Free Web NovelChapter 159: War and Conquest
Aurelius knew when to stop and did not keep pursuing the matter. Even so, the livestream brought him an enormous surge of popularity and attention.
He instantly became the hottest streamer on the entire internet.
Broadcasting a nuclear explosion from close range and following the full rampage of an SS rank powerhouse made for such an intense stream that viewers could barely contain themselves.
No one without real strength could have pulled off something like that. Most viewers guessed that Aurelius possessed at least the strength of an S rank player.
Meanwhile, Fluffball’s company had somehow managed to survive the month.
These days, it threw itself into company affairs with manic energy, keeping a tight grip on everything to prevent any more accidents.
Honestly, it was a miracle that such a makeshift operation had lasted this long. Had the company not been riding the biggest wave in the market, it would have fallen apart ages ago.
Because of that, Fluffball had learned its lesson. It finally recognized the serious flaws in the company’s current structure and policies and was now overhauling the entire system.
Caelum’s life remained the same as ever.
Aside from going out to stock up on food, he barely left the house. He had become the ultimate shut in, spending every day studying game content and strategy guides.
Life was easy, comfortable, and thoroughly enjoyable.
He did want to find a game with a power ceiling higher than the world of Immortal Ascension, but that was easier said than done. It was no different from searching for a needle in the ocean.
During his free time, Caelum browsed game streaming sites in the hope of discovering something useful. Every now and then, he also dropped by Aurelius’s stream.
He would send a few big rockets flying across the screen, then leave.
The special series was still on cooldown, so he had no choice but to turn his attention back to ordinary games. Before long, a title called War and Conquest caught his eye.
War and Conquest was a real time combat game featuring many different types of world settings.
Like Evolution Battle, the first game Caelum had entered, all players began under roughly equal conditions. Any advantage from belonging to a guild was reduced to the bare minimum. Everyone started at the same time, and the last person standing became the winner.
Those were the basic rules.
So far, no one had seen enough to determine how high the power ceiling of War and Conquest truly was. What made the game special was that it offered a final victor reward.
The game description stated it plainly.
The final victor would receive one chance to fulfill any wish within the scale of a universe.
"Within the scale of a universe?"
Caelum fell into thought.
His power had long since surpassed what was normally defined as the scale of a universe. At first glance, such a wish did not seem very useful to him.
Then realization struck.
Even if the wish was limited to the scale of a universe, it could still be enormously valuable. It might even let him raise his power to another level.
The phrase referred to the scope of a single universe. If he wished for someone to become the strongest existence in the sea of universes, that would obviously be impossible. Such a request would exceed the limit.
The sea of universes contained countless universes. A single universe could not compare to it at all.
Since the wish could not broaden the scale of his power, he could simply change his approach and deepen the nature of that power instead.
Time was also part of a single universe. Caelum could use the wish to further explore and elevate his power within that domain.
At present, he could move freely across timelines. He could even alter cause and effect along those timelines according to his own will.
But there was one thing he still could not do.
He could not make the same thing possess two, three, or even more possible outcomes at the same time. One cause in the past could only lead to one definite result in the future.
This had nothing to do with parallel universes. Even then, the rule of one cause leading to one result still remained. If Caelum wished, he could expand Earth’s timeline into countless parallel timelines all by himself.
But that would be meaningless.
In other words, Caelum could control probability, but he could only manifest one result at a time.
What he wanted now was to gather every possible outcome into himself at once.
At any given moment, he would embody countless possibilities. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
By then, he would advance even further and become a conceptual existence. He would transcend space, time, life, death, existence, matter, and every other concept.
Caelum browsed the forums and discovered that the game had only launched recently. The moment players learned about the final victor reward, they threw themselves into clearing it like mad.
It was a chance to fulfill any wish within the scale of a universe.
Whoever won could immediately become the strongest being in that universe.
So far, no one had claimed the final victory.
"Watch the house."
"Okay."
After giving Fluffball a quick instruction, Caelum opened the game terminal, scrolled through the interface, and selected War and Conquest.
[Game: War and Conquest]
[Enter Game]
[Matching Players: 100000 of 100000]
[Match Complete]
White light flashed.
Caelum entered the game world.
At the start of the game, he appeared inside a run down little town. He was dressed in shabby ancient clothing. Judging by the surroundings, this world was almost certainly set in a feudal dynasty.
According to the strategy guides on the game forums, all players were randomly assigned to worlds from different backgrounds and eras at the beginning.
Some entered feudal dynasties. Some entered underground worlds. Some found themselves in the steam age. Others entered civilizations of underwater creatures. There were even modern worlds built around information technology.
The players within each world would then fight in a massive struggle for supremacy. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
The strange part was that some players had already defeated every other player within their world and unified the entire realm, yet still failed to receive the final victor reward.
This left everyone deeply confused. Many suspected that some hidden condition or achievement had to be completed before the final victory could be claimed.
The game introduction began.
[The history of civilization is the history of war]
[No matter the age, no matter the civilization, war and conquest never cease. Blades and armies, blood and fire, this is civilization]
[Command vast armies, devise strategies, and determine victory from a thousand miles away]
[Smoke rolls across the battlefield as ironclad warships awaken the roar of an era]
[Journey beneath the sea, where life shines with miraculous brilliance in the face of extinction]
[Civilization is war]
[Civilization is conquest]
[Conquer everything]
[Until you reach the end of civilization]
...
[Player: Caelum]
[Identity: Garrison Commander]
[Era: Feudal Dynasty]
[Funds: 80 Silver]
[Military Strength: 20 Garrison Soldiers]
[Equipment: 20 Standard Garrison Equipment Sets]
...
Garrison soldiers were troops stationed in military towns along the borders of the imperial court.
A small garrison might hold only a few hundred soldiers, while a large one could have several thousand or even more than ten thousand.
Because they trained year round, garrison soldiers were not quite as capable as the regular army, but they were still disciplined and far superior to untrained rabble.
Westbarrow was a small military town located on the frontier of the Grand Concord Dynasty, bordering Thalric.
It had originally been home to more than three hundred soldiers, but a raiding force from Thalric launched a surprise attack.
The casualties were devastating.
To cover the townspeople’s retreat, more than three hundred garrison soldiers fought until only twenty remained.
Caelum’s assigned identity was the highest authority in Westbarrow.
He was the town chief.
In a military settlement, that position was also known as the Garrison Commander.
