Chapter 1034 - 495: Life and Death, That Is the Question

Next, it was not the humans—who were gradually losing ground on the low- and mid-tier battlefields—that bore the immense pressure, but the seemingly unstoppable Green Dragon Army.

Although Monroe himself could not figure out how Gauss had overcome such a massive gap in strength to slay the powerful Goblin Lord, it did not stop him from catching the scent of victory.

Hearing Monroe’s arrogant remarks, the Rot-winged Dragon Bat’s expression grew even uglier. The battlefield it shared with Monroe was closer to Snaz than those of the other generals. If Gauss were to choose his next opponent, there was a high probability he would launch a surprise attack on this very battlefield.

When that time came, could it fight two opponents at once? Especially when one of them was Gauss, the human who had already slain Snaz. This enormous threat lingered around it like a ghost. It didn’t believe it possessed the strength to kill Snaz itself. It and Snaz were evenly matched; they each excelled in different Domains, but their overall strength had always remained on the same level.

In the other two distant battlefields, the remaining two Demon generals wore equally grim expressions.

Even Kevin Brennan, the commander of the Green Grass Defense Team—who had only just received the intel through a communication device—remained silent for a long time. He was a man who had originally been quite jealous of Gauss, to the point of harboring a secret grudge against him. But he could not deny Gauss’s victory this time, even if he wanted to. Although he loathed to admit it, he was truly convinced in his heart.

***

At this moment, Gauss was still panting heavily. The burden of casting two 6th-tier Spells simultaneously had slightly exceeded his expectations.

No, to be precise, these two 6th-tier Spells were not ordinary ones. One was Spiritual Prison, which consumed a massive amount of Spiritual Power, and the other was Gorgeous Magic Ball. Under normal circumstances, the burden of using them shouldn’t have been too great. However, not only did he cast both Spells simultaneously, but when he made a wish to enhance its power, an astronomical amount of Magic Power was additionally extracted from his body, resulting in a tremendous drain.

Furthermore, this method of forcibly magnifying Magic’s power through a wish seemed to severely deplete Spiritual Power as well. Therefore, even a monster like Gauss had fallen into a state of exhaustion.

Paradoxically, while Gauss’s mind and body were weary, his Profession core remained exceptionally active. Killing a level 15 goblin Demon had benefited him immensely. Even though he had just leveled up half a month ago following a commission to subjugate four young dragons, his Profession core’s vacancies were once again completely filled in an extremely short period, pushing him into a state where he could break through at any moment. Perhaps such consecutive breakthroughs in so brief a timeframe were exceedingly rare throughout the long history of humans becoming Adventurers.

Real cultivation was not like a video game with a clear progress bar, where one only needed to accumulate a standardized, fixed amount of experience to break through. In reality, it was not a quantified program but a more diverse, comprehensive accumulation. It encompassed countless aspects: the accumulation of time, adventure experiences, state of mind insights, skill training corresponding to one’s Profession, and more.

Gauss didn’t actually crush other Adventurers in every single aspect. It was simply that his strengths were so overwhelming that they forcefully compensated for his hard deficiencies in track record and time accumulation. He had killed a sufficient number of monsters, creating profound impacts in the process, and had learned skills far beyond his current level. His foundation was so exceptionally solid that it completely offset his disadvantages in time and mental cultivation. This allowed him to overcome bottlenecks in such a short time that other outstanding Adventurers might need years, over a decade, or even longer to cross.

There were, in fact, methods for consecutive breakthroughs in a short time, but they were often accompanied by tremendous drawbacks and risks. For example, pledging oneself to a certain Evil God or becoming a mortal medium for divine descent could indeed lead to rapid progress. However, the risk was an extremely high probability of completely losing one’s sense of self and being reduced to a mere puppet controlled by a deity.

Of course, even if someone were willing, such opportunities were actually quite rare. To become a tool of a deity, one intrinsically needed an excellent affinity—what was known as an innate holy or divine constitution. Otherwise, one’s body wouldn’t be able to withstand that mighty power.

Gauss, however, was walking a Profession path paved by slaughter.

"You killed a powerful Goblin Lord. Reward: 50 Extraordinary Points."

"Due to the race [goblin] being set as your main quest subjugation target."

"Acquired purple-quality Racial Talent [Overload]."

"Acquired Divine Factor 1.55%."

"Current Divine Factor: 6.6%."

A series of prompts popped up before Gauss’s eyes. First were the Extraordinary Points rewarded for killing the Goblin Lord. This reward was extremely practical, especially precious to Gauss, who wanted to upgrade more purple-quality Racial Talents to gold quality. Judging from this Goblin Lord’s level and strength, the Extraordinary Points it provided should be the maximum reward. The first kill of other Extraordinary Monsters would likely provide far fewer than 50 points. Regardless, this reward would greatly accelerate Gauss’s progress in advancing his next gold-quality Talent.

The subsequent rewards were for his previous choice of making [goblin] his main quest subjugation target. These rewards also proved that choosing the [goblin] race back then was an absolutely correct decision. As for the purple-quality Racial Talent [Overload], Gauss deduced that it must be one of the Talent Abilities possessed by the Extraordinary Goblin Lord he had just killed.