novelraw #256 - Section 256
#256 - Section 256
The Virtual Arcanist was very invested, also wanting to use this project to improve his combat capabilities.
With his financial resources, he could exclusively own a mana relay, asking the Eternal Night Empress to modify it for him. Without borrowing magic from the Eternal Night Empress, he could mash the keyboard and output damage himself.
After all, in battles where he really needed to take action, the Eternal Night Empress would likely be fighting as well, with no extra magic to lend him. It was more reliable to have his own power bank.
Roger's combat system plan was waiting for Xena to complete the mobile version of the mana relay. Whether it could be placed in a backpack or installed on a warship, it would greatly expand Roger's combat space.
Before the portable version was completed, he could practice as the Virtual Arcanist on the elven battlefield.
Of course, the most important reason was that the Lay-Flat System suddenly drew a skill card today, a unique card for which he couldn't find any basic cards, which made him quite puzzled.
Was the Virtual Arcanist project already in existence, or would the system also improve, developing new rewards in response to the Empire's technological advancements?
But his system was consistently aloof, not deigning to answer his boring inquiries. Roger could only continue to think about it without understanding the unsolvable mystery.
The key point was that this skill card's effect was quite strong, but it wasn't a skill that could be used anytime, anywhere.
【Skill Card - Devour: Defeat, Assimilate, Absorb】
At first, Roger didn't understand the value of these simple six words. After secretly arranging for death row inmates to experiment with it through the Dark Night Guard, he realized what a perverted card this was.
Defeat an opponent, assimilate their body, and then absorb them to randomly increase any of your attributes.
In other words, with this card, Roger would have theoretically unlimited upgrade potential.
However, this card also had great limitations. It couldn't be traded or taken out for research, meaning it could only be exclusive to Roger and couldn't be expanded and popularized to the Imperial army.
At the same time, it couldn't be upgraded and had to rely on the Virtual Arcanist project.
If this project hadn't already succeeded and moved in the direction of card games, Roger probably wouldn't have had the chance to use such an outrageous skill even if he drew it.
The existence of this card suddenly made the Lay-Flat System, which Roger had previously somewhat overlooked, seem mysterious again, and more doubts surrounded it.
But putting the doubts aside, coinciding with the battle between the Elven Empire and the Dark Elves, Roger could just take advantage of the chaotic battlefield to verify the effect of the Devour card.
The Elven Empress didn't dare to offend Roger now. Hearing that he just wanted to hide his identity and join the battlefield, she quickly made arrangements and even thoughtfully asked if he wanted her to send someone to protect him.
Obviously, Gladys regarded Roger as a young master who wanted to experience battle. Support was definitely necessary, but she was also afraid that something would happen to him on her side, so she had to provide sufficient security to avoid offending another Empress...
"No need."
Roger had enough confidence in his own survival ability. As long as he kept a low profile and didn't attract Yavin Sally's attention, he wouldn't easily screw up.
Moreover, the Devour ability sounded a bit strange, and he couldn't let the elves follow him all the time and discover his little secret.
......
......
After experiencing the effect of the Virtual Arcanist and verifying its outstanding effect on the actual battlefield, the Eternal Night Empress returned to her country.
She would participate more deeply in the battles of the System Sons on the front lines to obtain more fragments of divine avatars, and even fragments of the divine body itself.
Gods might be strategic resources for the Empire's future development, playing an irreplaceable role in ensuring the supply of excess energy and enhancing the combat power of the Virtual Arcanist.
In this universe, for countless years, mortals had been lambs of the gods, allowing them to plunder their faith, offering too much but receiving little in return.
Until now, the Empire had made key technological breakthroughs, and gods had become a material that could be used by mortals. The monsters nourished by faith were finally no longer just parasites, but a useful material.
Using this material, mortals could finally utilize their own faith. In the future, the mental power brought by population and thought complexity might become the 'I think' power that major forces would compete for, exerting greater and greater effects.
The consumption of divine avatars could also be replenished with faith. Although it also consumed the power of the plane's origin, it could be regarded as a kind of perpetual motion machine if only the surface consumption was calculated...
The good news was that the Seven Gods Alliance had re-expanded the path to godhood, and the number of gods that the Eternal Night Empress could hunt had greatly increased, and the hunting difficulty of those new gods and subordinate gods had also been greatly reduced.
Of course, the bad news was that most of the gods in this world had already been consumed by the Seven Gods Alliance, and the truly top-level materials were still the high and mighty Seven Gods.
After the further development of the Virtual Arcanist and the enrichment of materials, this technology would also be opened to the System Sons and appear on the front-line battlefield.
The cultivation and growth of cards, the existence of exclusive cards and advanced cards, made this technology a characteristic that the more users there were, the stronger the combat power it displayed.
The Eternal Night Empress could even see that as the Virtual Arcanist developed to a higher level and affected a more far-reaching battlefield, mortals would change from being forced to protect themselves to actively hunting gods to obtain enough resources...
"It is precisely this kind of technology that makes the relationship between mortals and gods truly balanced, and they have also been pulled down a little bit from their supreme divine thrones in terms of their meaning of existence."
This was the Eternal Night Empress's high praise for the divine energy conversion series of technologies.
Xena stayed at the elven border fortress, as she had to continue to observe the actual combat effects of the Virtual Arcanist and cooperate to make constant fine-tuning to ensure the stability and load of the mana relay.
Now, a mana relay covers a battlefield with a radius of three thousand kilometers, with a maximum of 100,000 people and the highest legendary level of total card output.
If the total points increase, it will lead to insufficient mana supply for distant users, or corresponding delays, as well as various bizarre gameplay leading to bugs, etc.
This kind of thing can happen even with divine arts bestowed by gods. Unforeseen situations, even if they have not been practiced in the real world, may still have problems.
While working here, Xena had more contact with Roger, after all, he needed to act as an intermediary between the Azure Vine Empire and the elves for many high-level exchanges.
But Xena found that Roger's recent whereabouts were mysterious, and she didn't know what he was doing, and she saw him less and less.
However, his Virtual Arcanist test account consumed a lot of mana every day, and the location was still on a fiercely contested battlefield.
"This guy is secretly going to war without telling me, and I still have to maintain it for him!"
Xena's eyes flickered, somewhat displeased.
When the Fearless Space had just opened, she was also a war enthusiast, but later, she was tricked into becoming an undercover agent, and then she began to indulge in experiments.
But after doing too many experiments, seeing Roger playing so happily there, she felt unbalanced.
This is the technology that she perfected, why can he play and she can't?
I don't accept it!
Just in time, there was less work today, so Xena used her authority to locate Roger's position and quietly sneaked up.
......
......
The Elven Empire Special Operations Regiment's secret camp.
After several days of unsuccessful attacks, even though the Underdark had a rugged folk custom and fierce fighting, and the Dark Elf Matriarch had various means to control cannon fodder, they didn't want to lose their fighting power for nothing.
Yavin Sally also needed some time to investigate what methods the Elven Empire was using, why the warriors didn't look like warriors, and the mages didn't look like mages, and they were so rogue in battle?
So the battle changed from combat duels to a secret intelligence war, with mutual infiltration to probe enemy intelligence.
The Dark Elves were good at doing this kind of shady thing, but the elves were not bad either, after all, they were all from the same family, and they knew each other's methods very well.
So the battle these days became a duel between a small number of elites.
With the Elven Empress's help in setting up his identity, coupled with disguise methods, Roger, under the alias of Deep Blue, joined the Special Operations Regiment as a wandering swordsman and engaged in shadow duels with the Dark Elf scouts.
On the surface, this was a very dangerous job, but because everyone acted independently and did not interfere with each other, he had plenty of space to test the Devour card's ability and gained a considerable increase in strength.
The scene of using the Devour card to assimilate the enemy was more refreshing than imagined. There was no scene of flesh and blood flying around. The enemy in front of him slowly disappeared, turning into a pure ball of energy, and then integrated into the card, and then turned into a warm current that entered Roger's body.
The randomly increased attributes could be strength, intelligence, magic, or mental power.
Even the degree of mastery of a certain skill or expertise, or even a new skill out of thin air.
It was said to be random, but it was also related to the strength and expertise of the target. The stronger the enemy, the more magic was increased.
This was very similar to the Star Absorption Great Art in the Eternal Night World, but it was far more powerful than the Star Absorption Great Art, because there was an assimilation process here, which could ensure that the absorbed nutrients were extremely pure.
The side effect of purity was, of course, extremely low conversion efficiency, and the enemy's essence was discharged as impurities.
An enemy close to the legendary level might only increase the magic power of a level 6 magic, and if it was converted to a basic attribute, it was more likely to be a change of two decimal places.
But this was the real world, not the game world. There was no setting that you level up when you have enough experience points. Everyone's strength was obtained through hard cultivation.
Devour, however, could turn the defeated enemy into one's own strength in less than a minute. As long as you accumulate little by little, your strength will slowly improve qualitatively.
After sufficient testing, Roger had fallen in love with this feeling of unearned gains, and had become a well-known master on the hunting list in the Special Operations Regiment.
At the same time, because he was hiding his identity, he did not use magic to bombard indiscriminately, but was really tempering his sword skills bit by bit. At critical moments, he would cooperate with one or two skill cards to play a role in reversing the situation.
This was an experience that Roger had never had before. He had done too many behind-the-scenes operations, and at the same time, he relied on the system and the Eternal Night Empress to help him build up his strength. This kind of battle that really relied on himself to think and find opportunities for victory was still a brand new experience for his nerves.
Of course, the feeling of danger was just a feeling. Now, the scouts sent by the Dark Elves had very little chance of breaking through his real defense...
So they were just walking experience packs.
"Mr. Deep Blue, Dark Elf activity has been discovered in the southwest forest area. They seem to have replenished a batch of equipment from the Underdark."
In the camp, a logistics officer provided Roger with new information, his tone quite polite.
Although elves had a lot of bad habits, the army was still relatively pure, and the strong would naturally be respected, especially when they were at war with the enemy.
Roger, disguised as a wandering swordsman, looked relatively mature, with a vicissitudes of stubble, a cross star scar on his cheek, and a fierce look, but he was relatively gentle to his companions around him: "I'll go investigate."
"If the enemy is not easy to deal with, please send a request for support at any time."
The logistics officer gave a friendly reminder.
Even the Special Operations Regiment did not want to lose such a good player, although the other party had always been a lone ranger.
Roger nodded and set off for the southwest forest area.
Taking advantage of the cover of the dense forest, he looked out and saw a large supply team. It was impossible for him to eat it alone.
"It seems that the Dark Elves are about to start the next round of war."
Presumably, the characteristics of the Virtual Arcanist were about to be figured out by the other side, and he was very curious about what countermeasures the Matriarch would come up with.
He was preparing to leave quietly. Although he was disguised, he was not disguised as a barbarian. Judging the enemy's strength and selectively attacking was an essential skill for a master.
"Hey, why don't you fight? I still want to pick up some kills!"
A dissatisfied voice sounded on Roger's side, looking at him with a pout, "It's rare for me to come out on vacation!"
Roger's expression changed slightly, and then he smiled: "With your cooperation, we can take down this team."
Chapter 233 The Reason to Fight
Roger was not surprised that Xena could recognize him. After all, his disguise was just to avoid trouble, and he was not an undercover agent in the Elven Empire, he was just covering up his appearance.
Not to mention that Xena had the background management permissions of the mana relay, even with her ability beyond the legend, she could easily see through his disguise.
He just didn't expect her to go out to find him, and he was startled by her sudden appearance.
Disguised as the wandering swordsman Deep Blue, he had already entered the role. If this kind of operation deep behind enemy lines was discovered by the enemy, it might be difficult to escape, and he would definitely be surprised.
Xena was eager to try: "Then fight! I didn't expect you to be so cowardly, you turned around and ran when you found the meat."
"......"
Faced with a fully armed supply team, if you don't turn around and run, are you going up to die?
Roger's mind moved and said: "It's very simple, you charge forward to attract attention, and then I sneak attack, we will encircle the enemy."
"Okay!"
Xena immediately walked in front, and then felt a pain in her vest.
She turned her head in confusion, looking angrily at Roger who was thoughtfully putting away his sword: "Why did you attack me?"
Roger said seriously: "You appeared too coincidentally, and you behaved too stupidly, I was worried that you were a bait sent by the Dark Elves to make me jump into the pit..."
"The result?"
"It is indeed an angel-level defense, and the identity is accurate and correct."
"It's just sick! I trust your arrangement, but you actually said that I'm stupid, I'm so angry!"
Xena didn't want to fight the Dark Elves anymore, she just wanted to beat Roger!
"So, it was trust..."
Roger stroked his chin, dodging her attacks, and looked at Shana with concern.
Staying home for too long, how come she feels even more foolish than when she first descended into this world? Even with trust, she should be able to tell that the action plan is obviously very stupid!
Could it be that the two of them are going to go all out here and really solve the enemy for the Elven Empire?
Shana was provoked by Roger's gaze and became even more agitated. She suddenly activated the prepared card ability, a large-scale deceleration field that slowed down Roger's movement speed. Then, she grabbed his collar and gritted her teeth, saying, "You are not allowed to underestimate me again!"
Roger frowned: "You actually designed such a powerful exclusive card for yourself? And with such obvious magical energy, the dark elves will discover it..."
Sure enough, the dark elf supply team below stopped. The commander arranged defenses and sent a small team of soldiers to investigate.
Shana panicked. She was out to have fun, not to confront these dark elves head-on. She quickly said, "It's all your fault. What do you say we do?"
Roger thought for a moment: "Scare the commander, then we ambush the support troops, and then call in more special operations teams to eat this supply team."
It can be seen that the commander over there is a cautious person, and dark elves are naturally suspicious. As long as they act well enough here, they believe that there is a high probability that the other party will not dare to leave and will ask the central army for support...