Chapter 278: Imperial Ranking War: What If?

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The forced confrontation had officially begun.

The World System didn’t bother with another long explanation this time. There was only a short announcement informing every surviving participant that the confrontation event was now active, followed by silence.

That was enough.

The moment the announcement ended, Ren’s sensory network picked up movement all across the secret realm.

Teams were moving.

Not randomly, either.

They were converging.

The location of the Rock had been revealed to everyone, so there was no longer any reason for the other Imperial Teams to waste time searching for them. They knew exactly where their target was, and considering the ridiculous fivefold merit multiplier attached to every Heavenly Bronze representative they killed, there was no reason for them to ignore such an opportunity.

Ren stood quietly inside the Rock while observing everything through his sensory network.

At this point, his sensory network covered practically the entire secret realm.

It hadn’t happened overnight.

Ren had been extending it ever since they entered this place. Every day, he pushed it a little farther. Every time his chakra grew stronger, he expanded its range again. He had never stopped doing it because information was simply too valuable to ignore.

After six months of constant expansion, the result was obvious.

There was very little in this secret realm that could escape his attention.

He could sense the movement of monsters.

He could detect large groups of people.

He could monitor unusual changes in the environment.

He could even distinguish the general direction in which the Imperial Teams were moving.

Of course, he wasn’t literally reading every individual’s thoughts from across the realm. His sensory network wasn’t some omnipotent divine ability that allowed him to know everything with absolute precision.

But when hundreds of people suddenly started moving toward the same location?

That was impossible to miss.

No team could truly hide their movements from him anymore.

And Ren already knew which team was going to arrive first.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire.

The last-place team.

Their position wasn’t particularly difficult to determine, and Ren had known for a long time that they were relatively close to the Rock.

In fact, he had known where they were long before the World System exposed the location of their base.

Had Ren wanted to, he could have sent a few squads to spy on them months ago.

He could have even dealt with them directly.

He simply never bothered.

There was no point.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire was ranked fifth.

They were the weakest team participating in the Imperial Ranking War, and there was practically nothing they could offer the Heavenly Bronze Empire.

Their resource stockpile was poor.

Their equipment was inferior.

Their base was barely worth mentioning.

They had struggled through almost every calamity, and unlike the Heavenly Bronze Team, they had never managed to create a truly secure environment for themselves.

For months, their existence had basically been a struggle to survive.

Even during the peaceful fifth month, they had only recently begun constructing a proper base.

By then, however, it was already too late.

They had spent too much time simply trying to survive the previous calamities to accumulate the resources necessary to build something comparable to the Rock.

Ren knew all of this.

He had known for a long time.

That was why he never bothered with them.

Killing the Berserk Mountain God Team would have been a waste of time.

There were more important things to do.

Now, however, things were different.

The confrontation had begun.

And the Berserk Mountain God Empire had suddenly found themselves sitting right next to the largest pile of merit points in the entire secret realm.

Ren could sense the desperation coming from them.

It was almost tangible.

The members of that team had suffered for months.

They had endured the calamities without the advantages that the Heavenly Bronze Team possessed. They had struggled for food, struggled for shelter, struggled to maintain their strength, and watched their ranking sink all the way to the bottom.

Then the World System handed them an opportunity.

Five times the merit points.

Five times.

The moment they understood what that meant, their entire attitude changed.

Ren could almost imagine what they were thinking.

If they killed one member of the Heavenly Bronze Team, they could obtain a ridiculous amount of merit points.

If they killed several, their ranking could change dramatically.

If they were lucky enough to kill a few dozen, they could potentially erase the disadvantage they had accumulated during the previous six months.

After struggling for so long, how could they possibly resist such temptation?

To them, the Heavenly Bronze Team was a flock of fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

They were right next door.

Their target had been exposed.

Their reward had been multiplied.

And they were desperate.

It was the perfect combination for greed to overcome common sense.

Ren almost laughed when he realized what they were thinking.

They really believed that the Heavenly Bronze Team was a bunch of sheep waiting for someone to come and slaughter them.

That was amusing.

Very amusing.

Because they were about to learn what true despair brought by wealth disparity looked like.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire had spent six months struggling to survive.

The Heavenly Bronze Empire had spent six months accumulating.

That difference wasn’t something that could be erased simply because the World System decided to offer a fivefold reward.

Ren had equipment.

His people had equipment.

They had formations.

They had food.

They had water.

They had medicine.

They had a fortress.

They had trained squads.

And, most importantly, they had six months of preparation behind them.

The Berserk Mountain God Team had desperation.

The Heavenly Bronze Team had preparation.

Ren didn’t think it was difficult to guess which one would matter more.

He continued observing their movements.

They were coming quickly.

They were probably hoping to arrive before the other Imperial Teams.

That made sense.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire knew they were ranked last. If they could be the first team to reach the Rock, they could potentially secure a large number of kills before the others arrived.

They wanted to get ahead.

They wanted the first bite.

Ren could understand their logic.

Unfortunately for them, logic only worked when the information behind it was correct.

And they had no idea what they were walking into.

The other teams were approaching too.

The Burning Firmament Empire was moving toward the Rock from another direction.

The Deep Blue God Empire was doing the same.

The Free Heavenly Paradise Empire was also moving, although their formation was slightly different.

They were all coming.

But none of them would arrive immediately.

That gave Ren time.

Time was something he valued more than almost anything else.

He didn’t need to worry about all four teams at once.

He could deal with them one at a time.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire would arrive first.

That made them the obvious starting point.

Ren looked toward the direction they were coming from.

He had no intention of simply sitting inside the Rock and waiting for them to attack the walls.

That would be too passive.

The Rock was heavily fortified, but Ren had never intended for his defensive preparations to be the only thing protecting the team.

He had spent the entire peaceful month preparing the members of the Heavenly Bronze Team for a battle.

Now it was time to use those preparations.

But there was something else occupying his mind.

Something much more interesting.

Ren knew the original timeline.

The Imperial Ranking War was supposed to last for an entire year.

In the original story, this confrontation was a long and exhausting trial. The surviving teams would spend months fighting, retreating, forming temporary alliances, breaking those alliances, accumulating merit points, and trying to survive until the event finally concluded.

It was one of the major turning points of the story.

But that was the original timeline.

This wasn’t.

Ren had already changed far too many things.

The Heavenly Bronze Empire wasn’t supposed to have seven and a half million points at this stage.

The Rock wasn’t supposed to exist in this form.

The team wasn’t supposed to be this well equipped.

The other Imperial Teams weren’t supposed to be this far behind.

And Ren himself certainly wasn’t supposed to be standing here with a sensory network covering the entire secret realm.

That made him wonder about something.

The World System had declared that this confrontation would last until the end of their stay in the secret realm.

But was that really an absolute rule?

Or was it simply describing the maximum duration under normal circumstances?

Ren’s eyes narrowed slightly.

What would happen if there were no opponents left?

The thought had crossed his mind before, but now that the confrontation had officially started, it became much more interesting.

The original event lasted a year because there were still people fighting.

But what if there weren’t?

What if the Heavenly Bronze Empire eliminated every single competitor?

Would the World System continue the event anyway?

Would it simply wait until the scheduled end?

Or would the system recognize that the confrontation had already reached its natural conclusion?

Ren didn’t know.

He had never seen that scenario happen in the original story.

That meant there was no canon answer for him to rely on.

It was an interesting problem.

And Ren liked interesting problems.

He looked toward the approaching Berserk Mountain God Team again.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

Perhaps there was only one way to find out.

If his assumption was correct, then this supposedly year-long confrontation didn’t necessarily have to last a year.

And if it wasn’t correct?

Well, there was no real downside.

They would still have to fight eventually.

Ren had no intention of allowing the Heavenly Bronze Empire to remain a target for an entire year if he could help it.

If the World System wanted to turn his team into prey, then he would simply eliminate all the hunters.

The Berserk Mountain God Empire was coming first.

The other three teams would follow.

Ren had no idea how they would react once they understood the difference between their expectations and reality.

But he was looking forward to finding out.

After six months of surviving calamities, the Heavenly Bronze Empire had finally been given permission to stop surviving and start hunting.

And Ren intended to take full advantage of it.