Chapter 192: The Second Ranking Reward!
Shen Hao had once asked the Analysis Department of the Global United Front to calculate how many undead would be needed to destroy current human civilization.
If based on the lowest Level, Level 7, a number exceeding 1.3 billion would put human civilization at risk of extinction.
Of course, that was the result from ten days ago.
Human civilization had experienced unprecedented rapid development in these short ten days. Not to mention, the completion of five thousand Underground Cities alone brought significant power. Moreover, the addition of several powerful species and the support of the Sky Spirit Civilization as an ally meant that their strength changed every day.
However, no matter how much they grew, when the number of undead reached three billion, four billion, or even over ten billion.
Human civilization would still face a fatal threat.
What's worse, this scenario was possible.
There are still five civilizations remaining, and even if human civilization can protect itself, the other four civilizations combined still have hundreds of billions of individuals!
"Civilization Trial? Calling it the Civilization Doomsday might be more appropriate," Shen Hao narrowed his eyes, aware that he had to speed things up.
After reaching the third stage, his strength had undergone a qualitative leap. At this moment, he reserved nothing, dispersing all of it, to the extent that even the captains of the street patrol teams could receive a part of his bestowed power.
All the Chosen Ones likewise sprang into action upon his command. The specially trained patrol teams, together with the quickly armed Reserve Soldiers, used the Underground Cities as combat units to kill the undead with astonishing efficiency.
However, it was not long before Shen Hao notably observed that the number of undead in the various Underground Cities started to diminish.
More were using the convenience of the Undead World to wage guerrilla warfare, expanding the human losses as much as possible.
"This is after communicating with the native undead," Shen Hao furrowed his brow slightly.
The fact that the undead did not gather to concentrate their forces on attacking one or several cities had already indicated that these newly arrived otherworldly undead had been communicating with the native undead.
They understood that congregating on this planet would lead them only to a dead end.
Spreading out and using guerrilla tactics in the Undead World could possibly achieve greater military results.
Perhaps, from the beginning, the goal of these hundreds of millions of undead was not to destroy their civilization but to stall them until the other civilizations fall.
Once undead reach levels seven and eight, they transition from beings that act purely on instinct to those capable of developing intelligence. The fact that all the undead appearing this time had reached this level made such a strategy unsurprising.
But he couldn't just stand by and watch.
"Prepare to form legions and engage in combat in the Undead World," Shen Hao ordered. "Sever the undead's guerrilla routes and establish a long-term defense system in the Undead World."
With a command, the previously dispersed legions guarding the underground regrouped.
These soldiers typically served as members of patrol teams, ensuring the safety of their settlements.
But when the command was issued, they could quickly be assembled into formal legions.
In facing the Civilization Trial, the various powers of civilization had to exhibit high adaptability.
However, after issuing the orders, Shen Hao no longer paid attention to the specifics of how the war should be fought; the commanders had a greater expertise in that area.
Shen Hao turned his attention to the rankings.
The outbreak of the crisis did not affect the tallies of the rankings.
With the arrival of the time node, the second assessment began.
Human Civilization and he personally were undoubtedly still first.
The second place, despite a decrease in performance value from the other civilizations, still belonged to the civilization of Planet No.8.
It was not just the Civilization Rankings— the number two spot on the individual rankings was the same.
It was in the script of an alien civilization, but with the effect of a special translation magic equipment, Shen Hao still knew how to pronounce the name.
—Xi Qing.
Probably assuming due to his initial impressions that this was a civilization possessing spiritual power and likely centered around the Cultivation Path, he chose this name, which appeared to lean towards East cultural phonetic representation.
But undeniably, the performance value of this civilization and the strength of this second-ranked Chosen One made Shen Hao breathe a sigh of relief at this time.
At least the civilization of Planet No.8 seemed unlikely to collapse under the first wave of undead assault.
If the other four civilizations, aside from humans, were all weak links, Shen Hao would have found it extremely troublesome.
But now, with gains and losses, the situation hadn't reached the most critical point yet.
"Let's take a look at this round's ranking rewards," Shen Hao turned to the ranking interface.
[Your civilization has achieved the first place in this trial's first ranking settlement.]
[As the Chosen One who contributed the highest value to your civilization, you will make a reward selection for your civilization.]
[Please choose any three from the following three rewards.]
[1. Illusion Secret Realm]
[2. Magic Energy Mind Model, Demigod Level]
[3. Sword Casting Mountain Domain]
Like last time, with the plugin at work, it was still choose three out of three.
Now Shen Hao knew that, under normal circumstances, only the first-ranked civilization could possess a Golden Legendary reward, while the second-ranked, like the Desert Tower Civilization in the last settlement cycle, could only choose one from among the three Purple Epic rewards.
The third is still unclear.
But there was no doubt that the gap between first and second was tremendously large.
And the gap between the first place and Shen Hao, the one who seemingly cheated to get there, was equally vast!
Three Golden Legendary treasures!
Each one capable of offering tremendous assistance.
Without the World Tree, even with the help of the Senya people, Human Civilization would have struggled to construct thousands of Underground Cities in such a short time. If there were no air defense barriers, Shen Hao would have had to focus primarily on defending against outer space like the Desert Tower Civilization and other civilizations, neglecting urban defense.
The three rewards this time also filled Shen Hao with great anticipation.
Especially in critical moments!
[Name: Illusion Secret Realm]
[Quality: Golden Legend]
[Level: 24 (40)]
[This is a powerful secret realm created by a certain Martial Cultivation Civilization. It is both real and illusory. Anyone can practice and battle within it. Even if they die countless times, they will not suffer any damage outside of psychological harm. The number of people it can accommodate increases with level. At the current level, it can hold up to five hundred thousand people at one time.]
[Note 1: Can materialize almost all Extraordinary systems and simulate enemy characteristics to the greatest extent.]
[Note 2: Psychological harm should not be overlooked.]
"A Legendary Treasure used for military training?" Shen Hao easily understood the essence of this treasure.
Indeed, what else could continuous, fearless fighting represent if not training?
This thing would be of tremendous help to the current Human Civilization!
The present Human soldiers all appear quite strong and are not afraid of war, but this was forcibly cultivated through the horrific intensity of the first Blood Demon War!
Under such intensity, a new recruit merely needed to survive on the battlefield for three days to be transformed.
Although their psychological resilience might improve, their actual combat ability was still debatable.
This sudden crisis made it all too clear.
Faced with unexpected situations, many reserve soldiers and even formal patrol members froze on the spot, unsure of what to do.
Only the battlefield truly trains soldiers!
But with this, even during normal times, it would be possible to forge a powerful legion!
"It's a pity it came a bit late," Shen Hao felt somewhat regretful.
If he had received this item in the previous reward settlement, one month would have been enough to train millions of qualified Extraordinary Soldiers.
But now, with the real war already upon us and extremely urgent, this item could at most serve as a rapid training base for new recruits.
However, it still does not diminish the weight of a Legendary Treasure.
Shen Hao looked at the second item with expectation.
[Name: Mind Model, Demigod Level]
[Quality: Golden Legend]
[Level: 21 (40)]
[Originating from a powerful civilization's mad scheme - creating a god. They tried to produce a god that could be absolutely controlled. They failed, and the Mind Model did not possess the power of a god, it only possessed the terrifying computing power of both the Extraordinary and technological realms. But they also succeeded, in a way, since the Mind Model could rival a god!]
[Note 1: You can trust It, but do not depend on It.]
"This thing..." Shen Hao furrowed his brows and re-read the description, unsure of its utility.
But it did sound quite promising.
He would look at it again later.
Shen Hao directly looked at the last item.
[Name: Sword Casting Mountain Domain]
[Quality: Golden Legend]
[Level: 24 (40)]
[A mountain domain infused with countless powerful Sword Intents. As long as various shapes of "swords" are thrown into it, strong equipment infused with Sword Intent will be produced. The effects of the equipment are randomly determined by the resonating type of Sword Intent. The equipment's level is determined by the material and time invested.]
[Note 1: The resulting equipment will have a certain tendency towards Extraordinary characteristics, and some Extraordinary professions and systems might be incompatible.]
[Note 2: Overloading it with too many items at once will reduce its effectiveness.]
"This thing..." Shen Hao's eyes lit up, "Isn't this just a massive factory for producing Extraordinary treasure swords?"
Indeed, being able to mass-produce equipment infused with Sword Intent wasn't much different from an equipment production factory!
Even though it specified "swords," for the current Human Civilization, the help was still tremendous!
After all, equipment purely used for slaughter would undoubtedly be powerful against the Undead!
It's worth noting that previously, in order to establish the defensive systems for various cities, he had spent a large sum of money buying a batch of White Peach Wood Swords, and without sparing time, he himself processed them with Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, elevating this batch of originally White Level 5 Peach Wood Swords to White Level 10 Equipment with special effects against the Undead!