Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 540 539. When it opens, it means a new era...

"Independent mercenary Red Crossbow, mercenary level rating: None."

"Requesting a match, E-100 rank, Iron Ranger, data loaded."

A calm voice, like a pre-programmed line, rang in Sefer's ears, and then the voice suddenly changed its tone.

"Independent Mercenary Red Crossbow...? How... You don't need this level of testing right now."

Sefer shrugged and didn't say that he was just bored and wanted to find something to do so that he wouldn't be too bored standing in the empty hall.

The venue is the ruins of a factory, and the opponent is a strange machine with its front armor at a 90-degree vertical angle to the enemy. It has strong firepower but very poor sensitivity.

The level of E-level opponents is really outrageous. To Seifer, these people are like targets squatting there and unable to even move.

After just a few jumps, easily defeating the opponent, Cypher's machine stopped... Is this E-rank? It feels quite easy.

"...The test is meaningless now. Collecting the mercenaries' combat data is for... Never mind. Regardless, thank you for participating in the test. This is for the continuation of all mankind, mercenary."

After giving some combat rewards to Sefer, the space constructed by the data in front of him quickly disappeared. Then Sefer stretched his hands and feet and sat back in the chair.

Connect to the independent mercenary support system again, select a higher level enemy, and after a while, it will connect directly to Cypher.

"Independent mercenary Red Crossbow... I don't understand your choice. If you want to be an ordinary mercenary, you shouldn't get involved in this kind of incident."

"If you want to become a famous mercenary, you shouldn't refuse this system's offer."

"You rejected all possibilities and created an uncertain possibility. Why?"

When Cypher was preparing for battle, the mercenary system came out to ask again. Compared with the always calm synthetic voice, this time it sounded a little unbelievable, unable to suppress some emotions of inquiry, etc.

"Because your suggestion is unreasonable, and because it's unreasonable, everyone is opposing it. You're not the kind of person who thinks, 'The more people oppose it, the more I'm right,' right?"

During the battle, Sefer was at ease. Anyway, he had some plenty of time now, so he could talk about his ideas.

During the communication, all parties never stopped moving.

The huge ship gradually disappeared in the towering beam of light, and around this coordinate point that looked like a huge wall reaching the sky when viewed from close up and a pillar of light reaching the sky when viewed from afar, various large transport units were slowly advancing.

They kept driving some devices into the ground, making them stand like slender telephone poles around the light column where the strange energy was gushing out. From a distance, it looked like they were building a fence around it.

Maybe... this thing can really serve as a fence, forming a restraint after closing, making this eruption controllable?

In addition to these ongoing works, the Vision Gate used by mercenaries is also being built rapidly. In order to maximize the use of resources, all kinds of supplies in the desert are sent here as if they are free of charge.

If you miss this opportunity, you will probably never get it again, so no matter whether you are about to die or not, you should hold on to the profits first.

It is completely unnecessary to think about whether you will die tomorrow before you have even survived today. The mercenaries are also fighting vigorously - after all, it is a fixed anomaly.

The fixed vision means that no matter what tricks you play inside, even if you die in a very fancy way, you will have a chance to start over. If that’s the case, then what is there to be afraid of?

At the same time, suddenly there was nothing to do, so the bored people in the car gathered together and started discussing what to do during the waiting period.

Some people just want to give up for once, while others are eager to enter the vision and experience this activity which currently has no limit on the number of people and behavior.

Even if you accidentally die in there, you don't have to worry too much, just consider it as accumulating experience for future battles in the desert - people with two different ideas are unequally one-sided.

To put it simply, it is a conflict between a group of slackers led by Lin Shenxue and the vast majority of "experience-oriented" people led by Miss Nana.

As a result, after obtaining Seifer's permission, the group who wanted to slack off also left the vehicle and borrowed some makeshift equipment to protect those who wanted to experience the vision...

All I can say is that when it comes to pranks, Seifer is unconsciously better than anyone else.

From that day on, along with the activities of all those who could contribute to this matter, a giant anomaly... or, in other words, a coordinate node area began to be constructed at a rate that changed every hour.

During this period, many mercenaries came. Whether they came to help or just to make money was not the point, and no one cared.

Miss Nana, on the other hand, seemed to have found something interesting all of a sudden... She used the modified device as a recording tool, specifically to do live broadcasts for the people who were rotating outside.

There are a lot of people in this world who, unless they become mercenaries, will never see the world in the vision. So they are particularly interested in this kind of scene, and as these people spread the news...

The news that 'the former big star reappeared in the streaming media' spread like wildfire and spread to all the node cities within two days.

Coupled with Miss Nana's natural... or perhaps acquired, wonderful sense of camera and the ability to always make people see interesting things, the number of people flocking here is increasing day by day.

As the "circular telephone poles" here are gradually closing, frost and snow are always falling, as if the world, which seems impossible to thaw, is also undergoing a drastic change.

Compared to that side, here, due to the existence of the management system, it condoned Sefer's behavior and at the same time ceded some permissions - these permissions were enough for Sefer to complete his own construction.

It's just a pity for Shengnai... Because she wanted to follow Sefer's behavior without thinking, she can only hold a warm corpse (doubtful) in the huge space and watch everything change outside.

Beyond sight, countless natural landscapes and the ground were transformed into digital effects, vanishing and flattening. A metallic surface began to form, and endless frost and snow fell, leaving no trace.

In the farthest area, as can be seen on the huge screen in the hall, a large number of needle-like structures are being constructed. They gradually connect to the ground, with their tops pointing straight up to the sky...

It looks a bit like a launcher pointing towards the sky, or an energy transmitter surrounding the platform... So, is this what Cypher is planning?
Curled up in the small tent with a small roof, a soft mat and thick, warm bedding, Shengnai blinked his eyes.

She used her slender arms to adjust Seifer's body slightly, allowing her to lie comfortably (although unconscious) in her arms, and reached outside the tent to bring in the steaming portable food from the heating stove.

These were created by the management system after a brief exchange with Shengnai, by converting energy and data into physical objects. They don't taste very good, but they are enough to sustain life.

So for the past two days, Shengnai has been nestling here comfortably, occasionally chatting with Sefer (the backup body), and occasionally taking care of Sefer here like playing with a puppet.

Well... Shengnai is a good girl and would not do anything that would make others feel wrong, so she simply follows her own heart and keeps it well.

As time passed, and the device here was completed, the entire massive "ship" began to transform. The large eyeball slowly moved to the center of the ship, and the entire hull began to disintegrate, even seemingly flattening, forming a device that looked incredibly stable, as if it were launching something into the sky.

The process of this unfolding is rather long, but there is hope... Meanwhile, in the outside world, there is only the energy of strange phenomena washing over. On the 'Distant Planet' which is also slowly deforming, Cypher slowly opens his eyes.

It wasn't because the work was coming to an end, but... he had already completed the S-level mercenary system evaluation during the past two days of boredom.

The mercenary system is now recommending him to engage in a battle at the strange symbol level, but after taking a look at the machine above, Seifer decided to put it aside for now.

"The guys driving the piles are almost done, and I have to start the final construction here. Otherwise, we won't be able to keep up with the schedule."

That being said, what actually needs to be done is to unfold the ship while having the construction factory inside the hull use the materials and the energy of the anomaly to print out a new substance.

As for what exactly needs to be made... a plan has already been made. If everything goes well, there won't be a need for so many twists and turns.

The energy of the strange phenomenon was gathered and then reshaped, becoming countless metal plates that began to be laid out, radiating outwards from the 'distant planet' as the center.

At this time, the workers who had finally surrounded the other end of this huge beam of light and driven two devices like telephone poles into the ground were taking a rest while holding the cigarettes given to them as supplies.

This pillar of light shooting up into the sky made it impossible for people to tell whether it was day or night, but this kind of work was not enough - someone suddenly screamed.

Those things that were previously just a bunch of telephone poles were now resonating with the energy of the vision, emitting some strange golden electric light. By the time people noticed it, these flowing lightning began to burst out in the direction of other devices.

The moment those jumping golden electric currents touched each other, they formed a stable, flowing and low-humming path, which looked like a fence made of light.

Everyone was amazed at this strange change, but this was just the beginning.

As these fences were completed, the gratings began to expand, gradually forming a wall like a fortification protection, and this wall began to extend upward, and even some collision sounds could be heard in the whistling, sky-high energy of the strange phenomenon.

No one had any idea what the sound was, so they could only retreat cautiously, but people outside could see it clearly.

In other words, as long as one can see the constantly gushing vision energy, one can clearly see that the giant vision energy that is rising into the sky and seems to cover the sky is gradually becoming weak.

Even the hazy energy of the strange phenomenon that permeated the area was gradually dissipating. In just ten minutes, the originally foggy area became clearly visible.

The strange energy that covered the sky, as lush and chaotic as branches, gradually weakened, leaving only the pillar of light in the middle. As the pillar of light, whose color was difficult to describe, also weakened, people began to get agitated.

Even the mercenaries who were fighting in the vision and trying to bring out more props, rewards and the like were kicked out of the vision door in a series of extremely uncomfortable turmoil.

Behind them, the energy in the portal to the strange space that had been operating until now dissipated as if it had been sucked away by something.

Ms. Jin Junmei, who was discussing what kind of shelter to build next and the backup plan, suddenly moved her hand, signaling others to stop reporting temporarily.

As the pillar of light slowly died out before her eyes and finally ceased to exist, she sent the communication to the only person still in the area of the strange energy eruption.

The communication was quickly connected. On the other end, all the sensors in front of Seifer, as well as countless monitoring devices that could not be named, were constantly flickering.

He smiled and said, "The current situation? As for the current situation... well, the final preparations are complete. It's just that the performance may be a bit shocking. Are you ready?"

"Answers of yes or no are meaningless. The key is what will happen next." Ms. Jin Junmei was very calm and didn't care much about whether the upcoming future was bright or devastating.

Cypher looked at the indicator, which was about to overload, and replied, "Then there's nothing to be afraid of... Well, it's reached the limit. I'm going to press it."

Having said such unreliable words, Seifer pressed the button of the device that had exceeded the limit without hesitation or delay.

In his words, this is called a "sense of ritual." After all, pressing the button is not a necessary step.

In an instant, the complex roar from the roaring 'distant planet' suddenly stopped.

People outside only felt a huge roar and wind, carrying sand and dust, blowing out from the enclosed, huge facility.

Then everything was quiet, as if nothing had happened and nothing would happen.

Various discussions and uneasy feelings continued to spread, and amid the crowds, many people began to question whether this project made sense.

If the energy of the vision suddenly disappears, will it reappear? Is it possible that the things in the vision will become even more outrageous, or is this plan a waste of resources?

Amidst all the thoughts, ideas, and even those who were ready to run away, a burst of energy suddenly rose into the sky.

Then came the roar like a floodgate opening, a deafening sonic boom accompanied by a vibration that could easily knock an unstable person to the ground.

It was as if a giant dragon was rolling underground. Under the tremendous pressure, people saw a spectacle that they would never forget in their lifetime.

The light shot up from the bottom to the sky, and the entire polar region was as bright as day. The violently rushing energy continued to surge, and even when it touched the sky, there was no obstruction - it had already passed through the sky.

The light composed of the strange energy continued to expand, and after finally enveloping the circle of fences, it suddenly turned into the familiar, translucent and Gaussian blurred surface, as if the excitement had faded away in an instant.

Looking through that layer of blur, on the other side, like a mirror, is a silent, leaden-gray land, and in the distant direction there is a land covered with frost and snow.

Even those closest to the 'barrier' were timid and didn't know how to continue to deal with the drastic changes.

Until, a small girl with short pink hair and wearing a pink nurse-like dress suddenly walked out from the ripples.

At that moment, everyone subconsciously took out various cameras.

All kinds of cameras were pointed at the still somewhat bewildered Shengnai, and then flashbulbs suddenly flashed continuously, followed by a question from the soul.

"Excuse me...are you the one from the vision?!"

Sheng Nai looked at the dark crowd in front of him blankly and innocently. After a little thought, he took two or three steps back and sank into the haze of the vision.

After following Seifer for so long, I’ve learned how to run after all!

(End of this chapter)