Chapter 347: This world is too abstract

To start an abandoned teleportation array, one must restore the energy supply system.

In this regard, there was a large amount of relevant information provided by research-party players on the forum.

But Bo Yan still chose the most convenient way.

Ask the magical Guide.

After obtaining the desired information, he called up the player mall interface and purchased a batch of spirit crystals.

Every expenditure of sacrificial power made him feel incomparable heartache.

As an exploration-party player, income mainly relied on picking up Enlightenment Information Orbs along the way, collecting spirit plants to list on the trading house, and even various garbage along the way, which were sacrificed to Di Zhao.

There was no stable source of income at all, and every point of sacrificial power income was stained with dust.

But for the sake of potential opportunities, this sacrificial power naturally had to be spent.

As a player, the most painful thing was missing out.

Sacrificial power could be saved again if it was gone, but opportunities would not wait if they expired.

Wanting to encounter it again next time might be in the distant future.

Bo Yan followed the Guide's instructions, first taking out the "Hidden-Revealing Powder" purchased from the trading house.

This was a silver-gray powder made by research-party players, mixed with various spiritual materials, specifically used to crack hidden environments.

He lifted his hand and sprinkled it lightly towards the open space in the center of the stone room, and the powder fell like fine snow.

The moment it touched the ground, it shimmered, as if countless tiny fireflies were wandering in the dust.

As the powder landed, the pale golden array patterns on the originally empty ground became visible to the naked eye.

Gradually overlapping with the array outline seen under the Spirit Eye characteristic.

The lines intertwined on the array seemed to come alive, pulsating slightly with the rhythm of spirit energy in the air, and the dim crystal at the array eye also shimmered with a thin mist-like halo.

Bo Yan took a deep breath and took out the spirit crystals just bought from the mall from his bag.

These diamond-shaped crystals contained shimmering white energy, and each piece was sold for 2,000 points of sacrificial power; if it failed, he was afraid he would feel heartache for several days.

He followed the Guide's prompt, took out the engraving knife, and began to carve the shape of the spirit crystals.

After confirming there were no errors, he embedded the spirit crystals one by one into the grooves on the edge of the array.

Filling them all would consume 86 spirit crystals, but he only needed to ensure it could be started, and other problems were simplified.

So he only purchased 12 spirit crystals.

Even if doing so would cause the teleportation to have a risk of death, it was better than consuming too much sacrificial power to fill the array.

At worst, he would try a few more times after dying.

Problems that could be solved with life were not problems.

But if they had to be solved with sacrificial power, this problem would be big.

Moreover, he probably wouldn't use this teleportation array many times.

The unused crystals taken back could only be sacrificed to Di Zhao according to the discount price.

As for selling them to his own fellow countrymen, that would also be at a discount price.

After all, everyone had the permission to open the player mall, and if they needed them, they could just buy them directly from the mall; no one would want them without profit.

Twelve spirit crystals, corresponding exactly to the twelve main nodes of the array.

The moment the last spirit crystal returned to its position, the entire stone room suddenly trembled.

The spirit crystals embedded in the grooves erupted with strong light simultaneously, energy surged madly along the patterns, and the originally dim crystal at the array eye lit up with a "buzz," projecting pale golden light onto the top of the stone room, intertwining into complex star maps on the bone wall.

He stood firmly in the center of the teleportation array at this time, and according to the steps given by the Guide, outlined with mental power above the array.

Before long, the light and shadow in the center of the array began to rotate, faster and faster.

Finally, a deep crack was torn open.

A powerful suction force surged out from the crack, and his feet followed closely and left the ground.

The Treasure-Seeking Mouse on his shoulder was so scared that it burrowed into his arms; Bo Yan hugged the little guy tightly subconsciously, and the weightlessness struck like a tide.

He seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand and sent into the interior of the crack.

A whistling sound rang in his ears, and the stone room, bone wall, and light of the spirit crystals in front of him retreated rapidly, finally shrinking into blurred light points.

Then his figure shuttled rapidly in the twisted channel.

Countless broken scenes flashed by all around; there were rib arches of the Giant Beast Mountain Range standing in the thunderstorm, fluorescent blue lakes rippling, and blurred figures running in the jungle.

The frequency of these scenes flashing became faster and faster, his eyes gradually unable to capture them, and finally white became the only background color.

I don't know how long it took, the weightlessness suddenly disappeared, replaced by a strong sense of falling.

Leaving the space crack, he found himself at high altitude.

The wind whistled past his ears, and Bo Yan lowered his head subconsciously.

Below was the rolling sea of clouds.

After his figure passed through the sea of clouds, a magnificent giant city was spreading on the earth.

The edge of the city extended to nowhere, the blue-gray city wall winding like a giant dragon, and light-emitting crystals were embedded everywhere in the city, refracting rainbows under the light irradiation.

The most conspicuous was a white giant tower in the center of the city, piercing the clouds.

A man-made "light source" floated at the top, and the light it shed was enough to illuminate the entire city.

Countless flying boats shuttled between the buildings, and overlooking from high altitude, they were like a group of glowing fish swimming in mid-air.

In terms of city layout, with the central white tower as the center, the streets spread out radially, and the road surface was paved with jade, and one could see the spirit veins flowing underneath, like the blood vessels of the city pulsating.

The architectural style was a bit like the early Chinese style he learned in history books.

There were ancient and elegant pavilions with flying eaves and upturned corners, and ancient and simple buildings with distinct edges and corners.

Outside the most prosperous area, one could see large tracts of farmland planned in the city.

The ridges between the fields were glowing with fluorescent green light, obviously improved spirit fields.

Further out were man-made mountains in the city, shrouded in a thin mist, and the silhouettes of countless palaces could be vaguely seen on the mountain tops.

At the foot of the mountain, a waterfall cascaded down into a lake shimmering with blue light, where several boat-houses were moored.

The scene in front of him made Bo Yan realize that he had come to a secluded peach blossom garden.

This civilization was likely parasitic on the Monster World by way of space docking, obtaining resources from the Monster World, but not directly participating in the resource competition war of the Monster World.

It was quite similar to A'Le.

The speed of falling became faster and faster, and the details in the city became clearer.

It could be seen that the entire city was cut into two parts.

With the white giant tower as the center, the buildings to the west of the city were mainly black, and the buildings to the east of the city were mainly gold.

Bo Yan decisively released mental power, converted it into psychokinesis, and supported his body, slowing down the falling speed.

Now he was worried that this city had a defense system.

He was afraid that he would be killed by invisible barriers and hidden defensive means before even entering the city.

If that were really the case, the early investment would be wasted.

Fortunately, the most terrible thing did not happen.

During the continuous fall, he noticed that two waves of forces were fighting in the boundary area between the east and west of the city.

To avoid being killed, Bo Yan decisively activated one of the soul remnants that exploration-party players must embed: "Twilight Shadow."

His figure turned into a shadow, and he restrained his aura into his body.

Lowering his head again, he looked in the direction of the confrontation between the two forces, and the scene presented in his eyes made Bo Yan's brain crash.

Only to see that on the stone slab road at the boundary between the east and west of the city, two groups of figures were confronting each other.

One side was dressed in black robes, and the other side was dressed in gold robes.

Suddenly, the humanoid life form leading the black-robed side stepped forward, and a diamond-shaped crystal coin popped out from its fingertips.

The crystal coin exploded in the air, turning into energy that surged into the body of the leading figure.

The gold-robed camp immediately had someone respond, waving and throwing out a string of copper coins; the copper coins connected into a string in the air, and then followed and turned into energy light beams that surged into their bodies.

The two figures collided with their fists in mid-air.

Immediately, a string of complex characters appeared above their heads.

As the characters twisted, they turned into clear numbers in Bo Yan's mind.

They were: -13048 and 12839.

Just after the two numbers appeared, the figure in the gold-robed camp with the number 12839 above its head seemed to be hit by an invisible giant hammer, groaned, its figure flew backward, and then its legs went soft and it knelt on the ground, its face pale as paper, seeming to have no strength even to lift its hand.

The black-robed person, however, did not move, landing steadily.

"Huh?"

Bo Yan, who saw this scene, was a bit confused.

He didn't understand what they were doing at all.

Thinking he had missed some details, he called up the recording screen and repeatedly confirmed in slow motion whether he had missed anything.

Could it be that both sides had engaged in countless collisions in an instant that was difficult for his naked eye to capture.

But the fact was, there was no spell bombardment, nor was there any fist and foot interaction.

Both sides just jumped out a string of numbers above their heads at the moment of physical contact, and then the gold-robed figure was drained of all strength and lay soft on the ground.

What kind of battle was this?

But the subsequent conflicts were all this abstract.

Every time both sides made a move, a string of numbers would appear above their heads.

As long as one side's number was lower than the other, they would collapse at the moment of contact.

The so-called battle didn't need spell bombardment or weapon interaction at all, relying entirely on the string of numbers above their heads to determine the winner.

His figure landed in a small forest at the boundary, and Bo Yan decisively turned his head to look at the Guide water ball floating beside him:

"Guide brother, I don't understand, what are they doing?"

Facing the inquiry, the Guide water ball slowly opened its eyes and explained:

[This is a cultivation civilization world, but unlike the Ascension Small World controlled by the Ascension Tribe... you can understand it as a world that relies purely on comparing numerical values under the shroud of rules. Unlike the outside world which requires multiple factors such as technique, talent, and life intensity to compare, everything in this world is quantified into specific numerical values. Cultivation numerical value is the core combat power. They call cultivation wealth. The stronger the wealth numerical value, the higher the strength. Even resources and industries can be converted into wealth numbers that can be increased or decreased.]

[The numerical collision you just saw is essentially a collision of wealth between the two sides. When the numerical difference exceeds the threshold, the weaker side will be directly suppressed by the rules, without any extra actions, and the side with the lower numerical value will inevitably collapse... This is the rule law of this world, and the creatures of this world cannot violate it...]

As the Guide spoke, it conjured an arm and pointed lightly.

Immediately, a light screen appeared in front of Bo Yan.

On it was the listed cultivation realm (wealth) advancement table.

Bo Yan finally understood what was going on with the abstract scene just now.

In the Guide's narration, the Gold Power Space was a world where wealth was supreme. There was a growth system similar to cultivation civilization here, but what they cultivated was not realms, but wealth.

Everything possessed by a cultivator, including magic tools, cultivation... would be measured as wealth numerical values, as well as wealth realms.

The way both sides fought was also very simple: at the moment of contact, they would display their wealth numerical values to each other, and then compare the size of the numerical values.

The side with the higher wealth numerical value was inevitably stronger than the side with the lower wealth numerical value.

Therefore, increasing one's own wealth numerical value was the growth direction pursued by all creatures in this world, which was purely stacking numerical values to become stronger.

Because there was no possibility of winning through technique here.

The entire world was shrouded in "Gold Power Rules," and outside creatures entering it also needed to act according to this set of rule logic.

Strength would also be automatically converted into "wealth numerical values," and the combat mode would also change to numerical comparison.

For example, if he went up now and fought with a cultivator of this world.

At the moment of physical contact, numbers would also appear above their heads.

After the wealth numerical value comparison ended, if his number was not higher than the opponent's, he would also be instantly defeated and lose his combat ability.

And the way to improve strength in this world was also very simple, which was making money.

All spiritual substances entering the Gold Power World would be converted into wealth numerical values and injected into the holder's personal account.

This gave birth to cultivators who specifically hunted across boundaries; they formed groups to leave the Gold Power World and went to the Monster World to explore through many teleportation arrays connected to the outside world.

Searching for prey, spirit plants, and various spiritual resources, and then bringing them back to the Gold Power Space to be automatically converted into wealth numerical values.

It could be understood that the Monster World was a "secret realm" in the eyes of the cultivators of the Gold Power World.

Different teleportation arrays connected to different secret realm scenes.

The secret realm was filled with various unknown risks, and one would be doomed if not careful.

But the gains from exploring the secret realm were also quite considerable; various heaven and earth treasures, inheritance opportunities, strong tribe ruins... obtaining opportunities and bringing them back to the Gold Power World could turn into "wealth cultivation."

Secondly, it was internal operation to create value.

For example, the large tracts of spirit fields in the city were production materials that could regularly produce wealth numerical values.

The produced spirit plants could be directly converted into wealth numerical values, or sold to other cultivators, refined into spirit pills and spirit tools, letting wealth appreciate.

Information, transportation, entertainment consumption... cultivators in the space could earn wealth by providing services, and the obtained wealth was directly converted into their own strength.

Similarly, every consumption would also cause the wealth numerical value to fall.

The perfect growth system also gave birth to special institutions similar to banks in this world.

Earning interest spreads by absorbing deposits and issuing loans.

There were also institutions similar to stock exchanges and fund models.

Cultivators could let wealth appreciate through financial activities such as deposits, investments, and lending.

For example, the Heavenly Cultivation Alliance in the Gold Power World decided to explore the secret realm (Monster World) recently.

What was certain was that the process of exploring the Monster World was highly risky.

To improve the success rate of this exploration, the Heavenly Cultivation Alliance would launch fundraising to the outside world, borrowing wealth numerical values provided by other cultivators to improve the strength of their own exploration team members.

For example, releasing the "Secret Realm Exploration Plan" at the "Ten Thousand Phenomena Treasure Pavilion" in Heavenly Power City, explaining the project content, risk level, etc. in detail.

During this period, the total funds required for the entire project would be split into equal "revenue shares."

For example, each share was worth 1 million wealth, and cultivators could subscribe to one or more shares according to their own financial resources.

Then a return mechanism needed to be clarified.

Generally, fixed income + sharing was adopted.

After the exploration ended, regardless of the harvest, the Heavenly Cultivation Alliance would first take out a part of the revenue and return it to investors according to the shares, ensuring their basic income.

The remaining profit part would be divided according to the investment proportion; the more invested, the more dividends.

But this investment model, while bringing external wealth, also existed risks.

If the exploration failed and the secret realm exploration team was completely wiped out, then all investors' principal would be lost.

Everything the Heavenly Cultivation Alliance itself invested would also be lost.

In this model, the Heavenly Cultivation Alliance was the financing party.

By giving up part of future revenue, it borrowed investments provided by the public and other forces to enhance the strength of the exploration team.