Chapter 459: Sky Thunderstorm, a Nascent Apocalypse

With the AI Brain controlling entities like the Fei and fiber bodies, Red Bay Town was quickly brought under Qi Suian’s violent rule.

It wasn’t that no one resisted. After all, having been controlled once before, they naturally understood how precious freedom was. It’s just that those who resisted ended up dead.

After that, Qi Suian began his research on multiple fronts.

A whole series of projects—the World Core, his SSS-grade virus talent, the Wind King’s Scale, Windwalkers, and more—were all proceeding simultaneously.

Of course, all these projects could technically be categorized under the World Core project, as they were all part of the preparatory work for it.

The process was relatively smooth, without any major bottlenecks.

This was mainly because the projects were complementary in many ways. As long as one of them made progress, the others wouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Specifically, the World Core. As long as he used the reader to directly access the data of its rules and gain knowledge, he could essentially make analogous breakthroughs in the other areas and overcome their bottlenecks.

’The so-called Wind King’s Scale is actually something like a property deed, a military tally, and a factory permit all rolled into one.’

Qi Suian came to this conclusion after analyzing the Wind King’s Scale.

The deed represented the ability to gain ownership of an island, while the military tally allowed one to control the Wind Spirits.

The factory permit could greatly enhance the affinity between people and the wind, and it was a regional effect.

’No wonder the Red Bay Town Island could produce so many Windwalkers despite such high attrition.’

’With the Wind King’s Scale, the success rate is boosted by at least ten times. As long as they can capture people, one out of every ten can become a Windwalker.’

’That’s why the Red Bay Wind Thieves never lack for soldiers.’

Qi Suian was well aware that as Wind Thieves, they inevitably suffered losses every time they went out raiding.

Sometimes hundreds, other times dozens. At that rate of attrition, without the help of the Wind King’s Scale, their Windwalker forces would have been wiped out after just ten or so raids.

But not only did that not happen to Red Bay Town, their numbers actually grew with every battle, all thanks to the Wind King’s Scale.

The situation was the same on the many islands along the outer front lines, which was how they were able to sustain the war effort.

’The Wind King’s Scale in my hand hasn’t been bound to an island yet, so...’ Qi Suian’s gaze fell upon Flying Fish Town Island.

If he had to choose an island to claim ownership of, Qi Suian certainly wouldn’t pick the newly acquired Red Bay Town Island. He would choose Flying Fish Town Island.

After all, it was the place chosen for him by the ’protagonist’s halo’; there were bound to be benefits, he just hadn’t been bothered to explore them yet.

’If all goes as planned, taking Flying Fish Town Island will be equivalent to grasping the heart of this Wind King.’

’Furthermore, merging with its ownership has immense significance for me.’

’It can be seen as a low-spec version of devouring and merging with a World Core.’

’The Wind King is more like a small world within the Sky Island World.’

’Therefore, by merging with the island’s ownership, I can obtain a large amount of data to use for merging with the World Core.’

This wasn’t just Qi Suian’s baseless speculation; it was a conclusion derived from his research on the Wind King’s Scale.

’I could even use the island and the Wind King as a medium to bear the backlash and side effects of devouring and merging with the World Core later on.’

’My success rate will be much higher then.’ Of course, Qi Suian couldn’t guarantee a 100% success rate.

But as long as he could raise the success rate to over fifty percent, with those even odds, Qi Suian was willing to take the gamble.

As for failure... he’d deal with that if it happened.

Nothing in life was absolute. He wanted 100% certainty too, but unfortunately, he couldn’t completely control how events unfolded.

’Windwalkers have no value. Wind Spirits are weapons of war.’

’Hurricane Beasts are a defense system. If the Wind King itself weren’t special and valuable to me, the Sky Island World would be a real pitfall.’

After a moment’s thought, Qi Suian concluded that this world’s Extraordinary system was not suitable for him and could be abandoned.

There was no need to pick and choose its strengths to shore up his weaknesses; he could just go directly to the source of the Extraordinary power—the Wind King.

’But what is the apocalypse of the Sky Island World?’ The thought suddenly surfaced in Qi Suian’s mind.

It was a simple deduction. The worlds selected by the Doomsday Game were basically all facing a human apocalypse; it was unrealistic to think there wouldn’t be some kind of catastrophe.

’It couldn’t be that something is going to happen to the Wind King, could it?’ Qi Suian already had a suspect in mind.

The Wind King itself, which served as the environment for human survival.

’Thunderstorms...’

With a flash of insight, Qi Suian locked onto the object of his suspicion.

He remembered that thunderstorms would appear above the islands, which shouldn’t happen under normal circumstances.

"AI Brain, investigate the situation above Red Bay Town Island." Now that he thought of it, he naturally had the AI Brain look into it.

Under the AI Brain’s control, the Fei flew skyward until it encountered a scene of countless thunderstorms forming a torrent that moved along with the island.

’The Wind King itself is wind, so are the thunderstorms a wound?’

’No, that’s not quite the right analogy. It should be more like cancerous cells or an invading pathogen.’

If it were a wound, it wouldn’t use islands as nodes but would form a massive thunderstorm spanning multiple regions.

The Fei observed further, and Qi Suian obtained more data.

’The thunderstorm is devouring the wind, and it’s already exhibiting the traits of a living organism.’ Looking at the data in his hands, Qi Suian seemed to understand something.

If the Wind King couldn’t survive this ordeal, it would likely be replaced by a Thunder King, an Electric King, or something of the sort.

Humanity would inevitably face a cataclysmic disaster.

The Windwalkers and Wind Spirits would be wiped out. How could the remaining ordinary people survive under the thunderstorms?

Qi Suian didn’t know how humanity transitioned when the Wind King first took shape, but the data on the thunderstorms told him that the first thing the new entity would do upon success is eliminate humanity.

The reason was simple: unlike the hurricane, the thunderstorm wouldn’t choose to use humans, but would instead give birth to its own brand-new race.

The analogy would be fusing a Hurricane Beast and a human together to create a more comprehensive being.

The Fei brought back an active embryo from the thunderstorm. This embryo, a Thunderstorm Embryo, possessed the dual characteristics of an energy-based life-form and a carbon-based one.

’The technology is extremely similar to that of the Wind Spirits, but it possesses the traits of both humans and Hurricane Beasts.’

’This means this new life-form can be mass-produced like Wind Spirits, while also possessing human intelligence and the strength of a Hurricane Beast.’

’With these three-in-one elites picking them off one by one, the Wind King is in real trouble.’

’It seems I need to pay more attention to the outside world. In the past, I would have noticed the signs long ago.’

’To think I’ve only discovered this much now... This really shouldn’t have happened.’ Qi Suian knew he had been too immersed in his learning and research lately.

As for the AI Brain? It couldn’t do much about it either.

Whether he was learning or researching, Qi Suian would call upon the threads of various modules for assistance, even requisitioning the AI Brain itself.

This meant that all sorts of external computing power, logical processing, and so on were all serving Qi Suian directly.

The total resource pool was only so large, and with Qi Suian taking up such a large share, the AI’s external efficiency naturally dropped.

It was like trying to do two things at once; you’re just splitting your focus in two, not changing the total amount of focus you have.

It’s not as if your focus can just double out of thin air because you’re multitasking.

Therefore, as Qi Suian focused on his own learning and research, his attention to and sensitivity toward the outside world naturally decreased significantly.

"Still, it’s really hard to let go." Although Qi Suian hadn’t explored the Sky Island World extensively, his gains were not insignificant. In fact, they were greater than ever before.

After all, the World Core was a great treasure trove for Qi Suian, one he had been mining and still hadn’t reached the bottom of.

[It is recommended that you temporarily reduce research efficiency and pay more attention to the external situation to avoid any unexpected incidents.]

[The apocalypse has arrived, after all. According to data model calculations, the thunderstorms are very likely to expand further within a month. You need to prepare in advance.]

The AI Brain offered its timely advice, though it wasn’t particularly helpful.

Qi Suian knew this as well, but he simply had too much on his plate and couldn’t free himself up at the moment.

"Draw up a plan for me. I’ll see how to adjust things." Qi Suian thought for a moment, deciding to look at the plan first. If it was suitable, he would accept it.

If it wasn’t, he would naturally ignore it. What else was there to do?

[Generating a plan for you...]

The AI Brain quickly began to adjust Qi Suian’s series of experimental projects and study plans.

Qi Suian had a plan before, but clearly, the plan couldn’t keep up with the changes, which was what prompted the AI Brain’s suggestion.

Meanwhile, Qi Suian turned his attention to the Thunderstorm Embryo and began his research.

-----------------

As a newly-minted Elemental Master, Carl listened to the sound of the hurricane. He quietly called up his proficiency panel.

Carl was a Transmigrator who had crossed over into a Magic World, bringing a proficiency panel with him. He just had to use his abilities to increase his proficiency.

Every use granted 1 proficiency point, and once the proficiency was maxed out, he could break through to the next stage.

At least, he hadn’t yet seen an upper limit to the proficiency levels.

It wasn’t just Magic and Meditation Methods; even his elemental talent could be improved through proficiency.

Initially, he only had inferior-grade wind-element aptitude. Even if he learned Elemental Magic, he would have been stuck as an apprentice for life, with no way of becoming a true Elemental Master.

However, by forcibly raising his Meditation Method and elemental talent through proficiency, he had finally become an Elemental Master not long ago.

Then the Doomsday Game descended, and he was transported to this world full of Sky Islands.

With two panels, Carl was like a fish in water, cutting a path through all obstacles to acquire vast resources and grow stronger.

Now, he was already a third-rank Elemental Master.

His Spirit attribute was as high as 3 points, and he possessed a series of expert-level Magic spells.

While he couldn’t compare to those Holy Sanctuary Mages, it had taken him no time at all to go from apprentice to third-rank.

"O, violent hurricane, grant me..." Carl looked ahead and began to chant his spell.

The location where all the survivors had descended was a Wind King battlefield. They had to face the siege of Wind Spirits, the islands themselves, and even Windwalkers and Hurricane Beasts.

Fortunately, under the leadership of a Holy Sanctuary Mage, they had pledged allegiance to a fish-type Wind King and gained a place to live. In return, however, they had to join the battlefield and contribute their strength to the war effort.

’After this battle, I’ll be able to get the Wind Chasing Envoy class-change Meditation Method from the Wind King and specialize in the wind element,’ Carl thought to himself.