Seized by the System

After chasing away the sleeper, the ones who got caught in their fantasy, and the bewitched, the green frog hopped out of the Divine Gate and made a face at it, which made it slowly dissipate into thin air.

In its place, a greenish-purple monument appeared with two lines of words written on it.

Everyone stopped making noise and stared at the monument.

The left side of the monument was inscribed with the “Current Ascension Progress”.

“1st: Humans, ascension progress 14.”

“2nd: Demons, ascension progress 3.”

“3rd: Ghosts, ascension progress 2.”

“4th: Spiritual Insects, ascension progress 1.”

“5th: Demons, ascension progress 0.”

“…”

On the right, it was the “Clans Leaderboard”.

“1st: Humans. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Intermediate.”

“2nd: Demons. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Beginner.”

“4th: Ghosts. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: Low.”

“5th: Devils. Forces undivided. Influence Point Level: None.”

“…”

Reading the list, everyone had an idea of what was in store for them in the future. Their potentials, their strengths and weaknesses, all of those were clearly written on the list.

It seemed like it was just a few simple words, but they carried an enormous weight.

The humans on the east were ecstatic. They were able to dominate in the first round and were not blindsided by any other clans.

They were still the master of Earth.

At the same time, they became wary of the demons. The demons had only been formed not long ago, but they were able to attain a score of 3, which said a lot about their potentials.

‘Please, let there not be a Monkey Sun ¹ who could pierce the heavens!’

Of course, the result also had to do with the demons who descended.

The local demons probably did not even have a complete set of cultivation methods, so they definitely could not ascend the Stairway to Heaven.

Some of the humans began to gossip telepathically.

“We’ve agreed tacitly that as long as demons aren’t creating chaos, hunting humans, and stealing food and supplies from humans, they are allowed to continue living in peace. Should we limit them now, or at least, implement a rule for restraining their procreation?”

“It’s a logical suggestion. Now that beasts had become sapient, they were able to breed faster than us humans. Even if they turned into demons, their reproduction would still match up with humans. With the large base population that they had, it would be worrying if we don’t control them.”

“China and the US are two major forces among humans, yet they still fight among themselves. This is not a good sign, we need them to face our common enemy here.”

Some wise humans had already thrown away the notion of nationalities and could see that an external threat had closed in on them.

It was only a year since the Era of Vitality had officially started, so there were many things that were unclear and could only derive and adapt based on old customs and regulations.

Now that the Stairway to Heaven event had happened, the intelligent humans immediately noticed their rivals.

The thought process of a few people of wisdom was not adopted by the majority. A few tragedies had to happen before the entire human civilization realized the threat of demons.

…

After the Stairway to Heaven had concluded, everyone went home with their own takeaway from it. Some of them were happy, and the others sad.

Zhi Nan appeared silently and fetched Nie Yuan, former general of the Greater Rat Demons, one of the Nine Demon Generals-to-be.

Elder Ancestor Bai saw the entire thing but did not do anything to stop Zhi Nan, it was as if he did not know Nie Yuan at all.

Zhi Nan also did not greet Elder Ancestor Bai, minding his own business.

Soon, Elder Ancestor Bai said his farewell to the demons and appeared back in the Greater Rat City and held a meeting.

“I would like to have a post-mortem for myself. My useless son, Cang, had failed everyone and couldn’t pass even one step, what a waste of the opportunity I’ve fought so hard for him. I have a tendency to trust the wrong people.”

He opened with the agenda he wanted to address.

The Greater Rats all looked at each other in shock. Since when did Elder Ancestor Bai begin to criticize himself?

Soon people noticed an important person who did not show up in the meeting, General Nie.

Some resourceful Greater Rats knew that he had gone to the Divine Gate meeting.

The Divine Gate had opened for an entire month. Human’s information organizations like the Hummingbird Society had already sold the information such as the identity of attendees and attempts out to the world.

The event was huge, but it was hard to keep it on the down low. The number of people who congregated around the Divine Gate was too large to cover up. With the Heavenly Axiom sending the message itself, no one could keep it discreet.

As a representative of the Devils, Nie Yuan had attempted to ascend the Stairway to Heaven without permission, that piece of news had already circulated to the Greater Rat Clan.

As a structurally complete organization, it was imperative for them to have a department to collect information. That was important to all underground forces.

When they saw Elder Ancestor Bai’s self-criticizing move, some of them began to speculate.

Nie Yuan was cherished and nurtured by Elder Ancestor Bai, but he would betray the Greater Rats to help the Devils.

It was probably because of that that swayed Elder Ancestor Bai.

He even began to have a self-focused post-mortem like the human emperors who used to issue Edicts of Self-Condemnation…

No one was making any noise in the hall, plunging it into pin-drop silence.

A long moment had passed before Bai Shixin spoke up calmly, “Elder Ancestor, need you be so harsh on yourself? No one can be a flawless saint. Cang Gongzi must have a special reason to back out of the illusion challenge on the first step. Now that we have the experience, it would be as easy as traversing through a meadow next time.”

“General Bai is right. It’s only a learning experience, isn’t it? Failure is the mother of success, Elder Ancestor, and you shouldn’t be beating yourself up over this. I believe Cang Gongzi would have experienced a great learning opportunity this time. In the future, he will definitely have a strong comeback.” said all the Greater Rats.

Elder Ancestor Bai was well-respected, a single defeat would not have harmed him much.

He had single-handedly developed the Greater Rats Demon Clan from scratch to its current spread all over China with a talented population and a constantly-growing resource.

This was the reason some founders could do well. No one would be more educated and experienced than they were. They were resourceful enough to solve most of the problems they faced so no one could challenge their prestige. Even if they had a few mistakes, they could be accepted.

On the other hand, successors would not have this advantage. They would be compared in every way possible. As soon as they have made a mistake, their reputation would suffer.

Elder Ancestor Bai smiled graciously. The response had been anticipated.

“Mm, it was just a tiny setback, I’m not worried about that. This time, I did manage to create an opportunity for us. The time for us, the Greater Rats Clan, to soar, shall be upon us soon!”

Finishing that, he waved his arm as a water screen appeared.

It was showing the circumstance in which the Arctic Wolf Demon was describing the Demon Alliance in its entirety, with every detail as clear as day.

From that, it could be seen that Elder Ancestor Bai had already mastered his control over his spells.

“Elder Ancestor, you’re the wisest. With that, we could use the shared resources of the demon clans on Earth to consolidate ourselves. That’s deep, so deep.” Someone praised.

“Heh, everyone, let’s brainstorm on how to utilize this new platform to maximize our advantage.” Elder Ancestor Bai smiled and looked at Bai Shixin.

Bai Shixin thought deeply for a while, then said, “If that’s the case, we could share our computerized informatization platform to the other demons. With this technology, we could slowly tame them and use them to obtain information and resources, and continue to build a global demon social medium.”

“Good, that is a fine idea, Shixin. You’ve always been one who prioritizes well. Looks like Cang’er will need your support in the future.” Elder Ancestor Bai changed the topic suddenly, hinting at his successor.

The Greater Rats were stunned. Recalling Nie Yuan’s betrayal, their hearts jumped in the revelation.

Bai Shixin, who had been given the cold shoulder for the longest of time, had worked his way back into grace? Is this the part where a useless nobody earned a new lease on life?

Bai Shixin was also slightly taken aback. He did not understand what Elder Ancestor Bai meant.

‘Could it be that he really didn’t mind the information I hold?

‘Is he really that broad-minded?

‘Or is he still using me?’

Countless questions churned inside his mind.

It was a shame, then, for his existing oath with Ren Ruofeng of the human race to usurp the throne of the Greater Rat Clan.

Having thought that, he calmed himself and said lightly, “Thank you for your grace, this is just my responsibility.”

“Heh, you’re still so modest, unlike someone who flaunted their presence wherever they go as soon as they began having some merits under their name, so much so that they forgot who was the one who nurtured them. Traitors like this would not end well!” Elder Ancestor Bai stressed.

Everyone immediately understood who he was referring to. Silently, they reminded themselves that this person was not someone to cross!