu Chang asked:

"What are you planning to do next?"

Lei Wendun cut the sausage on his plate and said: "There's no need for me here anymore. I plan to go to the New World to take a look and see if I can learn that kind of inspiration you use."

Wu Chang said: "About Zhu Li, I heard she received a summons from the Lord of Holy Revelation. What do you think about that?"

Lei Wendun accelerated the cutting motion in his hand and said in an indifferent tone:

"You know, those old guys in the Holy See have stayed in the church their whole lives without ever hearing a single word of response from the Holy Lord. In the last few decades, the only response the Holy Lord gave them was a mold spot on the communion bread that looked like the face of the Holy Lord."

"Compared to printing one's own face on a piece of bread to swear one's existence, Zhu Li is simply the luckiest person."

Wu Chang rolled his eyes and said:

"As a friend, I must give you a reminder: if some things are missed, I'm afraid there will be no more chances."

"As for being summoned by a god, you don't have to think of it as too difficult. Entering other worlds is just like buying a boat ticket to the New World; it's not only Zhu Li's god who can issue tickets to the lower realm."

Lei Wendun's eyes darted toward Yu Ailin; he understood what Wu Chang meant and knew that the Eternal Light Church also had a path to ascension, but he did not express anything further.

This made Wu Chang shake his head, thinking to himself, being this cowardly, how are you going to compete with Olivia?

There was no help for it; in order to keep Lei Wendun from avoiding the New World, he could only offer one last assist.

After breakfast, Wu Chang took Yu Ailin and returned to Lei Wendun's detective agency with him.

As the vice-captain of the Arcane Knights, Lei Wendun had been re-enfeoffed as a noble and possessed a mansion bestowed by Olivia.

But he hadn't moved out yet and was still living at 41 Saar Street for the time being.

Entering the second floor, Wu Chang held Yu Ailin's hand and said:

"Lei Wendun, don't go to the New World just yet. Yu Ailin and I need to leave Stilan for a while. While we're away, help me keep an eye on the Arcane Knights."

Lei Wendun asked suspiciously: "Where are you going? Back to the New World?"

Wu Chang said: "It is the New World, but not the New World you know."

Lei Wendun: "What do you mean..."

Before Lei Wendun could finish, Wu Chang and Yu Ailin had already disappeared in a flash of light.

Lei Wendun stood blankly in place, staring at the spot where Wu Chang and Yu Ailin had vanished; the New World they were going to seemed to really be different from the one he knew.

The status of an S-rank dungeon plus a qualification dungeon is just different; even the light that allowed one to leave the Steam Phantom dungeon and transition into the dungeon settlement space had steam special effects.

Entering the dungeon settlement space, the television wall played various performances of his in the dungeon.

"Player number 4444444, successfully completed the dungeon Steam Phantom. Settlement begins based on the player's performance in the dungeon."

"Player has completed Main Quest 1: Survive in the capital of Stilan, Grimland, for at least thirty days and witness the grandeur of the World Industrial Exposition."

"Player has completed Main Quest 2: Obtain at least one Pearl on the Industrial Crown. Number of Pearls on the Industrial Crown obtained by player: 6."

"Player has completed Main Quest 3: Investigate the truth behind the Prime Minister's assassination."

"Player has completed the hidden side quest: Clear away the haze of Grimland and expose at least one mastermind behind the city's anomalies."

"Player has become the Commander of the Arcane Knights, led the Arcane Knights to the end, and successfully helped the supported Minister of Internal Affairs, Randy Anderson, become the new Prime Minister."

"Player has discovered the true cause of Prime Minister Luo En's death and learned of Queen Olivia's true plan."

"Player has defused the hidden trap planted by the Serenity Church in the Extraordinary Steam Engine and successfully harvested the divinity seed gestated within."

"Dungeon completion rate: 100%!"

"Title 'Perfectionist' activated, dungeon completion rate +5%."

"Title 'Truth Walker' activated, dungeon completion rate +15%."

"Congratulations to the player for winning the side confrontation quest, obtaining 40% additional dungeon completion rate. Since the player's dungeon completion rate exceeds 70%, the overflow portion will be converted into basic dungeon rewards."

"Total overflow dungeon completion rate is 60%, basic dungeon rewards increased by 300%."

"Dungeon rating: Perfect!"

"Experience and Decayed Silver Coin settlement adjustment: 300%!"

"This dungeon is a transition dungeon for the player. The number of transition dungeons is reduced by 1, and output is increased by 20% during dungeon settlement. Current remaining transition dungeons: 9."

"Player obtained experience: 115,200 (8,000×4×3×1.2)."

"Player obtained Decayed Silver Coins: 216,000 (15,000×4×3×1.2)."

Looking at the settlement of the basic dungeon rewards, even Wu Chang, who had seen his fair share of the world, could not help but hold his breath at this moment.

How much?

How much is the reward for this thing?

What is called getting rich in one go, this is called getting rich in one go.

First, let's talk about the dungeon experience: 115,000 experience points, even if you remove a zero, is still higher than the gains of many players who left the Steam Phantom dungeon alive.

More importantly, he is different now than before; he has reached the upper limit of the Wilderness Realm, and the overflow experience points will be converted into free attribute points at a ratio of 1000:1.

115,000 experience points represent 115 attribute points.

If calculated at 5 attribute points per level up, the attribute points he gained from completing the Steam Phantom dungeon are equivalent to an ordinary player leveling up 23 times.

This, is it a bit too much?

In the past, when facing targeting by game administrators, he could still be righteous and confident, but now he really started to feel a bit guilty.

He wouldn't have inflated the numerical values of the Abyss Game all by himself, would he?

Besides the experience, the 210,000 Decayed Silver Coins also made his eyes dazzle for a moment.

Previously, when he upgraded his cultivation techniques, facing expenses of ten or twenty thousand Decayed Silver Coins at every turn, he always felt that the Abyss Game was too black-hearted.

If he could guarantee an output of 210,000 Decayed Silver Coins per dungeon, then the Abyss Game is not just not black-hearted, it is practically the conscience of the industry.

After settling the basic rewards, it is time for the dungeon rating settlement.

"Player's dungeon rating reached S-rank. You can designate one item from the current dungeon world as a special drop reward. The selected item must be a prop for which you have already obtained usage permission. Please make your selection."

In the Steam Phantom dungeon, the extraordinary items players can obtain are mostly Extraordinary Steam Engines.

To facilitate the player's choice, the Abyss Game added a special note behind every Extraordinary Steam Engine.

"Once the player selects this reward, they will receive the same model of portable miniaturized Extraordinary Steam Engine."

In order to increase the range of choices during dungeon settlement, he took advantage of his position as Commander of the Arcane Knights on the first day of the World Industrial Exposition to handle every single Extraordinary Steam Engine.

As long as he wanted to, he could exchange for any Extraordinary Steam Engine, including the already damaged Difference Engine.

But after looking around, he finally chose to exchange for a badge.

"Item Name: Lake Light Badge"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Description: The highest-level badge of Stilan, named after the Lake Light Holy Sword, used to commend meritorious officials who have saved the country. Fusing the Lake Light Badge with the Lake Light Holy Sword can cause the Lake Light Holy Sword to undergo marvelous changes."

(End of chapter)