Chapter 98 Rigorous and Reasonable Combat System

Jie An brought a movable whiteboard, and Vander stood on a high stool, using several short tentacles to roll up the black pen and write from top to bottom and from right to left.

"Suppose there's a Sephiroth 2 who's just broken through. He's a self-taught person, but he has some combat experience, a decent fighting method, and an ordinary Sephiroth 2 relic."

Vander drew a small stick figure on the whiteboard. "This is a very standard particle-to-liter transformer. Let's assume it's called Chongtian. Then our unit of measurement is the power of one Chongtian..."

"Change the name. This one makes me want to laugh." Chu Hengkong said.

"You have so many bad habits, so let's call him Wanpi. Our combat power standard is 10,000 Pi strength." Finder began to write and draw on the right side of the little figure. "As a standard combat power, Wanpi's record is not bad. Those who have no skills or relics in battles of the same level will be defeated by him in less than ten rounds. But one day, when Wanpi was out, he encountered Hard Point, a Seismic Level 2 beast. Not only did it have the same level of Hard Bone/Staff of Bitterness/Reverse Shadow abilities, but it also had a large size or high agility."

Fander drew a shadow giant to the left of Wanpi: "Think of a plan. If you were Wanpi, how would you win?"

"Let's surround him. He has no chance alone." Ji Huaisu commented.

"One point for Miss Ji. Reasonable decision." Finder drew a "＞" between the Shadow Giant and Wanpi. "Generally speaking, this kind of beast is at least three times the base combat power of a beast, so it has at least 30,000 Wanpi's strength. But Wanpi was lucky. He happened to meet a Sephiroth 2 Senmin. As a mixed-race, Senmin is born with special powers and is also very strong. So after a short fight, he killed the beast without much effort."

A new lizardman was added to the whiteboard. Finder tapped the whiteboard: "Special Race Upgrader > Exotic Beast > Wanpi. Any questions so far?"

Jie An listened with great interest: "What level is a demon-possessed person in?"

"It depends. A small fry possessed by a monster isn't much stronger than a beast, but a big boss possessed by a big fry is another matter."

"Very pertinent." Jie An commented, "I used to distribute bounties based on this standard, skipping the exotic beasts in the middle."

"The standard should be lower. Wanpi's configuration is too ideal. In reality, more people don't even have weapons of the same level." Ji Huaisu expressed his objection.

"That's not important! Wanpi is just an idealized unit, just a token of his appreciation." Finder waved his tentacles, "Let's continue the story. Wanpi has survived the catastrophe, but the story isn't over yet: this forest dweller won the battle but fell under the spell of the beast. Now he thinks Wanpi looks a lot like a piece of roasted pork belly..."

Wan Pi has had a rather unlucky life. His experience is no less than mine.

"We said before that the monster could be struck with 30,000 hits, so let's just say it can be struck with 50,000 hits for this forest dweller." Fander said with a smile, "What kind of reinforcements should we call this time to guarantee that one of the 10,000 hits will be saved?"

"A martial artist at the 'Walker' stage, perhaps..." Qi Su said weakly in the corner, "Or a Canxin at the 'Sin Bone' stage... I should be able to do that too... No, I probably can't even defeat Wanpi. I'm too arrogant, I'm sorry..."

"Wake up, Qisu!"

Chu Hengkong couldn't help but say, "The effect of this bad word attack is too long-lasting. How much strength did you use to attack me just now?"

"The power to make a giant squid decadent for a whole day..."

"It's all my own fault that it's come to this!"

Ji Huaisu shook Qi Su vigorously. The green-haired girl spun three times in place before peacefully lying down, cradling her staff. Vande followed his instructions and drew a stick figure of a warrior. "The attitude is questionable, but the conclusion is generally sound. In this situation, if we want a guaranteed victory, we need to call in the masters of the Ascension Path."

"So what is your path to ascension?" Chu Hengkong asked, "something independent of the three paths?"

Fander observed for a moment and found that Ji Huaisu was just as confused as he was, while Jie An didn't react at all. He threw the pen over and said, "Cook, you guys are the ones who should be responsible for the conversation."

"This matter... is actually a bit beyond the scope of the syllabus. The city lord forbids us to talk about it..." Jie An scratched his chin and smiled bitterly, "But you outsiders have almost seen everything, so you don't need a little common sense. I might as well talk about it all at once."

Fander's eyes turned pale. "Hey, I just heard something very bad. What do you mean by 'the outsider has seen the whole picture'? You are speaking metaphorically, right? It's a metaphor, right?"

Xie An turned the whiteboard over and drew three parallel vertical lines on it. At the bottom, from left to right, he drew a stone, a hand, and a small sun representing light.

"As everyone knows, there are three paths to ascension. They are the 'Path of Submerged World and Floating Light' starting from the foundation stone, the 'Path of Supreme Ascension to Godhood' rising from the glimmer of light, and the 'Path of Forging Fate and Returning to Oneness' starting from the skillful hands - don't ask me where the names came from, it's been around since ancient times - if you want to become stronger, you have to enter the path and then work your way up. Where you reach is what you are." Jie An placed one hand on the whiteboard. "Captain, you've fought all the way to Seismic Point 2 and have seen many Ascenders. What are your thoughts?"

"It's disorganized and has no system." Chu Hengkong replied immediately.

The Path of Transformation system, at its best, offers a wealth of customization and freedom. At its worst, it's a system whose creators haven't thought through the details, simply building a framework and letting everyone play with it. Just in terms of dexterity alone, there are those like Sansen Wangxiang who rely on prosthetics, those like Du Muyan who combine special abilities with swordsmanship, and those like himself who rely solely on martial arts and have no special powers. Finding a commonality beyond their hands is incredibly difficult. To put it bluntly, aside from the Longxiang martial artists, every single one of the dexterity-seeking individuals is a ragtag group.

The cornerstone community was the hardest hit, with cooks, writers, and insect-breeding practitioners alike, but I'd never seen a single unified force like the martial arts. If someone truly started from scratch, I'd have no idea how grueling the initial stages would be...

"You hit the nail on the head. It's messy, chaotic, and disorganized... Some of the bigwigs agree, so they've created a revised version of the textbook based on their own experiences." Jie An circled a few points on the Path of Destiny and Unity and drew arrows next to them. "This textbook includes unique cultivation methods applicable to each of the Sephiroth, some unique techniques that only they understand, and a specially improved set of transformation formations."

He wrote down his annotations one by one: Three thousand sets of Longxiang boxing, Qigong bone-strengthening technique, one Qi for a thousand years...

"Following the masters' teaching materials, advancement becomes organized and logically clear, but the higher threshold also leads to more demanding advancement requirements. After all, now there are teaching materials, you can't just ignore them; you have to learn, right?" Jie An wrote the word "Martial" under the "Path of Forging Fate and Returning to Oneness." "Elite ascenders trained in this way are naturally stronger than most grassroots. If advancement is likened to a long-distance race, they're flying while others are crawling. That's why everyone has given the masters' teaching materials a special name: 'The Path of Ascension.' The Path of Ascension you're most familiar with is the martial cultivators of Longquan Township."

Fander snatched the black pen and began to point fingers. "The Shendong Realm is undoubtedly a top-tier force. The Master of Piaomiao personally founded a martial arts lineage, supervised by the True God Zhulong. Sephiroth 1, with his deft hands, manages both creation and training, known as the 'Builder.' Sephiroth 2, with his strong bones, wields a staff and travels thousands of miles, known as the 'Walker.'"

Before Chu Hengkong could even say anything, Ji Huaisu started to get anxious: "Hey! Why didn't you let Akong be the builder back then? He's better than just a skilled craftsman."

"Because the entry requirements for the path of advancement are higher..." Qi Su said grimly, "In addition to the extraordinary limbs and extraordinary skills that Dexterity possesses, the transformation of a Builder also requires some achievements in architecture, talismans, casting, or other creative fields... Besides fighting, what else are giant squids good at making...?"

Everyone's eyes turned to the Chief Inspector. Chu Hengkong pondered for a moment and said, "Murder scene."

"Get this shoddy joke generator out of here!" Vander shouted.

"It's all right now, Akong." Ji Huaisu put one hand on his shoulder, his expression heavy, "I believe that Dad has fully adapted his teaching to his individual needs..."

"The path of ascension has many benefits, but it's not suitable for everyone, so it's destined to be a niche thing. For a super genius like the Chief Inspector... it's better to let him take the main path." Jie An shrugged. "By the way, let me explain the currently known paths. The Path of Return to Oneness includes the 'Martial Cultivators' of Longquan Township and the 'Canxinzhe' of Shura Island. Everyone is familiar with the Path of Floating Light, as Lord Huilong's entire family is one of them."

Chu Hengkong's mouth twitched: "...The Ancient Dragon Clan has its own path?"

"The scientific name is 'Candlelight God System,' also known as the Ancient Dragon Totem. This path has the most relaxed entry requirements; anyone can be an Ancient Dragon."

"Can a human turn into a dragon?"

"No." Jie An shook his head. "By the way, there's another path on the Floating Light Road, which is also limited to certain races. So, ordinary people who weren't born into a good family don't have to consider this..."

"The Fuguang Road is obviously very open, but the core technology is locked tightly," said Ji Huaisu.

"Compared to the Supreme Path, it's already pretty good..." Jie An smiled bitterly, "The path of the Supreme Path is a natural disaster."

Ji Huaisu was so angry that he slapped his partner's shoulder: "Damn it! How did our Supreme Path become an external path? And is the external path also a path of Taoism?!"

"Where do you think the term 'heterodox' came from?" Vander glanced at her. "Some great minds delve into academia, delving into the mysteries and becoming obsessed. There are also some monstrous villains who are born bad and pursue academia solely to turn the world into a pile of shit. The 'teaching materials' these people produce can be as extreme as possible, and naturally they won't teach anything good... This kind of path that mass-produces demons and monsters and goes astray is called the heresy."

"Some outsiders were also famous for their ascension to the world in their time. A classic example is the Emperor of the Empire of Truth." Jie An added, "It is said that a long time ago, the various islands used different languages ​​and scripts, and the different races could not communicate, which led to many wars and conflicts. After the emperor became a Taoist, the 'standards' of the Shendong Realm were unified. Regardless of the language and script, people can communicate with each other. The time difference between the islands has disappeared, and the time unit has become the same - this is why the Chief Inspector can understand us and read Fander's notes."

Chu Hengkong was a little stunned: "...I thought this was my cheat."

"What are you thinking about all day?" Fan De was speechless.

"No, but in my hometown, the languages ​​are not mutually intelligible..." Chu Hengkong saw everyone's disbelieving looks and gave up explaining, "Then the emperor did a good job back then."

"He's a pretty good ruler, a rising star." Vander spread his tentacles. "At the end of his research, he suddenly had a brainwave and thought everyone should be fired, so he became the Empire of Truth. From then on, the world had the Fifth Outer Path."

"The Emperor's research is a bit extreme."

"If it weren't extreme, it wouldn't be called an outlier. Let's get back to the point. Outliers all have their own exclusive path. Anyone who dares to touch it will be assimilated. There's no other outcome. In a sense, they are exceptional. Therefore, the combat power of homogeneous outliers is generally slightly higher than that of ascending paths..." Fander took the pen back. "I think classmate Chu Hengkong seems to have questions. Feel free to speak up."

Chu Hengkong was still pondering the previous explanation: "What about the other paths on the Supreme Path to Godhood?"

"No." Vander blinked. "Didn't I tell you it was just one natural disaster?"

"But that's impossible, because..."

They all looked at Ji Huaisu, and the blonde girl herself showed the same confusion.

Stronger applications than ordinary mutators, more systematic means than ordinary mutators, more formal combat methods, stronger combat power... Her light shield and shadow blade completely fit the above description. Without any filter, anyone would think that Ji Huaisu also came from the Taoist path.

How could a grassroots person who was just groping around blindly develop this kind of combat mode? How is that even possible!

Ji Huaisu also felt something was wrong and quickly stepped forward: "Teacher Fan! Please take another look. Are you sure I'm not a Daoist?"

"You know it's not true without even looking. The Path to the Supreme Being only has unorthodox paths and no proper path. The source of all fate and tides is the Spiral Tower, so it's generally recognized as a landmine path. Learning it will basically drive you crazy." Vander said impatiently, "This is just like the common sense that there are no unorthodox paths on the path of forging destiny and returning to unity..."

Vander spoke slower and slower, squinting his eyes, wrapping his tentacles around the pen, and lost in thought.

"Something's not right. I'm panicking. Remember this, everyone. Never bring up this topic again." It pressed its tentacles hard against its forehead, its eyes gleaming with a twilight light. "Erase your memory. 40 seconds."

It closed one eye, then opened it again, revealing a clear and smug stupidity. The expressions of the people around it were as if they were looking at a giraffe disguised as a fufu ball.

"Sorry for getting distracted, where were we?"

"Uh, ah." Ji Huaisu opened his mouth, "Natural disaster."

"Oh yeah, those mobile pollution sources...hiss...you've even seen the natural disasters. I'm a little panicked. How unlucky is your city..."

Fander turned the whiteboard over and drew a black dog on the left side of the sword-wielding warrior. Ji Huaisu recognized it as a ghost killer at a glance.

They turned their attention back to the art of beast fighting, lining up from the Ghost-Slaying Martial Arts Cultivator all the way down to the initial Wanpi. This standard unit suddenly looked quite pitiful, like an ant under a big tree.

Finder drew a black line between the sword-wielding warrior and the tough-boned forest man, and wrote "Wall of Experts" on it. He also drew another line next to the ghost-slayer, and wrote "Wall of Common Sense".

"It's like the food chain in a forest, where the ecological niches are clearly defined. Generally, outsiders of the same level are at the top of the food chain. But sometimes, some exceptionally fierce and bizarre macho men emerge, tearing Scourges, demons, and the like to pieces. These peerless macho men are so powerful they transcend common sense, often receiving a poem dedicated to them, and their achievements are passed down across many Dust Isles. We call these exceptional individuals 'Legends'."

Fander drew a super-strong man who looked like a Super X-man. He looked around and nodded at Qi Su: "I guess... in her prime, the little girl would have been number one?"

Qi Su was barely breathing, "Now I'm just a wandering ghost... Just a small fry with less than 10,000 hits..."

"When will this poor girl recover?"

In her prime, Qi Su would have possessed a physical body and possessed ample strength. Considering that the Jade Fox alone was enough to take a lot of effort, Qi Su must have been much stronger in her lifetime... If we consider her combat power while controlling the Jade Fox's physical form...?

Chu Hengkong felt something was wrong: "But Qi Su can't beat the Immortal Machine, so she is not a legend."

"Guwa." Qi Su fell to the ground as if he had been hit hard.

"Oh, I haven't finished yet." Vander said with a smile, "I believe you, being so clever, have already discovered that the Floating Light Path also has a corresponding outsider. That is the third leap path of the Floating Light Path in the Sunken World, the Ultimate True Device that we personally encountered..."

It drew a thick line to the left of the legendary unit, with the words "Insurmountable Chasm" written on it. Then Finder moved all the way to the left, to the edge of the whiteboard far away, and drew an immortal machine that took up most of the whiteboard and could knock down all the villains with one claw.

"Under the truth, all beings are equal. Before the empire, there are no legends." Finder put down the black pen. "This concludes the Little Beast Fighting Class. Thank you for listening."

(End of this chapter)