Chapter 459 - The Fusion of Authority, A New Way to Use!
Once he heard the word “bet” come out of Jiang Chu’s mouth, Su Mo had immediately made some speculations regarding the situation.
However, after Jiang Chu had finished telling the entire story, Su Mo put these speculations away.
The impact of the bet was still way beyond his imagination!
He suddenly understood why the game would specifically drag his consciousness into a separate space, and put in so much effort just to interrogate him.
He also suddenly figured out why the game would treat the humans below so well. It all came down to the fact that—they were lucrative sources of potential authority!
“My God, it can’t be! This.. Su Mo, are my eyes deceiving me?”
It was just like seeing an imaginary tale from Arabian Nights unfold before him.
Even though Jiang Chu was still firmly seated on his stool, the waves of emotion that engulfed his body were clear to see. He was dumbfounded!
The color representing food authority was khaki or ochre; while the color representing light was bright white.
When the two mixed together, it looked sort of like pale gold; the kind that brought forth feelings of solemnity and elegance.
At this moment, as Su Mo used up his last chance to switch his identity back to his real self, he uttered the spell exactly as Jiang Chu had taught him.
The divine light emanating from his real body’s authority immediately illuminated the previously dark surroundings. It shone incredibly brightly! The classification of the power levels of authority on the wasteland stated that, if one’s authority could illuminate their entire body, it would mean that one’s authority had reached roughly 3%.
However, if one could illuminate their surroundings, that would be when their level of authority exceeded 5%. If they reached the point of shining brighter than the sun, that would mean they had achieved a whopping authority of 10%.
At this moment, this room within the palace in the blood-red ocean felt like it had returned to daytime again.
It also inadvertently meant that the authority in Su Mo’s body had broken through the petrifying 5% mark.
“I don’t know how, but this authority feels tangible. I can feel dense power throbbing within it!”
He curiously looked at the light radiating from his body, and then peeked at Jiang Chu, who currently had an absolutely stunned and listless expression on his face.
Su Mo raised his hand and instructed the system to appraise him.
The next second, a green light encircled his body and returned with a complete set of data after coming in contact with the light emanating from his body.
[Su Mo (Host)]
(Current physical state: Excellent]
(Current threat level: 0%]
(Information concealment level: Level 2 (1000 points)] [Physical attributes level: 69% – ordinary human-level (Current: 32% – interstellar human-level)]
[..]
(Authority possessed: 5.12% + 1.46% (Both bodies)]
historical
Since he had the attribute bonus from the Oracle of God of the Ocean title, Su Mo’s physical attributes had surpassed the limits of ordinary humans and ascended to the level of interstellar humans.
The properties panel was as reliable as always. What was different from before was that the authority possessed data indicated an increase of 5.12% out of nowhere! This information was not displayed until he used Jiang Chu’s spell. “That’s interesting. The information concealment function can even hide my authority from the game!”
“It’s no wonder the game was so depressed previously. It turns out that, based on my performances during every prior disaster, I would always achieve an excellent ratingaccording to the scope of the bet.”
“What was weird about the whole situation was that, not only did the game not receive any reward for my performance, but it was also unable to detect the authority from my body!”
Once Su Mo recalled the interrogation session from back then, he immediately became happy that he used Ma Fei as an excuse to confuse and befuddle the game.
The next second, he tapped on the detailed description of the authority information, and the system displayed the breakdown of this 5.12% authority.
[Su Mo (Host)]
[Authority possessed: 5.12% + 1.46% (Both bodies)]
[Authority composition: Rain (0.38%) + Snow (0,22%) + Bravery (1.12%) + Harvest (1.09%) + Ocean (1.63%) + Fighting Spirit (0.68%) + Food (1%) + Light (0.46%)]
[Specific properties of Authority]: ..
[Authority combination: Current authority possessed can be used in combination to a certain extent.)
(Combination options: Rainwater + Snow = Sleet (Weather), Harvest + Food = Produce (buff bonus), Fighting Spirit + Bravery = Indomitable (buff bonus)..]
(Usage method: Host can use survival points to activate these combinations. Cost depends on the scope of usage, influence, level, strength, and other factors.]
[Threat level: The default threat level after spending survival points is 0.]
[Help section: Tap to view]
Whoosh!
The long display panel unfolded and presented itself in full before Su Mo’s eyes for the very first time.
The system was different from what he had imagined, in the sense that its capabilities were incredibly useful and powerful. Not only was the composition of the authority fully displayed, alongside their respective percentages and specific attributes, but the system also unprecedentedly listed down all the ways the authority could be used as well as their usage methods. Su Mo was different from the gods of the wasteland, so he scanned through the entire display panel and studied the use of the authority and help section, after which his eyes lit up.
The food authority was something that he had possessed for a long time.
However, he had only used it recently. Even then, just by using it for the one time, he had already felt the wrath of the game’s murderous intent.
Had he not forked out tens of thousands of survival points to hide from the game’s detection, even his corpse would have been pulverized.
An outcome this dire from simply using it once had made him determined to never use it again until he reached the threshold of 51% authority, or accumulated hundreds of thousands of survival points.
However, the current combinations of authority had given him new ideas!
While he could not use the authority in the same unbridled manner as he did to power the rocket, by spending survival points, Su Mo was able to use the system’s combination options as much as he wanted.
From the perspective of safety, it was countless times better!
For example, if he combined Harvest and Food, he would obtain the buff of Bumper Harvest. If he spent 500 points, it could increase the yield of crops within an acre of land by 20%, and increase their growth rate by 10%.
If he spent 5000 points, the yield would be increased by 50%, and the growth speed by 30%. There would also be an increased possibility of increasing the crops’ level via mutation.
If he combined Fighting Spirit and Bravery, he would get the Indomitable buff. If he spent 500 points, a small squad of a hundred people would have their pain perception reduced by 20%, and their physical recovery speed and morale would be increased by 10%.
If he spent 5000 points, their pain perception would be reduced by 50%, their physical recovery speed would be increased by 30%, and their morale by 50%!
These abilities would be a divine boon to a Lord of a simulation strategy game, and their effects would turn one’s scalp numb.
What Su Mo valued most, however, was that he finally had the means to fight against the game!
“Su Mo! For real, this isn’t just a surprise, it’s terrifying!” “I admit that you are actually.. far more talented than I am!”
One could see the smile on Su Mo’s face grow wider.
When Jiang Chu came back to his senses, his face was flushed with a bitter smile that he had not had for hundreds of years!
He really wanted to open his mouth and say that, over these few thousands of years, the authority possessed by a single person had never exceeded 8%.
Yet in these three short months, Su Mo was on the verge of achieving what had taken others hundreds, or even thousands, of years of effort to accomplish.
In the end, he still could not bring himself to finish those words. Instead, he shook his head and brushed over that painful topic to talk about the matter at hand.
“I’m already at the end of the line. This God incarnation that I left behind won’t last much longer.”
“I still possess an authority of 0.22%. It’s not a lot, but it’s something I spent many years in hiding in order to preserve. I hope..”
“Take it as me begging you, but you definitely must do better than me! If even you can’t succeed, then it’d be wasted by my side anyway!”
He commanded a mechanical claw to stretch out from within the walls, and a small palm-sized horn emerged in front of Su Mo.
Even through the outer shell, he could see ocean water splashing within, emitting a sky blue glow that was magical beyond words.
After accepting and looking at the horn for a moment, Su Mo silently held the horn in his hands.
It was the main reason he was here.
It would be too fake to act courteously now, so it was better for Su Mo to play the role of a valiant hero so that Jiang Chu could be relieved.
“Based on your current percentage of authority, we humans should, logically, choose to hand over all authority to you to see if we can surpass the 51% mark.”
“However, the reality is..”
Jiang Chu shrugged. “Even if your authority reaches 25%, some stubborn old people would still decide against putting all their eggs in one basket, and not pass their authority to you.”
“Why do you say this?”
“The bet from years ago limited the proportion of help humans could receive from others when facing disaster. It also disallowed the scenario of having millions of people pooling their resources into one person, as well as disallowed any cheating where humans from past generations helped the next to a huge extent. Of course, this is not about limiting the number of subordinates you can have under you, but rather just a strict algorithm that’s still in place and working as intended.”
“In reality, as long as you develop and survive disasters normally, there should be no issues.” “What this rule’s limitation resulted in was that humans’ hard-earned authority, after all those years, would basically be obtained by various top geniuses from different space-time continuums putting their lives on the line. Behind much of the authority we obtained is the blood of those who sacrificed their lives for it.”
“These sacrifices resulted in the birth of two factions. The first is our progressive faction, and the other would be the conservative faction. The conservative faction believes in dividing up the authority we had for safekeeping. Only when one person’s authority could surpass 51%, when added up with humans’ safely guarded authority, would they be willing to give it up. As such, you know-” Jiang Chu said all that casually while hiding the disappointment deep within his heart.
Su Mo nodded to show he fully understood Jiang Chu, and took over by saying, “Oh right! Since the foreign races sought refuge from the game, giving up their authority in exchange for benefits, then with our long human history, outside of these two factions, were there not any spies who pledged their loyalty to the game?”
Jiang Chu replied, “Erm, for this question, it would be unfair to say that there never were any spies, because they did exist, but it would also be unfair to acknowledge their presence as there never were any spies who were successful.”
“The game cannot distribute rewards without basis. Even if you sought refuge from the game, it would not be able to give you a deity-level item that would shield you from disasters. These were the rules set by the previous gamemaster to prevent the different groups from colluding with each other to open the lid of the incubator. As a result, the game’s attitude toward humans has always been more negative because, in its eyes, most humans possess no potential, and those that did have potential would not sell themselves out to the game. Plus, even though the foreign races didn’t know about the rigidity of the game’s limitations, we humans sure as hell did.”
“In the end, after our confrontation with the game, we obtained a small yet integral advantage. Although the game’s progress has indeed been rapid, we still have your 5%, which would put us a few steps ahead of it!”