MTLNOVEL Chapter 358 [Gambling!]_2
[Three battles, best two out of three, life and death disregarded!]
[The loser pays one hundred Spirit Essences!]
"Do we even have to copy this?" Rat Artisan·Shu Gongye was just joining in the excitement.
He could only pinch his nose and accept it, silently observing without giving any opinions.
Of course, if they really started fighting, they definitely wouldn't take part in the battlefield.
It wasn't until the third hour, as the opposing fleet gradually approached, that people received a peculiar electromagnetic wave again: "Three battles: cold weapon, hand-to-hand combat, marine combat."
The conference room finally buzzed with discussions.
"Does the opponent know a lot of information... Is it a Second Generation Civilization or an Alien Civilization?"
The purpose of the bet was to observe the opponent's potential for war, to minimize strategic misjudgments, rather than merely to earn those hundred Spirit Essences.
Cold weapons and hand-to-hand combat were not much issue.
But marine combat was a bit more challenging; among humans, few are proficient in underwater fighting. Once falling into water, their skills could hardly play even a tenth of their potential.
However, as marine is the current home field, this request was not too demanding.
"We could barely fight if we use pearls for underwater breathing," Colonel Jin Dongliang stated, "but our mobility is far inferior to these species native to water. If all else fails, shall we deploy Mr. Turtle? It's quite capable in the water."
Lu Yuan shook his head: "That won't do, now facing the Shu Mi Dam Civilization is a bit different... Back then, we were fearless as rookies. The moment we sent out Mr. Turtle, we exposed our weakness."
"Now it's a collision between two civilizations aware of corresponding intelligence... We really dare not flinch easily."
"Let's do this, I'll take the underwater battle, and you select two people for the land battles."
Lu Yuan had the ability of "Spatial Teleportation"; he wasn't worried about mobility in water.
Hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.
After some discussion, it was finally decided that the Level 6 Colonel Guo Dafeng would fight the first battle, and the Level 7 Colonel Jin Dongliang the second.
If both of these fights were lost or won, Lu Yuan wouldn't need to fight.
While they deliberated, they finally heard the roaring of propellers; the opponent's thirteen military ships were belatedly arriving!
These steel behemoths generally had a displacement of 2000-10000 tons; perhaps due to a sharp population decline resulting in insufficient productivity, many of the ships were rusty, with some even being cargo ships apparently just to bolster appearances, carrying tanks on their decks.
This is normal, all military forces need maintenance, typical ships require routine maintenance every 3-6 months, consuming manpower and resources. Insufficient productivity naturally resulted in the current state.
The army of the Human 18th Civilization actually fell within the scope allowed by fiscal expenditures.
Lu Yuan squinted his eyes, confirming that there were no elaborate engravings on the opponent's flagship, indicating that these were purely materialistically created technological products.
He slightly relaxed his mind: "The opponent doesn't have a large number of engraving engineers; theoretically, they shouldn't be too powerful."
Then, the motherships of both sides approached each other, and over five hundred diversely shaped merman-like creatures emerged from the deck. They were dressed in light blue Scale Armor.
This race seemed to have a large degree of individual variation; the tallest merman was a whopping six meters high, standing there like a small giant, with well-developed muscles covered in black scales.
The smallest merpeople were around one meter.
Some mermen had heads similar to humans but with additional scales and fins, which aligned more with human aesthetics.
However, a few merpeople simply had fish heads, or even seahorse heads, with some even boasting heads of an octopus or lanternfish.
This was indeed an eye-opening encounter, Lu Yuan didn't know the mating practices of this species—could the octopus type reproduce with the seahorse type? Perhaps, like Old Cat's civilization, they possess many genders?
Of course, these were just whimsical thoughts in his mind at the moment when both sides' soldiers lined up, facing each other.
Then the human translation expert, through the sound of megaphone announced: [Vast continent, countless civilizations competing for survival, boundless space-time, trillions of beings vying for supremacy.]
[Survival of the fittest, natural selection, these are the rules.]
[The weaker pay tribute to the stronger for peace.]
[We, Human Civilization, are not inherently warlike, fighting only for peace.]
"May both parties exert all their efforts, yet stop at a point of contact. Following this, may there be peaceful exchanges of technology and supernatural materials."
At this point, fully armed Colonel Guo Dafeng stepped forward, his body bursting with a strong red glow.
"Human Civilization, Guo Dafeng! Please instruct on the art of cold weapon combat!"
This was actually an unspoken rule of the Eighth Epoch. The first battle didn't necessitate sending out the strongest warrior and could hold back slightly.
Over the years, human equipment truly advanced, with Guo Dafeng's entire outfit being of Superior Level, wielding a sword and shield.
Unfortunately, he lacked control over the Field.
On one hand, the craftsmen able to customize "Fields" are somewhat rare, and inspirational bursts are necessary for customization, which deeply required civilization contributions.
On the other hand, Guo Dafeng had mastered a Divine Skill called "Cold Ice Control," somewhat similar to the abilities of the Mirage Dragon. Once Divine Skills involve the soul, a subject humans have yet to understand, the difficulty of customizing Fields greatly increases.
Of course, because of the Divine Skill, Guo Dafeng's combat ability was actually not low.
The merfolk on the other side clearly had discerning eyes, seeing that humans had directly sent a Level Six Warrior, each eyeing something curiously.
A glint of light flickered in the eyes of some merfolk.
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The invisible competition had already begun!
"It shouldn't be possible to identify my attributes..." Lu Yuan thought secretly to himself.
The soldiers ahead stiffened their chests, their expressions as cold as statues.
Shortly, the other side sent a mermaid soldier over three meters tall, dressed in an armor radiating blue light, wielding a trident, to meet the challenge.
"Wow Gao Ga... Ya Ha Ma his brother..." the mermaid soldier roared.
"He says: He is from South Island Civilization, a High-level Warrior, Ma Haiwang, please instruct."
Lu Yuan held his gaze steady.
[Unknown life form, presumed to be a wise race.]
[Possibly Level Four.]
[Attribute and abilities unknown.]
His face slightly changed; the opponent also had a way to mask personal attributes.
Other Identification ability users were also surprised: "Captain Lu, why can't we see the opponent's attributes? Is their Idealism Technology so strong?"
Lu Yuan kept his composure and looked toward the other mermaid soldiers, none of whom could be detected!
This made everyone draw a sharp breath, puzzled in their minds.
What's going on, there's clearly no engravings on the ship, yet the equipment is so luxurious?
Could it all have been unearthed from some deep sea relics?
A subtly strange feeling surged in his heart...
It's not that he was arrogant—humankind indeed wasn't the best in the world—but this strange feeling, well, it brought him a sense of being beyond expectations...as if the opponent hid some significant secret.
However, there was no time to ponder, as the battle began in the blink of an eye!
Guo Dafeng and "Ma Haiwang" first exchanged courtesies with each other.
The battlefield of the first match was located on the deck of the Human Floating Fortress.
"Ma Haiwang" leaped up explosively, the trident cutting through with a red-orange glow, surging toward Guo Dafeng's face like lightning!
Though it was a fight to touch, in a gambling battle, there was no possibility of holding back, and they exerted their full strength upon meeting.
Old Guo, after all, was an old-ranking Level 6 Expert, over three hundred years old, still in his prime, his eyes shining as he took a deep breath, raised his left arm, and used his shield to block the swinging trident.
The battlefield emitted a "bang", the red-orange light of the Spark, grazing past Guo Dafeng's scalp, shot onto the deck, leaving a mark scorched by the Spark.