Chapter 159 - 136: Preparing for the Extraordinary

Chapter 159: Chapter 136: Preparing for the Extraordinary

Ten seconds of silence. Then— "CRASH!" The twenty-by-twenty-meter area of ground in front of him suddenly shattered, doing so with perfect precision.

"Chen Jianghuai, an Extraordinary Realm expert, certainly shows his mastery over power!" Shi An murmured. Over the past two days, Lighthouse Camp had taken shape, and he had gained a deeper understanding of the Extraordinary Realm.

He mused, "The Extraordinary Realm must possess a ’Talent’, which has both active and passive states."

Chen Jianghuai’s Talent was ’Shattered Earth’. He couldn’t control the Earth Element omnipotently, nor were there any Elemental Particles in this world. But when Chen Jianghuai touched the ground, his perception could continue Spreading. He could shatter earth blocks at will. He could also subject items or enemies he touched to Earth Block Transformation, then shatter them. These were the active effects of his Talent Ability. The passive effect was that when Chen Jianghuai took fatal damage, the injured area would undergo Earth Block Transformation, then rapidly heal and return to a normal mortal body of flesh and blood.

He pondered, "But I’m afraid Extraordinary Lives are no longer bodies of flesh and blood in the truest sense. A Dream Descender’s promotion to Extraordinary is also a process of gradually transforming from a normal person into a non-human. Since it’s a metamorphosis, and the essence of a person’s Life is changing entirely, naturally, such a process is incredibly dangerous!"

Shi An flipped through the books and records from Elk Village. He had already figured out the three key points in the process of promoting to Extraordinary.

"The first is the resonance of three Lifebound Curse Objects representing ’Essence’, ’Qi’, and ’Divine’. I already knew this. However, I previously thought that the Third Refinements Realm could attempt to break through to the Extraordinary Realm. That’s not the case. After a Dream Descender possesses three major categories of Curse Objects, their Physique, Spirit, and Curse Power must all reach the Perfection Realm to qualify for the breakthrough.

"Some experts in the Third Refinements Realm might not have a strong enough Physique and need to continue their Cultivation. Alternatively, if an expert overused Curse Objects in their early years, resulting in damaged Spirit or damaged Life Force, they would similarly lack the qualifications to break through. They might never qualify in their entire lives. By the same logic, if a Third Refinements Realm expert’s three Lifebound Curse Objects are all merely Complete Level Curse Objects, their Curse Power won’t meet the breakthrough requirements either. This is why rumors say that a Dream Descender seeking the Extraordinary Realm must complete the Fusion of at least one Rare Grade Curse Object.

"The second point is the Extraordinary Ceremony. The Extraordinary Ceremonies of those at the Peak of Third Refinements Realm can vary wildly. For instance, if someone takes Swordsmanship to the extreme, they might unknowingly fulfill their Extraordinary Ceremony by swinging their sword three thousand times in a single day. There isn’t just one type of Promotion Ceremony to Extraordinary. As long as a Dream Descender satisfies any of them, they have a chance to resonate, sublimate, and subsequently transform. However, the more prepared the ceremony, the safer the entire transformation process, naturally lowering the danger!"

This involved the third key point—Secret Medicine!

He deduced, "Generally speaking, the Extraordinary promotion process also requires consuming a massive amount of Dream Crystals. However, Dream Crystals only make up for energy deficits. To increase the transformation’s success rate or save one’s life after a failed breakthrough, Secret Medicine is required for Support."

Shi An had already obtained this Secret Medicine, called the ’Unity Secret Medicine’. The name meant fusing Essence, Qi, and Spirit into one. The Secret Medicine aided in the resonance of the three, acting as a lubricant during the sublimation and transformation process, and serving as a lifesaver in case of failure. It was said that senior experts of Great Xia had used a native Secret Medicine of the Nightmare World as a blueprint, improving it into the most suitable version for the constitutions of Blue Star’s people.

He summarized, "Personal foundation, three-phase resonance, ceremony, and Secret Medicine! The difficulties required to promote to Extraordinary come one after another. No wonder there are quite a few Third Refinements Realm experts in Baijiang City, yet those in the Extraordinary Realm are so few."

Shi An even suspected that many Captain Level experts in the Countermeasures Bureau didn’t qualify to attempt an Extraordinary breakthrough. If their foundations were damaged, they would never have the chance to break through in their entire lives.

Shi An stroked his chin. "The most difficult aspects are still the Extraordinary Ceremony and the resonance transformation. However..."

The transformation was dangerous because humans were born of mortal flesh and blood. Shi An could well imagine the painful trials involved in shifting from a body of flesh and blood to a non-human one. Naturally, it was fraught with peril. But Zhuo Ling and Li Feng weren’t human! Since they weren’t human to begin with, transitioning into a non-human state wouldn’t be very difficult.

Things like Little Blood’s Blood Mist Incarnation and Zhuo Ling’s Water Elementalization didn’t seem much different from Chen Jianghuai’s Earth Block Transformation. Furthermore, Chen Jianghuai could only manage a partial Earth Block Transformation, whereas Little Blood and Zhuo Ling could transform their entire bodies into Blood Mist or water currents. Their Extraordinary Traits even seemed stronger than those of genuine Extraordinary humans. After all, they were Anomalies. Anomalies just had a unique advantage in this regard.

He concluded, "They say this Cultivation System for humans transforming into Extraordinary was created by mimicking Anomalies. In that case, Zhuo Ling and the others probably don’t need any Secret Medicine to break through to Extraordinary. However, Dream Crystals and some Support Treasure Medicines can still be prepared."

Shi An was still far from Extraordinary himself. Until all the risks of the Extraordinary promotion were eliminated, he would absolutely not risk a breakthrough, even if he met the conditions. Playing it safe was the only way. He only hoped that the Four Great Anomalies under his command could promote as soon as possible.

He analyzed, "Normal Anomalies don’t have intelligence, and they can only promote under highly coincidental circumstances. So, can Anomalies with intelligence promote easily? Not necessarily."

Shi An thought of the Black Crow Anomaly. It wasn’t even at the Leader Level. Clearly, it wasn’t easy for Anomalies to increase their power. Even Leader Level Anomalies might not meet the Perfection condition. Many Anomalies were born strong but lacked a pathway to grow stronger.

As for Shi An’s side, Little Blood, Zhuo Ling, and his other two employees had long since reached the Perfection Realm.

Shi An pondered, "Anomalies have three major Skills, which implicitly aligns with a Dream Descender’s three Lifebound Curse Objects. During a Dream Descender’s promotion, they must achieve Curse-Object Unity, so it stands to reason that Anomalies should too. Little Blood and the others can focus their training on combining their three Abilities. Besides that, it’s about finding the Promotion Ceremony. If the right ceremony is found, the Dream Descender will have a mysterious, intuitive perception of it. The more the ceremony suits them, the stronger this perception will be. And there are traces to follow on how to find these ceremonies."

Chen Jianghuai’s notes had records of this. In addition, Great Xia had also created eighteen types of ’Universal Ceremonies’. These ceremonies could be used, but naturally, if the ceremony wasn’t a good fit, the sublimation wouldn’t be intense enough, and the probability of a breakthrough would drop significantly. Most peak experts were unwilling to take the path of Universal Ceremonies. However, deducing one’s own Lifebound Ceremony through Universal Ceremonies was still a highly efficient method.

...

In the following days, the construction of Lighthouse Camp continued in full swing. In just a short week, the entire camp was largely completed. The camp had ten residential houses, each styled like two or three-story mini-villas. An affairs hall had been built in the center of the camp. Chen Jianghuai also ordered people to excavate soil from other areas. These were Wastelands, but he planned to attempt to groom and cultivate them to see if he could scrape together a piece of farmland.

Within the camp, other relatively important buildings included the Blacksmith Shop, the Medicinal Herb House, and so on. The former could forge commonly used tools. The latter grew and refined herbs for Alchemy, and was also responsible for treating simple injuries.

Blacksmith, tailor, Herbalist, Carpenter—these were all professions that Elk Camp originally had. The camp did not support idlers. People surviving in the Nightmare World either had to possess extraordinary combat strength or have, or learn, a specialized skill. However, the original tailor and Carpenter of Elk Village had already lost their lives in the Pseudo-Man disaster.

One of Lighthouse Camp’s main duties was mining. The Blacksmith Shop was responsible for forging various mining tools. Mine shafts and railways had also been completed over the past few days. The extraction of the Fire Brilliance Ore mineral deposits had begun.

Meanwhile, by issuing tasks or trading with the Countermeasures Bureau and the Wizard’s House, Shi An also obtained quite a few Support Treasure Medicines beneficial for Extraordinary promotion. The Safe Zone’s Four Heavenly Kings were also giving their all in a final sprint. After Shi An upgraded the Training Ground to Level 3, which gave it fifteen training rooms, he deliberately reserved one for each of the four Anomalies. The Anomalies would either cultivate their Skills in the training rooms—they had already cultivated all their Skills to the Peak Realm—or they would head to the library, seeking inspiration with the buffs of the Quiet Chamber.

Little Blood completely abandoned its usual slacking habits and became remarkably hardworking. It was the Manager’s number one employee, so it absolutely had to be the first to promote to Extraordinary! Truthfully, with more and more capable and extraordinary individuals appearing in the shop, Lord Blood was starting to feel the pressure.

Thus, on a certain day.

"Have you already sensed your Extraordinary Ceremony?" Shi An asked.

Li Feng gave a firm nod.