chsdbacks Chapter 600 Duel and Relief
Chapter 600 Duel and Relief
Several months have passed in the blink of an eye.
The dueling arena operates at full capacity from morning till night.
Wizards from the four major factions lined up to go in and lined up to come out, some with beaming faces, others with bruises and swelling—the latter usually having encountered an opponent of similar strength.
However, such unlucky individuals are ultimately a minority.
The wizards from the parallel world went from being wary and resistant at first, to being eager to try, and now they're even coming to my door with their families. The change in their attitude was so rapid that it left Jemin somewhat impressed.
The changes began with the first wizards who signed the covenant.
Those parallel world wizards, with their withered faces and crazed eyes, seemed like completely different people the day after signing the contract.
Wearing their new robes issued by their counterparts, and with their physical condition noticeably improved, they ate the free food provided by the arena and sat in the audience cheering on people they knew.
When someone asked them what the contract contained, they didn't hide anything and directly took out the contract text to show them.
The high-level wizards of the four major powers do not have much pressure in their lives and have enough leeway to exercise their morality, so their moral standards are much higher than their counterparts in the parallel world.
Moreover, wizards know that only when another version of themselves becomes strong enough can they help with research or support each other on the same path.
Therefore, their contract with their other self is not strict; it is essentially a variation of an academic cooperation agreement.
Party A provides knowledge and resources to assist Party B in enhancing its capabilities; Party B shall serve as Party A's research assistant for the agreed period of time, assisting in the completion of experiments; upon expiration of the contract, both parties shall amicably terminate the contract without causing harm to each other.
The wizards in the parallel worlds had a remarkably consistent expression after reading the contract—first disbelief, then ecstasy.
After all, in their minds, "research assistants" are equivalent to "experimental materials plus slaves," the kind of people who can be used and then discarded. And what was the result?
These elegantly dressed colleagues actually treated them as "assistants".
With food, drink, and books to read, one can regain their freedom after working for thousands of years and even take away all their skills.
This treaty is much better than the indentures they signed in exchange for knowledge!
The news spread like a plague among the warships in the parallel world.
The low-level wizards who were originally hiding in the corners and trembling at first did not believe it, but after confirming the authenticity of the news, they began to rush to the dueling arena with their families.
Some came looking for their counterparts, some couldn't find a counterpart so they asked any of the four major powers' wizards who looked pleasing to the eye to take them in, and some simply came to freeload—the free meals provided by the four major powers were ten thousand times better than their usual war rations.
The level six wizards responsible for maintaining order couldn't stop them, and in the end, Felix stepped in and announced that "all wizards from parallel worlds who are willing to accept the civilization integration plan can obtain temporary residency status," which restored normalcy to the situation.
For the past few months, Jemin has done nothing but sit in the audience and watch the fight.
I watched one game after another.
From level six to level eight, from elemental to fate-based combat, from formal duels to street brawls.
The Fate System was operating at full capacity, recording and categorizing the data from every battle.
Over the course of several months, his combat database was greatly expanded.
The battle unfolded exactly as he had predicted; the conflict between the different wizarding civilizations was a one-sided and overwhelming defeat.
The technology possessed by modern wizards far surpasses that of their counterparts.
It's not that the wizards in parallel worlds are too weak, but rather that they are too strong.
It was a system crushing system, a complete inheritance crushing fragmented knowledge.
But Jemin also noticed something interesting.
Wizards in parallel worlds are technologically inferior, but in terms of combat instinct, the best among them are even stronger than wizards in the present world. Their ruthlessness in squeezing every ounce of power to the limit is unmatched by wizards in the present world.
Although the wizards on Jemin's side have also participated in countless wars, their fighting spirit and the brutality of the battlefields they have experienced are far inferior to those of their counterparts.
The show he's watching right now is the best example.
This duel attracted the attention of most wizards, after all, it was a rare battle between level eight and level eight.
The one in the present world is a wizard from the Void Architecture Institute. Jeming can't quite remember his name, but he knows that he is one of the members of the Void Architecture Institute's delegation. His aura is as calm as a mountain.
In the parallel world, there is a being that is almost indistinguishable from a human.
One side of the other's body was a constantly writhing tumor, while the other side was bare bone.
Its head hung crookedly on its shoulder, with only one eye still retaining a human shape.
There was no madness in those eyes, only calmness.
When Jemin noticed this, a chill ran down his spine.
Having watched the battles for months, he knew all too well the fighting styles of the wizards in the parallel world.
The calmer a guy seems, the crazier he can be when he fights.
"Hehehehehehe..."
The moment the duel began, an eighth-level wizard from the parallel world let out a sinister laugh.
The laughter was hoarse and grating, as if it were being squeezed out of a broken bellows.
He raised his hand, and endless elements in the void converged towards him.
Fire, wind, water, earth... the four elements were forcibly condensed in a very short time, and then compressed and collapsed under his control.
And so, a star took shape in his palm.
The so-called "constant star" is not a metaphor; it refers to a real star.
The ball of scorching plasma spun and burned in his palm, releasing energy powerful enough to incinerate a plane.
Although Jemin was separated from the protective barrier of the dueling arena, he couldn't feel the terrifying heat wave, but judging from the simulated environment of instantaneous vaporization inside the dueling arena, this thing was definitely not just for show.
But this is just the starting position.
Then, the star was rapidly compressed, from a diameter of tens of millions of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers, then to several kilometers, and finally to the height of a person. In the end, the star was compressed into a shuttle the height of a person.
The originally scorching surface quickly returned to calm, even becoming excessively dark. Once the compressed volume exceeded a certain limit, the color suddenly turned into absolute darkness, and the surrounding light and spacetime were distorted.
That's... a black hole!
And this thing hovered in the palm of the parallel world wizard, like a javelin that could slip from his hand at any moment.
Jemin gasped.
I must say, he truly lives up to his reputation as an eighth-level wizard.
The starting stance alone is this outrageous!
If this arena hadn't been specially constructed, this thing would probably have destroyed the surrounding planes the moment it appeared!
Seeing that his counterpart on the other side made no attempt to stop him, the wizard from the parallel world casually tossed out the shuttle in his hand without hesitation.
The moment the shuttle left his hand, all the light in the void dimmed for a moment.
All the light in its path was absorbed!
The protective barrier of the dueling arena flickered wildly, countless runes lighting up simultaneously, firmly locking the gravitational waves emitted by the shuttle inside the arena. The wizards in the audience only felt a slight tremor, but Jemin knew that if the Void Architecture Institute hadn't taken this level of attack into account when designing the dueling arena, the aftershocks of that gravitational wave alone would have been enough to tear all the surrounding spectators to shreds.
Seeing that his counterpart had finally launched an attack, the level eight wizard of the Void Architecture Institute made his move.
He vanished in a flash.
The next instant, he appeared at the other end of the dueling arena.
But the shuttle also turned, continuing its pursuit at a sharp angle that defied all the laws of physics.
Flash again, chase again.
Flash again, chase again.
The level eight wizard used at least seventeen different techniques, from phase jumps to spatial folding, from existence elimination to probability shifts. Each technique was enough to shake off most locking spells, but the shuttle seemed to have eyes, sticking tightly to him, never widening the distance by even a centimeter.
Jemin narrowed his eyes, quickly analyzing the situation in his mind.
"It's a sure hit." He quickly came to the conclusion. "It's knowledge of fate. The opponent directly set the outcome as 'hit,' and no matter how the target tries to dodge, the result won't change."
According to the history of the development of wizarding civilizations in parallel worlds that Jemin received, they also conducted research on level nine beings in order to explore the path to level nine.
Although he ultimately failed to achieve his goal, he did obtain the fictional laws that allowed him to transcend the boundaries between illusion and reality, and thus truly acquired the laws of fate.
However, unlike the wizarding civilization on Jemin's side, the development path of the fate-based laws in the parallel world's wizarding civilization is biased towards combat methods.
Just like the inevitable outcome of this cause-and-effect situation right before our eyes.
In the dueling arena, the level eight wizard from the Void Architecture Institute suddenly stopped.
He hovered in mid-air, his back to the approaching shuttle, a look of emotion on his face.
"I never expected..." His voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly heard by every spectator through the amplification array in the dueling arena, "that I actually have the potential to learn about the Fate system."
Before he could finish speaking, the shuttle crashed into him.
The blazing white light engulfed everything.
Even with the protection of the dueling arena's magic circle, the blinding light still made Jemin subconsciously squint.
But the destiny system is still running, faithfully recording every frame.
The impact of the flying shuttle caused the outermost layers of energy defense of this level eight wizard to burst like bubbles.
The shuttle continued forward and struck the eighth-level wizard in the chest.
Then, the shuttle shattered.
The javelin, compressed into a black hole, shattered into countless fragments like a fragile piece of glass the instant it struck its target's chest. The fragments scattered in all directions, crashing against the walls of the dueling arena. The terrifying power was absorbed by the arena's protective array, and the remaining matter instantly transformed into basic elemental particles under the array's influence, being expelled into the endless chaotic void.
The eighth-level wizard from the Void Architecture Institute simply stood there, looking down at his chest.
There was a scorch mark the size of a fist on the robe, but that was all.
He reached out and casually flicked the scorch mark, as if he were brushing off a speck of dust.
"I'm really not good at the kind of knowledge related to fate, and figuring out how to guarantee a hit is indeed very tricky," he said. "But if you can't break through the enemy's defenses, it's pointless."
"However... thanks to your reminder, I see another possibility. It's possible to develop in the direction of fate later..." On the other side, the level eight wizard from the parallel world froze in place.
His expression shifted from a sneer to shock, from shock to disbelief, and from disbelief to something bordering on collapse. "Impossible…" he hissed, "You… this…"
The wizards of the Void Architecture Institute offered no explanation.
He simply stood there, calmly looking at the other person, like a patient teacher waiting for a student to accept reality.
The level eight wizard in the parallel world did not give up immediately.
He roared and attacked again.
Countless twisted tentacles emerged from the void, each carrying a curse powerful enough to corrode a plane.
He tore through space again, summoning a colossal beast that slumbered deep within the void.
Alternatively, one could unleash all their mental energy, transforming it into a mental shockwave that blasts at the opponent.
But all the attacks vanished the moment they touched the eighth-level wizard's body.
Its tentacles shattered, and the behemoth howled as it retreated into the void. Its mental attack struck an invisible wall, failing to even create a ripple.
Jemin sat in the audience, watching this scene, and shook his head helplessly.
The wizard attacks in parallel worlds may seem bizarre, powerful, and impossible to defend against, but those are just appearances.
Since the wizarding civilization deciphered the essence of the four elements, the way of fighting has become increasingly simple and brutal.
After all, all fancy techniques are meaningless in the face of absolute numerical differences.
The wizards in parallel worlds are not weak.
They can also rely on knowledge to enhance the output multiplier of unit elements, and can unleash destructive power far exceeding their own level.
However, their output multiplier is an order of magnitude lower than that of modern wizards.
It's not that they are weak, it's that the gap in technical skill between the two sides is too large.
Perhaps, catalyzed by the war in the early stages, the wizards in the parallel world will develop very quickly.
However, in the mid-to-late stages, without a suitable environment for communication, the technology of the wizard civilization in the parallel world will stagnate.
In an environment where everyone hoards their knowledge, new wizards can only constantly explore technologies that have already been researched from scratch. Meanwhile, the technological level of the existing wizarding civilization will catch up at an astonishing speed and eventually surpass it.
In the dueling arena, the level eight wizard from the parallel world finally stopped.
He hovered in mid-air, panting heavily, his eye, which still retained its human shape, flashing with alternating madness and calmness.
Then he smiled.
That smile contained bitterness, relief, and a long-lost sense of ease.
"I'm not fighting anymore," he said. "I can't win."
The wizard from the Void Architecture Institute nodded, took out a pre-prepared contract from his robes, and handed it over.
The level eight wizard from the parallel world accepted the contract, didn't even look at it, and directly used his spiritual power to imprint his soul mark on it.
A flash of light, and the contract took effect.
The wizard from the Void Architecture Institute put away the contract with satisfaction and extended his hand to his opponent: "Pleasure doing business with you."
The two hands are clasped together.