novelraw Chapter 365: The Power of the Nation
Chapter 365: The Power of the Nation
Setting aside this regret, objectively evaluating their current strength, they were all at the peak of the Tide Realm.
This realm, placed among their peers, could already be considered outstanding, and within the same grade across the Five Great Academies, they could steadily rank in the upper-middle tier.
However, if they wanted to stand out in the Five Great Academies Grand Competition that gathered the essence of Daxia's entire younger generation, they needed to at least reach the Abyss Realm.
Only by crossing that boundary, where spiritual energy undergoes a qualitative transformation, could they truly compete on the same stage as that small, topmost cluster of geniuses.
The three of them had not yet touched that barrier.
They clearly recognized that with their current strength, even if they forcibly defied orders and rushed to the front lines, the role they could play would be minuscule. The greater likelihood was merely adding to the casualties, even disrupting the overall deployment.
Unable to change the macro-scale war situation, and unable to participate in the grand competition they once anticipated.
Continuing to stay here, watching their compatriots fight while remaining idle, would only make the anxiety more acute.
Exchanging a silent glance, all three saw the same resolve in each other's eyes.
Without a word, the three of them strode towards the training chamber.They chose to leave this source of information that could only bring torment.
Suppressing all their unwillingness, they transformed it into the most primitive motivation for cultivation.
...
Daxia entered a state of war.
Entertainment programs on television and the internet were all suspended, replaced by 24-hour rolling broadcasts of frontline war updates.
The massive screens in city squares displayed real-time combat bulletins.
Schools suspended classes, factories converted production, the entire social operational model underwent a complete transformation.
Supermarkets experienced brief panic buying, but the government quickly implemented a rationing system for daily necessities to ensure basic supply.
Long lines formed outside banks as people queued to donate money.
From massive corporate transfers to the trembling hands of elderly retirees offering their pensions, donation boxes were quickly filled to the brim.
Major hospitals began receiving wounded personnel transferred from the front lines. Within less than two hours of emergency blood bank shortage notices being issued, winding queues had already formed outside blood donation points.
Taxi drivers formed volunteer fleets, transporting medical staff free of charge.
Restaurant owners and their employees delivered hot meals to militia members on duty.
Community grid workers went door-to-door registering available vacant rooms, preparing to receive evacuated border residents.
Machinery in munitions factories operated day and night, with workers on three shifts producing military supplies.
Thermal weapons production lines operated at full capacity.
Mountainous areas surrounding cities were hollowed out and converted into temporary air-raid shelters.
Highways were placed under military control, with all civilian vehicles yielding right of way to military convoys.
After confirming the areas with the densest concentrations of Mist Creatures.
Streaks of blinding white light ignited along the border, mushroom clouds rising one after another.
This was the saturation bombardment of nuclear weapons deployed in batches.
Social media underwent a complete transformation.
Celebrities' social media accounts reposted war reports.
Influencers' live streams switched to fundraising for frontline supplies.
Game servers were all shut down, their pages replaced with war mobilization posters.
Under the hashtag "Daxia Must Win," tens of thousands of new comments appeared every minute.
Schools suspended classes.
But teachers began giving special war lessons to students online, recounting the crises Daxia had faced throughout history and the struggles of their forebears.
Restaurants lowered prices to cost price, cinemas were converted into temporary shelters, gyms turned into militia training grounds.
Everyone found their place in this war, protecting the nation in the most unadorned ways.
Everything for the front lines, everything for Daxia.
Each according to their ability, converging into a river.
Daxia was now mobilizing the strength of the entire nation to face the most severe trial in over three hundred years since the Mist invasion began.
...
Mist World.
Su Zhan slowly opened his eyes.
The golden vertical pupil in his left eye and the silvery radiance in his right simultaneously withdrew, ultimately returning to a deep black.
Aberrant ability, Peak Special-risk.
Awakened individual ability, Peak Abyss Realm.
The dual-system powers were now perfectly integrated, with no remaining weaknesses.
At this moment, he was far stronger than when he had just consumed the Reforge Fruit.
He had absolute confidence that if he encountered that Calamity-tier first-order Frostgnawer again, he could completely annihilate it without a bitter struggle.
However...
A shadow still lingered in Su Zhan's heart.
How much time had passed?
Time could not be measured within the Mist World.
He had been cultivating with all his might, with no spare attention for anything else.
What about the outside world?
What was the state of Daxia?
The news Su Zhan heard before entering the Mist World was of the greatest crisis in history.
What if... what if, upon leaving this place, he discovered Blue Star had been completely devoured by the Mist, and Daxia had already become history?
This thought tightened his heart.
He hadn't yet avenged Qin Bai!
If Daxia was gone, who would he go to to settle the score for being hunted all those years ago?
Would he have to hunt down the possible remnants of the Aberrant Purge Division that might have also been destroyed?
That would be too frustrating.
Su Zhan's gaze swept over the surrounding mist.
Unlike his previous struggle for survival in the Mist World.
Now, with his greatly increased strength, he could clearly see that within this vast mist space, there existed many spatial nodes.
These nodes connected to Blue Star. They were the invasion channels for Mist Creatures, and also his return paths.
There were too many!
The sheer number of these spatial nodes made his heart sink.
Once, he had spent over a year of time to luckily find just one.
Now, he could discover them almost by casually probing any area.
This directly illustrated that at this very moment, a massive number of Mist Creatures were pouring through these nodes towards Blue Star, towards Daxia!
The ferocity of the assault Daxia faced far exceeded his initial imagination.
Even though Su Zhan was now dual-system Peak Special-risk, with strength sufficient to crush ordinary first-order Calamity-tier beings, facing this kind of world-ending disaster sweeping across the globe, his individual power still seemed so insignificant.
Even if he returned immediately and threw himself into some border battlefield, perhaps he could hold a corner. But to reverse the entire war situation?
As difficult as scaling the heavens.
Simultaneously, another thought surfaced in his mind.
Teacher Wang Mingyuan.
That elder who was like both a teacher and a father, burdened for years by the hidden injury from the Frostgnawer.
He had personally experienced the miraculous effect of the Reforge Fruit. If he could find a second one, it would definitely cure his teacher's injury.
He had always kept this debt of gratitude in his heart.
However, such rare treasures of heaven and earth were encountered by chance, not by seeking.
Being able to encounter one in the Crystal Forest was already tremendous luck. Wanting to find a second one was probably more difficult than him hunting ten Calamity-level creatures.
"Break through to Calamity-level first!"
Su Zhan made a decision. "Then, keep an eye out for traces of the Reforge Fruit."
Now, only by hunting Calamities could he achieve a breakthrough.
Su Zhan began conducting a carpet search in those known areas where Calamity-level creatures might exist.
But the results were disheartening.
Too few.
Calamity-level existences had become extremely scarce.
Many lairs that originally emitted Calamity-level fluctuations were now completely empty.
Clearly, the masters of these lairs had long since departed.
This discovery confirmed his previous speculation and made his heart even heavier.
The vast majority of Calamity-level beings had probably truly passed through those densely packed spatial nodes to Blue Star, participating in that devastating Mist Surge.
This caused the difficulty of finding suitable prey to increase exponentially.
During this period, he encountered countless Peak Special-risk Mist Creatures. These overlord-level existences that once required his serious attention now posed no threat before his dual-system Peak Special-risk strength.
He didn't need to exert his full power to easily slay them.
But, it was useless.
Absorbing the Life Essence of these Peak Special-risk creatures was like trying to put out a burning cartload of firewood with a cup of water; it simply couldn't shake the solid barrier leading to Calamity.
Su Zhan's power had already reached the extreme limit of his current realm.
Quantitative change could not induce qualitative change.
What he needed was higher-level Life Essence to advance.