Chapter 1052
Chapter 1052 - 1038: Beyond the Limit
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8 min read
"Slayer of Gods?"
A single phrase can stir a thousand waves, and some words should not be carelessly spoken, especially for a Contractor like Lu Ping’an.
His calm and indifferent demeanor, combined with the skulls on the flagpole, seemed to proclaim that everything he said was entirely true.
Fourth-tier Lu Yi? Not bad, just not bad....
At this moment, Lu Ping’an didn’t look at his opponent embedded in the ground; he just glanced around..... but no one met his gaze.
No one doubted the feasibility of a thirteen-battle streak anymore; Lu was simply not in the same league as this fifth-tier opponent.
"...Indeed, the rumors are true."
What was more fatal was still the legend of the "Slayer of Gods."
The fall of the Quasi-God Balance Disaster Beast was no secret; once a monster of her tier fell, the impact was too vast. Merely her subordinates’ specialized professions becoming almost entirely useless and the severing of all her believers’ faith connections meant that the moment she fell, the Mother Goddess Church would become informed.
And once her church became informed, the spread of the news was only a matter of time...... Naturally, after Lu Ping’an came to prominence, it was only a matter of time before he would be linked to her.
Some causes and effects cannot be avoided, even if Lu Ping’an "denied" them, it was meaningless; too many people were simply irrational.
So, rather than being "guilty by possession of treasure," it was better to proclaim it openly, display his strength and confidence, and deter the petty.
And when Lu Ping’an completed the "first kill" in front of him, the dual skulls on the flagpole emanated a sinister black glow.
The victory on the battlefield brought intimidation, activating the battlefield sovereignty’s intimidation ability, and once again a wave of fear aura swept across the field.
Conqueror’s Battle Flag (Lower Silver Rank): Place the ’skulls’ of valuable opponents on your flagpole to craft a War Flag that represents the Conqueror. Once the War Flag is raised on the battlefield, you will receive enhancements in prestige, Qi Yun, and fear (aura) depending on the quality of your ’War Flag spoils of war.’)
Looking just at the ability evaluation, this is a Career Ability fitting for a fourth-tier Soldier "Conqueror."
But when Lu Ping’an used a perfect sacrifice (two Rule-level) to complete the Advancement ritual, and placed their skulls on his War Flag, the final product was not so simple anymore.
Conqueror’s Skull Battle Flag (Lower Gold Rank): Opponents who face the War Flag will fear it, especially when they realize the skull’s owner is stronger than themselves....]
Conqueror’s Prestige (Lower Gold Rank): Designate a target and suppress them based on the ’army’s strength’ of both sides, forcibly suppressing them based on the gap in ’strength’ and ’army’s strength.’ Note 1: This effect can only be used once per day and only on a single target at a time.)
Note 2: Once suppression succeeds, you will gain advantages in morale and Qi Yun. If suppression fails.....please use this trait with caution. Note 3: Once you defeat an opponent with stronger hard power and tier than yours, use of this active trait is restored, and the effect of the next use escalates.)
Conquest Never Ends (Lower Gold Passive Trait): Every victory, every kill, activates a fear aura based on your "War Flag tier," and the actual effect will keep escalating with each victory and massacre.)
An exceptionally simple and brutal trait, but in this situation, extremely useful.
The previous ability, with Lu Ping’an’s "army’s strength" spanning the entire Secret Realm, and the opponent almost being a bare commander, was incredibly effective...... Of course, psychological advantage was one aspect, but being able to be killed in one strike was still due to overwhelming hardware.
However, if it wasn’t to kickoff with a bang, to start the snowball rolling as much as possible, Lu Ping’an wouldn’t have used this limited active ability at the start, on the "weakest warm-up opponent."
Being limited to 1 use/day also meant that as soon as it failed once, the ability would be as good as scrapped.
And Lu Ping’an had to stack its effects by engaging with Weaker opponents, so that its effect would be noticeable in subsequent uses.
The latter passive ability was actually the essence of this War Flag; every victory brought sweeping cheers and fear across the battlefield.
And now, the "gamblers" affected by the fear aura were shivering with fear on one hand, and betting all out on Lu Ping’an on the other.
Then, the next time he fought, his "army’s strength" would be even more formidable.
As the "Conqueror" Profession’s soul-attached equipment, its entire characteristic perfectly matches his own profession, which is an "equipment that grows stronger with battle", getting more powerful the better it performs on the battlefield.
With his morale running high, Lu Ping’an certainly wouldn’t wait; he wanted to raise his War Flag’s effectiveness up by two more notches.
The next one? The next one was stopped.
"Okay, okay, is the next one ready... uh, this is no fun."
Gan Siyi in the sky was originally very excited but then reluctantly postponed the second match after suddenly receiving some news.
"Someone... Your opponent has accused you of cheating, and an inspection is needed, just a procedural check."
Hearing this, Lu Ping’an laughed.
"Cheating? Our competition actually has rules?"
"...It seems so, let me check the rule book."
Gan Qianyun stopped in her tracks quite directly, and after a thorough review, there indeed seemed to be an issue.
"We do not prohibit the use of any equipment, after all, equipment is part of an individual’s strength, a significant part at that, but what they’re accusing you of is that your ’equipment’s’ strength is abnormal. Such a level of strength should not exist in this area, and they suspect it’s due to cheating by some special means."
This time, Lu Ping’an laughed.
And say what you will, that accusation actually made some sense.
Nevertheless, the power of the "War Flag" belonged to the Soldier Path, whereas this was the Fighting Path’s Secret Realm; in theory, the power of other Paths should be comprehensively suppressed here, reducing their potency.
And for Lu Ping’an... others suspected he used special means (secret art or bribing the staff) to put his equipment on a whitelist, which enabled it to have such a level of power.
This accusation made some sense... if it involved "illegal methods" to forcibly invade the basic rules of this world, then that indeed would be cheating, and if it involved bribing the staff to be put on a whitelist, that would be even more reprehensible.
This sort of accusation was plausible, but coming from an opponent at this time, it seemed somewhat dishonorable in the martial world.
Naturally, the accuser was met with a chorus of boos... but Bai Xiyi from Thousand Archipelago didn’t care, his profuse sweating was not from fear or unease but rather from his overuse of his Scholar series calculation abilities to gain a strategic advantage.
"Maybe, even if there is some degree of rule-breaking, it won’t stop him... but I need time to figure out what’s going on with him."
Lu Ping’an’s instant kill of the previous unfortunate fifth-tier left the majority of the audience exhilarated, but for his opponents, it was pure horror.
Lu Ping’an’s strength was obviously not normal, which naturally led his opponents to urgently gather more intelligence, and "the official inspection" might just provide that opportunity.
After pondering for a moment, Lu Ping’an nodded; the specifics of this trait were known to quite a few informed people, and at this time, informing the referee on a small scale could also facilitate his own use of it later on.
"Bypass the rules of the Small World? No, I did not bypass them, nor is there a need to... within my ’Concept’, this War Flag" is a part of my own body, using it is merely like using my limbs, which naturally won’t be weakened by the local rules.
As he spoke, Lu Ping’an saw Gan Qianyun create a barrier to block the transmission of information, and only then did he feel comfortable enough to do a small demonstration.
He casually took out a Beheading heavy-sword... with every deep breath he took, the blade would correspondingly quiver slightly.
After Lu Ping’an finished a series of adjustments and resonances, eventually, it became a part of his body, rising and falling with his own breathing.
"All Things Breathing... all of this, is merely part of my limbs, what’s there to not use."
And having broken through the "rules" limitations, the "equipment" that Lu Ping’an could bring out wasn’t limited to just this War Flag...
— End of Chapter 1052 —