Three days later, at the stroke of midnight, the bells of Cuiwei Star echoed as countless beams of light suddenly burst forth—a sign that the contestants of the Lord Competition were being summoned.
At the same time, a similar scene unfolded on civilized planets throughout the Cosmos. The participants were about to be transported to distant, unknown domains to build their territories and compete against one another.
The final victor would return to the cosmic stage, bringing their vast territory with them.
...
"So, this is the so-called 'Preparation Room'?"
Lin Yu felt a wave of dizziness, and the next thing he knew, he had been transported from his bed to a spacious, empty room. The four walls glowed with a soft white light and seemed to have no end.
However, if he tried to approach the edges, he would touch an invisible barrier.
He curiously touched the unseen barrier and exclaimed, "How magical! I'd heard about this, but experiencing it firsthand is something else entirely."
"Is it a spatial barrier, a ward, or something even more esoteric?"
With his current knowledge, Lin Yu couldn't explain the phenomenon before him. He could only speculate based on the fantasy worlds he'd read about in novels.
His curiosity satisfied, Lin Yu moved to the center of the room.
There stood an ornate table, upon which sat three plain, simple chests lined up neatly. Behind the chests was a small, faintly glowing altar, and not far behind the table was a Teleportation Array.
Opening the chests one by one, Lin Yu found: a phantasmal image composed of wood, stone, fruit, and Gold Coins; a golden orb of light; and a diamond-shaped crystal.
These were the initial resources, the Territory Core, and the Awakening Crystal, respectively, all provided to the contestants by the competition's organizers.
The initial resources included 10,000 units of wood, stone, and food, as well as 1,000 Gold Coins.
The Territory Core was a Legendary-grade (gold) core named the "Primordial Core."
Once placed somewhere on the competition grounds, it would automatically form a corresponding Territory Core based on the location.
The final grade of the Territory Core could range anywhere from Ruined (gray) to Legendary (gold).
The Awakening Crystal could be used directly to immediately awaken the user's strongest lord talent.
Of course, if one wanted to go a step further, one of the items could be placed on the altar, which would enhance and amplify it.
Placing the initial resources would randomly amplify them by 5 to 20 times.
Placing the Territory Core would randomly transform it into a finished Territory Core, with the lowest possible grade being Useless (gray).
Placing the Awakening Crystal would randomly transform it into a Talent Crystal with a fixed talent, with the lowest possible grade being Useless (gray).
However, the altar could only be used once. It would self-destruct after use, meaning only one of the three options could be enhanced.
Lin Yu first picked up the Awakening Crystal and chose to use it directly. The crystal dissolved into a warm current that rushed straight into his mind, burrowing deep into his consciousness.
Stimulated by the warm current, a golden orb of light in his mind gradually brightened and began to transform.
Lin Yu focused his attention on the golden orb, watching its changes. It felt as though an eternity passed, and yet also like it was only an instant.
The transformation of the golden orb was complete. It had become a blurry, constantly shifting, multicolored text.
At first glance, the writing seemed familiar, but a second look revealed it to be completely unintelligible.
Then, the characters slowly dissipated and merged into Lin Yu's consciousness, leaving a piece of information behind:
[Name]: Universal Enlightenment
[Quality]: Mythical (Color)
[Type]: Lord Talent
[Effect]: The lord gains one use of "Enlighten" for each level gained.
[Enlighten]: Use on any target within the territory to draw three Trait options. Choose one to bestow upon the target. (Current uses: 1)
'Haha, I knew it! As a Transmigrator, I had to have something special.'
'Looks like this is my golden finger. I was truly born for this Lord Competition!'
'Had heaven not given birth to me, Lin Yu, the Lord Competition would be an eternal night!'
'Hahaha~~~'
...
After his fit of madness, Lin Yu picked up the Lord Core and was about to place it into the altar.
'Wait a minute... do I count as something "within the territory"?'
'If I do, wouldn't that mean I can add a Trait to myself?'
Lin Yu decided to give it a try.
The worst that could happen was that it wouldn't work, wasting one use of Enlighten.
He was confident he would get more uses of it after joining the Lord Competition proper.
With a thought, Lin Yu used his talent ability—Enlighten—on himself.
In an instant, a profound feeling washed over him. He knew at once that Enlighten had been successfully used, and all he had to do was select a Trait to bestow upon himself.
[Man of Mediocrity]: You are an ordinary person. To survive, you try your best to do everything you can, but you always fall short of expectations. Success rate for all actions -10%, Optimism +100%.
[Overwhelming Luck]: For 10 minutes, your luck reaches the user's current maximum. You will turn misfortune into good fortune. Greatly enhances rewards from lottery-type events. The first time this is active, you are 100% guaranteed to draw the highest-grade reward.
After 10 minutes, this effect changes to [Increased Luck], which provides a small boost to luck, increasing the chance of obtaining rare items.
[Soul Mutation]: Your soul has undergone a special change. During extreme emotional highs and lows, your soul may fracture, generating an independent personality.
Of the three Traits, one was negative, one was positive, and one was neutral.
Considering he was just about to gamble on the Lord Core, Lin Yu decisively chose [Overwhelming Luck]. It didn't matter if the subsequent luck bonus was minor; what he needed was this 10-minute boost and the guaranteed burst for his first draw.
Once the choice was made, Lin Yu decisively placed the core into the altar.
The core began to transform within the altar, emitting lights of various colors. As it changed, more and more purple, gold, and red hues appeared, with an occasional glimpse of a rainbow-colored strand.
Suddenly, a dazzling, multicolored light erupted from the altar.
Lin Yu had been staring intently at the altar, and the sudden, intense, colorful light forced him to shut his eyes.
But inside, his heart was filled with joy.
"DING—Mythical (Color)!!"
Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Lin Yu opened them to see a sphere radiating a colorful glow hovering above the altar. Within it, he could faintly make out a colossal tree that seemed to touch the heavens and support the earth, the light emanating from the tree itself.
Lin Yu held his breath, his trembling hands reaching for the colorful Lord Core on the altar.
As his hands touched the Lord Core, a stream of information flowed into his mind.
[Name]: Lord Core—World Tree Seed
[Quality]: Mythical (Color)
[Description]: A World Tree Seed that has absorbed the power of a world. It has passed its dormant period and can be used in any location to grow a World Tree Seedling.
[World Tree]: A miraculous tree of the Multiverse, exceptionally precious and rare. A mature World Tree is capable of supporting an entire realm on its own. Its sturdy branches can even extend into other worlds.
[Territory Trait—Lord of Nature]: The absolute ruler of nature. All non-sentient plants and animals within the territory will belong to the World Tree and be commanded by it.
[Territory Trait—Lush Growth]: The resource requirement for nature-based structures within the territory is reduced to one percent. (Passive, persistent effect)
[Territory Trait—Rapid Growth]: Affects a designated plant within the territory, increasing its growth speed by 10 times. Plant-based structures can also receive this buff, reducing their construction time to one-tenth of the original. (Cost: 10 Gold Coins, Cooldown: 10 minutes)
[Territory Trait—Space-Time Ripple]: The World Tree possesses the ability to acquire information from the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms. Each time the Lord Core levels up, you can acquire one item related to the World Tree itself from the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms.
The brief description was enough to prove its value; the Mythical (Color) quality said it all.
The four great territory traits—"Lord of Nature," "Lush Growth," "Rapid Growth," and "Space-Time Ripple"—were more than enough for him to gain a firm foothold in the competition.
After he put away the Lord Core, the light from the altar vanished.
At the same time, the phantasmal image of the remaining initial resources on the table flew into the core and was absorbed.
Lin Yu wanted to take advantage of his peak luck and immediately use the World Tree Seed's "Space-Time Ripple" ability, but a prompt appeared: "World Tree Seed is currently level 0. This ability cannot be used."
Slightly disheartened, Lin Yu quickly composed himself and strode toward the Teleportation Array in the center of the room.
With a Mythical-grade talent and a Mythical-grade Lord Core, he, Lin Yu, was going to dominate the Lord Competition.
"Get ready for me, you scrubs—"