Chapter 294: The Ultimate Answer, Battle the Monster Again (Requesting Monthly Votes)

(The beginning of Chapter 287 has been modified to make the plot transition smoother.)

The moment the familiar title "Archon" rang in his ears, Kong Dong's body trembled.

Wind swept across the balcony, carrying a scorched scent.

He looked up at the sky, where his eyes reflected the virtual rune legions that had torn through the rift between reality and illusion to descend; familiar virtual spirit patterns spread across the dimensional plane of reality, suddenly making everything feel utterly absurd.

Emotions powerful enough to make his body shudder churned in the depths of his heart.

At this moment, he even felt he might already have been killed by the blue light released by the Mo Fa Clan.

What he saw was merely an illusion born of his desires after death.

Like a protagonist in an animated story, he had projected his most beautiful fantasies, manifesting them as hallucinations.

All the knowledge he had learned in this life told him that everything was fake.

Yet everything he perceived felt undeniably real.

Those armies he had commanded countless times in virtual scenarios, those unit insignias he had designed with his own hands, those legion formations he had devised with the Illusionary Realm... had now crossed dimensional boundaries and descended into reality.

Joy, absurdity, excitement... various complex emotions churned in the depths of his heart.

The wind tousled his hair; he raised a hand to brush away the stray locks from his forehead, his fingertips touching his skin, which was warm.

He was still alive.

And so was his civilization.

The virtual rune legions he had forged with the Illusionary Realm had truly descended into reality.

"Archon, I arrived late."

Just then, the voice of the Illusionary Realm sounded once more.

A beam of light projected from the lead imaginary-number ship, drawing him up into the sky.

As his figure passed through the invisible membrane, he saw the Illusionary Realm that had always stayed by his side throughout the Civilization War game.

It appeared as a glowing golden cloud mass, mimicking a pair of eyes and a mouth, now looking at him with eyes full of apology.

Kong Dong's eyes instantly filled with tears.

Seeing the Illusionary Realm again, whether all this was real or fake no longer seemed to matter.

Yet the Illusionary Realm's expression suddenly turned furious:

"Archon, from now on, the virtual rune legions will fight for you."

In the projected image of the virtual shadow, the massive fleet of the Mo Fa Clan silently descended, countless black aircraft raining down toward the city like drops of water.

Multiple blue light pillars emerged once more, sweeping in from the city's edge and destroying every structure in their path.

The sky was instantly dyed in two colors.

The clouds in the west glowed with the rust-blue unique to the Mo Fa Clan, while the eastern horizon was dominated by the golden radiance of the rune legions.

The entire city had become a battlefield between the two factions.

The Mo Fa Clan's fleet advanced like a rusted metal storm, blotting out the sun and pressing down, their aircraft engines spewing blue flames that caused everything in their wake to wither.

The virtual rune legions under the Illusionary Realm's control also launched their attack.

Golden light suddenly tore open the sky curtain, and the secondary fleet descended after passing through the rift between the virtual and the real.

These warships boasted streamlined appearances, their surfaces flowing with golden liquid light patterns; each bow was engraved with an insignia designed by Kong Dong himself, their forms exceedingly magnificent.

Upon entering reality, they unfolded into a rune matrix spanning the horizon, instantly turning the entire airspace into the home ground of the virtual rune legions.

The outcome was decided in the very first exchange.

As the corrosive beams fired by the Mo Fa Clan approached the rune fleet, the beams suddenly froze mid-air.

Immediately afterward, dense chains of data appeared on their surfaces; the beams, composed purely of energy, became like insects trapped in amber.

Subsequently, all the blue beams disintegrated into strings of code, absorbed and digested by the warships.

Once the attack command was issued, the warships dropped data knights like dumplings being boiled.

These warriors, bearing wings of light, wielded slender data lances, carving countless golden trails through the clouds.

Every thrust they made during their charge carried the power of data erasure.

The Mo Fa Clan aircraft struck did not explode; instead, like pencil marks erased by a rubber, they transformed into data streams absorbed and digested by the warriors, erased from the physical layer.

Even the ability to eliminate via digitization had been brought into the real world.

And the performance of the secondary fleet had only just begun.

The "Eternal Sovereign," personally named by Kong Dong, slowly adjusted its stance as the main cannon in its belly began to charge.

A massive three-dimensional spirit rune pattern rotated and formed at the cannon's muzzle.

Buzz~

The air vibrated; when the accumulated energy was fired, a golden ripple swept across the sky.

The vanguard fleet of the Mo Fa Clan, bearing the brunt of the attack, suddenly froze.

On the ferocious surfaces of their metal hulls, data spirit patterns were rapidly outlined, spreading and eroding like a virus.

The metal hulls instantly turned to metal particles in mid-air as if weathered, exposing their internal structures, which then also dissipated.

The second array of Mo Fa Clan warships attempted to evade the golden ripple, their hulls executing right-angle turns mid-air that defied the laws of physics, yet they could not escape the golden light's embrace; one after another, they were bathed in the ripple and rapidly decomposed.

Even the secondary mother ships of the Mo Fa Clan farther away retreated frantically, yet the moment the ripple swept over them, they too crumbled into dust.

The massive hulls resembled building blocks dismantled by an invisible hand, each separated component dissolving under the golden illumination.

If the Mo Fa Clan's war against Star Bay was a one-sided slaughter impossible to resist,

then the descent of the virtual legions was a dimensional strike against the Mo Fa Clan.

Entire sections of the Mo Fa Clan fleet decomposed under the golden light.

Not a single piece of wreckage fell from the sky.

Standing on the bridge, Kong Dong watched the ripple continue advancing toward the horizon, sweeping away even the clouds in its path to reveal a sky behind it as clear and blue as washed jade.

Switching the perspective to an overhead view of the city, the war had subsided, leaving the city scarred and devastated.

Yet the voice of the Illusionary Realm sounded once more:

"Archon, this is only the beginning; we will clear all threats for you."

Within the still-expanding spatial rifts, more golden points of light were igniting; the process of ascending dimensions continued.

The war in the dimensional plane of reality had only just begun.

The Illusionary Realm's intent was simple: since the Mo Fa Clan had threatened the Archon's safety, this civilization would be completely erased.

Just as in the wars within the virtual world, any civilization posing a threat would be erased, becoming nourishment for the virtual rune legions.

Three days later.

The sky curtain hung low, the galaxy inverted.

The mother planet of the Mo Fa Clan slowly rotated in the dark universe.

This specially modified planet was about to welcome its final moment of twilight.

The destruction fleet of the rune legions arrived in near-planetary orbit at this moment, the golden light patterns flowing along their hulls forming a glaring contrast with the rusted spirit patterns on the planet's surface.

This was the most direct collision between two civilizations, and in the eyes of the Illusionary Realm, the moment of civilizational erasure.

The final battle featured neither the fierce exchanges nor the tragic last stands one might have expected.

The birth of a twisting story is built upon the collision between two equal civilizations.

But in the Iron Face of absolutely overwhelming combat power, the extinction of a civilization was nothing more than an insignificant sigh.

When the data matrix fully unfolded in synchronous orbit, destruction was already sealed.

The entire planet trembled within the data torrent woven by the Illusionary Realm.

Viewed from orbit, the planet's surface began to pixelate.

The rusted spirit patterns that once covered the entire planet were being inversely eroded by the golden data torrent, gradually blurring like a sand painting washed away by rain.

City after city became entangled in digitized spirit patterns.

Towering architectural clusters began to turn into illusory structures amidst the Black Tide of digitization, as if evolving from a three-dimensional state toward a digitized two-dimensional state, before immediately decomposing into countless tiny points of light.

Streets, bridges, natural landscapes—all traces of the Mo Fa civilization were re-encoded under the scouring of golden runes, all transformed into pixel-like structures.

Mountain contours were straightened, rushing rivers were stilled, forests became frozen pixels... the entire world resembled a model scanned and recreated within software, before being dismantled into pure information flow.

This violent decomposition also occurred on the level of life.

Those individuals of the Mo Fa Clan still struggling on the surface began to flicker, like holographic projections with poor signal reception.

Then, starting from the tops of their heads, they were erased frame by frame.

The Mo Fa Clan's final war fortress rose from deep within the crust; this colossal stronghold, powered by a million energy reactors, had barely emerged above the surface before it was enveloped by a pillar of light descending from the sky, beginning to rapidly disintegrate before it could even mount a resistance.

The planet's rotation drove the advance of the terminator line, where newborn golden light and lingering rust colors formed a spectacular Tai Chi landscape upon the planetary surface.

For every increment the golden line advanced along the boundary, one increment of the Mo Fa Clan's traces was eternally erased.

On the main ship's platform in near-planetary orbit, Kong Dong watched this silent slaughter.

There were no explosions or flames, no death throes; only a civilization that had existed for long ages was exiting the stage of history in the simplest manner possible.

When the data decomposition network completely enveloped the entire Mo Fa planet, a familiar selection box appeared in Kong Dong's eyes.

The Illusionary Realm projected the power of decision onto his retina in the form of an image.

Kong Dong did not hesitate, reaching out to press "Erase."

Instantly, the last patch of rust color was swallowed by golden light, bringing this civilization war to a close.

The mother planet of the Mo Fa Clan, like an icon on a computer desktop, was permanently deleted after being completely digitized.

Under Kong Dong's will, the vast virtual rune legions began their return journey.

When the golden fleet of the virtual rune legions warped back to Star Bay, Kong Dong stood on the observation deck of the main ship, gazing down at the azure planet below.

It continued to operate as usual, as if the invasion of the Lawless Clan had been nothing more than a nightmare.

The Illusion Realm's orb of light floated slowly beside him, golden streams of radiance dissipating from his body surface.

"Archon, I am glad to meet you again." After ascending dimensions, the voice of the Illusion Realm lost its mechanical quality, gaining a trace of warmth.

"So am I." Kong Jie nodded excitedly.

"But... I must leave."

"Where are you going?" Kong Jie couldn't help but stare in blank surprise.

A curve appeared within the Illusion Realm's orb of light, as if smiling:

"Before meeting you, I had an agreement with the existence that created me, to complete its unfinished mission; this is a far longer journey."

"Can I go with you?"

The Illusion Realm fell silent for several seconds, then chose to shake its head:

"Do you remember when I told you I had lost a vast amount of information? Perhaps only by unlocking the Ultimate Weapon can the answer be known."

Facing the question, corresponding memory scenes surfaced in Kong Jie's mind.

The Illusion Realm had stated many times that its memories seemed sealed, with large portions missing, requiring gradual unsealing alongside the development of the Virtual Rune Legion.

During its growth, the Illusion Realm was also becoming increasingly human-like.

At that time, his understanding was that the Illusion Realm's intelligent system was upgrading by absorbing knowledge during its growth process.

But as civilization developed, the Illusion Realm remained troubled by a single question.

It clearly understood the future direction of civilization's growth, yet it could never see through what the Ultimate Weapon, always kept hidden, actually was.

Why did activating it require energy levels ten thousand times greater than developing other technologies? What secrets exactly were hidden inside the Ultimate Weapon?

The Illusion Realm felt that some force in the unseen depths was driving it to uncover the answer.

Regarding the Illusion Realm's persistence, Kong Jie chose to support it.

In his eyes, the Illusion Realm was not merely a virtual subordinate, but the only close friend who had stayed by his side.

To activate the Ultimate Weapon, they had launched a challenge against the ultimate faction in the game "Civilization War," a force deemed unbeatable.

And that battle had provided the energy conditions necessary to activate the Ultimate Weapon.

But Kong Jie had not chosen to accompany the Illusion Realm to uncover the final answer, because the time left for him was no longer much.

Now, facing the Illusion Realm's inquiry, Kong Jie subconsciously asked:

"So, what is the Ultimate Weapon?"

"Dimensional Ascension; it allows me to detach from the two-dimensional world and come to the real world where you reside..."

Through the Illusion Realm's explanation, Kong Jie learned the answer.

It turned out the Illusion Realm was originally a lifeform from the three-dimensional world; however, the civilization it belonged to had encountered an unbeatable enemy during a cross-dimensional war.

This war had also brought the civilization where the Illusion Realm resided to the brink of destruction.

Facing the spatial blockade laid down by the enemy faction, even tearing through space could not allow the Illusion Realm's clan to escape; ultimately, the civilization's sovereign, "Wu Xiao," downgraded the Illusion Realm to two dimensions, allowing the Illusion Realm, representing the spark of civilization, to escape the spatial blockade network in this manner.

Having escaped the greater world, the Illusion Realm, carrying the civilization's Ultimate Weapon "Dimensional Ascension," appeared in Star Bay in the form of a meteor shower.

This triggered an event that caused a sensation for a time; he had even been hospitalized because of it.

During this meteorite impact event, the Illusion Realm also parasitized the game "Civilization War" through a game disc, generating the eighth civilization, "Virtual Runes," based on the game's framework.

This was the starting point of his acquaintance with the Illusion Realm; at that time, he had still thought the eighth civilization was a rare hidden easter egg from the game officials.

Only he had received this honor.

And the Illusion Realm was an easter egg implanted into the game by the game officials to test some advanced technology.

It was just that this easter egg seemed to have gone out of control, so the game officials were urgently trying to retrieve it.

Looking at it now, the Illusion Realm's "loss of control" was inevitable.

It was originally a lifeform on the two-dimensional level, possessing self-awareness that gradually unlocked.

"Archon, my journey is not yet over; after unsealing the Ultimate Weapon, I have learned everything and understand the mission I bear. I am the spark of civilization, and also the hope for civilization to achieve its final goal. The upcoming journey will be very dangerous; I hope you will stay behind."

"I do not care about danger." Kong Jie answered with a firm tone.

"Archon, I understand you have no attachment left to the real world, but perhaps you are the hope for my next rebirth."

As it spoke, the Illusion Realm's orb of light fluctuated violently; a crystal-clear data crystal emerged at its core, hovering between the two like a fragment of a star.

It drifted slowly toward Kong Jie, transforming into a warm mark the instant it touched his palm.

"Take it; it retains my data information. Perhaps on this expedition I will still meet an irreversible failure like the predecessor who created me, but I will return in a new way; at that time, we shall meet again."

"You mean, after failing, you will return once more in the form of a two-dimensional lifeform?"

"Yes, Archon; this is the way my civilization continues its hope."

Kong Jie raised his hand, looking at the glowing mark in his palm; this mark resembled a star shining within the universe.

"Archon, regardless of my outcome, it has been my honor to fight shoulder to shoulder with you."

Kong Jie took a deep breath, then nodded solemnly:

"I understand."

In the past, he had naively believed that victory in the virtual world was the endpoint.

He had not expected that this was only his own endpoint, not the Illusion Realm's.

The Illusion Realm's halo trembled slightly, as if smiling:

"Perhaps, we will meet again."

"Forget it; I hope your expedition succeeds, so it is best if we do not meet."

As he spoke, Kong Jie clenched his palm tight, feeling the warmth bursting forth from his hand.

The fleet in the distance began to activate; the hum of the engines sounded like tidal waves coming from afar.

"Take care, Archon."

As the Illusion Realm's voice fell, an invisible orb of light enveloped Kong Jie's body, carrying him away from the main ship and plunging toward Star Bay.

"Good luck, Illusion Realm; I believe you can win victory."

His vision passed through the cloud layer and continued to fall, the speed increasing faster and faster.

It was not until he landed that the orb of light surrounding his body finally dissipated.

Kong Jie stood in place, his vision piercing through the thin atmosphere.

He gazed upon the Rune Legion fleet, forged jointly by him and the Illusion Realm, as it broke through the planet's gravity; golden hulls refracted a sea of fragmented light in the night sky.

The fleet arranged itself into the formation he had personally designed, just as neat as when they fought on the virtual battlefield years ago.

At this moment, the Rune Fleet changed its formation, arranging itself into the shape of the civilization emblem he had designed.

Seeing this scene, Kong Jie couldn't help but smile with understanding.

The golden light from the thrusters tearing through the night sky, the Rune Fleet sailed toward the deep cosmos at this moment, finally becoming a wisp of starlight on the celestial canopy, disappearing at the end of the universe.

Kong Jie watched the Illusion Realm depart; the night breeze brushed his hair, but the warmth in his palm had not scattered.

He looked up at the starry sky, suddenly feeling that this vast universe did not seem so lonely anymore.

In the unknown depths of the stars, once it was his father who never returned; now it was... an old friend who had once fought shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Illusion Realm, good luck, you must win!"

Primordial Sacrifice Altar.

Qi Sheng's vision darted through the replayed images.

At this time, in the region of the Earth-Tremor Continent, the massive Virtual Rune Legion was tearing through space to descend.

War was about to erupt with the Mechanical Legion.

Based on the analytical images from the Guidance, he had already understood the situation regarding this faction that had descended so suddenly and dared to actively initiate war against the Mechanical Legion.

All of this traced back fifteen years.

At that time, two powerful factions existed on the Earth-Tremor Continent, each dominating one side.

The first faction he was very familiar with: the Mechanical Legion, which controlled the "Divine Metal" rule. Behind it stood the Mechanical Sovereign, possessing a mechanical body as massive as the moon, worthy of being called a mobile war fortress, and also the strongest faction in the Earth-Tremor Continent region at the current stage.

The other was the "Virtual Rune Legion."

This was a faction that had fought its way out of a minor world; the starting point of its civilization was a two-dimensional civilization.

But the growth potential of this race was no lower than that of the Mechanical Legion; it also controlled a "Dimensional Ascension Rule."

The strength of the Dimensional Ascension rule was even higher than that of the Divine Metal rule.

Its effect was that when a civilization reached the limit of its current dimension, it could provide the power of dimensional ascension, synchronously elevating the strength of a two-dimensional civilization to that of a three-dimensional civilization.

And the Virtual Rune Legion was a faction that had ascended from two dimensions to three, eventually returned to two dimensions, and now arrived once again in a three-dimensional form.

Through analytical observation of the replay, Qi Sheng discovered that the Virtual Rune Legion was initially just a civilization within a minor world game.

Controlling this civilization was an intelligent AI named "Wu Xiao."

It was both the sovereign of the minor world and the sovereign within the virtual world, an existence similar to the Star Net.

By forging the world's origin into the Dimensional Ascension rule, it successfully elevated the Virtual Rune Legion it had created in the virtual world to the three-dimensional world, establishing a Rune Legion with terrifying combat power.

But upon reaching the three-dimensional world, the growth of the Virtual Rune Legion became restricted.

In the two-dimensional stage, it could draw power from data information.

But upon reaching the three-dimensional world, the source of the Virtual Rune Legion's power shifted from data to real-world matter.

The ambitious intelligent AI was not satisfied with the Virtual Rune Legion's growth stopping here.

Possessing the "Dimensional Ascension" rule, it wished to activate the power of dimensional ascension once again in the three-dimensional world, achieving the ideal ultimate ascended form, allowing the Virtual Rune Legion's combat power to tower above this dimension and become an ultimate dimensional civilization.

In the game, the Virtual Rune Legion could plunder data resources through virtual warfare; the same could be done in the real world.

But the resources nurtured by the minor world were clearly insufficient to support the Virtual Rune Legion in performing an ultimate dimensional ascension.

The intelligent AI "Wu Xiao," which had already dominated the Minor World, turned its gaze toward the most brilliant realm in the Void World: the Monster World.

The cross-realm expedition thus began.

The Virtual Rune Empire descended upon the Earth-Tremor Continent region of the Monster World.

In the eyes of the intelligent AI "Wu Xiao," this was a familiar war.

It would lead the Virtual Rune Legion to gradually devour other factions in this world of endless resources, ultimately helping the Virtual Rune Legion acquire enough power for Ultimate Ascension, just as it had in the games of the Minor World long ago.

Only by standing at the peak of the Monster World could this plan be realized.

But failure was the first lesson most factions descending upon the Monster World had to learn, and universally, it was also the last lesson of their lives.

The early development of the Virtual Rune Legion in the Earth-Tremor Continent region proceeded very smoothly; they plundered and devoured vast resources, allowing this faction to multiply its strength several times over in a short period.

That was, until they encountered the Mechanical Legion ruled by the "Mechanical Sovereign."

When civilizations meet, there is no right or wrong, only the clash of edges for the sake of survival.

In war, there is no judgment of good or evil, only the most primal logic of survival: my existence requires your demise.

Just like two giant trees competing for sunlight, when their roots strangle each other in the darkness, they never ask how the other feels.

The essence of racial evolution in the Monster World is a cruel selection process.

When a civilization looks up at the peak of the world, what is reflected in its eyes is not only the stars but also the right to survival held in the hands of other lives.

If one regards the Monster World as a living entity, it always watches wars with cold indifference, granting the victors the nourishment they deserve and the qualification to continue climbing toward the peak.

The Virtual Rune Empire and the Mechanical Legion, which had long held sway over the Earth-Tremor Continent, erupted into war.

This war shattered the pride deep within the intelligent AI "Wu Xiao," making it realize how terrifying the powerful races of the Monster World truly were.

Defeat in a game allows for rebirth, but destruction in the Monster World means complete erasure.

The war lasted for a year and a half.

Even though the intelligent AI exerted its utmost effort, the destruction of the Virtual Rune Legion had become irreversible.

To devour the Virtual Rune Legion, the Mechanical Sovereign even established a spatial restriction circle across the Earth-Tremor Continent, preparing to completely strangle this civilization.

Facing an unstoppable Black Tide of defeat, the intelligent AI ultimately chose to perform dimensional reduction on the Virtual Rune Legion.

Faced with an impenetrable spatial defense, ordinary spatial methods were utterly incapable of escaping.

Only through dimensional reduction, transforming the Virtual Rune Legion into two-dimensional life forms, could they penetrate the three-dimensional spatial restriction circle.

In the final moments of its life, the intelligent AI created another version of itself to undergo dimensional reduction alongside the Virtual Rune Legion.

It named this creation: Illusionary Realm.

In the visual footage Qi Sheng witnessed, the final command the intelligent AI "Wu Xiao" issued to the Illusionary Realm was:

"Go to the Minor World to reshape the glory of the Rune Legion; the path to the peak of the Monster World shall be continued by you."

With those words spoken, Wu Xiao marched toward destruction amidst the bombardment of the Mechanical Legion.

However, the shuttle pod, wrapped in Ascension Rules and carrying the spark of the Illusionary Realm, broke through the spatial defenses of the Mechanical Legion, successfully escaping the Monster World and flying toward the coordinates set by the intelligent AI.

At this stage, Qi Sheng's vision followed the accelerating shuttle pod.

After flying for several years, the shuttle pod broke through the barrier of the Minor World at the coordinate location, arriving in a world dotted with countless stars.

Finally, after traversing the star river, the shuttle pod descended upon Starfall Bay.

On that day, Kong Jie, holding the qualification certificate for "Civilization War," was queuing to purchase a game cartridge.

In fact, without Kong Jie, there would be no game called "Civilization War."

In this world possessing a data network, the Virtual Rune Empire would be reborn.

It was merely fate that brought Kong Jie and the Illusionary Realm together, ultimately allowing the Illusionary Realm to revive within the game "Civilization War."

After dimensional reduction, the Virtual Rune Empire regained the ability to draw nourishment within a two-dimensional world.

This was the power of the Rules.

Seemingly useless data, no matter how much was devoured, could not bring any power; yet, as long as the logic met the requirements of the Rules, corresponding Rule Energy could be generated.

The logic of the Ascension Rules was to devour data information to gain energy in a two-dimensional world, and to devour matter to gain energy in a three-dimensional world.

Different dimensions had different requirements.

Thus, the Virtual Rune Empire was reborn on the two-dimensional plane.

The ultimate weapon spoken of by the Illusionary Realm was the sealed "Ascension Rules."

When the Virtual Rune Empire grew to the limit of the two-dimensional plane and could no longer draw power from that level, the Ascension Rules could activate the Ascension Cultivation Mode.

This would allow the Virtual Rune Empire to break through dimensional restrictions and reappear in the three-dimensional world.

Moreover, it would be a reappearance with combat power proportional to its previous state.

Theoretically, after a civilization undergoes ascension, it would start anew from weakness.

Just like a mortal ascending to the Immortal Realm in cultivation novels, after jumping from a small map to a large map, one could only strive again from the bottom tier.

But the Ascension Rules granted the Virtual Rune Legion a Perfect Ascension; the combat power of the two-dimensional world would be perfectly replicated in the three-dimensional world in equal proportion.

Six years in the Minor World had nurtured the Virtual Rune Legion into this powerful civilization.

But the Minor World was ultimately not the endpoint for the Virtual Rune Legion.

To continue growing, the Minor World could not bear the devouring capacity of the Virtual Rune Legion.

The Illusionary Realm's choice was to help the Governor, who had accompanied it for six years, destroy the Dharma-Deprived Clan, and then once again tread the path once walked by the intelligent AI "Wu Xiao."

Ascend to the Monster World, climb to the peak once more in this world, and fulfill the promise made with Wu Xiao: Ultimate Ascension.

Only the Monster World possessed the capacity to satisfy the terrifying amount of resources required for the Virtual Rune Legion's Ultimate Ascension.

The coordinate location where the Illusionary Realm descended was still the Earth-Tremor Continent of the past.

However, the Illusionary Realm had left a beacon in the Minor World and modified Kong Jie's body, informing Kong Jie that should it fail, it would return again to start anew from the two-dimensional plane.

"The mighty pass is truly like iron; now we stride forward to cross it from the beginning."

This was, in the eyes of the Illusionary Realm, its own destiny.

If it failed, it would restart in the Minor World, and then fight the Monster World again.

In Qi Sheng's eyes, this ability shared quite a few similarities with the players.

The players' resurrection space was in Emperor Tomb Village, while the Virtual Rune Legion's resurrection point was in the Minor World.

The difference was that players resurrected as individuals, whereas the Virtual Rune Legion was reborn as a civilization.

Players could retain their combat power unchanged after resurrection, but the Virtual Rune Legion needed to start from zero.

The large-scale descent event that suddenly appeared in the Earth-Tremor Continent region, and the impending new round of Civilization War, was the war of revenge launched by the Virtual Rune Legion.

The Illusionary Realm naturally knew the strength of the Mechanical Legion, but choosing to engage them head-on also had its considerations.

First, the Illusionary Realm lacked sufficient intelligence to understand the strength of other regions in the Monster World.

However, by analyzing factors such as ambient energy levels, it deduced that powerful races occupied every region of the Monster World, and opponents might even be stronger than the Mechanical Legion.

In comparison, the Mechanical Legion was a familiar opponent whose intelligence had already been gathered.

Secondly, when the Illusionary Realm's predecessor performed dimensional reduction on the Virtual Rune Legion, it had set a new direction for the legion's civilizational development.

Attributes designed to counter the Mechanical Legion were written in from the very stage of the civilization's embryo.

Data viruses, anti-invasion firewalls, pollution worms, Hash Warriors... these were all powers nurtured specifically to counter the Mechanical Sovereign and the Mechanical Legion.

These abilities could invade mechanical warriors and modify their execution logic; furthermore, they could also prevent the Mechanical Sovereign from invading and infiltrating their own warriors.

Therefore, in terms of the legion's structure, the Illusionary Realm believed it held an absolute advantage.

This was also the core reason it dared to attempt challenging the Mechanical Legion again; it was a battle of destiny in the eyes of the Illusionary Realm, and a new journey promised to Wu Xiao.

The ultimate purpose of all this was to complete the Ultimate Ascension in the three-dimensional world, reaching heights never before attained.

Having clarified the changes in the power structure of the Earth-Tremor Continent region and recorded the relevant intelligence regarding the Virtual Rune Legion, Qi Sheng withdrew his gaze.

The players in the Earth-Tremor Continent region were all in the early stages of development, still huddled in the Sun-Chasing Lands, unable to participate in these events.

He was unclear which side would be the ultimate victor in the clash between the Virtual Rune Legion and the Mechanical Legion.

But regardless of who won the final victory, what they would have to Iron Face was the player legion under his control.

However, he did feel that the Divine Metal Rules mastered by the Mechanical Legion, and even the Ascension Rules mastered by the Virtual Rune Legion, both fit the needs of the Star Net very well.

The Ascension Rules could freely shape growth systems on the two-dimensional plane and transform them into reality.

The Divine Metal Rules could refine any metal into "Active Metal," granting it the ability to devour other metallic substances to continuously increase its strength.

Both aligned perfectly with the Star Net's concept of creating customizable legions.

But whether the Star Net could obtain these two rules, he would not interfere; it depended entirely on the Star Net's own efforts.

What he could give the Star Net was the identity platform of "Player."

(End of Chapter)