by <unknown>
The more one knew, the easier it would be to sense them. The World Tree’s anti-tracking ability was too troublesome.
It was a pity that this information did not contain the coordinates of the World Tree’s main body. According to Barbani, he had never read any related information in the mind network. None of the Holy Tree Emissaries or upper echelons that he had come into contact with knew anything about it either.
Even so, the value of this intelligence exceeded all the results of the previous explorations. It was probably the biggest gain of this trip. Only after uncovering the various methods of the World Tree could they take measures against it.
“Luckily, virtual purification is effective. Otherwise, I would not have been able to obtain these secrets.”
Han Xiao thought that he was lucky. The intelligence that he had now exceeded that of his previous life.
After witnessing Barbani’s resolute action, he realized that the effect of virtual purification might be beyond his expectations. There were many foreign races that had been assimilated by the World Tree. If everyone received the same awakening through purification, they could all become potential spies.
The World Tree would definitely target this move once it was prepared. Once someone ‘lost control’, it would immediately rewrite their mind and cause the duration of the virtual purification to plummet. However, at the very least, they should be able to have some time for self-destruction. This way, the foreign experts that the World Tree devoured might not be of any use.
However, the emissaries of the World Tree would not completely die. Once one died, they would turn into a seed and return to the World Tree, falling into a deep slumber. The World Tree could consume resources and time to mature the seed, allowing them to reawaken and revive. The mechanism was somewhat similar to the Underworld, but there were also subtle differences.
The foundation of an Underworld Spirit’s existence was its soul. By obtaining a physical body, it could recover its combat power. As long as the Hero Spirit existed, it did not matter if its body died because it was still ‘alive’.
The revival mechanism of the World Tree was different. It was an information-type ability, and every individual was unique. Because of the World Tree’s connection, the information was refreshed in real time. When an individual died, they would not be able to maintain their consciousness like Hero Spirits, and their thoughts would become dormant as though they had really died, turning into ‘seeds’. Only when the World Tree replenished their nutrients could they be revived.
From this perspective, the revival of the World Tree and the Sanctums had similarities. However, the revival of the Sanctums only required the activation of the Sanctum and did not require additional resources and time. The revival of the World Tree required a lot of resources and time, which meant that as long as one died, they would not be able to revive in a short period of time.
Han Xiao could not help but think of the ‘military barracks’ of the strategy games he played in his previous life. The production units needed to be trained, and the stronger the unit, the longer it would take.
“The revival principles of the World Tree and the Sanctums are related to the information form, but there is a unique principle. What will happen if the Sanctums revive the expert that has been devoured by the World Tree first? Will the connection still exist?”
Han Xiao could not help but be curious.
If it was possible, the Sanctum Revival might be able to continuously take away the powerhouses controlled by the World Tree, causing the strength of both parties to even out.
However, the possibility of failure could not be ruled out. After all, the individual had a symbiotic relationship with the World Tree, so even if the individual died, as long as the individual’s information form template still existed, the individual who died might be judged by the Sanctum as still alive. That way, they would not be able to revive and would forever be enslaved.
Furthermore, according to the mechanism of the World Tree, Han Xiao even suspected that the World Tree was like the previous owner of the Underworld, keeping the information form of his subordinates and not allowing them to enter the Sanctum. Thus, there was no way for them to revive.
Han Xiao pondered. “For now, I can only guess. I’ll only know if I try it myself… Hmm, but it’s not convenient to take the risk now.”
Since Barbani was dead, Han Xiao did not want to take the risk of using the Sanctum Revival. If the connection between the World Tree was not broken because of this, it would bring many more risks. This could be tested after the war broke out. At that time, he would not have to worry about being discovered.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Han Xiao’s mind. After digesting the new information, he opened the interface.
The mission (Nowhere to Hide] that he had triggered previously had been completed, and he immediately collected the rewards.
A notification popped up on his interface, showing that he had received 210,000,000 EXP, two Random Reward chances, and a Barbani Character Summon Card. However, the card was an offensive skill and was not very useful to him.
Other than that, it also indicated that the Favorability of the World Tree Faction had greatly decreased. At the same time, a new mission was activated.
You have triggered the urgent mission: World Tree’s Rage!
Mission Introduction: Your actions angered the World Tree, and it sees you as a huge threat. It has decided to launch a large-scale operation to hunt you down.
Mission Requirements: Face the pursuers and escape from the territory of the World Tree Civilization.
Reward depends on mission rating. Mission rating depends on the amount of resistance put forth while escaping.
Remarks: The moment you activate this mission, it means that the World Tree has remembered you. No matter when it discovers you, it will hunt you down. This will take effect permanently.
“Heh, I really poked a hornet’s nest.”
Han Xiao clicked his tongue.
It seemed that the virtual purification had left a deep impression on the World Tree, and it saw him as the number one threat. As long as he was discovered, the World Tree would immediately chase after him.
The mission itself was very simple. If he wanted to escape, he could just use the King suit to escape. However, the rating depended on resistance. If he completed the mission so easily, he would probably get the lowest rating He did not have a chance to complete his original mission this time, so he could only come again at some point. However, Han Xiao thought for a while and did not plan to retreat immediately.
Since he had been discovered, he might as well use virtual purification to obtain more intelligence and kill some of the World Tree powerhouses at the same time, allowing them to return to their seed state and temporarily reduce the World Tree’s advanced combat power. It was a pity that he did not know what would happen to the connection between the World Tree and the individual after the Spacetime Amber sealed the target. He did not dare take the risk at the moment, afraid that he would be remotely located after taking the amber away.
“However, this is the enemy’s base camp after all. There are many strong people here, and there are many factors that can threaten me. If I treat this too casually, I’m afraid I’ll fail.”
Han Xiao calmed himself down and took out bombs that were specially used to remove traces. As he sped forward, he set them up along the way.
This type of bomb could remove the usual traces of information form, other than the high-dimensional information forms, preventing the information form from being read by the Information Form Camera.
Setting up these bombs could also expand the area that the World Tree Army could not detect, which was beneficial to him.
Behind Han Xiao was a huge fleet in pursuit.
In the command room, a group of Beyond Grade As looked out the window, using the power of the World Tree to light up the high-dimensional information traces.
“The outsiders have begun
to eliminate their traces on a large scale. The other party already knows about the existence of the Information Form Camera from Barbani’s mouth. This is most likely a targeted measure… Send more people to search the area to prevent the outsiders from leaving anything behind.”
The tall figure standing at the front slowly spoke with an unquestionable tone. Everyone present followed his lead.
Tedrian, a Nine Leaf Executive Officer, was in charge of this chase and was the highest ranked person present.
There were five Great Tree Kings in the World Tree, and each of them had two Executive Officers who were ranked from One Leaf to Ten Leaf.
The Tree Kings were usually in a deep sleep, absorbing the power of the World Tree to strengthen themselves. Therefore, these Executive Officers were the highest Executive Officers who dealt with the affairs of the World Tree Civilization. Not only did they have a high position and authority, they also had powerful personal strength. None of the Executive Officers under the Kings were below the pinnacle Beyond Grade A level.
Other than him, there were other pinnacle Beyond Grade As in the room.
“If we just chase from behind, it will be easy for the other party to escape. I’ve already informed some Holy Tree Emissaries to use their roots to intercept them,” a person beside him said with a deep voice. This was a high-level Holy Tree Emissary. He had a deeper connection with the World Tree, as well as stronger personal strength. He was far from what Barbani could compare to.
“There seems to be only one outsider. He’s very strong, at least at the level of an executive officer. Be careful not to let him ambush you,” another person said. This time, it was an ancestral spirit. This identity was usually responsible for matters related to faith.
The person who spoke was not an ordinary ancestral spirit but a member of the Thirteen Ancestral Spirits’. This represented the strongest thirteen of the ancestral spirits, all of which were at the pinnacle of Beyond Grade A.
“Don’t worry, His Excellency Tree King has been paying attention. If the situation isn’t right, he will come personally,” Tedrian replied coldly before looking back.
“Barbani was bewitched by others, but there are no weak-minded people who are following me in this pursuit. I hope all of you can resist the strange bewitching methods of the outsiders.”
Everyone nodded.
Although the World Tree did not know the theory behind the virtual purification, it felt threatened when it saw the performance of Barbani through the mental network.
To be on the safe side, the people who were sent to chase after the World Tree were all individuals who were loyal to the World Tree. There were no ‘outsiders’ who had their mindset overwritten.
Chapter 1322: Guerrilla Warfare |
Right at this moment, the World Tree experts in the command room suddenly stopped moving. The movement in their High Dimensional Information Vision suddenly split into seven and headed in different directions.
“The outsider threw out bait to confuse our tracking; they are trying to disperse our manpower. It seems like they have the intention to retaliate.”
Seeing this, Tedrian narrowed his eyes and said with a solemn tone.
One of the thirteen Ancestral Spirits, Roxilian, stroked his beard-like small tentacles on his chin out of habit and said slowly, “In this case, we can only split up. We can’t ignore any trail.”
Although the High Dimensional Information Vision could see through ‘Information Closure’ and track the traces, it could not trace back to the specific details like the Information Form camera.
The World Tree still had its limits, so they could not immediately tell which one of the seven tracks Han Xiao was on. Only by collecting enough information samples could they differentiate the traces. This would take some time, and they would have to follow the trail and collect samples to lock onto the outsider.
If the goal of the outsider was to escape, scattering thousands of trails was a good way to mix things up, and it was enough to stall for more time. However, since there were only seven trails, Tedrian guessed that the outsider had not given up and wanted to fight back.
Even if the other six trails were just bait, they had to deal with them to prevent the outsider from leaving their troops or other dangerous things in the territory of the civilization.
“Then let’s gather more people. Our reinforcements are very fast anyway.”
The high-level Holy Tree Emissary Offerman nodded in agreement.
The group did not have any objections. In the territory of the World Tree Civilization, they could travel quickly on the World Tree roots. As long as someone discovered the target and shared their location through the mental network, the others would arrive quickly.
“Leave some people to act as mobile support troops. The rest will split up.”
Tedrian nodded.
Not only were they chasing from behind, but they were also following the direction of the trails, allowing some troops to pass directly to the front and intercept them. After confirming the changes in the trail, they would keep on shrinking the range.
The troops of the World Tree were constantly mobilized, gradually forming a large encirclement.
A fleet followed one of the trails for quite some distance, and the Holy Tree Emissary on the ship focused on maintaining the High Dimensional Information Vision.
At this time, a message came from the mental network. The sender was the intercepting troop in front of this trail.
“There’s no follow-up information trail ahead. We’re turning back and heading toward you, narrowing the search radius. Be careful.”
Hearing this, the Holy Tree Emissary immediately perked up.
They were some distance away from the intercepting troop. Since the trail ahead had been cut off, it meant that the target was likely within this distance, and it was very likely that they would meet each other.
“Be careful. The enemy is close,” the Holy Tree Emissary instructed the crew. He carefully sensed his surroundings and was a little angry.
It was a pity that the Information Form Camera was of no use this time. Otherwise, they would have no need to be so careful regardless of what the enemy had planned.
After traveling for some distance, an alarm suddenly sounded on the spaceship’s radar.
“High energy attacks detected. Shield activated. Please watch out!”
At the same time, beams of light shot over from afar, penetrating the fleet’s formation and quickly destroying many battleships.
“Enemy attack!”
The Holy Tree Emissary shuddered, and without hesitation, he called for reinforcements through the mental network before immediately activating his energy shield to protect himself.
A small mechanical troop surrounded by golden Mechanical Force suddenly charged over from the distance, closing in rapidly and firing continuously.
In the High Dimensional Information Vision, the source of this trail was this troop, but the outsider did not seem to be here.
“It seems like the trail I’m chasing is just bait.” The Holy Tree Emissary had a frustrated expression, as though he was regretful that he had not caught up to the outsider.
At this time, spatial rifts appeared around them, and many roots extended out. Reinforcements quickly arrived, and several Beyond Grade As arrived.
Seeing this mechanical troop fighting with the fleet, everyone knew that this path was not where the outsider was.
“One trail removed; there are six left.”
“Let’s get rid of these mechanical troops first. Let the Holy Tree swallow them and analyze the information.”
Without any hesitation, they charged forward, planning to end the battle quickly.
However, at this moment, one of the mechanical soldiers suddenly self-destructed, and a blue psionic light burst out, instantly swallowing the surrounding mechanical soldiers. The light expanded rapidly like it would never stop. “Damn it, it’s Primordial Psionic Energy!” The expressions of the World Tr
ee experts changed drastically; they hurriedly stopped and retreated The encircling fleet also dispersed and turned to leave immediately. However, there were still some spaceships that could not escape in time and were swallowed by the Primordial Psionic Energy.
The larger the sphere of light was, the faster it expanded. All matter and energy that came into contact with it were assimilated, and psionic energy expanded continuously.
However, at this moment, spatial rifts appeared once again. The World Tree roots extended from the cracks and stabbed into the psionic energy ball and absorbed its energy rapidly like sucking a jelly. Only then did the psionic ball stop expanding and slowly shrink until it disappeared.
Everything that had been devoured by the psionic energy before was completely destroyed.
The World Tree experts who had run far away finally stopped, their faces ashen.
This was not the stable secondary psionic energy but the violent Primordial Psionic Energy and quite large at that. Although they were Beyond Grade As, they did not want to test the Primordial Psionic Energy’s strength with their bodies.
The Holy Tree Emissary had a lingering fear in his heart, and he angrily said, “That outsider must have set up Primordial Psionic Energy on all the bait to blast the pursuers to oblivion. Tell the others to be careful!”
The news quickly spread from the mental network to their comrades. Every chasing team immediately became cautious.
“A troop has already detonated…?”
Han Xiao was speeding through the universe when he suddenly sensed the Mechanical Force feedback.
Not long ago, he had sent out six mechanical troops to split up. On one hand, they were to split up the forces of the pursuers, and on the other hand, they served to act as a ward to see the size of the pursuers. The mechanical army did not enjoy the protection of the Destiny’s Child’s Mark, which meant that all their actions would be seen through by the Information Form Camera. However, after receiving the Mechanical Force link, the mechanical army would be able to share the disguise of the Destiny’s Child’s Mark and become bait.