Chapter 798: Commencing Enhancement, Spear of Longinus
"Detected a meteor crashing into the ice plain at the border of Whitebear and Eastland, causing a massive impact!"
"The Space Defense Bureau did not observe the meteor approaching. It is deduced that this meteor was caused by an Ability User."
Various pieces of intelligence were being pushed to Yanjing at every moment, but Zhong Tianming was pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling unprecedentedly exhausted.
The level of danger exhibited by the group known as [Ability Users] was escalating at an immeasurable rate.
From what were initially just sporadic, mob-like actions, it had evolved into organized riots forming factions, and now, a massive number of individuals possessing abnormal destructive capabilities and high danger levels were increasingly appearing within this group.
And then there was Kaito Shirogane—a natural-disaster-class individual.
Zhong Tianming looked at the satellite images showing the tragic state of a certain small town in France. An area spanning tens of kilometers had suffered varying degrees of destruction, with the central region almost completely pulverized.
It was said that France had accepted the protection of a super-group of Ability Users named [Avalon], yet they still couldn't prevent this kind of destruction.
Then there was Eastland; various incidents had been occurring everywhere over the past few days.
Even with the intelligence provided by [Paradise] in advance, the official combat personnel were still stretched thin.
According to Song Xian and Chu Qi, this batch of Ability Users emerging now must be powerful individuals with ample confidence in their own abilities.
Therefore, completely stopping them with their current strength was unrealistic. They could only cooperate with some well-intentioned Ability Users to strike against the most highly hazardous and malicious targets.
As a result, Eastland internally was also experiencing a considerable degree of chaos.
"What exactly is the... purpose of these Ability Users? To seize power? Acquire wealth?"
"Or do they simply want to inflict cruelty?"
Zhong Tianming asked. Song Xian and Chu Qi exchanged a glance, both speechless. Finally, Chu Qi, the first to be recruited by Zhong Tianming, hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Perhaps... all of the above."
"Every Ability User initiates action due to their own selfish desires and lusts. You can imagine how much chaos would ensue if a group of ordinary people suddenly obtained unimaginable abilities."
Zhong Tianming actually already knew this answer, but he couldn't help asking. It was an unconscious release of pressure that even he found hard to bear.
Then he immediately recovered himself, his expression returning to cold hardness.
He pulled up a new image on the computer. It was a massive Erdtree on the ice plain, swaying with golden radiance.
The ice plain below had melted over a large area. Many wild beasts had visibly mutated, and some monsters that only existed in certain games were currently roaming beneath the Erdtree.
"Then what about here? What is the purpose of the Ability Users in this place?"
Eastland and Whitebear had many issues dating back to earlier eras, and their relationship was extremely complex.
Therefore, that vast ice plain was the best buffer zone between the two sides. The massive uninhabited area allowed the two powerful regimes to buffer against each other. But now, Ability Users seemed to be wantonly using their abilities in that sensitive area to alter the terrain and environment.
Although Zhong Tianming himself felt that worrying about this kind of problem now was untimely, he indeed felt pressure from above regarding it.
Song Xian thought about how to phrase his words before finally saying, "Elder Zhong, that place... we must pretend we haven't discovered any anomalies..."
Meeting Yan Qiu's cold gaze, Song Xian sighed, his expression becoming calm, even carrying a hint of the indifference unique to Reincarnators.
He indeed loved this country and was willing to give everything for it, but some things were already beyond the imagination of these ordinary people.
Kaito Shirogane... Mercenary Tao, that King of Monsters from the East District, had probably already obtained the power to destroy the world!
This was the answer provided by the latest intelligence broker in the East District of the Infinite Dimensional Space.
Unlike politicians who used satellites and other means to obtain intelligence, Reincarnators had a richer variety of methods.
The incident where Mercenary Tao suddenly crossed multiple districts in the real world, flew into France and Ireland, and unleashed devastating abilities in both places, was viewed by many as a signal that he wanted to proactively provoke internal strife among Reincarnators.
But Avalon stepped forward to deny this answer.
Avalon declared that Mercenary Tao of the East District had already reached an agreement with their Empress Yoko; the two sides would not go to war in the short term.
Simultaneously, they released several recording crystals, which captured the terrifying shockwave that rippled across the entire surface of the planet following Mercenary Tao's devastating strike.
The footage of Yoko acting to neutralize that devastating impact was obtained by others using divination abilities.
Top-tier Reincarnators easily realized that this was bona fide [Disaster] tier power.
It was absolutely not something [Fierce: Upper] or [Fierce: Exception] could achieve.
Without using any special abilities, both sides directly possessed continental-plate-level destructive power.
This destructive power was clear proof that [Yoko] and [Mercenary Tao] stood completely above the Sovereign Monarchs.
At least, among the Sovereign Monarchs who had revealed their abilities so far, very few possessed such terrifying destructive power.
Consequently, many people began to fear the collapse of the world.
It was true that Reincarnators possessed transcendent power, but when facing a monster capable of shattering a city with a casual strike, Reincarnators were not much different from ordinary people.
No one hoped that one day, while relaxing in the real world, the aftershock of a clash between Mercenary Tao or Yoko and someone else would fall from above, destroying the city along with their lives.
That kind of fear made people tremble incessantly.
And under these circumstances, an assembly calling itself the [Golden Order] began a high-profile recruitment of Reincarnators within the Space.
The strategist-type Reincarnator [Amatsu], who already had a resounding reputation in the East District, personally stepped forward, announcing that she had successfully drawn the attention of the Greater Will and could immediately initiate the Golden Order in the real world.
When that time came, all Reincarnators who joined the Golden Order would acquire the special trait of [Return to the Erdtree].
This was a super-spec trait where, as long as the Golden Order was not shattered, even if one died, they could be reborn from the Erdtree.
Although there were many restrictions upon entering the Space, such as being unable to Return to the Erdtree across dimensions...
The terrifying oppressive feeling displayed by Mercenary Tao and Yoko still allowed the [Golden Order] to immediately gain massive popularity.
Everyone is afraid of dying. Even among top-tier Reincarnators, facing that natural-disaster-class destructive power, not many could emerge unscathed.
Furthermore, Amatsu announced that her [Golden Order] had obtained permission from both [Avalon] and [Paradise] to operate independently between the East and West Districts.
This news was confirmed by Echo of Avalon and [Black Butler] of Paradise.
In a short period, the Golden Order became the most attractive assembly in the East District, gathering over two hundred Reincarnators almost instantly.
Due to the assembly's level, even more applications could not be approved.
The Golden Order was rapidly converting resources into cash to upgrade the assembly's level.
It was foreseeable that the Golden Order had a very high probability of taking over the role of the [Empire of the End] from the previous cycle and achieving a scale and reputation surpassing it.
Song Xian had received a message from Amatsu in the Space. She told Song Xian that for the world to continue to exist, it was necessary to let more conceptual [Special Boundaries], like the Lands Between, descend upon the Earth.
Only in this way could the strength of the world be substantially increased.
Therefore, Song Xian switched to supporting Amatsu's decision.
Yan Qiu, as a pure, ordinary person, was still unable to keep up with the Reincarnators' ever-changing speed of growing stronger.
She couldn't understand how a group that, just three months ago, had to hide from cameras and could be easily wiped out by heavy firepower, was now beginning to threaten mature regimes on a large scale, with many individuals seemingly possessing high-hazard, natural-disaster-class threat levels.
"Yan Qiu, go back to the bureau and report first. Just say... suspend all contact operations for now."
Zhong Tianming realized Yan Qiu's problem and immediately recalled her. Even though she had followed him for many years, in the face of more severe issues, all personal feelings could be abandoned.
The massive Erdtree swayed, continuously showering golden radiance. Amatsu stood beneath the tree, her pupils already shining with a golden luster.
Mushou was the same, leaving only Mushin whose pupils remained black.
"Amatsu, is this really okay?"
"Neither the Lands Between nor the Greater Will can be considered benevolent, right? By doing this, aren't we bringing in Outer Gods and ultimately turning this world into a total mess?"
Mushin was full of worry. Miss Amatsu not letting him join the Golden Order made him even more uneasy.
He instinctively felt that Miss Amatsu had high expectations of him, but he knew very well that compared to people like Mercenary Tao and Miss Amatsu, he was just an ordinary person with no talent whatsoever.
For him to shoulder some mission would highly likely only end in failure and disappoint everyone.
Amatsu's gaze was calm, the emotional fluctuations in her eyes growing fewer and fewer. She had now acquired the bloodline trait of a [Divine Species], and her strength had increased significantly in the short term.
But she still looked at the weakest and most ordinary one of their trio.
In her increasingly indifferent heart, in her memories that she consciously continuously purged, she would always remember Mushin's steadfastness when he disregarded everything to dive into the sea that day.
And the strength he used with his frail body to rescue her from the wind and waves thousands of meters away from the coast.
At that time, Mushin had no distractions; his eyes radiated a focus and sense of mission that made her heart palpitate.
From that moment on, Amatsu understood where human beings' true strength lay.
Therefore, she firmly believed that Mushin was a Reincarnator with more outstanding talent than her, only that he was too cowardly.
That talent would sooner or later blossom and bear fruit.
This was not a prophecy from the super-spec talent [Mr. Mouse], but her extremely rare, irrational, pure trust.
"Rest assured, Mushin, I am watching."
She pointed to her eyes, and Mushin breathed a sigh of relief because of this.
Amatsu's miraculous nature had become a consensus among everyone. The longer one interacted with her, the more one would marvel at how terrifying Amatsu was.
Whether facing Mercenary Tao or Yoko, Amatsu miraculously turned danger into safety.
She was one of the extremely few people in the entire Infinite Dimensional Space today who had consecutively antagonized those two monsters, yet ultimately survived smoothly and reaped benefits.
"Amatsu, when did you get that invitation? I don't remember us ever getting that thing."
At this moment, Mushou, leaning on the other side, spoke up.
He hadn't pointed it out until now when the overall situation was settled and the Lands Between would gradually take shape due to the descent of the Greater Will.
Only then did he ask.
Within the trio, almost all trade-related matters were handled by him.
There was absolutely no record of that [Invitation to the World's Number One Gourmet Tournament].
Yet Amatsu had directly given that thing to Mercenary Tao. This action was very bizarre, and could even be said to harbor ill intentions.
Amatsu also smiled. She raised her hand; faint silver threads, invisible to others, tugged at her fingertips.
"Merely a gift of destiny."
Her eyes stared vacantly at the Erdtree, but the images in her mind kept flowing.
She wanted to see a more distant future, further than that King of Destiny!
Only then could she change everything before that moment arrived...
[Spear of Death of the Saint of Killers]
[Quality: World's Rarity]
[Description: A special weapon that absorbed the Authority and Concept of the Saint of Killers from a certain world. A spear of destiny possessing the power of certain death.]
[Usage Requirements: Possess the Saint of Killers enhancement or possess a destiny-type Authority.]
[Effect 1: Lock onto any known target. After firing, the bullet is guaranteed to hit, guaranteed to ignore immunity, guaranteed to ignore defense, and guaranteed to trigger an instant death check.]
[Effect 2: Being killed by this spear is considered being killed by the Saint of Killers. No drops will be generated, and the soul cannot return to its origin.]
[Effect 3: Every time this spear is fired, a bad luck check will be performed (immune with the Saint of Killers enhancement). The bad luck state can stack, with no upper limit.]
[Effect 4: This spear can use special bullets, adding the effect of the special bullet upon use. In this state, every shot fired requires paying C-Rank Singularity Point * 1 and Dimensional Points * 5000.]
This could probably be considered the most powerful firearm Kaito Shirogane had seen so far.
It was extremely effective even for a Reincarnator like him who didn't have Marksmanship Mastery. It was a destiny-exclusive firearm that didn't require Marksmanship Mastery.
But the drawbacks of this gun were also very obvious. The fact that kills didn't generate drops was unacceptable to Kaito Shirogane. Currently, there was no way to test whether this or the forced drop of the Cocoon of Greed from the Omen of the Evil God had a higher priority.
Kaito Shirogane tinkered with it for a bit, planning to return to the real world later and casually find a target to shoot once.
Next were the various trade requests attached to the massive amount of Crimson Drop Cards.
Even after being filtered by Black Butler and Yutsuki, the number of trade requests was still massive.
For many Reincarnators trading with Mercenary Tao now, it was no longer simply about trading.
And because his strength had expanded so rapidly, Kaito Shirogane looked down on most ordinary items and abilities.
He rubbed that special invitation, which bore clear destiny lines.
He had noticed this when he received it.
It had the scent of that rat~
[Ability Scroll: Spear of Longinus (S)]
[Learning Requirement: Possess AT Field]
An ability scroll caught Kaito Shirogane's eye. He had indeed obtained the Gift named AT Field from Ouroboros's Gift Game in the Little Garden world.
The proposer of the trade, codenamed [Absurdity], was a lone wolf. He attached an additional condition to the trade, hoping Lord Mercenary Tao would kill a top-tier Reincarnator named [Mozart].