abcnovels
Chapter 244: 243: Change of Captain! (Please Subscribe!)
Chapter 244: 243: Change of Captain! (Please Subscribe!)
Chapter 244: 243: Change of Captain! (Please Subscribe!)
Translator: 549690339
“Guess I’m just down on my luck this time. Let’s take back the three Demon Clan corpses and divide them equally, then go our separate ways, alright?”
Qiao Bing was also at a loss at this point. She’d finally found a team, thinking that the trio was composed of top-level prodigies who had just started their journey and were pretty strong, but it turned out…
Sigh!
They might be top-level prodigies, but their strength…
For people like them, it would probably take hundreds or thousands of years to reach the peak level. So, it’s better to cut ties and disperse now.
Niu Dazhuang was also somewhat disheartened. His thoughts were similar to Qiao Bing’s, hoping to attach himself to those stronger than him. Little did he know, he and Qiao Bing ended up being the strong ones…
“Splitting equally… doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
Long Aotian had a secretive look in his eyes that hinted at something being amiss.
Qiao Bing shook her head, “We agreed to divide equally in the beginning, so let’s stick with that. Now, let’s go back. There are specialized recovery units outside the platform for Demon Clan corpses, and we can exchange them for money, which we can split five ways…”
However, Du Gang didn’t care about what happened with the corpses, but pressed on: “Do we really have to go back?”
“Not going back?”
Qiao Bing snorted, “If not, then what? Who will fight? Should I be the main attacker?”
Du Gang nodded, “You take the lead, and the rest of us will continue in our roles… huh, consider Long Aotian as a warrior…”
A warrior it is then…
Long Aotian shrugged, looking indifferent. After all, he was only here to test himself.
Qiao Bing was left dumbfounded, laughing, “Then what? I take the lead, carry you three rookies, and then share the spoils with you equally?”
“Why should I? Why wouldn’t I look for three Rank One Peak individuals for an easy battle?”
Instead of directly addressing her question, Du Gang asked, “You mentioned earlier that you’re an assassin, how powerful is your single burst of divine power?”
Qiao Bing shook her head and sighed, “Enough, let’s not waste our time. Let’s go back, it’s pointless…”
In her opinion, all of Du Gang’s suggestions were an attempt to coax her into a compromise from some weird angle. It wasn’t worth it.
Ignoring her, Du Gang continued: “The attack you executed earlier was roughly 35 units in strength, while our fourth Demon Clan opponent’s strongest attack was around 25 units. Given that your power surpasses his, why did you ambush him?”
“For efficiency!”
Interest reignited in Qiao Bing, eager to hear what kind of absurd ideas were popping up in this young noble’s head.
“There’s indeed a gap between 35 units and 25 units, but it’s not that significant and it’s hard to crush the opponent in one go…”
Du Gang nodded, this was true. At the time, the enemy had exerted a divine power of 25 units, while his attack was only 18 units in strength. Though he managed to withstand the attack, the subsequent blowback injured him and was not enough to kill him at once.
He continued to probe, “Can you act tyrannically with your current power level?”
“Tyrannically?”
Qiao Bing frowned, “What are you joking about? I’m just an assassin, there’s no way I could act tyrannically. If I truly had that power, I would’ve stormed the wild Demon Clan zone by now!”
Du Gang continued to nod in agreement, “So, you joined us before for what? To more efficiently kill the Demon Clan and earn divine crystals?”
“Of course!”
Qiao Bing affirmed, “If not to make money and earn divine crystals, who would bother coming to a place like this…”
Du Gang turned his gaze towards Niu Dazhuang, asking, “How about you? Do you share the same goal?”
Niu Dazhuang nodded in agreement, “Yes, I’m also here to more efficiently earn divine crystals…”
Du Gang appeared thoughtful and paused for a while, during which the rest seemed quite puzzled by his actions.
Again, he questioned, “Qiao Bing, how much divine power do you possess?”
“My divine power?”
Qiao Bing fell silent, “Aren’t you aware that this is considered personal privacy?”
However, she shrugged shortly after, saying, “I can tell you, but if you can’t give me a satisfactory answer…”
“Humph!”
“Go ahead!” Du Gang calmly asked.
Qiao Bing simply stated, “My divine power is 260 units.”
260 units!
Du Gang continued to ask, “Your divine power is 260 units, why was your single attack earlier only in the thirties in terms of divine power?”
“You don’t know?”
Initially puzzled, Qiao Bing quickly remembered that the trio had just broken through to the God Spirit Level two months ago, and said, “Do you three not know about the relationship coefficient between different God Spirit Level attack powers?”
All three of them shook their heads.
Du Gang suggested, “Tell us then, I did notice some issues previously, but wasn’t sure if I was correct!”
Qiao Bing thought that since she had listened this far, it would be frustrating if she didn’t hear the rest. So, she started: “The God Spirit Level Attack Coefficient indicates that different levels of attack power have an upper limit value and a base value!”
“I’ll take the Rank One God Spirit as an example.”
Leaving aside the deities, during the Rank One God Spirit Level, the deities are more or less the same in power and are basically useless. Just let them fight among themselves in heaven …”
“Now, about the divine power, in the God Spirit Level, divine power can be cultivated continuously, theoretically, one can cultivate their divine power to infinity…”
“However, the quantity of divine power only affects how long you can release divine power. It doesn’t cause any qualitative changes…”
“The strength of an attack relates to the power contained in the technique used for a single attack, and has nothing to do with the amount of divine power!”
“The quantity of divine power merely represents your stamina, the number of times you can use divine power techniques!”
“You are familiar with divine power techniques, aren’t you?”
Qiao Bing smiled, “If you don’t use the technique, have you tried to see how much divine power you can gather for an attack?”
Upon hearing these words, Du Gang immediately took action, materializing the Ancient Divine Spear, charged up and launched an attack, without relying on any techniques.
“Swoosh!”
About three units of divine power then attached itself onto the spear, however, no matter how much Du Gang tried, he could not consolidate any more divine power.
Even though his divine power had reached 18 units, what was attached to the spearhead was merely 3 units!
“3 units it is!”
Qiao Bing laughed, “This is where the problem lies. The amount of divine power can be cultivated infinitely, but the divine power that can be released at once is limited!”
“For a regular attack like this, most people can only consolidate 3-5 units of divine power…”
Du Gang narrowed his eyes, quickly saying, “Is there a way to increase the consolidation of divine power, releasing more powerful divine power through cultivation methods?”
“Correct!”
Qiao Bing smiled, nodded, and continued, “Cultivation methods of different ranks have varying amount of divine power that can be released…”
“Yellow grade cultivation methods can generally release divine power techniques containing about 10 to 25 units of divine power. The maximum that can be released is a 25-unit divine power technique!”
“Mystic rank techniques are somewhat similar, able to release divine powers between 25 to 50 units!”
“Earth rank techniques, the maximum divine power technique that can be executed is 75 units!”
“Heavenly rank techniques, the maximum divine power technique that can be executed is 100 units!”
Du Gang asked, “Is this the rank one God Spirit Level?”
“Correct, this is just rank one God Spirit Level…”
Du Gang frowned, asking again, “Would the progress of cultivation method affect the level of divine power released?”
“To my knowledge, all cultivation methods, except for yellow grade ones, regardless if they are mystic, earth or heavenly rank, can only exert one percent of their power even if learned at the God Spirit Level…”
Qiao Bing nodded, “I didn’t expect you to know this…”
She laughed, “It does have an impact. Under normal circumstances, the maximum divine power technique that can be executed by four different cultivation methods would be what I just mentioned…”
“But, if you elevate the progress of a cultivation method, then the upper limit of the divine technique that can be executed will also increase!”
“For instance, with the Saintly grade method, during the first tribulation of the God Spirit Level, it can release a maximum of 75 units of divine power. But if a person progresses, they can break this limit and continue to climb…”
“That means, when he progresses his Saintly grade method to two percent, at the first tribulation of the God Spirit Level, he can exert a divine power of 150 units!”
“I see!”
Du Gang had an understanding.
Going by this, the Holy Academy, which developed the prophecy technique to five percent at the God Spirit Level, implies that their students are potentially capable of exerting, at the first tribulation of the God Spirit Level, a power equivalent to 75 times five units, which equates to a frightening maximum of 375 units of divine power!
This is a terrifying figure. For an average God Spirit Level who, disregarding other factors, has only learned the yellow grade technique, they will not be able to release such a powerful divine power, even if they reach the ninth tribulation of the God Spirit Level.
Of course, this isn’t taking any other factors into account.
“So that’s how it is!”
At this time, Little Hawk King finally understood.
“I was wondering why my Claw Splitting the Sky was shattered easily…”
“As it turns out, it was because my divine power was too weak and could not unleash its full power…”
Qiao Bing nodded, a hint of envy showing on her face.
“You guys have executed the Supreme Technique before, which means, the upper limit of your divine power is 100 units. But your divine power was not enough, which limited the power of the divine technique!”
Three people, three Supreme Techniques. It’s truly deserving of the Ancient City!
She was full of emotions. Even the imperial clan didn’t have the Supreme Technique, but the Ancient City had many such techniques…
Du Gang nodded and laughed, “I get it, so the power system works like this…”
He then asked, “What about Second Tribulation God Spirits? Is the upper limit of their divine power technique based on double of the First Tribulation?”
Qiao Bing nodded, “Yes, regardless of the tribulation of the God Spirit, the upper limit of divine power is always based on multiplying the tribulation number with the base of the First Tribulation God Spirit…”
Du Gang laughed, “How much can we sell these three demon clan corpses for?”
Niu Dazhuang, who was keen on power, spoke up, “I have weighed it. The three demon clan corpses weigh a total of 367 pounds and 5 ounces, with a maximum difference of about 3 ounces!”
The four of them were dumbfounded, looking at him with amazement.
Niu Dazhuang scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, “This is my skill for weighing food. Don’t worry, when I say it won’t exceed 3 ounces, it absolutely won’t…”
Du Gang nodded, “Alright, if you say it’s 367 pounds, then it’s 367 pounds…”
“No, it’s 367 pounds and 5 ounces!” Niu Dazhuang corrected him.
Du Gang paused for two seconds, then nodded, “Fine, considering that weight, we should get 367 divine crystals!”
“If we calculate with the money earned from one ambush, we would need 28 ambushes to collect ten thousand divine crystals…”
All four of them became curious, wondering what Du Gang intended.
Du Gang laughed and said, “Qiao Bing, don’t you think we’re useless right now?”
“Yes!”
“…Uh, indeed we are useless now. But, once our divine power increases, would our attack power also increase?!”
Qiao Bing frowned, “What do you mean?”
Du Gang laughed, “I currently possess 18 units of divine power, and at the rate of 1 core increases 1 unit of divine power, I need at most seventy thousand divine crystals. I would then possess 25 units of divine power, and with my Supreme Technique, it would mean that my divine power technique would already rival those peak individuals using yellow grade techniques…”
“Didn’t you think we three don’t qualify to be your teammates right now?”
“Why not take the time to cultivate?”
“Invest now, and when the three of us rise, we can split the winnings then. Given our foundations and capabilities, do you think it will be easy to slay the demon clan?”
Du Gang laughed, “In the early stage, we just need to gather seventy thousand divine crystals to get me to 25 units of divine power, and I will become a standard support, right?!”
“By then, earn another 250 thousand divine crystals, and I’ll be equivalent to a Destroyer…”
“At that time, our team will have a Tank, an Assassin, a Destroyer, a Scout, and a useless Warrior…”
“What do you think would happen if a Destroyer leads the charge? How fast do you think we could kill off the Demon Clan?”
“Huh?”
Qiao Bing was gobsmacked!
So was Niu Dazhuang.
A Destroyer leading the team…
This idea was so alluring.
Niu Dazhuang started to mutter to himself.
“With one round, we could earn 367 Divine Crystals. After about 30 rounds, we would have 10,000 Divine Crystals. The distance between 18 er and 50 er is 320,000 Divine Crystals, which means we need to fight 900 rounds…”
He licked his lips, immensely excited. After a moment’s thought, he said, “I agree!”
The one standing here isn’t just a future Destroyer, the upper limit of his divine power isn’t just 50, it’s 100. This means, once he grows up, he could potentially be a part of those heroic squads, or even be given a star rating!
You must realize, the current heroic squads on the first layer of the abyss are all the elites of the Ancient City. They often form their own group, rarely teaming up with other races.
But the three in front of them…
They’re clearly weak, having just ranked up to God Spirit Level. But this chance…
Indeed, it’s too precious!
As he gathered his thoughts, Qiao Bing also figured it out.
Her eyes began to sparkle.
My goodness, she almost turned down such an opportunity…
“I agree too!”
What’s just a thousand battles?
How much time could it possibly take?
“Huh?”
Long Aotian and Little Hawk King were somewhat confused.
“You mean, after you two fight with us, you don’t want any of the spoils of war?!”
Qiao Bing and Niu Dazhuang shared a look, they both smiled and nodded, “Exactly, as Du Gang said, investing in you would result in huge returns, hence, our investment!”
“We just hope that you don’t act like you don’t know us when the time comes…”
“That won’t happen!”
Long Aotian let out a hearty laugh, “Rest assured, I am not that sort of person!”
Du Gang laughed and said, “Great, then let’s revisit our battle plan and refine the details again…”
“Alright!”
Qiao Bing agreed immediately, her excitement returned.
Because she realized the rewards of teaming up with these three after they grew, are entirely different from what they can get right now.
For example, if these three become really strong today, all being Destroyers, they might earn something, but the profits might be limited to this operation only, earning a few thousand or tens of thousands of Divine Crystals.
But afterward, they would be mere passersby.
But now, this is an opportunity to build a friendship, to become friends!
However, at this moment, Du Gang calmed down.
He began calculating carefully.
After a while, he spoke, “Well… If both of you can keep up with us, we’ll definitely continue teaming up. But if you can’t keep up in the future…”
The smiles on their faces froze.
They didn’t expect Du Gang to be so pragmatic, grounding them immediately.
But Du Gang continued serious, “I believe it’s better to clarify this now, we wouldn’t want to end up not being friends, right?!”
He chuckled, “At the very least, I think after about a thousand battles, we’ll definitely be friends…”
The two of them thought for a moment and realized he was right, they nodded, “What’s your plan?”
Du Gang laughed, “I brought this up because I was worried that when we reach our limit, we could delay our advancement while taking care of you, which may lead us to falling behind other prodigies…”
“So, my thought is that from now on, all the Divine Crystals we earn together, we will return a minimum of two times the amount you invested in us, in case we have to leave for any reason!”
“What this means is that if all three of us have 100 er divine power, consuming three million Divine Crystals from the team, we’ll return six million Divine Crystals to the two of you. Deal?!”
“Six million!”
The two of them were startled and swallowed hard.
This number was too outrageous, a number they wouldn’t normally dare to dream of but Du Gang just matter-of-factly spoke about it.
“So, if we invest five million Divine Crystals in you now, we could earn at least ten million Divine Crystals in the future?!”
Niu Dazhuang looked dazed, “If that’s the case, why would I even bother selling chestnuts?”
Du Gang chuckled, “Please rest assured on this, I promise you that the benefits you can gain in the future will be much higher than just double.”
Now, Little Hawk King and Long Aotian also understood. Du Gang planned to get the backing of these two first, then pay them back later.
This was good news for them.
At least, growing first meant infinite possibilities. Even if they had to repay more in the future, it wouldn’t be harder than earning five million Divine Crystals now.
This was as simple as a mathematical problem. They were just like an unknown Ma Yun right now, waiting for someone to invest in them.
The only difference was that their potential had been confirmed. Qiao Bing and Niu Dazhuang could clearly see their potential, as well as the future returns.
Moreover, the biggest concern for them wasn’t whether these three had potential, but whether they would stand by their word and acknowledge the debt.
Now, Du Gang had solved this problem. At the cost of a promise, an early explanation, he eased their worries.
This worry might not have occurred to them yet, but with the passage of time, it will inevitably come to mind.
However, Du Gang preemptively made a move, breaking through and completely eliminating the safety risks!
“Alright, now that we’ve settled on the future usage of Divine Crystals, we should start discussing the related tactics!”
After Du Gang finished speaking, all four of them were looking at him eagerly, almost as if waiting for him to lay out the plan.
“Qiao Bing, what do you think?”
Qiao Bing laughed and said, “You make the call, captain, it’s up to you!”
“You have seen my strength. My strongest attack is around thirty odd units of Divine Power, able to instantly kill the enemy in an ambush, but if it’s a frontal assault, it might take some time…”
Du Gang nodded, “In that case, let’s start making a new plan!”
He thought for a moment and said, “Let’s determine the positions first.”
“Main damage: Qiao Bing, Tank: Niu Dazhuang, Support: Du Gang, Scout: Little Hawk King, Fighter: Long Aotian.”
“Hmm… the most useless one right now is Long Aotian…”
Long Aotian was unhappy, “I’ve shed blood for the team…”
Du Gang couldn’t be bothered to respond, and simply said, “I have 18 units of Divine Power, it’s actually not too bad, I can normally hold off one person…”
“Little Hawk King has wings, he should also be able to…”
Saying that, he turned his head towards Little Hawk King and asked, “With an enemy of similar strength to the previous one, can you hold it off for a minute?”
Little Hawk King confidently replied, “No problem, that guy before didn’t even touch me!”
Indeed, he had a pair of wings, and unless the enemy could fly, it would be difficult to hit him!
Du Gang nodded, then turned to Qiao Bing, saying, “Next, I will primarily be coordinating with you. I will attract the attention of the fifth member of the Demon Clan, and you will kill him. Roughly how long will it take?”
Qiao Bing pondered for a moment and replied, “It should be possible within ten seconds. My stealth needs time…”
“Ok!”
Du Gang nodded and turned his attention to Long Aotian, “Can you last for ten seconds?”
“What are you talking about!”
Long Aotian was very displeased, “Looking down on me? Ten seconds? What do you take me for?!”
Du Gang didn’t bother to argue with him and simply reiterated, “Ten seconds. Yes or no? Any more nonsense and we’ll replace you!”
Long Aotian suddenly lost his bravado, coughed and replied, “No problem with ten seconds. I can hold on!”
Even if he transformed into a dragon with his body stretching dozens of meters, he could afford to be chopped a few times without dying easily…
After all, his body was long enough!
“Hmm!”
Du Gang nodded and turned to Niu Dazhuang to ask.
“Dazhuang, how about you? If you have to hold off two opponents, what can you do? What’s the upper limit on the Divine Power of your opponents?”
He added, “The next battle is of great importance. I hope you are not bluffing. Be truthful. It’s a matter of our lives…”
Upon hearing this, Qiao Bing was rendered speechless.
Why didn’t you think about our lives when you three were hiding things from me?
Niu Dazhuang nodded, “I can resist attacks of up to 50 units of Divine Power. So, as long as the Demon Clan’s team does not include a Destroyer, I should be fine!”
“Yeah, I can handle two. No problem!” He considered for a moment and confirmed again.
Du Gang nodded.
“Good. If that’s the case, our team is officially formed!”
“Our initial plan will be similar to the current one. The two strongest members, Dazhuang will hold off, while the third and fourth members of the Demon Clan will be held off by Long Aotian and Little Hawk King. Little Hawk King, your job is to last for a minute. Don’t let your adversary break away to attack others…”
“Long Aotian, your job is to hang on for ten seconds. I won’t tell you anything else. Just hang on for ten seconds without dying…”
Long Aotian pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.
Du Gang continued, “Qiao Bing, your job is to coordinate with me to kill the Demon Clan member I face off against. The killing should be done within the tenth second!”
“This will be our first understanding. I’ll control the enemy so that he attacks me in the ninth second. So, in the tenth second, you will need to kill the enemy!”
“Can you do it?!”
Qiao Bing nodded seriously, “No problem!”
At this moment, she seemed to see a rising new star commander in Du Gang.
“Good!”
Du Gang once again turned to Niu Dazhuang and confirmed, “Are you able to hold off two demons, short of the Destroyer, without fail?!”
Hearing this, Niu Dazhuang turned serious and solemnly assured, “Rest assured, captain. As long as I’m alive, they’re not going anywhere!”
“Great!”
Du Gang nodded again and smiled, “Since that’s the case, let’s get to work then. This time, we’ll change the way we fight!”
“We’ll fight on the riverbank. The fork in the road is too boring. If no Demon Clan squad shows up, the waiting will be too long…”
At this point, Niu Dazhuang reminded, “If we fight on the riverbank, it’ll be more complicated. The river is wide and long, and people can hide underwater. We need to be careful at all times…”
“Moreover, at the riverbank, the battles are never ending. There are frequent fights between the Demon Clan and human squads, which can easily lead to group battles…”
He felt that he might not have been specific enough and directly added, “Uh… I mean, battles involving dozens or even hundreds of people!”
“Such situations are too dangerous. I’ve experienced it once and almost lost my physical body to the Demon Clan…”
When Niu Dazhuang said these things, there was a lingering fear in his eyes.
Du Gang nodded and said, “I see. Regardless, let’s head to the riverbank first, assess the situation, and then make a decision…”
As the new captain, he needed to gather enough information to decide the next move.