The Ultimate Evolution

Time went by at a rate that was neither slow nor fast, but at a consistent, unstoppable pace, trickling away little by little. Yet, some memories of bygone years felt like yesterday when they were recalled.

Several pieces of equipment Sheyan put up for sale had been traded successfully for a large amount of utility points and potential points. However, they quickly disappeared like water flowing out a leaking tank, being turned into a variety of supplies.

Sheyan’s achievement points now stood at 441/400, so he was facing two choices.

The first was to use them on ‘Chris Redfield’s Lucky Bracelet’ to get the ‘True Luck’ ability. Sheyan had made some quick calculations. 40 achievement points may sound like a lot, but when they were used on a rank 7 skill tree like this one, they would disappear like liquid being absorbed into a sponge.

The second option was to sell the Empire’s Golden Moon medal in exchange for 20 achievement points, then use the 60 achievement points in his possession to unlock a new disease. It was currently a time of emergency, so it would not be hard for Sheyan to return to the real world to obtain a new disease. The problem was, the 10 achievement points that could be overdrawn could only be used to purchase supplies. If Sheyan squandered all 60 achievement points now, where would he find the extra achievement points to activate the new disease?

But thinking of it from another perspective, since the battles in the Realm War were so brutal, the death rate must be really high. If Sheyan, being the team leader, gave up on the dropped equipment and only took the achievement points, he should get quite an amount of them.

If one were to make a careful analysis, they would find that the benefits the Realm gave its contestants as rewards for killing could be divided into two parts: the first was the achievement point reward, and the second was the randomly selected equipment from the victim’s body.

In fact, this kind of reward method was rather similar to how one would get paid in the real world: basic salary + bonus.

The basic salary was the guaranteed achievement points, while the bonus was the randomly selected equipment.

If they were participating in a low intensity Realm War, the achievement point reward was obviously more worth it, because the levels of the enemies killed would be relatively low, so their equipment would also be relatively lower in grades. But in a high intensity Realm War, the more profitable choice was no doubt the equipment.

In general, there was a certain chance to draw a dark gold equipment from an Awakener, while the chances to draw a silver storyline equipment was at least 25%, so if Sheyan gave up his right to the equipment, the others should be quite happy to agree. Of course, if someone really did object, Sheyan had ways to make them shut up.

And with that thought, Sheyan made up his mind. Since the plan to sustain the war by means of war was feasible, he could obtain the ‘True Luck’ ability later in this way as well (sustaining the war by means of war: waging war requires a lot of money, so some warlords would keep reinvesting the money they plunder back into the war to sustain it). On the contrary, once he entered the Nightmare World, he would not be able to go back to the real world to learn a new disease, so his achievement points would not be fully utilised.

Therefore, Sheyan sold the Imperial Golden Moon medal and….almost without any hesitation, chose option B: contact type infectious diseases!

[ Contact type infectious diseases spread in a small range, usually through attacking others or being attacked by others in close combat. After activation, the diseases will transmit to the enemies within a metre (this effective range is the basic range before taking into account the buffs and bonuses). ]

[ The diseases will come into effect rapidly. Their primary function is to damage the enemy, and their secondary function is to weaken the enemy. ]

[ Hint: The signature diseases are cholera, trachoma, anthrax, Ebola, AIDS, etc… You must first unlock this option before you can unlock the specific diseases to infect the enemy with. ]

Since Sheyan had already learned airborne diseases, what he seeked now was not the range of transmission, but a disease’s intensity. After Sheyan unlocked the option, he found that those 60 achievement points were not spent in vain. Because he had learned the ultimate skill of airborne diseases, some changes had occurred to the contact type infectious diseases.

First, there was an upper limit to the number of contact type infectious diseases he could learn, which was seven at most. To erase a learned disease so that he could learn a new one cost 20 achievement points. Hence, he must choose well before learning a certain disease.

Second, each enemy could only be infected with two types of diseases at the same time, and the two diseases must be from different branches. For example, it was impossible to infect someone with two contact type infectious diseases. It must be one airborne disease and one contact type infectious disease.

Of course, this limitation would be reduced as the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability was researched further.

At present, there were two skill trees available to Sheyan:

[ Triggered by making the enemy bleed: pyogenic infection (symptoms being pus, rashes and swelling) —- gangrene (stink, rotting flesh) —- pyogenic osteomyelitis (semi-crippled state) —- tetanus (intense seizure, muscle rigidity) ]

[ Triggered by making the enemy bleed: low fever (rising body temperature) — shingles (severe pain, severe itch) — Kaposi’s sarcoma (extreme pain, weakening) — AIDS ]

There were obviously more skill trees outside of these two, but these two were the only ones listed. After spending a lot of effort, Sheyan finally found another rather obscene skill tree.

[ Triggered by hitting the enemy’s lower body: gonorrhea (pus, swelling) —- syphilis (papules) —- lupus erythematosus (severe itch) —- genital warts (neoplasm/pain) —- Ebola haemorrhagic fever ]

Obviously, since he only had seven slots for contact type infectious diseases, but each skill tree contained as many as five diseases, he would only be able to learn one ultimate disease, so he must choose very carefully.

The third skill tree was no doubt the more obscene and lewd of the three options. Not only would the diseases cause heavy physical damage to the enemy, the heavy psychological damage must also be factored in.

However!! It must be noted that to learn a new disease, Sheyan must first use his defenceless body to face the trial of the relevant viruses or bacteria that had been strengthened several times over. This required great courage.

As a wise man – as a man – he had to consider the consequences if he could not recover from the diseases! After all, if a man had to choose between his limbs or his genitals, most would rather be a cripple than a eunuch!

Under the curious/lewd/doubting/inquiring eyes of his team members, Sheyan quietly returned to the real world. As far as his current Physique was concerned, it was no problem for him to survive the first few stages of the trial. When he came back, no one knew which choice he had made. Sheyan claimed in a serious tone that this disease was his trump card, so he would absolutely not disclose it before it was used.

***

While the whole party was staring at their party leader with eyes that bore no good will, the Realm’s notifications finally appeared, to Sheyan’s immense relief. The notifications were blood red, and they were directly projected onto the retina, so even if the contestants were asleep, they would still be forced to read them.

[ All parties participating in the Realm War this time, please pay attention! ]

[ All parties participating in the Realm War this time, please pay attention! ]

[ The Realm Battlefield has been selected. You will experience the most intense battle in the world of the Lord of the Rings: the Siege of Minas Tirith, also known as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields! ]

(https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_of_the_Pelennor_Fields)

[ You will enter the battlefield in 12 hours. Please make your preparations. ]

Sheyan sucked in a breath of cold air upon reading the notifications. He immediately made an inquiry request using the dual privileges of his military rank and his status as the leader of a silver party. In order to let his request carry more weight, he even had Sanzi standing beside him as a reserve.

“Which side will we join?” Sheyan immediately asked the most crucial question.

Even though Sauron’s side eventually lost in the Siege of Minas Tirith, they were the side that had the upper hand throughout the battle. It was not until Aragon, the king of Gondor, led the cursed Army of the Dead to the battlefield that Gondor’s side finally achieved victory.

Therefore, if Party Ace were to fight against the contestants from multiple Realms this time, the selection of faction was of the utmost important. They were outnumbered to begin with, and if they had to side with Gondor on top of that, they basically had no chance of victory at all.

The Realm’s reply made Sheyan heave a long sigh of relief.

[ This time, you will be on the side of the Dark Lord, Sauron. ]

“At what point in time do we enter the world?” asked Sheyan.

The Realm seemed very willing to answer questions this time.

[ Twenty four hours before the start of the final battle. ]

“Twenty four hours before the battle…” Sheyan made some quick calculations. Obviously, this time point was not chosen carelessly. It ensured that the contestants had time to make plans and preparations. These 24 hours were enough for them to do a lot of things that could decide the outcome. For example, if they were vicious enough, they could try and break Aragorn’s sword, Andúril, so that he could not summon the Army of the Dead.

Or, the defending side could build a teleport formation to warp the Ent army in from Isengard. Every Ent could be a powerful catapult, making Minas Tirith virtually impregnable…