In recent days, whether in the challenge worlds or on Blue Star, humanity's focus had been squarely on Five Star Island.
This massive island in the Tier-5 world was truly continent-sized, large enough to support city-building for over fifteen nations.
At first, everyone had debated: How many resources would such a huge island spawn consistently? What prestige would come with securing a spot?
But after days of argument, the island's resources no longer mattered. Building cities on this continent had become an absolute necessity.
It represented a nation's standing in the alliance army, promised prosperity on the continent, and meant mutual aid between nations when beast tides struck.
Aosam could no longer withstand the pressure from other countries uniting against them and had no choice but to publicly declare, "Negotiable."
But how to negotiate?
No one knew the answer until the final outcome.
That day, Tier-5 world leaders held a video conference to discuss precisely this.
What conditions would Aosam offer to allow city-building on Five Star Island? Resources? Or recognition as the top dog?
But no matter how they speculated, during Aosam's historic meeting with various pioneering corps, the focal point of days of debate took a shocking turn that morning—one no one saw coming.
An even more explosive message appeared in the world channel.
[Mu Zhong: Our side is currently at coordinates XXXX.XXXX, conducting a diamond-tier monster extermination operation. All parties, please avoid the combat zone and our attack range. Situation is tense—collateral damage possible.]
Such a message, posted only once, would vanish from the world channel in the blink of an eye.
But anyone who caught it couldn't ignore the sheer information density.
In the Tier-5 world, everyone knew who Wei Huan was—and who Mu Zhong was: son of Mu Dehao, lover of Wei Huan, and controller of the Driver sequence profession training ground.
Sure, with so many humans, duplicate names existed.
But how many would issue a "battle zoning" announcement like this?
And looking closer—holy shit!
Diamond-tier monster? No way, right? Eyes playing tricks?
Everyone who saw it first rubbed their eyes, double-checked.
Then, after a few eerie seconds of silence in the world channel, messages exploded like a barrage.
[Diamond monster? You're joking, right? Even Wei Huan wouldn't pull a prank this big.]
[I don't buy it. Daxia's scheming for a slice of Five Star Island?]
[Daxia's playing dirty. Everyone knows they got a diamond chest from killing 100,000 dark beasts. Trying to pass off that gear as proof they killed a diamond monster?]
Some were slower but genuinely curious.
[Someone explain: What's Daxia gain from this lie? Still don't get it.]
[So what about the diamond chest rewards?]
[Real or fake? Someone break it down logically!]
Truth be told, most people were at least 50% convinced by Mu Zhong's claim—otherwise, no such discussion.
If some no-name said it, they'd just get spat on—no one would waste breath.
But now, even nationally appointed, strictly managed challengers couldn't resist chiming in on the world channel.
Compared to divvying up the Five Star Island "pie," slaying a diamond monster was way more newsworthy.
[First off, if true and confirmed kill, it means we've got a Tier-6 vehicle—or Tier-6 professional. The jump from 0 to 1 is always hardest. We were stuck in Tier-4 for three years before this.]
[Sequence-6 dominates this world. If Wei Huan really has that power, every nation listens to him—he controls the ascension path.]
[Exactly. Building cities on a continent? Pfft. Ascension paths are the lifeline. Aosam wants to gatekeep building rights? Gotta ask Daxia—and Wei Huan—first.]
[Also, Wei Huan has diamond gear, but low-tier diamond gear has weaker stats than high-tier. Can't fake it—especially the Tier-5-to-6 core material. If he shows it, momentum shifts to Daxia instantly.]
That jogged memories.
[Post the materials.]
[Post the gear.]
[Killed a diamond monster? Prove it.]
[Idiots. They're mid-fight—can't just screenshot proof.]
[Those coords are deep in no-man's-land. Anyone nearby watching?]
[Live stream pls. Never even seen a gold monster—what's diamond-tier look like?]
After five minutes of heated debate, Mu Zhong didn't drag it out.
He posted his second message.
[Mu Zhong: [Diamond Power Potion](locked), [Diamond Spirit Necklace](locked), [Eternal Gold Stone](locked), [Sea Core Pearl](locked). Battle ongoing—stay out to avoid splash damage.]
As expected, a fresh wave of discussion erupted.
Some drooled over the gear stats with "shishishi" gasps; others howled: "Sea Core Pearl! Core for a full Tier-6 vehicle—real Tier-5 diamond monster!"
Skeptics fired back: "Locked means not killed yet. Touching a diamond monster? Wonder who dies first."
But supporters and doubters alike—Five Star Island was forgotten. All eyes on this.
Nearby vehicles received orders or requested permission, heading to the coordinates.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing video link, Aosam leader—who had been smugly jutting his chin, ready to preside over the "Five Star Island city allocation" meeting—had long lost his smile. His eyes darkened as he glared at Daxia's leaders.
Fang Weilian, though titled "Captain," was a mid-level general—a commander overseeing Vermilion Bird Legion's pioneering forces.
Black Tortoise and White Tiger reps were logistics/operations commanders.
Azure Dragon's, of course, was Mu Dehao, in charge of pioneering construction.
After sweeping his gaze over Aosam's own generals, Aosam leader fixed on Mu Dehao's face.
You could almost hear his teeth grinding.
With a forced smile: "Commander Mu, what is your esteemed son up to?"
Mu Dehao's refined, handsome face beamed with pride—clear in his eyes. Calmly: "Generals on the front make decisions based on the situation. External interference likely prompted the announcement. Rest assured—monster-slaying won't affect Five Star Island allocation."
Aosam leader's fists clenched.
Won't affect?
Heh, won't affect?
I'm about to divvy up Five Star Island, and you dangle the ascension key? That's not blackmail?
If the split's unfair, no key for us?
Raging inside, Aosam leader had to admit: Current Aosam couldn't open gold chests or higher. Their recent gold chest cost heavy casualties; they begged Daxia for help—exposing Five Star Island in the process.
Ascension keys? Who knew when.
Forcing calm with deep breaths, he leaned back casually: "Diamond monster's fate matters more. Let's pause our meeting till it's done."
But the usually mild-mannered, scholarly Mu Dehao shocked everyone: "Do you know a diamond monster's power? Holding the key isn't the point—Daxia can now fight them. So before battle ends, let's discuss: compensation for Black Tortoise City, and our Azure Dragon outpost."
Aosam leader's mouth twitched. His Five Star Island leverage? Gone in an instant.
He truly didn't know if he should hope Daxia succeeded.
But…
Eyes closing then opening, clarity emerged: "Commander Mu, straight talk: If you kill that diamond monster, for humanity's future, I'll push Congress. Thereafter, reasonably, Aosam follows Daxia's lead. I'm sick of this scattered mess. Pity no nation—not even your Captain Fang—ever convinced me before."
Unheard words.
Yet every general nodded in empathy.
Days of fighting dark beast lords, challenge worlds, plus inter-nation scheming—they were all fed up.
Why couldn't humans unite like dark beasts?
Without unity, victory in this civilization war?
As worlds leveled up, monsters strengthened, leaders had long shared this thought.
Just… no one bowed to another.
Wei Huan battling a diamond monster could be the "first hammer" forging unity.
Everyone willing to try.
The Five Star conference feed went dead silent.
Ice to the world channel's fire—total opposites.
Mu Zhong, after two messages, said no more.
Nothing left to say.
Kill the diamond monster? World order changes.
Fail? They die chasing it—past irrelevant.
"Contact that vehicle."
Mind stirring, as deputy captain, Mu Zhong requested video from the wandering vehicle that tracked them.
Connected: A dark-skinned middle-aged woman, stern face not beautiful but strong.
A Tier-5 pioneering captain? At minimum, Captain Xue/Hammer Bro level.
They seemed unremarkable on Wei Huan's vehicle—but stars in other nations' teams.
"Major Mu Zhong, greetings. I've grasped the situation—no malice. Leaving now."
The Black captain was cool, stating position first.
Mu Zhong: "Captain Qi'en, don't rush. You saw the diamond monster's power—body too vast. With our current force, full kill takes time. Join us?"
The captain was stunned by the invite.
After seconds: "Fighting alongside world-famous Captain Wei and Major Mu? Mao Nation's honor—mine too."
Mu Zhong smiled: "Thanks to Mao Nation and Captain Qi'en aiding when needed. A gift for you—hope you like."
A gift?
Qi'en nearly refused. Helping Daxia? Networking Mu/Wei? Win-win investment. World channel buzzed "ascension paths"—small-nation captains like her eyed reshuffles.
But before speaking, her eyes locked on the auto-opening file.
[Temporary Alliance DKP System] reward mechanism.
Like intra-vehicle DKP trends, this "Temporary DKP" for ad-hoc alliances.
Post-agreement: Full recording, system tallies contributions → DKP → redeem gear by tier.
What truly made Captain Qi'en's nostrils flare—what left her stunned—was the DKP redemption path laid out before her. It was insane.
[Temporary Pact]
Standard support action: 5 DKP
Main-battle participation: 10 DKP
[After three temporary joint operations → Formal Pact]
Support ops: 8 DKP
Main battle: 20 DKP
[Formal Pact → After 8 support ops OR 3 main battles → Strategic Partnership]
Support ops: 15 DKP
Main battle: 50 DKP
→ Under Strategic Partnership, DKP can be directly exchanged for Tier-6 vehicle core materials.
Tier-6 core materials… redeemable with DKP.
Her breath caught.
She stared at the numbers and did the math in her head, her voice trembling with urgency. "Major Mu… you're telling me that if my war vehicle only does support operations, eleven joint actions gets me a core? Or… just three real main-battle contributions after we reach Formal Pact?"
Mu Zhong smiled and nodded. "Once you're a Strategic Partner, the points required aren't high. If your vehicle is willing to fight on the front line as a true main force, you'd probably only need about four more main-battle contributions after signing the strategic pact to afford a full Tier-6 core."
Even counting the points earned in the earlier stages, a complete Tier-6 core material would cost just over 300 DKP.
Three hundred points.
That wasn't expensive; it was absurdly cheap.
The pie was drawn so sweetly that Qi'en immediately grew wary. When something sounded too good to be true, it usually was.
She forced herself to calm down and scrutinised Mu Zhong's face, searching for any trace of deceit. What could he possibly gain by tricking her? She had stumbled here purely out of curiosity after noticing the strange currents in the water. Even without her vehicle, Wei Huan's team clearly had the strength to handle this diamond monster alone.
Cannon-fodder trap? Unlikely—the rules explicitly allowed "support only," with extremely loose requirements.
This didn't feel like a scam. It felt like recruitment.
Challengers who survived to Tier-5 weren't fools, and captains commanding over a hundred lives were sharper than most.
In a single heartbeat, the truth clicked.
"…So that's it," she murmured, almost to herself. "Wei Huan is using his prestige and his monopoly on the ascension path to completely reorganise the alliance army—to tear down the old, rotten system and build something new from the ground up."
The moment the thought formed, she knew she was right.
Wei Huan had risen too fast, too flamboyantly. In the shortest possible time he had amassed the highest fame and planted the myth of his invincibility in every mind across the world. Now the fruit was ripe. All he needed was one loud call, and a new order would crystallise around him almost overnight.
Of course the new faction would be unstable at first; it would inevitably clash with the old powers. But for marginalised small nations like hers, upheaval meant opportunity.
Revolution always favours those who have nothing to lose.
Qi'en exhaled slowly, then broke into a genuine, decisive smile.
"Major Mu, I would be a fool to refuse an offer like this. I'm signing the temporary pact right now—and I'm already looking forward to the day it becomes strategic."
She pressed her thumb to the screen without hesitation.
She was a small-nation captain, yes—but that also meant she answered to almost no one. With her current strength and reputation, stepping up to lead her country would be trivial if she ever felt bothered enough.
In under a minute, the Temporary Alliance Pact was officially concluded.
It was the very first pact signed after Wei Huan's unspoken "call to arms."
Part coincidence, part rushed improvisation—yet history often turns on exactly such unplanned moments.
After signing, Qi'en remained cautious and restrained. She requested only a support role—clearing peripheral earthworm roots on the edge of the battlefield, always keeping an escape route open.
Temporary pacts were, after all, about building trust. Mu Zhong had no objection.
When the formalities were done, he turned to look at Wei Huan.
From the moment Qi'en's vehicle appeared, to the public announcement of the diamond-monster fight, to the signing of the pact—barely ten minutes had passed.
Some of these moves hadn't even been discussed in advance; Mu Zhong had acted entirely on instinct.
Now, meeting Wei Huan's gaze, he saw nothing but recognition and absolute trust—an unspoken endorsement of the "flash of inspiration" that had driven him to act so quickly.
Mu Zhong knew he hadn't done anything wrong, yet this was still Wei Huan's war vehicle. Setting alliance terms without prior consultation was, strictly speaking, overstepping.
Wei Huan, however, only said calmly, "Do the same for every vehicle that shows up next. Have the AI tighten the definitions—make sure there's a clear difference between real support and main-force contributions. Even soy-sauce players need a minimum standard."
Mu Zhong broke into a relieved grin. "Got it."
In that smile, the cold edge in Wei Huan's eyes—sharpened by hours of battle—softened completely. The green flame in his left eye flickered, trailing threads of rainbow light through the abyssal darkness, yet at its deepest core burned only tenderness.
Mu Zhong understood him better than anyone.
Long ago, Wei Huan had already begun wondering: How do you weld a scattered humanity into something that could actually win?
The answer was clear now: the old nation-based alliance was flawed at its root—centuries of grudges, endless scheming, every shift in the challenge worlds tangled with Blue Star politics. Everyone wanted more, yet everyone held back, producing this limp, ineffective half-alliance that satisfied no one.
If the nations themselves couldn't be perfectly unified, then a second power had to rise—one built not on borders, but on individual prestige and shared interest.
Wei Huan had carried that ambition for a long time. He had simply lacked the spark.
And Mu Zhong—who knew him best—had just struck the match at the perfect moment.
His ambition was never to become "Overlord of Blue Star."
It was far simpler, and far grander: to make sure humanity won this war and ended the slaughter of civilizations once and for all.
Wei Huan's gaze left Mu Zhong's face and drifted to the world-channel projection.
The entire world was buzzing about their fight with the diamond monster.
Perfect timing for a new faction to step onto the stage.
All that was missing now was the final, irrefutable proof: the corpse of a diamond-tier monster.
He glanced once more at the map. The AI's scan outlined the creature's true scope—a thirty-li monstrosity, now riddled with holes. Ninety percent destroyed, mentally corrosive illusions shattered, yet… something still felt off. They hadn't touched its true core yet.
"We'll advance another hundred li," Wei Huan said.
Mu Zhong nodded. "Until we find the nucleus, it won't die."
"Wait half a day more, then we move."
"To let more vehicles arrive?"
"Exactly. Sign as many as we can."
"Big nations are too rigid—they won't sign."
"That's fine. Their mouths will spread the news faster than anyone."
"Small nations are freer but selfish; big nations are pickier but bring real weight. Win their trust, and every signature is a massive boost."
"Big nations won't come easy. We lure them with profit first, gather strength quietly. Once we break into Tier-6 worlds, the old blocs will fracture on their own. By Tier-7, all that power will truly be ours."
Mu Zhong's eyes shone bright and steady. "It's a long road," he said softly, "but I'm certain we'll walk it to the end."