Chapter 751: The Queen's Test, Kaito Shirogane's Digit
The Gift Game is one of the most fundamental and important activities in the Little Garden world.
In this unique world, which encompasses the powers of nearly every mythological lineage, the sheer variety and complexity of abilities necessitated the establishment of special rules.
Almost all supernatural powers are collectively referred to as [Gifts]. A Gift essentially represents the power and miracles bestowed by naturally superior beings such as the gods and demons of all universes, immortals, buddhas, and astral spirits.
The strength of a Gift depends on two things. First is the strength of the Gift's source. For example, the same type of ability, if its source is the bloodline of a minor demon versus the bloodline of an immortal or buddha, its strength and upper limit are fundamentally incomparable.
The second factor is the depth of its history. For instance, the root of the [Sword of Promised Victory (Excalibur)]'s immense power lies in its embodiment of numerous historical events, such as the King of Britain and the triumph over foreign invaders.
And a Gift Game is a large-scale game where [Gifts] are used as wagers.
It must be hosted by a group or powerful individual with the authority to do so, with clear rules, before participants can join.
Once inside a Gift Game, one must abide by its rules.
Upon victory, according to the contract, one can receive various rewards, including Gifts.
The [Gifts] in this world encompass a vast and almost all-inclusive array of things.
But if categorized, they can primarily be divided into five types:
Bloodlines, such as the bloodlines of gods and demons.
Items and Weapons, which also possess various extraordinary abilities.
Abilities and Authorities, which, as the name implies, allow one to directly acquire various skills and authorities.
These first three categories are essentially similar to the enhancements Reincarnators undergo after obtaining resources in various worlds.
The remaining two are extremely high-level. One is the [System (Framework)]. This type of Gift contains an entire, complete power system, or even a highly specific type of authority.
For example, the [Divinity (Status of a God)] possessed by a pantheon. Once one joins a specific pantheon, they automatically acquire a complete set of abilities and the authority framework corresponding to that pantheon.
Another example is the [Host Master Authority] of a Demon Lord, which can forcefully drag others into unfair Gift Games.
The final type of Gift is the highest-tier entity, known as [Spirit Status (Lingge)]. Spirit Status represents the rank of one's very existence. It is the most fundamental tier, standing above the physical body, the mind, and the soul.
The gap between Spirit Statuses becomes a decisive difference.
Kaito Shirogane smiled, his hands hanging naturally by his sides. In a split second, he had already recalled and reviewed all this information in his mind.
To some extent, the various rules of the [Infinite Dimensional Space] were quite similar to those of the Little Garden world.
Even that most mysterious, foundational power system—the [Stairway]—carried traces of the [System] and [Spirit Status].
"Hey, young man over there, were you also dragged into this forest as an outsider?"
At this moment, someone spoke from under a tree by the side of the main road, a tree about as thick as two people embracing. The voice sounded somewhat aged, but it was full of vitality.
Kaito Shirogane looked toward the source. It was an old man wearing a bamboo hat and linen clothes. Seeing Kaito Shirogane look over, the old man even waved at him.
Kaito Shirogane stared at the forest behind the old man. The perception of his [Mantra Network / 心网] was completely swallowed. Within that forest, there was a powerful energy field; electromagnetic force vanished completely the moment it entered.
Not only that, but this forest also interfered with sound and scent. Those ancient trees constantly emitted a clear fragrance. This fragrance was extremely comfortable, even causing one's lungs to instinctively open up and breathing to become incredibly smooth, completely unaware that all other scents had been entirely masked and erased by this fragrance.
Kaito Shirogane didn't actually have preferences for smells, sounds, or images; to him, these things were simply information.
Therefore, the moment he entered this forest, he had already noticed this change.
Moreover, this old man's appearance was very sudden. Kaito Shirogane didn't sense his presence until he spoke.
For a Martial Arts Grandmaster whose essence had surpassed the realm of [Mind like Still Water], this was highly illogical.
Kaito Shirogane smiled and walked over to the man. The moment he stepped behind the giant tree, the atmosphere instantly changed. The beautiful, sunny scene from just a moment ago seemed like an illusion, as eerie, cold winds continuously blew past Kaito Shirogane from both sides.
"Quick, step back, young man!"
The old man's expression changed, and he quickly spoke up.
After Kaito Shirogane stepped back from the giant tree, the forest returned to its original state. However, Kaito Shirogane had memorized what the back of that giant tree looked like just now.
From the front, it looked like a lush green tree, but the back was already decayed. The withered, rotting surface was twisted like a monster's face.
And the old man's back was more than halfway bitten into by the giant tree.
"Young man, this forest is very strange. But as long as you remember to always walk on the main road and always move forward, you can make it out!"
"Remember, no matter what you see, you must never step into this forest. You must keep moving forward!"
Kaito Shirogane merely glanced at the old man, turned around, and continued walking forward.
As if still worried, the old man kept calling out from behind, repeatedly warning Kaito Shirogane to never step into the forest.
With his back to the old man, Kaito Shirogane lowered his eyelids, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. He already had a clue about this Gift Game.
He wasn't in a hurry. He just walked along the main road, which was about three or four meters wide. The trees on both sides were lined up very neatly. After crossing a small hill, a figure resembling a young girl appeared on the road below.
She was sitting on a piece of deadwood by the side of the road. The deadwood was over a meter in diameter. The girl sat on it with her legs dangling, swinging them gently.
She also heard Kaito Shirogane's footsteps, turned her head, and asked curiously,
"Eh, are you also an outsider participating in the game?"
"How strange. Why haven't you entered the woods yet? If you stay on this road any longer, you'll be eaten by monsters~"
The girl had orange twin-tails that bounced continuously as she spoke.
Her eyes were innocent, and her tone was sincere. She stared wide-eyed, as if Kaito Shirogane walking on the main road was something incredibly astonishing.
Hearing this, the curve of Kaito Shirogane's mouth grew even wider.
He tapped the tip of his foot, and the air was instantly torn apart.
Pfft~
The sound of the air breaking was very soft; the wind it kicked up only slightly ruffled the girl's twin-tails.
Kaito Shirogane crouched in front of the girl and spoke,
"But an old guy just told me to absolutely not enter this forest. Little girl, between you and him, who exactly is lying?"
The girl looked as if she had heard something terrifying, scooted backward a couple of times, and stuttered,
"Th-that... that's a monster! I-it didn't eat you?!"
Kaito Shirogane tilted his head, carefully scrutinizing the girl. Then, he suddenly raised his hand and thrust a finger into the center of her forehead.
Zzt~
Electricity instantly surged into her brain. The magnetic field began to rotate, and the color of the girl's hair started to change.
Sousuke stood with his arms crossed in the middle of the massive plaza. Many pumpkin lanterns were flying around the plaza right now, and beneath each lantern hung something resembling a crystal ball.
Looking closely, the crystal balls displayed different scenes.
In each scene, there was a figure who had previously been swallowed by the giant pumpkin man.
Mori-Summer was in an ancient tower. On every floor, there was a swordsman, and she was climbing up step by step from the bottom floor.
Reinhardt appeared on an inverted, massive floating island where various mechs roamed.
Sousuke knew that this Gift Game was highly likely designed by the Queen to "anchor" the baseline ability values of this group of outsiders.
Probably, even in that Queen's eyes, their group could be considered special.
Reincarnators—belonging to the faction of a certain observer, using her items to collect bloodlines possessing the traits of the three strongest species, and crossing boundaries to arrive here.
Sousuke was well aware that aside from himself, who, by utilizing the traits of the [Child of the Stars] and standing upon the world, truly possessed the characteristics of an Astral Species...
For the other two, Reinhardt's Primordial God Race bloodline purity was extremely low, and Mercenary Tao's Dragon Species bloodline was entirely forged by himself.
He had merely utilized the observer's information tainted on those blood vials to grant it a tiny sliver of possibility to be forged as a [Dragon Species].
After that, it was the space for the unreasonable authority and concept of [Miracle] to play its part.
As long as the possibility existed, a miracle would turn it into reality.
This was the form this authority manifested.
But in reality, every time a miracle descended, there was inevitably a corresponding price.
Miracles do not occur without reason. Every time he used it, he naturally enjoyed the direct result of the miracle. But if the occurrence of this miracle was extremely difficult, the corresponding causality would be equally harsh.
And now, the price of forging the bloodline of the strongest species to open that gate had already begun to manifest.
The miracle of the forged bloodline being recognized and thereby opening the gate to Little Garden becoming a reality... the reason for this was highly likely because the [Halloween Queen]—a high-level existence with anomalous 3-digit strength—had grown curious about this group of outsiders yearning to enter Little Garden.
Therefore, she acknowledged that forged bloodline, the gate naturally opened, and the miracle for him and his group naturally descended.
But at the same time, an existence like the [Halloween Queen] naturally paid attention to his party.
And so, this Gift Game was born.
This Queen would highly likely not kill his party directly through the Gift Game, but the tests and dangers accompanying it were definitely layered and progressive.
Only in that way could she quickly anchor the various abilities and traits possessed by each Reincarnator.
BOOM!
A massive mushroom cloud erupted from a certain crystal ball. That magnificent scene allowed Sousuke to instantly identify the person.
When the explosion cleared, a massive trench, over a hundred meters in diameter and nearly a thousand meters long, had been blasted into the forest.
In front of the massive trench, the girl's clothes were shredded, revealing a twisted, deadwood body underneath. That body had long since merged with the log below.
Zzt~
Lightning flashed in the air. The eruption of [Abyssal Breath] combined with [World-Shattering Thunder Roar] was already enough to kill most Reincarnators at their current stage.
But this seemingly inconspicuous monster girl merely had her clothes destroyed and a large number of scorch marks on her surface. Her body remained entirely intact.
"Tsk, as expected of the Little Garden world. A monster encountered at random possesses this kind of strength?"
The girl's orange hair had been burned away, turning into two twisted, withered branches.
"Didn't I tell you, you need to go into the woods!"
The girl's voice became distorted and terrifying, and her size rapidly expanded. Roots emerged from both sides of the road below, and in an instant, she had transformed into a bizarre Treant over four or five meters tall.
That log had turned into the shape of a giant hammer, instantly swinging toward Kaito Shirogane.
Bang!
Kaito Shirogane, clad in the Qilin Armor, raised one hand. The viscous air shattered like sea foam beneath the giant hammer and his arm.
A sonic boom cloud exploded directly, and a terrifying crash echoed as shockwaves spread in all directions.
Crack~ BOOM!
The ground beneath the Treant's feet instantly fractured in a web-like pattern, then exploded completely. Countless roots shot toward Kaito Shirogane along with sand and stone.
Kaito Shirogane stood his ground. The Treant's strike just now was equal in power to his after activating the Qilin Armor. In other words, this seemingly ubiquitous monster possessed a destructive force exceeding 400 points of strength with a single strike.
At this stage, most top-tier Strength-focused Reincarnators would be sent flying by this blow.
"Hah~"
Kaito Shirogane let out a strange laugh, growing increasingly excited. His state of mind shifted instantly. With a single step, he passed straight through the Treant's roots and the flying debris.
The Treant girl swung her warhammer again, but it was equally futile. Maintaining the zero state of [Muso Tensei / Nil-Thought Rebirth], Kaito Shirogane phased through the attack as if he didn't exist and appeared by the Treant girl's side.
He pressed one hand against the Treant girl's face.
The next moment, his muscles instantly swelled.
Golden Ki erupted from his body.
BOOM!
Bolstered by the Ki, terrifying brute force erupted alongside immense propulsive power. The roots beneath the girl's feet had just been largely uprooted for the attack, and now she couldn't grip the ground at all.
In an instant, she was lifted off the ground.
Oh no!
The panic in the Treant girl's heart was captured by Kaito Shirogane, but he ignored it completely. He turned into a streak of golden light, flying backward in the direction he came from.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The air exploded with four consecutive shockwaves. Kaito Shirogane accelerated four times in mid-air. In just the span of a breath, he had returned to his original path. Before the old man could even make a sound, he felt the air stagnate, and then a massive force slammed into him along with a Treant.
Hum~
Kaito Shirogane actually already had a theory. This Gift Game encompassed many dimensions of testing; even this space was adjusting based on his abilities.
The terrifying aura he felt the moment he stepped into the woods was not an illusion. Similarly, after encountering the Treant girl, her immense toughness was also not an illusion.
The words of these two monsters both hid strategies for avoiding or countering them.
When this Treant girl was uprooted by him, the electric current he had previously injected into her skull allowed Kaito Shirogane to instantly read that panic.
It was highly likely that she possessed the trait of losing her strength if she left this main road.
Conversely, the old man who warned him not to enter the woods had the opposite trait—he had to be in the forest to exert his terrifying power.
The true participants of this game had to discern these two traits and formulate targeted countermeasures.
Furthermore, the strength of the enemies in this Gift Game was very close to his own base state.
This was a test, not a trial.
Kaito Shirogane looked at the two monsters he had smashed together below, then looked up at the sky.
He was actually quite curious as well. In the Little Garden world, in the eyes of that anomalous Queen, what kind of strength did he actually possess?
"Aah~ HAH!"
Surging Ki churned within his body, accompanied by the roar of the Anti-Life Demonic Dragon. The next moment, the 8-Fold Kaio-Ken erupted violently.
Golden Ki and a red blood mist burst from his body together, but his physical stability was extremely high right now. The Dragon's Heart Furnace operated silently.
The golden runic patterns of the Divine Hull of the Primordial Genesis Man also flashed across his skin.
Hum!
Ki so blinding it was impossible to look at gathered at Kaito Shirogane's fingertips. That destructive fluctuation spread out in concentric rings the moment it finished coalescing.
The expressions of the two monsters below changed simultaneously.
BOOM!
A Super Dodon Ray blasted forth, followed by a devastating explosion sweeping in all directions.