novelno Chapter 1271 Reward Changes
Chapter 1271 Reward Changes
The preparation time for the fifth round of the championship was not long.
[Announcement: The fifth round will officially begin in 6 hours and 21 minutes.]
As the announcement was made, the atmosphere among the group gradually became somber.
It's not that the temperature has dropped, it's that the atmosphere has changed.
Apart from Lin Yi, the other ten people were on high alert with each other.
As for why this is the case, we have to mention Waldy, the master of contracts.
The story begins about ten minutes ago.
The Night Witch sat in a chair, her dark red robe hood pulled low, revealing only a few strands of short silver hair.
She tucked her hands into her sleeves, glanced at Waldy, and casually remarked.
But Waldy's reaction was unusual. He turned his head, looked at the Night Witch, and smiled slightly.
Su Xiao leaned back in her chair and didn't speak immediately. Instead, she waited a few seconds before slowly pointing out his little trick.
"Isn't it too early to sign a contract with the demon race now?"
Upon hearing this, the Night Witch froze, her expression instantly changing.
She pulled her right hand out of her sleeve, a dark red light swirling around her fingertips.
"Waldy".
Her voice was very low, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying an undisguised murderous intent.
Waldy was not annoyed by this. He leaned back in his chair, spread his hands out, palms up, to indicate that he had no hostility.
"Don't get agitated. It's just a small contract and won't cause you any harm."
The Night Witch stared at him, her dark brown eyes filled with rage.
"Won't cause any harm? Do you think I'm a three-year-old?"
Waldy sighed softly and took a piece of parchment from his pocket.
The parchment was about the size of a palm, yellowish in color, with badly worn edges, and its surface was covered with tiny, dense writing.
He unfolded the parchment, pointed it toward the Night Witch, and tapped the paper a few times with his finger. Suddenly, several lines of tiny writing lit up, emitting a pale golden light.
"Look for yourself, the contract is very simple—during the battle for supremacy among the top ten, you must not attack the other party first. That's all, no hidden clauses, no additional conditions, no traps."
The Night Witch stared at the parchment for a few seconds, her anger subsiding slightly, but not completely dissipating.
She scanned the parchment several times with her senses, and only after confirming that there were no hidden energy fluctuations did she dissipate the dark red light from her fingertips.
"why?"
Waldy carefully put the parchment away and tucked it back into his pocket.
“It’s simple. I don’t want to get stabbed in the back by a witch while I’m fighting someone.”
The Night Witch was silent for a few seconds, then let out a cold laugh.
"You're quite frank."
Waldy smiled too, a smile that was a few degrees deeper than before, but there was no real joy in his eyes.
"In this void, honesty is the best disguise. You never know if someone who is completely open with you will stab you in the heart the next second."
The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the participants' seats grew even colder.
Although Waldy signed the contract without the Night Witch's knowledge, if this contract really ruins the Night Witch's life, then in this battle for supremacy, the Night Witch will definitely abandon everything else and ignore the severity of the contract's punishment to kill Waldy.
Although the Demon Clan's contract is powerful, it is not insurmountable.
No matter how severe the punishment under a contract, it cannot outweigh the madness of someone who is risking their life.
The Night Witch's ability to break into the top ten in the fourth round was not due to luck, but to her skill.
If she really goes all out to fight Waldy, even if Waldy wins, he will pay a heavy price.
Under the rules of the Top Ten Battle, paying the price means giving others a chance and becoming prey in their eyes.
Therefore, to prevent the Night Witch from acting rashly, Waldy added a crucial restriction to the contract.
The contract expires when the competition ends; once the competition ends, the contract automatically becomes invalid.
This will make the Night Witch consider whether it's necessary to completely break off relations.
If the contract is still valid after the competition ends, she will definitely fight Waldy to the death at all costs, because the longer the contract lasts, the greater the impact on the signatory, and the longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it is for her.
But the contract expires after the match, so there's no need for her to fight Waldy to the death during the match, because the cost of fighting to the death is too high and the reward is too low.
That's where Waldy's shrewdness lies.
He wasn't afraid of the Night Witch risking her life, but he used his calculations to minimize the cost of her risking her life, making her feel it wasn't worth it.
The others witnessed this scene, and from that moment on, the sense of distance between the participants became even more pronounced.
Everyone is consciously keeping their distance from others, everyone is sensing the surrounding activity in their own way, and everyone is on guard against everyone else.
This is the prelude to the battle for supremacy among the top ten.
In this environment, trust itself is a luxury, and luxury can only end up being consumed, wasted, and abandoned.
However, Lin Yi was completely out of place in this atmosphere; on the contrary, he even felt like yawning.
For Lin Yi, the most dangerous people now are actually the people in other amusement parks, which is quite strange.
The waiting time passed in the blink of an eye.
When the spatial fluctuations occurred, everyone opened their eyes simultaneously.
Their movements were different, but their expressions were the same: solemn, tense, and with a hint of barely concealed excitement.
Lin Yi felt his body becoming lighter and the floor beneath his feet moving further away.
His consciousness tumbled through the spatial passage, like a leaf caught in a storm, with no room to struggle and only able to let that force push him toward the unknown.
When the feeling of weightlessness finally subsided, Lin Yi's boots stepped on something soft.
He opened his eyes.
Before me was a vast expanse of white.
The snow was pristine white, stretching from our feet to the horizon, without a single blemish.
The sky was grayish-white, and the clouds were pressed very low, so low that it seemed you could reach out and touch the swirling wisps of cloud.
The sunlight was blocked by the clouds, only a faint halo of light shone through, making the entire snowfield appear hazy and ethereal.
The surrounding trees were covered with snowflakes, and the branches were bent under the weight of the snow. Some branches had broken and were hanging on the snow, mostly buried by the newly fallen snow.
Lin Yi didn't recognize the species of trees. The trunks were grayish-black with fine cracks on the surface, as if they had been cracked by frost.
The branches twisted and stretched upwards, like withered arms, trembling slightly in the cold wind.
Without a doubt, this is a barren land.
Lin Yi exhaled, and his breath condensed into white mist in the air, which was quickly dispersed by the cold wind.
The temperature was very low, and I could feel the moisture in my nasal cavity freezing. Every breath felt like swallowing razor blades.
The wind wasn't strong, but the cold was penetrating; it didn't just blow on the skin, but seeped directly into the bones.
He squatted down, picked up a pinch of snow, and rubbed it between his fingertips.
The snow was fine and dry; it didn't seem like freshly fallen snow, but rather like snow that had been accumulating for a long time.
The snow was very thick, and boots would sink up to the ankles. Every step required pulling your feet out of the snow, which took much more effort than usual.
Lin Yi stood up and glanced around.
As far as the eye could see, there was only white snowfield and gray-black trees; there was no other color present.
There were no buildings, no roads, and no trace of human activity.
A semi-transparent light screen unfolded before him, and the notification sound of the Void Tree rang in his ears.
[Announcement: The battle for the top ten has begun.]
Location: Extremely cold region.
This round will last for 5 calendar days, during which time all participants will be unable to leave the frigid region.
The temperature at the edge of the frigid zone will drop rapidly, and the area will continue to shrink towards the peak mountains. Participants must head towards the peak mountains as soon as possible.
[You have earned the Conqueror's Medal. If this medal is taken away for more than 10 minutes, the participant will be eliminated.]
[The player with the most Conqueror's Medals will be the winner after 5 calendar days.]
Only the top three finishers in this round will receive rewards. If only one player remains at the end of the round, the second and last place winners will be determined based on the elimination order; those who are eliminated will not be counted.
[First-place reward: Unknown.]
Second prize: Black maple branch, 1300 grams.
[Last Place Reward: Origin Stone.]
Lin Yi's gaze swept across the text line by line, quickly sorting out the key points of the rules in his mind.
Five calendar days; that's the time limit.
Unable to leave the extremely cold region, this is a spatial limitation.
The temperature in the peripheral areas drops rapidly and the area shrinks towards the mountain peaks; this is a mechanism to prevent people from running in circles.
Players who lose their Conqueror's Medal are eliminated if the player has been missing for more than ten minutes. The player with the most medals wins.
The top three winners will receive prizes, but only the first-place prize is unknown. The second-place prize is a black maple branch weighing 1300 grams.
This amount would be a huge sum in the void, but for Lin Yi and Su Xiao, black maple trees have never been a scarce resource.
Su Xiao has stockpiled the goods; you can just go and get them when you need them. There's no need to fight tooth and nail for them in the battle for supremacy.
As for the Origin Stone, Lin Yi didn't have one, but he had heard about its origin from the group of undead girls.
When a primordial world of rank six or higher collapses, it will form a devouring black hole, which will suck in the remnants of the entire world. After a long period of accumulation, compression, and qualitative change, there is a one percent chance of forming an Origin Stone.
It sounds impressive, but in the Astral Plane, worlds are destroyed every moment, so while Origin Stones may seem high-end, they are not actually that rare.
At higher levels, Origin Stones become a consumable material, even in the enhancement of some high-level equipment.
Only a few rare Origin Stones with suffixes are extremely rare, and even elite-level contractors like the Undead Girl don't have many.
According to them, each of these rare Origin Stones has a special effect, such as increasing meditation effect or increasing casting speed. The key is that they don't take up an equipment slot, which is very convenient.
This is also why good Origin Stones are rare.
The difference between ordinary Origin Stones and rare Origin Stones is as great as the difference between ordinary equipment and Holy Spirit-level equipment.
However, the announcement only mentioned Origin Stone, without any suffix or special explanation; it was just the most ordinary Origin Stone.
This level of reward is precious for contractors below the sixth rank, but for Lin Yi, who is already at the top of the sixth rank, it is only icing on the cake, not a lifeline.
Just when Lin Yi thought the announcement was over, the text on the screen suddenly flashed, and then new content appeared.
[Special circumstances detected: Due to increased betting by *** forces, the reward has been changed.]
[First-place reward: Unknown.]
Second-tier reward: Abyss Baptism, special privileges.
[Three prizes: 1300 grams of black maple tree branches.]
[Last Place Reward: Origin Stone.]
Lin Yi's gaze lingered on the words "Abyss Baptism".
The rewards have changed.
The second place changed from a black maple branch to an abyss baptism, the third place changed from an origin stone to a black maple branch, and the last place changed to an origin stone.
The faction that placed the bet was hidden, and their name was displayed as three asterisks. But Lin Yi didn't need to know who placed the bet. He only needed to know one thing—the Abyss Baptism reward was aimed at him.
He recalled the information that the Rat had mentioned earlier, and second place was not unacceptable.
That old bastard, Rat, really knows some inside information that others don't.
When he said that, his tone was light and casual, as if he were just chatting, but now when Lin Yi thinks back, the smile on that guy's lips clearly showed that he already knew the reward would be changed.
Baptism in the abyss.
Lin Yi looked at these four words and quickly assessed the value of the reward in his mind.
The power of the abyss is the core of his power system. From his first encounter with the abyss to the present, he has gone through a long and arduous journey.
Each advancement in the power of the abyss is accompanied by enormous risks. A slight misstep can lead to being corrupted by the abyss, losing oneself, and turning into a mindless, irrational monster that only knows how to devour everything.
He had seen people corrupted by the abyss; some of them had once been strong, some had once been geniuses, and some had once been ordinary people.
But after being corrupted by the abyss, they all became the same thing—empty shells, without souls, without consciousness, only instincts.
Those people will only meet one fate: death.
It wasn't an ordinary death; it was complete disappearance, leaving not even a soul behind, and erasing even the trace of its existence.
Lin Yi understood the dangers of the Abyss Power better than anyone else, and he also understood its value better than anyone else.
It is a double-edged sword; if used well, it can cut through everything; if used poorly, it will backfire and leave nothing but ashes.
He had been searching for a way to safely enhance the power of the Abyss, but those methods were either too ineffective, too risky, or too demanding; none of them were truly feasible.
The Abyss Baptism reward, being recognized by the Void Tree as something with special privileges, is definitely not an ordinary item.
After confirming the reward, Lin Yi shifted his attention from the light screen and took out a palm-sized wooden plaque from his pocket.
Conqueror's Medal.
The medal was made of a very special material; it was not metal, wood, or stone, but a substance that Lin Yi had never seen before.
It feels like wood, warm, smooth, and with fine texture.
But its weight is wrong; it's too light, so light that you can barely feel its weight.
If Lin Yi wasn't mistaken, this thing was most likely carved by the Void Tree using its own branches.
He had never seen a material so full of question marks before, the branches of the Void Tree, something from legend.
The Void Tree is an existence on the same level as, or even higher than, the Paradise of Reincarnation.
In the world of war, the Void Tree has always acted as the arbitrator. The Void Tree's presence is behind every rule-making process, every division of power, and every reward distribution in the world of war.
How could something carved from its own branches by an existence that can stand on equal footing with the Paradise of Reincarnation be ordinary?
To be honest, if he could, Lin Yi would have liked to keep the medal for himself.
Even a small piece of the Void Tree's branches contains unimaginable value.
Lin Yi put aside those chaotic thoughts and looked at the Overlord Medal several times.
The front of the medal was engraved with a complex rune that he did not recognize and was not from any language system he had ever encountered.
He tried to drop the Conqueror's Medal on the ground.
The medal fell to the snow with a very slight thud.
Lin Yi immediately heard a notification sound in his ear: the Overlord Medal was lost, and he would be eliminated in nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
He bent down to pick up the medal, and the notification sound disappeared.
He threw the medal on the ground again, and the notification sound rang again.
He picked it up, and the notification sound disappeared again.
Lin Yi held the medal in his palm and thought for a few seconds.
The rules for the Conqueror's Medal are that it must be held by the participant themselves, and if it is taken away for more than ten minutes, the participant will be eliminated.
But what is the definition of "possession"? Does it mean that it must be carried on one's person, or can it simply be on the participant's person, or can it be kept by someone else designated by the participant?
The rules are not clearly stated, and the places where the rules are not clearly stated are the loopholes that can be exploited.
Lin Yi raised his right hand, and a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
It was a young girl, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a white shirt and a dark pleated skirt, with a red ribbon tied at the neckline.
Because Lin Yi did not have a divine kingdom, the students of Kivotos did not have enough energy to maintain their conscious state.
They can only be briefly awake when summoned, and then quickly fall into a deep sleep due to lack of energy.
This time is no different.
The girl stood on the snow, a hint of confusion flashing in her deep red eyes.
She looked around and saw the snow-covered plains, then she saw Lin Yi standing in front of her.
Her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something.
Lin Yi wasted no time.
He raised his hand and handed the Conqueror's Medal to the girl.
"Take it."
The girl paused for a moment, then looked down at the wooden plaque in Lin Yi's palm.
She reached out and took the Overlord Medal from Lin Yi's palm, holding it in her hand.
The girl looked up at Lin Yi, her deep red eyes filled with confusion.
She didn't understand why she had to hold this thing, but she didn't ask, because her instincts told her to obey Lin Yi's orders.
A few seconds later, her body disappeared back into the shadows.
Lin Yi stood still and waited for a few seconds.
There was no notification sound, and the notification for the loss of the Conqueror's Medal did not appear.
As expected, there is no problem with a summoned creature possessing the Conqueror's Medal.
The rules only stipulate that the medal cannot be taken away for more than ten minutes, but do not stipulate that the medal must be held by the participant himself.
Summoned creatures are part of the participant's power and an extension of their abilities. While the summoned creatures hold the medals on their behalf, the participant is essentially still the one holding the medals.
Now Lin Yi is in an invincible position.
To obtain his medal, the other party must at least enter the shadow interface, which is no easy task.
The shadow interface is not a physical space, but a special existence that exists between the real and the virtual.
It exists in the cracks of reality, and only those who have mastered the power of shadow can enter.
Lin Yi didn't know which of the participants in the battle for the top ten had mastered the power of shadow.
But he knew one thing: even if someone mastered the power of shadow, finding a small medal in the vast shadow realm would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Moreover, he has more than one summoned creature.
There are hundreds of thousands of students at Kivotos, and each one could be a custodian of the medal.
Even if someone can enter the Shadow Realm, even if someone can find his summoned creatures within the Shadow Realm, so what? With hundreds of thousands of targets, can he possibly defeat them all? (End of Chapter)