Chapter 977
Chapter 977 - 963: War Chess Player
1,481 words
•
8 min read
War, it was never a good thing.
But when two groups, whether actively or passively, enter the "war" state, no one will voluntarily call a halt before the cost of war becomes unbearable.
"That’s because war, as the most extreme form of politics, is often a winner-takes-all scenario, where the loser not only loses everything at present but may even bring disaster upon their offspring."
In Lu Ping’an’s view, war can also be seen as a form of "investment" or even "gambling".
Both sides kept raising the stakes, bearing costs, and depleting their national strength, manpower and even the future...and the victor could extract nourishment from the corpse of the loser to compensate for their own losses.
It’s not that wars don’t have victors, but not every war necessarily has what you’d call "beneficiaries", mutual loss was a common outcome too.
The victor might not be the beneficiary, but the loser... Perhaps, this was the most direct way of losing everything in Lu Ping’an’s "consciousness", no matter how you looked at it, it was a colossal defeat.
After determining that the Soldier Path lacked necessary components, Lu Ping’an embarked on the last collection journey.
Part of it came from "shopping"... Liu Ku was not the only victim, those who disappeared along the "Soldier Path" during the Blood Feast became "nutrition" for Lu Ping’an.
Another part came from the Library’s inventory.
The "market operation" during that previous period had accumulated a considerable number of mid to high-level Decrees, Abnormal Abilities, and Knowledge for him, and Lu Ping’an found what he desired among them.
"Vampirism... blood is the currency of life, and vampirism is the method of plundering this currency of life. Uh, I don’t want to end up like the Blood Feast, is there something a bit more moderate and elegant?"
Believe it or not, there actually was.
"Frenzied Blessing, commonly known as ’Vampiric Aura’..."
This wasn’t purely a Soldier Path thing, but a cross-over domain between "Dancer" and "Soldier", a special ability of a frenzied war priest.
She could expand a domain where warriors who recognized her had the trait of regaining "stamina" and "healing wounds" through slaughter.
𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"Frenzied Desire, huh..."
The name, as well as the career path, reminded Lu Ping’an of one of the first four sources that had reached out to him.
This source’s domain, being weak in combat at low-levels, thus not very prominent... In the Secret Realm, Lu Ping’an had already seen the trait of high-level Dancers becoming mountains and rivers, so of course, he did not perceive it as weak.
But now, having assimilated this trait, it also became a new core for Lu Ping’an.
It was a way to "interact" with the enemy and establish a relationship of "war" and "plunder".
What Lu Ping’an needed was not the part that drew "blood" but the part of the connection modules.
"Child of War, a universal high-level ability of the Soldier domain, a trait that allows you to be more formidable and persuasive on the battlefield... what the hell? But spiritual intuition is advising me to get it, no choice then. Buy!"
"War Flag Bearer, create and control a war flag, become the brightest target... the flashiest kid. What is this nonsense, are all the universal abilities of the War domain this subtle?"
"Staunch Bastion, an advanced version of setting boundaries? Not bad, finally something useful..."
Along the way, Lu Ping’an realized the subtleties of the Soldier Path.
Most of its abilities were ambiguously representative, felt useful, but it didn’t seem to make much difference whether you had them or not... They might be powerful with a specified battlefield and environment, but most enhancements were subtle things with unclear actual effects, including but not limited to battlefield sanity, Qi Yun, armor enhancements, etc.
And if parsing from the principle layer, Lu Ping’an felt it was even subtler.
"It feels like many Soldier abilities overlap with other domains, uh, don’t Soldiers have their own unique source... "
Think about it, it might actually not have one.
In a sense, Soldiers represent "death", and death is the antithesis of the life concept, which can be considered a subsidiary notion of life.
Many Soldier abilities are also directly related to Frenzied Desire, the War domain... "War" is a domain that only intelligent creatures would try to dabble in, and it has a direct relationship with "desires".
Nature might not have a domain called war, but the natural world definitely has "specialized combatants", that is, the existence of "Soldiers", whose control over "desires" appears directly linked to Frenzied Desire.
Moreover, in the Soldier domain, Lu Ping’an saw conflicting Career Abilities such as "Runner", "Awakener", "Beast Tamer", "Gardener", etc.
"War, Soldiers, are ultimately man-made concepts, with most War Gods also being Deities of intelligent concepts. It’s not the origin, but due to its ubiquity, it’s still powerful."
War is the purpose, not the origin.
War is the means, not the outcome.
War is the victor’s feast.
The loser? They are nothing but the feast’s dishes.
"I need this, this, and this..."
When Lu Ping’an let loose, half-driven by a spiritual intuition craving evolution and completion, and half guided by the goal of plundering life, he logically selected the necessary components.
Eventually, after assembling enough pieces (and wasting many points), he received a prompt from the "system" indicating which step he had taken.
What remained were the sacrifice and the ceremony...
"Under normal circumstances, the sacrifices and the ritual are offerings to the deity, and the inauguration is often a test from the god, a prerequisite for guidance using their divine power. So what is my ceremony for, and who is guiding it..."
"Do you really think the Life Bank is inferior to those low-class deities? At least at the upper limit, it is absolutely trustworthy."
The Life Bank was Lu Ping’an’s own possession; it didn’t indulge in illusions.
In that moment, it assumed the War God’s duty, actively guiding Lu Ping’an to "complete" his "profession."
Perhaps the ceremony is so fanciful because it borrowed the module from the Lover of Chess’s previous inauguration ritual.
This is a process, a trial by war.
The first time, a rookie becomes a Conductor.
This time, an ordinary Conductor takes the leap to become a master of war.
The Conqueror does not thirst for war; they simply use war as a means to their conquest, to obtain their benefits and domain.
Big Cat wasn’t talking nonsense; merely the concept signified by the "name" is so much higher than Lu Ping’an’s original expectation of "Harvester" and the like.
Moreover, this is the component the Life Bank was lacking the most, being guided personally, to incubate and fulfill it within this domain.
Using his own power, Lu Ping’an linked the city to his domain, turning it into a realm of "Gold Coins." And now, as it became the War domain, the Blood Feast’s first batch of sacrifices had been thoroughly consumed.
Twirling a coin, Lu Ping’an submerged back into the shadows.
The Conqueror is not a war fanatic, and he doesn’t need to be on the frontline all the time.
His need is for victory and the spoils of war, not just the pleasure of combat...
"Let’s get more supplies, sell the houses and real estates, and exchange them all for gold coins. Give out cash on the spot to boost morale."
Lu Ping’an’s army motivation wasn’t just about boosting morale; the greater "gratitude" from the front line also became a chess piece in Lu Ping’an’s indirect control.
"The blockade line... Hah, now you’re panicking, trying to run? No way."
Even for Rule-level entities, it had now become a dead end. Their attempt to escape was natural, but at this point, escape had become a luxury.
"All the people from other cities who have entered my domain also count as my chess pieces? Oh, the entire battlefield, is it..."
Once the declaration of war was issued, the entire battlefield became Lu Ping’an’s intangible domain.
Friend, foe, and neutral—clear cut labels, along with Lu Ping’an’s other Soldier components, gave him a higher and more distant perspective.
He was like a war chess player with a god’s-eye view, step by step, cornering his opponent.
"Ha, checkmate."
Lu Ping’an slowly mobilized the power of the entire city, gradually turning it into an altar for sacrificing Rule-level figures.
In the end, all that was left for the opponent was a small white space amidst layers of encirclement...
"Perhaps this Flower of Hope will be exceptionally dazzling, perhaps those two Rule-level Gold Coins will be priceless."
— End of Chapter 977 —