novelAlta Chapter 331 - 324: "A Choice? I Want Them All!
Chapter 331 - 324: "A Choice? I Want Them All!
Two options lay before Shi Ming.
Option A: Stop here. Quit while he was ahead.
Option B: Go all in. He would either fail spectacularly or soar to the heavens.
...
Shi Ming was neither timid nor arrogant. He had a clear understanding of his own strength, and he had a rough—if not entirely accurate—estimate of the power of the Active Wormhole before him.
This "Active Wormhole," a great terror in Ah Jian’s eyes, already had one foot in the Nirvana Rank. It had effortlessly corroded the Creation Celestial Pillar, rendering the Pillar and its Life Holy Hall Origin completely defenseless. The Pillar had fallen swiftly, never even discovering the reason for its demise. After devouring the Creation Celestial Pillar’s power, the creature had then killed another Holy Hall-level Sea Beast, the Candle Mirage, with lightning speed. Now, it was hiding here, happily feasting on its prize!
Its strength could be described as the absolute peak of the Holy Hall rank.
Shi Ming also felt a sense of relief—
’Thank god I found it in time!’
If he hadn’t marked this thing back on Mount Everest, if he hadn’t traced it to its source the moment it disappeared, then in a little over two months, this terrifying creature might have secretly ascended to the Nirvana Rank, its life form undergoing another leap!
At that point, the Endless Ocean would face an undeniable and unavoidable catastrophe.
Shi Ming suppressed his restless heart.
He quickly began to weigh the pros and cons.
A Nirvana-rank skill was a stroke of absolute, incredible luck!
It could not be missed.
To obtain it, he had to let this Active Wormhole ascend to the Nirvana Rank! It was an extremely risky move. But if he missed this chance, even if he left the Endless Ocean in the future and entered the cosmos like 001, he would likely never encounter a similar opportunity again.
Besides, for his King-level Wandering Ship to break through its limits, he needed the complete Brain Domain of a Nirvana-rank beast.
His warrior’s heart pounded in his chest.
’Difficulty: five stars!’
If he chose Option B, it meant that in 60 days at the earliest, or 79 days at the latest, he would have to face a terrifying monster that had just entered the Nirvana Rank! ’In two months, will my methods still be effective against it?’
On one side was risk—the risk of total failure.
On the other, temptation.
The temptation of stepping into the Nirvana Rank.
Even in the boundless cosmos, it took countless civilizations countless years for a single Nirvana-rank existence to appear! And now, a beast on the verge of entering the Nirvana Rank was right before his eyes. If he killed it at the moment of its ascension, he wouldn’t even need a special ritual. He could take its place, gain the recognition of the Nirvana Origin, and directly obtain the skill "Decay"!!!
’Calm down! Calm down!’
’I can’t let this opportunity go to my head!’
WHOOSH~
A cold wind blew across the clear Ice Lake, further clearing his mind. Faint traces of crimson appeared in the lake water, beautiful, like spreading seaweed.
He stared at the spot quietly for a full three minutes.
Until his thoughts became crystal clear.
He chose Option B!
The heart of a powerhouse is as constant as the sun!
But that didn’t mean he was giving up on Option A!
Only children make choices. He wanted it all!
For now, this Active Wormhole from the cosmos was savoring its delicacy. The process of feasting and ascending would take another two months, so he would let it enjoy itself for the time being.
Two months was enough time for him to improve himself further.
He would use the Eye of the World and various other methods to grow stronger and find a way to kill a creature that had just entered the Nirvana Rank. If he had a viable plan by then, he would let it begin its ascension and snatch its skill at the very last moment.
If the probability of victory was far too low, then he would kill it before it could ascend! He would eliminate the threat.
This way, he had a path forward and a path of retreat.
His eyes focused on the Ice Lake.
His heart surged with emotion.
Right now, he needed the most complete intelligence on this sea beast!
"Eye of the World, acquire intelligence!"
[BEEP... BEEP...]
[Organizing intelligence...]
[Searching. Confirming detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intelligence... Intelligence generated.]
[Holy Hall-level Beast: Quintetra]
[Holy Hall Origin: Devour (Over-fused, has already mutated)]
[Quintetra is an Active Wormhole, and true to that nature, it possesses the abilities to bore, gnaw, corrode, traverse, and rend space. Over countless eons, it has journeyed through various Star Domains, searching for delicious food and growing stronger as it indulges.]
[Holy Hall Skill: Carrion Sanctuary.]
[Skill: Higher-Dimensional Gnawing.]
[Skill: Void-rending Parade.]
[Skill: All-Encompassing Stomach.]
The Eye of the World truly lived up to its name, an eye that overlooked the mortal realm. Before it, every skill and detailed application of this alien species from the cosmos was laid bare.
Carrion Sanctuary was the Active Wormhole’s signature skill.
It was a Holy Hall-level ability.
Nothing was immune to the corrosive power of [Carrion Sanctuary].
Even extremely abstract concepts like civilization, thought, ideals, and power—or even indestructible existences with a slightly higher standing than itself—the Active Wormhole could use this skill to forcibly bore a hole into the target.
This hole would then spread and expand, eventually turning its target into a ruin, leading to complete collapse.
Shi Ming guessed that this was the skill that had killed the Creation Celestial Pillar.
Besides this one major skill, the Active Wormhole had three other noteworthy abilities. These were all S-rank, but they could still have a decisive impact.
Higher-Dimensional Gnawing: A top-tier predator could disguise itself as weak prey and allow itself to be devoured. In reality, however, it would hide inside its target’s stomach and subvert it from within, slowly gnawing its way out. It was impossible to defend against.
Void-rending Parade: It could spend 99 days chewing open a real Wormhole to randomly roam to a new region over 100 light-years away in search of new food.
All-Encompassing Stomach: The S-rank and Holy Hall-level Origins it devoured and digested were stored in this stomach, where they were slowly broken down by the power of time. After digestion, they would merge with the stomach. The Active Wormhole could randomly spit one out and use its skill once. The result could be good and more powerful, or it could be bad, a mutated amalgamation.
These skills were all very powerful.
He wondered if there was any way to inherit them.
Unfortunately, the Eye of the World did not provide details on the Nirvana-rank skill [Decay]. The sheer pressure from a single-word ID was quite significant. The Eye of the World currently lacked the ability to predict the future; all its judgments about what was to come were meticulous deductions based on present reality.
And a Nirvana-rank skill could not yet be calculated.
’Perhaps if I upgrade the Eye of the World again, I’ll be able to see fragments of the future.’
’Yes, killing the Abyss Lord and the Three-Eyed Golden Crow. I really need to add that to my agenda.’
’And the other few as well.’
’Can’t leave them for my enemies to devour.’
To avoid disturbing the alien beast as it immersed itself in its feast, Shi Ming quietly withdrew from the Ice Lake area after collecting all the intelligence, using his Spiritual Power to erase all traces of his presence.
He hadn’t found the Crown of the Winter Night Aurora. It was presumably at the bottom of the lake, but that didn’t matter. There was no rush.
...
In the Extreme North Ice Eye, no other life remained.
Only in the Ice Lake did the shadow-like Quintetra absorb the physical energy of the Candle Mirage with greedy, whole-hearted focus.
This wasn’t because it was letting its guard down.
On a primitive planet like this, the birth of eight untouched delicacies was already the limit. ’Nirvana Rank? Heh, even it didn’t believe that was possible.’
——————
P.S. Got back late. Tomorrow’s 7 AM update will be posted a bit later, around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
(ᵒ̴̶̷̤໐ᵒ̴̶̷̤)