Chapter 259 : Necromancy Skill Tower
Chapter 259: Necromancy Skill Tower! Starsea Library!
The real world.
In the life of high school senior Guo Minhua...
Every day after school, the moment he returned home and opened the Weird Three Kingdoms forum was the moment he looked forward to and enjoyed the most.
Because no matter when he opened the forum, there would always be plenty of interesting new posts to read, along with many high-quality Arcane Studies analyses and original content.
He increasingly felt that Weird Three Kingdoms was a real alternate world.
Fifteen thousand people from Earth had been chosen to become pioneers of another world.
Every day, they experienced all kinds of events inside the game.
There were hundreds of bizarre ways to die miserably, stories of interacting with local NPCs, and unprecedented new discoveries.
Endless unknowns.
Constant change.
It felt like following an amazing television series filled with endless surprises, while also watching an entertaining live broadcast.
There was always something that completely captivated people.
Guo Minhua was not merely someone who watched for entertainment.
He knew there was little chance he would get into a decent university.
His current dream was to become a member of the Calamity Army.
Even if he could not obtain access to the game for the time being, he wanted to prepare himself in advance.
Because of this...
He carefully watched every episode of high-quality Arcane Studies programs, including China Channel Seven's Exploring the Arcane.
He also kept up with the latest research and intelligence published on the game forum and by major content creators.
He had already filled several thick notebooks with notes.
If he had devoted the same enthusiasm and diligence to studying...
Getting into a good university would have been no problem at all.
Sure enough...
Interest truly was the greatest talent.
He believed his hard work would not be wasted.
Because even if he could not become a member of the Calamity Army for now...
After finishing the college entrance examination, he could become an Arcane Studies researcher.
Recently, quite a few Arcane Studies researchers had earned fortunes through traffic and article submissions, with some even becoming internet celebrities.
Guo Minhua sincerely felt...
That if a person could make a living doing what they truly loved...
That was life's greatest blessing.
“Huh? The forum has been redesigned again?”
The official game forum had become incredibly popular.
Both the number of posts and total traffic kept breaking new records.
Probably because of that...
It had recently undergone another moderate redesign.
The entire forum had now been divided into twelve subforums.
Each subforum functioned as its own themed discussion board.
This allowed different types of content to be separated, making it easier for everyone to find topics they were interested in while also making the forum much cleaner.
The forum had also placed a real-time trending thread ranking in a prominent position.
It automatically collected the top one hundred most-discussed and most-viewed threads across the entire forum within the previous twenty-four hours.
“Not bad!”
“It's much clearer now!”
“From now on, cloud players like us can simply enter whichever section interests us, and if we want to know the latest hot topics, all we need is one glance at the trending list.”
“...”
Guo Minhua began browsing the rankings.
Recently, the territory had been developing at an astonishing pace.
Combined with the increase in the player population...
There was simply too much new content appearing every day.
It was almost impossible to keep up.
...
Trending Thread #68: 《Latest News: The War God Hall Legion Announces That the Number of NPCs It Has Hired Has Exceeded Three Hundred! NPC Talent Reserves May Become the Key to Future Legion Development!》
...
Trending Thread #46: 《The Top Ten Commercial Shops on Lord Avenue Officially Open for Business! Territorial Development Enters a New Stage!》
...
Trending Thread #23: 《Insider Leak! Conflicts and Disagreements Among the Five Great Legions Continue to Escalate! Full-Scale Competition Has Officially Begun!》
...
Trending Thread #19: 《One Hundred Thousand Parents Jointly Petition to Ban Weird Three Kingdoms! Authorities Publicly Respond: Metaverse Games Are Not Dangerous Monsters!》
...
Although many of the trending threads interested him...
One in particular immediately caught Guo Minhua's attention.
Trending Thread #9: 《A Comprehensive Summary of the Territory's Major Changes Following the Corpse Lich Territory Campaign!》
This thread had been posted less than two hours ago.
Although it had not yet reached the number one spot...
Its momentum was incredible.
Because the author was none other than the famous veteran Black Pupils Sharp Bro!
Guo Minhua's eyes lit up when he saw the author's ID.
Since it was Brother Rui's post...
He absolutely had to read it!
“Hello everyone!”
“I'm Brother Rui!”
“First of all, my apologies. I haven't posted anything new for quite some time. Recently, many brothers and fans have been urging me to update.”
“Unfortunately, both Legion affairs and territorial affairs have kept me overwhelmingly busy. I've only managed to write this post during the few hours I'm offline resting.”
“The Corpse Lich Territory campaign has officially concluded!”
“With the help of our incomparably great Lord and the brilliant strategist Jia Xu, whose plans missed nothing, we successfully conquered the enemy territory and captured the Corpse Lich Territory's main city.”
“It was an incredibly satisfying campaign!”
“We gained tremendous rewards in every aspect!”
“As for the specific battle process, I won't go into detail since there are already countless battle records on the forum from every possible perspective.”
“I'll mainly discuss the changes and pleasant surprises that have appeared in the territory since the battle ended.”
“As everyone knows...”
“Whenever the territory achieves a major victory or breakthrough, there are usually numerous updates and a large number of new beta access slots.”
“This time is obviously no exception.”
“A considerable amount of information has already leaked, so I'll provide a simple summary and analysis.”
“Please note...”
“Everything below is based on the intelligence I've personally gathered, along with my own analysis and speculation.”
“If I've gotten anything wrong, everyone is welcome to discuss and correct me!”
“Although many changes and updates have occurred over the past two days, I believe three of them will have the greatest impact on both the Calamity Army and the future development of the territory.”
“So I'll discuss those first.”
“The first major change is...”
“A brand-new Talent!”
“About half an hour ago, every citizen of the Human Territory awakened a brand-new Talent—Eye of Malevolence!”
“This is now the second Talent appearing in our status panel.”
“The first one was Self-Healing obtained after the Dragon Lizard Territory campaign!”
“At the time, some people speculated that we Players could plunder Talents through territorial wars.”
“The appearance of this new Talent undoubtedly confirms that theory!”
“This verification is tremendously significant!”
“As everyone knows...”
“There are countless races within the Starsea faction!”
“Our Human race is practically insignificant among all the races beneath the Stars.”
“We're almost at the very bottom of the hierarchy.”
“The reason is simple.”
“Humans are naturally weak.”
“Not only are we born weak, but our aptitude and potential are also pitifully low.”
“That is why we're looked down upon by virtually every race, including the Abyss factions!”
“However!”
“After this battle!”
“We believe this situation will change in the future!”
“Our Lord can plunder the defeated race's Talent abilities for the territory.”
“As long as we continue defeating powerful enemies, everyone's aptitude and potential will steadily improve!”
“This concerns the interests of every single one of us!”
“As our Talents and aptitude become stronger...”
“Future newcomers will have an easier start.”
“And our Calamity Army will also possess the strength needed to confront even more powerful enemies!”
“I firmly believe that as long as we continue following our Lord and continue winning...”
“Our branch of humanity will inevitably stand at the very summit of all the races beneath the Stars!”
“I've gone off topic!”
“Let's talk about the new Talent in detail!”
“Eye of Malevolence is a Green-quality Talent.”
“Not only does it greatly increase our attributes, significantly enhancing our overall strength and making it much easier to learn advanced skills...”
“More importantly...”
“It grants an incredibly powerful Talent Skill called Malevolent Eye Awakening.”
“Once activated...”
“We literally open a third eye, gaining an entirely different kind of vision beyond ordinary sight!”
“I simply can't describe how mysterious this vision is.”
“It's exactly like what I once said about Weird Three Kingdoms.”
“This isn't a game with 100% realism.”
“It's a game with 120% realism.”
“Or even 200% realism.”
“That's not contradictory, nor is it an exaggeration.”
“When using the Malevolent Eye, we don't merely see a different world.”
“We instinctively feel as though this eye isn't some visual effect created by a game.”
“It genuinely feels like a natural organ we've possessed since birth.”
“Even after returning to the real world, I keep having the illusion that I could activate it at any moment.”
“That feeling...”
“Is unbelievably amazing!”
“Anyone who hasn't experienced it simply can't understand.”
“This game not only perfectly reproduces every sensory function of reality...”
“It even creates entirely new experiences that surpass real-world senses.”
“And that is one of this game's greatest achievements.”
“For now...”
“Let's temporarily refer to the vision provided by the third eye as 'Divine Sense.'”
“This ability grows stronger alongside our attributes.”
“Whether in combat or as support, it has tremendous practical value.”
“And it clearly possesses enormous room for future development.”
“...”
Guo Minhua was astonished after reading the introduction to the Malevolent Eye.
Growing a third eye?
What would that even feel like?
It was incredible!
People in the real world simply couldn't imagine it.
Although Guo Minhua's grades weren't very good...
He still knew basic biology.
Human facial features and senses all operated through specific information-transmission systems.
Take vision for example.
The human eye was actually composed of a specialized optical system.
Light stimulated the photoreceptor cells on the retina...
Generating nerve impulses that traveled through the optic nerve to the visual cortex.
The brain then processed those signals to produce vision.
Players had literally grown a third eye inside the game.
Its imaging principle clearly wasn't optical.
It resembled something closer to echolocation...
Yet the player's brain could still receive those signals and generate visual images.
How exactly did that work?
Even from a biological perspective...
Wasn't that an earth-shattering breakthrough?
He continued reading.
Black Pupils Sharp Bro wrote:
“The second major change is...”
“The addition of extremely powerful new skills!”
“We discovered that one of the Tier 3 Skill Towers in the main city now contains four brand-new Blue Skill Stones!”
“Without question...”
“They are: Shadow Assassination, Golden Skin Iron Bones, Shrinking the Earth Into an Inch, and Hundred-Eyed Corpse Fiend Transformation!”
“Although the learning costs are extremely expensive and the requirements are somewhat high...”
“They are undoubtedly the strongest skills currently available!”
“Especially Shrinking the Earth Into an Inch and Hundred-Eyed Corpse Fiend Transformation!”
“But that's not all!”
“A brand-new building has appeared in the main city...”
“The Necromancy Skill Tower!”
“At first glance, it resembles an ordinary Skill Tower.”
“However, its internal structure and functions are vastly different.”
“As its name suggests...”
“It is a Skill Tower specifically designed for cultivating Necromancy spells.”
“The tower contains research rooms filled with Necromancy knowledge...”
“As well as enlightenment chambers dedicated to comprehending and advancing Necromancy.”
“It also includes three Skill Learning Rooms.”
“Three Skill Stones have been embedded within them.”
“They are respectively: Skeleton Summoning, Zombie Summoning, and Wraith Summoning!”
“Although all three are merely Green-quality skills...”
“They possess tremendous cultivation value.”
“They are also rare Summoning-type spells with enormous future development potential.”
“Currently, Jia Xu has already moved into the Necromancy Skill Tower.”
“He will reside there while cultivating and researching the knowledge contained within.”
“We all look forward to Strategist Jia Xu achieving even greater breakthroughs.”
“...”
“Four Blue Skills!”
“Three Necromancy Summoning Skills!”
“And now there's also the enhancement provided by Eye of Malevolence.”
“I believe that over the coming period...”
“Warlock Players with high Spirit growth and Monk Players with high Willpower growth will receive a major boost.”
“The overall strength of the Calamity Army will also increase dramatically!”
“...”
“The third major change...”
“The addition and upgrading of territorial buildings!”
“Besides Talents and Skills...”
“The territory's facilities have also undergone tremendous changes recently.”
“For example...”
“Many buildings, including the Enlightenment Tower, have already been upgraded to Tier 3.”
“In addition, several brand-new buildings have been constructed.”
“Besides the Necromancy Skill Tower I just mentioned...”
“Another particularly remarkable building has recently appeared.”
“It is called the Starsea Library!”
“Our Lord built it just outside the Lord's Fortress!”
“The Starsea Library possesses an extremely unique function.”
“Every Player can enter the library, spend a certain amount of Essence and Contribution Points...”
“And then randomly draw a book.”
“At the moment...”
“Everyone is lining up outside the library to try their luck!”
“Based on everything currently known...”
“The books players can obtain include, but are not limited to:
Skill Books that grant new skills.
Attribute Books that permanently increase attributes.
Essence Books that reward Essence.
Enlightenment Books that improve skill growth or allow breakthroughs.
Besides these, there are Knowledge Books containing all kinds of precious knowledge.
There are even Production Skill Books that allow players to master various production professions!”
“I believe the appearance of the Starsea Library will provide countless opportunities for Players.”
“It will also allow many people who wish to obtain secondary professions or production professions to realize that dream.”
“This facility will bring long-term value and influence to the territory.”
“Unfortunately...”
“Each person may only enter the library once per Starsea Month.”
“Furthermore, every Starsea Book obtained is permanently bound to its owner and cannot be traded.”
“This is purely a place that depends on luck.”
“...”
Black Pupils Sharp Bro's thread was extremely long.
It provided a detailed introduction to all the new changes occurring within the territory.
Especially the unique buildings such as the Starsea Library.
For a time...
Countless people rushed in to read it.
The number of replies quickly exceeded ten thousand.
The increasingly rich facilities of Luoshui Main City...
Along with the game's ever more fascinating experiences...
Left everyone itching with anticipation.
“Is Eye of Malevolence really that amazing?”
“I really want to experience it too!”
“Damn, so many high-level skills got added all at once!”
“Looks like this version is finally the rise of Warlocks and Monks!”
“Warriors and Rangers are probably getting suppressed now!”
“The guy above is overthinking it!”
“Skills only have attribute requirements, not class restrictions.”
“Who says Warriors and Rangers can't learn spells?”
“Hundred-Eyed Corpse Fiend Transformation certainly looks powerful...”
“But don't forget that the main city's Skill Tower also contains Martial Saint's Three Blades!”
“Exactly!”
“I heard Crazy Blade Old Wang, Crazy Slash Across the Streets, and several other top Calamity Army experts are preparing to learn it!”
“Besides ultimate skills like Martial Saint's Three Blades...”
“The main city also lets you learn the complete martial cultivation method Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear!”
“That's true.”
“Compared to complete cultivation methods like that...”
“Any standalone techniques or spells pale in comparison!”
“Forget Martial Saint's Three Blades.”
“Is Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear even meant for humans?”
“The attribute and Essence requirements are ridiculously high!”
“Not necessarily!”
“I heard Salted Fish Thrust from Freedom Wings, Hua Mulan from Divine Feather Palace, and Lone Boat from War God Hall have already learned individual moves from Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear.”
“They might complete the whole cultivation method in the future!”
“Awesome!”
“The abilities and skill sets of the top players just keep getting richer!”
“Ahhh!”
“I really want to watch those experts fight!”
“I'm sure it'd be incredible!”
“At the very least, it'd be much more entertaining than boxing matches!”
“...”
Hang Yu's latest round of territorial construction...
Had greatly enriched the territory's foundation and capabilities.
However...
The benefits brought by the new skills and facilities could not be realized immediately.
It would take at least another five to eight days before everything was fully digested.
Take the four Blue Skills for example.
Although every one of them was outstanding...
Very few people currently possessed both the ability and sufficient Essence and Contribution Points to learn them.
As for the currently popular Starsea Library...
Its function...
Was to consume a certain amount of Essence...
In exchange for various abilities and knowledge at random.
Buildings of this type that consumed Essence...
Were not especially attractive to most Lords.
After all...
Nearly every Lord constantly suffered from an Essence shortage.
The Skill Books generated by the library were generally basic White-quality skills.
Occasionally, those with exceptional luck might obtain Green-quality skills.
As for a Tier 3 library producing Blue Skill Books...
The probability was practically nonexistent.
The Attribute Books generated by the library granted five attribute points.
Frankly speaking...
Spending such a considerable amount of Essence...
For a mere five attribute points on a single soldier...
Would be considered an enormous waste by any Lord.
However...
The Attribute Books granted free attribute points.
Players could distribute those points however they wished.
Therefore...
They held tremendous appeal for Players.
Hang Yu did not mind.
After all...
Players were immortal.
He did not need to worry about investment efficiency.
Furthermore...
Although the Starsea Library originally only required Essence...
Hang Yu had taken the opportunity to charge a substantial amount of Contribution Points as well.
This created yet another enormous Contribution Point sink for the territory.
It also further increased the value of Contribution Points.
Just as the Players of the Calamity Army...
Along with the territory's other citizens...
Were enthusiastically discussing the newly added Talents, Skills, and facilities...
The two new missions personally issued by the Lord were finally released.
The mission to eliminate the Abyss forces in the Wan City region came as no surprise.
Even without mission guidance...
The major Legions would have shifted their focus toward the Wan City map anyway.
Because throughout the Old Wan region...
Besides Old Wan City itself...
There were numerous cities and monster zones with tremendous value.
Competition among the major Legions had become increasingly fierce.
No one wished to be surpassed by their rivals.
The appearance of the second mission...
However...
Immediately attracted the attention of Players throughout the territory.
【Mission Name: Day of Return Event】
【Mission Description: The Day of the Stars' Return will arrive within twenty-four hours. Lord Hang Yu will return to the Land of the Stars to participate in the Sacred Azure Rising Stars Tournament. As the Lord's most loyal Calamity Army, you should contribute to the honor of the territory.】
【Mission Objective: Secure qualification for Lord Hang Yu and obtain the tournament trial map for the territory!】
【Mission Reward: 150,000 Essence, 150,000 Contribution Points, Territory Limited-Time Dungeon Map +1!】
【Participant Limit: 85】
【Registration Requirement: Tier 3 or above】
【Registration Method: Eligible Players should report to the Lord's Hall. Lord Hang Yu will personally select eighty-five participants to accompany him to the Land of the Stars.】
————
The moment this mission was released...
Players everywhere were overwhelmed with excitement.
“Holy crap!”
“The Hidden Map is opening again?”
“What?”
“The Hidden Map?”
“Sacred Azure City?”
“This time we can not only tour Sacred Azure City, but there's actually a major event too!”
“A dungeon!”
“The game is finally introducing a dungeon system!”
“But unlocking it won't be easy.”
“It looks like we first have to qualify in this Lord Tournament!”
“This actually sounds pretty interesting!”
“I have to register!”
“Even if it's just a one-day sightseeing trip to Sacred Azure City, I can't miss this opportunity!”
“I also want to see the scenery of Sacred Azure City!”
“But I'm only Level 19!”
“I don't even qualify to register!”
“Damn it!”
“...”
After receiving the news...
The commanders and top experts of every major Legion immediately led their members toward the Lord's Hall.
No one was willing to miss such an important event.
The magnificent grandeur of Sacred Azure City remained unforgettable.
Even treating it as a sightseeing trip or an opportunity to broaden one's horizons made it worthwhile.
Not to mention...
This time there seemed to be far more interactions.
There might be opportunities to uncover additional storylines.
They could even obtain a party dungeon map for the territory.
How could anyone possibly miss such a chance?
At the same time...
Jia Xu, Wen Ping, Zhou Cang, Zhang Zhongjing...
Along with the ten Black Tiger Commandants...
Also received notifications from Lord Hang Yu.
Zhang Zhongjing said, “The Land of the Stars? This old man can actually visit such a place?”
Even Jia Xu was rather surprised.
However...
He was clearly very interested in this journey.
He said,
“From the moment we accepted the Lord's Starsea Mark, we became Starsea Offspring.”
“Since we are Starsea Offspring...”
“It is only natural that we may also travel to the Land of the Stars.”
These natives who had been born and raised within the Abyss Three Kingdoms...
Never could have imagined...
That they would one day temporarily escape the Abyss Dream they had always lived within...
Or even leave the entire Abyss Three Kingdoms plane...
To visit the legendary Land of the Stars.
Zhou Cang said,
“I've wanted to witness the Land of the Stars for a long time!”
Wen Ping replied,
“This time we are accompanying Lord Hang Yu back to the Land of the Stars on an important mission.”
“We must not be careless.”
“We need to prepare thoroughly.”
Zhou Cang nodded.
“Exactly!”
“Our Human race holds a low status within the Land of the Stars!”
“We absolutely cannot bring shame upon Lord Hang Yu!”
The four Hero Units of the Human Territory.
The ten Black Tiger Commandants.
Upon learning they had been personally chosen by Lord Hang Yu...
Every one of them felt deeply honored.
At the same time...
They looked forward to the upcoming journey with great anticipation.
There were still more than ten hours remaining before the Day of the Stars' Return.
They immediately hurried off...
Repairing equipment that needed repairing.
Improving skills that needed improving.
Preparing themselves thoroughly for this important journey to the Land of the Stars.
Not long afterward...
Hang Yu selected eighty-five members of the Calamity Army to accompany him.
Together with everyone else...
The group formed a perfect team of one hundred.
He had been a Lord for over three months now.
The achievements he had made...
Were enough to satisfy him.
This could be considered a triumphant return home.
Although this was not the territory's strongest possible lineup...
It would surely be enough to astonish many people.
It would allow his mentor, Principal Long, and the others...
To witness the tremendous foundation and strength of this Human Territory!
(P.S. Please vote with your monthly tickets! Please vote with your recommendation tickets! Also, a reminder: the story will still mainly focus on developing the Abyss. The current Land of the Stars arc will not be very long.)