Chapter 382-1: The Truth of the Real World (1)

Yun Capital City, Apostle Security Council headquarters building.

Inside the office, Li Long handed the young man in front of him a glowing bookmark and reminded him, “Lin Xun, the Disciple war is about to begin.”

“Every Disciple war ends with Disciples dying. Like the last one. Even though it already had fewer deaths than most, three Disciples and a large number of their subordinates still died in that war.”

“You must be very careful.”

Lin Xun took the Escape Bookmark and said solemnly, “Don’t worry, Uncle Li. If things become impossible, I won’t act recklessly.”

The danger of the Disciple war needed no explanation. In a certain sense, the Disciple war was ten times, a hundred times more dangerous than the Disciple selection.

The number of Disciples who had died in all previous Disciple wars combined probably could form a reinforced company.

If a Disciple died in the war, the subordinates they carried would also be forcibly erased, which made the death toll in the Disciple war rise dramatically.

Items like the Escape Bookmark could indeed be used to force an exit.

But using such an item was equivalent to withdrawing from the Disciple war, giving up one’s status as a Disciple. The pasture district they controlled would also be taken back by the Rectification Society.

For Disciples, who stood at the top of the New World’s power structure, that was more painful than death.

For example, the Master was the emperor of the New World, and the Disciples were his ministers. The position of a Disciple might be second only to one person and above ten thousand, but the power of life and death over them still rested entirely on the Master’s whim.

What he could grant you, he could also take back in an instant.

Even if one was ranked first among the Disciples and became the First Disciple, they were still required to participate in the extremely dangerous Disciple war.

Only after surviving multiple Disciple wars while holding the Chief Disciple position and reaching a certain realm could one finally escape that cruel and primitive slaughter.

“Uncle Li, I have a question. Has no one ever become the First Disciple and then gotten out of participating in the Disciple war?”

If Disciples died in the war, then their Disciple positions became vacant.

The remaining surviving Disciples would move up in rank to fill the vacancies, and the lowest positions vacated at the end would be filled through a new selection.

For example, the Tenth Disciple Andrew, the Eleventh Disciple Amos, and the Twelfth Disciple Cain were all Disciples reselected after the last Disciple war.

Lin Xun had asked Amos this question, but that guy was also a newbie. At best, he had just been in the organization a bit longer than Lin Xun and did not know much more.

As for asking his direct superior Vishnu, Vishnu had refused to say much, only telling him to survive the upcoming Disciple war before asking about those organizational secrets.

Li Long did not answer immediately. Instead, he said, “Lin Xun, be honest with me first. Have you already cleared sixth difficulty?”

Previously, his female superior Li Xingyue already knew that he had cleared fifth difficulty and been directly promoted to sixth difficulty.

Lin Xun had been in the organization for a while. The two of them knew each other well and did not need to hide things.

“Uncle Li, I only cleared it a few days ago. I just haven’t had time to report to you yet.”

“Was it on Common or Nightmare difficulty?”

Lin Xun was taken aback for a moment, then replied without thinking, “Of course it wasn’t on Common.”

“With your terrifying talent, I never thought you would grind back and forth in Common chapters.” Li Long said, “Now is not the time yet. After you have cleared seventh difficulty’s Nightmare mode a number of times, you might have a chance to come into contact with that kind of power.”

“At that time, the Librarian will tell you part of the truth, and I will also tell you the truth about reality.”

Those who reached the level of Councilor or Senior Councilor, that pinnacle of combat strength, were all extraordinarily gifted, elite Apostles.

As Apostles pushed their strategies deeper and deeper into the game, the organization had gradually developed a relatively safe method for advancing difficulty.

First, the Apostle repeatedly challenged chapters at that difficulty’s Common level until they could consistently achieve an S-grade interpretation rating.

Then they advanced.

Not to the next difficulty, but to Nightmare Difficulty.

In Common Difficulty, even when Apostles achieved an S-grade rating, they basically could not obtain Relics, because Relics solidified from the Source of the Apocalypse were unique. Unless one achieved a higher rating than anyone before in that chapter, they would not be able to get stronger Relics than their predecessors.

Therefore, for top Apostles, the gains from Common Difficulty chapters were ultimately somewhat lacking.

On the other hand, in Nightmare Difficulty, if they could achieve an S-grade rating, the probability of obtaining Relics would be greatly increased.

Thus, at the Councilor level, Apostles generally first cleared Common Difficulty chapters until they could stably attain an S-grade rating, then raised the difficulty and entered Nightmare chapters.

They would continually increase their strength until they could repeatedly clear Nightmare chapters. Once they managed to farm a Relic, they could then advance to the next difficulty.

This was the safest route forward, as summarized by the official side.

Of course, this strategy only applied to the highest-tier elite Apostles. Giving it to ordinary Apostles would not help much, because only Apostles with extraordinary top-tier talent could execute such a strategy.

After entering the organization’s core, Lin Xun naturally learned of this strategy as well, but it did not really help him.

In a sense, Lin Xun was the same as ordinary Apostles. Neither of them needed this secret strategy.

In terms of his on-paper talent, Li Long estimated that once Lin Xun could repeatedly clear seventh difficulty’s Nightmare chapters, he might come into contact with that kind of power.

Only after he came into contact with that kind of power would Li Long tell him the truth.

Lin Xun smiled faintly. He naturally understood what that so-called kind of power was.

He closed his eyes and, under the guidance of his will, his body, which was not possessing any Shell, slowly rose off the ground and floated in the air.

Although the soles of his shoes were only a few centimeters from the floor, he was indeed floating.

With a normal body, he had done something beyond the ordinary.

This was the initial manifestation of his soul gradually adapting to a demigod Shell, a sign that his soul’s very essence was changing.

Lin Xun had only grasped this phenomenon a few days ago. At first, he thought it was some benefit from his research into Flesh Authority.

Only after recalling Kim in Firefly’s world did he realize that this was proof that his soul was following his Shell toward the demigod realm.

Even the usually composed Li Long could not help showing an utterly shocked expression.

“Well now, Lin Xun, you actually kept this from me for so long.” Li Long came back to his senses. Though he complained with his mouth, his eyes were full of undisguised joy.

“I never expected you to touch demigod power already at sixth difficulty. Back then, I was not as good as you.”

“You youngsters really are something.”

“Uncle Li, I only obtained a Shell item. It was a massive stroke of luck. I am still far behind you.”

Li Long let that pass and continued, “Since you have already touched demigod power, I suppose you have already talked with the Librarian.”

“That’s right. It is exactly to resist the apocalypse that we keep working here, striving here… or you could say we keep struggling.”

Seeing that Lin Xun had already grasped demigod-level power and had gotten part of the truth from the Librarian, Li Long simply stopped being cryptic and told him what was happening in reality.