thefictionvixens Chapter 268 Unable to Survive, Backups Needed
Chapter 268 Unable to Survive, Backups Needed
Sure enough, after Long You slightly activated the Soul Master Registration 2 badge authentication program on his chest, the two Soul Masters standing like gatekeepers at the entrance of the Ordinary Alliance Auction House did not hinder Long You's steps at all.
Upon entering the auction house, Long You looked around and noticed that this auction house, established by the underground forces of Mingdu, was considerably more ostentatious than the auction houses he was familiar with. However, this difference in style was not difficult to understand; the auction houses Long You usually frequented catered to noble gentlemen, a completely different clientele from this one.
Without lingering on the vibrant atmosphere of the auction house, Long You stepped aside to clear the way through the door and waited for the beautiful maid who had clearly noticed him to approach him. The auction house's style was indeed vibrant, but that didn't mean the rooms themselves were equally "vibrant." Therefore, Long You needed someone to guide him to the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Competition.
"Respected Soul Master, are you here to participate in the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Competition?"
"Yes, lead the way."
"Alright, please follow me. Since your Soul Master level has reached level five, you do not need to submit a registration fee for this competition. Also..."
The beautiful maid led the way, informing Long You of the privileges he enjoyed after receiving the Level 5 Soul Master badge. It wasn't much; a hundred gold soul coins were waived, his position during the competition would be slightly better, and he could use a wider variety of rare metals. It didn't significantly affect the fairness of the competition, but it showed some respect.
After walking for a while in the corridor of the auction house, Long You was somewhat surprised to see a soul-guided elevator in operation, and then unsurprisingly, the elevator took him underground.
[Well, so it really is an underground force. Does it mean they can't call themselves an underground force if they don't have underground structures on their own territory?]
Perhaps because the upcoming competition didn't put much pressure on Long You, he had plenty of time to complain throughout the journey, aside from casually setting up some nano-detectors to ensure his safety.
The elevator doors opened, and Long You glanced around the entire competition venue. It was similar to the Xi Shui Alliance's competition venue in the original work. As usual, he casually tossed down an ant made of nanobots. Long You followed the beautiful maid to an operating table surrounded by partitions.
"Respected Soul Master, this is the control panel you will be using in the upcoming competition. Please bear with us as there are many people and a lot of noise during the qualifiers."
Compared to the other contestants' exposed and unobstructed workstations, Long You was quite satisfied with his current one. He'd said it many times before: Long You came to this competition to make comparisons with other competitors. If the area was too noisy (mainly because there were no obstructions), then some of his methods wouldn't be as effective.
"Sigh, at times like this, I always envy Yuhao, that guy who has a cheat code. He can observe others with just a thought, while I have to design a special soul tool for observation. But it'll be soon. Once I get my hands on the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow, my plan will be able to speed up. The racial discrimination of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm is really useful."
While inspecting the entire workbench, Long You muttered to himself, admitting that he was indeed envious. However, once Long You checked the types and quantities of rare metals that the Ordinary Alliance had prepared for the contestants in his region, this slightly sour envy was instantly forgotten.
"Tsk tsk, people are cheap when they leave their hometown, and things are expensive when they leave their hometown. If this pile of rare metals were in the original Douluo Continent Three Kingdoms, it could bankrupt a village-level wealthy merchant. Here, it's just provided as competition materials for the qualifying contestants. It's too rich, really too rich. If I don't fleece them clean, it would be a waste of my trip."
Having confirmed that there were no surveillance devices around his workbench, Long You immediately stopped dawdling, took out his meticulously crafted carving knife set from his storage soul tool, and began to create his entry for the competition according to the blueprints he had already planned in his mind.
According to the receptionist, Long You's various soul tools for this competition do not need to be handed over to the organizers. Therefore, Long You can add "useless" parts to his soul tools as much as he wants. This will allow him to obtain some rare metals and also conceal the soul tools he truly wants to create.
If Long You wanted to make a horizontal comparison, he needed to observe the soul tool making process of other soul masters on site. However, this was the Ordinary Alliance division of the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Competition, one of the three major underground forces in Mingdu. The Ordinary Alliance certainly had monitoring methods for the entire competition. While they might not be able to determine the various soul tool making techniques of the soul masters, they could certainly determine whether anyone was cheating. This meant that Long You absolutely could not use conventional methods to obtain the making process videos he wanted; he needed an observation method similar to Huo Yuhao's mental detection.
Mental detection is currently beyond Long You's capabilities, so he can only choose to create an unprecedented detection soul tool. Based on Long You's initial imaging, he intends to achieve this effect of observing the entire situation from a single location by utilizing the laws of space. Taking advantage of his deepened understanding of the laws of space during this period, Xiao Yan deduced a possible soul tool blueprint based on Long You's idea. However, Long You isn't entirely confident that he can actually create it.
After realizing that the creation of soul tools would face exponentially increased resistance once it involved deeper applications of laws, Long You's reliance on the Imagination Pearl's simulation practice function became ineffective. The resistance from the rules was something the Imagination Pearl couldn't simulate, rendering Long You unable to practice.
While waiting for the workbench to shape the rare metal into his desired form, Long You closed his eyes and meditated for a short while. If ordinary soul tools consume soul power, then law-based soul tools consume mental power. Long You needed to get his mental power into a slightly active state so that he could better mobilize his mental power to cooperate with the inscription of the core magic array.
The carving knife slid, and metal shavings were constantly generated and falling with Long You's movements. Although he had the idea of making some useless parts, in order to avoid being eliminated in the qualifying stage as a dignified "Level 5 Soul Master," Long You still had to make a Level 4 Soul Tool. This level of Soul Tool was basically effortless for Long You at his current level, and it was perfect for warming up.
Time ticked by, and the number of metal parts on the workbench in front of Long You increased, while the movements of Long You's hands became increasingly slow. His bloodshot pupils, pale face, and even his slightly trembling hands showed that Long You was approaching his limit.
For Long You, a "Level 5 Soul Master," to display such a state in a small qualifying round is clearly abnormal. Considering that the environment Long You is currently in is by no means a safe environment, theoretically someone is definitely observing this seemingly enclosed little workshop. Long You really shouldn't be showing this state, nor should he allow his energy consumption to reach such a terrifying level.
However, from God's perspective, Long You dared to let himself appear in such an obviously abnormal state, which clearly indicates that he had something to rely on.
On a lower level below the competition venue, in a rather comfortable setting, numerous soul-guided display screens were mounted on the walls, showing the entire scene of the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Tournament Ordinary Alliance Regional Qualifying Round upstairs.
The quieter the competition arena, like the one where Long You was, the larger the area occupied by the monitoring screen. However, judging from this monitoring screen, Long You didn't seem flustered at all; he was simply focused on making soul tool parts. Although, from any perspective, the number of parts Long You had made far exceeded the number of soul tool parts that a level four soul tool should require.
Because the Soul Guidance Display screen where Long You was located was quite conspicuous, the monitor in the room had obviously noticed Long You's abnormality. However, when the monitor's gaze swept over the Soul Guidance Master level badge worn on Long You's chest, his previously serious expression immediately turned into disdain.
"Hmph, the poor bastards from the original Douluo Continent Three Kingdoms, even in the qualifying rounds they're so greedy for rare metals."
Clearly, there have been quite a few Soul Masters like Long You who wanted to take away more rare metals by using some "useless" parts. Now, one more Long You won't attract the attention of the Ordinary Alliance's honored Soul Masters at all.
Of course, this lack of attention can only be attributed to the fact that the Soul Masters of this Ordinary Alliance are unaware that the scene they are seeing is a scene that has been altered by the intelligent life form, Bourne, with the help of nanobots.
At 9:30 p.m., Long You, who had been working diligently at his workbench for two and a half hours, suddenly collapsed onto the hardwood floor. His stiff fingers could not respond to his brain's commands and released the carving knife he was still gripping tightly; his weak arms could not support his body, and Long You leaned limply against the partition of the cubicle.
What was that feeling like? Long You couldn't describe it in detail; in fact, he had neither the ability nor the energy to. It was like a nightmare—knowing full well that he should get up, but unable to, no matter what. His brain seemed to be screaming with all its might, but his body showed no response whatsoever.
Long You couldn't be sure what it felt like to be diagnosed as brain dead but still conscious, but he believed he was that person now. The little black box that trapped him was so solid that he couldn't struggle against it or break it.
The envisioned soul tool has been completed with all its parts, but the current situation makes Long You somewhat regretful of his decision to complete all the parts at once. During the creation process, Long You wasn't unaware that his limits were approaching; he also sensed that if he could complete the soul tool in one go, his soul tool crafting journey would enter a completely new realm. Considering the danger wasn't actually that severe, Long You couldn't ignore the allure of a breakthrough in strength.
Indeed, if an ordinary person enters a nightmare state, their inner screams will be invisible and unnoticed. But Long You was no ordinary person; he was a powerful Soul Master, a Soul Master with intelligent life as his assistant. Therefore, the screams from Long You's mind were faithfully recorded and relayed by Bourne.
Long You's current state is actually a backlash from forcibly confronting the world. This backlash affects many aspects, but many others remain unaffected, such as his Martial Soul. Long You's Martial Soul is affected; he is now completely unable to perceive it or mobilize its power. However, at the same time, his Martial Soul remains unaffected because Bourne successfully made the Martial Soul consciousness, Xiao Yan, appear on Long You's shoulder.
The nanobots and a portion of Bourne's computing power continued faithfully performing their work of interfering with the surveillance, their silent communication taking place quietly in the small cubicle, temporarily unseen by outsiders. Ten seconds later, a figure that looked exactly like Long You after his disguise appeared in the cubicle.
This is a double, one of several doubles that Long You prepared for himself after creating the highly bionic intelligent soul-guided robot. When out in the world, having a backup always provides more peace of mind than not having one. Long You believes his survival skills aren't deep enough, and problems are inevitable, so he's quite strict about his "backup." In the current situation, it's clearly time for the backup to be deployed.
There was still no obvious communication. Two inconspicuous beams of light were emitted from the storage soul tool where Bourne's main body was located and from Xiao Yan, respectively. Their ultimate target was the backup Long You, who had just been awakened from the storage soul tool.
As the light fell, an invisible radiance flowed over the backup Long You's entire body. The next moment, this backup Long You, who would have been exposed if he had just paid attention, seemed to have truly come to life and become the real Long You.
After a few slight movements, the backup Longyou turned around without any hesitation, looked down at the real Longyou who was still slumped on the ground without any reaction, and a smile that could easily be mistaken for an illusion appeared on the corner of the honest Longyou's lips.
After a flash of light, Long You's true form was absorbed into the luxurious sphere. Conscientious Long You withdrew his interference with the monitoring and focused intently on assembling the soul tool parts on the table.
The item he wanted to make was finished, but the competition wasn't over yet. He couldn't forget the necessary procedures, and with the competition about to end, Long You wasn't planning on coming back for another day.