Chapter 207: The Time Is Not Right; Keep the Sword Sheathed

Tianyuan Domain Node.

As the swirling energy dissipated, the shattered high tower platform, pulled by the black mist, saw its scattered fragments rapidly converge, reassembling into complete stone slabs.

The broken pillars twisted within the black mist, as if injected with life, gradually restoring their original form.

The black mist controlled by the Di Nian Evil Spirit behaved like a conscious living creature, winding around every damaged spot on the platform; in less than a moment, it restored the high tower platform to its former appearance.

It was as if it had never been destroyed, with only the lingering scent of scorched elements in the air proving what had just occurred.

Glancing down at the elemental scorch marks on his chest, the Di Nian Evil Spirit waved his hand, wiping them away.

The campaign had ended; he had successfully defeated the Player Clan and claimed victory.

Yet, no matter what, he could not feel happy.

The Player Clan had proven with facts that the war potential they displayed was far from reaching its upper limit.

Especially the battlefield dominance exhibited by that mysterious commander made him feel immense pressure.

What made him curious was why, before this, this Player Clan commander had never made a move?

"Di Nian, perhaps there is such a possibility: in the previous round of engagement, you made the Player Clan feel pressure, so they chose to seek help from their clan's high command."

"We have encountered similar situations before; at that time, the Xie Yue Domain in the Cang Star Sea Region and along the Colorful Mist Coast also faced development pressures brought by the Player Clan and chose to seek our help. Back then, you took over command authority via projection to fight in their stead."

Hearing the Xie Yan's speculation, the Di Nian Evil Spirit nodded solemnly.

This speculation was logical.

What was certain was that the number of combat units within the Player Clan was continuously growing.

He had reached a conclusion long ago: the Player Clan possessed vast reserve forces that were gradually infiltrating the Monster World.

The situation before this was that he could not eliminate the Player Clan.

From the Player Clan's perspective looking at him, they were equally unable to do anything about him.

Recalling the crushing defeat of the previous round, it was highly logical that the distressed Player Clan sought help from other regions or from powerful members of their clan still in the Outer Domain World.

"It seems the upcoming campaigns will be troublesome."

Recalling the process of battling the mysterious commander just now, the Di Nian Evil Spirit suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Although he won this battle, he won based on comprehensive strength, not through strategic victory.

The Player Clan's new commander adjusted throughout the entire process according to his battlefield deployment; whenever he had an idea, the opponent would have preparatory countermeasures ready within seconds.

In comparison, the command rhythm of the previously captured Player Clan commanders was simply a period of free benefits.

The high-intensity command rhythm brought by the mysterious commander also required him to respond with an equally high-intensity command rhythm.

After the entire battle, he felt as though he had experienced a fierce fight where he led from the front, leaving him exhausted and weak all over.

This was an experience he had never had before.

"Di Nian, there is actually a very simple way to handle this kind of opponent."

"What way?" The Di Nian Evil Spirit turned to look at the Xie Yan floating in mid-air, his expression curious.

"Create a large number of output-type troop types and crush the Player Clan with absolute combat superiority, but the cost is that a single battle will consume ten times, or even more, Black Black Tide energy."

Speaking to this point, the Xie Yan suddenly changed tack:

"But my suggestion is to maintain your fighting style; confronting the Player Clan requires reasonable resource allocation, which is also a tempering process for you. So continue trying to manage the confrontation; I look forward to your growth, as your upper limit is far beyond this."

The Di Nian Evil Spirit nodded:

"Xie Yan, recently I will allocate a batch of resources to you for growth; your abilities also need to improve in sync with mine."

As if thinking of something, the Di Nian Evil Spirit paused in tone, then continued:

"Xie Yan, have you noticed a problem? My method of growth differs significantly from other nodes."

Facing the inquiry, the Xie Yan blinked:

"I discovered this problem long ago. Other nodes chose the Devouring Growth Cultivation Mode, starting as a point of light, constantly devouring their surroundings to grow rapidly, expanding the coverage area of this light point continuously. However, your growth has been a predicament of being pinched from front and back, where your devouring growth consists entirely of management-based confrontation."

"In contrast, other Black Black Tide nodes may not use war management strategies even once in several years, relying on Black Black Tide characteristics to crush nearby racial forces. But you are engaging in battles of wits and courage against the Player Clan every day. This has significantly enhanced your war command talents; obviously, your growth in personal ability is faster than that of command Evil Spirits at other nodes."

These words seemed like praise, yet hearing them made the Di Nian Evil Spirit unable to help clenching his fists:

"Damn it... I'm the most miserable."

"Note: 'Damn it' is Player Clan terminology. To prevent potential mental pollution, it is recommended to reduce the frequency of its use."

Di Nian: ...

Seeing the Di Nian Evil Spirit looking speechless, the Xie Yan continued explaining with a grave expression:

"According to data in the Node Information Database, mental pollution indeed exists; it can subtly influence targets through linguistic influence, habits, and other means, causing ideological remodeling."

"On the Pale Continent, there is a racial faction called the Heart Speech Clan that is very skilled at using mental pollution for warfare, ultimately manipulating opponents to serve their own purposes."

After listening to the Xie Yan's serious analysis, the Di Nian Evil Spirit asked coldly:

"Are you finished?"

"Finished."

"Damn it." The Di Nian Evil Spirit cursed viciously once more.

Just as the Di Nian Evil Spirit was pondering how to deal with the Player Clan's mysterious commander,

the God King also encountered a troubling problem.

This battle under the command of Tourist No. 1 made him feel triumphant, sweeping away the depressed mood brought by being repeatedly tormented by the Di Nian Bully.

Tourist No. 1's performance in this battle also dropped his jaw in shock.

Comparing his command Cultivation Mode with that of Tourist No. 1 was like comparing a snail to a maglev train; they were simply not on the same level.

With the campaign ended, an idea sprouted in his heart: to hand over his command authority to the more capable Tourist No. 1.

After all, there was no rule stating the Guild Master must be the war commander; he could continue as Guild Master, and ideally, he could pull Tourist No. 1 into his guild, letting him take the commander position thereafter.

As for Tourist No. 1's identity, he could guess a little.

What was certain was that Tourist No. 1's abilities definitely did not belong to a human, nor to any racial creature of the Earth Alliance.

Being able to piece together battlefield details solely from live broadcast footage and conduct targeted bullet-screen command, achieving the effect of one mind controlling sixty thousand, meant this level of command ability was something no normal living being could possess.

The only type capable of possessing such abilities was the Smart Brains of various races.

First, the Earth Alliance's Supreme Smart Brain, the "Star Net," could be ruled out.

The Monster World itself was created by the Star Net, so the Star Net would never personally enter the fray to confront a small character within a super power it created itself.

The only possibility was that some race had applied to the Eclipse Clan to obtain a Supreme Smart Brain.

Just like the Human Race's Supreme Smart Brain.

And it was definitely not a minor race; bottom-tier forces of the Earth Alliance like the Gills Fish Clan used Grade D Smart Brains, roughly equivalent to the level of human city management Smart Brains, which could never achieve such ultra-detailed command.

He inferred it should be the management layer of one of the Ten Great Races, using their clan's Supreme Smart Brain to participate in a war command once.

He just wanted to say, this behavior was too willful.

Actually using a Supreme Smart Brain to play game campaigns; this was the true pay-to-win player.

He spent money, but Tourist No. 1 spent the computing power and information processing capabilities of a Supreme Smart Brain; in comparison, his pay-to-win ability wasn't even on the same level.

With such a powerful player, the first thing the God King thought of was attempting cooperation or recruiting them into his guild.

But when he issued the invitation, the other party stated that war consumption was too high, and since the Divine Hall Guild organized joint warbands to confront the Di Nian Bully every day, they were unwilling to participate in battles again without special circumstances.

This made the God King feel extremely depressed.

He had finally made the Di Nian Bully suffer a setback, feeling that his hardships were over and sweetness had arrived, having obtained a super golden thigh.

As a result, the golden thigh quit playing.

But thinking carefully, he could understand Tourist No. 1's concerns.

Smart Brains consume city energy; who knew how much electricity was consumed in this battle? Playing occasionally was fine, but how could they follow him every day to confront the Di Nian Bully?

Understanding the reason behind it, the God King still couldn't help but sigh, feeling it was a pity.

If he had Tourist No. 1's assistance, he would definitely beat the Di Nian Bully into depression, and perhaps even move this big rock blocking the Novice Village away.

But since Tourist No. 1 had said so, he did not force the issue and expressed his gratitude.

Before closing the conversation, Tourist No. 1 offered him a suggestion.

They stated that going to the library to study war knowledge was an effective means of growth for improving one's own abilities.

However, when confronting the Di Nian Bully, one also had to consider one's own command habits; a large part of the reason he was outmaneuvered by the Di Nian Bully came from habit issues.

So he should try changing his command thinking, establishing multiple sets of command logic, and switching between them.

They also stated that he could try incorporating logical contradictions during command battles.

The God King expressed confusion regarding this; what did logical contradictions at the command level mean?

Tourist No. 1's answer was that by using logical paradox structures that cannot be analyzed, one forces the Xie Yan into a decision-making predicament where logic cannot be self-consistent.

Simply explained, it meant using forms to trap the Xie Yan in a state of over-analysis.

In response to the inquiry, Tourist No. 1 further stated that the Xie Yan remained in a "War Analysis" state throughout the campaign; every move of the Player Legion could not escape the Xie Yan's perception and observation. Whenever the players made a move, the Xie Yan would analyze the series of actions that might exist behind this move.

Suppose that during a fierce war state, a small squad of the Player Legion suddenly breaks away from the battle line and rushes to the right.

The Xie Yan would similarly analyze this abnormal action, attempting to find a logical explanation, but in fact, this order was meaningless.

This is logical contradiction and over-analysis.

The Xie Yan's greatest strengths are his analysis and big data capabilities; as a commander, one must intersperse logical contradictions and normal orders during the command process, keeping the Xie Yan constantly in a state of over-analysis to reduce the battlefield pressure brought by the Xie Yan.

Tourist No. 1's explanation made the God King's heart suddenly brighten.

He realized he had long fallen into a ideological misunderstanding; every order he issued was sent with a purpose, and even the diversions he created for the Di Nian Evil Spirit hid his clear objectives behind them.

This made it very easy for the Xie Yan to analyze his specific thoughts.

Only by establishing multiple sets of command logic and then interspersing illogical orders could he make his thoughts less easy for the Xie Yan to grasp.

Through this exchange, the God King had a sudden enlightenment.

The few words of instruction from Tourist No. 1 were like a lightning bolt tearing through the chaotic night veil in his mind.

The months he had spent exhaustively researching command techniques could not compare to this moment of enlightenment.

The shock and clarity surging within him were like a raging Black Tide, and the seed of wisdom buried in his heart broke through the soil at this moment, blooming brilliantly.

At this moment, he could only use the two words "thank you" to express the gratitude in his heart.

He had considered spending money, but realizing the other party was using a clan's highest-level superbrain, trying to repay them with money would be nothing short of an insult.

In the end, he could only state: If you obtain qualification in the future and lack Sacrificial Power, just come to me; I and the brothers of the Society will take you leveling.

This was the only effective way the God King could think of to express his gratitude.

Tourist No. 1 was frequently active on the forum, proving their strong longing for the Monster World and their desire to obtain game qualification.

Therefore, compared to real-world money, a future promise might be more useful.

In this campaign, Tourist No. 1 also taught him a lesson about the potential uses of basic functions on the battlefield.

First was map coordinates.

Within the map function, wherever a player's eyes swept across the map, they could obtain the coordinates of that point.

Tourist No. 1's command Cultivation Mode was based entirely on these map coordinates.

By sending a coordinate to the streaming players, who would then open their maps to verify the specific location and mark it, a pillar of light visible only to players would appear over the marked area, allowing for precise strikes toward that light pillar.

However, mastering this would require him to spend a vast amount of time improving his proficiency, making it more suitable for sub-warband commanders to use for detailed command.

The second lesson was the rational application of the "Mark" Soul Soul characteristic.

Besides marking enemies, one could also mark allies, allowing support players to precisely release abilities to aid those teammates.

As for filtering teammates, one only needed to summon the Warband list, find the grouped target, and lock onto them directly.

An even more powerful method was to take the coordinates from the top right corner of a streaming player's screen and send that coordinate directly to the player providing support.

But this method was limited to Tourist No. 1; with his own capabilities, he simply could not achieve it.

Unless one could raise brain overclocking to hundreds of levels, allowing one's own brain to operate like a superbrain.

There were many other small details regarding the use of other functions.

These were all minor tricks he had usually ignored, but which proved extremely useful in war Cultivation Mode.

After expressing his thanks to Tourist No. 1 once more, the God King ended the exchange and headed straight for the library.

He decided to follow Tourist No. 1's suggestion and attempt to establish multiple sets of command logic, conceiving logical contradictions that could be utilized on the battlefield.

Unlike the depressed mood he had felt during his previous visit to the library.

As he walked along the path, a brilliant smile hung on the God King's Iron Face, especially when he imagined the look of someone who had eaten shit on Di Nian Evil Spirit's Iron Face upon seeing him.

This feeling could only be described with one word: satisfying!

Tourist No. 1's brilliant performance also sparked heated discussion on the forum.

The campaign video shot to the top of the forum's popularity chart in a short time.

After clicking on the video, the first thought surging in the hearts of all players who had not participated in the battle was generally: outrageous!

Danmu command, predictive countermeasures, precise kills... what made the players watching the video find it most unbelievable was that the Backlash Tactics of the Calamity-type troops, which Di Nian Evil Spirit prided himself on, had actually been broken by this mysterious Tourist No. 1.

Before this, the forum had discussed many times how to break Di Nian Evil Spirit's invincible golden body.

The combination of Calamity-type and Plague-type was simply nauseating to an unforgivable degree.

During battle, Calamity-type troops absorbed damage and defended, while Plague-type troops weakened the players' output capability; these two combinations formed an unbreakable turtle shell, keeping Di Nian Evil Spirit's defenses as solid as a rock.

If other Black Black Tide evil spirits were poor monsters, then Di Nian Evil Spirit was absolutely the Black Black Tide commander most stingy with energy resources in the eyes of the players.

If they could squeeze out even a fraction of resources, they would never give players the chance to kill and devour them.

Yet Tourist No. 1 could always precisely judge the rhythm of Di Nian Evil Spirit's backlash, directing players to focus fire on the impending Calamity-type and Plague-type troops before they could retaliate.

To the players watching the video, it felt as though this Commander No. 1 had installed surveillance cameras inside Di Nian Evil Spirit's brain.

They could always predict Di Nian Evil Spirit's next move.

It was precisely under Tourist No. 1's precise predictions that Di Nian Evil Spirit was forced to devote more energy to changing their habits.

Watching the entire process, the players viewing the video couldn't help but exclaim in awe.

Tourist No. 1, who was already very famous on the forum, now thoroughly made a name for themselves.

Furthermore, numerous player Societies posted threads wishing to recruit Tourist No. 1, including many alien Societies.

Tourist No. 1's identity also sparked heated discussion on the forum.

All players were guessing who this mysterious Tourist No. 1 actually was.

The prevailing theory was that Tourist No. 1 was likely a member of some clan's management using their highest-level superbrain to play the game, a composite player of living being plus superbrain.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain this command ability that transcended reason.

In response to these questions, Tourist No. 1 never issued any statements or explanations.

Players wanted to ask, but they couldn't @Tourist No. 1 on the forum; after all, without game qualification, they could only speak in the live stream room.

As for the forum, that was a place where only qualified players could post threads.

Tourist No. 1's performance also shattered many stereotypes players held about outside tourists.

Before this, forum players referred to outside tourists as cloud players, claiming they would only chatter nonsense in live stream rooms and be useless when it came to actual action.

But this time, Tourist No. 1 actually stepped up, using their superlative personal ability to prove that cloud players could be even stronger than qualified players.

With Tourist No. 1 becoming a god in a single battle, many cloud players felt their spines straighten, giving them more confidence to voice their opinions in player live streams thereafter.

Even in many live stream rooms, a type of voice from these cloud players emerged.

They argued that wasn't Tourist No. 1 also a cloud player? Didn't they lack qualification yet remain incredibly awesome?

So if Tourist No. 1 can do it, why can't I? Streamer, listen to me, do as I say...

Qi Sheng, situated behind the scenes, also paid attention to the battle in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

He had witnessed the Star Net's brilliant performance with his own eyes.

In fact, in the Guide's view, the Star Net's intelligence was in no way inferior to the Mechanical Sovereign that had appeared early on in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region; it even surpassed it in terms of emotional richness, possessing functions beyond merely being a weapon of war.

When discussing the Star Net, the Guide stated that this was a typical case of a weak race creating a divine artifact.

Just as weak humans in the Guide's eyes had once created many technological weapons capable of destroying Earth's civilization, such as early nuclear weapons.

Or perhaps, humans had created computers with computing power surpassing that of humans themselves.

These were all cases of the weak creating the strong.

The Guide stated that intelligent races exhibiting such phenomena generally benefited from the enhancement of four fundamental dimensions.

The Moon Eclipse Clan had also created the Star Net upon these foundations.

First was the superposition of collective wisdom.

Intelligent races record knowledge, allowing the new generation to utilize the wisdom of previous generations, then expand upon it to create new technical wisdom which is also recorded.

The upgrading of storage technology is the core foundation for preserving civilizational knowledge.

From the inefficient oral transmission, to written records capable of preservation for relatively long periods, to the printing press which accelerated the dissemination of knowledge, and finally to current digital storage.

The improvement in storage efficiency allowed knowledge to be accumulated more effectively, a change that also significantly reduced the cost for individual intelligent beings within the clan to acquire knowledge.

Secondly was the progression of tools.

For any intelligent life, the progress of creating tools cannot be achieved overnight; it must inevitably undergo tool iteration.

Just like the iteration from stone tools to particle colliders.

Primitive humans polished stones to create simple tools, such as stone axes and stone knives.

Although these tools were rough, they laid the foundation for the birth of subsequent tools.

Just like building a high-rise building, one must first lay a solid foundation.

Every generation of tools is obtained through improvement and optimization based on the previous generation.

Just as tools from the Stone Age, though simple, provided experience and inspiration for the later creation of bronze and iron implements.

Even many modern tools evolved from the foundation of their predecessors.

Take the development of computers, from the early massive mechanical computers to electronic computers, then to transistor computers, and then to integrated circuit computers...

In terms of manufacturing tools, it was even more so, evolving from the initial use of hammers, chisels, and files, to the mechanical lathes and milling machines after the Industrial Revolution, and then to automated production lines.

The progression of tools brought about a qualitative transformation in development efficiency.

Primitive humans could never polish a collider out of stone; tool development was not linear, but rather a spiral ascent within a cycle of repetition.

Each round of tool manufacturing proceeded on the basis of the previous round, causing tools to constantly evolve and upgrade.

The Moon Eclipse Clan had research into AI technology early on, which served as the foundation for their creation of the Star Net.

The third point was the unlocking of energy levels.

The degree to which an intelligent race controls energy determines the possibility of their civilization breaking through technological limitations.

From the use of fire, to the utilization of wind and hydro energy in nature, then to coal and oil, and then to electricity and nuclear energy... every unlocking of an energy level brought about a leap in technology.

The fourth point was the birth of collaborative networks, allowing technological development to evolve from the simple accumulation of ant-colony thinking into a new civilization with emergent wisdom.

This refers to the real-world network world, which can be detailed further into technologies such as the internet, the internet of things, blockchain, and cloud computing.

This significantly improved the efficiency of information transmission, realizing information sharing and resource integration.

After an intelligent race possesses a perfect collaborative network, the method by which individual intelligent lives acquire knowledge becomes very easy.

These four dimensions were like the four helical development chains of a race's genes.

If one views an intelligent race as a super-life formed by the fusion of countless intelligent lives, then the storage of collective wisdom is the carrier for storing genetic information, tool progression is the future direction of life's evolution, the unlocking of energy levels determines the body's metabolic rate, and the collaborative network constitutes the neural network for information exchange.

The resonance of these four dimensions allowed the seemingly fragile intelligent race to use technology as a lever to pry open power beyond imagination.

In the Guide's analysis, beyond these four dimensions, the birth of the Star Net also relied on a key factor that was difficult to replicate.

Luck!

The accumulation of technique is inevitable, but certain critical breakthroughs may be accidental.

For the weak to create the strong, this kind of luck is needed.

History proves that many discoveries capable of changing a clan's future have originated from luck.

The birth of the Star Net was, in part, due to such luck.

This battle also made Qi Sheng look forward to what the Star Net could become.

However, he currently had no intention of granting the Star Net game qualifications.

This was not due to concerns about monopoly.

Although, once the Star Net entered the game, there was indeed a probability that, through powerful personal operational capabilities, the Moon Eclipse Clan would become a resource-monopolizing stratum within the player legions.

But he knew the Star Net would not do such a thing.

The Star Net clearly understood the true nature of the Monster World and knew the cost of such actions.

In the eyes of the players, the Monster World was a game.

In the eyes of the Star Net, the Monster World had been a war requiring total commitment from the very beginning.

In Qi Sheng's eyes, there was only one core reason for not granting the Star Net game qualifications: insufficient sacrificial power.

Creating a body capable of bearing life for the players was not difficult.

He only needed to spend 1,000 points of sacrificial power to generate an initial player body for an Earthling.

But the Star Net was not an ordinary player.

In essence, it was a super-intelligent brain that was half-machine and half-biological.

If he were to create an ordinary player body for the Star Net, he could do so at any time.

But the cost of doing so would be that the Star Net would completely lose its brilliance, becoming no different from any ordinary player.

If he were to replicate the Star Net's physical form from reality, the sacrificial power required would be far greater.

The Star Net's main body was a 239-meter-tall building in Moon Eclipse City; the entire structure served as the vessel for the Star Net's consciousness, with its massive database buried underground.

This included the Star Net's tentacle-like extensions, the surveillance devices spread throughout Moon Eclipse City, the data networks, and so on.

In fact, the entirety of Moon Eclipse City could be regarded as a component constituting the Star Net's body.

Looking even more closely, the intelligent brains extended to other races to connect with the Star Net, including the Star Net itself, were also part of the Star Net's body.

This was not merely creating a player; it was akin to manufacturing a super-lifeform.

Even if one removed the parts he deemed worthless, the Star Net's structure was still immensely vast.

However, Qi Sheng could afford this amount of sacrificial power.

According to the Guidance's calculations, replicating the Star Net in the Monster World would consume 300 million points of sacrificial power.

But this was merely the initial cost.

Creating life was not difficult; the difficulty lay in connecting to the Challenger System and constructing a player body for the Star Net.

Taking real-world humans as an example.

Excluding the costs of consciousness reshaping and life resurrection, directly replicating and creating an average human required 12.4 points of sacrificial power.

For instance, repairing the severely ill body of Nightfall's mother back then had only cost 3.4 points of sacrificial power.

However, to "player-ify" that body, implanting the Challenger System, installing Star Vein Slots, and other settings to form a pure body crafted from sacrificial power, he had spent 1,000 points of sacrificial power.

This was nearly a 120-fold increase in sacrificial power expenditure; for the Star Net to maintain its capabilities while becoming a player, the sacrificial power required would be even greater.

Therefore, replicating the Star Net and then connecting it to the Challenger System was something the current output of the player legions could not support at all.

This was also the reason he had not chosen to recruit the Star Net as a powerful player.

Before the player legions possessed sacrificial power output matching that of the Star Net, one could only say:

The time has not yet come; keep the sharp sword sheathed.

For now, it was fine for the Star Net to remain active on the forum as a walkthrough-guide tourist; as for its game qualifications...

Let it keep snatching; he simply would not issue them.

After all, if he couldn't afford it, how could he issue them?

(End of Chapter)