Chapter 1542
Chapter 1542 - 1538: Thousand Layered World
1,230 words
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7 min read
The current battlefront is merely a microcosm of the Plane War, just one of countless defenses and assaults of a remote town.
The strength of both sides is not very high; the strongest entities Lu Ping’an can see with the naked eye are just a few Decree-level... Although luxurious by Earth standards, they are somewhat unimpressive to Lu.
"Extinguish."
Lu Ping’an spread his hands, fingers outstretched.
Once this Rule-level "Fire Controller" and "Life Controller" got serious, everything ended very quickly.
This time, not only did none of the hundred-plus attackers achieve any success, but none managed to escape either.
Lu Ping’an’s "Flame" began to consolidate, a template almost identical to his physical self in the material world appeared in this world, and then, he transformed into "Lightning".
As he continually leapt between battlefields, all that was left in his wake were patches of burned ashes.
This time, Lu Ping’an didn’t extinguish them... instead, he used "Dark Fire" to fuel them further.
The even more crazed burning of life led to their total loss of control, instantly burning themselves out completely.
"You are..."
"Firemen" from Earth were surrounding Lu Ping’an, staring at this being who had completely taken over his own physical existence, everyone knew a Big Shot had arrived.
"I’m reinforcements who just arrived in this world. It happens that I came to your place. It seems my information is quite outdated. Could you provide me with some latest news..."
Ten minutes later, the previously deserted border town became lively again.
After returning to the material world, craftsmen were busy starting work, merchants busied themselves taking inventory of goods, but most people were crowding the pubs and medical stations.
They needed to check their bodies immediately to see how the "losses" could negatively impact them overall and whether they required immediate treatment.
This was an experience brought by war, many Strongmen inexplicably continued to "lose" and grew inexplicably weaker, eventually losing everything.
"... General appearances of anemia, a 1% to 5% reduction in physical mass, and osteoporosis at such a young age..."
While perusing these medical records, Lu Ping’an could feel the life ebbing from these luckless beings, some of them had permanently lost.
To compensate, long periods of recuperation would be needed... but it seems the frequency of such level attacks was too high, there was simply no rest time for them.
"... At first, we thought it was just a routine Exotic Realm exploration. The final enemies too emerged from different spatial rifts, different-dimension planes as Elemental Creatures, and at that time we handled them quite easily."
As compensation for his assistance, Lu Ping’an received temporary residency rights in this border town, as well as intelligence support from this "Mayor".
The initial battles seemed to all take place in the material Plane.
Those local Elemental Creatures actively came to the material Plane to battle with the warriors and martial monks present... At that time, it was handled quite easily, leading earlier groups of Explorers to become overly confident.
They made a big mistake by extending their battle lines, regions, and territories too far.
And as time passed, more and more Elemental Creatures were awakened, becoming adversaries for these luckless fellows.
Moreover, frustratingly, they found a way to deal with human warriors.
"Previously, what they couldn’t do, now as soon as they start the portals, the entire area is pulled into that world. There, they can still exhibit full strength, while we struggle to even reach thirty to forty percent and mysteriously accumulate dark injuries..."
This is just a microcosm of a remote small town, the most rudimentary peripheral battlefield, and the issues faced by war fronts everywhere are decidedly more than just adapting to the environment.
Lu Ping’an followed the "guide," interestedly touring around. To his surprise, the local "Elemental Men" and "Easterners" got along quite well, with many of them greeting him actively.
He had thought that the root of the war was racial conflicts, but it seemed not...
"For thousands of years, they have been competing against each other, our arrival actually changed nothing..."
The eat-or-be-eaten dynamic of Elemental Life was more direct, spanning a considerably long era of being at a relatively primitive tribal stage.
"Why haven’t I seen them, I mean, today’s opponents seem rather weak..."
Lu Ping’an didn’t consider himself special. As a top martial combat church, Domineering Three Faces surely had multiple Quasi-Gods and seventh and eighth order.
Yet on the battlefield, within his own range of perception, he saw none.
"They are deeper inside, actually, our map was wrong initially, our material world, is just the lowest layer of this ’thousand-layered cake’ of a world, the higher you go, the stronger and wiser the Elemental Life becomes... uh, or possibly just stronger, I’ve never been there, can’t say for sure."
Now, Lu Ping’an understood.
The second floor world he had encountered earlier was just further inside this seemingly infinite "Spiral World", whether the core combat power of Domineering Three Faces or the enemy’s territory, all lay in even deeper worlds.
"And these residents? They seem to adapt very well to our environment?"
"Some of them are old inhabitants here, but many more are Newborns, quickly exposed to our culture, even learning to condense solid material bodies, but they and the deeper life forms are two different concepts, like modern city people and primitive tribal savages..."
In the deeper worlds, there are complete ancient civilizations, their own system and heritage, and even a not-so-supernatural modern society.
The deeper they ventured, the more the martial combat church realized how deep the waters of this world were, but at the same time, it also represented higher developmental value and higher financial outlay.
They made contacts with Kingdoms inside and gained a lot, but apparently, some local presences see them as a threat, planning to eradicate them directly.
As they realized the war might get increasingly difficult, their investment and initial expenditure were astronomical, making withdrawal nearly impossible.
"It is said that on level 712, they found a special kind of gem, whose contained energy is sufficient to easily illuminate an entire City."
"In an area on level 1910, they discovered an ancient community of life forms, the Extraordinary Life among them being the legendary Phoenix, truly possessing Revival Ability, which led to the origin of Phoenix City World... Unfortunately, the Explorers were all wiped out by those ’birds’."
"The highest they reached was level 2135, it is said that the place is teeming with monsters like Abyssal Demon Dragons..."
"And our opponent in the battle? It’s some Kingdom in the hundred-plus levels, we still haven’t found a specific target, they want to clear us out but why..."
More intelligence came through, much of which Lu Ping’an was already aware of, but the more he knew about the frontline battle situations, the more he frowned.
This world, truly one of the most valuable First-line Worlds, is likely extremely difficult to handle.
And at this time, Lu Ping’an also heard some enthralling "rumors".
"It is said, at the high levels, Training Tamers and Runner Department abilities, not only advance quickly but also acquire intense special Abnormal Abilities unique to this world."
"They say, the high levels here are replete with superior Extraordinary Substances, and Taboo items are abundant here..."
— End of Chapter 1542 —