Chapter 722 - 275: True Ability

It clearly sounded like a casual question, but this question from Emerald made Golden Snake's entire Miracle Realm abruptly stall for a moment.

Golden Snake's Miracle Realm simulates a market, and the market's operation requires credit and confidence. Undoubtedly, Emerald's question shakes "confidence."

If Golden Snake were to die in this battle, then would her pledged "next fifty years" still have any real value?

Naturally, it would not.

This rationale, Golden Snake understands even better than Emerald.

Rather, considering her understanding of this Miracle Realm's ability, its essence was never about something like "creating something from nothing" or "buy now, pay later," which seem convenient; the real key to this Miracle Realm is "self-deception" and "deceiving oneself."

When using this Miracle Realm, Golden Snake's state is like she has split into two people, one of which has transformed into this Miracle Realm, holding absolute reason and logic, acting as the "Regulator," scrutinizing everything that happens within to judge whether the pricing and pledges of the Magic Armor are reasonable.

Meanwhile, the Golden Snake existing here, engaging in the battle, is the silver-tongued liar who must weave intricate layers of false logic, disguising the ability to pay the cost and presenting an illusion of collateral, all to extract more powerful abilities by any means necessary.

She knows very well that if she dies here, the so-called "next fifty years" is equivalent to air, to nothing at all. But as long as she doesn't admit it and pretends she'll win, the Miracle Realm will accept this pledge condition.

But when Emerald presented this logic openly, the nature of it changed.

Maintaining the Miracle Realm, Golden Snake, split into the "Regulator," had to seriously scrutinize the logic and ponder whether the so-called "next fifty years" truly exists. Once this doubt and scrutiny happen, everything brought by the ability starts to dissipate.

Golden Snake already felt it, that the Magic Power borrowed via the ability had begun to turn void, and if she doesn't respond, soon, her total Magic Power would fall back to the state before the Miracle Realm was activated.

Moreover, the Magic Power used in battle would transform into real consumption, supplementing her original Magic Power; at that moment, she might be directly drained of all Magic Power, causing her true form to vanish from this world.

She could not let things develop to that point.

"I will not die here."

She declared so, "Not only will I not die, I will defeat you and seize the Source of Beasts."

The signs of Magic Power dispersal halted.

Simply uttering that she wouldn't die wasn't enough; when the market's confidence wavered, Golden Snake had to offer something larger, more tempting, to possibly restore confidence. Thus, she had to go further, declaring not only that she wouldn't die but also boasting to "defeat Emerald."

After declaring to "defeat Emerald," her "survival" became a possibility, and as long as there's a possibility, her ability wouldn't immediately fail.

The crisis triggered by one of Emerald's sentences was resolved by Golden Snake with one of her own.

On the surface, it seemed like this was the case.

But Golden Snake knew very well that upon making this declaration, she had no more room to retreat.

Because "defeating Emerald" is a more difficult task than "surviving"; from this point on, she could no longer show any sign of possibly losing.

Any casual engagement, any confrontation, as long as she showed weakness in any small aspect, she would further distance herself from the goal of "defeating Emerald."

In other words, the possibilities of a "draw" or a "stalemate" vanished. As long as she didn't hold the advantage in battle, she would be defeated, and the more she fell behind, the faster she would lose.

"Hmm... Defeat me, so that's it."

Emerald immediately grasped the weight of Golden Snake's declaration: "Then you should think carefully, young one. Defeating me is an even harder accomplishment to prove than merely surviving."

Although her words were so, the smile on her face betrayed her true thoughts.

Forcing Golden Snake to change strategy was Emerald's goal all along.

"Since you want to defeat me, then simply defending as before won't work. Now, it's your turn to make a move."

Slightly narrowing her eyes, Emerald drawled, "What move gave you the confidence you could defeat the Gemstone Scepter?"

"You'll see."

Golden Snake responded irritably.

She knew Emerald was clever and also knew her plan was most likely disrupted, but knowing this and being easily seen through by the opponent, pushed into desperation by such a nonchalant attitude, she still felt frustrated and even a bit annoyed.

But even if she was annoyed, it would show she wasn't confident enough to win, so Golden Snake quickly calmed her emotions and refocused her thoughts on the battle.

The reason Emerald appeared so composed, showing no sign of seriousness, was actually quite normal.

To be honest, even having used her ability to a certain extent to fill the chasm between total Magic Power and Magic Power Output, the gap between Golden Snake and Emerald remained immense.

To elevate her total Magic Power and output to the current level, Golden Snake already fully utilized her Magic Armor and Miracle Realm Ability. Despite this, facing Emerald still felt like a lake confronting an ocean.