Chapter 1798 Chapter 1791: Mystics: Royale (3)
Chapter 1798 Chapter 1791: Mystics: Royale (3)
"The Chosen Selection has ended! If you haven't selected all three of your Chosen, then you'll have to wait until the next globe stage year has concluded," Sun Jiazhen informed the players and spectators with a stern voice. The six players had spent the last three hours scouring the Defiant Dragon Continent of potential candidates with their Spiritual Sense. Besides Yue Baoyue and Grand Seer Rippledark, none of their Spiritual Senses clashed. Moreover, that incident was only brief, so it was difficult to tell if they chose Chosen in the same region or not. That said, only the players were initially ignorant. After they retracted their Spiritual Senses, Yue Baoyue's expression experienced an immediate change, exposing deep shock as she looked toward Grand Seer Rippledark, who exposed none of his emotions or thoughts. There were six kingdoms established on the Defiant Dragon Continent, five of which were founded on the main bodily landmass of the continent while the sixth was an archipelago at the edge of the western continental region. They were the Baiyou, Hongli, Suxi, Zihan, Wuxian, and Landao Kingdoms. Landao was a Kingdom within the archipelago.
As for the tribes, they were numerous and varied, with some serving as bestial tribes while others were wilder, and less organized, akin to nomads without fetters. Most of them existed north while the rest was located in the southeast region of the continent. Those to the north were regarded as savages and barbarians, often plundering the Zihan Kingdom and resources while bringing death and chaos, especially during the harsh season of winter. Despite having two Solar Stars, the winters were far harsher than normal, aggressively so, where going without clothes as a mere mortal outside during that season would result in an almost instantaneous death by freezing. The evolutionary solution the tribes and people of the kingdoms invented was the crafting of solar stones that emanate heat and disperse the cold. They were, in the eyes of those from beyond the continent, merely Yang Fire Essence Stones, but to those present, they were life-saving treasures that had pervaded every facet of their society, used not just as a deterrent to the harsh winter cold, but as a main form of energy for a variety of self-devised formations and arrays. "..." Yue Baoyue couldn't help but feel tense. One of Grand Seer Rippledark's Chosen was not only close to hers but they were connected. This changed a lot of her initial plans. She couldn't help but look at Su Yi, inspecting his Chosen, and she was taken aback. Unlike her selection, which all possessed prominent backgrounds, mostly in their teens, this young boy was poor and his innate talent was half-decent while only six or so years old. "Only one?" She softly muttered. She had chosen three Chosen at once. She was the type of player that refused to place all her eggs in a single basket. Additionally, Mystics: Royale was far too difficult to make a comeback if too much time had passed, and given Su Yi's unique rule regarding the drawing of Mystic Cards, it was extremely beneficial to cultivate more than a single Chosen.
Su Yi returned her look with an at-ease smile. Tianshi Ya's eyes slightly narrowed. Su Yi used his special condition to manipulate the game in his direction, forcing all of them to select three Chosen at the very beginning of the game. After all, normally, players received nine cards right at the beginning, but now, they received only three, so their moves were limited, and they couldn't stack early cards such as Calamity Cards or Blessing Cards to gain an initial advantage. If they can get their Chosen to cultivate, pushing them to the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, they would be able to acquire up to three additional Mystic Cards. "Hm?" Qin Yingyin's eyes widened. Not only had Su Yi chosen a single Chosen, but so had the foreigner! Her heart clenched. Did she miss a detail? She repeatedly went over Su Yi's special condition mentally and found nothing outstanding. She consoled herself by concluding that Wei Wuyin was limiting his risk of Mythical Punishment by possessing a single Chosen. This was a tactic that Yue Baoyue missed.
Su Yi glanced at Wei Wuyin. That seed of admiration in his heart for him grew. However, when they saw his selection for Chosen, including realizing the situation they were in, his brows furrowed deeply. The others also couldn't help but be speechless at Wei Wuyin's selection.
The last few hours were spent scouring these civilizations, gathering information, and setting plans, and due to Su Yi's rules, there was a race to acquire more resources to influence the situation. While they were players, besides timely interventions granted to them by Mystic Cards, they were as much an observer as the spectators, with very little ability to influence the situation outside of their initial directive for each Chosen and Mystic Cards.
This was where the game began! "Does anyone have any questions or concerns about our arrangements or the game itself?" Sun Jiazhen asked in a perfunctory manner, not expecting anyone to speak. And as he thought, no one spoke up. It was clear there was no bias here. Not even Wei Wuyin received any overt advantage. None of the players knew of the initial directive given to the Chosen by the other players. It would be difficult to decipher the growth or path others intended without keen observation, so this could be considered the observation phase.
Hao Chengxue and Imentet proceeded to explain the stage globe's characteristics. "First off, I'd like to inform you all of the yearly period. In the Defiant Dragon Continent, a single year is 360 days. The world will be in an accelerated state of time, roughly every second will be equivalent to a single day. Therefore, each stage globe year is 360 seconds, or SIX MINUTES in our time.
"The Spiritual Network will be assisting your Spiritual Sense while we'll be directing certain viewpoints at critical times, highlighting events! For example, the conflict between two Chosen or a particular struggle for a treasure! "The Spiritual Network also has a heightened restoration effect on your spiritual energies while simultaneously lessening the amount needed for observation, so don't fear over-exhaustion. If you'd like to free roam across the Defiant Dragon Continent, you may. However, this will amplify your rate of spiritual energy exhaustion."
Imentet added, "If you miss something, don't worry. Use your Temporal Eye in your free-roam state. The Temporal Flow within the Defiant Dragon Continent had been significantly altered to ensure an easier time to perceive actualized past events. You can even view events repeatedly."
Hao Chengxue chuckled, "Indeed! But certain details will be automatically obfuscated from your Spiritual Sense. This includes very intimate times for all inhabitants of the continent. So don't think about peeking!"
"Yeah. Don't," Imentet's voice chilled, "Or else." "..." Hao Chengxue looked a little disturbed as he shivered. Then, releasing a few awkward and choppy chuckles, he continued: "We'll conclude the state of stasis in six minutes. Players, if you'd like to say anything before we begin, you may do so now. Do remember: Any outside assistance or blatant interference with the stage globe will result in the violation of your Mythical Contract!" Using this opportunity, Tianshi Ya spoke: "World-Saint Neo-Dawn, I have a question for you." Wei Wuyin's smile never faded, "And I might have an answer for you." Tianshi Ya stared at him for a few seconds before asking, "If I suffer Mythical Punishment, can you send me out of here, to the Void-Blank Space of the Creation Zone?" "Oh?" Wei Wuyin wasn't too surprised by this request, but he was not expecting the timing of it to be so premature. Given the isolation formation established, including how they wouldn't be able to move after being locked on by the Arbiter, this was an expected request after Guo Heng. "I'll discuss it with him when you suffer Mythical Punishment." Wei Wuyin no longer bothered with that and Tianshi Ya remained outwardly calm, seemingly not surprised by that response, but her soul was shaking intensely as she felt a gloomy cloud of death hovering above her. Su Yi found Wei Wuyin's confidence extraordinary. As for his means, they were well within the bounds of a Resonant Soul Realm expert who grasped the Minor Law of Space. However, he also had supreme confidence in his victory. After that, just as Sun Jiazhen was about to announce the conclusion of stasis, Yue Baoyue lobbied a question at none other than Wei Wuyin!
"World-Saint Neo-Dawn, what happened to my things?" While selecting Chosen, Su Yi had, via transmission, explained to her how Wei Wuyin had stolen from his Spatial Ring and likely was using his gesture of goodwill by saving her earlier as a way to garner good intentions. Additionally, he warned her. While there were suspicious aspects of Guo Heng and Grand Seer Rippledark's expressions, he wasn't certain if they were at fault. Normally, his intuition would trigger, but it didn't here. This so-called intuition was the Heavenly Daos' silent hand, warning, leading, and informing him subtly of certain situations. Unless a Supreme Seer interfered, they likely wouldn't be able to misguide or disrupt his intuition.
Now, that 'intuition' had gone silent. He could only draw his own conclusions.
Yue Baoyue was strong-willed and stubborn. She dared to throw herself into the arena of a Supreme Sage without hesitation. She refused to accept being manipulated by Wei Wuyin, and she wanted to let him know it.
Wei Wuyin looked at this opulently dressed beauty. He blinked, then much to everyone's surprise, he replied: "The Ice-Heart Ruby you found earlier had a one-time void formation imbued within. Luring you with your avarice for all things radiant and gorgeous like yourself, they laid a trap to snatch all your items beneath your nose.
"And when I mean them—I mean Grand Seer Rippledark, the late World-Saint Inversetoxin, and their cohorts behind them. They intended to eliminate you in the bidding phase. Likely their original intentions were to force him," he pointed to Su Yi, "to fight against nine or ten Mythical Punishments on your behalf, suffering an extraordinary loss. Potentially killing or crippling you or him." "..." Grand Seer Rippledark.
"..." Su Yi.
"..." Everyone else! Wei Wuyin had just exposed their plan in the simplest explanation. Then, he added with a laugh, "But I like fairness in my games. So let's have a nice, clean game relying on only our ability, intelligence, and luck. But if you want to know where those things are, you would have to ask the thieves." Yue Baoyue wasn't stupid. She immediately realized what happened without Wei Wuyin needing to go into the specifics, and her complexion grew pale. She had almost fallen for their scheme! She looked at Grand Seer Rippledark with rising rage. "Alright! We'll begin!" Sun Jiazhen was shaken by the exposed scheme, but since it wasn't against the rules and likely performed before the Mythical Contract was signed, then that was that. The three Mystical Judges executed a hand-seal each. The temporal flow around the stage globe slowly resumed. Wei Wuyin's focus was immediately brought to the woods, finding a pregnant barefooted woman running through the woods, seeking to hide from her pursuers. While the mental tug had brought him to her, drawing him to the unborn fetus, Wei Wuyin's mark of Chosen that was labeled with the mystical character for '3' was not it!
IT WAS THE PREGNANT WOMAN! He had given an initial directive: "Escape pursuers, unharmed. Avoid detection for ONE Month." And now, the game has begun!