Chapter 384 - 171: "A Miracle Like a Bolt From the Blue.

Chapter 384: Chapter 171: "A Miracle Like a Bolt From the Blue.

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"Requires a sacrifice of 1,000,000 Ghost Stones."

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Seeing this, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

The price to answer this question was steep. The previous two questions had only cost him a total of 1,100 Ghost Stones. However, this also served as indirect proof of the answer’s authenticity.

’It was worth the cost.’

After a million Ghost Stones in the Warehouse turned to liquid and flowed endlessly into the Incense Burner.

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later,

the wisps of green smoke before him finally formed a few lines of text once more.

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"If a great crisis occurs within a year, it is not worth it."

"If not, it is worth it."

-

But after seeing the answer, he fell silent. ’Will there be a great crisis within a year?’

’No.’

His great crisis was the Undersea Ghost Tide making landfall two years from now.

But...

’Why is there this restriction?’

’It means that this ’Ruling the World’ is a growth-type reward. It needs a certain amount of time to mature before it pays for itself. If I were to die tomorrow, then instead of exchanging for this reward, it would be better to build up the defense line.’

To put it bluntly,

it was a reward that raised their upper limits.

’Choose it if you can live long enough.’

’If death is imminent, it’s safer to focus on the defense line first.’

But the Undersea Ghost Tide’s landfall in two years was a fixed event. No one could say for sure if another crisis would occur in the meantime. What if the Undersea Ghost Tide arrived early? What if the Seal on the Thunderstorm Sea Realm was suddenly broken?

If that happened, all of the Mortal Realm’s foundational Ghost Stones would have been spent on paving the New Continent. Should such a major crisis arise, they would have no means to resist at all.

It was a pure gamble.

A gamble that no major crisis would occur within a year.

If they succeeded, the Mortal Realm’s potential would be even higher.

If something unexpected happened, the Mortal Realm would be cut down in its prime.

Should they develop steadily and safely, or gamble on a higher ceiling?

"..."

Chen Fan sat on the City Wall, watching the green smoke gradually dissipate before him. He remained silent for a long time. He had originally planned to use this batch of Ghost Stones to upgrade the Jiangbei Defense Line to Level 6 before the rainy season arrived.

That would be much safer.

At least the increase in strength would be immediately visible.

Something tangible, something they could truly grasp.

As for that "Ruling the World" reward, no one knew what it was.

...

「Six hours later.」

The sky gradually darkened. The Eternal Night was about to descend.

Zhou Mo, Wang Kui, and Xiaoyu—core members who had followed Chen Fan since the rainy season—along with Shao Qiu and Qi Yue, all gathered together today for the first time in a long while.

Even Lame Monkey, who was far away on the New Continent, had been summoned.

"There’s something I need your opinions on."

Inside the cave’s Wooden House.

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, his eyelids drooping slightly as he spoke in a low voice.

The Mortal Realm had been developing better and better over the past year, but the layout of this cave hadn’t changed much. This Wooden House was still the same one Chen Fan had built during the rainy season, and it looked very simple.

But it gave him a sense of peace.

Chen Fan’s voice slowly echoed in the room.

"Currently, the Mortal Realm has 1.9 billion Ghost Stones in reserve."

"This is the foundation we’ve accumulated over the past year. To upgrade the entire Jiangbei Defense Line to Level 6 City Walls, we would need to spend 850 million Ghost Stones."

"And two years from now, the Undersea Ghost Tide will officially make landfall in Jiangbei."

"Now, we have an opportunity before us."

"For 3.39 billion Ghost Stones, we can seize a great opportunity that will raise the Mortal Realm’s future potential. However, it will exhaust all of our current resources and everything we can gather for nearly a year. Furthermore, we won’t see any results for a year."

"During that year, if the Mortal Realm encounters a major crisis, we won’t have enough resources to resist."

"What do you think we should choose?"

"Do we take the gamble, or do we focus on steady development?"

As he finished speaking, the people in the room looked at one another. No one spoke up immediately. They all held high positions now, but when it came to deciding the fate of billions of Ghost Stones, they were hesitant to speak. The matter was too significant; they didn’t even dare to offer a suggestion.

After a long moment, Wang Kui was the first to speak. "Domain Lord, is there a time limit on this opportunity?"

"No."

Chen Fan shook his head. "We can take it anytime, but the number of Ghost Stones required is fixed: 3.39 billion."

Wang Kui nodded and continued, "In that case, my suggestion is... if we don’t know exactly what this opportunity is, we should probably stick to steady development."

"The Mortal Realm is already developing very quickly."

"On the New Continent, we have a hundred thousand non-official members of the Mortal Realm constantly mining Ghost Stones. More than half of the Ancient Battlefield there has yet to be excavated. It’s estimated that once the entire continent’s Ancient Battlefield is fully mined, we could gain around 20 to 30 billion Ghost Stones."

"I think we can absolutely afford to develop steadily for now. It wouldn’t be too late to seize this opportunity after the Mortal Realm survives the Undersea Ghost Tide’s landfall in two years."

"That makes sense," Zhou Mo said, nodding thoughtfully.

Chen Fan didn’t speak, merely leaning back in his chair and unconsciously tapping his knuckles against the armrest.

"Wait? Wait for what? How many more years can the Eternal Night Continent afford to wait?"

Qi Yue, who had also been invited to this meeting, was the first to voice his opposition after hearing Wang Kui’s suggestion.

"Domain Lord."

"How many more years can the Eternal Night Frontline hold out? One year? Two? Or maybe ten, or a hundred?"

"Nobody knows."

"But I do know one thing: once the Eternal Night Continent falls, all the defense lines across the continent will collapse in an instant, and we won’t be able to escape death either."

"Since the Undersea Ghost Tide won’t make landfall for another two years, we should take the gamble and help the Mortal Realm develop faster."

"That way—"

"even if the Eternal Night Frontline collapses, our Mortal Realm might be able to hold up the last line of defense and give the Eternal Night Continent a glimmer of hope."

"We can’t just assume the Eternal Night Frontline will hold on forever. Since we have the ability and the opportunity, we have to take the gamble."