Chapter 209-2: Climbing the Peak, Switching Between Offense and Defense (2) |
In the eyes of lone-wolf players, a Written Word warrior was a powerful companion at one’s side, able to help them easily hunt across tiers.
In the eyes of team players, a Written Word warrior was an optimizable unit that could make up for any shortcoming on any level.
It could be a damage-bearing tank, it could be a damage-dealing spellcaster, it could be functional support, a single Written Word warrior could fill any gap in the team.
This was also why Written Word warriors were favored by countless players.
With the pet function online, Written Word warriors could be purified and brought back to Emperor’s Mound Village space, and Written Word warriors became goods that could be listed on the Trading House.
The lowest price for a Written Word warrior reached 180 thousand sacrificial power. Catch one and you would strike it rich in one wave.
There was a well-known player on the forum who possessed a Written Word warrior.
A passage pinned on his personal homepage was the true inner portrayal of players who wanted to capture Written Word warriors:
I squatted in the Written Word domain for three whole days. When a near-death Written Word warrior fell before me, my dozing self instantly became alert. I felt blood boiling in my veins, my heart pounding like war drums, every nerve screaming with joy and ecstasy. I knew that was my prey, my trophy, my glory. An indescribable sense of achievement flooded my mind. Every time I recall this taste I become obsessed. All the waiting was worth it…
Players who wanted to catch Written Word all looked forward in their hearts to the arrival of a surprise.
Like gold prospectors, perhaps they would get nothing, or perhaps they would await the favor of fate.
Written Word warriors were also the knock-on-the-door pass to top guilds, able to choose freely among the major guilds with welfare packages maxed out.
At this moment inside the Written Word domain.
A great battle was still ongoing.
Cultivators wore daoist robes suffused with flowing radiance, spiritual luster coiling around them, as if deities descending from the ninth heaven.
On the other side, Ascension race warriors were shrouded in five-colored light, layers of elemental ripples spreading from their bodies.
On the battlefield, the brilliance of spells and the power of elements intertwined, the roaring booms deafening.
The remnant clouds in the sky were blasted to pieces by all manner of mighty powers, revealing a sky illuminated into a five-colored splendor.
The land became riddled with scars in this fierce clash. The once-flat ground was now covered with deep pits and fissures.
The two sides traded blows back and forth, neither yielding.
The great battle seemed endless, the entire heaven and earth swept into the collision of war.
In the comparison of combat strength, the cultivators generated by Written Word were at an absolute disadvantage.
But by relying on power granted through temporary rule-modification by Written Word, they could always reverse the situation in desperate straits. Key figures simply could not be killed.
Even a blow from an Ascension race warrior that seemed certain to die would be invalidated in the next second for some reason.
For example, space suddenly tore, and a spatial black hole devoured the elemental power released by the Ascension race warrior.
By on-site hacking methods, the cultivator alliance under Written Word’s control, even while at a disadvantage, could tenaciously withstand the ferocious offensive of the Ascension race.
In the fog surrounding the periphery of the Written Word domain.
Players were concealed, staking out at the edge of the domain in the mist. In the regional voice channel there sounded, from time to time, exchanges full of expectation:
“Emperor’s Sign bro bless me, send over a near-death Written Word warrior, I beg you.”
“Fight, I want to see an intense war, I want to see blood flow like rivers, send more near-death Written Word warriors.”
“If I do not get a Written Word warrior again, I am not coming tomorrow. This is infuriating. How does it just never come to my turn.”
“You all are too dumb. While I wait for a Written Word warrior, I also have a fishing line cast outside the domain fog. Fishing and waiting for a Written Word warrior, both at once, how leisurely… eh, a fish is biting. I hope it is a Primordial Monster.”
—
Amid the players’ anticipation and chatter, this round of confrontation between the Ascension race and Written Word came to a close.
The Ascension race warriors, their energy exhausted, chose to retreat from the Written Word domain.
Within a domain world where Written Word had set the rules, they could only release offensives by using the elemental energy stored within their bodies. They could not draw any energy from the air for replenishment.
So after the war continued for a period of time, they would exit the domain space and head to the outside world to replenish energy.
As for the outcome of the war, in the eyes of the Ascension race warriors it was already decided.
Although Written Word could alter the rules of the domain world, its reserve of energy was ultimately limited.
They only needed to exhaust Written Word’s energy, and victory would arrive.
As the Ascension race withdrew, the brutal battle thus concluded.
Hidden within an independent space, Written Word watched the departing backs of the Ascension race warriors as they passed through the domain fog one after another.
With this battle over, Written Word had realized a problem.
It might be about to lose.
Recently, the Ascension race’s invasion frequency had increased, and its pressure was growing heavier.
According to the original plan, although it would be at a disadvantage for a period of time in its confrontation with the Ascension race, as the influence of the ‘Ascension Scam’ expanded in the small world, the Ascension race, having lost its source of power, would ultimately be defeated by its hand.
Until the appearance of the ‘Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons.’
These stubbornly lingering evil beings hid in the domain fog, watching like tigers eyeing their prey every battle between it and the Ascension race.
They often struck when Ascension race warriors were at their weakest, taking Written Word warriors condensed from the power of ink out of the domain it had created, causing irreparable losses of the power of ink.
It had tried all sorts of methods to respond, but no matter what it did, this group of Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons would return in force.
They continued hiding in the domain fog, greedily eyeing Written Word warriors it created, waiting for their chance to act.
Several times, important supporting characters, and even the protagonist, nearly got taken out of the Written Word domain.
If this group of Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons really succeeded, the entire story system would completely collapse and could no longer contend with the Ascension race.
Two paths lay before it.
Abandon the battle and leave, give up the early investment, and end the war early by cutting the story.
Or create an even stronger and logical story system, raising the efficiency of using power of ink resources by another level.
As for how to choose, Written Word already had a clear answer in mind.
It felt it was time to activate the trump card it once buried.
With a turn of thought, the Holder, Pen, and Book suspended in the independent space started up simultaneously.
The pages turned lightly with a crisp snap, breaking an invisible barrier.
Written Word’s consciousness was immediately drawn by an invisible force and entered spatial transmission mode.
As its consciousness traversed the spatial tunnel, light-and-shadow scenes of countless worlds appeared before its eyes.
A cultivation world under the control of the Ascension race, the Low Martial World Youlan Realm, the Sword Chime World… the stories it created were circulating in these worlds, continuously bringing in the power of ink.
It divided these small worlds into three tiers.
Among them, for worlds listed as first class, if events arose that affected stability, it would intervene as appropriate to ensure the world remained in a relatively stable stage of development.
Only a peaceful environment could produce power of ink better.
Its consciousness continued to traverse and arrived before a golden light-and-shadow. Written Word’s consciousness abruptly passed through it.
Perceptive sight stabbed into the heavy cloud layers, piercing through veils of hazy gauze.
Beneath the clouds, the vast land gradually came into focus.
Mountains and rivers unfolded like a scroll. Verdant forests covered the undulating ranges, and winding rivers shimmered with silvery light under the sun.
Towering cities stood upon the land, their walls soaring high.
Written Word’s consciousness continued to sink, sweeping past fields and villages.
In the fields, farmers bent to their labor, and golden waves of wheat rose and fell in the wind.
In the villages, cooking smoke curled upward, children chased and played in the alleys, their laughter crisp and pleasant.
In the end, Written Word’s consciousness fell upon the central district of a bustling city.
This was the core world in Written Word’s eyes, and it called it the “World of Inspiration,” a special existence that stood above the first class worlds.
This entire world, from nothing to something, was personally constructed by it, including the power system that influenced this world, which was also created by it.
For the power system setting, it set it as the ‘power of the Book Realm.’
The beings of the World of Inspiration obtained power by writing novels.
Every being could construct their own ‘Book Realm’ through creating novels. The beings, rules, and power systems in the Book Realm were all set by the author.
Furthermore, the depth of the novel’s creation, the rigor of its logic, and the completeness of its worldview directly determined the strength of the Book Realm and also determined how much power the author could obtain. With this setting bonus, this world formed a unique ‘Literary Dao cultivation system.’
The combat style of this world also imitated what was created in the Written Word domain.
For example, when two authors clashed due to various conflicts, they would unfold their respective Book Realm domains against each other, generating the characters they had set to engage in battle.
This world was also Written Word’s trump card.
It set a rigorous author power ranking for this world, divided into six tiers.
They were:
Literary Disciple: has initially grasped the power of the Literary Dao and can write simple stories.
Literary Scholar: the power of the Literary Dao is solidified and can write combat stories. The author can, through the Book Realm, simply release abilities from the book. For example, if a character in the book has mastered the power of fire, it can be released in battle.
Literary Master: the power of the Literary Dao takes form and can write war epics, condensing literary soldiers, meaning that characters in the book can manifest within the Book Realm domain.
Literary Patriarch: the power of the Literary Dao connects to heaven. What is written can alter the environment and weather, and the generated Book Realm domain can stir heavenly and earthly phenomena to assist literary soldiers in battle.
Literary Venerable: the power of the Literary Dao connects to divinity and can perfectly generate characters one has written, granting them a certain degree of self-awareness.
Literary Sage: the power of the Literary Dao is undying, can open up a Literary Dao domain, and modify the rules of the Book Realm domain one has created.